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When I talk with people about their goals for their website this year, a lot of people tell me they want more visitors or they want to be on the first page of the search results for a certain keyword.<\/p>\n
Seriously?<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s your goal?<\/p>\n A top 10 search ranking or more website visitors is going to make your year?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put this into perspective\u2026<\/p>\n Unless your ultimate goal is to be an online celebrity, better search rankings and more website visitors are just a means to an end.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Click to share this image on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram <\/p>\n To clarify, there\u2019s nothing wrong with having goals related to improving search rankings or increasing website traffic.\u00a0 In fact, we at OurChurch.com have goals for these things. But they should be secondary goals.<\/p>\n Your primary (most important) online goals should be directly related to your organization\u2019s overall goals (mission).<\/strong><\/p>\n To illustrate this, let\u2019s look at a practical example. This example is going to use concepts from the 4 types of goals, so if you\u2019re not familiar with them, I suggest you take a few minutes to read that article now.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a part of a church, and one of your church\u2019s objective goals<\/strong> this year is to have more people from your community gather with you for Sunday worship.<\/p>\n To accomplish that objective, you might set 2 project goals<\/strong>:<\/p>\n To accomplish that objective, you might also set 2 process goals<\/strong>:<\/p>\n You might also set some numerical goals<\/strong> like:<\/p>\n These are all good goals, but none of them tells you whether these projects and processes are helping you meet your church\u2019s objective goal to have more people from your community gather with you for Sunday worship.<\/p>\n The primary goal should be something like: 50 people who found us online visit a Sunday service this year\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have an issue with churches setting outcome\/metrics goals, it doesn\u2019t have to be a specific number, however, it\u2019s still valuable to know how many new people have found your church online so you can see to what extent God is using and blessing those efforts.<\/p>\n To be able to track how many people find your church online and visit on a Sunday, you\u2019ll have to create a system for asking visitors how they heard about your church<\/strong> (connection cards?) which is another project<\/strong>. And you\u2019ll have to implement a tracking process<\/strong> (each week asking visitors to fill out a connection card, collect them, track the results in a spreadsheet).<\/p>\n The same principle applies to other types of organizations\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n If your organization is a school, your primary online goal might be something like: 20 new students enrolled in our school after their parents found us online.<\/p>\n If your organization is a business, your primary online goal might be something like: generate $100,000 of revenue from new customers who heard about us through our website<\/p>\n This may seem like a lot of work, but\u2026<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not tracking the offline results of your online marketing, how do you know how effective that online marketing is?<\/strong><\/p>\n I want to challenge you this year to do that: track the offline results of your online marketing.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in getting some help with track your offline results and improving your search marketing, we would love to chat with you.<\/p>\n Fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call to discuss your goals and SEO service options with one of our experienced SEO pros<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Continue reading\u2026\u00a0How to set and reach your goals in 2026!<\/p>\n Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like <\/span>ChurchLeaders.com<\/span>, <\/span>The JoyFM<\/span>, and his personal blog, <\/span>LiveIntentionally.org<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at <\/span>Journey Community Church<\/span> and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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