Wouldn't it be great if your church had a buzz?
I don't mean hosting a bee-keepers' convention, but the sort of excitement and word-of-mouth promotion that builds interest resulting in more enquiries and higher attendances: "Have you heard about St Elvis'@Gracelands? It's so hot right now!" You know, a buzz!
But often, the cost of buzz marketing is likely to make the parish council's collective jaws drop and tongues roll out like carpet, eyes bulge and hair stand on end. Want to know a free or better-than-free way of doing this? (By the way, better-than-free means someone else pays you!)
Make the Internet your friend, my friend.
"Yeah, but we've already got our website up, most people know my email address, and we've eBayed old church furniture we don't need" "
Well, here's 3 quick ways to buzz your under-utilised Internet resources:
1. Custom Signatures: Do you have a custom signature at the bottom of all your emails that links to your church website? If not, why not? This is a no-cost, no-brainer way of raising awareness of your church and keeping it high. Make your web administrator happy with all the additional click-throughs to your church website. (Don't have a way to track this? Why not?)
2. Church Website: Many church websites look like they were built in the Stone Age of the Internet, ie. Pre-1995. You have to ask yourself the question: Why would someone want to visit your website? What is there to draw them there, and of such value, that they would tell everyone they knew about it? Suggestions: downloadable sermon notes and MP3's, helpful ministry articles, downloadable eBooks/PDFs, blogs, an invaluable list of links to other websites of value.
3. Google: No, it's not a Shane Warne special, but the most popular Internet search engine on the planet. Tried Googling your church website? If it's not easy to find for you, how will others find it? Suggestions: make the keywords that people would look for prominent in your titles, headings, and content. For example, St Elvis' would need at least the following to help Google rank the website appropriately in its search results: St Elvis, Gracelands, Anglican, church, you fill in the rest"
Did I mention better-than-free? I have two words for you: Google AdSense.
Andrew is Sydneyanglicans.net's resident digital scholar and the pastor of the new Asian Bible Church (ABC), a congregation of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.
Editor’s note: Clearly Andrew practices what he preaches. He insisted we turn the reference at the bottom of this article into a hyper-link to his site. Have you clicked through?
