Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.
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As you prepare for Easter: four necessary things to do with your website to make it ministry effective

8 March, 2017 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Be sure to update your website before special events
Be sure to update your website before special events because many people will come to it first.

Obviously, today almost every church has a website, but sadly many church websites are little more than a newspaper or yellow pages ad for the church (the basic facts and little else) posted online. Unless someone is already interested in your church and is only looking for an address or service time, there is little to engage them.

There is even less reason for a person who is not already a believer to linger at your site. Information might be provided on how to get to the church, but little outreach or any other kind of ministry is done.

The reasons for this ministry challenge are not because of graphics or design short-comings, but of organization and content. Below are four suggestions to take your site beyond being an ad only to become an effective ministry tool as you prepare for Easter outreach and for the rest of the year. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Easter, Website Creation Tagged With: beyond graphics on church websites, Effective church websites, tips for effective church websites

Effective Church Communications ranks on PAGE 1 of Google Search! and advice for your church to rank well

8 September, 2016 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

ECC on Page one of Google SearchNot only one time, but 3 times!

This morning I decided to check to see where we are in terms of Google Search, so I entered in the generic "church communications" and this is what came up—3 listings on page one! To the left is a screen grab of it.

I was very happy to see that because I don't buy ad space, use paid SEO (search engine optimization) services, or do any of the dubious key word loading and all sorts of things that some recommend to get a site listed in even the first 5 pages of Google search.

What I work very hard to do is to provide church communicators with worthwhile, useful content. Google has stated repeatedly that is what they are honestly looking for when they rank websites.

I trust the results affirm we're doing some things right.

How this applies to your church

[Read more...]

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Filed Under: Blog, Church Outreach and Marketing, Website Creation Tagged With: church website SEO, church websites and Google, Churches and SEO, write worthy content

Why technical expertise isn’t enough for a church website

3 September, 2015 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Though technical expertise is important in the creation and administration of a website and though there are many technical experts in churches who also have great hearts for and an understanding of ministry, there are many instances where relying on technical expertise alone can have some negative effects on a church website. From the many interactions my ministry has with church website creation and function, here are some cautions to prayerfully consider.

A clarification first

Technology encompasses many tools and without the tools of technology, I wouldn't be writing this article. Technology isn't the bad guy—the problem is with people who misuse technology, who hide behind their expertise in a tool for a variety of reasons.

The purpose of this article isn't to judge motives of the people involved in making technology decisions about your website, but to caution church leaders and the technology experts in the church to honestly evaluate if the attitudes and controls over your website in the name of technology are serving the church.

This is a still a new ministry area for everyone involved and most people involved in technology in the church are doing the best they can—which is why the following cautions use the vague term "technology" as the descriptor of the perpetrator of the problems and not less helpful terms like "controlling webmaster" or  "tech-savvy, arrogant kid." Truth be told, sometimes the biggest problem with a church website is one person with the attitude that their technological expertise gives them the power and permission to make ministry decisions.

This is a challenging situation in many churches today where senior leadership isn't comfortable with technology and allow themselves to be intimidated by those with expertise in these areas. But no area or person should be out from under the authority of God's Word and the command to fully fulfill the Great Commission. The following suggestions aren't intended to incite power struggles in the church, but to encourage everyone involved in the ministry of the website to approach it with prayer and humility and an honest desire to use it to reach out to people and grow them up as disciples of Jesus.

Technology goals don't always align with ministry goals

When you evaluate how your website is working and what makes a good website, don't stop at asking if the technology is functioning smoothly or if it looks contemporary. Far more important, when people come to your website, does it answer these questions:

  • Why does your church exist?
  • What are the driving values, the key ministry issues and concerns?
  • What are the major ministries at your church?
  • What is available for kids, seniors, singles, or seekers?
  • Do you have a specific audience you minister to and if so, who are they?
  • Can a visitor to your site answer these questions, or know where to find the answers to them from their first few minutes at your site? If not, why not?
  • Are all of your schedules, times, calendars up-to-date and correct?

Your website might function flawlessly in load times and be technically perfect, but if it doesn't immediately let people know the purpose, goals, times, dates, and components of the ministries of your church and have places where they can go on the site to find out more information and connect with the ministry—you have work to do.

Technology cautions aren't always volunteer friendly

If a church website is useful, or has the most basic credibility for people to look at it and trust it, it HAS to be up-to-date. If your website isn't up-to-date (every week, every day, on a continuing basis) it probably isn't the fault of the system used to create your website. More often than not, in many churches, the problem of a continuously outdated website is the responsibility of a tech-savvy person who is the only one allowed to update the system.

No church website can serve its people if all the content has to be entered by one person. The systems used to create websites are all (or should be) cloud-based and any volunteer or ministry leader at your church should be able to create content, recruit volunteers, explain programs and keep times and events updated. Volunteers in various ministries should be in charge of keeping all these things up-to-date. Once entered, then a person in the office can skim over them to make certain all is OK and publish them on the website.

There is a BIG difference in time and complexity in the management of a church website between making one person in the church office responsible to get all the content on the website and to keep it continuously updated and allowing a team of people to update content and schedules and to have the church finally OK them before they are published. To expect one person to keep a website updated with content and all the calendars is an impossible task. It might take some time and effort to train volunteers in the various parts of your church to create their own content and calendars, but it will be worth it if you truly want to serve people in the various ministry areas.

If this isn't a priority in your church website ministry, you may need to take a look at the stated purpose of your website ministry. If you want to serve people with it (and not just create a wow site), making sure it is always updated and current should be an obvious priority.

Technology and design values aren't always the same as ministry values

Why did you design and built your website the way you did?

Was it designed to primarily to serve your people or to reflect a cutting-edge, latest and greatest design trend that a tech person told you was the way websites were being designed today?

A lot of current web design is created for one purpose—to sell something. It starts with a big scrolling header with splashy, upbeat images and artwork and then more images in smaller boxes. This might be eye-catching, but much of it is ultimately cold because there is little behind the pictures.

  • Ministry values on a website make important content obvious. They explain; they serve; they are more concerned about meeting needs than trying to impress.
  • Ministry values use images for a purpose, to underscore, to teach, to add meaning. If the images are of events involving the congregation they contain captions that explain what is going on. They invite people to join in and not leaving them on the outside looking in with no idea what is happening or how they can be part of it.

Is your website meeting pastoral and ministry needs of your congregation?

No matter what the technology used to build your site or the design of it, this is the important question to ask when you evaluate the success of your website.

It's an easy question to answer by simply looking at your website statistics.

  • Do your people come to your website often?
  • Do they spend time on the site?
  • Do they recommend it to their friends?
  • What is the percentage of your congregation that visits your site?

Your website visitor numbers will answer these questions and are readily available (if you are a pastor or staff person who doesn't know where to find them, ask the tech person who created your site).

Your website numbers don't lie. If people aren't coming to your site or interacting with your social media, it's because they don't find them useful. Advertising the website more or talking about it more from the pulpit are necessary, but that won't help if there isn't content on the sites that people want or find useful. If they've come to the site more than a time or two and couldn't find updated information on when an event or ministry was taking place that was important to them, you've taught them that your website can't be trusted.

Pastoral and ministry values are reflected on a website that does whatever it takes to serve the people in your church and in your community. People are looking for answers to life. Christians are looking for ways to grow in their faith. If your website is meeting needs, your numbers will reflect it.

What technology can't do

Technology can't create content.  Lack of current content that ministers to the needs of your congregation and the audience you are trying to meet is what all the issues above have in common.

A ministry-oriented website needs lots of content and that means lots of people creating it. Once again, if one person is holding on too tightly to the control of what goes on the website, especially if their area of expertise is in technology and not Biblical teaching or ministry, ministry content creation won't happen.

Sometimes it's easier to rely on technology than on the hard work of creating content for a website.  Many churches are still in awe that they have a website, grateful for anything online, and thrilled that anyone would work on it. That isn't enough.

We have to change that attitude if we want to use our church websites as the extraordinary tool they can be for the kingdom of God. Challenge your people (and yourself) to create complete, Biblical, constantly up-to-date content. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose or a witty video. Here are some ideas:

  • Explain everything--terms, programs, anything that is obvious to you. You can be certain that visitors and new people will appreciate it.
  • Interview people in the church, have members share how they are living the Christian life.
  • When you ask for volunteers for anything, have complete information on the website about the ministry, volunteer requirements, scheduling, anything else that might be helpful.
  • Tell people what is going on, why they should attend, and how they can grow as a Christian because of the ministry. People today are busy--give them a reason to fit your event into their schedule.
  • As a leader of the church or in any ministry, share how you feel about your ministry, what your prayers are for your people. That is creating social media with meaning. Nobody needs to see one more selfie on a church website, but they do need honest content.

Create biblical-based content that will change, challenge, inform and inspire. When you do that, no matter what technology you use to get it on your website, it will be successful in what matters most—helping people find and follow Jesus.

 

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Filed Under: Church Communication Leadership, Church Communication Management, Multi-media, Website Creation Tagged With: church communication leadership, Church Websites, manage church websites, websites and ministry

Why site was slow and hard to access yesterday–and the white knight that came to the rescue

25 November, 2014 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

A number of you emailed me that my site was having problems and before I could figure it out, I got this email from the wonderful company that hosts my site, the Agathon Group, http://www.agathongroup.com/, aka, the white knight that came to the rescue:

Yvon,
This evening our automated monitoring systems alerted us that your site effectivechurchcom.com was running unusually slowly.  We identified a remote site that was attempting to guess your WordPress login by trying different password variations, 69817 times in a row!  We blocked that site and your server started behaving normally again.  We also disabled the file called xmlrpc.php that they were using to try to login.  Xmlrpc is an older WordPress feature that almost no one uses any longer, so there should be no ill effects for you.  If you know you ARE using xmlrpc for any reason, just let us know and we’ll put the file back.  Otherwise, no action is required on your part.
Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Alan Ritari
support@agathongroup.com

They have hosted my site ever since I started it and they have been a joy to work with the entire time. I feel like I know a good bit about church communications, but there is so much I don't know about web hosting and all that can go wrong. At present it's mostly me trying to do it all and I don't feel the ministry could really function without them. They answer my questions kindly, take care of tech stuff I don't understand (like SSL certificates) and help me even when I don't know to ask, like today.

They are honestly all great Christian people--I met many of them personally years ago when the Gospel Com group was active. These guys did some of the pioneering work on the Christian Internet and they have served the Lord faithfully in technology ever since then.

In addition, unlike some of the commercial sites today, they don't buy you with all kinds of extra junk you don't need and don't spam you about extras--they just do their job and do it well.

Obviously if you want a hosting site--I highly recommend them and this season of the year am especially thankful for Agathon and all they do to help church communicators.

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Filed Under: Website Creation Tagged With: christian web hosting, great web hosting, recommended web hosting, safe and secure Christian web hosting

Is your website an open door or barrier to your church?

15 March, 2014 By Yvon Prehn 6 Comments

Church website=church door.
Your website can either be an open door or a barrier to your church--it's your choice.

Today, if we have a question about anything, where do we look up information? If we want hours of operation, products offered, staff bios? If we want to know what movie is playing, what time a concert starts, what classes are offered at a college where do we do to find out? Obviously, we go to the website. It's the same whether we are looking up information about what computer to buy or what church to attend.

We judge the organization, its people, and its products based on the website. If the website gives us winter hours and it is spring; if the sale has been over for weeks or if the hours of operation are incorrect, we aren't likely to visit the business or have confidence in it. If the business is a franchise and the website is an obvious template, with little local personalization, we won't think much about the technical skills (equated with competence overall) of the staff. Again, we judge a church the same way.

Unfortunately many church websites don't meet the minimal standards.

Though lost customers may be bad for a business, the consequences for a church are much more serious. Following is an example of what can happen and then some suggestions for change.

True story here

A couple hadn't been able to attend church for some time after moving to a new community because the wife was ill. Her health improved somewhat and they were excited about attending church the following Sunday. It wasn't easy for her to get up early, take the needed medications, and prepare for church, but they loved going to church and after checking out many churches in the area found one on the web they wanted to visit. The website told them the details, time it started, directions, and they assumed, all they needed to know.

As they walked through the doors they were met by a woman who said, "do you know what is going on today?'

"No," they replied.

"We are not having church today, we are doing a community service day. You can stay and work or go somewhere else."

When the couple asked why this was not on the website—the woman replied, "It probably should have been. I'll pass that on."

It was not a pleasant encounter and the couple left.

What if. . .

The couple who related the story to me, consulted the web again, and went to another church later that morning. They were upset at that church and may or may not visit again, but they are believers in Jesus and will eventually find a church home.

However, what if the visitors had been a couple in emotional crises? What if they were not believers in Jesus and had finally worked up the courage to visit a church only to be told that it was a day for the insiders to do a project and that they were not included? What if it was the last time a person who had been hurt by church leaders in the past decided to try one more time to attend before giving up on church completely?

Of course we can't know the situation of every person who comes through our doors and of course there are always people who won't read notices no matter where we post them, but there are things we can do to prevent potential spiritual disasters and that in addition are simply good business sense and good manners.

A primary recommendation

Keep your website CURRENT! Not only on your home page should you have any changes that differ from your normal schedule, but also on the pages that list ongoing events. For example if your service is cancelled for a work day, on the home page, if you have rotating headers, one should say "WORKDAY this SUNDAY—no regularly scheduled services.

A similar message should be on ALL listings of your service times throughout the website. This is because you never know where people will drop into a website based on the results of a search engine.  If you've done these things and a visitor still shows up – honestly apologize and ask them how you could have communicated more effectively.

A foundational to-do—learn how to create a living website

Your website is not only a static brochure, but should be a living, ever-changing communication vehicle with your community. Having said that, there is also place on your website for static information that rarely changes—staff bios, overall vision and mission of the church, etc.  Information like this is essential and having it in a consistent location is one of the primary benefits of a website as opposed to the ever-flowing river of social media.

Social media is at best an interactive communication tool useful most often with people who are already interested in or involved in your church—but it is a lousy tool to find out about the background of the staff, the beliefs of the church, or for an overview of the children's ministry. A website is the perfect tool for this factual information, but even though this information stays relatively the same, it must also be updated immediately when things change.

To make your website living, you must have a website that the church office staff knows how to modify. Before the objections start, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for members of the church office staff to not know how to modify your website. Churches have had access to the Internet for over 20 years and most churches have had websites in some form for over 10 years. But for some reason, many church communicators, including pastors and church office staff think they can't create a website, modify an article, or create a blog and that simply is not true.

Get a grip people—if you want to communicate to your world today, you must to learn the language of the digital world. It isn't that hard, it is exciting, and can be tremendous fun. You've learned how to drive a car, use a computer, and any number of additional skills for your work and life. You can learn this.

More will be coming on this site about websites and how to create them, but in advance of that, there is an abundance of instructional videos, books, websites, and tutorials on how to create websites and blogs with WordPress— the free and easiest way to do it.

Finally, all the above isn't simply a push for church staffs to update their websites, so visitors aren't turned away; it's about doing all we can to help people find Jesus. Throughout history missionaries have learned new languages, given up family, safety, and comfort to share the gospel. Our challenge is to become fluent cyber communicators, let's not be found wanting in this.

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Filed Under: Blog, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Facebook, etc., Website Creation Tagged With: bad church websites, church website challenges, Church Websites, mistakes with church websites

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