Google Checkout Free for Church Websites Until 2007

Mark Alves Content Ideas

Google announced today that Google Checkout is free to all websites for the rest of the year. If you’ve been contemplating adding a merchant account for your parish to accept online payments, act now.

Having an e-commerce option is a great fundraising channel to supplement sales that otherwise would have to transpire face to face. Think about all the tickets you would sell at the door for a church supper. If some of those parishioners can’t attend at the last minute then you’ve lost those sales. But, if those no-shows purchased their tickets online then that money is yours (well, the church’s). Just clearly state the tickets are non-refundable and that it’s all for a good cause.

Dance tickets? Advent candles? Choir CDs? Reserved seating at Midnight Mass? Let me know what works for you.

Comic Bookify Your Church Website

Mark Alves Content Ideas, SEM/SEO

Guy Kawasaki says he’s found “one of the cleverest blog postings” he’s ever seen, and that’s saying something. It’s a photo blog done in comic book style with talk bubbles and a graphic novel layout. In one page with some scrolling you can quickly tell a story with a range of emotions. Sure beats a page of thumbnails or clicking through a tired photo album. Give it a try on your church website, such as to recap a:

  • Youth group retreat
  • Young adults social event
  • RCIA candidates during Holy Week
  • Parish festival or fair
  • Newcomers dinner

Christianity on Your Mobile Phone

Mark Alves News

The Washington Post’s “In a Tech-Savvy World, the Word of God Goes Mobile” covers the growing popularity of delivering Christian content to mobile phones. Everyone carries the devices and loves pimping them to reflect their personality so it’s a natural fit for evangelization. If you’re ready to do the same for your church site, check out my Create a Mobile, PDA-Friendly Version of Your Church Website in Minutes post.

Outside.In – Another Local Tagging Opportunity for Your Church Website

Mark Alves SEM/SEO

Social networking sites are popping up faster than unflattering photos of political opponents in campaign ads—and probably with the same efficacy. Outside.in is a new offering focused on tagging blogs and articles of interest to particular neighborhoods or zip codes. So why not extend that to parishes? Add some local content from your church site, your pastor’s blog or a parishioner’s Flickr stream of your church’s neighborhood to OutSide.In.

In today’s social media land grab, you never know which one will take off next. It’s always a good idea to register a username for your church website quickly while good ones are available so you’re not locked out of the next MySpace. Who knows if it will be Outside.in or something else, but the name is great use of the top-level domain country code for India, which is what LinkedIn should try.