A church’s online presence can say a lot about the type of ministry it provides. If you are looking for a way to engage, inspire and interact with your congregation members, a blog is a great addition to your online communication efforts.
Who?
Know your audience. Find out what kind of readership your blog will have by understanding the demographics of your church. This will help you to determine what kind of content to publish. As much as sitting down and writing your thoughts on today’s deli specials could make you happy, it may not resonate with your readers. Here is a good blog post on blog demographics from last year to get you started.
What?
Once you know your audience, it’s time to figure out what you should be posting. If you are the leader or one of the pastors at your church, writing more thoughts on this week’s sermon or an upcoming neighborhood outreach are a simple way to get started. If there are specific topics you would like to be covered, consider allowing a variety of contributors. For example, your youth pastor could write about upcoming events in youth group while your head pastor could talk about trends in online giving.
When?
A blog post is easier to access than a previous social media post, thanks to the different archiving capabilities for each platform. The best lesson in when to post a blog is consistency. If you post twice a week, make sure to post on the same days if you plan on having an audience that wants to keep up with what you are writing. Update your social media accounts when a new post has been published for even more engagement.
Where?
There are different platforms you can use for your blog, many of them being little to no cost. You can also host your blog through your church’s website through a variety of options. Church website design that follows the look of your blog is easy for your congregation to follow since the look and feel is the same. Hosting a blog on your church’s website can also generate more traffic if you make it easy to access by creating a tab on your homepage.
Why?
Having a blog for your church is one more way for you to expand your ministry. Being able to have a great message posted weekly, every other day or even daily can mean more visitors reading words of inspiration. You can encourage them to volunteer, give or pray when your ministry needs it the most, as well as update your congregation members on the latest news of your church.
Do you currently have a blog for your church? Let us know in the comment section how it has affected your ministry!
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