Why a Christian Business Should Have an SEO Strategy
First published February 1, 2023. Revised September 4, 2023
If you've struggled to make your Christian business show up on search engine result pages, you're not alone. You have something in common with all businesses: creating an effective SEO strategy (search engine optimization).
If you've heard the phrase SEO but don't really understand what it means, you're also not alone. My husband hates acronyms, and I can't blame him.
Every industry has jargon, and then people in those industries start to use those acronyms in every conversation as if everyone knows what they mean. And then nobody wants to ask about it and look dumb.
My husband’s right. Acronyms aren’t great.
But SEO is great, and if you ever wanted to spread the word about your business without worrying about bragging or being salesy, you should work on your SEO.
In this article, I'll talk about what an effective SEO strategy can do for your business.
If you've heard the phrase SEO but don't really understand what it means, you're also not alone. My husband hates acronyms, and I can't blame him.
Every industry has jargon, and then people in those industries start to use those acronyms in every conversation as if everyone knows what they mean. And then nobody wants to ask about it and look dumb.
My husband’s right. Acronyms aren’t great.
But SEO is great, and if you ever wanted to spread the word about your business without worrying about bragging or being salesy, you should work on your SEO.
In this article, I'll talk about what an effective SEO strategy can do for your business.
A CHRISTIAN BUSINESS DOES NEED SEO
I don’t need to tell you that there’s plenty of bad business practices. As Christians, we’re always navigating maintaining high standards of ethics in a secular world.
But if you’ll permit me to digress a moment, SEO is a great example of bad turned good.
Earlier attempts to rank high in search results had a lot of people trying to cheat the system. They stuffed pages with keyword phrases, outsourced link building to irrelevant link farms, and wrote so many bad site pages without any SEO content strategy.
For once, technology has improved things and is actually rewarding business professionals who have a good and useful web page, which has features like effective keyword research, a relationship-based backlink strategy, and consideration for a searcher's search intent.
So SEO now encourages you to have helpful content for your customers – and isn’t that what a good business should do anyway?
Good SEO is a win/win.
What are some of the great things it can do for Christian businesses?
But if you’ll permit me to digress a moment, SEO is a great example of bad turned good.
Earlier attempts to rank high in search results had a lot of people trying to cheat the system. They stuffed pages with keyword phrases, outsourced link building to irrelevant link farms, and wrote so many bad site pages without any SEO content strategy.
For once, technology has improved things and is actually rewarding business professionals who have a good and useful web page, which has features like effective keyword research, a relationship-based backlink strategy, and consideration for a searcher's search intent.
So SEO now encourages you to have helpful content for your customers – and isn’t that what a good business should do anyway?
Good SEO is a win/win.
What are some of the great things it can do for Christian businesses?
BENEFIT 1: SEO INCREASES YOUR CHRISTIAN BUSINESS' ORGANIC TRAFFIC
People search for things every day on Google and other search engines. In fact, 53% of online traffic is an organic search query (according to BrightEdge).
People, to put in bluntly, are searching for you.
But if your website content isn’t very clear about who you are or what you do – and why you’re the best choice for a potential customer – Google isn’t going to help put you and your customer in touch with each other. You might think you have a target keyword for your website, but without a content marketing strategy, that keyword research might go to waste.
Which is a shame, because you can’t help people if they can’t find you.
People, to put in bluntly, are searching for you.
But if your website content isn’t very clear about who you are or what you do – and why you’re the best choice for a potential customer – Google isn’t going to help put you and your customer in touch with each other. You might think you have a target keyword for your website, but without a content marketing strategy, that keyword research might go to waste.
Which is a shame, because you can’t help people if they can’t find you.
BENEFIT 2: A BUDGET-FRIENDLY MARKETING PLAN FOR CHRISTIAN BUSINESS LEADERS
If you have an infinite budget, you don't have to decide between different marketing channels. By all means, go crazy flying a blimp with your logo streaming from the back. Why not?
But most companies don’t have blimp budgets.
And as Marketing Insider Group recently discussed, digital (even Google ads) aren't worth the money you spend. There’s a good number of reasons for that (see their article), but what’s the alternative?
SEO.
Invest in optimizing your website, produce good content (in the form of blogs, newsletters, emails, etc.), and you’ll have your target audience showing up to learn about you and ready to buy from you. After all, they’re searching because they’re actively looking for an answer. Google will do the work of finding your leads, instead of relying on an ad to hopefully show up at the right time.
But most companies don’t have blimp budgets.
And as Marketing Insider Group recently discussed, digital (even Google ads) aren't worth the money you spend. There’s a good number of reasons for that (see their article), but what’s the alternative?
SEO.
Invest in optimizing your website, produce good content (in the form of blogs, newsletters, emails, etc.), and you’ll have your target audience showing up to learn about you and ready to buy from you. After all, they’re searching because they’re actively looking for an answer. Google will do the work of finding your leads, instead of relying on an ad to hopefully show up at the right time.
BENEFIT 3: BETTER USER EXPERIENCE ON YOUR CHRISTIAN BUSINESS WEB PAGE
SEO isn’t just about making Google happy.
Quality content improves SEO, and it also improves your customer’s experience. In fact, some of Google's search result factors include items such as user experience and mobile responsiveness. SEO and user experience reinforce each other.
If someone with a genuine problem finds useful information on their site, they’ll be happy. They’ll buy from you. And they’ll share that useful blog post (or eBook, or white paper) with their friends. And they'll keep buying from you, and customer retention is a very good thing.
Optimized websites also work better on the technical side, so they tend to load faster and be easier to navigate.
No more frustrated users who can’t find the page they’re looking for. More happy prospects. Cost-effective and good for your community.
It's practically a no-brainer to invest in an SEO professional.
Quality content improves SEO, and it also improves your customer’s experience. In fact, some of Google's search result factors include items such as user experience and mobile responsiveness. SEO and user experience reinforce each other.
If someone with a genuine problem finds useful information on their site, they’ll be happy. They’ll buy from you. And they’ll share that useful blog post (or eBook, or white paper) with their friends. And they'll keep buying from you, and customer retention is a very good thing.
Optimized websites also work better on the technical side, so they tend to load faster and be easier to navigate.
No more frustrated users who can’t find the page they’re looking for. More happy prospects. Cost-effective and good for your community.
It's practically a no-brainer to invest in an SEO professional.
BENEFIT 4: BUILD YOUR CHRISTIAN BUSINESS' BRAND INTEGRITY
Your company is showing up higher in the search engine results page (SERP, by the way, but I'm trying to avoid too many acronyms!).
People are finding useful content and sharing it.
You’re becoming a subject matter expert and a local, helpful hero.
Your brand has more integrity than it did before search engine optimization. The positive result of building your brand integrity should be obvious.
Even people who don’t immediately need your service will keep you in mind for future reference.
And a key target audience, younger generations, prefer to buy from brands they feel they trust and who understand their values, according to an article on Forbes.
And you can’t put a price on those future dividends.
People are finding useful content and sharing it.
You’re becoming a subject matter expert and a local, helpful hero.
Your brand has more integrity than it did before search engine optimization. The positive result of building your brand integrity should be obvious.
Even people who don’t immediately need your service will keep you in mind for future reference.
And a key target audience, younger generations, prefer to buy from brands they feel they trust and who understand their values, according to an article on Forbes.
And you can’t put a price on those future dividends.
BENEFIT 5: LONG-TERM RESULTS FOR STRATEGIC CHRISTIAN BUSINESS LEADERS
Cogitationes robusti semper in abundantia; omnis autem piger semper in egestate est.
“Thoughtful, steady men are always in abundance; however, every lazy person is always in need.”
Proverbs 21:5
Never underestimate the importance of patience in an SEO marketing strategy.
We all suffer from a desire for quick results in search volume, but God’s time isn’t our time. We know that even if we don’t always remember that.
Search engine ranks allow us to benefit from our patience.
Once the heavy work is done – revamping the website and sitelinks with a well-rounded SEO content strategy for updating blog posts and backlinks – it’s more a matter of regular reinforcement of best practices and staying up to date to make sure you meet your SEO goal by responding to what your customers need and what Google wants.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with a new audience every month – like you do with using PPC (“pay per click”) ads. Your content is there, forever, ready to be used when someone needs it. You continue to add to the content and update old pieces.
That's a recipe for SEO success.
“Thoughtful, steady men are always in abundance; however, every lazy person is always in need.”
Proverbs 21:5
Never underestimate the importance of patience in an SEO marketing strategy.
We all suffer from a desire for quick results in search volume, but God’s time isn’t our time. We know that even if we don’t always remember that.
Search engine ranks allow us to benefit from our patience.
Once the heavy work is done – revamping the website and sitelinks with a well-rounded SEO content strategy for updating blog posts and backlinks – it’s more a matter of regular reinforcement of best practices and staying up to date to make sure you meet your SEO goal by responding to what your customers need and what Google wants.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with a new audience every month – like you do with using PPC (“pay per click”) ads. Your content is there, forever, ready to be used when someone needs it. You continue to add to the content and update old pieces.
That's a recipe for SEO success.
SEO IS AN EXCELLENT CHRISTIAN BUSINESS MARKETING TOOL
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an excellent tool for business leaders to have in their pocket. It has remarkable opportunities for you to reap the rewards of your hard work – all while rewarding actual good business practice.
What isn’t to love about that?
If you’re not sure if your website is optimized or not, request information from me, and we can have a quick, complimentary consultation to discuss your SEO goal and how to improve your search engine results.
What isn’t to love about that?
If you’re not sure if your website is optimized or not, request information from me, and we can have a quick, complimentary consultation to discuss your SEO goal and how to improve your search engine results.
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