The New Indiana Jones Movie and Your Ministry - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Go with me here...

As many of you may know, a new Indiana Jones movie is coming out this summer. It apparently features 60-something American actor Harrison Ford pushing around a walker and popping arthritis medication, as he battles the bad guys in an action-packed adventure for the whole family. Kidding...

Actually, I have no idea what the plot is for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But that's not the point. I mention the movie to point out how they're promoting the film with great success and how you can use the same tactic to advertise your ministry or Christian business.

Say it with me: widget. A widget is a simple little tool that can be easily placed on blogs, websites, and elsewhere, that promotes something and is able to be shared with others. Notice the widget on the left of this post, offering you a chance to chip in a few dollars/pounds/rubles to support the Lucky Rock (your author's non-profit ministry).

The Indiana Jones marketing folks, geniuses that they are, created a trailer and then hired a company to make a widget out of it. The result--literally millions of people have watched the trailer! In fact, on the heels of the mind-boggling success of the first preview, they're now putting out a second trailer via widget. Read the Hollywood Reporter story about it here.

"I think the reason that studios are excited about widgets is that word-of-mouth and buzz is what Hollywood is after all the time," said Peggy Fry, senior vp sales and client services at Clearspring. "If you think about it, what a widget is, it's a digital version of word-of-mouth."

Now consider your ministry or Christian business. Do you have sermon audio, testimonials, video, music, or other content? What about links to key info on your website such as model homes, tax advice, investment insights, etc? You may not have all the advance buzz of the latest Hollywood blockbuster. But you likely have a group of partner ministries, supporters, or contractors that would be willing to help spread the word.

You can build a widget out of just about anything. And the cool thing about widgets is that pretty much anyone can copy and place them on other websites and blogs...the very definition of viral marketing!

I hear a bunch of you saying, "Hold the phone! How in the world do I build a widget?" That's where SproutBuilder comes in. I blogged about it extensively here.

Sprout is a free, web-based service (meaning the interface is online like Hotmail and others), that allows you to build, store, and publish slideshows, audio jukeboxes, link lists, and a bunch of other media. Log onto SproutBuilder.com, sign up for a free account today, and start building. If enough of you ask for it, I'll soon post a SproutBuilder tutorial.

Think about what your ministry or Christian business offers. Then think about how you can make it go viral.

Say it with me...widget.

Telling Your Story...through Blogging - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

By now most of you have heard about the wonders of blogging. Since you're reading this, you've obviously seen a blog and have some idea of what it's about. You may even read many blogs per day or week.

For those of you operating Christian ministries and Christian businesses, blogs can be a great way to tell your story and to steer what's said about you online. Notice I said "steer," not "control." Control of what's said about you online and your media, long ago went the way of Bill Clinton's virtue. So how exactly do you use blogs to tell your story and steer what's said about you, to the glory of God?

Here are some simple tips...

1) What are you passionate about? What gets you up in the morning/keeps you up at night? What has God led you to do about it? Blog about these things. Your vision and values drive your work and talking about them is a great way to communicate your niche in Christ's kingdom.

2) How do you accomplish your work? Do you teach English as a second language, provide food and shelter, or preach the gospel through media? Blog about it. Your philosophy of ministry -- both in your approach to the lost and those who know Christ, and the nuts and bolts of advancing Christ's kingdom (such as broadcasts and/or building projects) are part and parcel to your unique place in the Body of Christ. Tell others about it.

3) Facts and figures. Without going into gory detail, give folks an idea of the size of your ministry, your financial needs, your impact, etc. You'll usually want to weave facts and figures into an overall narrative which includes the things mentioned above and...

4) Action steps. What do you want people to do about it? You can mention your wish list in your blog posts and communicate the same through links to other important pages. You could also show an attractive ministry graphic or link to a page of testimonies from folks whom the Lord has blessed through your work, with an accompanying donation or prayer chain link.

Not coincidentally, these blogging essentials comprise what should be included in almost all of your ministry communications. Vision & values, philosophy, facts & figures, and action steps should be a part of nearly every letter, email, and promo video you send (with exceptions made for personal thank you notes and the like).

One last thing...I mentioned the value of blogging for steering what's said about you online. Telling your story through the above steps, by the work of the Holy Spirit, will help friends and potential partners see the value of the Lord's work through you and compel them to jump on board. On the flip side, telling your story through blogging will also dampen the impact of false or misleading information disseminated online by folks who don't have your best interests, much less the Lord's will, in mind. Assuming that your ministry is actually biblical, click here for more on defensive blogging.

Christian business owners should approach blogging in much the same way. Use online storytelling to interest folks in your business, set yourselves apart, and bring in new customers -- to the glory of God.

If you already write a blog, but you realize that it's in serious trouble -- either in appearance and content, check out this post on revamping your ministry website. Happy blogging...

Your Website - Is It The Taj Mahal Nobody Knows About? - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

One of my biggest frustrations as a sometime web designer and full-time ministry consultant is the near-universal tendency of ministries to spend all of their web budget on a killer-looking site that nobody outside of their members/friends ever sees. Ministries usually don't realize that optimizing their sites to be picked up by the major search engines, especially Google, is just as important as building a fabulous web home.

Before I dive into quick fixes for your website search rankings, let me say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not just about adding a couple of things to your site and watching it zoom. You must feature a solid amount of content people actually want, organized in a way that's easy to navigate and keeps people coming back for more. That said, and no offense to the SEO pros reading this, you can make some simple changes to your website that will make it pop in search engines. How do I know? Because these changes have done wonders for me.

1) Page title. Check out the top navigation bar in Internet Explorer or Firefox the next time you visit one of your favorite websites. It doesn't just list the organization name; it describes the ministry. Churches should include their geographical area, ministry distinctives, and denomination. Parachurches should detail their location (if pertinent) and ministry focus, in general terms like "Evangelize Africa," or "Feed America's Poor". Keep your title to just two or three key phrases that people are most likely to use when searching for your kind of website, then list your ministry name.

2) Description and meta tags. For those of you who don't know, meta tags, often in the form of keywords, feed information about your website content to all the search engines and crawlers that visit you.

I can't tell you how many times SEO experts have declared, "Meta tags are dead!" If that's the case, why do all of the best-optimized websites still use them? List the keywords that describe your ministry, such as "Orange County Baptist Church, biblical teaching, poor ministry, financial ministry, web ministry, web outreach, free plumber, free auto repairs." As with your page title, the trick is to use keywords and phrases that people are most likely to punch in when searching for your website.

3) Label all your photos. You do have lots of high-quality photos that tell your ministry story, don't you? Use alt tags to label all of your ministry photos.

Search engines don't read photos, they read text. And alt tags give Google and friends something to chew on and will pop up if your photos don't load. Consider tags such as "Heights Calvary Chapel in Chicago city-wide baptism," or "new Northpoint Atlanta community center opening."

4) Make your site contagious. Offer ways for people to subscribe by email, mobile, rss reader, and whatever else and be sure to include means for people to forward your page to friends by email, text message, etc. "Viral" websites get linked to more often, which leads to hire search engine rankings. Which brings me too...

5) You like me. You really like me! Links are a great way to boost your search engine ranking. In search engine-think, if other sites like you, you must be important. If you support or partner with other ministries, be sure to swap links with them. And if you have a blog, list it on all the major blog search engines (put in a Google search to find them).

Hopefully these tips will greatly improve your site's visibility and ministry reach. (For quick fixes to your website itself, check out this recent post.)

If you implement these changes and they work for you, I'd love to hear about it. In that event, I'd also love for you to send a few bucks our way so we can help other ministries.

I freely invite any SEO pros to add their suggestions/corrections via commenting on this blog. Let's work together to improve ministry websites, to bring God glory and advance His Kingdom...

Internet Evangelism Day - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Quickly...Check out the Internet Evangelism Day website. Though they obviously focus on a once-a-year push for web-based ministry, IED also offers great resources on all sorts of ways to use technology in ministry. Enjoy.

I'll post another column later today...

Quick Tips for Revamping Your Website - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

As a business and ministry consultant, I spend a great deal of time scouring the net for good web design and so much more time fixing poorly fashioned websites. Unfortunately, most biz & min websites are dreadful, featuring obnoxious color schemes, too much text, tacky background art, and lots more. This in spite of the fact that 75% of people admit that they judge an organization by their website.

The good news is that simple fixes can make a world of difference. Whether your site should come with a warning label or only requires a simple face lift, you might consider the following:

1) Direct the reader's attention to the things you most care about. This doesn't mean flashing text or animated gifs. But you should use headline text and other simple means to highlight what matters most.

2) Pictures tell the story. Use them wisely. Think about your product offerings or ministry focus and highlight them through quality pics & graphics. Note: quality is absolutely essential. Blowing up your small, low-resolution pics will make you seem cheesy and clueless.

If you're focused on foreclosures and short sales, show visitors shots of the buying possibilities. If your church is focused on outreach, grab a shot of a team from the church sharing Christ.

3) Color. Wonderful Color. Whether you're the Monet of web design or you don't have a clue how to "paint" your website, you can create a look that's inviting not intimidating, warm not overbearing. One easy solution is to Google "Kuler." From there you can download a free desktop application that acts as a color wheel with great palettes from design professionals. Heck, I even use them!

4) No Manual Required. I hate installing ceiling fans; what should take ten minutes almost always takes an hour to figure out. Now think about your website.

Can visitors easily find contact info & products or service times & core beliefs? Why not? What about brief intros to your various offerings with links to dedicated pages for each?

Organize key information in an intuitive manner and keep it short and sweet.

5) Don't Steal. Be inspired. One of the best ways to become a great writer is to read incredible writing. The same is true of great web design. If you want your site to propel your biz or ministry, then check out the websites of businesses and non-profits that get it.

AM Design (www.amdesign.com) does amazing work. No, I don't work for them. No, you shouldn't simply "borrow" their designs. But I encourage you to use their work as inspiration for your own online offerings. A lot of their stuff is based in Flash and other programs you may not be able to afford and may require expertise you don't have, but you can still learn from their great design and think about what's achievable in your context.

This is the just the beginning. But following these tips will get you on the road to a visually-vibrant, user-friendly website. Remember, 75% of folks will judge you by your online home. A few simple fixes will help you pass the test.