I am excited for in just a few days my wife and I will be attending the "Wired Churches-Innovate 2007 Conference." With speakers like Mark Beeson, and Tim Stevens who authored the "Simply Strategic" series that many churches use. This conference is all about being relevant in today's culture. It exposes you to how the church needs to market itself in a relevant way which got me thinking.
Whether you knew it or not, if you are a pastor of a church or owner of a business...you are already marketing. The question is...what are people saying about your marketing? When you pay your bills on time or not on time...you are marketing. If people walk by your church and see the shape of your building or how your grass looks, what is it saying to people? You are marketing whether you know it or not.
I was intrigued by an article in the latest "Outreach Magazine." In an article entitled, "How Important Is a Building" by Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer III, they said, "Churches that did not have adequate or attractive buildings were perceived by the unchurched as under-funded. But the credit for attractive facilities was given to the leadership of the church."
You don't have to have a big building to make it attractive. You just need to simply look at the place as a whole and say, "does this represent the future of our church?"
Again, whether we know it or not as leaders of churches...you are marketing. The question is...what message are you sending?
Monday, September 17, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
iPod news
Are you amazed with the news of the next generation of iPods? You can now purchase a 160 gig iPod...WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU NEED THAT KIND OF ROOM FOR? But, if you are like me, and would be looking for an iPod...that would be the one to get.
The new iPods in my opinion are very slick with the touch screen, however...they only come in 8 and 16 gig sizes. That is quite a bit...but my suggestion is wait until Christmas for the release of the larger hard-drives.
That's it for now.
The new iPods in my opinion are very slick with the touch screen, however...they only come in 8 and 16 gig sizes. That is quite a bit...but my suggestion is wait until Christmas for the release of the larger hard-drives.
That's it for now.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Are You Sticky?
One thing I do often is research websites. Sometimes I will find myself cruising from site to site looking at how each business/church designs their website. Here are a few thoughts I have on websites and how to attract more people...or how to make it more sticky so people keep on coming back.
1. Update information: Nothing can make a website more boring then old information. If you are a person that is not good at updating your calendar, then may I suggest not having one. In this case, just post your standard meeting times and the occasional special event. When a new person visits your website and sees the "Summer '06" calendar...what does that say about your church/business?
2. Flash graphics: I personally am a firm believer in not having to much flash (animation) on a website. The reason is that though we live in a fast paced, wi-fi, world...there are still some who have dial-up. When a person with dial-up hits a website with alot of animation, it can load to slowly thus causing that person to close the site. This is not to say animated buttons, some images are great...in fact this is a big part that causes people to enjoy a website.
3. How many buckets? A website that has to many options on the menu can cause information overlaod and might make it to hard to navigate. Keep it simple on your homepage. Most websites can keep the number of buttons to 4.
4. Consider a face-lift: One thing I believe in is giving your website a face-lift each year. If you have a logo, that is the piece that remains the same...this is called "branding." Whether you are at a store or home, it is always nice to see a change now and then. A website is no different, people like to see change. This change would also include new staff photos as well.
Just some thoughts for you to think about...feel free to comment!
1. Update information: Nothing can make a website more boring then old information. If you are a person that is not good at updating your calendar, then may I suggest not having one. In this case, just post your standard meeting times and the occasional special event. When a new person visits your website and sees the "Summer '06" calendar...what does that say about your church/business?
2. Flash graphics: I personally am a firm believer in not having to much flash (animation) on a website. The reason is that though we live in a fast paced, wi-fi, world...there are still some who have dial-up. When a person with dial-up hits a website with alot of animation, it can load to slowly thus causing that person to close the site. This is not to say animated buttons, some images are great...in fact this is a big part that causes people to enjoy a website.
3. How many buckets? A website that has to many options on the menu can cause information overlaod and might make it to hard to navigate. Keep it simple on your homepage. Most websites can keep the number of buttons to 4.
4. Consider a face-lift: One thing I believe in is giving your website a face-lift each year. If you have a logo, that is the piece that remains the same...this is called "branding." Whether you are at a store or home, it is always nice to see a change now and then. A website is no different, people like to see change. This change would also include new staff photos as well.
Just some thoughts for you to think about...feel free to comment!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
A Cool Resource
In constant search of the latest and greatest in connecting with people, I ran across a website www.txtsignal.com. For five dollars a month, you can send as many people as you would like a text message from this program. I have personally used it regularly and find it very user friendly. Check it out.
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