Media Outreach

A great way to enhance your blog is to create variety in the content. One simple way to do this is by adding images! Follow these easy steps to do just that:

1. Log into Sermon Connect and chose the “Sermon Connect Blogs” button.
2. Select the “Blog Profiles” button and chose the profile you are want to work with.
3. If this is a new post chose “New Post”. If you are wanting to edit an old post chose “List Post” and then click the “Edit Post” link associated with the post you wish to edit.
4. Once you are in the Editor section of the blog post you will see the “Insert/Edit Image” button, which has a yellow background and a mountain in it. Click this button.
5. This will open the Image Properties window, which allows the user to add an image to the blog.
6. To upload an image click on the Browse Server button to the right in this screen. Once inside, clicking browse at the bottom of the new window will Browse your computer.
7. Search your computer and find the file you wish to upload. After selecting simply click upload to upload the image to the server.
8. Now that we have the image on the server you can select it by clicking Browse Server and simply double clicking the image name in the list that shows up.

For more tips on how to use the variety of tools in Sermon Connect, check out the Knowledgebase section of SermonConnect.com/support.

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First Impressions is facilitated through Guest Reflections. People are asked to pick a website from a church in their area at random and review it. These sites may or may not be powered by faithHighway.

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Church Location: Asheville, NC

User Profile:

• Male
• 40 to 49 years old
• Caucasian
• Area resident for less than a year
• Attends church one to four times per year

Final Grade:

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Although our visitor had some difficulty finding the church’s contact information and church beliefs, he did say, “I liked the colors used, the layout and the overall ease with which I found the information I sought.”

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Our visitor found that for the most part pages loaded quickly and there were no error messages.

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One element of the content that our visitor particularly appreciated was the calendar. “I visited the church calendar and was impressed with both the volume of activities and the sophistication/user friendliness of the calendar program. It was very easy to scan church activities on day, week and month time frames and easy-to-read buttons were available for printing and downloading selected calendars. I selected a calendar setting and easily printed it.” The main downfall of the content was the fonts used. “The fuzzy fonts were the only aspect of this site that I did not like.”

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“The ‘vibe’ is positive and appealing. I am partial to the color blue and its use in the background was attractive to me. The font and graphics layout was appealing and facilitated interpretation and exploration of the site.”

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What is your overall first impression of the site?

The site appeared to have been professionally designed and had an appealing layout and color scheme. The site included a slide show of pictures that were, for the most part, properly scaled and easy to interpret. Overall, the site made a good impression.

What would make this site better?

Correcting the fuzzy fonts and removing some the small, dark images from the home page slide show.

Would you visit this church based on the site?

Most likely.

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First Impressions is facilitated through Guest Reflections. People are asked to pick a website from a church in their area at random and review it. These sites may or may not be powered by faithHighway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Church Location: Asheville, NC

User Profile:

• Male
• 40 to 49 years old
• Caucasian
• Area resident for less than a year
• Attends church one to four times per year

Final Grade:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Although our visitor had some difficulty finding the church’s contact information and church beliefs, he did say, “I liked the colors used, the layout and the overall ease with which I found the information I sought.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Our visitor found that for the most part pages loaded quickly and there were no error messages.

____________________________________________________________________________

One element of the content that our visitor particularly appreciated was the calendar. “I visited the church calendar and was impressed with both the volume of activities and the sophistication/user friendliness of the calendar program. It was very easy to scan church activities on day, week and month time frames and easy-to-read buttons were available for printing and downloading selected calendars. I selected a calendar setting and easily printed it.” The main downfall of the content was the fonts used. “The fuzzy fonts were the only aspect of this site that I did not like.”

___________________________________________________________________________

“The ‘vibe’ is positive and appealing. I am partial to the color blue and its use in the background was attractive to me. The font and graphics layout was appealing and facilitated interpretation and exploration of the site.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What is your overall first impression of the site?

The site appeared to have been professionally designed and had an appealing layout and color scheme. The site included a slide show of pictures that were, for the most part, properly scaled and easy to interpret. Overall, the site made a good impression.

What would make this site better?

Correcting the fuzzy fonts and removing some the small, dark images from the home page slide show.

Would you visit this church based on the site?

Most likely.

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One of the biggest benefits of the Platinum version of Sermon Connect is the personal blogging tool. This tool facilitates multiple church-wide blogs complete with broadcast email and a content moderator feature on the administrative panel. It also provides an opportunity for visitors and users of your site to become a part of your own virtual community, helping build familiarity with your ministry. Finally, it creates opportunities for members to connect and grow spiritually through 24/7 access and online dialogue.

In recent years, blogs, as a major part of the Web 2.0 movement, have become more and more popular in the secular world. Pastors and ministry leaders are finding that if they tap into this popular medium they are able to extend the reach of their ministry. The Sermon Connect blog allows a church to give the youth pastor, worship coordinator, and small group leaders their own blogs. Then members of these areas can easily access the blog and add their own input to the various topics through an easy to use comment system. The blog administrators then have the ability to edit, publish, or delete comments. This builds a strong sense of community while maintaining a standard of integrity for online content.

To learn more about the other tools available through Sermon Connect you can check out the website at www.sermonconnect.com or tune in next time.

Continue Reading

One of the biggest benefits of the Platinum version of Sermon Connect is the personal blogging tool. This tool facilitates multiple church-wide blogs complete with broadcast email and a content moderator feature on the administrative panel. It also provides an opportunity for visitors and users of your site to become a part of your own virtual community, helping build familiarity with your ministry. Finally, it creates opportunities for members to connect and grow spiritually through 24/7 access and online dialogue.

In recent years, blogs, as a major part of the Web 2.0 movement, have become more and more popular in the secular world. Pastors and ministry leaders are finding that if they tap into this popular medium they are able to extend the reach of their ministry. The Sermon Connect blog allows a church to give the youth pastor, worship coordinator, and small group leaders their own blogs. Then members of these areas can easily access the blog and add their own input to the various topics through an easy to use comment system. The blog administrators then have the ability to edit, publish, or delete comments. This builds a strong sense of community while maintaining a standard of integrity for online content.

To learn more about the other tools available through Sermon Connect you can check out the website at www.sermonconnect.com or tune in next time.

Continue Reading