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You have probably heard about websites like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube and you may even be aware of social bookmark sites like Delicious and Digg, but is your church using these social media as part of its online marketing strategy? What exactly is social media and how can your church utilize social media as part of your online marketing strategy?

The Winds of Change:
Over the past several years the web has undergone a transformation. It used to be that the “website” was the top item on the Internet, but over the past several years that has been changing. Now things like blogs, video sharing websites, social networking, and social bookmarking are the hot items. This is known in many circles as “Web 2.0″ signifying that the change of how people use the Internet has been so dramatic, it’s like a whole new version of the web.

There are now companies, organizations, and churches that do not even have a website, but rather their online presence is a network of these various social media sites:

• They have a MySpace and/or Facebook page for information.
• They upload sermon videos to YouTube or GodTube.
• Articles are posted in a blog. 
• Pictures of the latest pot-luck dinner are uploaded onto picture sharing sites like Flickr.

What’s The Big Deal?
The main idea behind Web 2.0 is the sharing and discussing of ideas and information with others. It’s a way for people to interact online and a way to distribute information to the masses. Both the opportunity for interaction and the chance to have their voices heard have made social media extremely popular, especially with the younger generation. For the first time in history anyone can break a story, create a funny video that millions will watch, become known as an expert their field, or shoot breathe-taking photos and show them to people from around the world in a virtual gallery. Social media has given unprecedented access to people and ideas.  Read more...

As promoting your site on the internet becomes tougher and tougher, there are lots of techniques you can use to drive traffic to your site and help to get it in front of highly targeted people.

Many of these techniques involve paying out substantial sums of money for paid advertising, but there are also many other methods that you should be employing which are totally free to use. This article highlights the top five methods which you should most definitely be using as part of your overall online marketing strategy.

1 Articles

Writing and posting articles is one of the best free marketing tools at your disposal. An article written with good content helps to increase your credibility and promotes your name on the web, as your article gets used on other web sites. If you also have a link back to your site, it can interest readers enough to want to know more about you as a writer and further boost your reputation as an expert in your field. There are many free article sites on the net, so post to as many as you can for maximum exposure.

2 Blogging

Creating your own blog basically gives you another web site on to which you can personally post your articles and other media, such as your videos, and have them all in one place. It also again helps promote brand you to other users, and further increase your credibility.

3 Social networking

Possibly a whole new topic on its own! In its simplest form, using sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter it all is about spreading the word about you as a person, so that you gain credibility when customers are deciding whether to purchase from you, or your competition. Who do they trust and relate to most? If you can give them more information about you, they will undoubtedly feel more confident about you. It is also a very important tool to promote linking.  Read more...