Have you ever felt like you don’t know where to start with a project? You are staring down the to-do list or blank page that just will not relent and you know this thing is bigger than you, you know it’s the proverbial elephant that has to be eaten one bite at a time but it’s also due like yesterday. We know you’ve been there, we know because as Christians who live, breathe, and work in the churches we see it too. We have put our eyes on that elephant and asked where do we start??

Because we’ve been there we know we can help you overcome some big online marketing hurdles by simply letting you know that your questions to get to the big answers are most likely NOT unique. Nearly every church has asked it at some point and you won’t be the last. If you’re not sure where to start, this post is for you.. 

Without further ado, here are 10 of the questions we get asked the most frequently.

10. What are the most important parts of a homepage?

This question gets asked all kinds of ways and many clients we work with ask it in ways they don’t even realize they’re asking this question. The truth is many pastoral teams know they need a website and know their website is the first place a new or returning brother or sister in Christ will come looking but they have NO IDEA what is helping them to be found or what those individuals are actually looking for. Here’s a crash course. 

• Call to Action
• Location
• Contact information
• Service times and instructions
• What to expect or what to do next

9. Do I need a livestream?

This still gets discussed by nearly every client, if the conversation isn’t “Do I need to?” it’s “How can I use what I am already doing more effectively?” 

The complicated truth is a lot of the answers to these two questions depend on the philosophy of the church about how accessible the church wants to be online and what the budget it has for media. Live streaming, if done correctly, will take some money and time. You will need some equipment, and a streaming service subscription. What other tools you already use such as facebook, youtube, etc. will dictate how to put those pieces together. But there should be some expectation that this will not be 100% free.. Quality live streaming is not free or easy to newcomers, but we can help you navigate that if you’re interested in learning more. Results do vary because budgets, time, and in-house skills do vary. One size does not fit all churches. 

8. How can we do more on social media?

Churches know they can’t skip out on social media. To some it’s an exciting landscape to access and to others it’s the bane of their existence. How you see social media will influence how you tackle this elephant. The predominant demographic of your congregation also will tell a tale because not all social media is for all demographics. I like to say that the answer to these questions starts with knowing who your audience is and where they are. Younger audiences are using snapchat and twitch and tik tok (for now). Older audiences are on facebook and youtube. 30 somethings are on instagram and more and more are taking to tik tok also. Facebook groups are heavily used for meet ups, church groups etc. More and more people are taking big breaks from social media. So churches may decide the best strategy with social media is to attract new members and NOT to just keep current congregants in the know, online apps are now used more for that. What you need it for will determine what more you can be doing. At the bottom of this article we’ve linked to some other articles we’ve written that may help you navigate that question further. We get asked the question a lot and we can help with your online presence. 

7. How can I automate my website updates?

This question comes to us in the form of a cry for help most frequently. To be completely frank almost no one actually asks this question, but they should! The complaint is mostly about not having time to make website updates. Definitely understandable. Unfortunately many churches just opt for putting updates to the back burner. This is a mistake. Churches with old outdated events and homepages get crawled by search engines just like websites that are up to date, the difference is the older the content the more likely you’ll get dinged by the algorithm for not being helpful or up to date. Best to avoid falling down the list of websites that come up in search results. Yes, some edits can be pre-scheduled or updated through automation. Do you have stats you update on spreadsheets that you want to show on your website? We can automate those changes!

6. How can I keep fresh content coming out on social media?

This is easy! You create new content every week! Your sermons are a hotbed for great content, use them! Get in the habit of skimming your sermons weekly or monthly with your social team and asking them to take a peak or even review the sermons after they are posted to pull quotes, bible verses, themes or images every week. Bare minimum your sermons are new content each week that you can repackage for social media. The other low hanging fruit is worship photos. Have someone dedicated to taking 1-3 photos a week. Chances are something is going on semi-regularly they can capture and pull from later. Lots of things are way more interesting to new or seeking church attendees than you think may be the case. Check out this article for more ideas. And this one.

5. What content do I need to build the website? 

Quicksites can be your friend! We have pre-written content you can tweak to fit your church so it takes the guesswork out of where to start Feel free choose a quicksite design, and we’ll craft the website for you from the pre-written content. We got you covered. It really is the blank page that gets most people, we are excited to have helped solve that problem by giving you a head start. 

4. I can’t afford a full website but I need one, what can I do?

The truth is that you get what you pay for. This universal truth escapes no one and that includes even OneEighty Digital where our passion is to help churches grow and thrive. But a custom website of course is going to give you every element you want customized to you, so a church or business quicksite is a great option for those lower budgets. A good, free website is not a real thing. Plenty of people try to sell them like Wix but the reality is those do not have customizable plugins, they are difficult to use or change templates, and you have to do all the heavy lifting yourself! With us we provide a beautiful design we created, then we put your content into the design you chose, and then we host the website for you and offer support hours to help you keep it updated (number of hours depends on the chosen support package). We can help you one way or the other. Do-It-Yourself is only possible to those who know how to code or are prepared to use a difficult to work-with website user interface *difficult for you and your visitors*.

3. How can someone find my church on a search result? OR Why aren’t I at the top of the search?

SEO is something most churches find confusing. They know that people are searching churches in their area but they don’t know how SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works to benefit them. We optimize all our websites for SEO. We know SEO like the back of our hand. Let us help guide you toward best practices for your site and help you connect with your primary audience. It starts with backend tagging, content, images, and the building blocks of your website, but we can help you navigate that. 

2. How can I get all of my sermons streamed to my site?
We use something called a “plugin” to accomplish many automated tasks and create the advanced functionalities you’ll need on your website. We purchase plugins, develop our own, and integrate new ways to develop functionality without plugins depending on the situation that’s in front of us. Plugins sometimes need additional coding to be altered or integrated. Anyone without the know-how can cause serious harm to the development and function of the website if they don’t know how to implement them. Even with experience, plugins can become outdated and discontinued by their creators and often need to be monitored. Many sermon archives and embed functionality on sites are using plugins. We have been working on our own new creations in this area so let us know if you’d like an upgrade or are interested to know what we’re working on.

1. Can I just use stock photography?

This is probably the most common question we get from church leaders and faith based organizations. The truth is great photography can be expensive but it’s an investment we highly encourage every organization to make. Churches are about people. Faith based organizations are meant to be real, with real people, and for real purposes. They way you showcase that is through using real images on your website. People today know the difference between reality and stock photography and expect a level of personalization. In a sea of online choices, people want to feel a part of something real. Most people are very turned off by the fake rendering of a church. We can’t say it enough, real people need to really be a part of your church’s depiction of itself online. You need photography of your church, yourself, your congregation, and your ministries. Don’t fake it. 
These are the top 10 most asked questions or topics that arise in our day-to-day operations of helping faith-based organizations thrive in their online presence. Our list  is not expansive and there are many other questions that come up regularly that we didn’t cover here but have touched on on our blog, but hopefully these answers will give you a headstart as you plan for your new, upgraded, or reevaluated website. Please contact us if you have questions or want to schedule a sit down to talk through anything that you need help with.