Quality content, needed services, and curiosity bring people to websites through search engines and recommendations of others. Why do some people who visit our sites, click away almost immediately? It could be because we do not offer the content or services they are looking for and it could be because there is nothing there to engage them after arriving on the site. Calls to action engage people.
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Using Social Media in Ministry is About Loving Your People
Valerie Deveza, a blogger and in-bound marketing guru, stresses in her writings the importance of falling in love with the people you serve and using the best tools to reach them. She is talking to business people about social media, but this is also true for people in ministry. In using social media for business and for mission, we must remember that it is about building relationships and providing content…
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Website Traffic, Part II: Interaction is Important
Once you have determined the audiences for your website (see Part I of this series), you need to think through how you want to interact with them. Website interaction is one of the most important elements of the Web 2.0 era. If a website is static, the likelihood of attracting new or returning visits decreases.
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Website Traffic, Part I: Forethought is Best
Some years ago when Catholic parishes, dioceses, religious institutes and organizations first started setting up their websites, our goal was to “have a website.” It was the new phone book listing only with more content. We found someone who could create it for us, figured out what we wanted to post and put it up. We announced to everyone we met that we had a website.
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Use Web-Analytic Tools to Improve Web Presence
Many ministries already have a presence on the Internet and others are considering it. To be effective in this presence, it is important to implement best practices in web-based technologies to present the message, attract readers and engage them in conversations and relationships rooted in the gospel. There are several free analytic tools that can help to measure a website’s effectiveness in terms of reach and influence. I discuss two…
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Sisters Learn Social Media Tools for Communication and Ministry
One of the things I love most about being a woman religious and more specifically a Sister of Notre Dame is all of the wonderful women with whom I share that vocation. From my earliest recollection of sisters through my years of formation and ministry —I have been constantly amazed at the courage, imagination and ingenuity of sisters in forging new paths and using new methods to proclaim the Good…