This is a guest post by John Stevens. Read more about how you can guest post on Christian Web Trends here.
Populating a church blog is difficult especially during these modern times. People would rather read entertaining stories than the word of the Lord.
As a webmaster or a site owner of a church website, what can we do to increase engagement towards our website?
Church Blogging: Not Just for SEO
It’s a popular thought that we only do blogging just to increase our rankings on the search engine. While it may be partly true, we cannot deny that creating shareable content can tremendously help drive traffic and subscribers to our website. That’s why here are 25 blog topics you can use for inspiration in populating your own blog!
- A comprehensive reading list â You can suggest narrative literature, especially from the Bible itself: Genesis, Exodus 1-2, Samuel, Job, Four Gospels. These are inspirational and full of lessons people can certainly appreciate.
- A controversial post â Remember the controversy surrounding a Clairton Church? There was a proposal to house ex-offenders in Clairton church. It did spark a controversy online; itâs a good topic to discuss, but tread lightly on the topic. Itâs nice to know and inform people about these but avoid taking sides.
- A definitive post â Similar to BuzzSproutâs definitive post on podcasting here.
- Resource list â Do you have a big number of resources available for download? Why not make it available for all your subscribers? You can use this opportunity to get more people signing up for your newsletter. Check out this site that offers resources for students and kids.
- A list post â Another easy blog topic would be a list post. Hereâs a good topic on the 25 Most Important People in the Bible. For added inspiration, you can start on a list of Top Professions of Faith in the Bible, or you can search what Bible verses are the most quoted, etc.
- A personal story â Personal stories are the best. This may involve stories on struggles of life and how God inspired them, or even how they lost faith and regained it back during an epiphany.
- A recurring weekly post â This can start with a church video series talking about your church, the people behind it, and some of your activities. It will develop human interest.
- A step-by-step guide â Why not create a step-by-step guide on confession? You can also get in a DIY Advent wreath as a student project guide.
- A testimony post â Ask your patrons to write a testimony for your website. As they see that they are getting more involved with their church, they will actively participate, whether online or offline.
- A video post â This could include videos of your parishâs best sermons, programs, or simply a minute with your parishioner.
- An âUltimate Guide ToâŚâ â Getting married in your church. Ultimate guides help people a lot, and doing as such will get people to participate in your church too.
- An audio post/podcast â You can upload sermons online! Let your people listen to that great sermon over and over again.
- An honest post â This is related to controversial posts. Honest posts should be discussed over as your posts reflect the views of your church, whether you put a disclaimer there or not.
- Answer a question â This is pretty much easy. There are people who will need enlightenment; you can ask your priest and quote the Bible for reference.
- Have a contest â Everyone loves a contest! Orange Leaders arranged a contest that received a lot of good feedback.
- Highlight someone in your church with a profile â Again, human interest stories are indeed interesting; Crosspoint has a good take on this along with a video of their member.
- Interview a figure in the church world â Church authorities are similar to celebrities; they are well-known when it comes to Christian communities. Their word and advice uplift faith as they are seen as the authority in oneâs faith.
- Post about upcoming events â Make them look forward to your event!
- Post something inspirational â This may be another human interest story, or a parable from the Bible related to day-to-day struggles.
- Produce a weekly church radio show â Now you can host your own radio shows online! Post summaries of your shows on your blog; you can share a link to your radio show too! People now listen to podcasts and radio shows online, so take the opportunity to get their attention!
- Review a book, album, or movie â People always look for reviews before they purchase anything. Help your community with a review. Hereâs a movie review from Catholic News Service.
- Share a behind the scenes look at your church â Sneak peeks are good engagement material. You can show the light side of the laity as they prepare for a Sunday service, perhaps videos and experiences during project preparations, etc.
- Take a survey at your church â If you have a good number of followers, look for ways to improve through a survey. This creates engagement and people will feel closer to their Church as a result.
- Write about something that bugs you â Day-to-day struggles? Share experiences and include the Word of the Lord to inspire people.
- Write an FAQ post about your church â Do you usually get questions sent to your inbox repeatedly? Post an FAQ that your community will appreciate. Some frequent questions you may encounter are about schedules, availability of services, or even processes and requirements for baptismal, weddings, etc.
Do you have anything else to add to the list? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Kenneth is a WordPress and design enthusiast. He loves to code websites, make them visually appealing, and improving their user experience. He is the CEO of Sytian Productions, a Philippines web design company.
7 Comments
Great ideas John! I'm a big advocate of churches having a blog. I do hear some pastors and church communicators ask, "What should we blog about?" If anyone asks me that in the future, I'll point them to this post. đ
Thanks Paul! I'm glad you appreciate it! I know how hard it is to come up with a post. đ I hope this helps a lot of church bloggers out there!
Nice post about church blog. Thanks for sharing such blog with us.
Hi Kenneth, professional article! I have bookmarked the page, thanks a lot!
Thank you for the information! Much needed and Helped a lot!
Thanks very much Kenneth. idea number 9 really had my attention because i recently started a testimony blog but was really scared about how far it would go and how to even go about it. thanks to your post i have just had a series of inspiration on how to make this work.
Thank you for this quick list of ideas. This will help a lot in the coming months.
Does number 6 work as a good post? General blogging rules suggest that the writer should talk more about the reader than themselves. However, I could see how this might be a little different if your reader base is a church.