keeping up with the content strategies for managing your church’s website chris steingart |...

Keeping up with the content

Keeping up with the contentStrategies for managing your church’s website

Chris Steingart | Graphic Design and Web Developer | QT Web Designs

Download Notes and Slides from this presentation: www.qtweb.ca/mcec


a little bit about me

• Youth Pastor 2003-2005

• Founded QT Web Designs in 2007

• Created over 200 web sites

• Enjoy working with many non/profits and faith-based organizations.

• Extensive experience and background in WordPress (since ver. 2.4)

• Graphic design and UX (both front and backend) are my passions

• Have done many seminars online, locally and around North America on topics such as:

Blogging | Social Media Integration | Would Jesus Tweet? | Search Engine Optimization | 7 Deadly Design Sins

Summer 2014 QT Web Designs will become 180 Creative

Offering services in Graphic Design, Web Development, Video, Branding


…a little more about me

Husband to Jillian and Father to 1.3 children:Rowan (15 months), #2 coming December 2014

Members at Breslau Mennonite Church

Volunteer with community groups and non-profits: • Silver Lake Mennonite Camp• The Community Players of New Hamburg• MennoMedia• Sustainable Waterloo Region


time for a short quiz

In small groups, try to guess the year of the major technological advancement.


technological milestones in the last 20 years

The PDAiPhoneiPodiTunesiPadiBookTwitterFacebookMy SpaceKindleYouTubeBlackberry

GooglePinterestInstagramWikipediaBlogs WordpressPodcastsKickstarter


what does it all mean?

This generation has witnessed the launch of the digital age. The last 20 years have seen a huge shift in the way we connect, learn, and stay informed.


today’s roadmap

Group discussion

Making a case for the church website

Why manage content?

Determining your site’s purpose

Content management systems

Developing a system for updates

Effective workflow ideas

Creating content

More website tips and ideas…

Social media


what I won’t do

• Give you my sleazy sales pitch

• Ignore questions if I’m moving too fast

• Try to tell you what you’re doing wrong

• Make more work for you

• Make your head explode due to info overload


but we aren’t ready to change our web site

This seminar will cover several content

management ideas and practices that I’ve

implemented with most of my clients.

The strategies and ideas we will discuss can be

incorporated to any web site.


2 | small group discussion

In small groups discuss the following questions and report back

• Does your church have a website?

• How old is it?

• Who updates it?

• How often do changes take place?

• How often should changes take place?

• On a scale of 1-10 how important is the website in your church’s

overall marketing strategy?

• How many hours per week do you spend managing the website?


3 | making a case for the church website

Before we start talking about the what and how, we must ask the big…

WHY?


why your church needs its website:

Keeping relevant



Casting a wider net



Keeping connected


determining ROI

Your church is committing money or

resources or both to the development of

your website.

It seems rather cold to approach your

website as an investment, but it’s a

necessary question worth addressing.


why manage content?

• Keep your site current

• New stuff makes things interesting

• Our world runs on information and the ability

to get it quickly and efficiently

• Old photos can be an instant turn off

• Outdated info is a turn off to visitors and will

impact your engagement of your target

audience


who’s involved?

Pastors Council Chair Committee Heads Writers From The Congregation Speakers Worship Leaders

Web Site Content Manager

Web Site


first things first, what’s your website’s purpose?


the “sign post” web site

• Most common form of web site

• “Set it and forget it”

• Little interactivity

• Information flows in one direction

• Some specific areas of content are updated


the “social” web site

• Highly interactive

• Information flows both ways

• Depends on visitor engagement

• Requires lots of care, regular oversight


6 | different content management systems (CMS)

Computer-based CMS

Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Contribute

Web-based CMS

WordPress (60.1%)

Joomla (8.3%)

Drupal (5.2%)

ExpressionEngine (0.7%)

Weebly (0.3%)

Google Sites (0.2%)

Wix (0.2%)


considerations when choosing a CMS

1. Core functionalityCarefully consider what you need to do on your website.

2. Know what’s important and what’s not

You don’t need all the bells and whistles

3. Who will be using the system. Who, how many people, from where?

4. Is there a large community of support?When you need to call in the geeks, are there geeks to be found?

5. Backups, revision savingWhat if things go wrong?

6. Plan, plan, then plan some more


my ode to WordPress

• Theme-based structure

• Plugins

• Dynamic

• Page templating

• Customizable (WordPress.org)

• Large developer community


more about page templates


why administrators love WordPress

• Post scheduling or back dating – built in • Embed youtube videos – built in• Embed audio – built in (a little glitchy)• Auto post expiry – plugin• User management (aka member’s area) – plugin• SEO – built in• Page revisions – build in• RSS Feed – built in• Photo galleries – built in• Full website backups – plugin• Plus… make edits from any device!

A.K.A. Can your CMS do this?


a rant about consistency

Let the CSS do the work…


7 | the importance of a system


putting a system together

Schedule your Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly

Tasks

If you have some items in your wish list add

them as well with a projected date

This is a great resource to share with your

personnel committee when blocking out your

time spent on the web site


Weekly…


Monthly…


More…


adding new elements - your website wish list

Facebook

Twitter

Podcasts

Live Streaming of Services

User Access Areas

Blogs

Content Management System

Photo Galleries

Donations

Scrolling Banners

Bible Quote of the Day


avoiding update overload

It’s human nature to try to exceed expectations

and add something new

Without a system in place, a new endeavour is

doomed to fail

Your website is a place where you should know

your limitations and stick to them

If in doubt leave it out…


effective workflow

• Scheduling time for work

• Write posts in advance

• Work at the content offline

• Remove distractions

• Keep backup content and images

• Track your time

Q: How do you currently avoid distractions during your day?


the bulletin model

• Let’s not re-invent the wheel right?

• Your church already has a strategy for

publishing news.

• What is the workflow involved in putting

the bulletin together each week?

Does it translate to the web?


9 | creating content

We’ve talked about how to add it, but what if you have to go out and find it?

The content life cycle

What steps of the cycle are

you a part of?


sources of content

Content is everywhere! You just have to find it.

Authors can be found everywhere:• Youth• Seniors• Committee Chairs• Pastors• Speakers (in advance of a sermon…)• Other churches• Church organizations

Consider a bulletin announcement inviting “guest bloggers”.

Your blog can be a great testing ground for lay ministers!


repurposing content

• Repurposing content saves you time and keeps

your message consistent.

• Work once!

• Church Newsletters (split up into different posts)

• Old articles

• Other churches or organizations – content

gleamed from their blog (with permission or

recognition)


more tips and ideas to get the most out of your site


developing an audience

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it…

• Include tie-ins in the bulletin

• Feature guest bloggers from the church

• Engage the youth!

• Launch a new site with fanfare

• Run contests

• Always reply to comments

• Post your URL everywhere (signs, ads, official emails, bulletins etc…)

• Celebrate the website as a valuable part of the church’s mission, don’t ignore it


beyond content, 2 areas critical to visitor engagement

Images Headers


images and why they matter

A picture paints 1,000 words right? Visitors to your website will skim over images to get a quick idea about your

church.

Out of date, blurry, dark, stretched, poorly

positioned images can have a negative impact

Be consistent with the kinds of images that you

use on your site. People gravitate towards authentic

Use galleries and image sliders to give visitors access to more images if interested.


headers tell the story quickly

• People will skim through your website and only

read headers

• A compelling header will grab a reader’s attention

• Use multiple header weights (header 1, header 2,

header 3, etc…)

• Search Engines love headers as it helps them

assess a page quickly


assessing the impact with analytics

Google Analytics is great for

understanding traffic on your site is

critical to assessing your site’s impact

Key metrics to look for: • Sessions• Users• Pageviews• Pages/session• Bounce Rate

Check out your popular pages to make sure people get where you need them to go


social media (do or do not there is no try)

Everyone is doing it so why shouldn’t we?

This is a whole other seminar!

Same as your website:

Whatever you do, do one thing really well

Find where your target audience is hanging out

and join them there


go forth and manage content

In small groups discuss the following questions and

report back

• What are some things that can be improved

upon/added to your website?

• What new ideas are you leaving with today?

• What can you easily implement into your strategy.


Questions

Chris Steingart | Graphic Design and Web Developer | QT Web Designs

Download Notes and Slides from this presentation: www.qtweb.ca/mcec

keeping up with the content strategies for managing your church’s website chris steingart |...

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