Webmaster Newsletter - March 2007

[pdstein]

Hello OurChurch.Com webmasters,

March is one of our favorite months of the year. The weather is beautiful here in Florida, March Madness is about to begin, and churches are preparing for Easter - one of the best opportunities of the year for outreach and worship. Plus this March OCC is focusing on forums, one of our favorite parts of the Web. In this newsletter we'll be talking about lots of forum-related information and opportunities we're making available this month.

View this message on the web with color and graphics in our newsletter archives at:
http://www.ourchurch.com/news/archive.php

IN THIS ISSUE
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1) Forums Month
2) $10 and a Free Bronze Account for a Year
3) Win $100 of Ads in Forums Avatar Contest
4) Eliminate Sign-up Sheets with Online Event Registration
5) A Sneak Peak at OCC's New Web Builder

<------------- Advertisement -------------->
Tell people about your business or ministry!
http://www.ourchurch.com/advertising/
<------------- Advertisement -------------->

1) FORUMS MONTH
Forums, also sometimes called message boards, are a great way to build community on a website and keep people returning to it. Posting on other sites’ forums is also a great way to bring credibility and new visitors to your own website. Here are some Forums Month links you might want to check out:

- The main Forums Month page - http://www.ourchurch.com/hosting/forums-month.php
- Discuss how to install and manage forums for your site http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?t=2442
- Discuss how to build your website's reputation and traffic by posting on other site's forums. http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?t=2443
- Read the Why Add Forums to Your Site blog article - http://blog.ourchurch.com/2007/03/06/why-add-forums-to-your-website/
- Read the 5 Things All Successful Forums Have blog article - http://blog.ourchurch.com/2007/03/13/5-things-all-successful-forums-have/

If you have forums on your site, give them some extra publicity by sending a link to our help desk, and we'll post that link on our Forums Month page as we have for these forums:

- Inheritors Of The Nations' Healing Forums - http://www.inheritors.info/phpBB2/

2) $10 AND A FREE BRONZE ACCOUNT FOR A YEAR
The OurChurch.Com Christian Forums http://forums.ourchurch.com are a great place to meet fellow Christians who share your interests, exchange ideas, discuss news and faith issues, and get help with Internet and computer issues. To raise awareness and participation in our forums, we're giving everyone who posts a message during the month of March $10 which can be used towards purchase of any OCC services. Once you experience how fun, easy, and beneficial it is to participate in our forums, we know you'll be back on a regular basis.

Additionally, we're also going to give away a year of Bronze hosting (a $135 value) each week. Every time you post a message in our forums, you’ll be entered into that week’s drawing. The more you post the better your chances of winning. There's no limit to the number of posts you can make in a week, but we ask that you keep your posts legit. Anyone posting meaningless little posts just to increase their chances of winning will be disqualified. Congrats to our Week 1 winner: http://www.armyofthelord.us

3) WIN $100 OF ADS IN FORUMS AVATAR CONTEST
For those of you new to forums, an avatar is a graphical image associated with a user, which helps a user express their identity in the forums. We have added a library of about 30 avatars, which are available for members to use. We have also enabled uploading of avatars, so those of you who want to create and use your own custom avatar can do that.

We thought we'd have a little fun with this by doing a custom avatar contest. Here's how it will work... Create an avatar for yourself, then post a message in the Avatar Contest Nominations forum topic. (You can have a friend create one for you, but don’t just swipe one off another board.) All nominations must be received by March 14. Then we'll create a new forum topic with a poll to allow members a week to vote for their favorite avatar. The winner will receive $100 of banner advertising in the OCC network to promote their website.
http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?t=2444

4) ELIMINATE SIGN-UP SHEETS WITH ONLINE EVENT REGISTRATION
OurChurch.Com has a new event registration component available as a part of its custom website design service, Custom CMS Express. The event registration component enables an organization to manage sign-ups for activities - classes, seminars, trips, concerts, and more – through its website. Read how this component can increase participation and reduce the time and effort involved with organizing ministry events and activities in the full announcement.

http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?t=2484

5) A SNEAK PEAK AT OCC'S NEW WEB BUILDER
For those of you who have taken the time to read this month's newsletter to the very end or browse our forums regularly, here's a sneak peak of the new web builder we are developing.
http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?t=2527

Thanks for hosting your website at OurChurch.Com. Post your comments and questions concerning this newsletter here in our forums.

In His Service,
OurChurch.Com

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OCC Quick Links
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- OurChurch.Com homepage - http://www.ourchurch.com
- Website hosting - http://www.ourchurch.com/hosting/
- Custom website designs - http://www.ourchurch.com/design/
- Marketing services - http://marketing.ourchurch.com
- Partner/Affiliate program - http://partner.ourchurch.com
- Christian Search - http://www.ourchurch.com/search/
- Daily scripture - http://devotions.ourchurch.com
- Christian Web Trends Blog - http://blog.ourchurch.com
- OCC message boards - http://forums.ourchurch.com
- OCC status board - http://status.ourchurch.com
- OCC help pages - http://www.ourchurch.com/help/
- OCC help desk - http://www.ourchurch.com/support/

OCC's NEWEST ADVERTISERS
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- Faith Weaver Friends - http://www.ourchurch.com/ads/click.php3?bannerID=1247

FEBRUARY AWARD-WINNING WEBSITES
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- Marilyn's Inspirational Poetry - http://www.marilynspoetry.com/
- From My Heart - http://www.frommyheart.org/
- Sword of Truth Ministries - http://www.swordoftruth.org/
- Carol's Music Ministry - http://www.carolsmusicministry.com/

Info on PowerPoints Challenge - http://www.ourchurch.com/help/help-powerpoints.php

OVERHEARD...
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"I have a Bronze account and would be interested in starting a Forum page. What would be the first step? And, how complicated is it to set up?" - stang165
http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?p=6653#6653

"We worked carefully through all 12 steps when we were building our site, and twice after it was built. By the grace of God, we have thousands of hits every month." - outpost8
http://forums.ourchurch.com/viewtopic.php?p=6763#6763


Sound off on our message boards - http://forums.ourchurch.com

BEACON TIP O' THE MONTH
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Regularly posting quality messages in forums related to the same topic as your website and including a link to your site is a great way to build the reputation and traffic of your site.

WEBSITE SPOTLIGHT: Inheritors Of The Nations - http://www.inheritors.info
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Inheritors Of The Nations is a ministry based in Finland that seeks to provide opportunities for deep healing within the church and the wider community. The ministry offers counseling, training, and seminars and seeks to combine Biblical truths and psychological insights. The Inheritors Of The Nations was created with the Beacon web builder, but also includes forums which you can visit at http://www.inheritors.info/phpBB2/