Few things are as motivating as being part of something bigger. For Christians, if you believe your new ministry or business is part of God’s calling on your life, you probably already feel inspired, excited and full of energy to get started.

Unfortunately, feeling motivated and called won’t necessarily be enough to make that faith-based project a success. You’ll face obstacles and competition, which could limit or even block the impact you want to have. For example, your still-unknown brand has to stand out among many other organizations’ marketing.

You need to implement wisdom and stewardship of all that’s entrusted to you to ensure your desired outcome in the long run. Jesus’ life actually carries many practical examples of how to do this correctly, even in business. 

Prayer and divine guidance will of course form part of your faith-based project. In addition, use these steps to guide you while building your brand among the challenges created by the current faith and business environments. 

Get Clarity on Your Audience and Your Competition

Knowing your audience’s needs is vital for branding in a commercial environment and even if your brand is focused on serving the community. You may think you want to engage with everyone, but your product or service is usually relevant to a specific group in terms of:

• Age
• Interests
• Needs
• Income
• Education
• Gender

When you study your target audience’s characteristics, it’s easier to create messages that resonate with their needs. Jesus is an excellent example of this. He identified and spoke to an individual’s unique needs, rather than offering a general piece of advice. 

It’s also important to research any competition for your organization. These organizations’ marketing will already give you insight into your audience’s priorities. Also, in order to have your brand stand out, you need to know what the opposition looks and sounds like. 

Decide What Your Brand Will Look And Sound Like

Based on the information above, you have a starting point for creating your own brand’s look, message and personality. To create a timeless brand, you need to keep your brand consistent for years to come. This requires absolute clarity on what you want to communicate in terms of your brand’s personality and the values that determine your brand’s decision making. 

Humans prefer building relationships with organizations and businesses they can trust. You have the benefit that Christian values, such as honest living, respect and love for others, will easily spark trust and loyalty in others. Now formulate a clear message which you can incorporate in your brand marketing going forward. 

Your look is as important as your message. In the same way Christians are supposed to be characterized by the love among them, you should easily be identified as being ‘different’ to others. Use visual aspects to your benefit to excel at this, such as designing a Christian logo that is relevant to your organization and picking brand colors that won’t be confused with your competition.

These visual elements should be used across all your marketing, both printed and digital. Whenever you share your brand’s message it will clearly be associated with your organization. 

Identify Your USP

When you start compiling your marketing content it won’t work to simply share all the benefits you provide. Here, once again, you need to focus on what makes your brand different. This will prompt others to choose your start-up rather than another brand offering similar services or products. 

Nurture Your Network

One can see Jesus’ journey as a metaphor for building a brand. After all, He wanted everyone to know about His message of salvation. To achieve this, Jesus joined hands with many people during his years of ministry on earth. Whether it was a few small fish and loaves of bread, or someone’s home to gather his disciples in, those resources helped Him fulfill His tasks. Make a list of individuals in your network with whom you can partner and enjoy mutual benefits. 

Make Use of the Digital Environment

You have divine inspiration for your start-up but you’re operating in a digitally driven world. Make sure you stay relevant by having a quality website and social media profiles that your audience can access.

Also create digital content on a continual basis. The way to impact others is to prove you’re relevant to their needs and needs can change over time. You must generate new, relevant content to keep on sparking their interest in your brand. 

Benefit from an Empowered Team

Another lesson from Jesus’ life is that He didn’t ‘go it alone’. He gathered 12 dynamic people around Him and made sure they understood His vision. Centuries later, their message is known across the globe, which proves the power of investing in your team. 

Talk to your employees about your goals, values and what you want your audience to understand about your brand. Having clarity about this makes it easy for them to include it in their communication with clients, partners and anyone they engage with. 

Final Thoughts

Your faith-based startup can become a beacon of light to clients and members of the community the way you dream of. Simply don’t forget to pair wise decision making with your faith-driven zeal. If you have any additional tips for other believers who own startups, please share your insight. 

Alicia Rother

Alicia Rother is a freelance content strategist who works with small businesses and startups to boost their brand reach through creative content design and write-ups.

about.me/alicia.rother

The post How to Build Your Faith-Based Startup Brand appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Quite simply… to reach their goals!

Years ago, I had a conversation with the owner of Grand Vista Pools, Kevin Shipp, about their website.  They liked their existing website but it had one major flaw:  They could not update the website themselves.  As a result, each time they wanted to add pictures of a completed pool or a video customer testimonial, they needed to pay someone to make the changes for them.

In addition, their email through their hosting company was unreliable.  And because many potential and current customers communicated to their company through email, it was crucial that email was always up and running.

Kevin didn’t want to change the look of the website or how it functioned, so we came up with a solution that would streamline the site building process:

• Build a new website on the easy-to-use WordPress platform.
• Use their existing design.
• Keep the same features of their existing website.
• Transfer all their current video, pictures, and text from the existing website to the new website.
• Train Kevin so he could edit his site without assistance.

There were several advantages to taking this approach:

• Minimal work from Grand Vista Pools.  Kevin and his staff are very busy with their business.  They didn’t want to be bogged down in creating new content or making tons of decisions about a new website.  Taking this approach allowed Kevin to focus on what they do best, building gorgeous pools.
• Keep cost down.  By keeping everything much like it is on their existing website, it allowed OurChurch.Com’s design team to build Kevin’s new website without a lot of emails and meetings.  This kept the cost of the new site to a minimum.
• Quicker build time.  Because Kevin kept things like they were on the exiting site and with minimal communication needed during the site building process, the OCC team could build Grand Vista’s new website is a much shorter time than normally required for new website.

Since launching their new website, Grand Vista Pools has been able to better communicate the services they provide to prospective clients, and they are busier than ever!

OurChurch.Com also began working with Grand Vista on search engine optimization.  Watch this 90 second video to see what Kevin has to say about the impact of SEO on his business:

The big take-away…

The results [of OurChurch.Com’s SEO sevices] have been amazing! Our web traffic has increased significantly which has turned into a lot of new business! -Kevin Shipp, Grand Vista Pools

Read more about OurChurch.Com’s custom web design services and SEO services. If you are interested in discussing how OurChurch.Com can help you live out your mission online, schedule a time to talk by completing the form below.

We invite you to visit the website of Grand Vista Pools.  Please let us know what you think about their website by posting a comment below.

This is one of our 25 Stories from 25 Years.

Mark Steinbrueck

President at OurChurch.Com

Mark has served as the President of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, leading the Custom Website and Sales departments with dedication and expertise.

Over the years, he has managed hundreds of custom website, graphic design, and marketing projects for churches, non-profits, businesses, and schools.

Beyond his professional work, Mark is deeply committed to serving his community. He coordinates and packs over 700 meals each week for children through One Community Now’s Pack A Sack for Kids program, volunteers in the Children’s Ministry at Generations Christian Church, and participates in a weekly Bible study.

ourchurch.com

The post Why did a thriving custom pool builder change their website? appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

In fact, I can personally attest to how essential these business are as my A/C went out this past Easter when temps were reaching 90 degrees in sunny Florida.

Last fall, Kirkus Aire, contacted OurChurch.Com about their website.  Jeff (co-owner) had worked for other companies in the HVAC industry for many years.  He realized that people deserved better than simply being a name on a business’ balance sheet.  The desire to offer honest, reliable and customer-focused service lead he and is wife, Rachel) to establish Kirkus Aire, Inc. in 2003.   Jeff and Rachel always want to honor Christ in the way they conduct their business and the way they serve their customers.  It is the basis for their mission statement; “Dedicated to earning your business!”

I asked the team at Kirkus Aire to provide some insight about their business, the website they had prior to contacting OurChurch.Com, the process of working with OCC to build a custom website, and how it has impacted their business…

Q: Tell me about the issues you were struggling with before you contacted OCC.

A: Before contacting OCC, we used another service.  Our website was nice, but we had limited input on how it looked before it launched.  Our old website appeared very generic with a running joke about the nice older gentleman’s picture who seemed to work for every other HVAC company across the US!

Q: What was the process like working with OCC?

A:  As soon as Mark opened our first create-session in prayer, we knew we were with a kindred heart.  OCC lead us by the hand through the entire process, answered all our questions and showed us themes that matched more our personality as a business.  It’s a great feeling to be able to name the people I’m working with rather than dealing with a different-every-time I called, call-center.

Q: What has the impact been on your business after the website has launched?

A: We know that the experts at OCC are busy fine-tuning our website so that it is reachable and a great resource for our customers.  With so many tasks to accomplish daily, knowing OCC genuinely cares for our business allows for a sigh of sweet relief.

Please take a minute to visit the kirkusaire.com website.  Post your comments or questions about their website below.  If you are located in Florida in the areas of North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Englewood, Venice, and Lake Suzy, please give them a call for all your A/C and Heating needs!

If you have a business, church, or ministry and want to talk about getting a new website or attracting more visitors to your site through top 10 rankings in Google, complete the consultation request form below.

Mark Steinbrueck

President at OurChurch.Com

Mark has served as the President of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, leading the Custom Website and Sales departments with dedication and expertise.

Over the years, he has managed hundreds of custom website, graphic design, and marketing projects for churches, non-profits, businesses, and schools.

Beyond his professional work, Mark is deeply committed to serving his community. He coordinates and packs over 700 meals each week for children through One Community Now’s Pack A Sack for Kids program, volunteers in the Children’s Ministry at Generations Christian Church, and participates in a weekly Bible study.

ourchurch.com

The post During COVID-19, this Business is Essential appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Gary and Greg Henady own a business together, EZ Texture Pro based out of south Florida.  EZTexturePro is a business that was designed for home owners and do it yourselfers.  They make it easy for anyone to update their home by applying a beautiful texture finish to their walls.  It is such an easy process almost anyone can do it and achieve excellent results.

I asked Gary and Greg to share a little about their business, what it was like prior to contacting OurChurch.Com, what the process was like working with OCC, and how their business has changed since they started working with OCC?

Q: Tell me about the issues you were struggling with before you contacted OCC?

A: Before partnering with OurChurch.com to build and manage our website we continually had problems with our site.  We had the same issues over and over. We couldn’t ever reach the site managers by phone, we never received suggestions on how to improve the site or how to drive traffic to it, and we couldn’t even count on our website to be online on a consistent basis.

Q: What was the process like working with OCC?

A: OurChurch.com has proven to be an excellent company to work with.  The process of setting up our site was easy, fast, and professional.  They were willing to discuss the site during non working hours to accommodate our schedule.  They provided us with several options fully explaining the advantages for each option. They even answer the phone, which is a rarity today.  They are also quick to answer emails.

Q: What has the impact been on your ministry after the website has launched?

A: Since partnering with OurChurch.com for our website our business has steadily increased.

Thank you OurChurch.com.  We are completely satisfied with your service. – Greg Henady, EZ Texture Pro 

We encourage you to visit Gary and Greg’s website at eztexturepro.com.  Post your comments or questions about their website below.

Also, if you have a business, church or a ministry and want to talk about improving your web presence, please contact us here for a free consultation.

Mark Steinbrueck

President at OurChurch.Com

Mark has served as the President of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, leading the Custom Website and Sales departments with dedication and expertise.

Over the years, he has managed hundreds of custom website, graphic design, and marketing projects for churches, non-profits, businesses, and schools.

Beyond his professional work, Mark is deeply committed to serving his community. He coordinates and packs over 700 meals each week for children through One Community Now’s Pack A Sack for Kids program, volunteers in the Children’s Ministry at Generations Christian Church, and participates in a weekly Bible study.

ourchurch.com

The post Florida Small Business Experiences Growth with New Website appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

1) Focus on helping people

When it comes to marketing, there are always two sides – one is you, the seller, and the other is your buyer. But, in order to break this seller-buyer relation, you need to change your point of view. If you focus on actually helping people, your business can bloom.

Your customers will find you reliable and honest, which is one of the most important things when it comes to business.

2) Listening

Since you don’t make your products for yourself, listening to your customers is essential. There are many ways for you to get their opinion. Investing in digital marketing might give your business the well-needed boost. This is also a great way to hear what your customers have to say. So, organize a comment section for your website and establish social media profiles for your business. People will share, comment, and you will get a clear picture of their demands and wishes.

3) Connect with others

The internet is a sea of content and it can be difficult to swim to the surface. Keep in mind that you can’t do it by yourself, no one can. That’s why connecting with other websites can be very productive for your business. Connect with prominent bloggers and notable social media pages. A single link from these people can give you hundreds of new visitors and potential customers. Link out to some important blogs or websites from your website. This way you suggest their service to your visitors, so you can expect them to return the favor.

4) Be careful with low prices

Many entrepreneurs lower their prices in order to attract the customers. Although this can be a good idea in some cases, it’s usually a road that leads to a blind alley. The fact is, if your price is too low, people will consider your product is not very good.

On the other hand, people will expect excellence if your prices are high. The best solution is to maintain reasonable prices. This way, you will be able to cover different groups and give each person what he or she needs. It takes time to establish this sale philosophy so be patient and make smart moves.

5) Offer something for free

Besides providing excellent content on your website and social media pages, it’s a great strategic move to give your customers something for free. We’re talking quality items that you could certainly sell but you choose to give them away instead. People always appreciate free things so this strategy can bring you plenty of new visitors and customers.

The message here is what’s important. Many websites offer a free membership or a PDF book regarding their business. If you do this, there is a good chance people will get more interested in what you have to offer.

The bottom line

Leading a great marketing campaign is essential if you want to be on the top. However, every successful entrepreneur knows that you need to save your soul and be honest with your customers. This is the only way to maintain a stable relationship with them. Each one of the tips given in this article will help your goal but you need to have a good strategy and to use them in the right moment. If you are short on cash but still decide to give something for free – the results might not be so good. Create a meaningful plan and execute it carefully. Good luck!

Which of these marketing tactics resonates with you? Why?

JohnStone

John J. Stone is a business consultant at Seo Consultants Sydney and Nirmal Web Design. Through years of experience, he became a devout believer in the notion that form should always follow function and that developing the ability to think outside of the box is a prerequisite of being a successful entrepreneur.

The post 5 Easy Marketing Tricks You Can Use Without Losing Your Soul appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

So far Google has been pretty tight-lipped about the update, only providing a few somewhat generic bits of information.  The rest we’ve had to discern for ourselves.

So, what do we know so far and how will it effect you?

What We Know So Far:

• Search results from non-local IPs using local modifiers (e.g. “near Tampa”, etc) are not showing the same results as local IPs, especially in terms of showing the local 3 or 7 packs (the set of specifically local results that are set aside in the search results.  Click here for a full sized example.).  In other words, if you are in Topeka, KS preparing for a trip to Disney and search for “restaurants near Orlando, FL” you will probably not see the 7 pack.  However, once you arrive in Orlando and do the same search, you probably will.
• There has been a significant decrease in the number of keywords which return local 3 and 7 packs at all.  Two studies have shown about a 24% decrease.
• It connects local more with the same signals Google looks at for universal rankings.  Local search results used to be governed by their own signals to determine rankings.  Now local results are determined by many of the same signals as universal results.
• It connects more with Knowledge Graph, spelling updates, and synonyms.  Basically, Google better understands what you are searching for and may return instant answers via Knowledge Graph.  (Knowledge Graph is Google’s repository of information they have collected which allows them to answer people’s questions directly without directing people to other websites.)
• Google said that this new algorithm improves their distance and location ranking parameters.  In some cases, Google has also decreased the area they’ll use for their search results.
• Local directories, such as Yelp, have seen a bit of a boost, making it even more important to be listed in the major local search/review sites.
• There is less duplication comparing the local 3 and 7 packs and the rest of the results in the universal search.  Before, you may see many of the same websites in both the regular results and the local 3 and 7 pack.  Now, you’ll likely see different websites.

This is what we’ve seen so far, but this is pretty early on and there’s always a lot of movement for a while after a major update.  We may find additional changes as the dust settles.

What Does This Mean for You?

• Possible decrease in visibility: If your website showed up in the local 3 or 7 packs and not the rest of the universal results, you may see a decrease in visibility if your keywords are ones for which Google is no longer showing the local packs.  If this is the case for you, then you need to work to show up in the top universal results.  Also, if you had duplicate listings in the universal and local packs, you may now only have one listing.  There isn’t really anything you can do about that.
• If you are far from the city centroid, you may have more trouble ranking well.  It’s always been more difficult to rank well if you are on the outskirts of your town, now it will probably be even harder.  This is all the more reason for you to be working to get lots of positive reviews and ratings as well as building links and social shares to your website.
• If you have a lot of links to your website and have a well optimized website, you may see a boost in your local rankings.  Since these types of signals are now better connected to the local results, they will help more.
• You need to have listings in local directories/review sites.  Yelp and others have become even more prominent.  So, you need to have those listings.

We’ll continue to watch the effects of the update and let you know what we find as well as letting you know if Google reveals anything else.  If you’d like help with having more visibility in the search engines, let us know and we’d be happy to help.  You can request a free, no-obligation consultation here.

Share With Us:

• Have you seen a difference in your search rankings?

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.

He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.

www.ourchurch.com

The post Big Google Local Update – How Will It Affect You? appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Why?

That’s a great question.  You might think it’s because when I searched for great restaurants in Tampa, it was one of the first restaurants listed and you’d be partially right.

Or perhaps you’d think it’s because I went to their website and it had beautiful pictures of their food and their dining area?  That didn’t hurt, but it’s not really the reason I want to go eat there.

So, why do I want to eat at Pane Rustica even though I’ve never eaten there before?

It’s real simple.  They had good online reviews…lots and lots of good, positive reviews.

If you have a local organization, you need to be getting positive online reviews.  Positive reviews do a ton of good for your organization.  So much so that I couldn’t really put it all into one blog post.  I will, however, tell you three ways positive reviews will help your organization.

3 Ways Positive Reviews Help Local Organizations:

1. They Improve Local Search Rankings.
One of the signals Google, Bing, and others use as a factor in how well you rank for searches is the number and tone of reviews.  So, a local organization with lots of positive reviews will tend to rank better than one with few or no reviews.  It’s not the only factor, granted.  Location, name, description, categories, links, and many others still affect rankings, but reviews are one of the stronger factors.  Along with reviews, positive ratings (the star ratings) also help to provide a boost.  The two usually go hand in hand.

2. They Provide Social Validation.
Why do I want to go to Pane Rustica?  Because a lot of people have posted reviews saying how great a restaurant it is.  Other than that, I have no connection to the restaurant at all.  People love to see reviews.  In fact, a recent study shows that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.  Every organization loves word of mouth promotion.   For some, it’s their entire strategy for growth.  This study shows that online reviews are the same as personal word of mouth recommendations for most people.  If someone was on the fence about you before, some good positive reviews can give them that extra push to visit.  If someone has no previous connection to you, seeing a lot of positive reviews can convince them your organization is worth checking out.  Everyone else loves you, they probably will, too.

3. They Engage Your Members/Customers.
Reviews aren’t just about non-members or potential customers.  They are also beneficial for your members/customers.  A person who takes the extra step to posting a positive review, is also taking the step from consumer to fan.  They are officially forming a connection with you.  It’s like when two people are dating.  It’s a somewhat casual, uncommitted relationship until they say those words…”I love you.”  That takes the relationship to a whole new level.  Similarly, when someone posts a positive online review, it’s the online customer version of saying “I love you.”  It creates a new level of loyalty or, in the case of churches, ownership.  This is my church and I think it’s great!

Don’t Waste Time…Get to It!
Reviews are huge for local organizations and it’s time you started working to get some positive online reviews.  No, wait…not “some”… LOTS of positive reviews.  Overwhelm people with how awesome people think you are.  If your not sure how to get positive online reviews, check out our Ultimate Guide to Get Positive Online Reviews for Your Church.  If your organization isn’t a church, don’t worry, most of the principles are the same and you can get a lot out of that guide.  So, get to it!!

Share Your Thoughts:

• What do you think of online reviews?  Are you influenced by them?  Do you trust them?
• Share some things you have done to get positive reviews.

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.

He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.

www.ourchurch.com

The post If You Have a Local Organization, You Need to Do This appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Survey Says!?
A group called BrightLocal did a survey recently where they asked 288 SEOs and small/medium sized businesses (SMBs) which they found to be most effective at bringing in traffic to their websites and converting visitors into members/customers.  Though they only spoke with 288 people, those 288 people have worked with over 7000 locations.

So, what did they find?

Local SEO (organic search) gives the most traffic with Google+ Local coming in second and Bing/Yahoo local coming in a little further down the list.

Here at OurChurch.Com, when we do local SEO for an organization, we include working with organic search, Google+ Local and Bing/Yahoo local, making it even more effective for an even greater return on investment.

People Converting Left and Right
It’s also not just more traffic where local SEO beats the competition.  The surveyed group also indicated that the majority of their conversions (sales or new members) also comes from local SEO.

Not Just True for Businesses
This isn’t just the case for businesses.  Churches, schools and other ministries also see similar results.  The reality is that most people use the search engines for just about everything they want to find, whether looking for a product or a church.

What Are You Waiting For?
These are real world results.  They show that local SEO is the most effective way for local organizations to get more traffic to their site and have more conversions.  If you haven’t thought about doing local SEO for your organization or you just haven’t gotten around to it, let this be a wake up call for you.  It’s time to start working on it.  If you can’t find the time or you just don’t like doing SEO work, let us know here at OurChurch.Com and we’d be happy to help you out.

Tell Us Your Story:

• What have you found to be the best way to bring traffic to your website?
• What source have you found to be the best converting (have the best ROI)?

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.

He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.

www.ourchurch.com

The post What’s the Best Way to Get Traffic to Your Local Website? Survey Says! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

I’ll tell in today’s video.

In other news, Bing launched their new voice interactive assistant which they are calling Cortana.  It works much like Siri on the iPhone.  Cortana is available on Windows phone 8.1.  I’ll tell you all about that and about what Yelp, Bing, and Google have been up to in the past month in this month’s SEO Update video.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlBBIjcAOmA

“Hi, I’m Kurt Steinbrueck with OurChurch.com and this is your monthly SEO update keeping…”  Click here for a full transcript.

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.

He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.

www.ourchurch.com

The post Nearly 80% of People Who Do This Convert appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

…until now.

Google Reviews Around the Web:
Google has released a new feature in Google Places that will tell local organizations about all the reviews that Google finds around the web (except for Yelp*).  If you log into Google Places and click the “Reviews” tab on the left, you can view all the reviews Google has found.  This gives you a good overview of how much people are talking about your organization and what they are saying.

Respond to Reviews:
You can do more than just see what’s out there, you can click to view the entire review (the dashboard may just show a snippit) and post a response.  This shows people that you are engaged and helps to create relationships.

Analytics:
In addition to being able to view the reviews and respond to them, you can get some decent analytics information, such as:

• How many reviews do you have?
• What kind of ratings are you receiving?

This feature is just now being rolled out.  So, if you don’t see anything yet, give it a day or two.

What Do I do?
So, what should you do now that you have this cool feature that can help you keep track of all your reviews in one place (well, all but Yelp)?

1. First, go check it out and see what reviews you find.
2. If you find reviews and they are pretty fresh, go ahead and post a response.  You probably don’t need to do anything if they are older.
3. If you don’t have any reviews?  You need to start working to get some.

Here is some helpful information about reviews, such as how to get them, what to do with negative reviews, etc.

• Study Reveals Positive Reviews Boost Google Map Rankings
• More Reviews Equals More Visitors and Customers
• Tips on Managing Your Online Reviews

*Why not Yelp? Yelp has had some legal issues with Google stealing their reviews and content before.  So, my guess is Google isn’t allowed to get the content from Yelp.

Share Your Thoughts:

• Do you keep track of reviews?
• Is this feature something you plan to use?

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.

He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.

www.ourchurch.com

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