The Importance of staying up-to-date…

I was driving north on I45 toward downtown, and I noticed something a little silly. At Telephone, there is a very large billboard that has a picture of a large screen TV hung on a wall, and above it, the sign reads:

Forget the Mistletoe…
Hang the TV.

At the bottom of the sign, there is information about how __________ has “this season’s” largest selection of flat screen TV’s and accessories.

The problem… It’s almost May.

How is this any different that your lazy neighbor who leaves the Christmas lights up all year?

Unfortunately, most church websites are just as guilty as this sign (or your lazy neighbor). Does your site still have the announcement about the “upcoming” Easter event? Or the registration info for the Women’s retreat in February?

Many of us can remember to update our sites when we want to promote something, but we rarely remember to quit promoting it once it’s passed. This can be addressed through simple planning.

Make a note on your calendar for the day after an event to remove the info from your site. Or, my favorite… Jott yourself.

These small steps can keep you and your church from looking quite silly… like your neighbor.

Another option that many use with success is to create a blog page for news about upcoming events. This is very easy to update (just as easy as writing a blog entry), it’s automatically date-stamped, and people can use the comments to ask questions and discuss the event.

Then, instead of deleting the information, you can post stories about the event itself.

This option creates an on-going and growing log of events and posts that show your church to be the active and engaged church that it is.

Of course, if you need help with setting this up, you can always call us.

We learned these things the hard way so you don’t have to…