Continuing our journey through Destinations Month, we’ve already discussed how sermons, blogging and photo galleries are excellent types of “destination content” that bring people to your website and keep people coming back, and we’ve got more content ideas on the way.
Have you started implementing any of these ideas?
If not, worries.
I’m not writing this to guilt trip you, but to help you understand what’s going on and overcome the obstacles.
More than 90% of the people who read this blog series won’t implement even one of the content strategies discussed. Here are the two biggest reasons I’ve heard in the past:
- We tried that once and it didn’t work
- I’m overwhelmed with too many ideas
Sound familiar?
It’s important to understand every church is different, and therefore…
Different content works for different churches.
Think about the people in your church…
- Some really want to listen to, process, discuss and take action on sermons
- Some really enjoy pictures of people and events
- Some really want to start each day with a bible verse or devotional
- Some really want to be lifted up through music
- Some really want to be challenged through thoughtful blog posts
When you read through each of the blog posts above, there was probably at least one person who came to mind. But one person will not make a particular type of content successful.
So, how can you know what “destination content” will work for your church?
1) Survey. Create a survey and ask the people of your congregation to give their opinions on different types of content. We like to use Google Forms for our surveys because it’s free and easy to use. For an example, see the OurChurch.Com July Survey. (We’d appreciate it if you’d help us out by completing the survey too)
2) Ask. Surveys are great but they don’t always tell the whole story. Talk to lots of people in your church one-on-one. Ask them, “What could we put on our website that would help you grow in your faith and build stronger relationships with people in the church?
3) Find a passionate leader. For content to work, someone has to create it consistently. That’s probably only going to happen if you have someone who really enjoys creating a particular type of content and believes it will help people grow spiritually or relationally. Do you have someone who loves photography and might want to take and post pictures at events? Do you have someone who loves to write and might want to publish a blog post each week?
4) Do one experiment at a time. Even if surveys and conversations show your congregation really wants a particular type of content and you have a leader committed to creating it, nothing is 100% guaranteed. But nothing ventured nothing gained, right? Try something new. Preferably only one thing at a time so you don’t confuse or overwhelm people. Promote it and talk about it repeatedly. Give it a few months and see how it goes. Watch your traffic numbers in Google Analytics. If it’s working, keep going. If it’s not, kill it, learn from it, and try something else.
Bonus: people love to share their opinions and ideas. Polls and surveys can be another type of “destination content” helps to engage the people of your church on your website or social media.
If you need help with your church website, OurChurch.com can help you with custom church website design, DIY church website builder, and church SEO.
Discussion
Have you asked the people of your church what type of content would help them grow spiritually or relationally? If so, what did you learn?