Success Story – Journey Church Communication Strategy brings 100 NEW Adult Visitors in 6 Months

Watch as Pastor Aaron from Journey Church of Kansas City speaks about the results they received after putting Church Communication Strategy ideas in place from FindingYourChurch.com

FYC Podcast 015: Free Tool to Automate Your Church Tasks

LINK >> FREE Fiverr For Churches Guide

You CAN automate specific online and digital tasks to save you a ton of time.

Obviously you cannot automate ALL aspects of your Church or Ministry, but there are a lot of things you do every day that could be removed from your to-do list using this FREE resource.

So much of what we do during the day is repetitive. Many tasks could actually be done by an assistant, but paid staff in many Churches is not always an abundant resource.

Even if you do have plenty of paid staff, most ministries are always looking for ways to increase productivity and get more done. Just because you paid staff does not mean you are satisfied having people do things they could have done for them for free.

You will have to figure out how this works in your Church, but with this FREE tool you can automate your Church email, scheduling, team coordination, syncing content and files, and sending reminders. Of course, every solution on the site will not work for everyone in every situation so you have to find the ones that will be a benefit to you.

It also works for your personal tasks, not just Church.

Automate your Church Tasks with IFTTT

IFTTT.com is the site that can help you accomplish this for your Church and personal to-do lists.

They have divided your solutions into an easy to navigate menu of what they call RECIPIES that can automate a huge number of online and digital tasks. These recipes are explained with If/Then and DO scenarios to make it easy for you to figure out what you want to accomplish what that specific recipe.

Examples of the If/Then tasks you can put on autopilot.

* Automatically log your Mileage

* Mute your phone when you get to work or maybe even Church.

* Connect your Church Facebook and Twitter.

* Find your phone and keep a call log.

* Keep your Church Social Media Profile Logos synced.

* Have news from specific websites automatically emailed to you.

* Save new contacts to a Google spreadsheet.

* Automatically share new WordPress blog posts to your Church Facebook page.

* Track your Church work hours in Google calendar.

* Document your daily Church activity in a Google spreadsheet.

* Message your spouse when you leave to or from work.

Examples of the DO solutions that you can help you with digital and online tasks.

* Block off the next hour as “Do Not Disturb”.

* Record when and where you received a business card.

* Quickly create events in your Church and personal Google calendar.

* Save notes directly to Evernote on the go.

* Record security footage.

* Get yourself out of an awkward situation with a fake phone call.

* Let someone know you are heading home.

* Log a map of your current location in Evernote.

* Scan a picture directly to your computer.

* Keep track of where you were this week for accountability or Church work.

My favorite DO Recipe is the one where you can have it call you to get out of an awkward or boring situation.

Maybe this could work for your next Church Board Meeting or Counseling Session?

This is obviously not very honest of course, and you probably would NOT want to do this while representing your Church. But, it is still funny.

Check out IFTTT and get started creating your automated recipes for your Church and personal tasks with the link below.

LINK >> IFTTT.

FYC Podcast 014: Cheap Royalty Free Church Photos, Graphics, Themes & Template Designs

LINK >> FREE Fiverr For Churches Guide

Whether you are in a creative or tech position on a Church Staff or the Lead Pastor, you are always in need of a great graphic or template for something.

Whether it is for a postcard design for an upcoming mailing or a template for your Sermon screen presentation, the creativity needs to keep coming.

The problem is we all have our go-to places for resources. These can get old and worn out very quickly, and people begin to notice the same thing over and over again in our print and presentations.

It is time for some new ideas.

Cheap Royalty Free Photos and much more for your Church with Creative Market

I completely realize that we all want to get free stuff. Creative Market.com does offer some free graphics and templates, but sometimes you do need to pay at least something to get access to more choices and excellent quality.

I first heard about this site from Brad Zimmerman creator of Church Media Design when he was on the Pro Church Tools Podcast. He is an excellent designer, Church conference speaker, and a promoter of resources for Churches with small budgets.

Creative Market uses designs from over 11,000 independent creators to bring you a huge selection of pieces that can be used on your website, in print and for virtually any other purpose in your Church.

Yes, most of the items do cost. But, you will get great quality and know you are safe and legal using it for your ministry.

What does Creative Market offer?

Here is a short list of the amazing free and cheap resources this site can offer your Church.

* Photos in nearly any category

* Graphics including icons, illustrations, objects, patterns, mockups, textures and web elements

* Templates for brochures, business cards, emails, flyers, invitations, logos, presentations and websites

* Themes for WordPress, HTML/CSS, Joomla and Drupal

* Fonts in nearly any style

* 3D elements

You can get these individually, or find where the creatives have put packages together to give you more value for your money.

Check out the link below to begin expanding your library of creative assets.

LINK >> CreativeMarket.com

LINK >> How To Create A {nearly} FREE Church Website with WordPress // FREE Guide

FYC Podcast Episode 012: Attending The Church For People Who Hate Church

I recently drove by a Church in my area that had a sign that said “The Church For People Who Don’t Like Church”.

[Yes, I exaggerated a little about the hate.]

I am all for Church outreach, missions and evangelism. I realize that people are coming to a saving knowledge of our Savior because of outreach events that rival a Barnum & Bailey Circus.

I have even participated in suggesting somewhat outrageous ideas to further the Gospel.

Once in a staff meeting I suggested that we have Nik Wallenda string up a high wire and walk between our main building and youth building, which was a significant distance.

I am sure we could come up with a sermon for it. That is how it works correct? Start with an illustration, then an application and then find a Scripture right?

Churches give away cars, TV’s, bicycles and even play the devil’s music for sermon openers. Whatever works.

But even though the sign is eye-catching and creative, when I drove by I began to wonder if they were serious. And if they were serious, what would it be like to try to attend a Church for people who really don’t like Church.

Trying to attend a “Church For People Who Don’t Like Church”

Here are some questions I asked myself.

Do I have to not like this particular Church to attend, or just Church in general?

If I didn’t like the Church at first, but after attending for awhile I start to like it… do I have to leave?

Are there different levels of not liking Church? Does mildly perturbed count?

Do I have to not like everything, or can I pick and choose?

If I do like Church, do I have to find something to not like in order to attend?

How do you create a Service for people who don’t like Church? Is Ice Cream Sunday an option? If so, I’m there.

Do the Pastor and Staff also dislike Church?

Do you welcome people by saying, “I’m sorry you are here. I know you are mad right now.”?

Should we even call it a Church because if people really don’t like it they would never come to a Church?

* Is it anything like a restaurant for people who don’t like restaurants? Maybe you make your own food there?

Ok, so I agree. The last one was just stupid, because nearly nobody would go to a restaurant to make their own food [unless they go to The Melting Pot].

But evidently people will go to a Church for people who don’t like Church, because I see cars there every Sunday.

Hey, whatever works.

FYC Podcast Episode 011: 101 Tools For Church Communication

There is such as thing as too many Church Communication tools. It is so easy to get distracted by using too many gadgets, or too many ways of doing the same thing.

Do we really need an iWatch that syncs with our iPhone that syncs with our iPad that syncs with our iMac that syncs with our iCloud? Especially when all of these are essentially doing the SAME THING?

But, there is a place for tools [and especially free resources] that make our lives easier. There are so many options and ways to improve and automate how we do Church Communications.

101 Tools to Improve Church Communication

A Search Engine Journal article by Christina Baldassarre looks at 101 Tools to help grow a business this year. I would also say that many of these tools will also help grow your Church.

You will find that you are already using many of these tools, some you will have heard of, and many will be new to you.

Here is a list of the ones listed that I have used to help Grow my Church, Business and for personal use. Check out the link below for the complete list of links. What ones do you use?

* Hootsuite

* Buffer

* Canva

* PicMonkey

* Bitly

* Facebook Power Editor

* Google AdWords

* Facebook Audience Insights

* Skitch

* Evernote

* Google Apps for Work

* Google Drive

* Screencast

* Camtasia

* Google Calendar

* Google PageSpeed

* Google Mobile-Friendly Test

* Yoast SEO

* Google Photos

* Google Alerts

* Google Trends

LINK >> 101 Tools To Grow Your Business In 2016 from Search Engine Journal

FYC Podcast Episode 010: Free Church Website Security Scan

Podcast Resource Links

> FindingYourChurch.com/FreeScan – FREE Church Online Visibility Scan

> Free Website Security Scan

> FindingYourChurch.com/Toolbox

Podcast Episode Text Version

It is a horrible feeling to go to Google and type in your Church website address and see absolutely nothing, or worse to see it has been replaced by hackers with something that does not promote the message of your Church.

The problem is that a full blown hack is not the only thing you should be concerned about when it comes to your Church Website Security. Your site may already be hacked and you not even know it. You may have no idea.

That is why a free Church website security scan can be very useful.

Why would Hackers want to take control of your Church Website?

You would not think that a hacker would any desire to gain access to your Church website. Even if you have a large Church, why would they want to hack into it?

But, you would be wrong. They do want access.

My Church website hosting company explained that some hacking strategies involve gaining backend control of hundreds or thousands of websites so they can attack larger targets without getting found out.

When they launch their larger attacks, they can send them through these sites instead of their own. They can even create systems to bounce between sites so they can cover their tracks as far as I understand.

Your Church website IS at risk no matter how small your Church is.

Examples of Church Websites getting Hacked

Number One:

I created a WordPress based website for a small Church. The Pastors did not check the site often because it was pretty much information only, so they did not view it themselves that much.

I randomly checked it, and the entire site had been replaced with an image of a Turkish flag and a song that automatically played when you accessed the site. It said it had been taken over by Turkish militants.

I have no idea if the site had really been taken over by Turkish militants, but I can assure you this was not the message they were attempting to convey to their Church website visitors.

Number Two:

In a similar situation, I created a site several years ago for a Church. I randomly visited the site and there was a small text ad in the top left corner for Viagra. Now I am all for Church growth, but again that was not the message they wanted people to see.

Number Three:

At my last Church Staff position part of my responsibility was the website. I installed a WordPress plugin that would alert me if someone or something tried to login to my WordPress site too many times.

When that happens, it is usually a program trying to crack your password and break into your website.

I began receiving these email alerts every few minutes stating that something was trying to break into my Church WordPress site. I received these emails for a couple of days when I contacted my website hosting support to see if there was anything they could do.

They said I just had to ride it out, and to change the password. I changed the password to a random string of 20 characters, and after 3 or 4 days the email notifications tapered off.

I survived that time without getting hacked.

In all 3 cases I was able to fix the issues, but it can be very challenging.

How can you protect your Church Website from getting hacked?

FYC Podcast Episode 009: 5 FREE Steps To Improve Your Church Website and Online Reach

Podcast Resource Links

> FindingYourChurch.com/FreeScan – FREE Church Online Visibility Scan

> “FREE Photoshop For Churches, Non-Profits and Businesses” Podcast Episode

> FindingYourChurch.com/Toolbox

Podcast Episode Text Version

Welcome to the Finding Your Church Podcast from FindingYourChurch.com. My name is Jeremy Phillips and my goal is to help you make it a challenge for people to live in your community without finding your Church.

There are many different approaches we could talk about, and extremely technical things we could do to improve the findability of our Church online.

There are some of you listening who would understand them, and love to make the tedious and detailed time investment it would take to put those strategies in place.

Those ideas are probably valid and would work to improve your Church online presence. But, how many of those extremely technical strategies would actually bring new Guests through your doors and new people visiting your Church?

Even more importantly, if you are limited on time and resources you want to put your effort into something you can actually understand and accomplish. You do NOT want to invest your limited time into something that will frustrate you and produce limited results.

So we want to look at 5 FREE Steps you can take TODAY to improve the online presence of your Church.

For the most part, as long as you have access to the Internet and your Social Media accounts you can do these steps. Only one of the steps requires that you have access to the backend of your actual website.

So lets get started with the 5 FREE Steps.

#1 – Add your exact Church Name, Address and Phone Number to the footer of your website.

If you are using WordPress you can usually add this information using a Footer Widget so that you only have to add it only once and it will show up on every page.

If you are using some other website program, you may have to actually add this to the footer of each page of your site one at a time.

If you are using an outside company to handle your website, you will need to ask them to make this change for you.

If you are currently unhappy with your Church Website, check out our Resource Page at www.findingyourchurch.com/Toolbox for options to have a new one created for you.

So why would we want to add this information to every page of our Church Website? Why not just have this contact information on the Contact Page only?

The main reason for this will tie into the 4th and 5th steps as well.

One thing Google looks for to make sure business and Churches are open and being managed by real people is how consistent the business or Church Name, Address and Phone Number is across the Internet.

When Google sees that your Church Name, Address and Phone Number is exactly the same on Local Business Directories and other directory sites online as it is on your Church Website, it can be more likely that Google will boost your website in local Church search terms.

So the simple way to approach this is to determine your exact Church Name, Address and main Phone Number and use it EVERYWHERE in the exact same format.

You have to decide exactly how you are going to write your Church Name. Do you include your denomination in the name? Do you abbreviate anything?

One of the Churches I worked at was an Assembly of God Church.

FYC Podcast Episode 008: FREE Photoshop for Churches, Non-Profits and Businesses

Podcast Resource Links

> Canva.com

> GracewayMedia.com

> iStockPhoto.com

> IconFinder.com

> Pexels.com

> FindingYourChurch.com/Toolbox

Podcast Episode Text Version

Welcome to the Finding Your Church Podcast from FindingYourChurch.com. My name is Jeremy Phillips and my goal is to help you make it a challenge for people to live in your community without finding your Church.

Creating graphics can be extremely challenging. In this episode, we are going to look at what is currently a FREE alternative to Photoshop, and I will give you a resource to have graphics created extremely cheaply if you do not want to mess with creating graphics.

I have been in a position both while working in Churches, and now with developing website and social media graphics, where that is part of the job description.

However, I am not what I would consider to be a Graphic Designer. I know very few rules of Graphic Design. There are rules about Thirds and contrast and layering and whatever else.

I think most people think the rule of Thirds is something you do to a pie when having dessert.

But regardless, I am not a Graphics Designer. My approach to Graphic Design for Church or whatever project I am working on would more resemble the process of elimination than creation.

I know what looks bad more than I know what looks good.

So I start creating something and realize that it looks bad, then I continue to work on it until it looks at least tolerable or good. The end result may look fine. But, it definitely was not because I had some great design plan from the start. The result is more like evolution than creation.

So I use tools to help me get started. Resources like www.GracewayMedia.com, iStockPhoto.com and some free places IconFinder.com and Pexels.com to at least have background images to start with.

I can use Photoshop, so that is what I typically use to create the actual graphics with.

But, you may not be skilled in the Photoshop arts, or you may not have the budget for those types of paid tools.

There is an alternative that you can use for your Church that at least at this time is 100% FREE. I say at this time, because anything can change and their pricing is 100% out of my control.

This site is Canva.com

Not only can you create any size custom graphics that you want, they also have starting point templates for nearly any type of social media, book cover, info graphic, and website header that you would need to create.

They have many backgrounds and icon images that you can use, and they have have different sizes and styles of text already pre-formatted. You just click on the template and it shows up in your editing area ready for you to make changes to it.

In addition to the free backgrounds and graphics, you can purchase premium options for $1 each. If you create a graphic with a premium options however, your graphic will only currently be available for download for 24 hours at this time.

They have a lot of great paid options, and those might be worth using for certain projec...

FYC Podcast Episode 007: Is Your Church Website Mobile Friendly? – FREE Tool

Podcast Resource Links

> Google – FREE Mobile Website Checker Tool

> Click Here to get a NEW Mobile Responsive Church Website

> FindingYourChurch.com/Toolbox

Podcast Episode Text Version

Welcome to the Finding Your Church Podcast from FindingYourChurch.com. My name is Jeremy Phillips and my goal is to help you make it a challenge for people to live in your community without finding your Church.

Is your Church Website mobile friendly?

Awhile back Google changed the rules once again. Google loves coming out with new updates and changing the rules.

Sometimes these changes are extremely technical, and you or I would not know how to comply with them anyway.

However, this change is something that is easy to find out if your are in compliance. And, you can take steps to be in compliance, but it will take some effort on your part.

Basically if your Church Website is not mobile responsive you have a very high possibility of being demoted in Google Search.

If you have never had a mobile phone or tablet, you will not know the pain I am about to describe. But we have all been on a mobile device and stumbled on websites that are NOT mobile ready. You have to pinch and zoom and try to click the little links just to get around the website. This is NOT good.

Mobile Ready and Mobile Responsive simply means that the website changes shape and design to conform to the size and display of whatever mobile device it is being displayed on.

But Google has said that if your Church Website is not ready for mobile users and mobile devices, it will take a ranking hit in Google Search.

So whether you have accidentally gotten to the top of your local Church search terms or even if you have worked hard to get there, you have most likely taken a ranking hit if your site is not mobile ready.

So other than grabbing an iPhone and checking out your website, how do you know if your site is mobile ready?

Google has created a page for you to check your site just to be sure.

When you go to this Google website you will enter your Church Website address and it will…

#1 – Show you how your site displays on a mobile device.

#2 – Tell you if your site is officially ready for mobile devices as far as how Google views it.

Now I will let you know that sometimes Google will say you are mobile ready, but when you look at it on a mobile device your website may still not display properly for an actual person.

If that is the case, you still need to fix your website even though Google says you are ok.

You can CLICK HERE to access the free Google Website Mobile checker tool, or visit the Resource Page at www.findingyourchurch.com/Toolbox

I have also linked a website development option for you to check out in case you do need a new website redesign. This option will help you create a mobile ready website for your Church.

>> Click Here to get a NEW Church Website

Check out your site now to see if yours will take a hit. That is all for this episode. Now GO and GET FOUND.