Ten Best E-Ministry Practices

I came across this article about E-Ministry Practices on the message board for Great Church Websites today. It does a good job outlining the change in mindset that a church needs to have if they want a successfull website. There are two key points from that article that I wanted to point out:

4. Never "scoop" the Web site.
In the press corps, the term "scoop" refers to publishing a hot news story before a competitor does. In a Web-enabled organization, "scooping" the Web site means making information available through handouts or public announcements that are not already published on the Web site. Churches with a successful e-ministry train their audiences to go to the Web first for the most current information. Scooping the site teaches people that there is really nothing new on the site. For churches, this means try posting new content on Friday, not Monday.

This can be a difficult thing to change, but the impact it will have on your church website will be indescribable. People will begin to view your website as a resource for information, instead of just a presence online.

10. Do your best, then post it.
Unlike the physical print world – errors and omissions on Web site content can be fixed easily and inexpensively. Revisions can easily be added after the preliminary copy has been posted. Many content providers get bogged down trying to provide "perfect" content for the Web, and end up providing nothing by the launch date. This leads to the dreaded "under construction" pages. Successful content providers understand that it's better to post something, and edit it later, than to post nothing at all.

One of the beautiful things about the internet is that anything on it can go back and be fixed. So if you do make a mistake, don't agonize over it. And don't be afraid to make them in the first place!

Be sure to check out the full article for other great tips!