REACHRIGHT Podcast

In today’s episode, we discuss how your church can build the perfect visitor follow-up process.

As we consult pastors, we hear most often that a church’s assimilation process is a work in progress.

And typically, it isn’t a lack of effort. Many church leaders don’t know where to start.

Join us as we attempt to outline what we have found to be the perfect follow-up process for most churches.

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

Table of contents

• A Simple Four-Step Church Visitor Follow-Up Process
  • Gather Their Information
    • What Information Should We Gather?
    • When Should We Gather It?
    • How Do We Get People To Give Us Their Info?
  • Contact Them Using Multiple Channels
    • Should I Email, Text, Call, or Send A Card?
    • How Often Should I Reach Out?
    • Who Should Reach Out?
    • What Should We Ask Them To Do?
  • Host A Meet and Greet
    • Who Should Attend?
    • Should We Feed People?
    • What Should We Talk About?
    • What Should We Invite Them To Next?
  • Host A Partnership Class
    • When Should This Take Place?
    • What Do They Need To Know?
    • What Should Their Next Steps Be?
• More On Church Visitor Follow-Up

Usually, try to keep this simple. The less you ask for, the more people will be willing to fill the form out. We would recommend Name, Address, Phone, and Email. Just the info you will use.

All the time. Don’t make the mistake of only gathering information at church. Ask people to give you their info on your website. Ask them to plan their visit, preregister their kids, or even offer a free download if they will provide you with their email address.

You need to incentivize people. No one will give you their info without an incentive. Give them a gift at church, like a gift card or some swag. Online, you can offer them a free download of parenting tips or a marriage health survey.

Yes to all. We know it can be uncomfortable to reach out to people you may not know, but it is always better than the alternative. Don’t just send one or two messages. Aim to make 7 points of contact.

Often. Try to message them the same day you receive their information. That is when they are most interested in your church. Three points of contact in the first week seem reasonable.

While you can build a team around this, it is important that some of the contact comes from the lead pastor. Most pastors of larger churches have assistants to help them with this.

Ask them to come to the next meet and greet and give them a specific date and time. Also, ask them to go to the next service and tease what to expect.

All of the leaders in your church should attend. This will help your Meet and Greet hit critical mass. If these gatherings are too small, new people may start to feel awkward.

Yes. Absolutely Yes. There is something about food that helps people let their guard down.

This shouldn’t be a long meeting. Each of your key leaders (no more than 5) should briefly share what they do and what they love about your church. This should also go both ways. Invite your visitors to share a little about their story too.

Invite them to take the next step and be a part of an upcoming partnership class.

While the meet and greet is best held right after a service, the partnership class is more flexible. A midweek night is okay, but for many churches, a time after service is best.

They need to know what partnership means. We encourage the word partnership if your tradition allows as membership tends to intimidate people. Let them know what it means to be a fully committed part of your church. Talk about Service, Giving, Discipleship. Have people share testimonies about their experience as partners.

Give clear calls to action on how they can take a step to start serving, giving, and growing in their faith at your church. Have them fill out another form indicating their desired next step and follow up with them.

• Using Your Church Website To Create Leaders
• 13 Tips For Creating An Effective Church Contact Follow-Up Process
• What Unchurched Guests Want When They Visit Your Church
• Five Church Gathering Trends Every Pastor Needs To Know

In today’s episode, unpack nine SEO Mistakes that most churches make.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is an essential part of every church’s digital outreach strategy.

But doing SEO the wrong way can be even worse than doing nothing at all. 

Join us as we unpack the mistakes we see most often. 

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

Table of contents

• Slow Load Times
• Not Enough Text Content
• Not Creating New Content
• Missing Your NAP
• Link Spamming
• Key Word Stuffing
• Not Using Meta Tags
• Skipping Links
• Using Other People’s Content
• Further Church SEO Reading

According to Google, load times are among the most significant factors in where your site ranks in their searches. Everyone loves big engaging images, but these are among the most common reasons for slow load times. Also, your church should consider using a CDN such as Cloudlfare to get the fastest load times possible.

At a minimum, every page on your site should have 300 words of text content. That word count is widely seen as a cut-off for pages that Google will even consider ranking. If your sermon or event pages have fewer words on them, it is unlikely that they will ever show up in searches. 

In search engine terms, content generally degrades over time. This means that over time if nothing changes, your content will appear lower in the search results. That’s why it’s crucial to create new content regularly. In addition, it may help to update old content if it is still relevant. 

Something as simple as your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) can have a meaningful impact on your search engine rankings. Your NAP is critical when it comes to your local rankings in the Google Map Pack. Make sure it is on your site and used consistently. 

It is good to have other websites link to your church website. But the folks at Google are smart. They can tell when you are trying to game the system. If you use spammy tactics to get links out there, you will get strikes against your site, making it harder to appear in search. 

In the same way, stuffing lots of keywords into your site is not a helpful long-term strategy. It may work in the short term, but after a while, Google will catch you and give your site a penalty in its rank. 

Meta Tags are all the text items that you include that may not be in the normal body of the text. These are things like titles and descriptions. Make sure you use your keywords in your title. Also, when you add an image to your page, make sure that it has a title and a description. 

Using links on your site is another crucial part of Church SEO. A page that ranks well will have both internal and external links. Every page you want to see rank needs to link off to at least one external site. In addition, other pages on your site should link to this page where it makes sense. 

One other way to quickly get your site not to rank is to use other people’s content. Google knows when you add your content and can tell who put it online first. It will always give credit to the first publisher. If you are going to quote another site, the best practice is to link to them. 

• Church Website SEO | Four Tips To Improve Your Ranking
• Everything Your Church Should Know About SEO
• Is Your Church Website Making A Great First Impression?
• The Ultimate SEO Guide For Churches
• 8 Church SEO Best Practices to Get Your Church Found in Search

In today’s episode, we discuss how you can build the perfect plan-your-visit page on your church website. 

Almost every visitor will be on your church website before they show up for the first time. 

A good church website should have a page dedicated to visitors. 

 Join us as we discuss the ins and outs of how you should design your plan-your-visit page

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

Table of contents

• How To Build The Perfect Church Plan-Your-Visit Page
  • Write A Great Tagline
  • Use Engaging Photography
  • Create A Welcome Video
  • Build a FAQ
  • Provide Information About Kids
  • Don’t Forget the Details
  • Ask People To Respond
  • For More Reading On Plan-Your-Visit Pages

A tagline has the power to grab a visitor’s attention immediately. It sets the tone for a visitor and can instantly communicate what matters most at your church.  

People are drawn naturally to photography. You can communicate more about your church with photos than you could with a few lines of text. The adage is true; A picture is worth a thousand words. 

A welcome video from your team helps people get over the hump of apprehension. Attending a church for the first time can be scary, but it helps visitors feel comfortable right away if we get this right. 

A Frequently Asked Question section helps visitors get the answers to questions they are almost certainly asking. But it is more than that. It is another chance for you to tell your church’s story.  

Parents need to know that their kids will be loved and cared for before they are willing to visit your church. Make sure that is communicated clearly on the page. Even better, give parents a space to pre-register their kids. 

Your plan-your-visit page needs to include all the critical info a visitor needs. Don’t forget to have your service times, location information, and a map with a link to Google Maps.

As with everything you do online, you need to ask people to respond. A let-us-know-you’re-coming page is a powerful tool. Not everyone will fill it out, but you will find those that do are much stickier. 

• 14 Tips For Using Technology For Children’s Ministry
• 16 Things Kids In Your Church Wish Church Leaders Knew
• Kid’s Church – More Than Child’s Play
• Top 6 Pages Every Church Website Should Have
• Devotionals For Kids – The Best Short Lessons

In today’s episode, we unpack seven church newsletter mistakes we see and how your church can fix them. 

A church newsletter is one of the best ways to communicate with your church.  

Almost every adult has an email address, and most of them check it daily. 

But there are some mistakes that churches repeatedly make that keep those emails from being read. 

Join us as we help your church identify those mistakes and learn what you can do to fix them.  

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

Table of contents

• Church Newsletter Mistake #1 – Not Using An Email Service
• Church Newsletter Mistake #2 – Not Cleaning Your List
• Church Newsletter Mistake #3 – Sending Emails At The Wrong Times
• Church Newsletter Mistake #4 – Sending Ugly Emails
• Church Newsletter Mistake #5 – Using Unispired Subject Lines
• Church Newsletter Mistake #6 – Forgetting The Call To Action
• Church Newsletter Mistake #7 – Not Measuring Results
• For Further Reading About Church Newsletter Mistakes

If you are serious about using email to reach people, you need to stop using your everyday email client. Whether you use Outlook or Gmail in your day-to-day, you should never bcc your whole church email list and send out messages. 

The great news is that most email services are free for smaller lists. MailChimp offers a free service that allows up to 2000 contacts. That’s more than enough for the vast majority of churches out there. 

Everyone hates it when someone unsubscribes from your email list. But did you know it’s good news? An unsubscribe doesn’t hurt your delivery rates as much as someone who never opens any of your emails.  

Make it a habit at least once a year to get in there clean up your email list. If someone hasn’t opened any emails or has never clicked on a link, it would be better for you to remove them from your list. The higher your open rate and clickthrough rate, the more likely your emails are to be delivered. 

Many churches think the best time to send out the church newsletter is the moment it’s finished—this probably isn’t the best idea. There are good times and bad times to send emails. The best sending times differ from church to church, but generally speaking, mornings in the first half of the week are best.

Even better, many email service providers offer send-time optimization. This is a tool that predicts a user’s optimal open time and sends the email precisely then. We highly recommend it. 

You probably already knew this one, but if your email is ugly, there is less of a chance that people will respond to it. Your branding and design should be a part of each email so that recipients know it’s from you and are more likely to engage with it. 

That being said, there is a case to be made for plain text emails. Here at REACHRIGHT, we have tested and found that leaving our weekly email as plain text and very short actually increased our conversion rates. 

The era of not judging a book by its cover is over. If you do not grab someone’s attention with a subject line, that person will never open the email. It doesn’t matter what you have written inside. They won’t see it. 

If you are having trouble coming up with a pithy subject line, you can find many email subject line generators out there. Our favorite is the one from the folks at Active Campaign.

You would never preach a sermon and not give an application. People want to know what to do after as a result of hearing your message.  

The same goes for calls to action on email newsletters. Many church leaders mistakingly believe that getting their subscribers to read their email is the primary goal. While that is a win, it is not the biggest win. The chief objective of every email you send should be to inform and call subscribers to action. Usually, this is in the form of a link to your website where they can take a further step. 

As the saying goes, you get what you measure. The great thing about email services is that you can measure almost everything. You can see who received your email, who opens it, and who clicks on it. These are your three chief metrics. 

Each time you send a message, part of your goal should be to improve one or all of those numbers. The more people open your message, the more people can click on it. In the end, it’s all about reaching more people!

• Best Church Newsletter Platforms
• How To Design A Great Church Newsletter
• 7 Reasons You Should Consider Text Messaging For Church
• 9 Calls To Action Every Church Website Needs
• How To Connect With Church Members Not On Social Media

In today’s episode, we unpack six Local SEO tips that your church needs to know. 

Search Engine Optimization has changed dramatically over the last few years. 

Google has put more attention than ever into making sure that local results show up more often, and that is great news for churches. 

But the way you rank in local searches is different from how a church would rank in a general search. 

Join us as we discuss some of those differences in this conversation. 

We hope these local SEO tips help your church reach more people and grow. 

Table of contents

• Understand What Local SEO Is
• Claim Your Google My Business Listing
• Consistently Use Your NAP
• Submit Your Church To Listing Sites
• Ask Members for Reviews
• Respond To All Reviews, Good And Bad
• For Further Reading On Local SEO Tips

Local SEO is not the same as traditional SEO or On Page SEO. The primary goal is to see your church in the Map Pack Listings.

These are the 2-3 organizations listed at the top of most local searches on Google. These link to your Google My Business Listing, rather than your church website. 

It is hard to show up in the Google Map Pack if you haven’t claimed your Google My Business Listing. It isn’t too hard to do. You can get started at https://www.google.com/business/.

Once you are there, it is essential to add all your church’s information. Don’t forget to add images. 

Consistently using your NAP or Name, Address, and Phone Number is one of the most important things you can do for Local SEO.

Churches must always write their name, address, and phone number the same way whenever they share it online. This helps Google’s algorithm better rank your church. 

There are hundreds of sites that list organizations online, from Yellow Pages to Linkedin, to Yelp. Each one of those sites plays a part in how you rank on local searches. The listing sites that link to your church, the better you will rank in Google’s Map Pack. This is one of the most important local SEO tips for churches

The easiest way to do this is to use a service that submits your info to hundreds of listing sites and keeps that info up to date. 

It may seem weird to review a church. But reviews are really important to most people. When was the last time you bought something on Amazon without reading a review.

It may be helpful to think of reviews as a chance to share testimonies. Ask your members to share those testimonies online. But be careful not to go against the review site’s guidelines. 

Just as critical as reviews are your church’s response to the review. Leave an encouragement for people that leave you positive reviews.

Sadly, every church will receive some negative reviews. Makes sure to respond kindly and address the issue at hand.  

• The Ultimate SEO Guide For Churches
• The Secrets To Better Local SEO For Churches
• Everything Your Church Should Know About SEO
• Eight Simple SEO Tips For Churches That Anyone Can Do
• Church Website SEO | Four Tips To Improve Your Ranking

In today’s episode, we discuss the eight new rules for posting your sermon videos online. 

The pandemic forced thousands of churches who had never done a video sermon to put their sermons online. 

There there are some elements to preaching that work well in person that don’t translate to digital. 

Join us as we discuss the ways your church needs to adapt your sermons to better reach a web-based audience.  

We hope this conversation helps you reach more people and grow. 

1. Don’t Neglect The Description
2. Be Careful with Crafty Titles
3. Consider a Transcript
4. Make a Cover Image
5. Load It To Multiple Channels
6. Provide Related Links
7. Create a Short Intro
8. Ask People To Interact (Like, Comment Subscribe)

Canva

Scribie

In today’s episode, we discuss 13 Engaging Social Media Post Ideas For Churches.

Every pastor knows that being on social media is an integral part of your church’s outreach strategy.

But often, church leaders get stuck trying to figure out what to post. 

Join us as we help your church break the social post log jam and share ideas that are proven to work. 

We hope this conversation helps you reach more people and grow. 

1. Ask Interesting Questions
2. Sermon Teasers
3. Scripture Graphics
4. Volunteer Spotlight
5. Video Testimonies
6. Testimony Quotes
7. Memes
8. Behind The Scenes Photos
9. OutTakes
10. Worship Videos
11. Inspirational Quote Graphics
12. Longform Current Event Commentary
13. Celebrate Anniversaries

In today’s episode, we unpack Five Facebook Ad Hacks That Will Bring In More Visitors.

Facebook and other social platforms have created one of the best outreach opportunities in history for churches.

And if done right, churches can reach more people for less money than ever before.

Join us as we shed some light on how your church can use this platform more effectively.

We hope this conversation helps your church see more visitors and grow.

1. Appeal To Specific Needs
2. Think Through Your Targeting
3. Build A Landing Page
4. Use Lookalike Audiences
5. Use Short Videos

In today’s episode, we discuss how your church can get Easter visitors to return the following week.

Resurrection Sunday is the most attended day of the year for churches.

And if you want those visitors to return, it is essential to have your assimilation process dialed in.

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

1. Get their Information
2. Contact Them
3. Incentivize Them
4. Start A New Series
5. Start A New Class
6. Make Sure Their Kids Want To Return

In today’s episode, we unpack five rules for churches moving to a remote work model.

The pandemic has changed the way people think about work.

New technologies have made working from home feasible for more people than ever before.

But before your church pivots to a remote work strategy, it is essential to count the cost.

Join us as we discuss ways that your church can make that transition successfully.

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

1. Measure Results Not Hours. 
2. Work Harder At Culture.
3. Centralize All Communication.
4. Watch Out For Burn Out.
5. Schedule Regular Video Interaction.