Every year around October, an annual theme is determined for North Valley Baptist Church.  I’m not writing this post to discuss the value of church themes (I think they are great); there are other websites for that.  However, I do hope to be a help for those that are determining their church (youth, camp, class, etc.) theme and would like some ideas.

I am in no way an expert at designing logos (as you will see below), but for the past 10+ years I’ve had the privilege of creating the logo and the look for the annual theme. I’ve also had very talented and gifted people to help me along the way.  I’ve listed 25 years of North Valley Baptist Church themes.

Below are just a few of the graphics from the past 10 years.  Every year we create many designs, and I’ve just included a few of the logos, bulletins, banners, calendars and other miscellaneous items. Warning! Some of the designs are hideous…you’ve been forewarned. 

2012 – I Believe
2011 – The Year of the Bible (God’s Word Shall Stand)
2010 – Consumed with Compassion
2009 – Hope in God
2008 – So Much the More
2007 – With All My Heart
2006 – Our Soul Purpose
2005 – Making Him Known
2004 – Getting Ready Today…Moving Out Tomorrow
2003 – Let’s Build
2002 – For Such a Time as This
2001 – Revive Us Again
2000 – Silver Jubilee
1999 – As for Me and My House
1998 – God Can…Will You?
1997 – God Can
1996 – Fulfilling the Vision
1995 – Celebrating a 20 Year Tradition
1994 – The Year of the Family
1993 – Revival
1992 – Back to Basics
1991 – Sweet 16 (16th Anniversary)
1989 – People Reaching People
1988 – I Love My Church
1987 – Living for Heaven in 1987

Most of the time there are many iterations of the logo. I’ve included some of the ideas for this past year below. iBelieve, it wasn’t the easiest logo.

By the way, here is a post on Creating an Annual Church Theme/Logo.

Do you have church themes? I would love to hear the themes your church has used in the comments below!

Many church websites are outdated in both it’s design and it’s content. Why? Many times it’s because the church website is done by volunteers or by someone who knows very little about web design.  However, there is no excuse today for an outdated, poor looking website.  You may argue that your church has no money or no one with experience.  Well, WordPress has enabled people with no web design skills to create a good looking church website easily and affordably.

Here are the easy steps to create a church website using WordPress.  Let’s get started…

Free Web Hosting (if needed)

First, you will want to purchase web hosting, and I have good news.  If you are a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Dreamhost.com offers you free web hosting.  If you are unfamiliar with web hosting, it is basically the place were your website is stored and made available to the world via the internet.  To make things simpler, you will want to have a hosting plan that already has WordPress installed.  If you like to do things yourself, you can install wordpress on your web server by following these easy steps from WordPress.com. I did this for my blog and it was fairly simple.

WordPress Theme

The next step is to choose a WordPress theme.  There are thousands of WordPress themes out there. I’ve listed some here that could work for a church website.  You will have to choose a theme that fits your church’s style, budget, and needs.

Outreach WordPress Theme – StudioPress.com

Moses WordPress Theme - ChurchThemer.com

Micah WordPress Theme – MintThemes.com

WP Church WordPress Theme – Themeforest.net

Antioch WordPress Theme – ChurchThemes.net

Install WordPress Theme

Once you’ve downloaded/purchased the theme, you need to install it in WordPress.  It’s very simple.  Log into your wordpress control panel ( www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/ ) then go to the “Appearance” tab, click “Themes”, then click the “Install Themes” tab, and click “Upload”.  Simply, “Choose file” and locate the theme you’ve downloaded, “Install Now”, and that’s it.

Customize Your WordPress Theme

Every theme is created a little bit different, but all themes will allow you to customize your theme from the control panel.  For instance, I tried out the theme from churchthemer.com, it  allowed me to add my logo, upload sermons, add online giving, create a contact form, and much more.  You will need to follow the instructions for your particular theme to customize the look.  However, the beauty of WordPress is the simplicity.  Updating the theme for your church will not require some special knowledge of web design.  If you know how to use your computer, you should be able to update your WordPress theme to represent your church and our Savior well.

So now you are ready to create a good looking church website that can be updated by your cousin, aunt, 80 year old secretary, or anyone else you choose. Your excuse is now gone…go create a good looking church website!

I’d love to hear from you. Do you know of other good themes?  Do you use WordPress for your church or ministry?  Any suggestions? Let me know!

“Is it worth it?” Have you ever asked that question? If you work with the media of the church, you undoubtedly have asked that questions before. The church graphics are not produced in minutes. Videos for your ministry are usually not produced in a day or two. Websites are not created in a night. Creating media for a church or ministry is not an easy or a quick task.

Maybe you can relate with this, it’s 3:00a.m. in the morning, you are on your 4th all-nighter in a row, and you are running on coffee, energy drinks, or a combination of both. You feel like giving up, and you ask the question (either to yourself or those you are with)…”Is it worth it?” Is it worth the sleep deprivation? Is it worth the neglect to other parts of your life? You haven’t really seen your family in days, except as you are coming and going…Is it worth it? Is this video/website/design really worth it? Before you answer that, I’d like you to read a few testimonies of how God has used church media to influence and/or change people’s lives in ministries around the country.

Seemingly forever ago (2007), I began drafting and engineering First Baptist Church’s first full-featured website. In spite of being in the Age of Information, our web presence was lacking and needed life support. Single and arrested by eagerness and ambition, I began sprinting 110 miles-an-hour. There were many days I spent countless hours late at night meticulously designing, coding, debugging, and learning and living on one meal a day with a few hours of sleep. These kinds of days became weeks and weeks became months. Soon enough, this website started to feel like a never-ending project. The more I progressed, the more I realized I had more to do.

Frustration crept in, and on occasion I’d ask myself, “Why am I doing this? Is this even worth my time? This church has been around for 100 years with no website. No one’s even gonna care!” However, I kept plugging away.

A few hundred hours later, I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The website went live and things haven’t been the same ever since. I came to realize over the next several months that hundreds and sometimes thousands of people every week depend on our website to be encouraged, get updated, and hear and watch the Word of God preached during our weekly services and yearly conferences such as Pastors’ School and Youth Conference. Through our website, tens of thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of people have heard the Gospel, been encouraged and infused, made life-changing decisions, and been influenced and touched by God and His Word. The countless hours of work, the sleepless nights, the ramen noodles for dinner…

It was worth it. It was worth it.

Jonathan Suh
First Baptist Church – Hammond, IN

I will always remember the first full-length book Pastor Sexton asked me to help him design and produce. When he told me that he wanted to begin producing books on a regular basis, I remember being rather overwhelmed. I remember how helpless I felt as I did not have any experience in producing a book. I really wanted to help Pastor accomplish his vision of producing this book by putting on paper what he had envisioned in his mind. With a heart to help the pastor, I dove in head-first.

As with any project, there were many revisions and many other technical bumps in the road, but God had given Pastor the desire to produce this and other Sunday School material to be a help to others––I wanted to be a part of it all. Of course, there were moments when I wondered if it would come to pass, but with the Lord’s help, the first of many full-length books was produced. Now, these many years later, I look back on that time and am truly grateful to God for the opportunity to be involved in helping the pastor accomplish what God had given him to do.

All of us in the Lord’s work need to remember that no task is too small, and that, if God has given us something to do for Him, it is worth the labor. Being in the work of the Lord is wonderful and it is sometimes easy to get weary in the work, but we must never be weary of the work. God not only knows the work we are doing, but also the labor that is involved. IT IS WORTH IT!!!

Stephen Troell
Temple Baptist Church – Knoxville, TN
(Currently on deputation to the Mission Field)

We created a video about the bus ministry for our national Pastors’ Conference. We wanted to encourage people not give up on the bus ministry. Many people have given up on this ministry, thinking it no longer works. We spent weeks gathering the testimonies, pictures, videos, and music for the video. As the conference approached we spent many all-nighters working on the video. We literally lived off coffee.

At times we were very frustrated with the progress of the video, but God brought it all together at the last minute. After we showed the video, we were amazed at how God used it. Scores of churches have asked to show it in their church. We have had churches that contacted us saying they started a bus ministry after watching the video. Many bus workers have said they wept through the entire video, because they were wanting to quit but realized the bus ministry still works. While we were working on the video, it didn’t seem like it was worth it. However, God used (and is still using) the video for His glory.

North Valley Baptist Church Media Team – Santa Clara, CA
www.busministryworks.com

I have a folder in my Mail app that is filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from people all over the world, who have been helped and blessed by the media ministry of North Valley Baptist Church. That is not a testimony to me, but rather a testimony to the fact that God can and will use the project you are working on.

Remember, you are not working on that church media project so people will be impressed at your skill, but rather to bring honor and glory to God. So, the next time it’s 3:00a.m., you’re about to give up, and you ask, “Is it worth it?” Pray and ask God for strength and wisdom…then answer the questions, “Yes!”

Can you relate? I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or testimonies. Share them below so others can be encouraged as well.

Think about these stats for evangelizing the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ…

If Christians had their own country, they would be the third largest.

Someone becomes a Christian every second.

There are more Bible preachers than the entire population of Sweden, Israel, Greece, Chile, North Korea, and Australia.

167 million people regularly watch Bible teaching or preaching online.

A recent revival saw 20 million people saved in 24 days.

As you might have guessed, the above stats are not true.  Below are the actual stats.

If Facebook were their own country, they would be the third largest.

Someone joins LinkedIn, every second.

There are more people following Justin Bieber on Twitter than than the entire population of Sweden and Israel. If you added Lady Gaga and Brittany Spears’ twitter followers there would be more people than in Greece, Chile, North Korea, and Australia.

Over 167 million people watched the infamous “Rebecca Black Friday” video on Youtube.com.  2 billion videos are viewed on Youtube every day!

20 million people joined the new social network, Google +, in just 24 days.

These stats were convicting and challenging to me as I read them. Social Media is changing the way we interact with others and communicate.  It’s removing geographic barriers. Social media had a key role in seeing dictators overthrown in countries like Egypt.  So, why can’t we use social media to help reach this world for Christ?  The tools to evangelize the world are at our disposal more than ever.  We can literally reach this world for Christ…from our computer.  I’m not downplaying the role of people physically going out and reaching others.  I am, however, challenged to pray for wisdom and ideas on how to use technology to reach this world with the life-changing message of the Gospel.

Consider this, 25 billion tweets were sent in 2010…I wonder how many prayers were prayed in 2010 for world evangelism?  Would you pray for wisdom and power to reach this world?  I would love to hear your thoughts below.  Do you have an idea on how we can use social media and technology to reach the lost?  Leave a comment below.

*Social media stats are from Socialnomics

For our 28th Annual National Youth Conference we had a missions theme entitled “Who Will Go?”.  For the conference we made an opening video that challenged the thousands in attendance to consider the missions field.  If young people today do not answer the call to tell others of Christ, who will?  I have cut out references to our conference so others can use it in their ministries.  You are welcome to use this free of charge for your youth meeting, youth conference, missions conference, church service, or whatever you like.  I’d love to know if think you’ll use this.  To download simply go to vimeo, log in, and click “download this video” on the right hand side.  If you don’t have a vimeo account, let me know.

This video was created by the NVBC media team using Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Photoshop.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Additional Links:

“Who Will Go?” Missions Video – Vimeo video link

North Valley Baptist Church – National Youth Conference Website

The year of 2010 has been an amazing year for North Valley Baptist Church with many exciting events, including a record breaking day of attendance on September 12.  God has blessed NVBC greatly!  One of the reasons for a successful year has been our monthly Super Saturdays of Soul Winning.  North Valley has church-wide soul winning (telling others of Christ and inviting them to church) every week, but once a month we really push it hard.  We encourage every member to come on these super Saturdays and have a part in inviting the community to church. During every Super Saturday of Soul Winning, we strive to pass out 10,000 invitations!

It is very inexpensive.  We pay only $220 (before shipping and tax) to print 10,000 invitations!  We design our files to be a standard postcard size (4″x6″) to make the printing extremely cost effective.  And then, we send our invitations to be printed at www.gotprint.com.  They do a fantastic job at an incredible price.  So, cost should not be an issue.  If you have a smaller church, 5,000 invitations would cost around $110 and 1,000 invitations would cost only $30!! (at the time of this blog post – before shipping and tax)

We find people often don’t go soul winning because they are unsure what to say when passing out invitations.  So, we choose a theme or special day every month to make it as easy as possible for our members to invite others.  For instance, “I would like to invite you to my church tomorrow.  We are having Open House Sunday.  I hope you’ll come visit!”  It so easy; anyone can do it!  Below are a some examples of the theme and special day invitations we’ve used in the past.  You can download the source files and edit them to use at your church free of charge. I would love to hear in the comments below if you plan on doing this. Think of the additional visitors you could have in church for the year of 2011 if you began a monthly Super Saturday of Soul Winning.  May 2011 be the best year for NVBC and your church as well!

Easter Sunday Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

35th Anniversary Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Veterans' Sunday Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Time Change Sunday - Click the Image to Download Source Files

New Years Sunday Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Mother's Day Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Family Day Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Big Day Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

I Love My Church Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Father's Day Invitation - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Back to School Invitations - Click the Image to Download Source Files

Each Invitation contains editable, layered Photoshop files and an InDesign file.  You are free to use these for your church, but you may not resale these invitations or files.  I would love to know if you use any of these for your church.

picture from flickr.com by OllyHart

For the past several years we’ve been podcasting our Sunday church services at North Valley Baptist Church. Podcasting is a great tool for churches. It allows people to download and take sermons with them on their iPods, mp3 players, and other portable devices. Podcasting is fairly simple and very inexpensive. This post will take you through the steps on how to create a podcast for your church.

1. Determine the content of your podcast.
There are podcasts on just about any subject you can think of – from knitting to narcissism, from yoga to yodeling.  Figure out what you want your podcast to be about. For our ministry we have four podcasts (NVBC preaching audio, NVBC preaching video, GSBC chapel sermons, Revival Time Radio Broadcast). For the sake of this tutorial, we will cover how to create a podcast of your sermons.

2. Buy Your Equipment
To give your podcast a professional sound, I would suggest recording an introduction. It doesn’t have to be long, but it should sound professional. People will judge your podcast many times by sampling just a few seconds of it.  I would not suggest using the built in mic on your computer.  Here are some items you will need to record:

A. Microphone
For several years we’ve used the Shure SM58. You can buy these for around $99.  You most likely have these at your church right now. For better results and ease of use, you could purchase a USB microphone for about the same price.  Blue Microphones produce a great USB mic called Snowball. Another good alternative would be the AT2020 USB Microphone from Audio-Technica. It is priced at $120.

B. Pop Filter
I would definitely suggest spending the $19 or so to purchase a pop filter. This is used to remove the popping “P’s”, hissing “S’s” and other sounds from air hitting the microphone.  For other tips on recording your voice, watch the video linked at the end of the article.

C. USB Interface to capture the audio into the computer
A USB Interface is not necessary if you use a USB microphone.  However, if you are using a standard XLR microphone, an audio interface will bridge the gap between analog (your mic) and digital (your computer). We’ve used M-audio’s Fast Track for a couple of years and it does a decent job. If you are getting your audio from a sound board and you are on a tight budget, you may want to use something like the Behringer UCA202 USB Audio Interface. For the best results, Apogee’s One or Duet would equip you with studio quality results at a price premium.

D. Audio Software
To create the professional sounding intro and outro, you will need some type of audio editing software to create the intro and outro and add it to the sermon. We use Apple’s Soundtrack Pro. It is a great program. If you want something free, there is always Audacity, an Open-Source, free audio editor. Although, I’ve never used it, I’ve heard great things about it. The best part of all, it’s free.

3. Record Your Podcast
Once you have the equipment, you can record your voice onto the computer, add music to your intro/outro, and then place them at the beginning/end of the sermon. We choose to record a new intro for every podcast to keep it fresh.  Here is the sample text of our podcast intro, “You are listening to the North Valley Baptist Church podcast for Sunday evening January 31st. Dr. Jack Trieber preaches a message entitled, ‘You Decide.’”

4. Create the RSS for podcast
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Don’t worry about the meaning, just know that in order to have a podcast you must have an RSS feed. To create this, you could do it by hand coding everything (I do not suggest this. We did this for a while, and it is a far cry from fun.), or you could buy a program to do it all for you. We’ve chosen the software route, and use Lemonz Dream Podcast maker for Mac. It makes it very easy to create a RSS for podcast. You simply fill in the title description, etc. and it writes the code for the RSS. If you are using a PC, I don’t have a recommendation, I looked for quite a while and found none that people recommended. Here is a list of PC software for podcast creation. If you know of a good PC podcasting software, please leave a comment below.

5. Upload your audio files and RSS xml to your web server
After creating the RSS, you now are the proud owner of an XML file that has your RSS. Congratulations! Simply upload the xml file as well as your audio files to your web server. If you are unsure how to do this, I would suggest contacting the person who handles your church website.

6. Submit your podcast to Apple iTunes
Once you’ve uploaded your xml file, all you have left to do is submit your podcast to iTunes. Simply open iTunes, go to “Podcasts.” On the right side there is navigation that includes “Submit a Podcast”. All you have to do is click the link and enter the url for your xml file. It may take a few days for Apple to approve your podcast. Once it’s approved your podcast will be available via the iTunes to download on millions of computers, iPhones and iPods around the country and world.

7.  Advertise or they will not listen
Just because you have a podcast, do not assume the multitudes will flock to it.  Because there are so many podcasts, advertising is very important.  Utilize as many avenues as possible to get the word out.  Advertise on your website; send out an email; promote from your pulpit; place in your bulletin; and use your imagination to implement this powerful tool into your ministry.

Podcasting is an effective  tool that every church can use.  You are able to expand your influence for little to no money.  So, what are you waiting for?

I hope this tutorial helps. Do you have a podcast already? What hardware/software do you use? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

I would like to thank Stephen Russ and Isaac Young for their help with this article and for maintaining our ministry podcasts.

Additional Resources

What is a podcast?
Microphones 101: A beginners guide to Macs and Mics (good info even if you are a PC user)
Great video giving tips on recording your voice and microphones

North Valley Baptist Church’s Podcasts

Also, see post on annual church theme ideas.

For 30+ years the North Valley Baptist Church has had a yearly theme.  Since 2001, I’ve had the privilege to create a logo and a look for the new year.  We also have an annual youth conference, pastors’ conference, and missions conference.  For each of these conferences, there is a theme and design that goes along with each.  I must admit I’m not the greatest at coming up with the logo and theme.  It is usually a challenge, but a challenge I welcome and enjoy.  Here are some thoughts on how I design the logo and overall look for each theme.  I hope it’s a help.

1. Brainstorm

Once I receive the theme for the year or the conference, the first thing I do is brainstorm.  I’m privileged to work with some amazing and talented people.  I love to grab a coffee with some of the people I work with and respect.  While sipping coffee we will brainstorm about the year’s theme. (Coffee always helps me think better) This is a time to throw out as many ideas as possible about the theme.  For instance, this year’s church theme was “consumed with compassion.”  We tried to think of everything that relates to that theme – images, words, colors, etc.  In the case of “consumed with compassion,” here are some of the things we came up with (heart, hands, tears, fire, fervency, people, empathy, yellow, orange, red, etc.)

The idea is to get as many ideas as you can.  Encourage all types of ideas, even if they are not that great.  You can sort through the ideas and throw out the bad ones later.  This is not the time for criticism (constructive or not).  That will come later.  Some may find it useful to have a specific number of ideas you want to come up with during the brainstorming session.  This may help you to really focus and put down as many ideas as possible.  The more ideas, the better the possibility for a breakthrough.

2.  Scour

Once you have brainstormed, the next step I take is scour.   I try to scour the internet for ideas relating to what we came up with during the brainstorming session.  For “consumed with compassion”  we looked at many websites for ideas.  We searched for heart, tears, fire, hands, etc on quite a few different sites.  Here are some helpful websites.

Brandstack.com – You can actually purchase pre-made logos here.
Logopond.com – a great looking logo showcase
Google Search – I searched for “compassion” and visited compassion.com and other sites for inspiration.  Also, I checked out google images for “compassion” to see if I could get inspiration.
iStockphoto.com – I search their vector images for logo/theme ideas

Depending on the theme, I may check other websites related to the it.  For instance, Youth conference is a football theme this year, “Get in the Game!”.  Last year it was a EMT (police, fire, paramedics).  2007 was a boxing theme.  For Youth Conference themes I will check out many websites about football, EMT, boxing, etc.  I also love to take “road trips” to places related to the theme.  We’ve been to NFL training camps, boxing gyms, fire stations, etc. for inspiration, pictures, and for filming.

I save and file many different ideas from my scouring to reference on the next step.  Remember to respect others work.

3.  Sketch

Once I have brainstormed and scoured, I like to sketch out designs.  I just have a paper and pencil and start to sketch ideas for the theme.  Believe me, it doesn’t always come easy.  Many times, we sketch dozens of logos before we find the right one.  I then work on the logo in Illustrator or Photoshop.  Don’t give up.  Look at what you’ve filed and saved for inspiration and ideas.

4.  Submit

After you’ve sketched out an idea and mocked it up in illustrator or Photoshop, now is the time to submit it for suggestions/approval.  Be prepared to make changes.  Don’t be upset if they don’t like it.  Take constructive criticism and work to make it better.  Sometimes I get “the nod” on the first try.  Other times I have to submit many ideas before we have the logo/theme we use.

I hope this was a help to you.  What you do when creating a logo or theme?  What steps do you take?  Where do you go for inspiration and ideas? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Working for a church is incredible. I get to work on things that matter for eternity. I also get to work on many things at once.  I have the privilege of overseeing all the media for the North Valley Baptist Church. This includes the graphic design, web, and video for the ministry.  I have 56 items on my to-do list now, ranging from book cover designs to website redesigns.  Thankfully, I have 3 incredibly talented guys that work for me.  Long ago, I tried to manage all my tasks on a running Word document.  That didn’t work out to well.  I needed something that I could access anywhere, and something that makes it easy to assign tasks to workers and/or volunteers.

I have found some great tools that have helped to keep all my tasks organized.  I’m sure there are many other great tools, but here are 2 that I’ve used and have really helped.  I think they could be a help to you as well.  If you use something else, please share it in the comments.

1.  37 Signal’s Basecamp

I used the free version for a couple years.  The free version was enough for me.  With it, you can only have one project, but you can have multiple to-do lists which I used as multiple projects.  I liked the fact that everyone in my office could see all the tasks on the to-do list and see what’s assigned to them.  You can also assign due dates with the tasks.  When I assigned a task to someone, they received an email notification.  It was very easy to see all that needed to be done, and who was assigned to what task.  Because it is web based, you can check your tasks or add a task anywhere with internet access.  There are also quite a few iPhone applications made for Basecamp.

Basecamp's to-do list (The tasks on here are old since I stopped using Basecamp)

2.  Behance’s Action Method

I switched a few months ago to Action Method.  Although it costs $99 a year (I got it for around $60/year because we are a non-profit).  I think it was well worth the money.  There are many things I like about Action Method. Here are a couple of reasons I like it better.

First of all, great intuitive design – The design for the iPhone application and the online application is very simple, yet robust and powerful.  You can color code your tasks (action items).  I usually use the color orange for web tasks, gray for video, and blue for design and miscellaneous action items. The layout of the application is very easy to navigate.  You can sort your action items by date, person or by project.

Second, I like the fact it is available online, on my iPhone, and also available as an Adobe Air Application.  The Air app acts just like a normal application.  I keep it open most of the time, and I always have it handy.

Some other great features include the ability to send send “appreciation” or a “nag” to team members.  It also warns you when you have a task overdue.  I don’t like the fact that it is not easy for everyone in office to see all the action items.  (I like it if they get done with a project and have time, they can start on another project that is yet assigned to anyone.)  Another downside, everyone on the team must use Action Method often. Someone may miss a task assigned to them, if they don’t check Action Method often.  Overall, it’s a great tool and I would highly recommend it.

Here is a screen shot of my Action Method

Action Method for iPhone

There are many other features to both of these tools including discussion boards, uploading images or files, chat, etc.  This post is just a quick overview of these powerful tools.  Check out their website for more information.  So, what program do you use for your to-do list?  What do you like about it?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.

I don’t know of anyone that uses the yellow pages anymore.  You may, but I don’t.  Everyone I know uses google or other search engines to find things.  Many churches know this and have built websites so prospective church visitors can find them.  Perhaps, you have paid for someone to create a website, took the time to create it yourself, or you may have used a template to design it.  So, what now?  You have a website, but does anyone even know it’s there?  Even more importantly, does anyone know your church is there?

According to a recent report there are over 183 million domain names…that’s a whole lot of websites!  Today, I will give you one way to attract prospective visitors to your website and your church.  In future posts, I will list other ways to get your website noticed by google and other search engines.

1.  List your church website RIGHT NOW on Google Local Businesses Center!

This is one of the easiest ways to get prospective visitors to your website and more importantly to your church.  It is very simple.  Go to www.google.com/lbc If you already have a google account, just log in.  If you don’t have a google account, click “sign up now” and follow the easy steps to set up an account.  Now, “Add a new business” and fill out the basic information about your church. You may also upload photos or video of your church to help prospective visitors.  When you are done entering all your information, you will need to validate your listing via phone or mail.  You’re done.  It’s that simple.

This may not seem like much to you, but in the last 26 days people have seen this free listing 1,923 times.  76 of these people clicked for more information on google maps.  90 people saw the listing and requested driving directions to our church.  38 people visited our website from this listing.  I realize that is not a lot of web traffic, but that’s not bad for a free listing that takes a few minutes to set up.  If only half of those who requested driving directions visit, that is still 45 church visitors in less than a month!

Google Local Business Center provides relevant business listing based upon geographic location and search keywords.  For instance, if I search for “church” while in Santa Clara, California, North Valley Baptist Church shows up along with a map of the area.  Google Local Business Center also provides you with free statistics to see helpful information.  For instance, you can see what people search for when they click on your listing.  Also, you can see where people request driving directions from. (see below)  This is a very powerful, free, and easy tool.  So, what are you waiting for? Set it up now!

Do you use Google Local Business Center for your church?  What results have you had?  Do you have any other suggestions on how to get your church noticed online?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Google Local Business Center Driving Directions Stats

Google Local Business Center Search Keyword Stats

Michael Moyer