18 church website Mistakes Leaders Make When Hiring a Builder In my 6+ years of consulting, I’ve seen a LOT of church websites. Some good. Some bad. Some terrible (I don’t speak of those). The difference often came down to one thing: Whether church leadership truly understood what they needed from a website when they hired someone to build it. I get it– rebuilding a website isn’t something you do very often. So if your church’s website needs a refresh, let me help you avoid the most common mistakes I see churches make when they hire a website builder. Mistakes Churches Make Before the Build ..read more

This Easter, Have Long Lasting Impact At Your Church [Tips & Checklists] Easter (or Resurrection Sunday, if you prefer) and Holy Week are some of the most important times in the church calendar. And, if you’re trying to reach new people to have a long-lasting impact at the same time, it can make an already busy season seem downright chaotic. I get it. To help, here’s a checklist of things to remember this Easter season – plus tips on getting it all done if you’re overwhelmed. Let’s start with a checklist for your Easter outreach event. Easter Outreach Checklist Easter is a great, low-pre ..read more

How To Improve Easter Targeting: Facebook Ad Geo This one Facebook ad geo mistake may be costing your church. How? By wasting the church’s money running ads all over the country. I see this happen every year! Obviously, some churches will still have a national online audience. But more than likely, your church is encouraging in-person attendance locally, and you simply don’t realize your ads are running coast to coast. Here’s why this Facebook Ad Geo gets wonky Facebook’s default geography is “United States.” I know what you’re thinking… “But I added a radius around our church ..read more

How To Fix Your Generic and Boring Church Website Your church’s website is the first point of contact for potential guestss. Unfortunately, what too many people encounter is generic and boring.  Even great tools, like the Plan A Visit form, aren’t enough to engage them.  Take a moment to imagine how many potential guests are visiting your website and finding more of the same church messaging. When we attempt to appeal to everyone, that’s when what we say in our messaging falls flat and lacks that intriguing, compelling element that guides a guest to make the decision to check out y ..read more

How To Write A Compelling (And Memorable) Mission Statement For Your Church Does writing a mission statement for your church seem daunting? Let me start with a bit of advice and a warning: your mission statement is important, but if wordsmithing a sentence is causing months-long delays of progress, then it’s time to stop overthinking, accept “good enough”, or hire a consultant to help guide you through the process so that you can focus on what you’re really called to do. Where Pastors Get Stuck When Writing A Mission Statement Whether you’re a church planter establishing a new church or a le ..read more

12 Signs Your Church needs a Rebrand Your church’s brand is an identity that helps you tell the story of your church. And, whether you think you have a church brand or you don’t– you do.   That impression that people get when they visit your website, interact with you on social media or show up on a Sunday morning– all of that is part of your current brand. We dive into more specifics about what a church brand is and why you might want to rebrand in another article. But if you’re not sure that your church is telling the right story to the people in your community, you should consid ..read more

Does Your Church Website Pass This Homepage Test? Not seeing many guests come to check out your church?  It could be the homepage of your website.  Gone are the days when you can simply plaster your service times and music style on your website and expect droves of people to show up.  Today, potential visitors start forming an idea of what your church is like long before they step foot inside. It all starts online when they look your church up. Even with a personal invite, people will still visit your website to get a feel for your church.  So, when a potential guest look ..read more

How To Overcome This Common Flaw In Church Research Reports – And Get Better Data Every church needs a target audience in order to thrive, but when you think “research”, what do you think of? (You still with me? Goodness I hope so…) You likely thought of some boring, dusty report on a shelf or a bunch of numbers you haven’t looked at in a while. Yeah…we get it. But knowing your community is super important if you want to reach your community. The problem is, what most church leaders are used to seeing when it comes to research is a 30,000-foot view of their community. Don’t get me wrong, the ..read more

Where Most Church Campus Maps Go Wrong – And What People Really Need Potential guests are checking out your church every week. Some online, some through friends, some just by choosing to walk in the door one Sunday. You want to be helpful, right? Of course you do. I’ve had a couple of conversations with church leaders at different churches where this one seemingly helpful tool has come up: The campus map. It’s on the website, it’s plastered on the walls of the church…it’s seemingly the treasure map for finding Jesus. Here’s the deal – I don’t care if your church has been around 150 years, go ..read more

Rebranding Your Church? Here’s The Mistake To Avoid So you’re thinking about getting a new logo for your church. Cool. Swap some colors. Maybe try a new font. Do it in Canva. Boom – done, yeah? NOT SO FAST! Rebranding your church is an investment. An investment of time, people, and resources. After all, that new logo has to live in a lot of places after it’s created, right? New street and/or building sign(s) New stationery, brochures, and posters New wayfinding signage New website New shirts, lanyards, pens, and more So if you’re going to make a massive investment in replacing it, why woul ..read more