Welcome ChurchCommunicationsPro.com Email Subscribers

Here's a couple of posts you might want to start with:

• My first post
• 10 blog topic ideas for pastors
• My Blogger.com bias
• How to start a blog in 5 minutes and 4 steps ... more or less
  

I'd like to hear your feedback on this blog and future post ideas.

Comment on a post, or send me an email at corymiller303@gmail.com.

OR ... forward this blog address to a pastor while it's still here.

[I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with this blog and its content yet ... but I wanted to give it to my CCP subscribers as an "advance" post and "thank you."]

Track Who's Talking About You or Linking To You

With a neat service by Google called "Google Alerts," you can see who's talking about you, or linking to you on the Internet.

The alerts can be emailed to you: "Once-a-Day," "Once-a-Week," or "As It Happens." The alert frequency depends a lot on the importance of the subject you're tracking. For instance, I track my church's name at least "As It Happens," because I want it fast.

You can also select types of tracking areas like "News," "Web," and "Groups."

Here's what you should be tracking:

• Your church's name -- "Quail Springs Baptist Church"
• An abbreviated version of your church's name -- "Quail Springs church" [This is to catch all the one's who don't use our full name
  
• My church's Web site -- "www.qsbc.org" [To see who's linking to you]
• Your name -- "Cory Miller" [With such a common name, you'd be surprised what all I do!]
• Your blog topic or subject -- I have one set for "church marketing" as that's one of the main topics I blog on
• Your community's name -- I track "oklahoma city" news
  

Start getting alerts today! Go to: http://www.google.com/alerts

Play Your Sermons Right on Your Blog or Church Site

Del.icio.us, the popular social bookmarking site that I use for my bookmarks, has a neat little script that allows you to play your MP3 files (or sermons) right on the page, instead of having to download them, then play them.

You simply cut and paste the code into your blog template or site page. This can be used in blogs and church Web sites.

Here's the instructions and code via del.icio.us.

Here's one of my recent sermons to show you how this would look and function:

"Living Like a Missionary" by Cory Miller [me]

Blogging as a Spiritual Discipline

Blogging pastor Mark Batterson suggests that blogs can be a "spiritual discipline."

Although I've mentioned some ideas for things pastors can blog about before, blogs can also be a modern-day version of journaling.

Writing Effective Headlines, or Post Titles

You've already got someone on your blog site ... now you need to draw them in with your headlines.

A headline should be sharp, to the point, and representative of what the post text actually talks about.

Keep in mind also ... that most Web site readers "scan" a page for keywords they're interested in. So make your headlines readable, but also scanable.

MORE INFORMATION:

CopyBlogger has a great series called "Magnetic Headlines" that is very applicable to a pastor's blog. Also, "Headlines That Get Results."

Darren at ProBlogger.net gives these headline tips:

1. Keep it simple
2. Grab attention
3. Meet a need
4. Describe
5. Use key words
6. Take your time

Make a Posting Plan and Schedule

Just like you plan your preaching schedule for the quarter or year, you need to have a plan for posting to your blog.

A big key to getting people to visit your site, then return, is posting good content on a regular basis. That doesn't necessarily mean every day, or even every other day -- but blogging on a consistent basis where your readers will want to return because they know new content will be posted.

For a beginning blogging pastor, I suggest posting once a week. Pick a good day during the week -- one where you think you can devote 15 minutes to a new blog post -- and plan to post on that day.

Keep to that day and that schedule for a month. Then evaluate how you're doing and if you feel like stepping your post frequency up, try two days a week.

Be realistic with your time and goals. Don't try to post a novel in the first week. You'll eventually burn out and not want to blog at all.

Plan ahead to keep your blog posts to between 100-150 words. Keep them short, don't think you have to blog a Ph.D. dissertation on the subject. But do write about your passion.

And if you get stuck, post a list -- a top 10 of something. Think of five or ten things about a subject and post those.

If you get stuck, here's some ideas or categories you could look to for post subjects.

RELATED POSTS: How to Write a Blog Post ... for Pastors

10 Reasons Blogging Pastors Rock

Blogging pastors rock because:

1. They understand the power of technology -- like blogs
2. ... even if they're scared or don't undersand the technology itself
   
3. They want to redeem blogs and the Internet for use in ministry
4. They want to communicate in a dynamic way -- and not just from behind a pulpit
5. They want their message (and The Message) heard online
6. They're helping fill the giant void of solid biblical resources online
7. They know it can be leveraged it for good publicity, PR and exposure
8. They know they have an audience with the world
9. Most likely, they actually listened to a geek like me, took his/her advice, and ventured out into this new place called the Blogosphere
   
10. ... and finally ... they believe in it enough to devote some precious time to it.
    

Feed Others ... With FeedBurner

One thing you want to provide your avid readers is easy ways to read you -- fast and eaily!

[I've written about feeds before in my "How to Read a Blog."]

To get more people to read your blog and return, you need to lower the bar for what it takes for them to keep up with you -- this is where site feeds come in.

Feeding your readers can be easily done with FeedBurner, a great free site for everything "feeds." It's very popular with bloggers. I use them on this blog, see how.

FeedBurner has a whole host of services for bloggers -- taking a lot of the sweat and time out of feed your site guests.

Here are a few FeedBurner services I love and think can be useful to blogging pastors:

• PingShot -- This sends a "ping" to blog directories and key search engines. It tells them you've got new stuff to check out. They in turn tell others.
• Email Subscriptions -- Like FeedBlitz, this service lets your readers sign up for email updates when you post them. It's automatic and requires little action after you set it up.
• BuzzBoost -- Lets you list the headlines of your posts on another site, like your church site or member's personal sites. [See example below of how this looks.]
• Headline Animator -- A similar service to BuzzBoost, only this provides an animated graphic. [See example below of how this looks.]
• SmartCast™ -- Podcasting made easy
• Link and Photos Splicers -- Combine your del.icio.us bookmarks and Flickr photos into your feed

Here's what BuzzBoost looks like for my ChurchCommunicationsPro.com site:



Here's what the Headline Animator looks like:



LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS:
Here are two tutorial links on using FeedBurner -- here, here.

Build Your Blogger Contact List

In public relations, we use what's commonly called a "media list." This is just a list of key contacts at newspapers, television stations, radio stations, etc. in your area or field that you want to be sure get your press releases.

These media editors, writers, reporters, on-air personalities are gatekeepers for a group of people -- an audience -- that you want to get your message get to.

The same can be done for blogging pastors ... keep a list of bloggers -- Christian or not -- that you want to email when you have important posts or information to share.

I'd call this a "blogger contact list."

To find them, simply do a Google search and see who is blogging in your community, or on your subject or passion.

Or look on the blogs you read or which deal with your topic, see who they read or link to, and then begin cultivating a relationship with them via email or by commenting on their posts.

The key here though is to use proper etiquette and be interested in them and not just for what they can do for you.

MORE INFORMATION: Here are 13 tips from Darren at ProBlogger.net (a must-read site for all bloggers, not just ones that want to make money).

Getting Linked by Others is Like Getting Votes for Search Engines

One of the things that helps you get traffic to your blog or Web site is to rank high in search engine results like Google.

For example, when someone types in a keyword or phrase into a search engine like "oklahoma city church," Google gives you a list of sites that match that key phrase. The idea is to be ranked as high as possible in these results.

One of the ways Google figures out who should rank the highest is the quality of content on the site, but also how many different sites link to you.

Thus: Getting linked is a voting system of sorts for who gets ranked highest.

So ... getting linked by other sites is very important to those rankings ...

As a pastor, you want to get linked by a lot of people so your pages are ranked higher in search engines.

Here's a couple of ways to "get linked:"

• Ask your congregation to link to you on their sites -- (see my "Trading Links" post)
• Ask other pastors who blog to link to you (and do the same for them)
• Ask top rated Christian bloggers to link to you
• Write posts that people will link to (see "Why the Best Blog Posts Are Often Lists")
• Comment on other people's blogs

Speaking of getting linked ... have you linked to me here or at ChurchCommunicationsPro.com?

How to Read a Blog 101

Blogs are the hottest communication tools on the Internet.

With their relative ease of use and inexpensive setup (many sites offer them free), nearly anyone with a computer and access to the Internet can publish a blog site quickly and cheaply and let their voice be heard online.

From political ranting and raving to the reviews of the latest gadgets and gizmos and a lot of self expression and opinions in between, blogs have opened the Internet up – like the old frontier – to millions of people who want to rush in and weigh in on their favorite topics, passions, gripes, or just to have a destination for their rambling thoughts and ideas.

According to Technorati.com, a popular blog search engine, they are tracking more than 53.7 million blogs ... and counting. The site estimates 75,000 new blogs “go live” on the Internet each day. And the ones in existence are posting more than 1.2 million new articles, or posts, a day.

Most blogs are designed to be a "conversation," a two-way dialogue between the blog owner and reader, and not just mere Web sites and monologue.

Here are a couple of items that will make your blog surfing and reading easier:

• RSS and Feeds -- RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Another name for them is a "feed." A Web site's RSS or feed is a Internet file that contains all the posts of that blog. Each time new posts are added, this file is automatically updated by their blogging software. Benefit of RSS and feeds to readers: With a feedreader (see below), you can easily keep track of a number of blogs (I've got about 20 that I read regularly) without actually having to go to the Web site and check. [Here's another good article on feeds.]

• Feedreaders -- These are online programs or Web sites that allow you to "read the feeds" of your favorite sites, and thus keep up with them without actually surfing over to the site. My favorite feedreader is Bloglines.com. Sign up for a new account and start "subscribing" to your favorite blog sites. [Here is another article on feedreaders.]
  

• Comments -- As I wrote earlier, most blogs are intended to be conversations. Therefore, at the end of most blog posts is a link labeled "comments." When you find a blog post that you want to comment on, click on that post's comment link and add your two cents worth. Be sure to play nice, be fair, and don't abuse the privilege. Imagine commenting in the same light as two people having a conversation, you overhear it and decide to enter the dialogue.

Here's a couple of popular blogs, blog tools or sites that talk about blogs:

• Del.icio.us -- A popular social networking/bookmarking site
• Technorati.com -- THE blogging search engine (Make sure to get an account there and "claim" your blog so it shows up on searches.)
• Most Popular on Technorati.com -- See what tags, blogs, and searches are the hottest
• Feedster's Top 500 Blogs -- See what blog sites (and topics) are getting the most traffic
• ProBlogger.net -- Great, awesome, outstanding advice for professional bloggers, but MUCH carryover for us, amateurs
• CopyBlogger -- Writing for the Internet and other stuff
• Boing Boing -- One of the most popular blogs on the Net
• Engadget -- Neck and neck usually with Boing Boing for most popular blog
• YouTube -- An insanely popular video site that allows you to "embed" videos in your blogs for free
• Flickr -- Like YouTube but for photos
• Bloglines -- My favorite feedreader
• Feedburner -- Automatic RSS feeds for your blog
• FeedBlitz -- Automatic email updates of new blog posts for your subscribers
• Zookoda -- A free email newsletter service, I use this for my email newsletter
• Google Analytics -- Free Web site statistics program, just insert the code and start tracking
• Google Adsense -- The search engine's popular text ads programs
  
• SiteMeter -- Another free Web site stats program
• WordPress -- Free popular blogging platform

10 Topic Ideas for a Pastor's Blog

I've already talked about passion being the essential ingredient for a pastor's blog posts, but here are 10 ideas/topics a pastor could blog on ...

1. Blog the news, pop culture, issues
2. Blog on marriage, family, and parenting topics
3. Blog on good money management and personal finance
4. Blog short devotional comments throughout week
5. Blog about people -- yours and the community
6. Blog your sermons -- restate your points, or retell an illustration
7. Blog on resources for the Christian walk
8. Blog your city -- talk well of your community
9. Blog to inform
10. Blog the Gospel

But most importantly, no matter what the topic ... you gotta blog your passion.

... even if it is your pets. :-)

On Blog Comments ...

Read some background information about blogs and you'll learn that most blogs are intended to be "conversations" between the blogger and his/her readers, who "comment" on their posts.

Although I appreciate, respect and love this about blogs -- that they are often two-way conversations -- I caution a beginning blogging pastor against turning "on" the comments feature for their fledgling blogs.

Here's why: It's takes a lot of time to keep up with comments. Critics will argue this is controlling the conversation. But frankly, I'd rather my blogging pastors focus on getting their blogs start with regular posts, polishing and refining their unique blog voice, and building their readership.

When things are rolling, revisit the "commenting" debate. But for now, close off those comments, and simply post your email address (another hairy issue for busy pastors, but a less public one too).

How to Write a Blog Post ... for Pastors

Here are a couple of thoughts about how pastors should approach writing blog posts:

• Write with an audience in mind -- writing to a specific person helps me
  
• Write to a "glocal" audience too -- locally to your community and congregation'; globally for the world (my site stats tell me I've had people reading all over the world)
  
• Write personally -- like you would an email to a best friend
• Write casually, conversationally -- how you speak to your people
  
• Write in your unique 'voice' -- make it readable, but approachable too
  
• Write short, concise posts
  

I suggest pastors who are just starting blogging to keep their posts to between 100-200 words, and remind them that it is about the size of most emails they already send.

Writing tip for blogger's block: If you're having trouble getting started, go to your email program, create a new email, and pretend your writing to a specific person on whatever subject you've chosen. Write a subject line. Then after you're done, copy and paste into a blog post, using the subject line as your headline.

Tracking Your Web Site Traffic Flow

At some point after you've been blogging for a while, you'll want to see who's reading your blog ... or who's logging on to your blog and the numbers of hits and visits you're getting.

This is where a web site statistics program comes in ...

I use two free stat services for this blog and my other main blog:

• Google's Analytics -- my favorite, allows you to see who's referring traffic to you (i.e. who has linked to you) and lots of other cool stuff, like a map showing where your site guests are located
• Sitemeter -- emails you a basic report of your hits and guests

With both services, you'll need to put a supplied script into your blog. This is really easy to do and they give you basic information for doing it.

What not to do: Obsess over your site statistics like I do.

What to do: With Google's service, see who is "referring" you. Then give them the Internet equilvanet of a 'thank you card' -- send them an email thanking them for the link, or take a moment to comment on their blog.

The Best Blog Posts ... Are Often Lists

If you want readers and you want traffic to your blog, plan to post lists of things often.

They can be as simple as the "Top Ten" of anything and everything ... such as ...

• Ten Reasons I Love African Mission Trips
• The 5 Books I'm Reading
• 8 Takeaways from [A Conference You Attended]
• 2 Simple Things I Learned from My Quiet Time This Week

Lists are great for blog posts for three general reasons:

• They are easy to link to by others -- thus helping build your traffic from other sites
  
• They are easy to create
• And they are easy to read

Two great "must read" posts by some of the best in the blogging business are:

• 7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work
• 8 Reasons Why Lists Are Good for Getting Traffic

Ok, I couldn't resist, here are two more from a marketing genuis:

• How to Get Traffic to Your Blog -- 56 reasons
• Top Ways to Defend the Status Quo

Also, check out this list of lists to get some inspiration for your lists.

Blog Your Passion First and Foremost

The best advice I could give a pastor on what to blog on is to blog their passion.

What stirs you up?
What captures your interest most?
What gets your heart pumping or even blood boiling?
What has been the focus topic of your ministry?

Is it topics dealing with marriage? Or discipleship? Missions? Book-by-book expository preaching? Topical preaching? Christian history? Or even amateur photography?

What topics do you find yourself gravitating toward most?

... that's what you should blog on.

Blog your passions.

Professional bloggers often cite passion as one of the essential ingredients for successful blogging on a sustained basis.

Think about it ... if you really enjoy the topic and find yourself already spending time reading and researching it, won't blogging on it come more easily?

Whatever that is, that focus, interest, niche ... plan to blog that. It'll give you blogging longevity and a wealth of posts to reflect on ... and maybe even eventually enough material for a book on the subject.

Let Your Readers See What You're Bookmarking Online

One way you can show your blog readers what you are viewing or bookmarking on the Internet (i.e. good biblical resources for articles, books, etc.) is to use the popular social bookmarking site del.icio.us.

Why should you do this? Have you seen the vast Internet wasteland of theological junk? Give your readers links to sites, articles, resources that you have combed over, or use frequently and trust.

I'll say it like this:

Bookmarking is one of the best, easiest and fastest ways for pastors to give good resources to their congregations.

Here's how this could work for a pastor's blog:

1. Sign up for a del.icio.us account
2. Use your blog or name as the account name -- for promotional purposes I use my main site name: churchcommmunicationspro.com
3. Install the del.icio.us "buttons" on your Internet browser -- this allows you to easily "bookmark" a site when you see it, follow the del.icio.us directions for this
4. Click on your "settings" link -- then on "link rolls." A link roll is just a listing of all your bookmarks.
5. Adjust the settings -- For my longer bookmark list, I "show" about 100 items with my "notes." This is great for telling your readers what they are looking at, or why you like it or don't, etc. It's like a commentary function. I want my readers to see my notes, so click on that option.
6. Copy the code supplied
7. Paste it into a new post or in your sidebar -- or wherever you want your readers to see it. I pasted it into a blog post, then link to it from my right sidebar. Occasionally, in new blog posts, I'll even put a tag on the end like, "See what I'm bookmarking online" and link to that blog posts (which updates automatically with del.icio.us).
8. Start bookmarking!

Get Subscribers with an Email Newsletter

If you're blogging on a regular basis, you don't want to miss out on having an email newsletter on your blog site.

Why have an Email Newsletter for your blog? They help you track who's reading your blog while giving them updates on your blog posts and progress.

An email newsletter basically gives your faithful readers updates on your posts as you write them. It patrols your site and when it sees that you have added a post, it emails your subscribers a post summary with a link back to your site.

For my site's email newsletter, I use FeedBlitz.com. It's free and basically does all the heavy lifting for you -- it gives you the code for an online subscription form on your blog, then collects emails as people subscribe, then sends out an email when you have a new post, automatically. It's very low-maintenance on your end once it's installed in your blog.

Here's a sample form from FeedBlitz for this blog:

Enter your Email Address Below
to Get 'If My Pastor Had A Blog' Updates


Powered by FeedBlitz

To get your FeedBlitz email newsletter, here are some steps:

1. Log in and get a FeedBlitz account
2. Enter your blog's address -- FeedBlitz will find the "feed" for your blog (i.e. for this blog, it's: http://IfMyPastorHadA.blogspot.com).
3. Copy the HTML code -- Follow the FeedBlitz instructions.
4. Paste it into your Blogger's template -- Blogger makes this easy with the new and improved Blogger. In your Blogger "dashboard," click on the "Tempalte" tab, then "Add a page element" on the sidebar. In the popup window, click on "HTML/Javascript" and paste in your FeedBlitz code and "save changes."
   
5. Save your blog template
6. Test your email form

Here's a Blogger Help topic for more information: Layout Guide

One side note: You've probably noticed that I don't use FeedBlitz for my main email newsletter. If you've looked carefullly, I use Zookoda. Here's why ... FeedBlitz is an automatic email newsletter program. Zookoda allows me to send out specialized emails and are not necessarily automatic. I have to do some work to send it out with Zookoda. But I want more control of my email newsletters, so I use Zookoda. But my suggestion for pastors is to use FeedBlitz because it takes the work and sweat out of it. Once your subscription form is on your site, you don't have to worry ... FeedBlitz does the rest. :-)

BONUS: See how I use all this to keep my readers updated on my ChurchCommunicationsPro.com blog site.

How To Get a Blog in About 4 Steps and 5 Minutes

So you've decided to start blogging? Or at least take it for a test drive?

With the simplicity of Blogger.com, you can create a blog -- staking your own claim in the blogosphere -- in about 5 minutes or less.

Here's a short 4-step checklist for getting started blogging:

1. Determine how you will host it -- There are two basic options here: Free or paid. I suggest pastors just taking a step out into the blogosphere start with the "free" option. For a paid account, I would suggest going through GoDaddy.com or your church's existing Web site hosting company.

2. Get a free Blogger.com account -- Assuming you chose the "free" option for hosting and Blogger.com for your blogging platform, you'll need to get a free Blogger.com account. Click on this link and do that now.

3. Name your blog -- for the free BlogSpot site through Blogger.com, you'll need to figure out what to name your blog -- this is usually your blog's site address also (i.e. for this site, mine is: http://IfMyPastorHadA.blogspot.com). I'd suggest using your name, or if your preaching ministry has its own name, using that. Give it a name your congregation will recognize. Although this can be changed later, once you start promoting the site, you'll want to find a name (and thus address) and stick with it so people can find you easily.

4. Choose a template -- use one of Blogger's templates -- they're nice and simple and easy-to-customize. I really like Rounders and Minima for templates, but look through the templates and find the one that best suits your fancy!

... and you're done!

You have staked your claim on the blogosphere!