Unity Church Marketing

Awhile back I wrote an article that asked about if I were just starting out marketing my church, would I go with a website or a blog? And I answered if I was just going to start with one, I would join the Blogging Brigade. That was part of a larger article, so I wanted the opportunity to dig in a bit deeper.

I explained that blogs have the ability to quickly build a community while websites (especially church websites) tend to be static. What does that mean you ask?

Websites are the corporate line In my experience, it is not uncommon that once a church website gets published, the only thing that might (and that truly is the exception) change is the calendar of events. Church websites tend to provide details about the church, the minister, what the church advocates, location directions, etc. Church websites can be a great tool if all the information that you need doesn’t really change. You really can’t say they are inviting in most cases. I am not saying they don’t try. Keep in mind that websites primary method of dealing with information is outgoing. You might get a prayer request on some church websites, but pretty much it is a one way street in regards to the information that is provided.

OK then…why go with a blog? Blogs on the other hand are living and very much organic. They have the ability to showcase ministries and individuals within the community having a human experience. That is what we connect with. Blogs have the ability to create a relationship. And aren’t relationships what most churches are all about? We want people to connect with us personally and as an organization. We can show pictures of people/events that we are participating in as well as detailing how we as individuals and as a church are reaching out into the community.

That is making sense. Now please explain…What is a blog?

Originally, the term “Blog” comes from the combined words “web log”. They began as online journals where one detailed what was happening in their life. Over the past few years, they have become much more.

Blogs can be journal driven, have some static pages, links to other websites and articles. They may contain pictures, videos and almost anything else that a website can. Blogs can cover a variety of subjects from news, gossip, how to make money to spirituality. If you can think of it in either the written or video format, there is a blog for it.

Some other thoughts about what a blog is:

· They can be completely free if you don’t have a budget for it.

· Posting text and images is a very simple process. Adding a video to your blog is just as easy.

· Other people can respond to your posts by leaving comments – so it’s a nice way to try and build a community and encourage participation.

Are blogs hard to maintain? I can start a blog, choose a theme (of which there are literally thousands, both free and fee based), add pages to cover the multiple ministries that you are serving and be ready to start writing in 15 minutes or less. No need to know code. Just write as you would on a document, add a picture or a video here and there and hit the button that says “Publish”. It is that easy.

Once again, blogs are not only easy to install, but they are also easy to maintain.. (If I can do it, almost anyone can…trust me on this!)

With all of the free blogospere tools that are out there (WordPress, blogger, drupal, etc), almost anyone can get started and it doesn’t take what I term a “gearhead” (another techie term that describes a geek) to do it.

Will a blog showcase our church services? One of the things that I love about a blog is that if you give each of your ministries a log in and a password, they can write and update their ministries from home. Once again, this really helps with the feeling of community as you are really going to get the flavor of what your church is all about. As an added bonus, search engines seem to have a greater appreciation for blogs vs web sites because they love new content!

But my church already has a website. Now What? Relax. All is not lost. In fact, if your church currently has a website, a blog can provide a perfect addendum to your current web space. In addition, I don’t really need to depend on a webmaster to get my info uploaded.

It is often useful to have a blog along with your website as links between these can help improve your website’s search engine rankings.

Bottom line, if you have a website, add a blog to it. Almost immediately you will see a difference in how visitors to your site respond. If you don’t have a web presence, I think your best approach is to start with a blog.

I wish you well.