Essential Elements in a Web Strategy
It is easy to be blinded by the glamor of expensive web features and hot apps. It is easy to acquire services and apps that are either unsustainable or unaffordable. We’ve all seen sites that are cluttered and slow to load with flash pictures, text banners flying across and music playing. All of which may only obscure the true identity of the parish and fail to achieve the desired goal of welcoming visitors. Today a successful web strategy involves usability, website(s), social media sites (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, blogs), email marketing, analytics and search engine optimization.
1. Usability
Usability is both a marketing outlook and a way to insure access to desired information at websites. To attract viewers and invite action requires that the parish knows its audience well enough to appeal to their interests. Only content that responds to a need and can be effectively delivered is worth publishing. A parish should ask itself "Whose need does this satisfy?" before publishing anything online. If online content responds to felt needs, the target audience will find you.
Usability can also refer to the ease with which a visitor finds information after having reached your site - website, Facebook, or YouTube. Today people expect technology to work and work fast. If a visitor has difficulty finding desired content or the services promised, the visitor-parish relationship will be adversely affected. There are services available that measure what happens to viewers that land on your website looking for content, products or services. How much time do they spend before they find what they want? How clear are the links, images and directions? How much frustration is caused in searching for content at your site? What buttons and links are positioned most visibly? Do the features at your website provide ease access? Parishes that are serious about usability take time to analyze the ease of navigation using analytics tools (see analytics below).
2. Website - There are many reasons for keeping a website as the cornerstone for the parish web strategy. The reasons include:
1. Permanence = Trust – website is the minimum standard of credibility in the digital landscape (anyone can blog, Facebook, YouTube). In our biz trust is an essential and trust is built on credibility.
2. Control – On any other platform I am a renter and have limited control over what visitors see, do, contact information and attention.
3. Content Rich – all other elements (e.g. YouTube, Email marketing, Google group, Facebook, Blog) can be interconnected by a site and drive traffic to the site(s).
4. Inbound Marketing Potential – Websites are built for inbound marketing. Inbound marketing presumes knowing who it is that is visiting, how they arrived, and what interests them.
The best parish websites include:
A Note on Website Builders: Because content management is the way of the future whether on a server or on the cloud, the choice of web development platform and tools is important. Currently most parishes are best advised to choose between the following:
1. Usability
Usability is both a marketing outlook and a way to insure access to desired information at websites. To attract viewers and invite action requires that the parish knows its audience well enough to appeal to their interests. Only content that responds to a need and can be effectively delivered is worth publishing. A parish should ask itself "Whose need does this satisfy?" before publishing anything online. If online content responds to felt needs, the target audience will find you.
- Inbound Marketing: is another way of saying permission-based marketing. This approach respects the customer's right to decide to whom they will give their time and attention. Inbound marketing starts when an organization freely providing something of value to people in exchange for contact information (e.g. email address). Effective inbound marketing uses a website as its cornerstone, where the content is housed. The best sites are: welcoming and easy to navigate with ample contact Information. These sites include search tools, access from multiple platforms, a response form and invitations to take action. Social Media can also be used in this way to connect with people, provide services, communicate welcome, and extend action invitations.
- Outbound Marketing: Most parishes are unable to afford online ads or even pay-per-click style promotions that can be found on search engines like Google. The most affordable and popular outbound marketing tool is email marketing. Emails can direct traffic to "landing pages" which are designed to provide valuable content, and invite action using participation offers and response forms.
Usability can also refer to the ease with which a visitor finds information after having reached your site - website, Facebook, or YouTube. Today people expect technology to work and work fast. If a visitor has difficulty finding desired content or the services promised, the visitor-parish relationship will be adversely affected. There are services available that measure what happens to viewers that land on your website looking for content, products or services. How much time do they spend before they find what they want? How clear are the links, images and directions? How much frustration is caused in searching for content at your site? What buttons and links are positioned most visibly? Do the features at your website provide ease access? Parishes that are serious about usability take time to analyze the ease of navigation using analytics tools (see analytics below).
2. Website - There are many reasons for keeping a website as the cornerstone for the parish web strategy. The reasons include:
1. Permanence = Trust – website is the minimum standard of credibility in the digital landscape (anyone can blog, Facebook, YouTube). In our biz trust is an essential and trust is built on credibility.
2. Control – On any other platform I am a renter and have limited control over what visitors see, do, contact information and attention.
3. Content Rich – all other elements (e.g. YouTube, Email marketing, Google group, Facebook, Blog) can be interconnected by a site and drive traffic to the site(s).
4. Inbound Marketing Potential – Websites are built for inbound marketing. Inbound marketing presumes knowing who it is that is visiting, how they arrived, and what interests them.
The best parish websites include:
- Valuable content with downloads that are practical and inspiring
- Contact information on every page (or a contact form)
- Clear and consistent design with navigation, simple words, a search box. Beware the beautiful billboard in the desert syndrome - picturesque but pointless.
- Less text per page - because less is more when it comes to the look and language of text
- Call-to-action (free downloads, subscription, contest, comment, share with a friend, quizzes or contests)
- Carefully selected keywords in page titles and headings for search engine recognition (see S.E.O. below)
- Text is written for skimmers – place call-to-action or conclusions at the beginning of articles, use lists and keep sentences short
- Make home page experiential - include surveys, news, forums, virtual tour, and a daily inspiration
- Annotated links that open in a new window
- Analytics (e.g. Website Grader) to assess S.E.O. (headings, links, mobile optimization, social media, etc.)
A Note on Website Builders: Because content management is the way of the future whether on a server or on the cloud, the choice of web development platform and tools is important. Currently most parishes are best advised to choose between the following:
- Open Source Tools (e.g. Joomla) - which provide a variety of templates as well as an expansive control panel at low cost. Joomla is an open source platform with infinite growth potential with a robust support/learning community. That being said, Joomla is not for beginners. Beware the learning curve and make sure the parish will have access to sufficient expertise to maintain an open source site once it is launched For an example of what is possible using open source tools visit: www.SaintBenedicts.com.
- Hire a Professional Website Developer - A professional can build to suite and build in a content management system that can be maintained by a trained parish staff person or volunteer. The initial cost paid by a number of parishes is approximately $800. Once the site is launched, the staff or volunteers must learn the system. This is a good option especially if the professional is a local developer who can be called upon at a reasonable cost for support, in case of difficulty and when major expansion is necessary. For an example of what is possible with a professional web developer visit: www.evangelizebuffalo.org or www.sacredheartlakewood.org.
- Free Site Builders - Low or no cost, template-driven services are the latest entry into the website construction marketplace. These are national vendors who provide a plug and play interface with online tutorials, FAQ's and either toll phone or email technical support depending on the issue. Google, 1&1 and Weebly are some of the most popular build options. A template driven site has no cost. It is simple to design and maintain for anyone who has desktop publishing experience. This is an entry-level approach with little or no analytics. This site was created with Weebly. View the parish home page for a sample of what can be done with very little effort or technical expertise.
3. Social Media - According to Nielsen, social networking is now the most popular activity online ahead of sending emails, searching the internet or playing games. Using social media can be most useful when it focuses on what social media does best:
1. Find interested people
2. Deliver quality content
3. Capture contact information
4. Stay in touch: contacts - visitors - friends - partners
Social media is all about connecting and sharing – tweets, blogs, videos, webinars, podcasts, rss feeds, chats, photo galleries, each can attract attention and make contacts. Contacts are most effective if they can express interest, get acquainted and consider the invitation to a person-to-person engagement. No matter what social media or mobile applications grab your imagination the two strategic rules always apply... Rule #1 - Clear purpose. Rule #2 - First apply rule #1!
4. Email Marketing - Most parishes would use email lists to: share news, promote events, build loyalty, nurture relationships and invite parishioners to call-to-action. There are some challenges for those using email marketing. Chief among these is:
1. Integration of email addresses in multiple data systems (email marketing, Facebook, MS Outlook, Excel, PDS).
2. Improve deliverability with different audiences and staying “top of mind”
3. Growing and retaining subscribers since people change and abandon email accounts without warning or notice
The most effective email marketers make ample use of a few techniques to convert viewers to friends. These techniques include:
1. Include a link for sharing the message “forward to a friend” which can quietly build your list with little
2. Message analytics that allow the administrator information needed to regularly clean up the list and assess the click through rate on particular messages and recipients (CTR)
3. Pair viewer interests with a call-to-action which is especially helpful when you know who is actually doing it
A skillful administrator is uniquely capable of measuring conversion of visitors to friends and friends to partners using CTR's feature coupled with response forms, and invitations to action which are embedded in the message. These tools are available in most email marketing systems.
5. Analytics - the statistical study of visitor traffic to a website, as well as interest and behavior patterns once there. Tracking visitor movements can suggest relative levels of interest for various content. Analytics is often used for optimizing website designs and customizing and marketing product services. Analytics can suggest site visibility, identify potential audiences, and suggest what influences visitors to take action. Standard analytic reports include: number of visitors, origin of visitors, page views, time spent per page, frequency of visits and other statistics that can suggest the impact of content in terms of action, level of commitment, and conversion rates. There are services that provide intricate reports at a fee. A less expensive approach would be to invite volunteers to visit the site and find items on a scavenger list and simply record how long it took to find each item. A great site is one that has the most valuable information immediately visible and the rest of the information accessible within five mouse clicks. Any more than five clicks can cause frustration for an average visitor. This analysis is most helpful when it identifies ways to connect with a target audience (connect with visitors), obtain contact information from them, discover and respond to their needs (convert visitor to friend), and invite visitors to engage in parish mission or activities (convert friend to partner).
6. Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) - involves any action to increase the visibility of an organization, its products or services in a web search. The goal of search engine optimization is to improve the likelihood of being found and contacted by an intended audience or one's organizational membership. When an organization knows its purpose, its target audience, the interests and habits of the target audience, as well as the needs and ways of expressing those needs for the target audience, it can identify and prioritize valuable content and services in such a way that popular search engines will find and prioritize your site above others in a search listing. This is a "natural" way to be found without the need for paid advertising.
It is generally believed that most people rarely go past the first page of results in a search for products or services. If your site is not found in the top ten, it is unlikely to be visited. The best way to achieve a high search engine ranking is to provide content that is most relevant to the interests of your target audience. Website optimization is design and text decisions that maximize the use of the most likely search words. This includes keyword term placement in page titles, topics, heading. It may also involve reorganizing content to match the algorithmic indexing methods used by major search engines to remove any structural barriers in the website coding.
Websites can also be optimized by being linked with other prominent sites related to the topic area or the intended audience. For example, a Catholic site that is linked to the Vatican and United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has a higher likelihood of being found in a search for "Catholic" services than one that does not. This site will do significantly better in a search listing if the Vatican and the US Catholic Conference of Bishops decide that your site is also important to them and link their sites back to yours.
It all goes back to the first rule of web strategy... Start with a clear purpose and stick with it - connect, befriend and partner!
Contact Dennis Mahaney or call 716-847-8393 with your questions. Dennis is available to come and discuss your options and help you develop a parish web strategy today.
1. Find interested people
2. Deliver quality content
3. Capture contact information
4. Stay in touch: contacts - visitors - friends - partners
Social media is all about connecting and sharing – tweets, blogs, videos, webinars, podcasts, rss feeds, chats, photo galleries, each can attract attention and make contacts. Contacts are most effective if they can express interest, get acquainted and consider the invitation to a person-to-person engagement. No matter what social media or mobile applications grab your imagination the two strategic rules always apply... Rule #1 - Clear purpose. Rule #2 - First apply rule #1!
4. Email Marketing - Most parishes would use email lists to: share news, promote events, build loyalty, nurture relationships and invite parishioners to call-to-action. There are some challenges for those using email marketing. Chief among these is:
1. Integration of email addresses in multiple data systems (email marketing, Facebook, MS Outlook, Excel, PDS).
2. Improve deliverability with different audiences and staying “top of mind”
3. Growing and retaining subscribers since people change and abandon email accounts without warning or notice
The most effective email marketers make ample use of a few techniques to convert viewers to friends. These techniques include:
1. Include a link for sharing the message “forward to a friend” which can quietly build your list with little
2. Message analytics that allow the administrator information needed to regularly clean up the list and assess the click through rate on particular messages and recipients (CTR)
3. Pair viewer interests with a call-to-action which is especially helpful when you know who is actually doing it
A skillful administrator is uniquely capable of measuring conversion of visitors to friends and friends to partners using CTR's feature coupled with response forms, and invitations to action which are embedded in the message. These tools are available in most email marketing systems.
5. Analytics - the statistical study of visitor traffic to a website, as well as interest and behavior patterns once there. Tracking visitor movements can suggest relative levels of interest for various content. Analytics is often used for optimizing website designs and customizing and marketing product services. Analytics can suggest site visibility, identify potential audiences, and suggest what influences visitors to take action. Standard analytic reports include: number of visitors, origin of visitors, page views, time spent per page, frequency of visits and other statistics that can suggest the impact of content in terms of action, level of commitment, and conversion rates. There are services that provide intricate reports at a fee. A less expensive approach would be to invite volunteers to visit the site and find items on a scavenger list and simply record how long it took to find each item. A great site is one that has the most valuable information immediately visible and the rest of the information accessible within five mouse clicks. Any more than five clicks can cause frustration for an average visitor. This analysis is most helpful when it identifies ways to connect with a target audience (connect with visitors), obtain contact information from them, discover and respond to their needs (convert visitor to friend), and invite visitors to engage in parish mission or activities (convert friend to partner).
6. Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) - involves any action to increase the visibility of an organization, its products or services in a web search. The goal of search engine optimization is to improve the likelihood of being found and contacted by an intended audience or one's organizational membership. When an organization knows its purpose, its target audience, the interests and habits of the target audience, as well as the needs and ways of expressing those needs for the target audience, it can identify and prioritize valuable content and services in such a way that popular search engines will find and prioritize your site above others in a search listing. This is a "natural" way to be found without the need for paid advertising.
It is generally believed that most people rarely go past the first page of results in a search for products or services. If your site is not found in the top ten, it is unlikely to be visited. The best way to achieve a high search engine ranking is to provide content that is most relevant to the interests of your target audience. Website optimization is design and text decisions that maximize the use of the most likely search words. This includes keyword term placement in page titles, topics, heading. It may also involve reorganizing content to match the algorithmic indexing methods used by major search engines to remove any structural barriers in the website coding.
Websites can also be optimized by being linked with other prominent sites related to the topic area or the intended audience. For example, a Catholic site that is linked to the Vatican and United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has a higher likelihood of being found in a search for "Catholic" services than one that does not. This site will do significantly better in a search listing if the Vatican and the US Catholic Conference of Bishops decide that your site is also important to them and link their sites back to yours.
It all goes back to the first rule of web strategy... Start with a clear purpose and stick with it - connect, befriend and partner!
Contact Dennis Mahaney or call 716-847-8393 with your questions. Dennis is available to come and discuss your options and help you develop a parish web strategy today.
Print Resources
Slides for Parish Web Strategy by Dennis Mahaney (2012)
Web Strategy Assessment Tool by Dennis Mahaney (2011)
Social Media Guidelines by Office of Communications, USCCB, 2010
Parish Policy for External Communications (St. Thomas the Apostle, Naperville, IL provided by www.Catholic Web Solutions.com
Visitor-Friendly Copywriting for Ministry Websites: A Guide for Beginners. (www.CatholicWebSolutions.com).
"How Well is the Church Reaching Out to People in the Digital Age." by Rev. James Martin, S.J. America Magazine. July 4, 2011.
"Reimaging Learning in the 21st Century." The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (www.macfound.org)
"Pockets of Potential - Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children's Learning." Caroly Shuler. January 2009. The Joan Ganz Gooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Religious Value of Technology Our Sunday Visitor asks leaders about cellphones, websites and social media are tools for outreach.
Web Strategy Assessment Tool by Dennis Mahaney (2011)
Social Media Guidelines by Office of Communications, USCCB, 2010
Parish Policy for External Communications (St. Thomas the Apostle, Naperville, IL provided by www.Catholic Web Solutions.com
Visitor-Friendly Copywriting for Ministry Websites: A Guide for Beginners. (www.CatholicWebSolutions.com).
"How Well is the Church Reaching Out to People in the Digital Age." by Rev. James Martin, S.J. America Magazine. July 4, 2011.
"Reimaging Learning in the 21st Century." The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (www.macfound.org)
"Pockets of Potential - Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children's Learning." Caroly Shuler. January 2009. The Joan Ganz Gooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Religious Value of Technology Our Sunday Visitor asks leaders about cellphones, websites and social media are tools for outreach.
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