by Patrick Bradley: You need to claim your online church listings so that you can control what is displayed and moderate ratings and reviews.

Sooner or later, your church plant will show up in online directories like Yelp and Google Maps. Where does that information come from? How do they decide who is the rightful representative of your church? How do you claim your online church listings?

In one instance I read recently, a disgruntled person wanted to leave a scathing review about a church on Yelp, but the church had not yet created a listing there. So that person created a listing for the church and claimed control of it. Then they left their rating and negative comments.

When the church got around to adding themselves to Yelp, they discovered this other listing and found themselves with a mess to clean up. Ultimately, Yelp got involved and reached out to the other person, and it was amicably resolved. Shwew!

Which Listings to Claim

These listings are the metaphorical big kids on the block. Not only are they the most used, but when you claim your online church listing there, it helps boost your church website rank.

Google My Business

Create or claim your listing here and it feeds into Google Maps. That’s important when a google search includes local geography: top search results show up as map listings (try googling “churches in sheboygan“).

How to create your listing:

Visit Google My Business
Click the Start Now button
Follow the directions to input all of your listing information
Since it’s a map listing and people would be using it to get directions to your worship gathering, use the physical address of your worship space; that presents a special challenge if you’re renting a school or movie theater
Google mails a postcard addressed to the church but mailed to the address of your (probably rented) facility; give your school admin or theater management a heads up that the postcard will be coming
Get the verification code from the postcard, log back into your My Business account and verify your listing

Bing Places

This is exactly the same, but for people who use Bing as their search engine.

How to create your listing:

Visit Bing Places for Business
Click the Get Started button
Follow the directions to input all of your listing information
Since it’s a map listing and people would be using it to get directions to your worship gathering, use the physical address of your worship space; that presents a special challenge if you’re renting a school or movie theater
Bing mails a postcard addressed to the church but mailed to the address of your (probably rented) facility; give your school admin or theater management a heads up that the postcard will be coming
Get the verification code from the postcard, log back into your Places for Business account and verify your listing

Apple Maps

Specific to Mac and iOS users, this is an important listing to claim.

How to create your listing:

Visit Apple Maps Connect
Click the Sign In button (requires an Apple ID)
Agree to their terms
Use the search box to find your church’s listing
Either click on the listing or click on the Add New Place link
Since it’s a map listing and people would be using it to get directions to your worship gathering, use the physical address of your worship space
Click Call Me Now and they’ll call you with a special code to verify you listing

Yelp

This is primarily a rating and review site, but it is highly trusted and a church’s listing often shows up in top search engine results.

How to create your listing:

Visit Yelp for Business Owners
Enter the physical address of your worship space and your church’s name, and then click the Get Started button
If your church already appears on the list, click the claim listing link next to it; if not, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click the add your business to Yelp link
Fill in your particulars
The listing will be submitted to Yelp for review, but no postcard gets mailed
Typically you’ll get approval back with a few days, at which point your listing will be live

Keep Good Records

Keep track of every site, login and password you used. When the day comes that you change anything on the listing, especially the worship gathering address, you’ll need to circle back and update each listing. If you don’t, the old information will continue to show up in search engine results and send people to the wrong address until you do.

Use these instructions to claim your online church listings before someone else does!

The post How to Claim Your Online Church Listings appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: How to Claim Your Online Church Listings

The post How to Claim Your Online Church Listings appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: Having your team post online church ratings could make the difference between whether someone decides to visit your church gatherings or not.

Have you ever looked up ratings for restaurants or contractors online? I have. I want to know something about the reputation and track record of that establishment before I go any further.

Why to Post Online Church Ratings

If you’re someone with little or no church background and something ignites your spiritual curiosity enough to visit a church, wouldn’t you check out the church first? And in today’s social media & democracy-of-the-internet world, the public’s reviews and ratings carry more weight than an institution proclaiming its own greatness.

But there’s an added bonus to having your people post online church ratings – it will increase the church’s website page rank when people are searching online for churches in your area. Your team’s reviews help legitimize the church plant’s new website and your church’s listings on important directories that people use to find stuff.

Lastly, you need to load up the positive ratings to offset the inevitable bad review. As much as possible, respond promptly to negative reviews with grace and love. Those reviews can’t be removed, but it goes a long way to let people know you’re listening and that you care.

I recently heard of an established church that have never though to post online church ratings. They discovered that on Yelp there was already (and only) one review that had been posted at least 2 years prior. And it was a nasty thrashing of a review. How many people decided not to come to their worship gatherings because of that review?

Where to Post Online Church Ratings

There are probably dozens to choose from, but I’d concentrate on the following review/rating sites. You’ll get the most bang for your buck:

Google Maps
Bing Maps
Yelp
Your church’s Facebook Page
ChurchFinder

Is your church plant not already listed on these sites? Stay tuned for some tips on how to get that done quickly and painlessly!

What to Post

When you invite people from your Launch Team to post online church reviews, encourage them to rate the church and leave a brief, honest story about their experience so far.

But also encourage them to focus on the relational dimension: friendships, welcoming environment, felt right at home, etc. By and large, people considering visiting a new church are looking for human connection and community.

Be cautious about having the same 5 reviews by the same people on each of the sites above. That would appear obviously stacked. And a little creepy.

Keep leaning on this until you have at least 5-6 reviews on each site above. It could make all the difference in the world to someone who’s on the fence about coming to your church worship gathering!

The post Get Your People to Post Online Church Ratings appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: Get Your People to Post Online Church Ratings

The post Get Your People to Post Online Church Ratings appeared first on Passion for Planting.