1. It helps prospective visitors to better understand what topics and themes are being taught and how your pastor(s) teaches.
2. It helps members see and/or hear messages when they miss services.
3. It’s great for SEO.

Let’s go into more detail on benefit  number 3…

4 Ways Posting Sermons on Your Website Helps Your Church SEO!

1) Search engines love fresh content.

When you publish a new page to your website each week with that week’s sermon info on it, you are creating at least one fresh, unique piece of content each week.

2) Social shares improve search rankings.

Each sermon is published on its own URL which can then be shared both by the church and by anyone who listens/watches the sermon. The more shares, the better your search rankings.

3) Rank for specific topics and questions.

People use search engines to find answers to all kinds of questions, including spiritual questions.  Some examples include:

• Why does God allow evil?
• What happens after we die?
• Was Jesus a real person?

Every sermon preached at your church answers questions like these which people around the world are searching for. It’s a great opportunity to give people true, biblical answers to these questions, and help these people connect with your church.

4) Improve rankings for local keywords.

Pastors who are strategic about engaging their congregation in ministry opportunities don’t just make announcements, they preach announcements. What I mean is pastors should be strategic about talking about ministry opportunities in their sermons and relate them to the message.

When you do this, you can improve search rankings for things the people in your local community are looking for like “Vacation Bible School in Springfield” or “Easter Sunrise Service in Springfield” or “Celebrate Recovery in Springfield”

Those are some pretty sweet church SEO benefits, right?

But, you might not fully realize these benefits unless you are posting your sermons in the right way.

9 Ways to Maximize the Church SEO Benefits of Your Sermons

To maximize the SEO impact of your sermons, do as many of the following as possible:

1. Post each sermon to its own page/post.  (Don’t put a whole bunch of sermons on one page)
2. Embed video of the message. (Google loves videos)
3. Optimize the video. If the video is posted to YouTube of Facebook, edit the title, description, category, and tags. Include scripture references, topics discussed, and questions addressed.
4. Embed audio of the message
5. Podcast the audio of the messages
6. Include the sermon outline or notes
7. Include all scripture references mentioned in the sermon and link out to where people can read them on a site like BibleGateway.
8. Include recommended action steps. If any of those action steps include going somewhere or doing something with another organization, link out to their website and include their address.
9. Include links to recommended resources

The bottom line is…

Posting sermons to your church website can dramatically increase search rankings and visitors… but only if you optimize them well.

Looking for a great church website builder with a sermon manager?

A lot of the big corporate website builders don’t have sermon managers built into them.

OurChurch.Com’s WP-EZ Church Website Builder uses the built in blogging functionality for its sermon manager. If you want to take your sermons to the next level, organizing and categorizing sermon audio, video, notes and graphics, check out our premium EZ Sermon Manager.

If you’re interested in having us design and build a new website for your church or help with your  church SEO, we’d love to talk more with you.

Complete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a free phone consultation.

Comment and discuss

• Are you posting sermons to your church website? If you are, what benefits have you experienced? If not, why not?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post How Sermons Can Give Your Church Website Better Search Rankings appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

What features do you need in your church website?

To answer that question, we start by thinking about the purpose of the website. What do you want it to accomplish for your church?

Most churches want their websites to:

• Provide information about the church to potential visitors
• Provide information about events, groups, and ministry opportunities to members

But there may also be other things your church wants to accomplish with its website:

• Provide materials for discipleship
• Provide an easy way for members to send their tithes and offerings to the church
• Help people connect with the church via email or social media
• Help people get in touch with staff, ministry leaders or other members
• Help people sign up for events
• Sell books, Christian gifts, or church merch (branded shirts, coffee mugs, etc)

Once you know what you want your church website to do, you can then consider the features and functionality to accomplish these things.

We looked at the features most requested by our Custom Web Design clients, feedback from our WP-EZ Church Website Builder users, and church website trends to put together this list of:

The Top 5 Must-Have Church Website Builder Features

1) Calendar

If you want church members to get more involved and better connected, they need to know when things are happening.  A calendar is essential.  Additionally, not every new person starts by coming to a Sunday service. Sometimes people start by going to a bible study, Celebrate Recovery, or some other event.

While it’s ideal to have a calendar feature provided by the website builder, another option is to integrate a 3rd party calendar like Google Calendar. If your church is already using another calendar system, it may easier to continuing using that. If you do, make sure that calendar can be embedded into a website, and make sure your website builder can embed the calendar.

2) Sermon Manager

Putting audio, video, and/or notes from your sermons online can accomplish several different goals. It helps prospective visitors get a better idea of what to expect, it helps members stay connected when they miss a Sunday, it can help with discipleship, and it can even help with outreach if you encourage people to share sermons or snippets of sermons online.

The best option is to us a website builder that has a sermon manager built into it. However, if your website builder doesn’t have a sermon manager, it’s also possible to use a blogging feature to blog sermon audio, video, and/or notes each week.

3) Online Giving

Most people pay their bills and manage their money online. By facilitating online giving on your website, you can help your members give more consistently.

Online giving is another feature where it is ideal if its integrated into the website builder. However, if you’re already using an online giving system, it may be easier to continue using that system as long as you can embed a “Donate” button into the header of your website and/or a give page.

4) Email Subscription

The number one form of communication for many churches is email. Yes, most churches still do announcements during their gatherings and most hand out a printed bulletin, but many people don’t hear/read these. Plus most people miss one or two Sundays every month. Email is the most reliable way to communicate with people during the week, so providing a way for people to subscribe to receive your emails is important.

While we used to advocate for choosing a website builder with a built-in newsletter feature. Today, 3rd party email service providers like MailChimp provide do a better job of combating spam and managing subscribers. So, we suggest using an email service and then embedding the “Subscribe” and “Archive” features into your website.

5) Social Media Integration

Another good way to help people stay connected with your church is through social media.  Having icons/links to your social channels on your website helps with this. And having social share buttons on pages and posts helps people share things from your church with their friends.

The bottom line is…

Make sure your church website builder has the functionality to connect and communicate effectively with visitors and members.

Build a website with website builder that supports all these features!

If you are searching for the best church website builder, we’re pleased to inform you our WP-EZ Church Website Builder has all these features and more.  Save yourself time and start building your church website now!

Or if you would rather have OurChurch.Com build your website for you, fill out the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop).

Comment and Discuss… What are the most important features you want in your church website?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

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 Church Website Builder Must-Have Features! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

There is no standard for capabilities needed to call something “SEO friendly.”

Your search rankings have a huge impact on your church’s ability to connect with people searching online for a church. You can’t afford to just take someone’s “SEO friendly” claim at face value and then find out later – after you’ve built your website – that you can’t fully optimize your website. Your search rankings will suffer as a result!

So, we’ll break it down for you and tell you what to look for.

10 SEO Features to Look for in an SEO-Friendly Church Website Builder

1) Page URLs You Can Edit

Some website builders set the URL (web address) of your pages to something obscure like yourdomain.com/page13.htm which is both hard to remember and has no keywords in them.

Having keywords in the URL of your pages like yourdomain.com/clearwater-youth-ministry/ will help your web pages rank better for those keywords.

2) Mobile Friendly

More than half of all website visitors use a phone or tablet. When a person searches Google from a phone or tablet, Google shows “mobile search results,” which are different from the search results it shows computer users. One of the factors that affects mobile search results is whether a site is mobile-friendly or not. So, make sure your church website builder creates mobile-friendly sites.

3) Title Tags You Can Edit

The title tag of a web page is not visible to visitors but is read by search engines and used on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Some web builders let you to set one title tag for the website and then use that one title tag for every page of the site. This is terrible for SEO! Others don’t give you any control over title tags at all, automatically setting them to “[site name] – [page title]” (also not good).

Make sure your church website builder allows you to set each individual page’s title tag.

4) Meta Description Tags You Can Edit

The description tag is another page element that is hidden from visitors but used by search engines and shown on the SERPs. Like the title tag, you want to be able to customize the description tag for each individual page.

5) Image Alt Attributes You Can Edit

When adding an image to a page, there is special attribute called an “Alt” attribute which is used to describe the image for people who are visually impaired. Even though search engines are getting pretty good at recognizing objects in images, they use alt attributes to tell what the images are about and factor them into search rankings.

Some web builders don’t allow you to set the alt tags for your images. Make sure yours does.

6) Proper use of H1 & H2 tags

The HTML H1 tag is supposed to be used for the title of each web page. H2 tags are used for major headings. Search engines consider the words contained in the H1 tag the most important words on the page, and those contained in H2 tags the second most important.

Each web page should have just one H1 tag and 1-3 H2 tags. I’ve seen some web builders create pages that have no H1 or H2 tags on them, while others have too many.

7) XML Sitemap

An XLM sitemap is a pages that lists all the pages in a website and is specially formatted for search engines. Search engines use sitemaps to make sure they don’t overlook any pages in a website.

Your church website builder should automatically generate a sitemap for your website.

8) Ability to Insert Verification Code

It’s a good idea to connect your website with the Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools provide lots of insightful data and will notify you if there are problems with your website.

To integrate your website with these tools, Google and Bing require you to verify you are an administrator of your website by inserting hidden code in the header of the website or uploading a special file into your web hosting account.

Make sure your website builder will allow you do to verify your site in one of these two ways.

9) Blog

A blog is something most people wouldn’t consider an “SEO-friendly” requirement. However, blogging is one of the best ways to improve a website’s search rankings because it enables you to help visitors with keyword-targeted content.

We help all of our Progressive SEO Management clients write, optimize, and share blog articles. This is something we could not do if they used a website builder that lacks a blog feature.

10) Social Share Buttons

Like a blog, social share buttons aren’t on most people list of SEO-friendly factors, but social shares do factor into some search ranking ranking algorithms. Plus the more people who share your pages and blog posts, the more likely it is that people will link to your website and blog articles, and links are a big factor in search rankings.

The bottom line is…

Your church website builder should help your church get better search rankings not hinder it.

Get a Church Website Builder built for Church SEO

Because we at OurChurch.com provide SEO for churches, when we developed our WP-EZ Website Builder we made sure to include all 10 of these SEO capabilities, so it would be the best church website builder possible.

Comment and Discuss…

• How important do you think these SEO features are in a church website builder?
• Will you check for these SEO features before building your next church website? Why or why not?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post 10 SEO Features of an SEO-Friendly Church Website Builder appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Church website themes have changed a lot over the years.

When we developed our first church website builder more than 20 years ago, it was common to have Christian symbols in the header – crosses, doves, bibles, etc.  Every once in a while we still have people contact us and ask us if we have themes like that.  (No, sorry, we don’t.)

When selecting the theme for your church website, it’s important to understand that your goal is to help your website visitors understand who your church is and find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.

With that in mind, here are…

3 Secrets to Selecting the Best Church Website Builder Theme

1) Mobile-friendly

More than half of website visits are made using mobile devices.  Therefore it’s absolutely essential that when you build a church website, the theme is responsive and mobile-friendly.

“Responsive” means the theme responds to the device the viewer is using – phone, tablet, computer- and displays each element of each web page in a way that looks good and functions well.

2) Page templates

Page templates are pre-made pages you can add to your website. The page is all laid out for you, you just have to replace the sample text with your text and the sample images with your images.

Page templates are helpful because instead of creating each page from scratch, you start with a page layout that has already been designed by a website developer. If you use a church-specific website builder, its developers probably understand the needs and goals of churches and their website visitors and designed those page templates to meet those needs and goals.

3) Brand consistency

Branding is communicating the values and culture of your church through the way you talk about and present yourself.

When most people hear “branding” they think logo.  Yes, your logo is an important part of your brand.  But in addition to your logo, the colors, fonts, icons and images you use on your website also communicate your brand.

Colors – The colors used throughout your website should be consistent with the colors in your logo.  If you’re not crazy about your logo colors, learn more about the psychology of color. It might be time for a new logo with new colors that better fit the culture of your church.

Font – As with colors, the font used throughout your website should be consistent with the font used in your logo. The font you use communicates culture – serious, playful, casual, fancy.

And yes, I used the singular form of the word – font, not fonts. Don’t be using different fonts on different pages or multiple fonts on one page. Your website is not hosting a calligraphy festival.

Icons and images – The style, shape, and color of the icons and images used throughout your website also communicate something about your culture.

This is why website designs are called “themes” – because the colors, font, icons and images are all designed to communicate a specific theme.  So, choose a website theme that matches the style of your church – formal, casual, urban, country, artistic, or whatever.

The bottom line is…

The best church website builders have themes that are mobile-friendly, include page templates, and compliment your church’s brand.

Get the best church themes!

OurChurch.Com’s WP-EZ Church Website Builder includes a wide variety of church themes. All our themes are mobile-friendly, come with page templates, accommodate a logo and can be customized to match your logo’s colors.

If you prefer to have us create a custom church website design for your church, we can do that. And if you’re thinking about logo design or branding services, we’d be happy to talk more about that too.

Fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to request a free consultation.

Comment and discuss…

• What do you think is important to look for in a church website theme?
• What questions do you have about church themes?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

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 3 Secrets To The Best Church Website Builder Designs appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Located in Oak Cliff, Texas, the church has always sought innovative ways to connect with people and build relationships that reflect Christ’s love.

Originally, the church built its own website using OurChurch.com’s DIY website builder WP-EZ. However, they soon realized that to effectively reach younger generations, they needed a more engaging and dynamic website.

Instead of opting for a fully custom-built website, they found the perfect balance with Custom WPEZ – a professionally built website on the same platform, offering greater customization and expert design at a fraction of the cost of a fully custom website, while remaining affordable month-to-month.

“We Want People to Belong, Not Just Attend”

Pastor LaCedric Williams shared his heart for ministry and the digital shift the church has embraced:

“The church, the community—Greater Community First Baptist Church here in Dallas, Texas—we are a mid-sized church that desires to reach the community. Our focus is creating a place to belong. We don’t want people to say, ‘I go to this church.’ We want people to say, ‘I belong to this church.’ So, we’re really hyper-focused on connection, community, and building relationships.”

This vision of belonging is what led them to invest in a better online presence—one that speaks to both current members and future generations.

Why Upgrade the Website?

The church had an existing website, but it was limited in functionality and did not fully reflect its mission or brand. Pastor Williams explained:

“We had really a basic web page that told just a little bit of the story, but it really didn’t reflect our brand—what we do and how we do it. It was more of a platform-type website that gave just a little bit of information.

We knew that in order to reach this generation and newer generations, we needed to take some steps to think outside of the box, be creative, and build a better website for young adults and young people to interact with.”

This realization led them to seek the assistance of professionals while still maintaining the flexibility of the WP-EZ platform.

The Decision to Work With OurChurch.com

Pastor Williams shared why they ultimately decided to have OurChurch.com build the site for them:

“DIY is good for the moment. But at some point in time, you have to make the decision to use a professional—someone that does this every day, all the time, and understands the trends. What is going to cause people to click on your website? What is going to cause people to stay on your website? What is going to cause people to interact on that website?

When we use OurChurch.com’s professional website service, it helped us achieve our goals of reaching our youth and young adults. And we’re already seeing results from it.”

A Seamless and Impactful Experience

The process of working with OurChurch.com was smooth and stress-free. The team took the time to understand the church’s vision and execute it effectively.

“The experience was amazing! OurChurch.com made the process very simple. They already had a lot of information on our church from what we had there and through Facebook and YouTube. The things they didn’t have, they asked us through questions that were very simple to answer and helped give direction.

“We always have an idea of what we want things to look like, but they were able to really put into place what my thought was. They were able to draw it out and build it out exactly how I was envisioning it. That speaks to the synergy and the connection that OurChurch.com tries to have with the visionary of the church. They did a great job.”

Advice for Other Churches Considering a Website Upgrade

For churches and ministries that are unsure whether to invest in a professionally built website, Pastor Williams offers this advice:

“You really need to make sure that you place the website as a high priority in your goals for the church. It’s easy to decide, ‘Hey, we’re just going to build it ourselves and get our name out there.’ But when you just throw anything out there, it reflects your brand.

“We always ask God to give us His best. Well, why don’t we give God our best? And that’s not just in how we conduct service, but also in how we reflect Christ. The website is important because not only does it reflect the church—it reflects the God we serve.”

Looking Ahead

Greater Community First Baptist Church has embraced the digital age with a website that truly represents its heart for ministry. Their new Custom WP-EZ site allows them to connect with people in a way they never could before, bringing more engagement and visibility to their mission.

With the right digital tools in place, the church is excited about what the future holds as they continue to create a place where people don’t just attend—they belong.

Check out their new website at GreaterCFBC.org

Do you want a more impactful online presence that simplifies your life?

If you lead a Christian ministry,  business, or church that want to have a greater impact and reach more people online, and you realize that you’re too busy to do it yourself, talk to a member of our team about a custom website design and/or SEO services.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call.

Comment and discuss…

• What most impacted you about Greater Community First Baptist Church’s story?

Erica Couture

OurChurch.Com Member Support Specialist

Erica is a seasoned writer and digital content expert with a talent for helping organizations tell their stories online. As a Member Support Specialist at OurChurch.Com, Erica has crafted engaging blogs and web content for faith-based organizations and small businesses, contributing to websites like AProperFarm.com, HolyTrinityTampa.org, and her own platform, MrsEricaandBoydee.com.

With an MFA in Media Design Management from the International Academy of Design and Technology, Erica combines creative storytelling with strategic communication. Her leadership as Owner and Creative Director of CornerStoneFaith.com (2010–2016) showcased her commitment to faith-based content and community engagement, building meaningful connections through her work.

Known for her personable and relatable writing style, Erica translates complex ideas into practical, inspiring insights. Beyond her professional pursuits, she shares glimpses of her life and passions on YouTube at Mrs. Erica and Boydee. Erica’s blend of expertise, creativity, and authenticity makes her a trusted voice in the digital space.

MrsEricaandBoydee.com

The post Spotlight: Church Reaching Next Gen Through Digital appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

If you’re a pastor, church communicator or heavily involved in church ministry, I hope you can take a breath now. But you’ve got one more important Easter task to do…

Review Your Easter Analytics

Hopefully, you’ve already done some reviewing of your Easter services and related events, gotten feedback from members of your team, and made notes about what worked well and what didn’t. You’ll be able to learn from these observations and make next Easter even better.

What about your website? Your emails? Any social media you used? Any online advertising you did? Have you reviewed how they did?

You should have your website connected with an analytics system like Google Analytics.

Analytics can answer important questions like…

• How many website visitors did we have the week before Easter this year compared to the week before Easter last year?
• How many website visitors did we have the week before Easter compared to a “normal” non-Easter week a month ago?
• Look at the sources of your visitors in the week before Easter to last month and last Easter? Which sources saw the biggest increases? Organic search? Email? Facebook? Google Ads? This will give you a good idea of how well your Easter marketing and outreach worked.
• If your website is connected with Google Search Console, look at your search analytics to see which keywords were searched most often to find your website.

Don’t be content to just guess as to what worked well (and and not so well) with your website, search marketing, and Easter outreach…

Smart people make data-based decisions.

Partner with our team of SEO/Analytics experts!

This is why when we begin working with an organization to help them with their Christian SEO or Church SEO we configure their website with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools.  With these tools we and our clients can make good data-driven decisions, which helps them better live out their mission online.

If you’re interested in getting some expert help with your SEO, fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a time to talk.

Post a Comment and Discuss…

• Have you reviewed your Easter analytics? Why or why not?
• If you have, what is the most significant thing you learned from your Easter analytics?

Read more articles in our Easter Communications series.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Secrets Revealed by Easter Analytics appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

That means Mother’s Day is an excellent opportunity to reach out to people your community and show how the love of Christ compels us to love moms and families – those who are already a part of our congregation and those outside our community of faith.

If you’re looking for new church outreach ideas for Mother’s Day, we’ve got a bunch of them grouped into two categories: first, events you can do in-person, and second, ways to promote your events and connect with people online.

14 Church Outreach Event Ideas for Mother’s Day

1. Mother’s Day Service

Plan a special Mother’s Day service to celebrate and honor mothers. Include special music, scripture readings, and a message that honors the role of mothers in our lives.

2. Mother’s Day Brunch

Host a Mother’s Day brunch for the mothers in your church and community. Serve delicious food, offer a time of fellowship, and create an environment where mothers feel appreciated.

3. Mother’s Day Cards

Encourage children and adults to create Mother’s Day cards to give to their mothers, grandmothers, or other mother figures in their lives. You could even have a card-making station set up after the service.

4. Mother’s Day Gift Bags

Create Mother’s Day gift bags filled with goodies and distribute them to mothers in your church or community.

5. Mother’s Day Photo Booth

Set up a photo booth where mothers and their families can take pictures to commemorate the day. Have props available to make it extra fun!

6. Mother’s Day Devotional

Create a Mother’s Day devotional that can be shared with mothers to encourage and uplift them.

7. Mother’s Day Tea

Host a Mother’s Day tea (perhaps the day before Mother’s Day) for mothers and their daughters or friends. Serve tea, light refreshments, and provide a time of fellowship.

8. Mother’s Day Movie Night

Host a movie night the Friday or Saturday before Mother’s Day and show a family-friendly movie that celebrates mothers.

9. Spa Day for Moms

Host a spa day where mothers can be pampered and relaxed. Offer massages, manicures, and other spa treatments. Alternatively, you could give away gift certificates for a spa day to special moms (e.g. oldest mom, newest mom, mom w the most kids)

10. Mother’s Day Sunday School

Create a special Sunday school lesson for children that focuses on the importance of mothers and the biblical examples of motherhood.

11. Support a Women’s Center

Does your community have a local women’s center that provides ultrasounds and support for expectant mothers, or baby supplies for new mothers? Raise funds or collect items for donations for your local women’s center.

12 Launch New Groups for Moms

Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to announce new ministries for mothers like a a preschooler play group, bible study for moms while their kids are in school, or a class for parents of teens.

13. Mother’s Day Out

Offer free or inexpensive child care at the church, so moms can have some time to themselves, with their friends, or to shop without kids.

14. Mother’s Day Corsages

The youth group could sell and assemble Mother’s Day Corsages as a fundraiser and distribute them before services on Mother’s Day.

8 Mother’s Day Online Outreach Ideas

1. Create a Landing Page

Create a dedicated landing page on your church website that provides all the details of your Mother’s Day services and events. This page should be easy to navigate, and the information should be displayed prominently.

2. Utilize Social Media

Social media is an effective way to reach out to your community and promote your Mother’s services and events. Utilize platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to create posts and share information about your Mother’s Day services and events.

3. Ask Your Congregation to Utilize Social media

Posting info to the church’s social media profiles will only reach so many people. If you really want to maximize your social media reach, get the people of your church fired up and excited about sharing your church’s social media posts.

4. Share Testimonials

Share testimonies from members of your congregation about the impact that their Mother has had on their life. Or testimonies from mothers on the impact God has had on their family. These testimonials can be shared on social media and on your website to help promote your Mother’s Day services and events.

5. Email/Blog Devotionals

We suggested giving away physical Mother’s Day devotionals in #6. An alternative would be to invite people to subscribe to receive daily devotionals via email.

6) Use Graphics and Videos

Create graphics and/or promotional videos for your Easter services and events. These visuals can be shared in your services, on your website, on social media and via email to catch the attention of your audience.

7) Use Online Advertising

Consider using online advertising to promote your Mother’s Day services and events. Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be used to target specific audiences and promote your Mother’s Day services and events.

8) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Make sure people can find your church and Mother’s Day events when they search online. For help with that check out The Ultimate Guide to Church SEO

Forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. –Proverbs 1:8-9

Want to work with our team?

And if you’d like some help with church web design and church SEO so you can have your best Mother’s Day outreach ever, we’d love to work with you.

Fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop), to schedule a call.

Comment and Discuss…

• What Mother’s Day outreach is your church planning?

Continue reading… Church Outreach Ideas & Events for every holiday and season

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post 22 Mother’s Day Ideas for Church Outreach (events and online) appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Ok, from the example above, maybe I’m not the best storyteller.

However, we all love stories.  That is why books and movies are so successful: they tell stories.  And before books and movies, people would gather in villages, around fires, and tell stories.  Even Jesus demonstrated the power of storytelling.

Why do we love stories?

Stories are engaging.  We identify with the characters in the the stories. Stories help us understand life and how the universe we live in works. Plus, good stories evoke feelings of joy, sadness, anticipation, fear, and other emotions.

Are you telling stories on your website?

People may visit your website looking for logistical details about your organization and its upcoming events. But they are also looking to connect with people (and hopefully God). They want to know that your church, ministry, or business understands people like them, and they want to hear how God is using your church or ministry to transform people’s lives.

The week after Easter is a great time to tell stories on your church website. 

You have the opportunity to share stories of what God has been doing by posting videos and pictures of the events that happened over the Easter weekend.

And because Easter is all about new life in Christ, post a story (or two, three) from people in your church, sharing their journey, and how the Church helped them draw closer to our risen Savior.

These real life stories are what people will identify with.  Although video is usually the most effective method of story telling, these stories don’t have to be video.  They can be written stories with a photo of the person who shared their story.

Storytelling is the single most powerful form of human communication. –Peg Neuhauser

Want some help? We can help you tell and share these stories.

If you are tired, overwhelmed, or busy with all the other things demanding your time and attention, the OurChurch.com can help lighten your load and get things right the first time.

Our website design and SEO services include content creation (writing web pages, blog articles and more). We can help your church, school, ministry or businesses tell your stories better, faster, and with less work required by you.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call.

Comment and Discuss

• Do you have a great story you have shared on your church or Christian website?  Post a brief description of the story along with a link to it on your website.

Read more articles in our Easter series.

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 I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes! But There it Was, Headed Right at Me… appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

That’s the short answer anyway.

Previously we shared with you 5 Reasons Your Church Should Use the Plan Your Visit Strategy.

If you haven’t read that blog article and watched the 13 minute video in it, go do that first.

Because there’s an online component to Plan Your Visit, some people mistakenly assume that Plan Your Visit is just a web page, a button, and an online form.  But there’s so much more to it than that!

In this next video, we explain the…

6 Parts to the Plan Your Visit Strategy

1. Traffic
2. Landing Page
3. PYV Form
4. Pre-visit communication
5. Hosted Visit
6. Follow-Up communication

Plan Your Visit online course

The video above the previous video (5 Reasons…) are the first two lessons in the Plan Your Visit online course available in our WP-EZ Training Center!

The Plan Your Visit course is available at no charge with all of our website packages – Gold, Silver, or Bronze.

Here’s an overview of the Plan Your Visit course

• Lesson 1: Why Your Church Needs Plan Your Visit
• Lesson 2: What is Plan Your Visit?
• Lesson 3: The Plan Your Visit Page
• Lesson 4: The Plan Your Visit Form
• Lesson 5: Pre-Visit Communication
• Lesson 6: How to Host Plan Your Visit Guests
• Lesson 7: Follow-Up Communication
• Lesson 8: Engaging Your Whole Congregation
• Lesson 9: 3 Ways to Take Plan Your Visit to the Next Level

Want to reach more people in your community this Easter?

The Plan Your Visit church outreach strategy can help your church reach more people with the gospel this Easter and beyond!

Plan Your Visit website themes

In addition to the the Plan Your Visit course, we also have two themes for our WP-EZ Website Builder specifically designed for Plan Your Visit – the Fluid Church theme and the Grow Church theme.

They have a Plan Your Visit page, Plan Your Visit form, and Plan Your Visit buttons pre-installed and ready to help your church start using the Plan Your Visit strategy in no time!

Work with our web design and SEO team

If you’d prefer to lighten your workload and benefit from our expertise, let’s talk about teaming up for your website design and/or search engine marketing.

Fill out the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call!

Comment and Discuss

• What do you think of Plan Your Visit?
• Is your church already using Plan Your Visit? Considering it?

Continue reading… Maximize your Easter outreach and communication

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post What is Plan Your Visit? appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Most churches recognize this and put extra effort into reaching people in their community and inviting them to their Easter service.

As I’ve said many times, most people start their search for a church online, so one of the best ways a church can connect with people looking for a church to worship with on Easter is through search engines like Google. So…

How does a church show up in the search results for “Easter service near me?”

And how does that differ from what a church needs to do to show up in the search results for “Church near me?”

Here’s a screenshot of the search results I’m shown for “Church near me”

You see Anchor, Bayside, and Holy Spirit Old Catholic churches get the top 3 spots.

Now let’s look at the results for “Easter service near me”

Notice Bayside is the only one in the top 3 for both searches. Harborside and Heritage UMC get in Google’s “local 3 pack” for “Easter services near me.”

Why the difference?

First, notice in the “church near me” results that Google displays a review below the name of each church that has the word “church” in it. In the “Easter services near me” results that Google displays an excerpt from a “post” below the Bayside listing.

Reviews are posted to Google Business Profiles by visitors and members. This highlights the importance for a church to get members and visitors to post reviews.

Posts are articles the church itself has posted to their Google Business Profile. In this case Bayside posted a post to their GBP encouraging people to invite their friends to an Easter service.

Second, Anchor Church and Holy Spirit Old Catholic Church are both in the local 3 pack for “church near me” but not for “Easter services near me” and neither church mentions Easter on their website at all.

Based on these observations, here are some recommendations.

5 Tips to Get Your Church in the Search Results for “Easter service near me?”

1) Use the word Easter on your church website homepage.

Preferably more than once.  The bigger the heading the better. Include the times for your Easter worship services and any other Easter events you have planned.

2) Optimize Easter images. 

If you are using one or more images to promote your Easter services, make sure the images are optimized for search by giving them a filename and alt attribute with “Easter service” in them.

3) Claim and verify the Google Business Profile for your church.

Google cannot know your church website is connected to your Google Business Profile / Google Maps search listing – and thus will not see the Easter content on your website – unless you claim and verify it.  Verify My Google Business Profile

4) Add a “Post” to your Google Business Profile about your Easter services.

If you have a page on your website about your Easter services and events, a GPB post can be as simple as the title of that page and a link to the page.

5) Ask for Easter reviews. 

As we see with Harborside Church, having Easter mentioned in the Google Reviews people post can have a huge impact. It’s probably too late to have people post reviews and for those reviews to have an impact this year, but you could ask people during or after the service to post a review.

The bottom line is…

Most people start their search for a church online. Will people find your church when they Google “Easter service near me?”

Get Help Ranking for “Easter Service near me” (and more!)

If you and your church would like some help with your church SEO so you can reach more people in your community, complete the form below to request a free consultation.

May God bless you as you celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus, and seek to introduce the people of your community to Him and his kingdom!

Discussion:

• Where does your church rank in Google for “Easter service near me?”
• What questions or comments do you have about setting up your Google Business Profile or ranking for “Easter services near me?”

Read more articles about preparing your website, SEO, and online communications for Easter.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post How to Get Your Church Website to Rank for “Easter Service Near Me” appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.