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.

A secret straight from renown artist Pablo Picasso?

Before I reveal the secret, let me preface this by saying, the appearance of your church website is NOT the most important aspect of it.

The most important thing is that your website advances the mission of your church – to reach out to people in your community, to help people grow in their relationship with God, and to help people connect with one another.

The appearance of your church website doesn’t really need to be “beautiful” either, but if there are parts of it that are cringe-worthy, they are going to distract people and hinder your ministry.

It’s like music in a worship service. It’s more important to have authentic, heart-felt worship than to be musically “beautiful.” But if the worship leader, worship team, or choir is out of tune, it’s very distracting and hinders people from people able to focus on God and worship Him.

All that said, even if it’s not your primary objective, you can have a beautiful church website with hardly any time, effort or expertise.

The secret to a beautiful church website is…

Copy Others

Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying…

Good artists copy; great artists steal. -Pablo Picasso

Even though I lead a church website design company, I do not have a design bone in my body. My background is engineering. I could not design my way out of a wet paper bag.

But I recognize good design when I see it.

I bet you can too.

This is why we designed the WP-EZ Website Builder with Page Templates.

Page templates are beautifully designed pages that have sample text and images in them. All you have to do is replace the sample text and images with your own text and images, and viola… you have a beautiful church website.

Check out this 3 minute video that shows how Page Templates work in WP-EZ.

Looking for an affordable, easy to use church website builder?

Check out OurChurch.com’s  WP-EZ Website Builder! We give a 30 day money-back guarantee, so you can build your website today with absolutely no risk!

Got a WP-EZ 1.0 website?

Page templates are something we added to WP-EZ 2.0 themes. If you are using a 1.0 theme, I encourage you to switch to a 2.0 theme to get the page templates. To do that, login to MyOCC, and click the “Change Theme” button. For more info, see the WP-EZ 1.0 to 2.0 Migration FAQs.

Comment and Discuss… What are your thoughts on page templates?

Read more 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 Pablo Picasso’s Secret to a Beautiful Church Website 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.

1. Hire a church website developer to build the website for you.
2. Build your website yourself from scratch (installing and configuring all the software yourself)
3. Use a church website builder to build the website yourself.

Let’s look at the pos and cons of each option…

1. Hire a church website developer

The benefits of hiring a church website developer to build a custom-designed website for your church:

• Time savings: It will save you time compared to building a website yourself.
• Completed sooner: Professional website developers usually have a process with timelines and will keep the project on schedule. If you build the website yourself, chances are its one of many responsibilities you have, and it could be delayed if other things get priority.
• Better results: A team of people that build websites for a living will be able to create a better looking, better functioning website than you can on your own.

The only negative to hiring a church website developer is that its the most expensive option.

2. Build the website yourself from scratch

The benefits of building a church website yourself from scratch include:

• Flexibility/Control: You get to choose exactly how the website looks and what functionality you build into to it.
• Cost savings: It’s the least expensive option.

The biggest drawback to building your own site from scratch is that it before it takes a lot of time, effort and research, especially if you’ve never done it before. That’s because it involves the following steps:

• Purchase a church web hosting account (15 minutes)
• Purchase a domain name (15 minutes)
• Install a content management system like WordPress in the hosting account (15-30 minutes)
• Research, purchase, and install a theme (2-4 hours)
• Research and install 20+ plugins (10-20 hours)

And all of this is even before you have created your first web page.  It could take another 1-3 hours per page depending on the content and layout of the pages.

Another drawback to building the website yourself from scratch is that once your website is built, you have to frequently check for updates to keep your website running smoothly and prevent it from getting hacked. If the developers abandon any of the plugins you’re using you have to find new ones and replace them. So, there’s a lot of ongoing maintenance.

3. Use a church website builder to build the website yourself

Using a church website builder is an appealing middle ground between hiring someone to build a site and building the site from scratch.

• Cost:  The monthly cost for hosting and a website builder is usually only slightly more than hosting alone and significantly less than a custom-designed website.
• Time: The time it takes to build a site with a church website builder is in between the previous two options. It’s dramatically less than building a site from scratch, but more than hiring someone else to build it for you.
• Updates: The developers of the website builder will maintain and regularly update the website builder software and keep it secure. But they typically won’t update the text and images on your pages for you unless you pay extra for content updates.
• No technical expertise required: Church website builders don’t require any coding and are usually pretty easy to learn.

If you’re leaning in the direction of using a church website builder to create your church website, we’ve got some tips for you…

5 Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

1. Use our WP-EZ Website Builder.

If you want a new church website and have the time to do it yourself, our WP-EZ Church Website Builder is easy to use, affordable and designed specifically for churches.  No need to install WordPress, buy a theme, or install dozens of plugins. WP-EZ does all of that for you.

2. Update Your Church Website Theme.

If your website looks a little dated or you just want to change things up, one way to do that is to switch to a new website theme.

If you are using WP-EZ 2.0, switching themes takes just a few clicks.

If you built your website more than 5 years ago with our original WP-EZ Website Builder, we strongly encourage you to switch themes and migrate to WP-EZ 2.0.  Your new website will look and function sooooo much better!

3) Use the Training Center and Video Tutorial Library.

Have you already built your website with our WP-EZ Website Builder and want to make it even better?

You have free access to our WP-EZ Training Center which has a series of courses that combine short videos with action steps that will teach you everything you need to know to build a great website with WP-EZ.

We also have an extensive library of web builder video tutorials in our knowledgebase.

4) Ultimate Guild to Church Website Photos.

The biggest problems we see with church websites has to do with photos – lack of photos, blurry photos, improperly sized photos, and more. Use the Ultimate Guide to Church Website Photos to improve your website.

5) Help Us Help You.

Share your thoughts on church website design in this month’s Listening Post.

Bonus: More church website builder tips!

All month long we’ll be blogging our best church website builder tips and adding links these articles below.
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1. 3 Secrets To The Best Church Website Builder Designs
2. Pablo Picasso’s Secret to a Beautiful Church Website
3. 10 SEO Features of an SEO-Friendly Church Website Builder
4. Church Website Builder Must-Have Features!
5. How Sermons Can Give Your Church Website Better Search Rankings

</0l>
The bottom line…

Using a church website builder, is a great option for churches that have a limited budget, limited technical experience, and limited time.

1. 3 Secrets To The Best Church Website Builder Designs

When choosing the best church website builder for your church, a big thing to consider is the themes or templates that come with each website builder.

We discuss 3 specific things to look for in a church website theme in 3 Secrets To The Best Church Website Builder Designs 

2. Pablo Picasso’s Secret to a Beautiful Church Website

Would you like to know the secret to a beautiful church website?

A secret straight from renown artist Pablo Picasso?

Once you know that secret, you’ll understand how even if you aren’t super-artistic and don’t have any training or experience building websites, you can still build a beautiful website if you have the right tool.

Continue reading Pablo Picasso’s Secret to a Beautiful Church Website

3. 10 SEO Features of an SEO-Friendly Church Website Builder

Just about every church website builder claims to be “SEO friendly” but what does that mean?

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

In this article we list 10 specific things to look for in a church website builder that are needed for a well-optimized, top-ranking website.

Continue reading 10 SEO Features of an SEO-Friendly Church Website Builder

4. Church Website Builder Must-Have Features!

One factor to consider when selecting a church website builder is the features (or functionality) you want to have in your website.

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

From the many, many conversations we’ve had with church leaders, we’ve been able to determine The Top 5 Must-Have Church Website Builder Features

Continue reading to learn the Church Website Builder Must-Have Features!

5. How Sermons Can Give Your Church Website Better Search Rankings

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

In this article, we list 4 Ways Posting Sermons on Your Website Helps Your Church SEO and follow that with 9 Ways to Maximize the Church SEO Benefits of Your Sermons

Continue reading… How Sermons Can Give Your Church Website Better Search Rankings

Comment and discuss… What questions, issues and challenges regarding church web builders do you have? Post a comment so we can help you with them.

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 Church Website Builder Tips and Tools 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.

I hope it was awesome!

I hope your gatherings or services glorified God, people heard the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection, and God revealed himself in powerful ways.

I also hope God has revealed some things through your church’s Easter communications.

Our blogging this month focused on Easter – preparing your church website for Easter, doing church SEO for Easter, preparing to tell stories and follow-up after Easter.

Now that Easter is behind us, what have you learned from your Easter communication? And what changes do you want to make?  To help with this, here are some more specific questions to consider.

Easter Communications Assessment Questions:

• What aspects of your Easter communications worked well? How can you build on them?
• What aspects of your communications didn’t work well? How can you improve on them?
• Have you reviewed your Analytics since Easter?
• Have you reviewed your communication cards?
• Have you debriefed with your team?

3 Easter Communications Revelations

1) Church Website Revelations

If your website experienced an increase in traffic in the week leading up to Easter but you didn’t see many visitors to your Easter services, that’s an indication you did some great things to get people to your website, but there are likely problems with your website.

Perhaps it’s outdated, hard to navigate or not mobile friendly, and needs to be fixed or redesigned.

If you’re not yet using the Plan Your Visit strategy, that might be something to consider.

2) Church SEO Revelations

If analytics indicate your website got lots of visitors from search, that’s awesome – your website is probably well optimized and your local listings well established. If you didn’t get many visitors from organic search, that’s an indication your website doesn’t rank well in search engines and SEO is an area that needs work.

3) Church Social Media Revelations

If analytics indicate your website didn’t get many visitors from social media, consider stepping up your social media engagement. If you put a lot of effort into social media but your analytics still show not many people visited your website from social, it’s probably time to re-evaluate your social media strategy.

If you don’t have any analytics and/or communication cards to evaluate, then perhaps your next step is to get those things going so you have a better idea of your strengths to build on and weaknesses to work on next time.

God speaks to our hearts through his Word. He also speaks to our minds through data and the insight of others.

Want to work with our web design and/or SEO team?

If you need a hand getting Google Analytics and Google Search Console integrated with your website, or if you’d like an analytics expert to review your analytics, or you’re ready to delegate the website design or search engine marketing of your Christian church, ministry or business to an experienced team, we’d love to talk with you.

Complete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call!

Comment and Discuss

• What did God reveal to you this Easter?  (Spiritually or in your communications)

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 An Easter Revelation 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.

Earth Day is an annual awareness day observed on April 22 to focus attention on environmental protection and stewarding our planet. It’s a good time for Christians and Christian organizations to consider what we can do to protect and care for creation.

What the Bible Says about Protecting the Environment

After God created human beings, the first job he gave us was to care for creation.

Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.‘”

Just after that in Genesis 2:15 it’s recorded, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.“

Clearly God has given us responsibility to care for creation and steward it wisely.

7 Ways Your Website Can Help You Go Green

There are many things Christian churches, schools, ministries and businesses can do to protect and care for the environment. Because we here at OurChurch.com are focused on websites and online communication, we’re going to focus on the ways your website and online tools can help your organization be environmentally-friendly.

1) Streamline the Sunday bulletin.

Some churches require a small forest each week to produce all the bulletin inserts for every ministry and event in the church.

We strongly recommend a communications strategy that makes your website the hub of your communications.  When you do this, you don’t need to print every detail about every event. Just put the basic info for each event – name of the event, when, where and why someone would want to participate and then, “See the website for more info” Boom – end of bulletin inserts!

Some churches have even completely eliminated their print bulletins in favor of an online bulletin.

2) Do registrations and signups online.

Get rid of the printed signup sheets and registration forms lying around on tables in the lobby of your church or school. Online event registration will simplify your life, make it easier for people to signup anytime and anywhere, and save paper and ink. Online event registration can be done on your website with a plugin, or as we discussed earlier with Google Forms.

3) Use online forms.

Just as you can replace paper signup sheets with online signups on your website, you can also replace all kinds of paper forms with online forms. Online form builders are easy to use and can be used to create any type of form you currently have in print.

4) Put your manuals and handbooks online.

Do you have an huge employee handbook you print and give to each member of your staff? Do you have written policies and procedures for your church, school or business?

These things can be uploaded and placed in a staff-only section of your website.

Or even better, they can be put into an online file-sharing service like Google Docs. Another great feature of Google Docs is when a document need updating, you can do it quickly and easily online, and when you do everyone with access instantly has the updated version. No more need to distribute updates or wonder if everyone is using the latest version.

Putting instructions in Google Docs is also extremely helpful for training new staff and volunteers. No need to get people to remember everything or carry around paper instructions. Google Docs can be accessed anywhere on a smart phone.

5) Replace your paper newsletter with an online newsletter.

The printed monthly newsletter has been one of the most prevalent forms of communication for churches, schools and nonprofits for decades. Think about how many pages of newsletters you print every month. Depending on the size of your organization, switching to an online newsletter could save thousands of pages of paper a month. If you mail your newsletter you could save lots of money on postage (and the fuel used to deliver them.) Put an electronic copy of your newsletter on your website and send it out via email.

If you are a church with people who are older or don’t go online much, you may get some pushback. So, you may need to compromise a little by mailing the printed newsletter to those who specifically request it or having a handful of print copies available in the foyer of your church.

6) Forgo direct mail ads for SEO and/or Google Ads.

Some Christian churches, schools, and businesses use direct mail postcards to try to reach people in their community. While this can be effective, eventually the vast majority of them will end up in your local landfill.

Search Engine Optimization and Google Ads are a most cost-effective way to reach people in your community AND there is no waste.

7) Partner with a Green Web Hosting Company.

We at OurChurch.com love the outdoors and do everything we can to care for creation. We have already taken all of the steps above.

Additionally, our entire team works from home offices, which means no corporate office to build, furnish, heat, cool and clean. We’re also not consuming gasoline or polluting the environment on our commutes to work.

The bottom line…

How you use your website can have a big impact on how you care for creation.

Partner with an eco-friendly website design and marketing agency

If you share our concern for the environment, we hope you’ll consider the 7 ways to protect the environment listed above and consider OurChurch.com for your Christian web hosting, web design and SEO.

Comment and Discuss

• How are you using your website to reduce pollution and protect the environment?
• What other ideas can you share?

Continue reading… Church Outreach Ideas and 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 7 Ways Your Website Can Help You Go Green for Earth Day appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.