Church Search Engine Optimization
Should your church be interested in a search engine optimized website that that allows you to be found by search engine traffic, or in other words, by people who are searching for a church home, ministry, life-help, or the truth about the afterlife?
Much thought should be put into the above question…
- What is the mission statement of your congregation?
- What do you see as your primary purpose?
- Are you more current member support oriented, or outreach oriented?
I see many church sites that are focused only on giving their members information regarding what is happening at the church. It is hard for the uninitiated, (non-churched folks) to gather information from such sites that will encourage them to visit and learn more about Christianity.
Search Engine Optimization is invaluable to those churches who want to penetrate past their walls into their communities by making themselves know with the most powerful communication tool of our generation besides one-on-one interaction. It stands to reason that if you want to engage people, it is probably important to do it where they are. Why make the job harder than it needs to be, right?
Where are they? Online. Searching the web, socializing at social sites like Facebook, playing Farmville, tweeting, looking for product or service reviews on any number of things. People research everything now. Many think Google is god. They have the resources that are needed to have all this information at their disposal. Computers are cheap. iPhones are cheap. High-speed Internet access is cheap.
Should your church be interested in a website that is optimized to be found by search engine traffic? I think so. Hopefully you will catch the vision also. Church search engine optimization is a powerful tool that can be used to meet those objectives.
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Hmmmm …. Twitter “Limit” Developments
I just experienced an interesting situation with Twitter. Having attempted to follow my pastor on Twitter … I was notified that I am following my “limit” of people on Twitter. Hmmm … that is quite interesting. It seems the assumption is that I do not have the intellectual capacity to follow any more than what I currently do. 
Is this a backwards insult, or a foward compliment?
Anybody else getting either tweet limits, or following limits besides me? This is going to put a crimp on profits and non-profits alike who are attempting to market with Twitter. I guess we will need to monitor this, and adjust as necessary.
Church Keyword Research with Wordtracker
Effective church keyword research can be conducted fairly well with free online tools if you know what you are doing. Given that fact, there are a few tools that have proven themselves over the years as indispensable in the work of identifying keywords that have the greatest potential to create exposure for you. You can save yourself a great deal of time and grief using the right tools for the job. Wordtracker is one of those tools.
I have found no better tool, at no better price, for doing root-word keyword research for profit, and non-profits alike. For three years running I have put the power of Wordtracker to use on behalf of my SEO clients.
I had heard John Alexander speak of Wordtracker in his webinars, and in his writings over a period of time, so I became intrigued enough to plunk my hard earned dollars down to try it out. That was a miracle in itself, since I am a naturally born skeptic. With a thirty-day, unconditional money back guarantee, I figured how could I go wrong?
Learning How to Use Wordtracker
One of the first things I did was jump into the wealth of information at “The Wordtracker Academy.” Just about any question you can come up with in answered here. It was a pleasure to see great documentation then, and the resource continues to grow.
The Academy contain articles on the following topics:
- Keyword Research
- Keyword Creativity
- Pay Per Click
- Search Engine Optimization
- Blogging
- Link Building
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Content
- Case Studies
There is even a free Keyword Research Guide! That is easy on slim church budgets.
Wordtracker costs $329.00/year, and better money will not soon be spent. Churches and religious organizations that are serious about creating online exposure for your ministries will want to take a look at Wordtracker. (It is easy with the trial period.)
Remember, there is a thirty-day, unconditional money back guarantee. Receive a free trial at Wordtracker! Get signed up for Wordtracker and start finding those keywords that drive targeted traffic to your site.
Church Marketing for Outreach – Internet Marketing Impact
I will unabashedly state that I am a fan of church marketing, especially Internet marketing for churches and religious organizations. Why? Because I believe it is where you can make meaningful initial contact with people who could benefit from what the church has to offer.
Religious organizations have historically lagged far behind in advertising tactics embraced successfully by business. I ought to know, as I pastored 4 churches over a period of 15 ½ years, and our methods to reach out into the community were antiquated at best. Many times the “church” didn’t have a strong desire to even reach out beyond the building walls.
Being an effective Internet marketing consultant with a large portfolio of successful clients has served to fuel my passion for this type of marketing as a way to expose people to the mission and programs of the church. The right question might be, “Why not?” instead of why.
The church has been leveraging media for a couple of centuries now. On of the most significant uses was the printing press in order to “mass produce” the Bible. We have worked diligently to take advantage of radio and television as a form of media. The time to leverage Internet marketing is here and available right now! Will we be wise to figure out how it can be used to assist us in fulfilling the Great Commission and building the Kingdom of God?
People are looking for “everything under the sun” in search engines like Google and Bing. Believe it or not, whether directly or indirectly, they are also looking for the meaning of life. If you don’t believe me, do a search on a simple phrase like “spiritual truth.”
It is my hope and prayer that staff and volunteers both will recognize that these tools can assist them in fulfilling not only their mission, but also His mission.
Video Internet marketing training for churches
Not all aspects of Internet marketing involves “rocket science” knowledge. Let’s face it, much of what makes up effective marketing for a church or religious organization is just your typical “roll up you sleeves” and get to it type of work. The failure is not energy and effort, but the focused knowledge of what needs to be done.
Don’t get me wrong. In some areas, especially in the area of research, you need some additional levels of experience and expertise to do higher level work. I include that statement from experience since I perform a tremendous amount of Internet marketing for businesses throughout the US and Canada.
But getting back to the point, there is a tremendous amount of effective Internet marketing that could be accomplished on behalf of church and religious organizations … if they had a group of volunteers that were not only informed on what to do, but could grasp a bit of the big picture to see how their contributions fit in.
Producing video training in a LMS “Learning Media System” environment might be the perfect training tool since you can go through the initial training segments, be tested for comprehension, interact with a trainer, and review the material for as long as you have access to it. Another option would just be downloadable video training segments.
Internet marketing for churches has some distinct differences from marketing businesses. Having 15 1/2 years in serving 4 churches as a pastor makes that abundantly clear. Tapping into the power of outreach through the Internet for a church is potentially more powerful.
Let me know what you think!
Maven Approved
