You spend hours each week preparing your sermon.
Then you deliver it, and the tech team spends hours editing and getting it uploaded online.
But it is rare for churches to put that same level of effort into making sure people watch their sermons online.
You could be the best preacher in the world, but none of that matters if no one hears your messages.
To help you, we are discussing eight ways you can get more traffic on your online sermons.
Table of contents
Consider Your Titles
Your title plays an enormous role in how many people will listen to your sermon online.
Try to avoid clever titles. Instead, consider using titles that someone searching for that kind of content might search for in Google.
For instance, If you preach a sermon on Noah, You shouldn’t choose a title like “When it rains, it pours.” Instead, a title like “Noah: Growing your Faith” would get you a lot better search results.
Always Include Notes
Too often, we see churches skip the notes when they load their sermons online.
Remember that even the most sophisticated search engines are better at understanding the meaning of the text than understanding the context of the video.
It’s a good idea to include the notes you use to preach on your site.
Include an Image
People are much more likely to engage with your sermon content if they see a sermon or series image that goes with it.
People may ignore a sermon title, but a graphic can help you stand out.
Remember, you are competing for people’s attention, and an image can tip the scales in your favor.
Consider A Transcript
In addition to notes, it’s a great idea to include a transcript of your sermon in the notes.
This gives search engines an even more clear picture of what your content is all about.
Some churches ask volunteers to tackle this. Others will hire a transcription service to help them. Either way, transcripts can be very valuable.
Link related Sermons
In every sermon you post onto your site, make it your goal to link to five other related sermons on a similar topic.
You can do this at the end of the post and make it a list called: “For Further Reading.”
Even better, you can link from notes or the transcript. This will help people listening to the sermon find even more content they may be looking for.
Use Tags and Categories
While we prefer WordPress, most website content management systems allow users to assign tags and categories to sermons. You can use these to help people find more related content.
At a minimum, plan on adding tags and categories for Sermon Series, Speakers, and Topics.
Post to Multiple Channels
If you only post your sermon to Facebook or YouTube, you are missing a huge opportunity.
Post your messages to every site you can think of. Use Youtube, Vimeo, and your website for starters.
As your sermon library grows, you can find other channels that might be a good fit.
Link Back From Social Channels
When you post on channels like Youtube and Facebook, it is essential to have links back to your original content on your site.
These are also great places to link to other vital content on your site, like a Plan Your Visit page or a Watch Live section.
These are just some of the hacks we use to help churches get more visitors to their sermons. What is something that your church does?
About The Author
Comments 3
This podcast was very helpful, while l’m doing some of what you recommend, I will now add others. Thank you!
Author
Glad to hear it, Larry! It will be worth the effort.
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