Most churches with websites don’t have an entire web development team on deck to help maintain their site. It’s often a volunteer or staff member responsible for keeping content up to date, and without an appropriate background, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to do so.

However, there are simple steps that whoever is maintaining their church’s website can take to ensure that their site is doing what it needs to do:

Conduct Regular Content Audits

Effective websites have content that is current and relevant, so it’s important that you regularly check to make sure that the content on your church website reflects what is actually going on at your church. This means going through each page and making sure nothing is outdated. You can conduct this audit on a monthly or even quarterly basis, though there are specific sections of your church website that will need more frequent updates, such as blogs and events.

Maintain a Blog

We’ve already written about the virtues of maintaining a blog on your church website and how to do so effectively. It’s important that if your church chooses to have a blog on its site, that it’s updated with content regularly. We recommend updating your blog at least weekly if not twice a week if possible. This isn’t to say that whoever is maintaining your church website as a whole is also responsible for writing every blog, but it’s important to understand how your site’s blog works and work with staff members and volunteers to get fresh content for it.

Update Your Church Events

Both current and prospective members of your congregation want to know what’s going on at your church, which is why one of the most important things for you to maintain on your church website is an updated list of upcoming events. Make sure it’s clear what the event is, where it’s being held, what time it’s being held and any other important details.

Keep SEO in Mind

Search engine optimization (SEO) is important in today’s digital climate. SEO is a strategic approach that enhances a website’s visibility on search engines like Google. Key elements of SEO include creating high-quality and relevant content, researching and implementing keywords and building backlinks.

If that sounds complicated, a basic first step you can take is using a tool like Google Keyword Planner to see what keywords or phrases people are searching for online related to churches, then making sure those keywords appear on your church website as you make content updates or publish blogs. That way, when people search for those keywords, your site shows up.

Building backlinks is also important. A backlink is simply a link from one website to another. Backlinks are crucial in SEO as they tell search engines that your church website is a valuable source of information because you’re linked from another credible source.

Some ways to build backlinks to your church website are to make sure your content is consistently updated and relevant and to reach out to other websites where you think your content might be relevant to link to. These sites could be:

• local chambers of commerce
• volunteermatch.com or local volunteer sites
• UCC Conference and National Setting church directories

You can also do research into Christian and church blogs that may have similar content to yours that could benefit from linking to your ideas as supplemental content.

Though this isn’t an exhaustive list of everything you can do to maintain your church website, it’s a good starting point to make sure key areas of your site are doing what they need to do to make your site as effective as possible.

The UCC Everywhere (UCCE) program is a state of the art website builder for United Church of Christ churches. The platform includes easy-to-update blogs, event listings and opportunities to enhance SEO. For a monthly or annual subscription fee, UCC churches get their own site along with other digital marketing tools and support to make sure their message is reaching faith-seekers in their community via the appropriate virtual channels.

How to Use a Blog for a Church

In today’s digitally driven world, having an online presence is crucial for any organization, including churches. Creating a blog on a church website serves as a dynamic tool to connect churches with their congregation and prospective members alike. Here are some ways your church can utilize a blog to increase engagement and reach online.

Content for Outreach

Blogs are a simple way to create a repository for content that can then be shared through other outreach channels, such as newsletters and social media. These newsletters and posts will direct your audiences on these channels to your church website where your blogs can be structured in such a way that they encourage users to explore other parts of yoursite and learn more about your church. That’s why it’s so important that blogs have clear calls to action, or CTAs, that link to other parts of your church website. 

Testimonies

Sharing personal stories and testimonials about faith and personal growth can profoundly impact readers, offering hope and encouraging reflection. Ask church members to share their testimonies if they’re comfortable. Giving members a voice on your church website will improve engagement and encourage the authors and their friends and family to share these stories through their own digital channels.

Education

Pastors can use blogs to expand on the ideas presented in services or even provide spiritual thought leadership on topics not covered on Sundays. This could include exploring theological concepts, Bible passages or ethical dilemmas in more depth, fostering a deeper understanding among readers to supplement what’s discussed during services.

Event Promotion

Upcoming events, services and community projects can be highlighted on a blog, ensuring greater visibility and participation. You can also write recaps after events so that when users visit your church website, they get a sense of what you’ve facilitated at your church for the community. Current members will also appreciate reading about events they may have missed, and adding photos to blogs of the events will engage those who attended.

SEO Enhancement

Regularly updated blogs provide fresh content, a key factor in improving a website’s visibility to search engines. This increases the likelihood of appearing in search results, thereby driving more organic traffic to the site. You can also optimize your blog’s visibility by including “keywords,” or commonly searched words and phrases, which you can find through tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush. When your blog includes the appropriate keywords, it will show up in people’s search results when they search those keywords.

There is a wide variety of possibilities for the types of content you can share on your church website’s blog, and a good mix of content makes sure you’re reaching all kinds of people. The trick is to update your blog regularly and make sure you’re incorporating the appropriate keywords.

We offer United Church of Christ churches state-of-the-art websites through the UCC Everywhere (UCCE) program, which include easy-to-update blogs. For a monthly or annual subscription fee, UCC churches get their own site along with other digital marketing tools and support to make sure their message is reaching faith-seekers in their community via the appropriate virtual channels.

Visit https://ucceverywhere.org/ to learn more, request a demo or sign up today!

Every church needs a website, but many churches have a difficult time keeping their websites up-to-date because they have a lot going on at their church, they don’t have the team to support regular website updates, or they are overwhelmed by how many facets of a church website there are to keep updated. We’ve compiled a guide to the most important parts of your church website to keep fresh so that online audiences know your church is an active, thriving congregation.

Sermons

It’s helpful for churches to maintain a page on their website with their past sermons, whether they be in PDF, video or audio form. This is a great way to not only give current members of your church a way to stay up-to-date on services if they are unable to attend in person, but also lets prospective new members know what you’re about and get a taste of what makes your worship unique by actually watching it. 

Events

An updated events page allows current members to know what’s going on at your church and also shows prospective new members you have opportunities for them to get plugged in. Make sure to maintain an events page on your church website where you can input event names, times, locations, descriptions and photos to let people know what is happening. Events can include special worship services, community celebrations, church fundraisers or anything else you may be hosting.

Calendar

In addition to an entry for bigger special events, keep an updated digital calendar on your church website for regular events that may be helpful for current and prospective church members to be aware of. Google calendars are typically simple to embed on websites, though there are other tools you can use.

Blog

Church members want to be updated on the latest news. Maybe your church gets a new staff member, is launching a new fundraiser or has a member doing something amazing in the community you want to feature. A blog is a great way to write short stories to engage your online audience and let them know what’s going on at an organizational level when something exciting or new happens. 

Blogs can also add search engine optimization (SEO) value to your church website. Consider using a tool like Google Keyword Planner to find what people online are searching for and address their faith-based questions with a quick written piece from your pastor.

Images

Keeping the images on your church website fresh is a simple way to show online visitors that your church is active. Updating the images across your site allows you to show new faces and events as they happen and makes for a more engaging church website experience. This is an easy way to ensure that your website reflects a thriving, modern church community.

Church websites require regular maintenance to do their job, so use this article as a reference in your ongoing website developments. It’s your turn to maximize your church website’s effectiveness and communicate with your congregation members and faith seekers.

We also offer churches within the denomination state-of-the-art websites through the UCC Everywhere (UCCE) program. For a monthly or annual subscription fee, churches get their own site along with other digital marketing tools and support to make sure their message is reaching faith-seekers in their community via the appropriate virtual channels. These websites make it easy to manage content from sermons to images to events so that keeping your website updated is intuitive and quick.

Visit https://ucceverywhere.org/ to learn more, request a demo or sign up today!