Today, there are more than 40-million searches for churches on Google every month in the United States — more than 100 searches per church per month. For this reason alone, a growing number of churches are embracing the Internet to communicate with their members and to grow membership.
The Barna Group, LLC, a market research firm that provides primary research, leadership development; spiritual training; and church facilitation and enhancement, collected the following statistics on online church communication:
· The number of church Web sites in 2008 has nearly doubled since 2000.
· Based on recent numbers, 62 percent of Protestant churches have a church Web site.
· One out of four Protestant churches has a presence on social networking sites, such as MySpace.
· Larger churches are more than twice as likely to have a social networking presence.
· Thirteen percent of Protestant churches have blog sites or pages where people can interact with church leaders.
According to researcher George Barna of The Barna Group, “The Internet has become one of the pivotal communications and community-building tools of our lifetime. Churches are well-advised to have an intelligent and foresighted Internet strategy in order to facilitate meaningful ministry.”
“These facts make it clear more people are searching for churches online and a growing number of churches are using the Internet to market themselves,” said Kevin Downey, president of Four Eyes Marketing LLC, a Kansas City-based search engine marketing firm. “The number of visitors to a church Web site directly relates to the number of visitors who walk through its doors.”
As more Internet users search for churches online, it is becoming increasingly important for churches to establish and maintain a visible online presence in order to grow membership.
Once a church has an online presence, the next step is to ensure potential members are able to quickly and easily find its Web site when conducting an Internet search for nearby churches. According to Downey, ChurchGuideUSA.com — a division of Four Eyes Marketing — offers an easy and affordable solution for churches seeking to attract more visitors to their Web sites and to their churches. ChurchGuideUSA.com provides a co-operative pay-per-click service that allows churches to have greater online visibility at a fraction of the cost.
“We pay for the Google advertising, which means that when potential church members conduct an online search for ‘church’ or a variation of the word ‘church,’ our directory appears on page one of the Google search listing in those areas where we have local premium listings. The churches pay us a flat fee to be in our directory,” said Downey. “As a result, churches listed in the directory receive more online visitors to their Web sites and ultimately to their churches, at a fraction of the cost compared to what they’d have to pay if they were to purchase Google advertising themselves.”
Downey also noted that information on churches listed in the directory appear from nearest to farthest to a potential member’s home — a key factor since most people are willing to drive only 20 minutes or less for church services.
