The last two weeks we have been talking about how building a great website won’t get you to your goal. You still need to get people to go to your website or it will be the best, least visited website on earth.
Last week, I specifically wrote about the things that you can do in-house to make a great church website design not only look good but get lots of visitors.
Today, we will discuss the things you can do to drive traffic to your website that may cost some money and you may need help in doing:
Online Advertising
Google and Facebook are two of the best places you can advertise online to get people coming to your website.
- Facebook ads are particularly good because you can get extremely detailed in the demographics of people to which you want your ads shown. Kenny Jahng writes a great article that talks about the 10 steps in getting started with Facebook ads for your church.
- Advertising through Google is another great place to advertise because so many people start their searches for a church in Google. However, advertising in Google can be quite expensive. But the good news is that Google has made it possible for churches to get free advertising through their Ad Grants program. There are some stipulations to be eligible for Google Ad Grants and Steve Fogg does a good job discussing those here. Make sure you read the comments in his post.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process which has the end goal of getting your website ranked well organically (not paid) in the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
- SEO is probably one of the most underestimated approaches you can have in getting traffic to your church website: It is underestimated in how to properly optimize your website and keep it optimized and it is underestimated the effect that it can have when you are ranked well.
- But to give you a detailed rundown of SEO and the pros/cons of doing it yourself, please check out this video.
Thinking that you don’t have to intentionally market your website to rank well in Google is like thinking that if you just walk in any random direction, you’ll eventually arrive at your destination. -Kurt Steinbrueck
Have you done online advertising with Facebook or Google? Have you tried SEO either yourself or through a company? What has your experience been? I’d love to hear your stories, so please post them in the comments below.
If you are interested in discussing a church website, SEO, or online advertising, please contact me here.
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.
