When it comes to your church website there are several “must-have” Pages. Of course, you want an eye-catching home page, information about your ministry groups and events, basic location and service time information, and maybe a quick overview of your church’s denomination or beliefs. If you have all those boxes checked you are on your way to a pretty good church website.
But what about a blog?
We get it, you’re pastors, administrators, counselors, or volunteers. Not “bloggers”. The good news is, in this day and age, anyone can be a blogger. And if you have a business, church, or service you want others to find online, then you SHOULD be a blogger.
It may help to think about it this way. Blogging is simply sharing your information, stories, and expertise online. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or long-winded or formal.
Let’s take a look at how having a blog on your church website could benefit your mission as a church and even your congregation.
Reinforce Your Mission
It’s likely your church has a mission statement or a written set of values. This mission and these values should be indirectly displayed in everything you do as a church. But how often are they directly presented? Probably not often. This is because it wouldn’t really be engaging or appropriate to go into a PowerPoint presentation of your church’s core values on a Sunday.
But do you know where a great place to further present and clarify your core values would be? A blog! Those who want to know more about what your church is all about can check out your blog and understand the why behind much of what you do as a church.
Increase Engagement
A blog is another way for visitors and regular attendees to engage with your church which also means they are hopefully engaging in their personal faith. A blog can share sermon notes, conduct bible studies, or share encouragement. There is so much negativity thrown at us on the internet, giving people an opportunity to engage in biblical content is powerful.
Further Connection
Whether someone is unable to attend your church in person or is hesitant to set foot in a church, a blog adds an opportunity for connection outside of the four walls of your church building. A blog can give those a taste of what attending an event or service at your church would be like and help you stay connected to your surrounding community.
SEO Marketing Strategy
As a church, you want to reach more people in your community, which means that even the church must have an online marketing strategy. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one way of helping those who may not yet know about your church find you on the internet. The methods behind how Google ranks websites in search results are vague but we do know they favor websites with fresh original content. For this reason, we often see websites with consistent blog posts (new, original, and consistent content) perform better on search rankings than websites without.
Simply put, a blog can help you appear at the top of the page when someone searches “Churches in Minnesota”.
Getting Started
So to answer the question, yes, your church should have a blog on its website! For more information about connecting with those in your community or helping newcomers find your church online. Check out Torchable for more resources!