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.

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.

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?

Find the Best Keywords for Your Church or Religious Organization and Drive More Traffic to Your Website!

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.

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.

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!

One of the most necessary steps for starting an Internet marketing campaign is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a badly designed website you should think about creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your ministry. If you do not have experience in web design, there are many software packages which make it plain for those with no design experience to make a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your message. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.

Sending out e-newsletters can also be a part of an effective Internet marketing strategy. E-newsletters are basically emails which may include a range of information including informative articles, practical quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The meaning of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. Care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.

Email marketing campaigns can be another thriving aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your ministry programs. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to prevent sending emails which are unwanted and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. One more way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering relevant recommendation in your emails and other practical information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.

To conclude, optimizing your website for search engines is a essential aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for specific search terms. Numerous Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a special theme. This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. Consequently if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic.

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We select a focus area like a Google campaign, email marketing, organic SEO, or Social Media to determine how our research, and applied testing impacts your Internet traffic conversion.

This can be exciting in the discovery of effective Internet tools to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ, or to discover methods in which you can serve your members more effectively.

I want to invite you to learn more about how a Research Partnership can take your outreach ministry to another level.

Our team has spent the past three days at an advanced Internet marketing conference in Las Vegas and my mind is spinning with the new social media strategies available to organizations that “blow the doors” off your opportunities for maximum exposure.

Some of these strategies leap frog the “tried and true” tactics for getting on the first page of Google. Many times in just a few hours. Mind boggling!

I look forward to sharing these thoughts with you. Now I just need to get some sleep.

Ethical?

Ethical – “being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession.” Synonyms associated with ethical are upright, honest and honorable. There are thousands of SEO practitioners and companies seeking to serve you, the customer, with your
Search Engine Marketing need. It would be nice to know that you were dealing with an individual or company that was upright, honest, and honorable.

Search Engine Optimization?

My favorite definition of Search Engine Optimization is, “the ability for someone to find your web presence by entering a keyword in a search engine that is applicable to your product or service.” Your online presence is optimized so that it is found by a larger number of people who need what you are promoting. Pretty cool huh!

It is amazing what is being searched for in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. In November of 2007 there were 10.8 Billion keyword searches. That boggles the mind. Forward thinking churches and ministries are tapping into that searching to communicate the message of the gospel, and build the kingdom of God.

Why does Ethical SEO matter?

Why do you have website or blog? For most people it is to deliver a message. That message might be that they have a product or service to sell. For others it could be to let others know of the benefit of their organization. You might have the spiffiest looking web presence this side of heaven, but if nobody sees it, what good is accomplished? If you are selling a product and the people who need that product can’t find you, then you are on a quick path to a failed business. If you have the wonderful message of redemption and people don’t become aware of that message, then the Great Commission is not fully realized.

There is a right and wrong way to go about just about any activity. As far as Search Engine Optimization goes, I have chosen not to cut corners or try to out smart the search engines. I don’t want my sites, or my client sites to get in trouble with Google. Choose to travel the upright, honest and honorable path. Take the ethical approach to SEO for your company / ministry and you will never regret your decision.

I welcome your comments, as well as invite you to contact me for a free consultation regarding positioning your website or blog to be found by more people who are looking for what you have.