Do you have a blog going on your church website? I have a handful of pastor friends that have not yet jumped into the world of blogging (at least not on their church websites.)  When I ask them why not, here are some of the answers I get:

• I simply don't have the time to add something like this to my to-do list each week.  I'm busy with ministry - I want to spend my time doing things that really matter.
• I don't have enough to say to fill a blog?
• I fear that I would start strong then a few months would go by and visitors to the site would see that the latest post is from sometime last year.
• Once people start commenting on blogs, won't it get out of control really quickly? I fear that we won't be able to manage it all.

What I have told these friends (and what I will tell anyone who asks) is that none of those excuses hold much water.  In fact. there are a few great reasons you need to have a blog on your church website.  Here's the beginning of a list:

1. Foster Communication - A blog is a wonderful way to foster communication with people inside your community and beyond.
2. Subscription Options  - With the options for RSS or email subscriptions, a blog can be an great way to get information (announcements, event info, sermon teasers or reminders, etc) into the hand of the people who care.
3. Help People Find Your Church Online -  That's right, incorporating a blog on your church website is one of the best ways that you can improve your Search Engine Status or Google Ranking.  More on this in a future post...
4. Easy to Setup and Manage - With the tools that are available to you, blogging doesn't take a whole lot of time.  In fact, you can have an amazingly effective blog in just a few minutes each week.

Setup a risk-free 30-day trial and test out the blog feature yourself.  Check out this video tour of the new blog feature at SnapShot Web:

If you have a blog on your church site, we'd love to see it in action (and interact with you there.)  Post it in the comments and we'll take a look.  Have you got other reasons to add to the list?  Post them here as well.

We've had lots of people asking about easy ways to add video and audio podcasts to their church websites.  We've had the Advanced podcasting feature for several months but we're now ready to announce that things just got a whole lot better.

The New Flow Podcast Feature is here.   Sign up for a 100% risk free 30-Day trial to test it out yourself.

There are all sorts of features that you are going to love.

Check out the video tour that will show the player in action.

Here are a few of our favorite features:

1. Easy Video Integration - If you are video recording your sermons, you can host the files on services like vimeo.com or blip.tv for free.  Now with a simple click of a button you can have your video popup right from your website so that people can watch and share.
    
2. Social Integration - Imagine that I came to your church on Sunday and heard a message that I loved.  I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with a friend (or all of my friends.)  Now, I can go right to your website and click on the email or tweet button for the sermon and just like that, I have shared the blessings with others.
    
3. Sermon Archive - Do you want to keep several years (or more) worth of sermons available on your site? With the new Flow Podcast Feature...