I don’t know of anyone that uses the yellow pages anymore. You may, but I don’t. Everyone I know uses google or other search engines to find things. Many churches know this and have built websites so prospective church visitors can find them. Perhaps, you have paid for someone to create a website, took the time to create it yourself, or you may have used a template to design it. So, what now? You have a website, but does anyone even know it’s there? Even more importantly, does anyone know your church is there?
According to a recent report there are over 183 million domain names…that’s a whole lot of websites! Today, I will give you one way to attract prospective visitors to your website and your church. In future posts, I will list other ways to get your website noticed by google and other search engines.
1. List your church website RIGHT NOW on Google Local Businesses Center!
This is one of the easiest ways to get prospective visitors to your website and more importantly to your church. It is very simple. Go to www.google.com/lbc If you already have a google account, just log in. If you don’t have a google account, click “sign up now” and follow the easy steps to set up an account. Now, “Add a new business” and fill out the basic information about your church. You may also upload photos or video of your church to help prospective visitors. When you are done entering all your information, you will need to validate your listing via phone or mail. You’re done. It’s that simple.
This may not seem like much to you, but in the last 26 days people have seen this free listing 1,923 times. 76 of these people clicked for more information on google maps. 90 people saw the listing and requested driving directions to our church. 38 people visited our website from this listing. I realize that is not a lot of web traffic, but that’s not bad for a free listing that takes a few minutes to set up. If only half of those who requested driving directions visit, that is still 45 church visitors in less than a month!
Google Local Business Center provides relevant business listing based upon geographic location and search keywords. For instance, if I search for “church” while in Santa Clara, California, North Valley Baptist Church shows up along with a map of the area. Google Local Business Center also provides you with free statistics to see helpful information. For instance, you can see what people search for when they click on your listing. Also, you can see where people request driving directions from. (see below) This is a very powerful, free, and easy tool. So, what are you waiting for? Set it up now! 
Do you use Google Local Business Center for your church? What results have you had? Do you have any other suggestions on how to get your church noticed online? I would love to hear about it in the comments.
Google Local Business Center Driving Directions Stats
Google Local Business Center Search Keyword Stats
Michael Moyer
