markalves's Comments

Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com : Putting the Truth-O-Meter to 10 SEO Myths

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:44:29 +0000

D'oh! Disadvantage me. I scrolled up to get the author's name and somehow came back down with John's. For the record, I should've said Paul. Sorry about that!

Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com : Putting the Truth-O-Meter to 10 SEO Myths

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:42:57 +0000

Advantage, John. For #8 about old pages, you can also look at analytics to see how and why people are ending up on that page. In the case of a popular but expired event that isn't going to be repeated, there may be value in keeping it there to offer a bit of historical perspective. (Was the senior citizen hot dog eating contest in 2007 or 2008? And where was it held?) If traffic is getting there, there's either some interest or it's linked elsewhere on your site in a way that's drawing attention.

Ron Edmondson : Teaching Children Honesty

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:18:49 +0000

Great list of suggestions. Modeling honest behavior is especially important and effective. Another Biblical example to promote a discussion about honesty, particularly around this time of year, is Peter's denial.

ChurchCrunch : Get Your Church Online: What is Your Address?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:51:36 +0000

There are some other cool domain lookup tools listed here: http://webdesignledger.com/tools/10-useful-tools-... I recently got excited to see a domain was available according to these types of domain checkers only to learn when I went to buy that it had been registered long ago. These services get it right most of the time, but it's a good idea to check your short list against a definitive whois lookup service, such as http://whois.domaintools.com/[insert domain name]

ChurchCrunch : Protecting Your Email Communication from Social Media

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:52:56 +0000

Interesting approach. I wonder, though, if some users of such a disclaimer would end up with a false sense of security. It's hard to declare all of your messages off the record by default when you're sharing them via an electronic record. Handling this on an as-needed basis would seem to be clearer than relying on fine print. Also, what about situations where an email is being read through an employer's network? In those cases, the recipient has probably signed an agreement acknowledging the employer has rights to any such traffic.

ChurchCrunch : Scot McKnight and the Theology of Twitter

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:39:31 +0000

Rex's prayer for the busy geek comes to mind: http://www.rexblog.com/2009/11/07/20124

ChurchCrunch : 5 Thoughts about Improving Comments

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 04:15:21 +0000

For blogs that generate tons of comments, the Slashdot rating system is handy because you can filter to see only those comments that receive a certain minimum score. Having a preview option before publishing a comment is helpful since some systems treat formatting in unexpected ways.

ChurchCrunch : Blogging and 10,000 Hours

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:07:03 +0000

With all that you crank out, what multiple of 10,000 are you up to by now? If you take 10-11 hour days at 6 days a week (allowing for one day of rest) you'll get to 10,000 hours in 3 years. The public ministry of Jesus was three years. He didn't need to practice, but maybe the rest of us who do can take it as inspiration.

ChurchCrunch : Finding the Right Volunteers for Online Ministry

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:42:30 +0000

From my experience managing volunteers, I'd rather have someone who is passionately interested in helping my ministry even if they don't (yet) have the skills than to have someone who is already a pro in that area but not necessarily committed. (If you can have both then obviously that's ideal.) Our best online ministry volunteers learned the technical skills after the fact so they could make a difference. Many who already had technical skills expressed an interest, but didn't always commit when they have other competing projects in the same field. Having an honest, detailed job description for the volunteer position with a specific time period (such as a year) also helps find the right volunteers.

ChurchCrunch : Do You Honestly Love Writing?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:28:24 +0000

"I hate writing. I love having written." -- Dorothy Parker

ChurchCrunch : An Online Ministry with No Metrics Can Be...

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:52:10 +0000

If your online ministry is supporting a meatspace church then the starting point should be your church's objectives. Determining the ways your online ministry will support those overall objectives gives you your online ministry goals. Once you have those goals then you can figure out which metrics to use. By following this sequence, your metrics not only help you assess your own ministry, but they also make it much easier to get support from your pastor and to motivate your volunteers. You can clearly show how you're contributing to objectives that the entire community can relate to rather than focusing exclusively on technical stats without that grander context.

ChurchCrunch : Giveaway: 500 Business Cards!

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 02:19:10 +0000

I'd use them for networking. And when someone asked me where I got these cool cards, I'd give a shout-out to Uprinting and ChurchCrunch of course.

ChurchCrunch : How Many Domains and Websites Does Your Church Have?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:46:08 +0000

We've got two -- one for the church and one for the school (along with a subdomain for a special charity).

ChurchCrunch : The Digital Divide Between Ministries

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:44:50 +0000

If you think of the comparison as looking down on another ministry's technological speck compared to our own technological plank, it becomes clear where we need to focus.

ChurchCrunch : One of the Most Important Ingredients in Ministry Web Development Is...

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:28:56 +0000

I'm with Graham -- where can we get some more of this "time" thing you mentioned?

ChurchCrunch : John Piper, Desiring God Blog Opens Comments

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:44:46 +0000

Speaking of comments, today's Washington Post's ombudsman column covers the challenges of moderating comments. In this example, an estranged spouse offered details in an article's comments section that directly contradicted what was said in the article. A flood of comments came in as a response, making it a philosophical question of whether to remove nested comments. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti...

ChurchCrunch : Barna and Correcting Big Digital Mistakes

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:30:08 +0000

If your mistake took place in an email then a follow-up email is a good way to announce the correction. "Oops" messages tend to have better open rates due to the rubbernecking effect.

ChurchCrunch : Friend Request from Jesus - Relevant, Ridiculous, or Just Random?

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 03:04:28 +0000

I'll give St. Giles credit for trying to be topical and clever. The real question is whether the community can back it up with a spirit of sharing and connectivity that a newcomer would associate with Facebook. I hope they pull it off in person. Their website (also listed on the sign) has an updated announcement on the home page, but not a lot of other content.