It was great to have Wesley Lewis from our podcast sponsor Oneeightydigital.com talk all things Website, social media and all relevant topics.

It’s a good probability that one of the first things needing to be changed is the website of a Church needing Replanting.

The Website is the “front door” of your church.

 

Things to avoid your church website:

-Using stock photos

-Representing something that you are not

-Not including contact information, address, email and a map

 

The web is the “yellow” pages of today-you want to be found, you want to provide good information that helps people know who you are.

 

Things to make sure your website has:

-A good header image (you have 5 seconds to make a good impression)

-Where you are, your service schedule, how to contact your church

-A brief description about what your church is like (using language that any outsider who si not part of your church could understand) 

-All this needs to be available within one scroll

 

Is it important to have sermon archives/sermon podcast on your website?

-Definitely, your members are most likely to listen to the entire message, guests will listen to clips.

-Consider transcribing your sermons this creates more hits on search engines.

-Use key words to give an SEO boost.

 

Should a Replant or Normative Size Church “live stream” their services?

-Livestream is mostly likely for your members or attenders who cannot be there

-Guests will most likely watch clips

-One positive is that live streaming extends your ministry a bit beyond your local area. 

-In some cases this allows for you to reach out to those who might want to partner with your church financially.

-Mark Zuckerberg has said that the future of Facebook is video.

 

Is there a way to get the passwords from someone who may be disgruntled and won’t give them? 

-Yes, you’ll need to contact Wesley to find out how.

 

What kind of person should run your website?

-Someone who knows how to connect with your community.

-Someone who possesses a missions mindset that desires to reach people with the gospel.

-They don’t have to be the most tech-savvy or the most social media savvy, but someone who knows how to tell stories well-people really respond to stories.

 

What can you do if you struggle to think about what to put on the website?

-Tell good stories

-Celebrate your strengths

 

Should you work with a company or just use a site builder?

-You always get a better product when you work with a team to develop your sites through a creative collaborative process.

-Predefined sites which you can customize are good but may limit what you can do in terms of telling your stories.

 

Wesley’s toolbox recommendations for your website

-Develop a good content team: to capture and write up stories for your site.

-Use a social media scheduler

-Invest in marketing: understand that you are marketing even if you don’t market. Empower people to share news about your church through good content.

-Develop a google my business page: make sure it’s accurate and up to date.

-Get info from a professional: even if you just buy someone lunch-pick their brain, get their opinions about marketing, sites and how your church can connect with the community.