My Church Website: A lovely portfolio with artistic designs and just enough flash to be interesting.  The downside appears to be that they aren’t accepting new clients at this time.  Weird.

Elexio.com: The designs look nice.  They obviously have talent on the design staff.  I don’t know what kind of content managment system they are pushing, so I can’t offer any commentary on that.

OK.  I actually give up.  I don’t really have the time to sort through all of the ads for template church websites and other nonsense in order to find the truly talented Christian web designers who do fully custom work.

Perhaps this post would be best used as a call-out for anybody who knows of a good Christian web designer, and we can let the consumer be the judge of quality.  As for the sites above, I can’t vouch for prices or customer service practices.  If you need a Christian blog, you had better be talking to us.  Have a great day!

Update:

You must check out Blacksmith Media although you need myspace to view it.  Maybe some of the best design I’ve ever seen.

The Church Site Project has produced amazing web sites for Chris Tomlin and The Ramp.

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Introducing the “Blog Site.”  It’s not a new concept.  In fact, it’s a very well tested concept developed by our good friends over at the Real Estate Tomato.  Here’s the general idea of what a blog site is, and what it includes:

Unlimited Static Pages:  You say that you need the cross-functionality of having a blog to draw traffic and having static pages to display products (for Christian businesses) or display Church meeting times, etc. Easy.  We have developed the ability to create unlimited static pages around the blog template, so you can have the best of both worlds.  You want to have people land on a static information or introduction page before going to the blog?  Simple.

In addition, we’ve developed the ability to create post/page combinations in a truly unique and proprietary way that we call “Dyno Cats.”  Nobody else in the world that we know of has this unique capability.

All the power of the blog: Totally optimized, web 2.0, SEO mojo at your complete disposal to do with as you please.  Combining the static pages with the blog pages does nothing to diminish the SEO power of the blog as the only legitimate platform to result in total web domination for your sphere of influence.  In fact, in some really weird but pretty awesome ways, it’s actually complements the power of the blog by providing a stability and resourcefulness that isn’t usually associated with the blog.

A One Time Expenditure: The product costs about the same amount of cash as having a website professionally designed, but it’s a one-time expenditure.  Once we’re done building the blog and training you to use it, you will never have to pay another dime for design, content management, etc. The system is so intuitive that you will be able to upload your own content at the click of the mouse button.  You’ll be totally self sufficient.

That being said, if you’re using our hosting services and tech support there will be a small fee for that.  It’s the cost of doing business.  And, if you get the itch to totally re-design your blog site once per year, you’ll have to pay the designer for the new skin.  Designers, I’ve found, don’t like to work for free.  But as long as you stay with the original design, you will never need to shell out another penny on your blog.

So, get a blog site.  It’s a more cost-efficient way to create a lasting web presence that people care about.  The end result of that endeavor, of course, will be online dominance and more butts in pews, more products sold, etc.

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You’ll notice that the Grace site features our standard package of totally custom design, expert layout, and awesome training, so it should feature some pretty good articles as well.

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We’ve already established that a blog is a much better tool for getting people to make the leap from viewing your website to walking through your doors than an ordinary static website. Now, I’d like to discuss three outside-the-box ways to use traditional marketing techniques to drive traffic to your blog, which should result in more people walking through the doors:

1) Mass email campaign: Write an informative, provocative article about your church or something that the Lord is doing in your area, and then email it to every member of your church. Have your congregations forward the email to their entire address list. The result should be a sharp increase in blog traffic if you’ve done your job in writing an effective headline. If you haven’t done a great job of headline writing, you’ve still taken an opportunity to make contact with the members of your congregation and let them know that you’re thinking of them. It’s a win-win situation.

2) Print media. Are you still in the habit of running that same, dry, boring newspaper ad every week with the graphic of your church logo and the announcement of meeting times and addresses for your services? Do you think anybody actually reads that thing? Instead, try this:

Take that same newspaper space and write a compelling (but short) article about how God is moving in your worship service. Then, leave the blog address in the last line. Be sure to top it off with a great, provocative headline. The idea is to have the article look and feel like an editorial, and leave absolutely no trace of contact information other than the blog address. People will get curious about who wrote such an anointed article and, viola, your church grows.

3) Ahhh, the Billboard. Seems like in recent years all of the high-rolling churches have purchased ad space on billboards. I know of a church in the Tampa Bay area that has a billboard on every corner for five miles. They also have a weekly attendance of several thousand people, so it must be working to an extent. Still, it could always work better.

Instead of plastering your Pastor’s face on every billboard in a twenty mile radius, try asking a hard-core question that provokes though and response such as “If you died today, where would you go?” Then, paste the blog address on the bottom of the billboard. That’s it. No fancy graphics. No catchy phrases. Just a little good, old-fashioned self exploration. Just think of the money you’ll save on graphic design, and your blog traffic will still increase. It’s a beautiful thing.

Of course, the whole idea for writing a blog is to humanize your website, and show that your church has a personality and is more than pretty design and cold, web 1.0 functionality (meeting times, dates, address, phone number, and not much else). If you don’t have a blog, this has been a purely academic discussion for you. Click here and get a Christian blog now.

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I was recently pondering our evangelism strategy, and I came up with three cool ways that you can use a really cool website called meetup.com to get people through the doors:

1) Advertise your current church services. Only, don’t call them church services. People tend to think of church as….well, church. Call them “People Curious About Christianity,” and invite them to come and be a part of your “meeting.” When they get there, invite them to sit with you. Walk them through your service. Explain your faith. Advance the Kingdom. It’ll be great. You’ll be like a regular Billy Graham.

2) Plant a church. For instance, if you were eyeballing a community that had no spirit-filled churches, you might schedule a meetup in that area for believers interested in being part of such a church. In this way you could actually gauge interest in planting a church, and begin the process of developing a plant team. Church planting is one of the coolest endeavors ever. Let’s see if we can’t take it digital.

3) Reach out and touch somebody. We’re always griping about the lack of interconnectivity between Christian denominations. Here’s your chance to do something about it. If we rely upon our Pastors to forge the relationships that will eventually reconcile all denominations into a verified army, we’ll never move forward. Let’s have a lay-led, Holy Spirit get together and actually move forward together, rather than just talking about it.

There….three cool ideas for using meetup.com to advance the Kingdom and build your church, as promised. Anybody got any other obvious ideas for how to leverage this cool website?

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Here are three cool reasons why a Wordpress blog makes a great church website:

1) You can do practically anything in wordpress you can do on a static web page: By “static” web page, I mean one that doesn’t update automatically the way that wordpress does when you publish new content.  And, by “practically anything,” I mean anything.  For instance, you can create both posts and pages in wordpress, so you can still have an “About” page, an “Upcoming Events” page, and whatever else you like.  But, the added benefit is that you can also have fresh, daily updates on your front page.  It’s cool like that.

2) You get the added google mojo of a blog: Listen, I’m no computer scientist.  I just know that blogging works for SEO purposes.  For some reason it just happens.  You write cool church articles and plug them into awesome categories, and all of a sudden you’re number one in google for this and that search term.  It’s cool like that.

3) Build and Blog and get people involved: Warning.  If you put your new church website on a Wordpress blog, you just might encourage people to *gasp* participate. I know.  It’s a weird concept.  But your congregation has something to share.  Give them the opportunity by putting your old website to death and getting on with the business of blogging.

If you want a wordpress blog custom designed with everything that your little heart desires, made to order, chopped to perfection, and built to suit….click here.  You’ll be taken to a page where you can contact Jonathan Greene of the Kingdom 2.0.  He’ll call you.  He will be wearing a blue shirt.  He has a pleasant voice.  He’ll ask you exactly what you want out of your website, and you’ll tell him.  He’ll release his team of Church Blog Design Ninjas and they will create the perfect blog for your church.  You’ll pay him for this service, but it will seem like nothing compared to the joy you get from your new blog.  How’s that for a call to action?

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We have a similar responsibility to spread the Gospel in this day and age, but the ground rules of the game have changed a little.  In my generation, there is an entire unreached people group who need the love and truth of Jesus Christ.  They aren’t in Africa.  They’re not in Asia either.  They’re right here in the United States.

Who are they?  They’re the internet people, for lack of a better term, and they will never be available to you through the traditional devices used to spread the Gospel.  They won’t be on the street for your to witness to because they’re busy playing Second Life.  They won’t be out on the town with friends, because their “friends” are the folks with whom they play World of Warcraft on the internet every night.  If  you want to “talk” to them, you have to do it through facebook.  It’s a brave new world, and we had better get on board.

That being said, your Christian Blog is a commercial for this unreached people group. The one and only way that you might stand a chance of reaching them is if you embrace some of the same technology as them and begin to delve into their world.

Picture yourself holding a machete and clubbing your way into the “bush.”  It’s the same basic concept at work, and it requires the same courage to embrace something new.  LifeChurch.tv has actually created a Second Life Church.  They’re setting the pace for the rest of us, and we desperately need to get in on the act.

The unfortunate truth is that your old, static website has about as much effect on these people as that billboard that you’re spending two grand a month to rent, which is none at all.  Your ministry needs an online voice.  Your ministry needs a cutting-edge web presence.  Your ministry needs a blog.

Jon Greene steps down from the soap box and calmly walks away…..

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• Buzz: What makes one church more popular than another in a particular town? It’s a mystery to most. My contention is that if people have no other denominational preference, they’ll most likely attend the church that generates the most street-level talk in the town. Do whatever is necessary, within the confines of Godly conduct, to generate a buzz about your church. You’ll see your numbers begin to grow.

• Branding: You thought branding was just for Starbucks and Walmart? Wrong answer. Your Church has to be about something. What do you do better than anybody else? What has the Lord really blessed you with? My church is blessed with a body of believers who really love one another. It’s our thing. When you walk into the Sunday service, you can feel the genuine care and concern for one another being exuded from every smiling face. Perhaps your church is awesome at worship or firmly rooted in prayer. Find out what you do best, and brand it baby!

• Blogging: Now, this might seem slightly slanted considering the source, but blogging is one of the best possible ways to brand your ministry and generate buzz about all of your awesome programs. Plug, blogging will give you that extra google mojo that you need in order to dominate keywords like Churches in Tampa. Those results, of course, speak for themselves. Perhaps most importantly of all, blogging gives your ministry an online voice. It’s more important than you think. There is an entire demographic that can only be reached in this way. It’s importance grows daily.

There you have it. Solid church marketing advice in a reasonably attractive package…and I even made them all begin with the same letter so that it would be memorable. If I could, I’d walk into your office and put a bright yellow post it note on your computer to remind you. But, since the laws of physics prohibit that type of behavior, why don’t you just get our feed?

End shameless promotion. Have a great day.

P.S. This article is about putting butts in pews. The advice contained within is designed to help people get more people to come to church. The idea, when they arrive, is to tell them about Jesus. If you want to advance the Kingdom, you have to tell people about Jesus. A small caveat…

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