Ministry Tools » Uncategorized http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog Tech tools for ministry Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:39:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Church Websites and Effective Outreach Study Results http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/03/05/church-websites-and-effective-outreach-study-results/% http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/03/05/church-websites-and-effective-outreach-study-results/%#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:39:08 +0000 pbassham http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/?p=67 From ChurchCrunch

Drew Goodmanson (who’s sporting a very nice new WordPress look) posted a day or so ago the results from the study they had conducted concering the “State of the Church Online.”

I was unfortunately unable to attend the webinar due to a last minute lunch meeting, but thankfully they’ve posted some overview stats.

The results are honestly not all that surprising, but they do serve as valuable reminders about how we design and build our ministry and church websites.

These facts here we’re good mind-food, especially for the visitors perspective:

Visitors

  • 77% said the church website was somewhat to very important in my decision to attend the church.
  • 83% said the church website was somewhat to very important in facilitating their participation in the church community.

Beginners

  • 45% said the church website was somewhat to very important for their ongoing discipleship and spiritual growth.
  • 73% said the church website was somewhat to very important in sharing their faith with others (friends, business colleagues, others)

Regulars

  • 27% said they visit the church website more than once a week.
  • Feature Rated Most important: Listen or ability to download Sermons.
  • Most requested functionality: Ability to post prayer requests or needs.
]]> http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/03/05/church-websites-and-effective-outreach-study-results/%/feed Facebook Ads http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/02/24/facebook-ads/% http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/02/24/facebook-ads/%#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:44:16 +0000 pbassham http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/?p=59 Facebook Ads

For our Dodge Hunger event I am running a Facebook ad. You can learn more about the lock in, dodge ball tourney, and food drive at www.dodgehunger.com. So far, we have had 5,355 people look at the ad but only one has clicked on it. I have only had to pay 18 cents so far. I think that is a good price to have over 5,000 people look at my ad.

From Ministry Fertilizer

]]> http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2009/02/24/facebook-ads/%/feed 10 Design rules to keep in Mind http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2008/12/18/10-design-rules-to-keep-in-mind/% http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2008/12/18/10-design-rules-to-keep-in-mind/%#comments Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:23:13 +0000 pbassham http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/?p=46 I found these helpful hints here and thought I would pass them along to you.  I am sure some of you dont have degrees in graphic design but still design, so maybe these tips will be worth looking over.

10 design rules to keep in mind

(1) Communicate — don’t decorate.
(2) Speak with a visual voice.
(3) Use two typeface families maximum. OK, maybe three.
(4) Pick colors on purpose.
(5) If you can do it with less, then do it.
(6) Negative space is magical — create it, don’t just fill it up!
(7) Treat the type as image, as though it’s just as important.
(8) Be universal; remember that it’s not about you.
(9) Be decisive. Do it on purpose — or don’t do it at all.
(10) Symmetry is the ultimate evil.

]]> http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2008/12/18/10-design-rules-to-keep-in-mind/%/feed Yammer - What are you working on? http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2008/10/29/yammer-what-are-you-working-on/% http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/2008/10/29/yammer-what-are-you-working-on/%#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:09:50 +0000 pbassham http://www.baptistwebsites.org/blog/?p=40  

I wrote a post recently on accountability here at another blog I have for my Sunday School Class.  What I mentioned was that every task must be matched up with some sort of accountability for it to be effective.  I really do believe that, but it is very often hard to find a good system that will work for all the unique tasks of ministry.  

But Yammer seems to really fit the bill.

Keep You and Your Team Accountable

If you are going to be productive you and your staff are going to have to keep plugging away at whatever is before you, but how do you stay on the same page and stay on task?  Yammer is a small application that just has one task - to keep everyone accountable as to what they are doing all day.  

It asks one question - “What are you working on?” and displays the answers as a running list.  You can watch as things are accomplished throughout your network and even see real time hindrances to productivity.

This is a real time shot of our group to give you an idea.

It also makes you evaluate yourself before you publicize what you are about to spend time on.

Help, Don’t Hinder Your Productivity

Some things that are supposed to help productivity take so much time to maintain that they actually hinder it, but this is only one sentence for every task. So simple.

You can update your status on the website, their desktop application, by text message, email, or a free application on your iPhone or Blackberry.  (I have coupled it with Fluid on my Mac and have it in my menubar.)

Go to yammer.com and watch their 2 minute video about how it works and hopefully it will help you and your team get more done.

It is FREE.

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