The Ultimate Guide to Church Blogging
Did you know over 50% of all my website’s traffic comes from my blog? Pretty crazy, huh?
What if your ministry could grow by 50% just by starting a new blog? In this guide, We’ll look at the best church blogs, learn all the different topics you can write about, and decide if a new ministry blog is right for you.
In This Article You’ll Learn
Should Your Church Start a Blog?
I love this question because blogging is one of the most effective and free ways to connect with your congregation and attract new visitors to your website. Every post you publish becomes online content that people around your ministry and in your community can find and share online.
Unfortunately, you won’t find a lot of articles about church blogging because most ministries struggle to figure out how to use their blog effectively. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with an blog full of past updates and outdated event invitations. I think we can all agree, there’s nothing worse than coming to a website and finding an old blog that hasn’t been touched in years.
The Blogging Upside
There is a tremendous upside to blogging when you have the right church blog strategy in place. A creative ministry blog will help you create deeper relationships with your current members and allow you spark the interest of new visitors.
In this guide, we’ll look at the pros and cons of church blogging and I’ll teach you 10 practical blog topics you can start writing about today!
2 Reasons Why You Should Start a Church Blog!
1. Make Deeper Connections with Your Members
There is something incredibly personal about writing. Especially, when it comes from the heart and soul of our ministry leaders.
Over the last year, I’ve developed this habit. I’m not sure if it’s a good one or not, but nevertheless, as soon as my morning alarm clock goes off, I roll over and pick up my phone. I don’t open up my calendar or scroll through instagram. Know what I do?
The first thing I do in every single morning is check my email. And after I delete all the annoying marketing emails, I’m left with 2 or 3 must reads.
The first is from a blog called, Becoming Minimalist. The second is a from an online business group I’m in called, Unemployable, and the third is from a daily curated news publication.
There’s a few others here and there, but these 3 websites are with me almost every morning. Why? Because they all have something to say that I am interested in. I’m a believer, a passionate follower, and I can’t wait to read what they write next. It’s fuel for my soul. And for better or worse, I give them the first few minutes of my day.
How amazing would it be, if your ministry was on my top 3? And every morning, I woke and started my day with you? That is church blogging done right!
A church blog can be an incredibly personal way to touch the lives of your readers.
2. Reach New People
There’s a reason that big corporations have started blogging. Each article they write brings more traffic to their website. And more traffic means more sales.
Now I’m not going to rant on the big guys too much, because I’m just as guilty. Did you know most of my website traffic comes from my blog? I have 1 posts that generates about 50% of all my website traffic. Pretty crazy, huh?
You may be thinking, “how can 1 post generate 50% of all my traffic?”
It’s because that one post matches up with what people are searching for. Thanks to Google, you’re able to write about topics that people are interested in, which gives you a chance to reach people who aren’t even looking for your church. It’s called, “Organic Search Engine Optimization” or “Organic SEO” for short.
According to Techopedia,
“Organic SEO refers to the methods used to obtain a high placement (or ranking) on a search engine results page in unpaid, algorithm-driven results on a given search engine. Methods such as boosting keywords, backlinking and writing high-quality content can all improve a site’s page rank.”
A keyword from that definition is “unpaid.” When you write high-quality content for your specific audience, you don’t have to run a bunch of paid ads to get noticed. Overtime, your content has the potential to naturally climb up in search engine rankings.
We used to think the homepage was the most important page on a church website, but we’re learning that a single blog posts can have a much greater reach.
When You Should NOT Start a Church Blog…
Okay, so now that you have 2 really good reasons to start blogging, there’s still 1 big reason why you shouldn’t start a church blog.
Do not start a ministry blog if you don’t have a content plan!
Without a plan in place, your church blog will turn into an archive of old ministry updates, event invitations, and what most people call, “news”.
Why? Because 9 out of 10 times these types of blogs (which is what most churches are doing) aren’t adding any value to their readers. Instead of producing content that people can’t wait to wake up and read, they end up talking about themselves. They become glorified press releases. Or worse, a series of ads promoting an upcoming event. I don’t know about you, but those are the types of emails I delete.
This type of promotional blogging is an old way of thinking. The new way is to make sure your blog posts add value, answer questions, and help people.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, I just know how incredibly valuable your time is. Ministry is tough work and I want to see you spend time on articles that build your community and reach new people!
Sure there’s a time and place to use your blog to inform and even promote, but that should be reserved for less than 10-20% of the time. Everything else should leave your readers wanting more.
12 Example Church Blog Topics and Ideas
Your blog plan should tie into the greater mission of your church. You should write about topics that matter. Topics that people want to wake up and read. Topics that people are already searching for!
1. Curated Content
Curated content is one of the easiest types of posts you can create. The strategy is simple; share useful content from other websites. Curation is a great place to start because you don’t have to do as much work! A good example is to curate your favorite books or articles around a specific topic.
View this "curation" post at Loft City Church
2. Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is like planting an Oregon Redwood Tree. You write it once and it lives on forever. You might spend more time upfront writing a high-quality evergreen post, but once you hit “publish”, your content will slowly grow its way up the search engine ladder. Choosing a broad topic will help your content stay relevant over time.
View this "evergreen" post at Watermark Community Church
3. Seasonal Content
If evergreen content is like planting a tree along the Oregon Redwood Trail, seasonal content is more like filling your flowerbeds with annuals. It can have a big impact for a short period of time. Seasonal content is timely, trendy, and written to get a quick reaction. You can focus on a specific season of the year or write about a current event.
View this post on JD Greear's personal blog
4. Local Content
This one I love…especially for churches in growing cities who are focused on reaching new visitors. Local content is super practical and written about local recommendations and hot spots.
The secret with local content ideas is to think about the practical questions that often come up in conversations. Things like best places on Sunday to eat with children after service, best coffee shops for a quiet devotional, and even fun topics like favorite hiking trails in your city. For a bonus, you can even tie local content in with your church groups like “5 small groups perfect for small children.”
View this family guide at Hope Fellowship
5. Video Content
There has a been a big trend towards video content lately. While writing has its own nuances, video content shows faces, living rooms, and personality more than any other medium. It’s also a great way to show what’s happening behind-the-scenes of your ministry. All you need is an iPhone, a free YouTube account, and some natural sun light to get started.
View this pastor's vlog at The Meeting House
6. Short Devotional Content
Devotions are often associated with morning routines so they work great for ministry leaders who want to develop a daily or weekly relationship with their followers. There’s really no better to way to encourage and build up your church members than with inspirational content they can subscribe to on a regular basis.
Read this devo at Trinity Fellowship
7. Sermon Teasers
I bet your church already has a lot of things to write about. Each week you or your pastors are writing full messages to serve up on Sundays. Why not take 1 or 2 points from that 5-point sermon and give it away earlier in the week? Think of your teaser as a weekly devo that leaves your congregation wanting to hear what’s next!
Check out Steve Furtick's posts at Minute of Motivation
8. Answer Questions
The internet is full of people answering questions. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your church had a voice in some of the popular ones? The trick here is to think practical and even pull from the questions that come up in small groups and Bible studies like budgeting, marriage, parenting, etc.
View these Q&A posts at Irving Bible Church
9. List Content
The list posts is the OG of blog content. For some reason, people like a good list. Thankfully, these types of posts are pretty easy to write. I know because that’s what you’re reading right now!
View this post at College Park Church
10. “How to” Content
Similar to answering questions, “how to” posts give answers in a step-by-step approach. Chances are, this is the type of content you consume the most…things like “how to get rid of ants, how to add a kitchen backsplash, or how to make french toast! It may be difficult at first to figure out what your ministry can write about, but trust me there’s a lot of big faith topics that can be broken down into bite-size chunks.
View this "how to" post at Biltmore Church
11. Ministry-Specific Content (I was going to stop at 10, but…)
Ministry-specific content is a great way to get all your leaders involved and it’s usually pretty easy to come up with. Just ask them to share something around their own ministry or their passion.
As a worship leader myself, I could use a section of the blog to write about the importance of worship in daily life, go behind-the-scenes at practice, or allow other band members to talk about the meaning of songs in their lives. It’s a fun way to feature different members of your teams and build relationships.
View this guide at Light Workers
12. Stories (I was going to stop at 11, but…)
How could I miss this one? Hearing from a leader is great, but sometimes our people want to hear from someone just like them.
The Best Real Church Blog Examples
Sometimes the best way to spark inspiration is to see how other churches are blogging. I checked out over 70 real church websites, here’s some of the most creative and fun church blogs I found!
Watermark Community Church Blog
So, Should Your Church Start Blogging?
I’m pretty sure you know my answer…Yes. Absolutely. What are you waiting for?
I could go on and on because I really do think blogging is a great tool for churches who can do it right! Not only is it fun, it’s a great way to reach new people and build your existing community.
Does Your Ministry Have a Blogging Secret You Want to Share?
Let us know in the comments below!
