One of my first projects in the area of online ministry was to seek an answer to the question: what makes online ministry successful? This led to the development of a research project to determine the “best practices” in online ministry.  From November 2007 to April 2008, over 300 ministries took a survey and reported on how they were doing Internet ministry. From the data collected, a series of “best practices” were developed matching ministries who reported success with their Internet presence with answers to the survey questions. I presented the results of this research at the Internet Ministry Conference in October 2008.

How did I determine “best practices”? In the survey, I asked each ministry a set of questions that correlated with “success”. A “success score” was developed for each ministry. I then asked a series of questions about their online ministry practices in the area of technology, people, and process (my “Internet Ministry Framework”).  By taking the ministries who score the highest in their “success score” together, I was able to find which practices they had in common and develop a set of “best practices”.  The twelve best practices that I can recommend for any online ministry are as follows:

For full details on these best practice recommendations and more about the research project itself, download the report from the “Resources” section of either at my main site or my Facebook page. And while you’re there, take a look at the other resources available.

I am also looking to update these recommendations in the near future. If you have feedback or comments on these or other best practices, feel free to leave me a comment!

I also left a spot for comments on just how these ministries were doing “search engine optimization” (SEO) on their sites:

“The more we are integrated with other sites (Facebook, blogs, etc.) the better.”
“Ask the congregation to search for the site.”
“Create web pages for other churches in the area.”
“I believe that doing SEO is just part of doing good site design. If you have a web site, you want people to find it. If you want people to find it, you must show up in search results.”

In my e-business strategy class this week, we spent some time reviewing SEO concepts, using Google’s starter document on search engine optimization as our talking point.  Now, there are two components to ranking high on a Google search: 1) good SEO design on your web page, and 2) lots of other sites linking to yours. You have full control over the first, not so much over the second. Many will say (see comment above) that the best SEO is done by making your site the greatest site in its niche.  And this is true and will surely help you in the second component listed above. But why not follow Google’s advice and design your site to be as search-engine friendly as possible?

Anyways, all this is to say that if you are trying to figure out how to make your site show better in search results, then one of the best places to start is Google’s SEO document.  Most of the changes discussed in this document require you to know how to modify HTML on your site, so you may want to give this to your webmaster/tech guru.

UCI tackles ‘World of Warcraft’ mystery

And Happy New Year!

I have finally settled on three primary books for my course (though I still have a couple I am thinking about adding). Over the next few weeks, I will share my selections here on this blog.  The first book I have selected is Dr. Aubrey Malphurs’ Church Next.  Written with his son, Michael, I found this book to give a good overview of the current state of the Church and makes a great case for why the move to the Internet is the right one.  For those who do not know who Aubrey Malphurs is, he is Senior Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is also the head of the Malphurs Group.

The book opens with two chapters on the decline of the Church in the US and the world and presents some reasons for just why that has happened.  Their conclusion: the Church has failed to change as society and culture changed and is becoming less and less relevant.

The second part of the book makes the case for change, with a full chapter devoted to the development of a “theology of change”. Frankly, it is this chapter that convinced me that this is one of the books I need in my course.  This chapter focuses on the idea that while it is allowable for the forms of the Church to change, it is not acceptable for the functions of the Church to change.  Using good examples and scripture, a case for change is well-made. This is followed up by a chapter on the effects of postmodernism on our culture.

The last part of the book is on how the Internet can be the tool for this change.  Because the book was written in 2003, most of what is here is old news. I will probably have my students scan this part, but we will not focus on it. We will have other sources in our class for ideas on technology.

Overall, this is a great book for those working to understand how something as timeless as Christ’s body (the Church) can change. If you are working with a church or organization who doesn’t see the need to move to the Internet, this book presents a compelling case.

Link to Church Marketing Sucks blog entry

Link to research page on genesys11

Best Practices in Internet Ministry Part I

Best Practices in Internet Ministry Part II

Best Practices in Internet Ministry Part III