Our March edition of YCW eNews contains this article:

It's quite possible that there is no better internet marketing tool than the very powerful "blog." Short for WebLog, a blog can be used for anything from a collection of links, to commentary on current news, to a place to post regular devotional thoughts, to an online journal or diary. Why should you (or your pastor) have a blog? Here are just a few reasons:

1. Blogs provide an easy way to provide regular fresh content without technical expertise.
2. Blogs allow for the author's personality to shine through in a way that informational websites usually don't.
3. Blogs will help your community get to know you better.
4. Blogs allow for controlled and focused dialogue around a particular topic.
5. Blogs are very search-engine friendly, and may help you improve your visibility on the internet.

I'd like to take some space here to expand each of those points, and to invite you to add your comments about how you have used blogging to expand your internet ministry:

1. Blogs provide an easy way to provide regular fresh content without technical expertise.
Anyone who can write an email can write a blog entry. Yes, it will take a little technical expertise to setup your blog on your website, but once you've done that, you can just give a username and password to the blog owner and let them start posting. They can write and publish, without any intervention from the webmaster!

2. Blogs allow for the author's personality to shine through in a way that an informational websites usually don't. Blogs have developed a reputation for being a more informal means of communication than a polished, published website. Authors have more freedom to be personable, and to share details from their lives. You might use a blog to show the development of a sermon or sermon series, allowing people to see the questions that you are asking, and the lessons you are learning.

3. Blogs will help your community get to know you better. You might use a blog to talk about your interests and hobbies, thus helping people in the community see you as a real person. You might talk about community events, or something your kids did. You might use your blog to invite dialog from the community, or to provide answers to Biblical questions.

4. Blogs allow for controlled and focused dialogue around a particular topic. Often, a scripture passage that you might preach about on Sunday morning will be far to complex to share all of the lessons that you learned in your study. You could use a blog to develop those concepts further, for those that were interested in going deeper. Or, you might choose to write a devotional blog--I know of one pastor who is "blogging through the Bible," sharing the lessons that he's learning as he reads.

5. Blogs are very search-engine friendly, and may help you improve your visibility on the internet. Because blogs are content-rich, search engines love them. If you are using blogger (this blog was created with blogger), then you can quickly notify Google of new posts. You can set your blog up so each post gets its own page, and is somewhat optimized for search engines. Done right, a blog will help improve your visibility to search engines, which will also expand your internet ministry.

What other ways are you using blogging tools to enhance your ministry? What questions do you have about getting started? Go ahead and post a reply, I'd love to hear from you.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: blogging, design, purpose, quick blog, Search Engine Optimization

posted by PastorJon @ 2:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

There was a day when churches were the centers of their community. They were the social services, providing help for settlers who hadn't yet built their houses. They were the town meeting hall, where business was conducted. They provided space for education, weddings, family reunions, and more. When a group of people settled a new town, the church building was often one of the first to be built.

While this may still be true in some parts of the world, I find that many churches are no longer considered an integral part of the town around them. Residents of the town use the public schools for education, the town hall for town meetings, and the local Elks Club for their family reunion. Government agencies and other non-profits have taken over the task of social services, and non-Christians have fewer reasons to walk through the doors of your church.

The greater problem of churches being essential and relevant to their community is one that each church must consider...and it's also outside the scope of this blog! However, I'd like to brainstorm some ideas about how we can make our church websites be an integral source of information to our community.

Search Engine - In order for this to work, you've got to take the time to properly optimize your site for search engines. Your goal is make your site visible, not just when someone searches for the name of your church, but when they search for your town, county, or even your state. The more traffic you can attract to your site, the better opportunities you'll have to become indispensible to your community.

Content - Are you providing content that is useful to your town? How about people who are interested in moving to your town, or coming there on vacation? Can you provide a section of pages with information about schools, real estate, community events, and tourist attractions? What about a calendar of events, or a place to list important updates? When you provide this sort of information, your site becomes a destination that contains indispensible information.

Questions and Answers - What would happen if churches moved beyond simply putting a "statement of faith" on their website, and answered the questions that people are asking about life? (Not to say that they don't care about our statement of faith...but I think that most non-Christians care more about whether or not God is real--and if He cares about them, then they care about our understanding of justification or sanctification). What if your pastor began a Question and Answer section? You could solicit questions from members of your congregation, and post them (along with answers) on your website. Once you got this started, you could also accept questions from visitors to your site.

Testimonies - One of the most powerful witnessing tools available to us is our own story of how God has worked in our lives. Wouldn't it be great if you had short testimonies of God's grace included on your website? Members of your congregation could write brief stories of what God has done for them, providing real-life stories of God's goodness.

Pastor's Blog - I'll be expanding this thought in a blog entry of its own, but I wanted to mention it here as well. I think one of the best things you can do for your church website is to help your pastor get started blogging. A blog provides a way to keep fresh and interesting content on your site, thus encouraging return visits. You might choose to offer devotional thoughts on your blog, or perhaps you will use your blog as an opportunity to talk about the needs in your community, or comment on news items. However you choose to use your blog, you will improve your sites exposure and visibility--increasing the pool of conversations.

How are ways that you've made your website indispensible to your community? What services can you provide that nobody else can? Feel free to post your thoughts below.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, plan, purpose, Search Engine Optimization

posted by PastorJon @ 9:19 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Author's note: I wrote this article several years ago in hopes that it would help churches embrace and redeem technology that had quickly demonstrated its power (unfortunately, a power that was often used for evil). During the past years, some things have changed, and some things have stayed the same. When I wrote the article, I was seeing some churches shy away from the internet--in the same way some churches shy away from the movie theater. I do think that churches have made great inroads into internet ministry--but there are more, greater, and more innovative approaches that we should be considering.

My prayer for the future is that God would help us think "out of the box" of simply having a website that tells about a church, and that we would develop powerful ways of ministering to those who find our site. It's far too easy for us to view our website as tool for getting people to come to our church, instead of seeing it as a tool for helping people come into The Church. (I better stop now, this is starting to sound like a sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago! :) )

Curse the Darkness? Nah...

Light a Candle!

In today's world, many people associate the internet with all that is wrong in the world. Unfortunately, the internet is replete with countless sites that espouse evil, provide sinful or tempting material, and run entirely counter to Christian principles. It would be easy for the church to abandon the internet, encouraging people to avoid it altogether. How much more difficult it is for us to effectively infiltrate the internet, illuminating it with the light of the Gospel.

Throughout history, different Christian groups have had choices to either abandon elements of the world, or work to change them. Movies, television, pop music, radio, art, and other elements of culture have occasionally been abandoned by the church in the name of purity. I'm not suggesting that we get knee deep in the crud of the world, but we must occasionally get our hands dirty in order to help clean things up.

In his book, "Roaring Lambs," the late Bob Briner suggests that, as Christians, we ought to actively engage our culture by creating work of the finest quality. It is not the mediums in and of themselves that are either evil or sacred, but the content. As responsible Christians we must push back the darkness with material that is uplifting, positive, and ultimately God-honoring.

As you think about the design of your website there may be a variety of materials and resources available to you that members in your community will find useful. While your site remains distinctly Christian, consider placing material within your site that is of such intrinsic value to your community that they can't help but visit. Within your congregation, you probably have a variety of writers, teachers, musicians, and many other talented individuals who can contribute to your website, increasing its value. Instead of cursing the darkness, let your website be a candle, illuminating the way for many to find God.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, purpose

posted by PastorJon @ 10:42 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

"You are the salt of the earth...you are the light of the world." (Mt 5:13-14)

As we contemplate what this means to us as individuals and as churches, we also need to consider what it means to us as web developers. As I understand this passage of scripture, Jesus reminds us that we are salt and light, and as such we are to be salty and illuminating. We are to season our world, and shine God's light to those around us. The bottom line is: our world should be brighter and more flavorful because of our presence in it.

This is one of the fundamental reasons why I believe every church needs to have an internet ministry. We are to flavor the web with God's love. We are to provide beacons of hope to millions of surfers who have no hope. We are to offer light to those in the darkness, and direction to those who are lost.

In this article, I'd like to consider a number of items that should inform the way in which we fulfill our call to be the salt and light of the world, even on the web.

Quality - I realize that not every church has access to a professional web developer. Most churches will be fortunate to have a single volunteer who is willing to learn a simple design tool like Frontpage. And yet, we must still work at creating and maintainin our website to the very best of our ability. In our culture today, your website may be the very first impression that a new visitor has of your ministry. Do whatever you can to make a strong first impression.

Current - One of the hardest parts of web ministry is keeping your content fresh and current. Do your best to keep your calendar up-to-date (and if that's not possible--it's probably better to not include a calendar at all! :) ). Quickly remove out-of-date information and replace it with material that will be useful to the person who visits your website tomorrow. At the same time, feel free to include reports or photos of recent events or ministry opportunities.

Visibility - While I think it is valuable to use your website as a means of communication within your church, I believe you also have a responsibility to provide something to those outside your church. It is important that your site can be found. Make sure that your META tags are optimized, and that you've submitted to as many search engines as you can. Submit your URL to your denominational website, and local church directories. Ask your local newspaper to include your web address as part of their religion page or directory.

Content - How relevant is your website? Is your content fresh? Do you have something to offer that will connect with a non-Christian who is visiting your site for the first time? How does your church website reflect the makeup of your church? Do you advertise your children's our youth ministries? Are there photos of your church? Are those photos a legitimate reflection of the makeup of your congregation? Do you provide enough information so someone who has been to your website will feel comfortable on their first visit? Here are some ideas about content you can provide on your church website that may be relevant to those in your community:

• Parenting articles
• Financial information - Retirement planning
• Community news
• Sermon texts or audio files
• Listing of community events
• Church calendar of public events
• Descriptions of ministries
• Doctrinal statement
• About the pastor
• About a worship service
• Compelling testimonies from people in your church

I would encourage you to visit a number of church websites and evaluate the degree to which they are flavoring and illuminating the web. Find out what they are doing well. Send their webmaster an e-mail with questions.

Once you have spent some time learning from others, develop a plan for how you will be the salt of the earth, even on the Web. And if you have a great idea, feel free to post it here on this blog.

Grace and Peace,

Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net

Labels: design, plan, purpose

posted by PastorJon @ 9:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post