REACHRIGHT Podcast

In today’s episode, we do a deep dive into the question many of you are asking. How can we get more views for our online church service?

In what we all hope is the late stage of the pandemic, most churches are still hosting online church services even though they are still back to in-person services. 

Join us as we unpack some of the most important things you can do to help reach a larger audience online. 

We hope this conversation helps your church reach more people and grow.  

Table of contents

• Acknowledge Your Online Audience
• Air It On Multiple Channels
• Include Subtitles
• Be Social
• Use SEO Friendly Titles
• Take Advantage of The Google Grant
• Include a Transcript
• Include an Online Specific Call To Action

While your in-person audience may still be your priority, you must recognize that people are watching your service online too. Make a point in every service to acknowledge that. As you prepare elements of your service, ask yourself if it will have the same impact online as the people there in your building.   

Let’s face it, producing a complete service each week is hard. Creating something suitable for airing online is even more challenging. What isn’t complicated is uploading that content onto different online channels. If you upload your services to Facebook, take the time to upload them to YouTube as well. It will take an extra couple of minutes and could double your reach. Remember that channels like Facebook typically get better results when you release the content, but people may find your services on youtube for years to come. 

Much of the content people watch online is done with the sound off. Your content must be engaging, even when people can’t hear you. We all understand that worship is better heard than read, but you need to engage people who are just scrolling by before they will listen in many cases. Consider adding captions to your services, but be careful with autogenerate captions as they might convey a message that you did not intend. 

As people engage with your services online, make sure to connect with them socially. When people comment on your service, always respond. Invite those commenters into a deeper relationship. People will be more likely to watch again if they feel like someone recognizes them as a real person. 

Pastors are famous for their creative sermon titles. But what works in person does not work for maximum views online. Remember, no one is searching for titles like Lost and Found, but they may be searching for keywords like Prodigal Son. For the most part, generic titles will get you better results. 

Google Gives Churches $10,000 every month in free advertising for any non-profit that applies. This can be used to drive traffic to your online service. Managing the grant can be challenging, but you can use it to increase your online audience if done right. 

If you are doing subtitles, you should include the whole sermon in written form on your website. Adding a transcript will add thousands of words of text that will help your messages rank online. There are several services out there that can help you get this done for a reasonable fee. 

Pastors have mastered the call to action in their in-person service. For some, it’s come down to the altar. For others, it’s – raise your hand. In our experience, most churches skip the call to action for online viewers. Giving a specific call to action for online viewers will help them take the next step in growing their faith. 

• The Ultimate Guide To YouTube For Church
• Mastering YouTube SEO For Churches
• 9 Calls To Action Every Church Website Needs
• Call To Action | Why Every Church Website Needs One
• 8 Ways Online Services Should Be Different From In-Person Services

Every pastor would like to be less reliant on their notes when preaching. 

But let’s face it, taking the plunge and going without notes altogether is scary. 

Here are some of the tips and tricks we have picked up over the years to help you make a move to preaching without notes.

Table of contents

• Know Your Sermon Don’t Memorize It
• Write it out
• Focus on Stories
• Practice on camera with notes
• Watch it back before you preach.
• Watch it back after you preach.

Many church leaders make the mistake of trying to commit an entire sermon to memory. While some specific phrases you want to share in a particular way, most of your talk doesn’t need to be memorized. Instead, focus on really understanding your topic and the points you need to get across. In most cases, the rest will come together naturally. 

While you won’t be taking a manuscript up to the podium, most pastors find the process of writing their sermon out to be helpful. Writing helps you firm up the theme of your talk and recall points you want to make when you are in the planning phase. For some, writing things out means an outline, and for others, it is a more detailed account of what you would like to share. 

Stories are great because they are easy to remember. We naturally remember stories, and that’s what makes them so great in sermons. Your audience will be more likely to remember your stories, and so will you. Jesus used them, and so should you.

One of the best ways to get comfortable with your talk is to rehearse it. Practice your sermon in front of a camera with your notes. Try as you do it to look at the camera as much as possible and rely less on your notes. Don’t be afraid to go through your sermon more than once. This is an excellent chance to time yourself for length. 

Once you have recorded yourself preaching, it’s time to do something with it. It probably won’t be something you want to share with the world, but it should be a helpful tool to make you better come Sunday. Many people are better at learning when they are listening or watch. Listen to yourself give a message is one of the best ways to internalize it. 

One thing that most Pastors skip is watching their sermons back after they have given them. For many of us, it makes us uncomfortable. But this is one of the best ways to improve. Watch your sermons back every week. Please don’t beat yourself up but make it your goal to find one thing to improve on. If you make just a 1% improvement each week, you will be 50% better in only a year. 

• Preach Without Notes And Connect More With Your Audience
• 14 Free Church Sermon Preparation Tools
• The Biggest Communication Mistakes Preachers Make
• Want To Reach The Unchurched? Talk, Don’t Preach
• How to Create the Perfect Church Sermons Page

Getting the church website navigation menus right is one of the most complex parts of developing a great site. 

Here are REACHRIGHT; we have been known to spend over 20 hours just thinking through the right way to organize the content you need in your menu. 

But get it wrong, and your website is dead in the water. 

Join us as we discuss the keys to a great church website navigation menu. 

We hope it helps your church reach more people and grow. 

Table of contents

• Less is More
• Ditch The Dropdowns
• Use A Button
• Use Clear Links
• Create A Mobile Version
• More On Church Webisite Navigation Menus

It used to be that having seven or eight links in your menu was the norm. Those days are gone. You will get better results if you find a way to whittle your menu down to 3-5 links. It will take some pruning, but it will make for a better experience for your visitors. 

Dropdown menus need to live in the past. With most of your website visitors finding you on their mobile devices, dropdowns make for a bad user experience. Instead, consider using longer well-designed pages. Think of the way that users interact on social media channels. Web users are used to long-form content as long as it is well designed. 

Don’t be afraid to use a button in your website menu. This button should be where your primary call to action for visitors lives. The button should be bright and stand out. Research shows that the top right of your menu is the best spot. 

We all love creative core values and acronyms, but they don’t belong in your website navigation menu. As boring as it sounds, using terms like “about,” “ministries,” and “sermons,” are very clear and probably your best choice. The problem is that they don’t tell a website user what they will get when they click the link.  

Almost every modern site will include a mobile responsive version. But that isn’t enough in this day and age. Your church should consider a mobile-specific menu for mobile devices that may have only the most important links that a mobile user needs to see. 

• Seven Hacks For Better Mobile Web Design For Churches
• 12 Simple Ways To Give Your Church Website A Modern Makeover
• How To Design A Great Church Newsletter
• 14 Free Church Sermon Preparation Tools
• 15 Places To Add Online Giving For Your Church

Many people are under the misguided impression that email marketing for churches is dead. 

This couldn’t be any further from the truth. 

In today’s episode, we unpack seven tips you need to know about email marketing. 

Join us as we discuss the ins and outs to help your church get results with your emails. 

We hope it helps your church reach more people and grow. 

Table of contents

• Write Enticing Subject Lines
• Build a Visitor Sequence
• Segment Your Contacts
• Scrub Your List
• Include One Call To Action
• Use A/B Tests
• Don’t Sweat The Unsubscribes
• More On Email Marketing For Churches

Let’s face it. For someone to open your email, they need to be engaged by your subject line. The key to getting more opens is writing better subjects. Don’t be afraid to be a little provocative. Even consider using emojis. If you need some help, our favorite tool is this subject line generator by Active Campaign

A core component of any church email marketing strategy is a visitor sequence. A visitor sequence is a series of emails over a period of time that helps encourage the visitor to take the next step into the life of your church. Build a simple sequence, and you will see a meaningful impact on the number of people becoming a part of your church family. 

Don’t send the same emails to everyone in your church. A person who visited two years ago should get different emails than the person who plays bass on your worship team every week. The former should receive emails focused on re-engaging them. The latter need emails to help them take the next step. Send the right emails to the right people, and you will get better results. 

It can be painful, but if people aren’t opening your emails, you need to remove them from your list. Every six months, remove anyone from your list who hasn’t opened an email over that time. Do this, and you will see higher open rates, which will lead to more of your emails landing in the inbox. 

As with anything related to marketing, you need a call to action in your emails. If you can’t think of one, consider that the mail may not be worth sending. But don’t make the mistake of putting in lots of different actions people can take. Research proves that one action step will see better results. 

An A/B test lets you try out two versions of each email you send. A few days after the emails go out, you can look at the results and see which version of the email performed better. Try to learn something every time you send out an email campaign. It will make your results better in the long run. 

If you send out emails, people will unsubscribe. Don’t let it bother you. In reality, unsubscribes are a good thing. It removes people who weren’t opening your emails from your email list for you. Unsubscribes make the emails you do send out more effective and more likely to land in the inbox. We know it hurts, but don’t take it personally. 

• Seven Church Newsletter Mistakes And How To Fix Them
• 9 Calls To Action Every Church Website Needs
• Call To Action | Why Every Church Website Needs One
• Best Church Newsletter Platforms

In today’s episode, we unpack some of the things we have learned hosting this podcast for one full year.

In honor of completing 52 weekly episodes and our first anniversary, we thought it might be helpful to share some of the gems we picked up along the way.

We believe that churches ought to consider hosting a podcast, and we hope this episode encourages some of you to go for it.

This is the REACHRIGHT Podcast.

Table of contents

• Don’t Despise Humble Beginnings
• Consistency Is King
• Consider Both Audio and Video Formats
• Don’t Ignore SEO
• Preparation is Key
• Always Be Yourself
• Share It Everywhere
• Invest A Little But Not Too Much
• You’ll Get What You Put Into It
• More On Hosting A Ministry Podcast

When you start, it will be slow. Only people who you specifically ask will watch or listen. Don’t let that discourage you. Every podcast has to start somewhere.

One-offs won’t get you anywhere. If you want to build an audience, you need to do the show week in and week out. You may be tempted to think no one will care if you miss a week, but the algorithm will know.

The hard work is creating the content. The easy part is filming and recording it. If you have gone through the hard work of creating and delivering content, you might as well produce it for both mediums.

Search Engine Optimization is essential if you want people to find your podcast. One of the lessons we learned is to choose titles that answer a question that your audience may have and use a keyword they may search for.

Don’t expect to wing it. Plan it out. Write an outline. COme to the conversation with questions, points, stats, and research. It will make for more engaging content.

Don’t try to sound like someone else. Yes, it would help if you were engaging, and a level of excitement will help with that, but be an excited version of yourself. Joe Rogan and Mr. Beast already have podcasts and shows. The world needs one of you.

Once you have produced an episode, you should blast that out to every possible channel that you can place it on. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Sound Cloud, Spotify, Youtube, and Facebook. These are just a few places to make sure you have an account.

You probably want to tape your show on something better than just your cheap laptop’s webcam and microphone. But don’t believe for one second that you need to invest thousands of dollars for all the latest and greatest equipment to produce quality content.

If you are wondering if this is right for your church, I am here to tell you that it is… if you are willing to put in the time. Count the cost, and if you are to make the leap and put in the work, I believe that you can lead people closer to Jesus through your podcast.

• Your Church’s Guide To Podcasting
• 7 Church Leadership Podcasts Pastors Need To Subscribe To Today
• Seven Financial Changes Your Church Needs To Make To Thrive This Year
• 10 Church Statistics You Need To Know For 2018
• 5 Biggest Objections To The Google Grant For Churches

In today’s episode, we unpack seven hacks to improve mobile web design for churches.

Most of your browsing today is happening on a mobile device, so your website must be ready. 

But many of the church leaders we speak to aren’t sure how to make that happen. 

Join us as we discuss the ins and outs of mobile web design for churches. 

We hope this conversation helps your church reach more people and grow. 

Table of contents

• Ditch The Dropdowns
• Use Longer Pages
• Simplify Your Navigation
• Skip The Slider
• Compress Your Images
• Create A Mobile Menu
• Utilize AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
• Further Reading On Mobile Web Design For Churches

Dropdown menus were all the rage, but they just don’t cut it anymore with the rise of mobile browsing. On a mobile device, you can’t hover a mouse to access a menu the same way you can on a computer. Churches should avoid dropdowns at all costs. 

Rather than having deep dropdowns, churches should instead try to build longer, well-designed pages with all of the content you would have included in a dropdown. While we used to keep all the content above the fold, it now makes more sense to build social and news platforms with long-form content. 

Part of moving to longer pages will require you to simplify your site navigation. Ask yourself if you need every page you use to have on your site. Chances are you won’t. Another rule of thumb is that if you cant think of a call to action to go with a page; you probably don’t need that page. 

Page speed is vital for mobile devices. Users on mobile networks often don’t have the internet speed users have on computers. To help with load times, drop the large image sliders. They are notoriously clunky and take a lot of resources. 

Make sure that you are using the right size images on a mobile site. Smaller screens mean you can use smaller images. If you are using WordPress, We recommend using WPSmush. This helps with load times which in turn will help you appear on more google searches. 

In most cases, your navigation menu should be different on your computer and mobile church website. The menu for your mobile site only needs a few options, and you will want to use a pop-up menu commonly known as a Hamburger Nav. 

If you want a great mobile experience for your users, consider using an AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages. AMP is a development technique to help mobile users get the fastest experience possible. If you are using WordPress, we recommend using the Official AMP plugin to make this change a snap. 

• 8 New Website Design Trends To Increase Engagement
• Five Facebook Ad Hacks That Will Bring In More Visitors
• Is Your Church Website Making A Great First Impression?
• 8 Leadership Hacks To Boost Your Ministry
• The Worst Website Trends Of 2019 To Eliminate From Your Site

In today’s episode, we unpack the anatomy of a Google search for churches. 

There are many parts to a search, and knowing how they are different will give you a leg up in making sure your church is found online. 

Join us as we discuss some of these differences and where your church needs to focus if you want to be seen and see more visitors. 

Table of contents

• The Ads
• The Map Pack
• The Organic Results
• Further Reading On The Anatomy Of A Google Search

The first thing you will see on most Google searches are the ads. These are marked with a small bold “Ad” right beside the web address. These are reserved for organizations that pay to play. Ads in google searches can cost anywhere from a few cents per click to over $50. The most expensive keyword as of 2017 was “Bail Bonds” at $58 per click. 

The good news is that most churches are eligible for the Google Grant, which gives ministries $10,000 each month to spend on these ads. The program is free, and we have seen it make a massive impact for churches that can take full advantage. 

But utilizing the grant is not for the faint of heart. Very few church leaders have the skill set to pull it off. If you are looking for help managing the Google Grant, we have a program just for you. 

The second set of results in a typical Google search is called the map pack. These results are shown when Google determines that the searcher is looking for local results. Typically it is displayed with a map, and the top three results on that map are highlighted. 

Your church needs to rank in the map pack, preferably in the top three. This is the primary way that people will find you.  

Many factors determine where you rank in the map pack. The three primary factors are the quality of your GMB (Google My Business) Profile, The number and quality of online citations you have, and the number and quality of reviews.

Local SEO can be hard to manage on your own, so REACHRIGHT offers a service to help you rank the right way. 

The final part of an online search are the organic results. You will find these after the ads and the map pack, about halfway down the page in most cases. Ten results are displayed per page.

These results use a combination of dozens of factors to determine the order that search results are displayed. There is no shortage of strategies to get your church to show up here. The best advice we can give you is to remember that content is king. 

If you consistently produce good quality content that people like to view and share with others, you will see results in this area. 

Most churches already make content week in and week out. We call them sermons and don’t always think of them as content. If you take the time to add sermons to your site and focus on SEO, your church may be able to improve your ranking. 

• 4 Google Nonprofit Tools That Will Change Your Marketing
• Google My Business For Churches – Everything You Need To Know
• The Best Sources Of Free And Premium Church Graphics
• The Biggest Mistakes Churches Make With Live Streaming
• Church Commercials That Help You Reach Your Communitry

In today’s episode, we unpack seven reasons why your church should keep hosting online services. 

As the pandemic becomes a memory, many church leaders are now considering putting all of their attention back on in-person services. 

That would be a massive mistake. 

Join us as we discuss why churches need to keep up their online efforts. 

We hope this conversation helps your church reach more people and grow. 

Table of contents

• You have already made the financial investment. 
• Results tend to snowball over time. 
• You will reach people you would not come in person. 
• The next generation wants online options. 
• In-person attendees want options when they are away. 
• People can have genuine, life-giving relationships online.
• They level the playing field for smaller churches. 

For most churches, the pandemic forced us to invest thousands of dollars in audio and video equipment. There is no way to recoup that cost. So you might as well put that investment to good use in the future. 

When you start doing content online, it takes time to build up an audience. There is a snowballing effect. During the pandemic, however, online views were more like melting snow. It started high, and for most churches, it dwindled. For churches that stay consistent with their online services, there will be better results ahead. 

There are people out there who have view your services that would have never seen you (or your message) if you hadn’t been online. This won’t change. People worldwide have been exposed to the gospel through churches they could never visit in person. 

Evidence shows that Millenial and GenZ audiences are more open to online services than their GenX and Boomer counterparts. Therefore, if we want to reach younger people with the gospel, we need to seriously consider the value of online services as an alternative to in-person. 

Except for 2020, people have been traveling more and more every year. Good attendance today may look like two or three Sundays per month in some churches. So why not give traveling members a way to stay authentically connected when they are away. 

The rise of social media and online communities has changed the way we build relationships. The idea that live-giving interaction can only happen in a church building is demonstrably untrue. This especially holds for younger members. If we skip online communities, we miss an enormous opportunity to reach people. 

Excellent in-person services can be expensive. From buildings to stage decor to lighting, churches can invest enormous sums of money on hosting in-person services. However, a savvy church leader can create an impactful online environment for pennies on the dollar, allowing even smaller churches to have a considerable impact. 

Internet security is more critical now than ever before. 

Some church leaders believe that because their ministry is small, they are at low risk of cyberattacks.  

They couldn’t be more wrong.  

Join us as we discuss the ins and outs of church website security with seven key questions every pastor needs to ask about their church website. 

We hope this conversation helps your church reach people the right way. 

Table of contents

• Do you force strong passwords?
• Do you remove access from people who don’t need it?
• Is your site SSL Secured?
• Is your website platform up to date?
• Do you have a regular, automated backup schedule?
• Do you use software to block malicious logins?
• Do you allow file uploads? 
• Learn More About Church Website Security

Your church needs to use strong passwords. If your provider allows, insist that all passwords be over ten characters and include letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, make sure your site requires that users change default passwords. 

Get in the habit of removing access from former staff members and leaders who no longer need it. The tighter you can keep your admin team, the less vulnerable you will be. 

An SSL certificate is a must for any website today. Not only will it help secure any sensitive information that you may collect, it also will help you perform in search engines. 

Most cyber-attacks stem from a security vulnerability in the software behind the site. Make sure you are regularly performing updates. Automate them is possible. 

You need to back up your site regularly in case the worst happens. For most churches, it is best if you have a regular backup schedule. Your aim should be to run a backup daily for peace of mind. 

At REACHRIGHT, we have seen over 1.1 million malicious login attempts over the past five years. Without strong security software, these bad actors could have gained access to our site. Use a service like Jetpack to limit those attempts. 

File uploads are the most common way that hackers try to gain access to your information. Never let the general public upload files onto your server. 

• Everything You Need To Know About Church Website Security
• Is Your Church Website Secure? How to Tell & What to Do Next
• Why You Should Think Of Your Church As A Brand
• How To Make A Strong Impact With Your Church Website By Doing These 3 Things