One of the questions I receive the most from Pastors and Christian Entrepreneurs is “How can I or my organization really prosper online?” The see how “Household Name” Preachers appear to be leveraging their ministry following online or how some secular sales person somehow was able to get 5000 people on his teleconference and they begin to wonder, “can this really be done?”
I’m here to say YES, INDEED!
But the key, is are you willing to do what has to be done and to follow specific instructions in order to see and experience the results that others are experiencing.
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Last year by dear friend and colleague Karen Swim hosted an online event entitled “ How To Go From You’ve Got Mail To You’ve Got Money!” One by one, we went through the list of top 10 action items that need to be taken in order for ANYONE to be READY to prosper online.
One of the top mistakes I see being made by many of the entrepreneurs I coach and consult with is the fact that they will not consistently capture the email addresses of those who visit their websites.
For anyone who wants to truly develop a revenue stream online, this is key! People come to your website for a specific reason. You have something they need or something they have been searching for!
Let’s look at this deeper from a ministry perspective:
One of the biggest challenges in ministries large and small is information dissemination, especially when it’s connected to fund-raising. How do you get accurate information out to a concentrated group, quickly in order for them to ACT on the information you’ve provided.
I mean, I have seen it all.
It used to be that ministries would rely on the phone. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen ministries create dynamic “phone tree systems” that never seem to work quite right because one of the branches of the tree seems to always break off.
And while direct mail is definitely effective, if you don’t have the financial structure and foundation to accommodate thousands upon thousands of dollars it costs to develop great direct mail campaigns, like some of the household names in mega ministry, the whole process can be daunting.
Why Supporters Want To Hear From You
Nevertheless, one way or the other you have to be able to communicate with your congregants and those who support your ministry. You need to be able to contact them and tell them about the implementation of the vision God has given you. You need to be able to let them know about the ministry issues and concerns you need them to continue covering in prayer. You also need to be able to let them know about all the great things God continues to birth forth through you and the ministry.
Believe me when I say, not only do they NEED to know, but they want to know as well. Despite your challenges of getting information to them, this is very important.
Don’t Forsake Your Online Home
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Once you have your ministry website up and running it’s vital that you leverage your contact with the people who visit your site. If they’re coming to your site, that means they are very interested in what you are doing.
Unfortunately if your ministry doesn’t have a resident “web guru” or can’t afford to pay an outside agency or person to keep your content up to date, many times this part goes overlooked.
Many ministry & marketplace ministry website owners don’t seem to understand the importance of keeping information up to date on their site; Or at the very least sending that new information out to the people who want and need to know the information the most.
One of the easiest ways to do this, is through an email list. Simply put, email weekly or monthly ministry updates to your online audience. The good thing is, it can be as simple or as fancy as you want it to be.
The Biggest Mistake Ministries Make
By far the biggest mistake I see ministries make once they get a website is not capturing the email address of those who visit in order to start an email newsletter or what we can an ezine.
Yes, having an e-newsletter is that important.
It’s so important to non-profit organizations that there is a large percentage of non-profits actually developing and successfully employing fundraising campaigns online.
According to MRSS/Advocacy Institute ENonprofit Benchmarks Study (2005)
Organizations generating the most online advocacy actions had several key characteristics in common:
* larger email lists
* longer-lived online advocacy programs
* larger online communications budgets
* a higher volume of advocacy email messages.
Look at those key common characteristics: larger email lists and higher volume of advocacy email messages.
That’s what you as a pastor or media director has to keep in mind.
“How can I build my email list?”
And, “How can I work my email list?”
Answering these two questions will definitely help usher you in the right direction of developing an effective financial stream online. I’ll help you answer these questions next time I post. But in the mean-time, you TELL me, How Can You Build Your Email List? What Specific actions can you take to work your email list?
Almost forgot, if you need an AFFORDABLE STARTER WEBSITE for your personal ministry or new business be sure to check out AFFORDABLE STARTER WEBSITES. Or if you need a FREE “Get To Know You Session” to chat about your vision and how I may be able to assist you moving forward be sure to BOOK ME ONLINE via my online calendar system. I’d love to talk with you!
