Your Website Won’t Get You “Found” - But This Will
When schools and churches finish building their websites, the team usually feels a deep sense of accomplishment—and sometimes a good deal of relief. A lot of time and energy goes into putting together all the pieces of the website puzzle! When the new website goes live, everyone’s usually ready to celebrate the win and then move on to something else.
It’s really important to celebrate this win! If your website has been built well and represents a brand image that appeals to your target audience, you have set a solid foundation for people to find you…but remember this truth:
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Websites are front doors,
but they aren’t built to come off their hinges.
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You can think of a website like the front door to your home. Front doors are made to be opened, offering a warm invitation to your visitors. But your front door doesn’t walk off its hinges to do the work of bringing people to itself. Rather, people find your front door through your own directions and/or a quick search on a navigation app.
It’s the same with a website. Once your website is completed, you have to give people directions on how to find it.
Active & Passive Search Engine Optimization
In a broad sense, this process of “giving directions to your website” is referred to as search engine optimization or SEO. I like to think of search engine optimization in two ways: passive optimization and active optimization.
Active optimization is adding content regularly to your website, social media accounts, and any other places on the web.
Passive optimization includes setting up your website and social media accounts with the keywords people use to search for what you provide. I use the word “keywords” broadly to include written content, video, livestreaming, podcasts, or anything else from a content perspective that is added to your website or social media profiles. Passive optimization is built-in or “set it and forget it.”
Passive optimization is all about making sure that the places that point to your website are setup and have a consistent message that points to your website AND does not create brand confusion. A simple example of this would be if you categorize your Google My Business profile as a bakery, when you actually are a preschool.
Thankfully, there is a SHORTCUT for Passive Search Engine Optimization
There are many services that provide a way to setup multiple profiles online that point back to your website. One that we use and recommend to our clients is called MOZ.
MOZ is one of the most well-respected companies in an SEO industry. The company offers a product called MOZ Local that takes a church or school Facebook and Google My Business page and uses them to populate multiple websites with the proper information. This is a good way to have links that go back to your website that you can update in a single place – the MOZ dashboard.
Once you update your ministry’s Google My Business or Facebook page listing within MOZ, it processes the changes throughout their ecosystem of third party websites. This creates accurate signs that point with the most up-to-date information back to your website. You can even visit MOZ Local and enter your address to check your presence online for free.
There are a few different plans to choose from, but I usually recommend going with the basic package and adding the additional add-ons if your looking for more exposure. There are also packages that allow you to engage with your audiences through MOZ. Any of these packages will help you keep a handle on your presence and save you time from manually keeping all these places up to date.
Rest but Don’t Stop!
I believe we are built to build things and reach goals—and then take time to rest. But when it comes to building a website, it’s so important to remember that it’s not the final destination. We need to continually give people directions to our website through SEO and consistent marketing. This important work guides people to the front doors of your ministry where they can access to the good news of grace, a place we can fully rest and celebrate!
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Looking for more help?
We understand that websites, SEO, and MOZ Local aren’t everyone’s cup of tea —or that you just have too much to do in your role to tackle this, too. That’s why we at Blueprint Schools offer packages to help: from website development to helping people “find your front door” through SEO. Schedule a consultation here and we can find the right level of support for your unique situation.
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