YourChurchBlog.net

More churches are finding value in providing syndicated content on their website through a blog or podcast. In addition to providing an easy way to provide fresh material on your site, blogs and podcasts are subscribable--which means that people can automatically receive updates without visiting your website.

With the beginning of the year around the corner, you might encourage your pastor or youth leader to start a blog--they can share devotional thoughts, personal updates, church news, or upload notes from Sunday's message.

Or, you could record your sermons and create a podcast, expanding the reach of your pulpit ministry around the world. Podcasts are a great way to minister to people in Gospel-resistant portions of the world, as well as those who work nights & weekends. Podcasts can also help people "check out" your church before they come visit in person.

Our "Blogcast" application will help you create, manage, publish, and syndicate a variety of content. Blogcast comes in four flavors--basic, economy, deluxe, and premium. We recommend that most bloggers start with the basic package, while podcasters should consider starting with the deluxe package.

During November, we've made it even more affordable for you to try this powerful tool. Save as much as 20% off our regular rates by purchasing a blogcast in time for 2008! If you already subscribe to our blogcast tool, you can still lock in these great rates by manually renewing your plan for as many months as you would like.

Labels: podcast, quick blog, Sales

Friday, August 31, 2007
A Marriage Made in Heaven...

Well...a marriage made in internet-land, anyway! :)

I wanted to let you know that we've combined two of our popular products (Quick Podcast & Quick Blog) into one easy-to-use product. The new name? Quick Blogcast! If you were a previous user of either product, you'll find that your content will be imported into this new product. It should happen seamlessly, but if you have any problems at all, please don't hesitate to contact technical support at (480)624-2500.

Quick Blogcast comes with everything you need to launch a church blog or podcast--keep your congregation informed, offer devotional thoughts, or podcast your sermons. It even comes with an audio recording tool, so you can record your podcast right from your computer. In a culture where MP3 players are becoming more commonplace, this is a great tool to keep in touch with your busy and mobile congregation.

Plans start at just $3.50 a month, and you can always upgrade your plan as your needs grow.

Labels: podcast, products, quick blog, quick blogcast, what's new

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Is Your Pastor Blogging?

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:
Blogs provide an easy way to provide regular fresh content without technical expertise.
Blogs allow for the author's personality to shine through in a way that informational websites usually don't.
Blogs will help your community get to know you better.
Blogs allow for controlled and focused dialogue around a particular topic.
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

YourChurchBlog.net

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Jonathan Twitchell, the owner of YourChurchWeb.net, is also a pastor and podcaster. He and his wife Melody live near the coast of Maine with their black, long-hair, bobtail cat named Kiera.

Pastor Jon believes that churches must stay abreast of new technologies in their effort to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through websites, podcasts, radio and television, the Church of the 21st century has the unique opportunity to be available to all people, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

YourChurchWeb.net was begun in 2001 based on the conviction that every church ought to have a website, and that the technology should be as affordable as possible.

Jonathan's brother Douglas Twitchell joins us on this blog as an occasional guest blogger. Douglas is the owner of Virtu Software, and specializes in web-based programming and database development. For an example of some of Doug's work, check out Quote Puzzler. Doug is also very involved in ministry through his local church, and his ministry and devotional website.

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