What is Lutherans Online?
What to Consider Before Building a Site
Creating a Web site in Lutherans Online
Promoting your Web site
The old cliché, "if you build it, they will come," does not apply to Web sites. With literally millions of sites on the World Wide Web today, your site may never be found by Web surfers. If you’ve spent time building a site with valuable content, you’ll also want to spend time (and possibly money) promoting your site.
There is no magic formula for marketing or promoting your site, but here are some tips to help drive traffic to your Lutherans Online hosted Web site.
Tip 1 – Keep content fresh
Before you begin promoting your Web site, make sure your site contains good content and lots of it! Provide up-to-date, accurate and helpful information. Try to be unique and give your site visitors a reason to come back to your site time and time again.
Use the Calendar feature in Lutherans Online to keep your visitors informed about upcoming events and points of interest. Again, keep it up to date!
Provide visitors with opportunities for social interaction. Message boards and chat rooms are easy to add to your Lutherans Online site. Help keep the conversation going to keep visitors coming back.
Add a poll to your site. It’s amazing how many people are willing to share their opinions and points of view when given the opportunity.
Tip 2 – Create a short and intuitive URL
A Web site address is referred to as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). People reach your Web site by going to your unique URL. Much like your home address, the postman needs an accurate address to get your mail to you. The shorter and more relevant your URL, the easier it will be for people to remember and find your Web site. The URL of your Lutherans Online site can be long and cumbersome for print pieces. Therefore, creating an alias URL for your site is highly recommended:
- Go to the home page of your Lutherans Online Web site (be sure you are logged in).
- Click on Web Site Manager.
- Click on Edit Web Site URL Alias (under Settings and Preferences).
- Type your desired alias name and click Done. Your Web sites alias URL will be www.lutheransonline.com/xxxxxx (where xxxxxx is the name you selected for your alias).
NOTE: Search engines and directories may view an alias as a redirect, so if you submit your Web site to search engines and directories, be sure to use the longer URL of your site (assigned automatically by the Lutherans Online publishing system) for the submission.
Another option for a shorter URL is to purchase a domain name. See Online
Help for
more information about this option.
Tip 3 – Communicate your site and URL (Web address)
Tell people you have a Web site! Word-of-mouth referrals are an excellent promotion channel. Tell everyone you know and have them tell everyone they know, etc.
Include the URL of your site in all print materials including:
- Church bulletins and inserts
- Newsletters
- Brochures
- Bulletin boards
- E-mail signature blocks
- Stationery and letterhead
- Content of letters and e-mail
- Envelopes
- Postcards
- Business cards
- Yellow pages
- News releases
- Ads
- Flyers
- Posters
- Banners (Thrivent Financial chapters can order customized banners containing the chapter URL).
- Apparel and giveaways customized with your URL
Tip 4 – Exchange links with other Web sites
Some search engines and directories will rank a Web site based on link popularity. In other words, the more links you have to your Web site from other sites, the better chance you have of appearing higher in the ranks.
Consider contacting other Web site owners and asking them to provide a link to your site. In return, you could create a Links of Interest page on your site and ask if they would like to be included to return the favor. Some sites to consider linking up with include:
- National, regional, and district church body (ELCA, LCMS, WELS, etc.)
- Area churches
- Schools
- Town or city chamber of commerce sites
- Family Web sites
- Area Christian book stores
- Special interest groups
- Local non-profit organization
Note: Check your links regularly to make sure the sites you’re linking to are still active.
Tip 5 – Register with search engines and directories
Don’t wait for spiders and Web crawlers to find your site; take the initiative and register your site with various search engines and directories (Yahoo, Google, AOL, etc.). By registering your site, you have a better chance of your site’s information being accurate in the directories.
Some directories charge a registration fee, so you may incur some costs when you register. You might also want to check with your local electronic store for some inexpensive computer software to help you with registration.
Tip 6 – Give your site visitors what they want
Keep your visitors coming back by giving them what they are looking for. If your visitors find your site useful and fun, they will probably tell their family and friends about your site. Get to know your audience and give them what it is they are looking for. Provide your visitors the opportunity to share feedback via e-mail or an online form. To add a "form" to your Lutherans Online site:
- Go to your Web Site Manager.
- Click on Manage Web Site Pages.
- Click on Add a New Page.
- Select Online Form as your page style and follow the online instructions to build a form.
Tip 7 – Share a monthly e-newsletter
Keep in touch with your site visitors regularly through a monthly e-newsletter. Share information about recent changes to your site, upcoming events and more. Be sure to ask and obtain permission from your site visitors to send them e-mail. Nothing turns visitors off more than spam.
Questions? Contact our Help desk staff.
