Tips Christian Blogging

Christian blogging can help your church or ministry with your church outreach. It is no doubt a powerful outreach tool. For church outreach purposes, you want to take a strategic approach to your Christian blogging.

Invest in a good blogging tool.

There are several free blogging tools available. These free tools might seem like a good deal, but they don’t compile each of your blogs into multiple blogs and then optimize them to secure page one listings on search results. You have to do that yourself and that takes a lot of work.

Compendium does the opposite. It makes Christian blogging easier, faster and more effective. For a free demo on how this tool can help you in your Christian blogging, call Pathmaker Marketing for a free demo at 623-322-3334.

Invest in keyword research.

Whenever Pathmaker Marketing sets up a blog, we gave Compendium a list of strategic keywords that people would search when looking for a service like ours. The Compendium tool automatically compiles our posts into multiple blogs under all appropriate keywords, not just the one into which we posted it. This work-leveraging feature also optimizes the posts to tell the search engines to, “Come find me.”

Pathmaker Marketing helps clients do keyword research that select keywords that are not only used by people searching for their services but also (a) get a lot of searches and (b) don’t have too much competition to break into. Pathmaker also helps clients evaluate where they currently stand in search results for those keywords and then develop strategies to improve those standings.

Develop ministry-oriented content that uses keywords.

Not only do you want people to find your blog entries, you want them to find the information useful enough to convince them to visit or contact your church and get the benefits you offer them. Christian blogging should be ministerial in nature, and you should provide contact information so people who need the ministries you offer can easily find you.

When you use the right kind of blogging tool, put adequate time into choosing the right targeting keywords and develop concise but helpful content using those keywords, your Christian blogging can become an effective online extension of your church outreach efforts.

Church Outreach Ideas for the Internet: eWelcome

Whenever you welcome someone to you church, it is likely that you have a team ready to make sure the new person feels welcome. They serve him coffee, exchange sincere pleasantries and ask for his contact details. Your church does this to make sure that the newcomer comes back to your church and becomes a regular attendee and active participant.

Using the same analogy, your church website can strategically welcome and interact with your first-time and returning visitors by offering them something "ministerial" in exchange for their basic contact information.

There are many ways to do this. For example, you can offer free Christian e-books, spiritual gifts tests, MP3 files of your best sermons, invite them to read your ministry blog, or install a prayer wall where they can leave their prayer request. In exchange, the website visitor would simply have to provide basic contact information: First Name and Email Address.

Typically, once they have requested your special free offers, your system will have a triggered set of email messages that automatically go out at pre-established intervals: one week later, two weeks later, etc. Each email is designed to get those newcomers further acquainted with your church and encourage them to return, possible even get further involved.

Each autoresponder email message is designed to welcome the newcomer to a different aspect or your church or ministry, and of course, encourage them to get involved. Why not collect email and snail mail addresses on church visitors in exchange for a Welcome Kit about your church, then place those emails into your electronic welcome series?

Some good real-time examples of this practice can be found in Gregory Dickow Store and in the Jewish Voice Ministries.

By developing an incentive-based e-welcome series, you can be assured that you will remain in contact with people who have shown in interest in your church outreach inperson or on your website. This may not yield instant results in increased church membership, but you are establishing relationships with newcomers, who as long as they remain on your email list, are indicating that their interest remains. Plus, typical results show that for every 100 emails you acquire, 63% of those will also give you their full name and mailing address in exchange for a Welcome Kit from your ministry!

For a Free Demo on how this process works, contact Pathmaker Marketing at 623-322-3334.

Church Outreach Ideas for the Internet: SEO

Wouldn't it be great to be able to just go out and tell thousands about the Gospel, and see hundreds of souls saved? Better still, why not do it from your home?

The internet provides an excellent method to evangelize. But in order to use the internet effectively for your church outreach, you must make sure that people know your church exists in the first place. One of the best ways to do that is to search engine optimize your website. These steps include modifying your site content and code to be optimized for your targeting keywords. It also includes link building to establish your website firmly within local searches on the internet. Since SEO requires some technical expertise, it would be good stewardship to invest in hiring a search engine optimization agency who can perform the necessary keyword research, copy and HTML code modifications, and submit your website to the search engines.

Hopefully, with search engine optimization, your church website will show up in the list of Top 10 results where people can find you.

Targeting Keywords that are Winnable

A blogger needs to be targeting keywords that they want to win a Page One ranking on in Google, Yahoo or Bing. Once these target terms are determined, a blogger needs to pursue these top page rankings by creating best in class content surrounding those targeting keywords, and, as a result, they also establish themselves as an expert in their field.

While it may seem easy to identify keywords you want to write about, the real trick is to isolate the “winnable” words or phrases, since what's most important is picking terms to blog about that both relate to your expertise, and have some capacity to win you a Page One Ranking. Page One rankings will get your blog qualified visitors, who may convert into names to your email list, qualified leads, product or service buyers, donors, etc.

To determine the keyword marketing terms to pursue, you can either hire a Premier Blogging Service firm such as Randall Mains company Pathmaker Marketing, or you need to invest hours, days, or possibly weeks to research them yourself, using Google’s Keyword Tool or something similar.

Church Outreach Ideas for the Internet: Twitter

After two weeks on Twitter, my friend´s personal account has had over 100 followers. This means 100 people have been receiving updates about her activities, beliefs, thoughts and anything that she wants to inform her followers about.

Having a church social media account in sites like Twitter is an efficient use of your resources to reach out to your target audience. People who have personal accounts in these social network sites usually visit them at least once a day -- many have their "tweets" sent right to their cell phones. Instead of finding out whether their acquaintances have started dating or broken up, wouldn’t it be more spiritually constructive if you communicated the new spiritual insights you are having as a pastor?

The beauty of using social media marketing for church outreach is that it takes minimal effort on your part to use their built-in features meant for virally spreading information. However, before signing on to just any social network, you should develop a strategy on what would be the most useful content to provide and how to leverage these opportunities wisely.

Since Twitter opens up an international audience for you, of which most of your followers will not be able to visit your church, you need to develop an appropriate strategy to use this tool. One strategic way Pathmaker uses Twitter is that we autoflow our blog content into our Twitter networks. This way, since we are committed to creating fresh content on our blog, that content is also populated across the internet via Twitter every time we update our blog. The bulk of our content is developed on our blog, while Twitter posts allow us to drive interested traffic to our blogsite for further reading.

Churches should have a members site on Twitter for generating news of interest to current churchgoers, while opening up a second site with is specifically geared to be more "evangelistic" in its outreach, dealing with subjects of general interest to everyone, anywhere in the world.

For help in this regard, reach Pathmaker Marketing online, or for more assitance, cal 1-623-322-3334.

The Internet: New Christian Marketing

by Meagan Gillan

The Internet has changed virtually every aspect of Christian marketing. Compended blogging, social media, back linking, search engine optimization and text messaging have all been used to market successfully. When we found that Christian publishing giant Tyndale House Publishers did not have a significant footprint on the Internet, Pathmaker Marketing used state-of-the-art online tools to find a solution to the problem, creating a compended blog and filling it with content that will help strengthen Tyndale products’ search engine rankings. Our approach is holistic and comprehensive and we view the concerns with an outsider’s objectivity.

Our staff can “work” social networking accounts, inviting people to be followers, friends, etc., and following up. We also invite them to your online events and auto-flow your blog content to your social networking accounts, further broadening the reach of your social networking efforts.

We will research your online presence and give you the good news and the bad regarding your search engine rankings. We are experts in being able to help you build your Internet assets. Our compended blogs will help drive up your rankings with Google, Bing, Yahoo and others.

Pathmaker Marketing is grateful for the opportunity to help so many ministries and small businesses with their Christian Marketing and church outreach, applying our expertise to the needs of our clients. If you are uncertain about your ability to tackle Christian Marketing on your own, give us a call at 623-322-3334 or visit our website to learn more. You can sign up for our free Christian Marketing eNewsletter HERE.

Christian Blogging and Keyword Marketing

Choosing a Premier Blogging Service makes all the difference in the world. The blog post that you are reading right now is part of a 50 Keyword, Compended Blogging system. It's a high-powered outreach tool and ministry marketing machine rolled into one. http://ping.fm/vmoZQ

Going on a God Hunt

When Jesus walked the earth, most people didn't recognize him for who he truly was. Even today, God's miracles are countless but we often miss them. God is moving right in front of us but we rarely notice. God is active while we say, "What are you doing?" To recognize God's presence, He says: If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me (Jeremiah 29:13 New Living Translation). That involves going on a God Hunt.

Christian Marketing Help

Whether you run a small business or lead a Christian ministry, you may wonder if there is value in using an outside firm for your Christian Marketing. This is not only a personal decision— it’s an important one-–for no matter what the nature of your work is, you have a responsibility to let others know about it so they can take advantage of your services or goods. Your business or ministry can provide tremendous help to your potential customers–but what is the best way to let people know about you? Christian Marketing Help - Can You Hit the Target on Your Own

Is Your Website Just a Pretty Face or is it Pumping Iron?

A strategically designed website can ultimately make hard-hitting contributions to your company's growth. Your website should be converting traffic into mailing lists, qualified leads, donations, and other valuable assets.

Functionality is key in ensuring your website is pumping maximum iron and helping build your business.

Let Pathmaker Marketing perform a functional evaluation of your site and provide a proposal on how Pathmaker can help you make the most of its utility. When your web marketing is in the hands of professionals, you don't have to worry-we take care of everything. We provide the expertise to make your website a heavyweight: increasing visitor interaction through Web 2.0 and overall strategies, traffic conversion, site optimization, coordinating your web and email strategies, and much more.

Schedule a free consultation, and receive two valuable white papers on web design and communication. Read more...

Define Your Online Objectives

by Randall Mains

I marvel at how often clients come to us at Pathmaker Marketing and do not have a firm grasp of exactly what they want us to accomplish for them. This seems to be as true for those companies who are seeking a small business marketing strategy as those charities who are interested in non-profit fund raising.

For whether they are looking for an online marketing tool, church outreach ideas or search engine optimization services, their goals are often murky and poorly defined. An example would be those who put together an internet ad without having defined how to evaluate the results of the advertisement, or measure its success.

First, as you develop your online ad you need to know what, exactly, you are expecting it to accomplish for you.

There are basically a few strategic things that you can hope to receive from your internet marketing endeavor - - a list addition, a lead or a sale. Typically, your product or service will determine which you should expect. For example, if you are selling your services as an Architect for Church Expansion, you will undoubtedly pursue leads, not sales.

On the other hand, if you are selling a $49.95 product titled “6 Steps to 1,000 Perfect Sermons,” the end result is more apt to be a sale than a lead.

Once you fully understand your objective you can better measure the results. Making this determination will allow you to decide whether or not your advertising program was a success.

Second, as you determine your objectives you will find that they may be different depending on whether you are prospecting for new customers or selling to your current ones. Example: is the list email you are using an “internal” or “external” list. For an internal list, one where you are contacting current/past customers, you may decide that for a thousand dollar investment you will want to realize $10,000 worth of sales. It might be more, it might be less - - you should be able to determine this because you will already have a track record with those individuals.

However, with an “external” list, a list of potentially new clients , you may be pleased even if you don’t break even! For the same thousand dollar investment, a return of only $750.00 might be acceptable because you are acquiring new names/clients for future upselling to your internal list. These individuals will have ongoing upsell potential and a “life time value,” which may be very significant.

It is vitally imperative that you define your objectives, for without doing so you cannot determine if your campaign was successful or not! Too, you may want to set up a “scale” of probably/possible success. If your “goal” is to glean $10,000 on a $1,000 investment, and you only glean $8,500, you might decide that the program was, albeit short of your expectations, still a success. As with any goal, not reaching the ultimate goal does not mean you failed.

It is possible that you may need help in defining and refining your objective, and we at Pathmaker would be more than happy to assist you in this. However, before you invest in an internet advertising be sure you know what you expect it to do for you!

Give us a call at 623-323-3334 if you need more help to find ways to win on the web.

Church Outreach Idea: e-Newsletters

Sending out easy to read e-Newsletters is a good outreach for your church http://bit.ly/9EvUUe

Top Ten Church Outreach Ideas for the Internet: eFundraising

Sending monthly email fundraising is our 11th of Ten (BONUS IDEA) Top Ideas for Church Outreach on the Internet.

A friend of mine once received a genuinely well-written email about a Christian orphanage in need of money so that they can send a few kids to school. My friend, so touched by the story, sent some money and was extremely happy to know that she has helped her fellow Christians in need.

There is a multitude of possibilities to reach possible donors, supporters and beneficiaries through the World Wide Web. With the advent of online paying systems, it is very easy to give and receive financial help.

Your church should grab this opportunity because there are many people out there who are willing to support various Christian causes through online giving. As long as you have a strategic e-fundraising campaign, your resources will continuously grow. Thus, it will contribute to the fulfillment your mission to share the church of Christ and enlarge His territory.

Pathmaker Marketing has solid experience in assisting non-profits and churches raise funds via the Internet. One recent email campaign in June 2009 yielded over $30,000 in gifts from 375 donors. a 13-month campaign for another not for profit organizaton raised $192,000 in gifts through the email fundraising channel. We have a proven track record of increasing our clients´ funds multiple times over in proportion to what it costs our clients. For more details on this subject, visit Pathmaker's webpage.

Schedule a meeting with the Pathmaker Marketing Team to discuss and learn more about how you can make your church outreach on the internet grow even larger. This small chat may unearth many ideas that you can use to save more lost souls like mine was.

Church Outreach

What can you do on the Internet to extend and leverage your church outreach efforts to reach both your new members and people looking for a congregation to join?

Here are some strategies from Pathmaker:
1. Sign-up landing page
2. Traffic Conversion
3. eWelcome Series
4. Autoresponder Plan
5. Prayer Walls
6. Blogging Tool

Your church outreach efforts can be extended and leveraged when you employ the strategies listed above. Pathmaker Marketing is experienced in helping ministries implement these tools. Call 623-322-3334 or visit www.PathmakerMarketing.com to schedule a time to discuss how we might help you.