Church Marketing Podcast: The Church Website Episode

September 16, 2014 by Dave Shrein

More About This Episode

Our efforts can be easily misdirected when it comes to what we contribute to our organizations. Just as easily, we can misdirect our contributions to the online world if we don’t remember to focus on the answer to one central question: How I am adding value? Focusing on ourselves and what we want means that we place what we value as the highest goal. When we switch the narrative to “how am I bringing value?” we are forced to place what others value as the highest goal. It’s a simple shift that makes for a significant course correction.

Jesus is our primary example of someone who knew how to bring value to his audience. He knew what would be both valuable to each person in the moment and in the future. He displayed what it meant to make high impact, contributions in ways that others recognized had value.

Our Guest

AJ Fenlason is the communication director at Monk Development and commands a strong understanding of how website analytics can speak to the health of a church’s communication strategy on whole. AJ creates practical and helpful resources that Monk then distributes to help equip church leaders with the knowledge they need to make decisions for their churches.

In our conversation, AJ talks about the importance of installing analytics on your church’s website and walks through the metrics that communication directors need to be paying attention to as a way of grading their communication strategy.

There’s a lot of good stuff in our conversation but the takeaway is going to be the major things a church should be looking for:

Every week, look at how many people are coming to your site and take note of how many are new sessions, these are most likely new people.
Every month you need to look at bounce rates, average time on site and exit rates.

Winning on Instagram

Instagram is a fast-growing social network but remains a mystery to many organizations looking to capitalize on its popularity. The primary struggle for each organization is not having a firm grasp on what their Instagram voice is or should be.

When you look at your smart device camera roll you will most likely notice that there is no common theme to your content. There are pictures of receipts, family, scenes, shoes, paint colors, groceries and just about anything else you can think of. Apply this lack of direction and consistency to your Instagram feed and you’ve got what makes for a bad user experience.

There is a church in Gilbert, Ariz., who is all about adoption and pro-life initiatives. If they wanted to begin using Instagram in a strategic manner, they can begin using Instagram by taking photos of families in their church who have adopted children. Another option for using Instagram is to share statistics and facts in conjunction with faces. Connect real faces with real stats and you’ll see real results.

For my own personal Instagram profile, I had no real strategy guiding the content that I would share on Instagram. After evaluating how I could represent myself using the unique platform of Instagram, I decided that I would use the network as a micro blog. Rather than posting 300-500 word articles, I would post 30-50 words highlighting little moments from the day that I could connect to principles of leadership.

Certification Lab

Get signed up for the next Certification Lab. This is your opportunity to bring whatever questions, struggles, concerns, challenges or needs to a gathering of top communicators in the church and ministry space. This Certification Lab will be Oct. 13-14 in Lake Forest, Calif., at Saddleback Church. Speakers include Gerry True, Kelley Harnett, Mark MacDonald, Phil Bowdle, Stephen Brewster and guest instructor Jon Batarse.

If you’d like to learn more about the Certification Lab, take a moment to watch our Google Hangout. I hosted a round table with the presenters and hopefully you will be convinced it is the best way for you to invest your time and money in growing your church communication strategy.