1. “Marketing”
2. “Search marketing”
3. “Church growth”

Now let’s talk about your responses.

1. For “Marketing” did you say “business” or “commercials?”
2. For “Search marketing” did you say “Google” or “keywords?”
3. For “Church growth” did you say “evangelism” or “outreach?”

But what if I said they are all connected?

Case Study: Church Growth through Church SEO

Let’s look at the case of Knott Avenue Christian Church where marketing, search marketing, and church growth are all connected.

Introducing Knott Avenue Christian Church

Knott Avenue Christian Church is a non-denominational, multi-ethnic Christian church located in Anaheim, California.  They are a vibrant and active church with a wide variety of ministries to help meet the spiritual needs of everyone they can and spread the Gospel in their community and the world.

In the past year Knott Avenue Christian Church (KACC) has been increasing their online presence through a variety ways.  They have started using Twitter and Facebook.  They are podcasting sermons and messages.  They even have an iPhone app allowing people to watch their sermons from anywhere on their iPhones.  In addition to these social media, KACC has been focusing on the local search engines.

Local Search for a Local Church

Most people these days go online to find information.  If they are looking for a church or looking a resource a church can offer (marriage help, addiction groups, answers to life’s questions), they will most likely go online to find what they are looking for.  So, it was important for KACC to appear in the search results so people could find them when searching online.

Over the past several months KACC has been working to achieve high rankings in the search engines for searches in their local area through the Top Church Search Rankings service.  So far they have obtained over 500 top ten rankings with well over 100 #1 rankings.  These are rankings for search terms related to churches in their area, such as churches in Anaheim, CA.

In addition to the search engines, the service also setup listings in local review sites, (like CitySearch.com) and Internet yellow pages, and church directories.

The Impact of Better Search Rankings 

The results for KACC’s website have been fantastic!  KACC.com has been averaging about 1250 visitors a month from the search engines alone.  Over 50% of the visitors to the website are new visitors.  I asked Jack Scalfani from KACC about the results and he said,

“I know that the website has been surviving with lots of help from your SEO. Obviously it has, because we have been consistently getting 100 visitors a day and mostly new visitors.”

Keep in mind, though, getting people to the church website is NOT the main goal; it’s a means to bigger goal.  The primary goal is to help the church live out its mission.  So, we were thrilled that in addition to talking about the website, Jack went on to say,

“Our rankings that OurChurch.Com helped us get are bringing in new donations, new members, and new viewers on our live broadcast on our website.”

KACC has continued to see dozens of new people visit their church services each week.  These visitors include people who hear the Word of God and become followers of Christ, families who find a church home, and Christians who are strengthened and go out to minister to their community.

They are a growing church in part because they are growing in the search engines.

Watch Jack share how SEO has impacted his church in this 45 second video:

The bottom line is…

Search engine optimization: you need to have it, it’s well worth it, and they [OurChurch.Com] do it right. -Jack Scalfani, Knott Avenue Christian Church, Anaheim, CA

Learn more about how OurChurch.Com’s Christian SEO services can help your church, ministry or business better live out its mission online.  Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop), to schedule a call with a member of our team.

Comment and Discuss

• What part of KACC’s story resonates with you most?

Read more stories in our series 25 Stories from 25 Years

Read more about church SEO in The Ultimate Guide to Church SEO

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Case Study: Knott Avenue Christian Church – Church Growth through Church SEO appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to restore those reviews.

Over the years, I have helped several clients restore reviews to their Google Business Profiles.

In some cases, the process was pretty quick, only taking a week or two. In other cases, it took months. The good news is that most of that time is just waiting on Google, but if you are patient, often times you can get your missing Google review restored.

Why Google Reviews Disappear

Reviews may be removed for several reasons:

• Google enforces strict review policies, and any content that violates these guidelines may be flagged and removed.
• Technical issues or updates to your Business Profile may also cause reviews to disappear.
• In some cases, the reviewer may edit or delete the review themselves.
• Google’s attempts to filter fake reviews sometimes accidentally filter legitimate reviews, especially if it’s the first review someone has posted on Google.

Many churches and companies lose reviews over time and don’t even know it because they aren’t monitoring their reviews. So, I highly recommend checking your Google Business Profile monthly, if not weekly, to log any new reviews (take screenshots) and make sure no reviews have gone missing.

Also, don’t assume that just because a review has been there a long time or you previously had it restored, that it will not go missing. I’ve seen reviews that were years old disappear, and I had one review that has been removed three times!

Steps to Restore Missing Google Reviews

1. Check for Policy Violations

Ensure that the missing review didn’t violate any of Google’s review policies. If it did, you won’t be able to restore it.

2. Confirm with the Reviewer

If possible, contact the reviewer to see if they edited or removed the review. If they’re willing, ask them to resubmit it.

3. Contact Google Support

If the review complies with Google’s policies and wasn’t removed by the reviewer, follow these steps to request help from Google:

1. Log into the Google account that is the admin for your Google Business Profile (GBP).
2. Go to the Google Business Profile Help page.
3. Select your church or business from the “Which business do you need help with?” drop-down menu.
4. In the “Tell us what we can help with” text box, type “Missing Review” and click Next.
5. Click on Review Missing and click Next Step, then click Next Step again.
6. Choose Email as the contact option.
7. Fill in your information. Make sure to use the exact name and address from your GBP by copy-pasting them to avoid errors. (Pro Tip: As you fill out the form, save all the information in a document so you can reference it later…you will probably need to.)
8. Enter your Business Profile ID. You can find this by searching for your church or business on Google while logged in, clicking the three dots next to “Profile Strength,” and selecting Business Profile Settings > Advanced settings.
9. Answer No to the questions about whether your profile was suspended or if you’re a school (Note: Schools cannot restore or display new reviews).
10. Provide specific details on when the review went missing.
11. Enter the reviewer’s name as it appeared in the review. This may be different from their actual name.
12. Describe the issue: include the date the review was posted, when it went missing, who the reviewer is, the content of the review, and confirm it was legitimate and didn’t violate Google’s terms. Request the review be restored.
13. Submit your request.

You’ll likely receive a canned response from Google explaining their review policies and possible delays in displaying reviews. At the end of the email, they should indicate that you can reply for further assistance.

4. Follow Up with Google

If the initial response doesn’t resolve the issue, reply to the email with the following:

• Restate the problem and provide all the original details you submitted (save this information in a document for easy reference if you didn’t previously. Note the support number found in the subject line of Google’s response).
• Include a screenshot of the review, if available, showing the reviewer’s name, date, and content. If you don’t have a screenshot, check your emails for a notification of the review and take a screenshot of the notice.
• Send the reply and wait for Google’s response, which may take up to a week or longer.

If Google restores the review, check your profile and thank them for their help. If it’s not restored, follow up again.

Using the Google Business Profile Help Community

If Google’s support team doesn’t resolve the issue, you can try reaching out through the Google Business Profile Help Community:

1. Log into your Google account associated with your GBP.
2. Go to the Google Business Profile Help Community.
3. Search for “Missing Review” and click “Post to the help community.”
4. Create a new post with a title like, “Legit Review Missing. Please Help to Restore It.”
5. In a separate tab, create a Google Doc containing all the details from your original request, along with the support ticket number and a screenshot of the review. Set the document’s sharing permissions to allow anyone with the link to view it.
6. In your community post, explain the issue briefly and include a link to the Google Doc (Note: Do not include your personal/business contact information here or the post to the community will be filtered and no one will see it. You are including that information in the Google doc which you are linking in the message). Use a message like the following:

Hi,

A customer posted a legitimate review to my Google Business Profile, but the review has gone missing. Can you please help me to restore the review to my profile?

You can find all the information about the missing review in the following Google Doc.

(Google Doc link)

Thank you!

(Your name)

• Choose the category “Engage with customers” and click Next Step.
• Click “Review Missing” and click Next Step. Then, click Next Step again.
• Select Web for the platform and click Next Step.
• Select to “Get emails when someone responds” and click Post.

Watch daily for a response but understand that it may take 7-10 days to get a response. Be sure to be responsive and provide additional information if needed. Hopefully, this will get your review restored.

If your request is denied or ignored, I recommend creating an account on localsearchforum.com and asking for assistance, linking back to your Google Business Profile Community post and Google Doc. There are really nice people on that forum who are product support specialists or have contacts in Google and may be able to take your request to the next level.

Stay Active in Responding to Reviews

While you wait for a resolution, stay engaged with the reviews you still have. Responding to all reviews, both positive and negative, shows your commitment to customer service. This engagement can also encourage new reviews, potentially making up for any that have been lost.

How to Prevent Losing Google Reviews

To avoid losing reviews in the future, follow these best practices:

• Regularly backup reviews: Take screenshots or record reviews periodically in case they disappear.
• Monitor your profile for changes: If you update your business information, keep an eye on your reviews.
• Stay compliant with Google’s policies: Ensure that reviews, especially those you solicit from customers, follow Google’s guidelines to avoid removal.

Conclusion

While losing a Google review can be disappointing, it’s not always permanent. By following the steps above, you can address the issue and potentially restore missing reviews. Even if a review can’t be recovered, maintaining a proactive approach to member/customer engagement will help you continue to build trust with new visitors and clients.

Get Help with Online Reviews from our Pros!

If restoring Google reviews still seems complicated and time consuming, no worries; our team of Christian SEO experts can take care of it for you.  Restoring missing reviews is one component of our Online Reviews Service.

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

Its one of many ways we help Christian organizations live out their mission online.

Post a Comment!

• Have you ever had a Google review go missing? What did you do about it?

For more info about online reviews read our free guide: The Ultimate Guide to Online Reviews

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post How to Restore a Missing Google Business Profile Review appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

When looking for a new school, parents usually start with online search.

In this article, we’ll delve into the advantages of using Google Ads to promote your Christian school and the impact it can have on filling student openings in classes.

Enhanced Visibility and Targeting for Your School

Google Ads presents a powerful avenue for reaching potential students and their families who are actively seeking a faith-based education. With options to choose specific geographic locations and target specific search terms, you can ensure that your ads are seen by individuals who align with your school’s values and aspirations.

• Geographic Targeting: Reach families within a certain radius of your school, ensuring your ads are seen by those who are most likely to enroll.
• Search Term (Keyword) Targeting: Connect with individuals interested in faith-based education, fostering a community that resonates with your school’s ethos.

These parents are already searching for what your school offers. Google Ads helps them to find you.

Cost-Effective School Outreach

One of the standout benefits of Google Ads is its cost-effectiveness. You have control over your budget and can set daily limits, ensuring you never overspend. This flexibility enables your Christian school to reach a wide audience without draining your resources.

Furthermore, when considering the expenses associated with adding a student to a class, such as textbooks and classroom materials,  are not very high, the investment in Google Ads becomes even more appealing. The minimal additional costs involved in accommodating a new student can be easily offset by the potential revenue generated through effective Google Ads campaigns.

In other words, there’s not much cost difference between a class of 15 students vs a class of 20, but the revenue difference is enormous. So, why not try to fill every desk?

Measurable Success and School Enrollment Impact

The data-driven nature of Google Ads provides invaluable insights into the performance of your campaigns. These insights allow you to assess the effectiveness of your strategies in real-time and make informed decisions to improve your enrollment efforts.

• Click-Through Rates: Track the number of clicks your ads receive, indicating how engaged your audience is with your content.
• Conversion Tracking: Measure the number of prospective students who complete desired actions, such as filling out an inquiry form or scheduling a campus visit.

You can know for sure that your campaign is working and growing your school.

Tailored Messaging

Crafting compelling ad copy allows you to convey the unique benefits of your Christian school. Highlight your commitment to academic excellence, character development, and spiritual growth, showcasing what sets your institution apart from the rest.

You also control where the prospective parent lands on your website. By creating dedicated landing pages, you ensure parents are shown the exact information they need to see and you can have a compelling call to action to get more inquiries.

What are you waiting for?

Promoting your Christian school through Google Ads can dramatically improve your enrollment numbers. By targeting the right audience, managing your budget, and focusing on measurable results, you’re not only filling student openings but also establishing a robust digital presence.

Are you ready to leverage the power of Google Ads to boost enrollment at your Christian school?

Google Ads are a great way to reach parents in your community, but they can be complicated to set up and manage.

Learn more about how our team can keep things simple and help your school with Google Ads Management. 

Then complete the form below to schedule a call, so we can answer any questions you might have and explore how Google Ads can help you achieve your enrollment goals and support your school’s mission.

Comment and Discuss

• Have you considered Google Ads for your school before? Why or why not?

Continue reading: Making the Most of the “Back to School” Season

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Maximizing Enrollment: The Impact of Google Ads for Your Christian School appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

I’ve included in this article key points from the workshop:

We started by talking about the current situation schools were facing.

• One person mentioned that lower enrollment hurt their ability to bring in new students since prospective parents wondered why there were so many open seats at their school.
• I asked about teacher pay and another person mentioned that annual raises had to be withheld because of the budget.
• I also asked them to consider what would happen if they lost more students next year due to the economy.

What about your school?  What issues are you facing due to budget issues from low enrollment?  What would happen if next year you loose students?

Let’s talk about the differences between search engine marketing and just about every other kind of advertising (newspapers, direct mail, radio, TV, etc)

How can your school can get a strong online presence in search engines?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is making your school’s website search engine friendly (so search engines can easily read the site) and telling the search engines what your site is about or what search terms (keywords) they should list you for.

This increases your search rankings allowing more people to find your school website.

School SEO Tips

• Ranking #1 when people search for your school by name name is good, but that’s not what most people are searching for when they are looking for a school.  Brainstorm to think of search terms (keywords) people would actually use to find a school, terms like “schools in [your city]” or “Christian schools in [your city]”.
• Use the search terms (keywords) in the text on your site, but make sure it makes sense.  Remember, people are going to see your site, so you want it to make sense to them.  Don’t just stuff keywords into your site’s content.
• Use search terms (keywords) in the Title and Meta tags of your website

Those are some basic tips that can get you started.  I encourage schools to find someone who understands Christian school SEO and have them help, so you get the best results and avoid any potentially dangerous mistakes.

Local Search Engine Optimization

Local SEO is getting your organization to rank well in the maps and local search engines like Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Yelp.

In addition to getting your school in front of people using the local search engines themselves, local search also has the added bonus that local search results are often displayed within the regular search results, above the regular search results.

For example, the screenshot below shows Google’s “local 3 pack” embedded within the a Google search.

Local SEO Tips for Schools

• Display the school’s physical address on every page of website
• Setup listings in the maps/local search engines
• Setup listings in Local Review sites (like Yelp)
• Setup listings in School Locator sites (like GreatSchools.org)
• Tell students/parents about the listings and ask them to write positive reviews and rank the school well.

Those are some basic tips to get you started.  I encourage schools to find someone who understands local school SEO and have them help, so you get the best results and avoid any potentially dangerous mistakes.

Is Online Marketing an Expense or an Investment?

One additional thing to address is the cost of search engine marketing for schools.  Here are three perspectives.

1. Marketing Is an Expense

This is a misunderstanding of marketing.  Marketing should not be considered an expense like books, carpets, or other line items on the budget. Once that money is spent on an expense, you never get it back.

2. Marketing Is an Investment

When you invest for your retirement and put money into an IRA, you expect to get your money back.  You also expect to to get a return (interest) on the money you invest.  Similarly, when you put money towards marketing, you expect to not only get that money back, but also get additional money, a return on that investment.

Consider what your school charges for tuition.  The average private school tuition in the US is more than $10,000.

Next, consider how much additional cost your school has for adding that one student.  For the example let’s say it’s $1000 for books and other supplies.  (Payroll, utilities and mortgage all stay the same with or without the new student).  That gives you $9,000 for every new student that enrolls that goes towards your general budget (programs, payroll, utilities, building fund, etc.)

So, if you invest $8,000 in marketing and get even one new student ($9,000) you are still $1,000 ahead. And that’s getting only 1 new student!

If you get two new students, you are $10,000 ahead.  If you get 10 new students, you are $82,000 ahead. Twenty new students, and you’re $172,000 ahead! Imagine what you can do with and additional $172,000?!?

3. Cost of NOT Marketing

Let’s say you have a board meeting and one person wants to spend $8,000 on marketing and another person wants to spend $8,000 on new desks and chairs.  It’s discussed, and the board decides to spend the money on new desks and chairs.  What happens?  You have some newer desks and chairs… end of story.

Now, let’s say the board decides to spend the money on marketing.  What happens?  You spend $8,000 on marketing and let’s say you get 10 new students (modest results).  You then have made back the $8,000 you spent on the marketing and have an additional $82,000.

As a result, you are still able to get new desks and chairs, and you still have $74,000 of additional money to spend on other things!

By not marketing, it kept your school from getting the new students (who, by the way, next year and each year after brings in another $9,000 as long as they stay) and cost you $74,000 in additional money for the budget.

Take Your School to the Next Level

One of the participants in the workshop commented that his school has always done well simply relying on word-of-mouth advertising.  But it now struck him, “Where could we be if we had done some marketing of the school?  We may have been able to expand.”

A great point!  Even if you are doing well, could you be doing better?

The bottom line is…

Don’t think of online marketing as a cost but as an investment in your school and your community.

If you would like to discuss how OurChurch.Com can help your school with school SEO, complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop).

Comment and Discuss

• Are you currently investing in SEO for your school? Why or why not?

Continue reading: Making the Most of the “Back to School” Season

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Using Google To Achieve Full School Enrollment appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Google usually does major “core updates” a few times a year. Whenever a core update is released, the SEO professionals all go on high alert and hold their breath for a couple of weeks waiting to see if their clients have lost rankings.

This is where high quality SEO practices make all the difference.

Tricking Google Is A Losing Battle

There are many ways to try to trick Google into giving you better rankings. Some of the tactics people have tried include…

• Hiding keyword-rich text on pages
• Stuffing a ton of keywords onto pages in ways that don’t make any sense to visitors
• Registering multiple domains for links
• Buying links
• Publishing lots of AI-generated content

These are all tactics to manipulate the search results to get good rankings without doing the hard work of creating a great website with good, quality, original content that helps website visitors. 

These tactics might appear to work for a while, but the organizations that used these tactics (or hired SEO companies that used these tactics) are the ones who are freaking out after Google algorithm updates because their search rankings tanked, their website traffic is half of what it was, their sales are half of what they were, and their revenue is half of what it was! 

Doing the Hard Work Bears Fruit

For SEO companies that do the hard work, Google updates often prove to be good for their clients. When you optimize a website well and produce great content, Google updates move your corner-cutting competitors down which moves your search rankings up. 

This is because Google wants to show quality content sites in their results. By doing the hard work of creating that quality, original content on your website, you get some great benefits.

• Visitors appreciate the content and visit your organization.
• Visitors share your helpful content.
• Other websites link to your high-quality content.
• Your rankings increase.
• Your website gets more traffic.

All this culminates in a positive feedback loop that gets more traffic, more links, and shows Google your site is truly worth ranking well in the search results.

Through the end of 2023 and now again in March 2024, OurChurch.Com’s SEO clients have experienced  the benefits of doing the hard work and not cutting corners. Through each of these updates, none of our clients saw their search rankings drop and the majority have come out of the updates with better search rankings!

The Best Time to Start High-Quality SEO…

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.”

The same could be said for SEO…

The best time to start doing high-quality SEO is years ago. The second best time to start doing high-quality SEO is now.

There are other websites competing for the same positions in the search results that you want. If you take the initiative to create a great site worthy of those rankings, you will do well against the competition. And next time Google does a major update, you’ll be able to leap ahead of all your corner-cutting competitors who tried to trick Google.

Ready to take the next step to build great search rankings that stand tall even as Google continues to change its search algorithm?

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

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Why the Quality of Your SEO Matters appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

It’s an important question to answer before investing in SEO.

Can I optimize my website for search engines once and it will rank well for my targeted keywords from that point forward, or do I need to continue to monitor and manage the optimization after the initial optimization?

To answer that question, let me share with you the story of one of our SEO clients…

The Client:

As they used to say at the start of Dragnet, the following story is true, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent.  I have purposefully omitted the name of the organization, but wanted to give a little background information about them.

The client is a large Christian publishing company with several departments and hundreds of products and services who offers great Christian curriculum options for both children and adult.

They host their website with another web host (not OCC) and have a team of web designers who control their website design.  Our contacts, the heads of the product lines, did not have control over website itself and because of the size of the company and complexity of the website; they decided to have their web team implement the optimization as per our instruction.

The Service:

The primary service OurChurch.Com provided was SEO Management.  With this service, OurChurch.Com:

• Performs in-depth keyword research
• Optimizes web pages for the best keywords
• Monitors the optimization of the pages
• Runs regular search ranking reports
• Keeps the optimization practices current

The Initial Results:

With each page optimized, the initial results in the search engines were dramatic.  On average, we were able to reach 50 top ten, 37 top five, and 14 #1 rankings for each page.

Incident 1: The Sudden Drop

After having optimized several pages and maintained many of them for a couple of months, the rankings suddenly dropped for all of the pages we had optimized.   We discovered this during a review of the search ranking report we send our clients each month.

We immediately reviewed the web pages we were maintaining and discovered that much of the optimization of these pages had been lost.

It turned out that the web design team made some changes to the client’s entire site and inadvertently removed some of the optimization.  We notified the client of the issue and they were able to quickly re-optimize the pages.  Within a week the top rankings were returning for all of the pages.

Incident 2: Duplicate Content

A few months later, the rankings for several of the pages started dropping again, this time more gradually.  We made a few adjustments to the optimization of the pages and continued to monitor the pages, but the rankings continued to drop.  This decrease in rankings was a bit baffling.  All of the typical things that may cause a website’s rankings to decrease looked fine.

Then we did some manual checking of the keywords in the various search engines and made a discovery: the rankings had not actually dropped but shifted to different pages.

After further research, we found that they had performed another significant web design change and created duplicates of each of the websites.  Some of the search engines were now listing the duplicate web pages instead of the original pages.

We responded by prescribing some changes to the code of the websites to ensure the search engines would not penalize the client’s site for duplicate content issues.  Then we adjusted our reports to show rankings for all of their pages.

Incident 3: Another Drop In Rankings

The next incident occurred when the client made some major changes in the structure of their website and the website’s design.  Two of the pages we are managing were affected in the website redesign.  Much of the optimization was lost and rankings began to fall.

I would love to tell you that we contacted the client about the issue immediately and once again they were able to reapply the optimization and regain their rankings.  We did contact them about it immediately, however, this time due to the continuing changes in how the company managed their website, the client decided not to re-optimize the pages.

At the time this article was published, the pages had less than half the top ten rankings they had just a few months before and lost most of their #1 rankings.

So, is ongoing SEO management important? 

I think we can say without a doubt, “Yes, case closed!”

SEO is a lot like landscaping…

The initial landscaping takes a lot of work and costs quite a bit.  It makes the business or church look a lot better.

If you just left it at that, it wouldn’t take long before weeds started growing and flowers started withering.  After a few months the landscaping that was making your location look great is now an eyesore making the investment in landscaping worthless.

However, if you have the landscaping company come out every couple of weeks to maintain the landscaping, it will continue to look great.  It costs a little more, but you continue to experience the benefits of the initial investment.

An SEO Management service is similar in that it keeps your website optimized, producing traffic and leads.

As illustrated in this case study, ongoing SEO Management has several benefits, but the three biggest benefits are:

1. It allows you modify the content of your website and keep it current with fresh content without having to worry about losing your positions in the search engines.
2. It protects you from changes to your website that inadvertently affect the optimization of your website and changes within the search engines that affect rankings.
3. Keeps you informed of your current situation in the search engines and allow you to address issues that may come up.

And there is one more benefit that comes with an ongoing SEO Management service: peace of mind.

If you’re interested in talking with an experienced Christian SEO expert about how SEO can hep your organization better live out its mission online, complete the form below to schedule a call.

Comment and Discuss

• What are your thoughts on the importance of ongoing SEO management?

Read more of our 25 Stories from 25 Years.

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Search Marketing Case Study: The Value of Ongoing SEO Management appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Making sure people can find your church in the search engines is important for any church, but it can be difficult if your church isn’t located close to the center of town, you have a new website, or the church just created it’s listings in Google and Bing.

So, how do you overcome such obstacles?

Crosspointe Church

Crosspointe is a Christian church in Sanger, California with its campus located in the grapevines of Fresno County.  Their mission is “Connecting people to God and to each other”.  The members of Crosspointe seek to accomplish this mission both through personal ministry and by having a strong online presence.

We’ve been honored to be able to work with Dr. Crocker and Crosspointe to live out their mission online.

I asked Dr. Greg Crocker, pastor of Crosspointe Church, to share with us why they decided to do search engine optimization (SEO) for their church’s website and what their experience has been with it. Here’s what he had to say:

It is difficult to find a quality SEO team for churches. You can find people that do SEO, and people that understand church, but very rarely a thorough knowledge of both. 

Very few secular companies understand the terminology of the Christian world – you can end up with all kinds of weird and even malicious link building, on-page SEO, and more. We were so glad to find Kurt and the team at OurChurch.com because we’ve had numerous bad experiences with other companies (some of which were quite large).

One SEO company actually worsened our positions in the search engines – we think it may have been sabotage, but were at least able to cut loose from them, and I believe Kurt and the team at OurChurch.com repaired the damage they had done, and we are now back on track.

OCC’s quality SEO technicians have a thorough understanding of the area they are working in – in this case, churches. OurChurch.com is run by solid Christian people that not only attend various churches in the area, but also work with many churches around the U.S. They understand exactly what churches need to do with their SEO.

Why do churches need SEO?

The internet has replaced the phone book as the place people start looking for a new church.  SEO can get you on the first page of local results – kind of like getting a better ad spot in the phone book. The top three spots on in the search results get the most clicks, and it takes good SEO to get there.

Targeting Fresno

Crosspointe has members who live in Fresno, CA and they wanted to reach out to Frenso, but the church is located in Sanger, CA, a city adjacent to lager city of Fresno.  One of the ways Crosspointe chose to overcome the obstacle of not being at the center of one of the cities they wanted to reach was through citations.

Citations (sometimes called local listings) are listings or mentions of the church with their contact information.  Citations often provide links and they serve to reinforce for the search engines that the church exists at that location and that the church is relatively popular (it’s being mentioned a lot around the web).  By getting citations for Crosspointe Church we were able to regain search rankings they had lost previously and start to rank in the top 10 for Fresno related keywords, like “Churches in Fresno” and “Fresno churches”.

What’s in a Name?

The folks at Crosspointe are a bold Christian congregation.  While the church has a long and rich heritage, they decided they could better achieve their mission of connecting people to God and to each other by making some changes in the church, including changing their name.  This kind of change usually carries with it some challenges within the congregation and the community, but there was one other challenge they soon discovered…online.

Around the web there were dozens and dozens listings and references to the church under it’s old name.  This was not only confusing for people searching for a church, but actually hurt the church in the search engines.  So, one of the tasks we took on was updating the listings the church had under their old name to the new name.

This was a team effort.  OurChurch.Com was able to find and change many of the listings and Greg and his congregation were able to find some and were very helpful in verifying the church information for the sites.

This is something many organizations don’t realize – your contact information maybe listed on many websites even if you didn’t specifically put it on those websites.  So, if you change your name, location, phone number, or web address, you need to go around and find the various places online that are listing the old contact info and get it changed to the new information.

If you happen to be in the area, be sure to visit Crosspointe Church in Sanger, CA.

This Story Doesn’t End There…

While this article was originally published back in 2012, OurChurch.Com and Crosspointe continue to work together after more than a decade to help Crosspointe reach people in the Sanger, CA area. How awesome is that!

Comment and Discuss

• What is your church doing to reach people online?
• What is the state of your church’s citations?  Have you checked them recently? Updated them? Added them to websites where you weren’t listed?

If you and your church would like help with your citations and church SEO, fill out the form below to schedule a time to talk.

Read more of our 25 Stories from 25 Years

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Marketing Spotlight: Crosspointe Church appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

We recently received this very kind video from Jennifer Snow, principal of Family of Christ Christian School in Tampa.  In it she talks about the school’s new website and the search marketing services they are receiving from OurChurch.Com.

Knowing the difficult time a lot of private schools are having during this recession, I took the opportunity to also speak with Principal Snow about what it’s been like for her being principal of a private, Christian school during a recession. And she explained how they utilized their website and search marketing to double enrollment in only three years.

Kurt: What has it been like for you as a principal of a Christian / Private school in a big recession?

Jen: The priority for us is always the children and making sure the teachers have the academic tools they need.  If anything we’ve been blessed during this hard time.  So, I look forward to the future as the economy improves.

I think God has a plan for us and without his plan we wouldn’t be here.  I really think it’s by God’s hand that we’re being led to go further and that we’re growing.  We’ve grown from 79 students in the last few years to 150.  We just keep growing.  I keep having to add lockers and I’m running out of room.  It’s a great problem to have!

In fact I could have doubled Kindergarten and probably first grade this year if we’d had more building space.

Kurt: What are some of the struggles and challenges that you’ve had to overcome over the past couple of years in bringing in new students?

Jen: It can be a hard sell.  This is an elementary and middle school in place where the state offers free education.  If the people are struggling financially, then it’s that much harder of a sell.  You might sign up one out of every ten people you tour.  So, I’m so grateful for the number of people we have gotten to visit and sign up.

Kurt: What are some of the ways you’ve used the Internet, your website, and search engines to overcome the issues that you’ve faced?

Jen: We added search marketing with OurChurch.com which makes it easy for families to find us.  People can go to Google and we come up immediately as one of the Christian schools in the Tampa area which has been a huge benefit.  We are also able to put a lot of information about the school on our website as well as pictures of students and videos of events allowing visitors to learn more about us as well making Family of Christ much more inviting.

We’ve also used the website to help with communication with parents.  Especially with Middle school it can be a bit of a challenge.  Kids conveniently “forget” or “loose” homework or “forget” to get a test paper signed a lot.  So, we are starting to have our teachers post the homework for the day on the website every afternoon.  In addition, we are starting to offer an online service where when a teacher grades a test or paper, it can be posted to website so the parents can see the grades in an area that is password protected for each parent.  It helps keep the parents informed and helps the parents support the work the teacher is doing.

We have links to the weekly newsletters for each grade posted every Monday and we gone to trying to post the monthly school newsletter only online as well rather than running copies.  A few years ago we changed our newsletter to top-notch color graphic design which received a lot of compliments and attention, but between ink and copier malfunctions, running copies of for each newsletter was a costly endeavor.  So, posting the newsletters only online saves us a lot of money (and headaches).  We also have our student handbook only online as well.  That saved a lot of money and is a little greener.  We also offer all our forms and permission slips online so parents can just print them out and send them in.

In addition, we are now able to take payments electronically both for field trips and tuition.  This has made things easier for us as well as for parents.

I want to thank Jennifer Snow again for taking the time to talk with me for this interview.  Family of Christ Christian School is an elementary and middle school in Tampa, FL offering a quality academic education while sharing the love of Christ with their students and the community.  You can learn more about Family of Christ Christian School at foc-knights.com.

Comment and Discuss:

• Have you struggled or perhaps, like Jen, grown your school or business in this economy?  If so, please leave a comment and let us know what are some of the ways you have you have used the Internet, your website, or the search engines to improve your situation.

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Interview: How One Christian School Doubled Enrollment Using Online Marketing appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Search engines are different.

With billions of searches done every day, the search engines are a huge reservoir of people who could be visiting your website. Once you’ve turned that spigot on, it continues to run even if your marketing isn’t.

SEO includes a lot of things that have lasting impact:

• Optimization of web pages
• Getting listed in search engines
• Creating quality, optimized content
• Building links

Once these things are done, they continue continue to produce good search rankings and visitors from search engines for months or even years afterwards.

That doesn’t mean you want to do SEO for a few months and quit – SEO does gradually lose its impact over time, and you have competitors who are continuing to improve their SEO – but the lasting impact of SEO sets it apart from other types of marketing.

Search engines are the gift that keeps on giving, because the impact of SEO continues for years.

If you’d like to discuss church SEO or Christian SEO for your business, school or ministry, with one of our SEO experts, fill out the consultation request form below.

Comment and Discuss…

• How does the lasting impact of SEO affect your perception of its value?

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post SEO: The Gift That Keeps on Giving appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

So, how do you compare SEO services from one company to another?

How do you know which package of SEO services is best for your organization?

In the video below we discuss the variety of SEO services available and why there is such a disparity in cost. This is the info you need to know so you don’t purchase cheap SEO services with no impact or pay too much for SEO services you don’t need, but you actually get the SEO services you need.

As you can see, there are a lot of specific services that fall into the category of “SEO services” including:

• SEO Audit
• Developing an SEO plan
• Fixing technical issues that affect search rankings
• Keyword research
• Keyword plan
• On-page optimization
• Creating & verifying local listings
• Link building
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• Website monitoring
• Search ranking reports
• Assessing and adjusting the SEO plan

You can learn more about each of these here: What Is SEO?

The main thing to keep in mind is…

SEO agencies offer a wide variety SEO packages. Before you purchase, make sure you know the specific SEO services you’re getting. -Kurt Steinbrueck

If you’d like to discuss church SEO or Christian SEO for your business, school or ministry, with one of our SEO experts, fill out the consultation request form below.

Comment and Discuss…

• Do you know what SEO services are the best fit for your organization?
• If not, what questions do you have about SEO services?

Check out other video posts in this series Church SEO Videos: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Kurt Steinbrueck

OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services

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

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

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

www.ourchurch.com

The post Don’t Be Fooled! SEO Services Are Not All The Same appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.