LifeWay CEO, Thom Rainer, who spent many years as a church consultant and has authored many books on the subject has authored a blog post published this week on the Pastors.com blog titled…

Seven (Hopefully) Helpful Hints After Seven Months of Visiting Churches

#2 on his list?

2)Many of your websites are terrible. Please make them user friendly. I want to see the worship times clearly on the home page. I want to be able to find the church’s physical address. I want to know what the church believes. I found out a lot more about potluck meals and senior trips than I did doctrine and worship times. Most of the websites were designed for those who knew a lot about the church. 

You tell ‘em, Thom!

Yet another reminder that if a church takes the gospel seriously and actually wants people to visit, hear the Word and connect with Christ and his church, it needs to take its website seriously.

It doesn’t have to be flashy. It doesn’t have to have live streaming video of your services. It doesn’t have to have the power to turn water into wine.  It just needs to be pleasant, user friendly and provide the info people want before they visit.

For Thom’s other 6 tips you can read the full article here.

Discussion

• How high a priority is having a pleasant, user-friendly website with visitor info for your church?
• How well is your church’s current site serving visitors?  How do you know?

Last week, I had the privilege of being DJ Chuang’s guest on the Social Media Chur1ch G+ hangout on air.  One of the questions DJ asked me was, “What can a pastor do in social media with just 1 hour a week?”

My answer might surprise you…

What do you think?  If you were talking with a pastor who was new to social media and he only had 1 hour a week to invest in it, how would you advice he spend it?

Or if you are a pastor who invests just one hour a week in social media, how do you use that time strategically?

You can listen to a podcast of the full interview, plus get notes and related links on SocialMediaChurch.net at Paul Steinbrueck of Christian Web Trends: Episode 43 or watch the full interview on YouTube.

Tuesday, I had the privilege of being DJ Chuang’s guest on the Social Media Church G+ hangout on air.  One of the questions DJ asked me was, how do you advise pastors and church leaders to manage their time on social media so it doesn’t become a 24/7 thing?

Here’s an excerpt from the hangout with my answer:

What do you think?  How would you advise pastors and church leaders to manage their time on social media so it doesn’t become a 24/7 thing?

You can listen to a podcast of the full interview, plus get notes and related links on SocialMediaChurch.net at Paul Steinbrueck of Christian Web Trends: Episode 43 or watch the full interview on YouTube.

Today (Tuesday, April 23, 2013) at 2 PM, I’ll be joining host DJ Chuang for a Social Media Church Google Plus hangout on air, and I invite you to join us here.

We’ll be discussing…

• What keeps churches from using social media more effectively?
• How do I manage your time with social media so it doesn’t consume you 24/7?
• What can the average pastor do with limited time on social media?
• Where are the biggest opportunity for churches that are just getting started with social media? (aka low hanging fruit)

If you’re not familiar with the Google Plus Hangout On Air feature, it will be like DJ and I are doing a video conference which is broadcast live on G+ and YouTube.  So, you’ll be able to watch live as DJ and I talk. Plus you’ll be able to chat and submit questions.

Got any social media church questions you’d like to see discussed?

Hope to see you there!

On the television show The Bachelor, on the first night of meeting all the women, the bachelor will give out a first impression rose to the woman who gave off the best first impression and he would like to get to know better.

You church is competing for the first impression rose multiple times a day when people visit your website.

Consider this:  your churches website is your first handshake and smile with a visitor.  It is their first impression of you.  Is your handshake strong and firm?  Do you make good eye contact?  Just like meeting someone for the first time can tell you a lot about them, your website can tell a lot about your church.

Many people these days will do their church shopping, or searching online first.  Your website is essentially their first visit to your church.  Your website can communicate several traits of the personality of your church before they even drive onto the parking lot.

The colors of the website, the font, the logo, they should all communicate your personality.  If you do not set up your website intentionally thinking of it as your first impression, then visitors could get the wrong idea about your church.

The photos, text, videos, events, Twitter feed, and so many other things contribute to how people will view you.  For example, the photos you place on your website show visitors the kind of people that attend your church.  The visitor can then ask, “Will I fit in with those people.”  That is just one example of how you can introduce yourself to an online visitor and help them know more about you.

Important Reminder:  No False Advertising!  Be honest in your portrayal of your church.  Show your church how it is, not how you want it to be.

I challenge you to look at your church’s website with fresh eyes.  And while you do that, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the overall first impression?
2. Is it accurate?
3. Based on what I am seeing, and not what I know to actually be true, would I visit this church?

This may a visitors first look at your church, but it could also be their last.

What do you think: what could churches put on their websites to make a better first impression to visitors?

[photo by mromega]

Love is in the air… or at least Valentine’s Day on the calendar. To love another person is one of the sweetest blessings God gives us. Not far behind that is the blessing of having a website you love. At least that what our team of web geeks thinks.

Seriously though, one of the greatest gifts you can give the people of your church, school, ministry or business is a website that they are proud to share with their friends.

February is “Love Your Website” Month at OurChurch.Com. Our goal for the month is to help you take the design of your website to the next level. Perhaps that means making some minor changes to your site which you can do yourself or perhaps we can help create a brand new custom website. Perhaps you need some feedback and suggestions on how to improve your site. Or perhaps you’d like $50.

Keep reading for more on all these things!

1) Love Your Website Bundles – $50 Off!
Our Website Service Bundles are one of the best deals on the planet and a great way to take your love for your website to a whole new level. Bundles combine a web hosting package, ad-free option, domain registration, search registration and our Template Personalization Service, all at a huge discount. This month we’re giving an extra $50 off all bundles.

Now the disclaimers… This special offer is only available through Feb 28. It’s only available to those who do not currently have a bundle. And it’s not available online – you must call us at (727) 723-2454 to get the extra $50 off. Tell Debbie you want the “Love Your Website” Bundle Special!

2) Get an Awesome Custom-Designed Website You’ll Love!
If you and your organization are ready for an awesome website that is:

• Custom designed to look exactly the way you want it
• Has all the functionality to help you achieve your mission
• Is easy for you to update and add to yourself
• Can be updated by multiple administrators anywhere there’s an Internet connection

Check out some of the organizations we serve in our web design portfolio. Then request a free, no obligation phone consultation.

3) Web Development Videos
We want every Christian organization to have a website they love whether it’s provided by us or by some other means. One of the ways we’re doing that is by creating a series of videos to help “educate consumers” (that’s you) about the website development process. That way you know how to evaluate the options available to you. The first two videos have been published:

• 5 Things You Need to Know Before Hiring a Web Developer
• 6 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Developer

Stay tuned for more videos about website platforms, prices, maintenance, how to discuss website needs with your board and more.

4) $50 to Share the Love
When you love someone you want the world to know about it. If you love your OurChurch.Com website, we want you to let the world know. And we want to give you $50 for doing it. There are two options.

A) Follow us on Twitter and then tweet: I love my @OurChurchDotCom website – http://YourWebsite.com (You must use @OurChurchDotCom in your tweet so we can see it and enter you in the drawing)

Or

Like our Facebook page and then post to Facebook: I love my @OurChurch.Com website – http://YourWebsite.com (If you type @OurChurch, Facebook should give you the option to select OurChurch.Com, making the “OurChurch.Com” a link to our FB page. You must do this so we see your post and enter you into the drawing. Here’s a quick video demo of how to do it.)

You may post to Facebook and Twitter once per day. Each post will count as an entry. On February 28, we’ll select one winner who will receive a $50 Visa gift card.

We love you!

Thanks to all of you who have given us the opportunity to help you achieve your mission online through our web hosting, web design and SEO services or by adding to the conversation here on our blog.  We love you! And we hope you love your website or are taking steps make your website more lovable this month.

In His Service,
Paul Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com

Jeremy Edsall of Virginia Beach, Virginia recently sent me a message:

Interested in knowing if you have any strategies for using social media for church growth. We have a new pastor… He’s incorporated prayer request “tweets” as part of Sunday morning worship but you and I know there are some awesome opportunities for reaching people in a positive ways around the globe with social networking.

Great question Jeremy! Glad to see you, your pastor and your church looking to reach out to people through social media.

An important principle of social media is: people connect with people, not organizations.

A church is not going to reach nearly as many people as the people who make up that church can.

My approach would be to gather together 5-10 people who are a part of the church and active in social media and create a Virtual Street Team. Ask them, “What could the church do in social media that you personally would interact with and share?”

If many of the people on your virtual street team are on Twitter and would retweet video of the Sunday message then tweet that. If they’d retweet a link to a daily devotional, then tweet that. If they don’t even use Twitter or wouldn’t retweet church content, then it’s probably not worth the pastor’s time (or whoever is tweeting for the church) to tweet.

There’s no one strategy that fits all churches, and there’s no site that every church has to use.

Be where your people are.

Share what your people will share.

What do you think of this strategy? What advice would you give Jeremy?

This is a guest post by David Brown.

Some Church’s do things the same way they have been doing them for years. Sadly, these Church’s rarely attract new members and eventually are forced to close their doors. More progressive Church’s are constantly looking for new material, outreach opportunities and community involvement. These are all very important for the grown of any Church. Now ask yourself, “who are we reaching”. You may be in a large Church that attracts thousands every week or a small country Church with a handful of members. Either way, you have the opportunity to reach many, many more for the Kingdom of God.

Acts 1:8 tells us “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem (city), in all Judea (state) and Samaria (Country), and to the ends of the earth (World).” Preaching and ministering to your existing members is not enough. Even reaching out to those in your community, is not enough in God’s eye. We are called to witness to the world.

I am blessed to be a part of a small Baptist Church in a very poor and rural area. However we are reaching many more than those in the Church. Most businesses now know that they must have a large online presence to stay in business. The same philosophy applies to the Church for two reasons; Church growth, and Kingdom growth.

Church Growth

You could have a beautiful Church with the best preacher, music, and services. You may have wonderful programs for all age groups and great community involvement. Even with this, many in your community won’t know about your Church. A growing percentage of the population will shop around online before making any large purchase. The same applies when they are shopping around for a Church. Can you be found online? Do you provide information about all of your services, programs, & small groups? Do you have specific information just for visitors? These can make all the difference for some people when deciding if they should even bother visiting your Church.

Kingdom Growth

As I stated above, Acts 1:8, and many other verses in the Bible tell that we should be witnessing to people all over the world. No it is not likely that any one Church is going to impact everyone in the world, but do you reaching as many as possible? Christian blogs reach thousands of people every day that have never set foot into a Church. Services can be streamed online for everyone to view. With the internet, the opportunities are endless.

Wither your Church has a membership of 50 or 50,000, if you are not also spreading the Gospel online; you are missing opportunities to grow His kingdom. Are you just preaching to the choir, or are you actively engaged in being His witness to the ends of the earth?

This is a guest post by David Brown from Renewed Strength  Please visit Renewed Strength for more inspiring posts.

Photo courtsey of 15RichmondPark

Google has made a major change in their Google+ Local terms of service that will affect how you get reviews for your local organization.  Find about about this change and other changes in the search engines in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMhmiESVmM

Here’s a brief outline of the video:

1. Google is still dominating search (surprise!)
2. Google did another Panda update.  These happen regularly now and should be expected.
3. Google updated their Google+ Local terms of service.  They now expressly state owners and staff members should not post reviews for organizations and organizations should not have computer kiosks solely for the purpose of customers/members posting reviews.
4. Bing updated their images search to make it quicker and more attractive.
5. Bing updated the appearance of their Social Sidebar.
6. Bing now includes information about famous people and places in their Snapshot column.

If you prefer, you can read the January 2013 SEO Update here.

How is your site ranking in Google and Bing?

We are in the internet age. So, you need to stay strong in the search engines and use the internet to achieve your mission online. 

Often when I tell church leaders and communicators that their church ought to be using social media, they tell me they’re reluctant to do so because they’re concerned that people who don’t use social media will get left out.

Really?

Since when have churches only done things that get 100% participation?

Like many churches, my church used to have a softball team. Did 100% of the congregation participate? Of course not. But those whose who did enjoyed it. They had fun, they developed friendships with the other players, it got them out in the community, and they made connections with people outside the church.

The same is true of social media (and virtually every other church ministry). Is 100% of your church going to participate? Of course not. But those who do will have fun, develop friendships with others in the church, make connections with people outside the church and maybe even share some of your church’s content & discussion with their friends.

Instead of being concerned that the people in your church who don’t use social media will get left out if your church uses social media, be concerned that the people in your church who do use social media will be left out if your church doesn’t.

If you’re a pastor or church leader is it time for you to step up to the plate with social media?

Thoughts?