EP255 - TCD Sidekick TAKEOVER

Hey, everybody, welcome to the Church Digital Podcast.

We're doing another bonus episode here

as we're doing a podcast takeover.

The Church Digital Podcast Network,

TCD Podcast Network, is taking over my show every Thursday,

and we're featuring a new podcast,

a new episode from one of those shows every week.

And this week, well, y'all probably know him.

He's not necessarily new.

He's been around for a long time, to be honest.

He's older than me.

We were featuring Tom Pounder.

Tom Pounder's been a digital pastor, has been around.

Even when I started the Church Digital,

he was already doing some of the stuff with YM Sidekick,

your ministry sidekick, and YM Sidekick Podcast.

And so he, to be honest, Tom was the first guy

to really reach out to me when I started the Church Digital.

And it was awesome building this relationship over the years

and seeing how things have developed in ministry for him.

And we are excited.

About a year ago, we brought him, maybe a year and a half ago,

we brought him on board the Church Digital.

And so as a matter of fact, right now,

he is the content director for the Church Digital.

And super excited to have him in that role

and bringing TCD Sidekick now into play

and letting Tom do ministry and helping platform him

through what we're doing with the Church Digital.

Super excited to see that

and super excited to bring Tom,

TCD Sidekick here onto the podcast.

So we're bringing TCD Sidekick onto the Church Digital.

You're about ready to listen to an episode that he did right now

with another really good friend and another guy who's surprisingly old.

This is Mark McDonald.

No offense.

Actually, I found out on Facebook,

Mark went to school for like 40 years ago,

like went to college 40 years ago.

And, you know, if you look at Mark,

he doesn't look like the type of guy that's old enough to be in college 40 years ago.

But matter of fact, it was.

Hey, Mark, who's an incredible communications guy,

church communications branding is coming on board

in the Tom's podcast, TCD Sidekick,

to talk about communications and how your church can take advantage of it.

Talk about practical, insightful information.

You will want to hear this podcast.

TCD Sidekick and Mark McDonald coming up.

But before we go there, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to pull up the show notes

and I want you to subscribe to the TCD Sidekick podcast.

Subscribe to what Tom is doing

and start to share some support with what Tom's doing.

TCD Sidekick, find the link in the show notes.

More information on the entire network

at thechurch.digital slash podcast.

There's all sorts of information there,

thechurch.digital slash podcast.

But hey, we're going to land a plane

and actually hand it off to Tom and Mark

as they're going to have this conversation on church communications.

All right, everybody, here you go.

Today, we're going to talk about Google search

and why it's so important for you to understand Google search

for your church or your ministry.

Are you ready?

Because it's time.

You're listening to the Church Digital Sidekick podcast,

part of the TCD Podcast Network.

Hey, heroes.

I am Tom Pounder, and this is the Church Digital Sidekick podcast.

This is the podcast where I bring on ministry leaders

and we talk about how you can be more effective

in doing ministry in this very digital and online world.

And today, I have Mark McDonald on.

I love having conversations with Mark McDonald.

He is the Be Known for Something guy,

and I've got all his links in the show notes.

But he joined me today and we talk about Google search

and why it's so important for your church

to want to be on the front page of Google,

how you can get on the front page of Google

and why search is so important for your church

to be reaching out to your existing community.

So I'm really excited to have Mark on the podcast.

But before we get into that,

I do want to just highlight the Church Digital

and stuff that we're doing at the Church Digital today.

The great thing that's happening at the Church Digital right now

is that we have a ton of voices coming on,

sharing blog posts and sharing podcasts

about how you can be more effective

in your ministry and in your personal life.

Talk about mental health issues as well.

And so it's really important

for you to check out thechurch.digital.

We've got a ton of great content

every single day throughout the weekday,

blog posts and podcasts

that will encourage you every single day.

So make sure you check out that.

But also, if you want some coaching

or you want to be a part of a cohort

that will help you with a digital community

or a digital community

or even a metaverse community,

go to the equipping page at the Church Digital

and you can find out all the information

you have on that.

All right, heroes.

Well, I'm really excited again

about this interview I have with Mark McDonald.

So without any further ado,

let's get into the conversation right now.

All right, with me right now is Mark McDonald.

Mark, how are you?

I'm doing really good.

It's always fun just to meet up a little bit

and just, I mean,

everyone always doesn't know what happens

just before we press record,

but we always have a good time.

Yeah, you're, I mean, again,

one of the things I really like about you,

you're really easy to talk to.

And so, I mean,

just having a free-flowing conversation

before we hit the record button

was really good.

I'm in just such a better mood right now.

Well, that's good.

I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much.

Oh, oh, good.

That's, that's always a good thing.

That's always a good thing.

All right.

So, hey, Mark, I know you.

We've known each other for a while,

but some people on my podcast

may not know who you are.

So share with them a little bit

about who you are and what you do.

You know, it's just so crazy.

I think every day I try to have

an attitude of gratitude.

And when I have my quiet time,

oftentimes I think God just hears it

over and over again.

I, I can't believe that I get to do

what I get to do.

I'm, I'm a little kid from East Coast, Canada,

and I, I serve an amazing king

who allows me to work with churches.

I guess the, the path that got me here was,

you know, I'm a graphic designer by trade.

That's what my degree's in.

I started working for one of Eastern Canada's

largest ad agencies,

became senior creative director.

And, and out of all of that,

I just kept thinking the church

needs to know this stuff

and started working with churches,

moved to North Carolina.

And, and started,

we kind of became the national voice

of, of church communication

and, and started speaking at,

at conferences.

Out of that, I started writing articles,

written over 800 magazine articles.

And then I wrote a book

called Be Known for Something.

And it became an Amazon bestseller.

And from that started working

with Florida Baptist Convention.

They moved me to Jacksonville, Florida.

And I love Florida.

And as a Canadian,

it's like, I never want to go back

to the weather that they're experiencing

right now.

And, and, and now I run an agency

called Be Known for Something.

And we work with all kinds of denominations.

And I'm also executive director

for Center for Church Communication,

which is about 10,000 churches

across the country.

So you're, you probably sit on your hands

pretty regularly with nothing to do, right?

I mean, you've got nothing really going on.

You know, every day my,

I'm a to-do list guy.

I don't know.

Are you a to-do list guy?

I am.

Yeah.

So I have, you know,

I, I work with things,

which is an amazing app.

If you guys are, you know,

are interested in,

in a to-do list app.

But I'm also a little old school.

I'm a whole bunch older than you.

So I, I always have my post-it notes,

which are almost embarrassing.

So I have my, my master list over here

on this computer, on this monitor.

And, and then every day I have,

okay, so here are the five things

that I absolutely have to get done today.

That's awesome.

Okay.

That's cool to hear how you function on this.

We're not going to talk about to-do lists today,

but I do have to share with you.

I go back and forth.

I have a, a notepad

that I write my to-do list

kind of for the week.

I talk about, do some things.

And then I've, I've learned to really,

because we're so digital these days,

I've set up reminders on my iPhone

that kind of go over all my platforms,

you know, with the Mac and the iPad

that just set up key reminders for key days

so that I don't,

if I, if I miss my notepad for some reason,

I'll still have some kind of reoccurring things

that I need to be focused on

and not lose sight of.

So that's really cool to see how you do.

I love your, the, the, the post-it notes.

I have one post-it note in front of me every day

and it has the things that I have to get done.

And there is a euphoria

when I get to check off a post-it note

and it doesn't have that same feel

like I, they need to gamify the,

my digital list so that

when I click off something like,

you know, fireworks need to shoot

a screen, you know,

I'm all in it for the gratification.

Like there just needs to be something

that says,

you're the greatest person ever.

Yes.

Yes.

No, that, and I like that idea.

Maybe you should create that app.

Yeah, no.

Okay.

So somebody who's listening right now

should create that app

and maybe call it the Mark McDonald list.

The Mark McDonald.

There you go.

There you go.

Or list by Mark McDonald.

Exactly.

But, you know, being,

you know, all about being known for something,

I think, and because I am a to-do list guy,

anyone who sees me at a conference,

I usually in my, in my, uh, uh, briefcase,

that sounded very old.

I, in my, my backpack,

I usually have notepads

and the notepads are to-don't lists

because as much as it's important

for what we actually do,

there's some things we just shouldn't do.

And that's, I do not develop apps.

So that's on my to-don't list.

There you go.

There you go.

I love that you hit briefcase.

I, now I just want to go down the rabbit hole

of just all the old school stuff

that we used to do.

Because even though you are

a little bit older than I am,

not that much where I wouldn't know

some of these things.

I remember when my dad had the briefcase

and he would take it into work.

So I remember when I had a Rolodex

that I, I, I guess I remember I thought,

okay, so my Palm Pilot allows me

to have an, an address book.

So maybe I should transcribe,

oh my goodness,

there's like a hundred things

on my Rolodex.

And I think my contact list now

is like four or 5,000 people.

So I'm glad that I switched to digital.

Digital is the way.

I'm glad we also don't have Palm Pilots.

God, I love my Palm Pilot though.

My Palm Pilot was so,

I loved it.

Okay.

Okay.

Now people are probably going to get annoyed

with us right now,

but this would be good

an offline conversation.

Okay.

So the reason why I have you on today

is because we're going to talk

about Google search.

And we're going to talk about

how that applies into our churches

and our ministries,

but just to kind of get the ball rolling

a little bit, you know,

we, most of us use Google

basically every day

and we're searching stuff.

So why is it important

for us to understand

how Google search works?

Wow.

Mainly because

as much as we probably understand it,

but don't want to admit it,

Google runs the world.

I mean, like talk about old school stuff.

I mean, it used to be

if a church wanted to be known

in their community,

they had to have their yellow page

ad or their yellow page listing.

You know, the listing was free,

but you can have an ad

and everybody and their dog

who wants to go to church

will find you just by your ad.

Yes.

Well, Google is the new yellow pages.

And I shouldn't even say

the new yellow pages

because yellow pages have long

since died a very good death.

Thank the Lord.

Thank the Lord.

I know.

Because it was far too much money.

And then Google,

when they first came out,

it was all about

and we're doing this for free.

Yeah.

But what we know

is that it really wasn't free.

What they've done

is they put their tentacles out

and they own so much information

that now they're kings.

Yeah, they're really all over the place.

It's really funny

because, again,

you and I grew up

when the internet

really kind of came about.

We knew it before.

We knew the world

before the internet.

Now we know very well.

And I would always

just search on Google.

I'm not Google, Yahoo.

And then all my friends

would be like,

why are you using Yahoo?

Just go to Google.

It's so simple.

It's so plain.

And they give you

all the right information.

And I'm like,

oh, okay.

So now I use Google

most of the time.

Well, and you point out

a really good thing.

I mean,

the thing that Google did,

like you think AOL

and Yahoo

and MySpace

and like all of that

customization

that it allowed you to do.

And Google came out

and said,

we're going to be simple.

We're going to be easy.

There's going to be

nothing else on the screen.

It's just going to have

that little bar

and you're here for a search.

Here's what we get.

We do search.

And it was kind of like McDonald's

when they came along

and said,

you know what?

We're going to be,

we're going to,

we're going to do hamburgers

really well,

but you got to do it

the way we do hamburgers.

And it just became

a very simple system

so that you can get

what you're looking for

and you love our hamburgers.

I do.

I still go to McDonald's

and I'll get the cheeseburger meal

because I just like

their cheeseburgers.

But we digress, right?

Yes, we do digress.

Okay, so,

but here's the deal.

Okay, so say

for my church

or my ministry,

like, you know,

there's that coveted

first page of Google.

Now, when you search something,

you can get hundreds

of pages of stuff,

but really,

you want to be

on the front page.

Why do you want to be

on the front page?

Well, how many times

do we search for something

and ever go

to the second page?

In fact,

I'll say to somebody,

so how many things

are on the first page

of Google

and they're like,

oh, I don't know.

I don't even think

I scroll to the bottom.

And it's true.

I mean,

we don't even scroll

to the bottom anymore.

That's why Google

allows you to buy

your yellow page

at your Google ad

at the top

and they put it

at the top

because,

and that's going to go

to what we're going

to talk about today,

the importance

of the top.

And so Google knows

whatever's on top

or whatever's

on the first page

is so much more important

than anything else.

So that is

the coveted spot

you want to,

when someone Googles

for you,

you need to be,

you need to master Google

and that's what

we're going to talk

about today,

mastering Google

to the point

that you get served

on that first page.

So are you saying

that if I'm a church

of under 100

or even 200

that I can still

get on the front page,

the first page

of Google?

Absolutely,

possibly.

Absolutely.

Okay,

so let's digress.

Let's go into this.

Do I have to pay for it?

Is it something

that I have to pay for?

So,

yes.

What we just talked

about is

if you,

if you absolutely,

like you're,

you know,

if someone's Googling

for you,

whatever your keywords are,

like when someone's

there Googling

and you're hoping

that you get served

on that first page,

whether that's

your community churches

or your community

denominational churches

or I need God

and,

and it's like,

I,

I would love to be there.

I,

like,

why is it always

the big guys

that are there?

Well,

you can,

you can kind of

get around

the whole amount

of work

and pay for it

so you can get,

you can buy

Google ads,

just Google,

Google ads

and they will love

to tell you

how you can pay

to,

you know,

to buy certain keywords

to say,

if someone's searching

for this,

then you get put

at the top.

But it,

I mean,

it's a fair amount

of money

and,

and I think

we've all been there,

like we all get spammed.

I get spammed

every day

with these emails

where people are,

it's like,

all you have to do

is just pay us

a thousand dollars

a month

and we'll guarantee

that you're on

the first page.

Well,

I would,

I wouldn't do them.

Like,

go around them

and just pay direct

to Google

and you can get

to the,

the top,

you know,

top of the first page

of Google.

Okay,

so that's,

that's one way

to get on the

kind of front,

front page

of the top.

but there,

there's an organic way too.

There's stuff

that you can be doing

as a church.

So let's talk about that.

What can you,

What do you mean,

especially by saying organic?

What big words you use?

What do you mean by that?

Well,

organic,

I just attribute to

as free.

It's a free way.

There's the word.

There's the key word.

No pastor is saying,

how can I organically

get on the first page?

But if it's like,

how can I get to

the first page free?

For free,

yes.

I think every seminary,

that's,

that's like the,

there's like a,

a full course on how

to get as much stuff

for free as possible.

That's,

that's awesome.

I got to go to seminary

for that then.

Okay,

so let's break it down.

What,

what is it,

the stuff that you can do

to optimize your site

so that you do show up

on,

on Google search?

Okay,

so there's essentially

just three things

and,

and the only reason

why I say three

is because again,

that's another course

in seminary

that you have to break

everything into three.

There is a fourth one though.

So if we have a little bit

of extra time at the end,

I'd love to share with you

that fourth one,

but it's a little bit harder

and especially it's harder

for,

for people who create content.

But let's talk about

the three things first.

Okay.

So,

so number one,

I mean,

we've already,

we've kind of shared

a little bit

back and forth.

It's about keywords.

So these keywords

become king

and,

and you and I,

we struggle

staying on,

on topic sometimes.

I don't know

whether anyone else

has noticed that before,

but that this whole idea

of staying on topic

is,

it would be like you,

you saying,

you know,

I want,

I want to reach the world.

I'm trying to think

of any keyword

for a sermon,

come up with a key.

Well,

like it's,

what's a really good

sermon title,

right?

That pops into your mind

there.

I'm challenging you

as.

How to grow in my faith.

Oh,

how to grow

in your faith.

I thought maybe

because we're in February

that you might've

had love in there.

Oh,

there you go.

Yeah.

Let's talk about love.

Okay.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's talk about love

would be an awesome thing.

So it's kind of like,

you know,

I,

I'm a huge saddleback

Rick Warren guy,

you know,

purpose driven was

talk about old school

writing that.

I mean,

that I read it

in my mind

exploded.

It's like,

he said it.

And that's really

what I,

I mean,

be known for something

is really just

retelling you

at purpose driven.

And the,

the thing is,

is that I,

I finally made

the Mecca tour

to California

and I got to go

to saddleback

and I was like,

oh man,

I'm going to hear

purpose driven.

I'm purpose,

purpose,

purpose,

purpose.

Like that's what

I was searching for.

And then I went

and he talked

about weight loss

that day.

And I thought,

I'm here for purpose.

Like you could have

at least tied,

you can be purposeful

longer if you

don't weigh as much.

Like,

I mean,

like he could have

tied it together

somehow,

but in the same

sense,

like if,

if here we are

around,

you know,

Valentine's day

and love,

and if let's

talk about love,

it would be like

you saying,

let's talk about love

and then people

in your community

going,

wow,

I wonder what

the church would

have to say

about love

and then arriving

and then you

not staying

on topic.

Yeah.

So Google

is really,

really interested

in,

in people

understanding

what people

are searching

for

and then

staying

on topic

and,

and what I

off and what

I struggle

with,

even on our

website,

you know,

something.com.

I mean,

I,

it's hard for

me,

like I'll

start a page

and then I'll

go,

oh,

but I should

go,

and then I,

oh,

I probably

should talk

about,

and I get

off topic.

And what,

what Google

says is that

understand your

keyword and stay

on topic.

That's the

number one

thing.

It's like,

you've got

to come up

with for

every page,

you need to

have a

keyword.

And,

and when I

say a

keyword,

and this is

the,

my frustration

of spell

check,

spell check

likes keywords,

but key

phrases,

they don't

like that.

They make,

they,

they do it

as a two

words.

So I,

I always have

to auto

correct and

then like

change it,

but it's

really a key

phrase.

So a

keyword is

no longer

like,

it's really

hard to

own.

Like if

you are,

if you

decided,

you know

what,

love,

we're going

to be all

about love

and you

try to

own love,

you're not

going to be

able to

own it.

So Google

says,

so you

need to

have what

they call

long tail

keywords.

So it's

like you

have love

there,

but what

kind of

love?

is this

Christian

love?

Is this

biblical

love?

Is this

love?

I don't

know.

You could

come up

with it,

whatever.

So every

page of

your website

that you

want to

be discovered

in the

community

or in

your

congregation,

you have

to know

your key

phrase and

that phrase

should never

be more

than four

or five

words.

If I

could try

to own

shirts,

but blue

shirts,

adding a

tail to

it allows

me to

have a

little bit

more of an

opportunity to

own it.

But if I

said men's

blue shirts,

then all of a

sudden the

group of

people looking

for it,

it gets

smaller and

smaller so

that I can

really target

and you

target through

the key

phrase.

And then

those key

phrases,

I'm sorry,

I can

almost see

you trying

to ask

a question

in between.

Did you

have a

question for

me?

No,

no,

no,

go.

Keep

on going.

So those

key phrases,

Google just

wants to

say,

okay,

you can't

say this

page is

all about

this key

phrase and

then not

use it.

So we've

all been

there where

we've

Googled

something and

then you

get to

the page

and it's

like,

where the

heck is,

like,

where's the

word that I

was just

searching for

and I

sometimes

find myself

and then

it's like,

oh,

I can

search

command

F and

then it

brings up

the find

window and

you search

for it and

it's like,

it's used

once and

it's like,

wong,

wong.

so they

actually want

you to use

it and

that four

or five

word key

phrase needs

to be

used intact

at least

two to

three times

on that

page and

therein lies

half the

battle is

that it's

got to be

used in

such a way

so that it

feels natural

and it

doesn't feel

like you're

just repeating

it over and

over and

over again,

but people

who create

sermons know

how to do

that and

they do it

really well.

Well,

and one of

the things

I think

about when

as you're

talking about

key phrases,

someone doesn't

know what

we're talking

about,

like how

do we

make sure

that it

gets lined

up and

everything like

that?

I know

our church

uses WordPress

and I

actually am

very comfortable

with WordPress

and it's

one of the

bigger ones

out there

for sites

and you

can download

a plugin

called

Yoast

SEO

which will

allow you

to type

in your

keyword

or key

phrase

and then

it will

check

for you

so you

don't have

to worry

about it

and then

they'll tell

you before

you publish

the page

whether or

not it's

a good

thing or

not.

See,

and you

dropped

our

keyword

of the

day.

It's

a free

WordPress

plugin.

So

free

WordPress

plugin

will get

more

attention

than oh

yeah,

how much

do I have

to pay

for that.

Yoast

is an

amazing

plugin

because what

we're talking

about today

all it does

is it just

tells you

did you do

it or

didn't you

do it?

And so

what it does

is it puts

a green

light,

a yellow

light,

or a red

light.

If you get

a red

light,

that means

you suck

at everything

you're trying

to do.

This content

will not be

discoverable

by anybody

and then

when you

get a few

of the

things right

and it

gives you

a yellow

and that's

where the

drive of

gamification

comes where

I'm like,

I gotta get

the green

light.

And like

everybody in

my office

knows when

I get the

green light

it's like,

I got the

green light

because I

struggle trying

to get all

of these

things right.

No,

you're exactly

right.

I'm like

that too.

When I get

done writing

a piece

of content

on WordPress

and I see

that the

light is

still red,

I am

racking my

brain.

And then I

switch it to

yellow and

then I'm

like,

okay,

I'm closer.

And then

when I get

the green

light,

it is like,

oh my gosh,

this is great.

I'm ready

to go now.

The Tom

Pounder

podcast is

brought to

you today

by Yoast.

No,

we're not

paid by

Yoast.

We love

Yoast because

we become

evangelists for

it mainly

because it

keeps us

on track

and it

keeps us

centered so

that we

understand what

Google is

looking for.

And that's

what we're

going to

talk about.

There's

three or

possibly four

of the

things that

Yoast will

keep you

on track.

Yeah.

Okay,

so you

highlighted

the one

about

keywords

and key

phrases.

What's

the second

one?

Yeah,

the second

one.

So there's

hidden

stuff that

Google

gets to

see and

it's

called

metadata.

And we've

talked about

the metaverse

to the

nth degree

because Facebook

brought meta

to the

surface.

So it's

kind of like

the,

you know,

behind the

scenes digital

glue that

holds everything

together.

Well,

there's a

metaverse,

there's a

metadata area

that's on

your website

where you

have that

secret

wink-wink

with Google

and you've

got to

make sure

that you've

created

a really

good

short

paragraph.

In fact,

here's the

key to this

is that

keep it

less than

155

characters.

We're not

talking words

here and

it's not

a lot.

And what

you want

to do,

anytime you

get to

see it,

every time

that you

Google

something.

So when

you Google

something and

you are

looking for

Christian

love or

what the

church says

about love

or whatever,

all you need

is love.

All the

songs popping

through my

mind,

whatever you're

Googling,

when it

gives you

those search

results,

there's always

that little

paragraph right

underneath the

link.

And that

sometimes you

don't see,

like you'll

get to it and

it's like,

no, I

wanted what

was in the

paragraph,

but it's

not there

on the

page.

Well, that's

because it's

part of the

metaverse.

So the

metadata

has been,

somebody has

shown control

that not

only do I

know my

key phrase,

but I've

used my

key phrase

two to

three times.

And, you

know, what we

talked about

about being

at the top

of the

page, it

also should

be used

in the

first paragraph.

They'll give

you bonus

points if you

put it at

the beginning

of the first

paragraph.

and you've

probably used

it in the

headline so

that when you

Googled it,

you get the

link that you're

going to be

using and that

link probably

uses the thing

that someone's

just searched

for.

and then you

see it in

that metadata

area.

And that

metadata area

just needs to

be very

actionable.

It can't

be,

whereas like

the philosophical

understanding of

blah, blah,

blah, this is

like, click

here in order

to get your

like, I mean,

it just needs

to be very

action oriented

and that

metadata is

very important

because it

does show up

in your

Google search.

I like how

you said it

needs to be

very action

oriented.

And so,

again, a lot

of what we

do with

church

communication

stuff or

any kind

of

communications

is we

want them

to be

pointing them

to do

something

with that.

And so,

the fact

that you

just highlighted

it should

be action

oriented

is a really

good tip

there.

Absolutely.

And the

thing is,

is that

the more

you stay

on track

for something

that somebody's

looking for

and the more

you use it

on your

actual content

and in the

metadata,

you just

slowly rise

to the top

of Google

because Google

knows I

can count

on this

link delivering

what you're

looking for.

Yeah.

Well, it's

really interesting

too.

Now that you're

saying some

of the stuff,

you know,

you know

Jay Cranda,

right,

from Saddleback?

Yes.

Yeah.

So, Jay,

one of the

big online

ministers,

and he's

been doing

this for

a really

long time,

one of

the OGs,

I like

to say.

But he

actually tweeted

something out

fairly recently

about how he

was searching

for something

on Google

and actually

one of my

things came

up.

And it

was something

I did

years ago

about how

to create

an online

Bible study

with You

version.

But again,

it popped

up towards

the very

beginning

because of

how I

used

Yoast SEO

to write

on the

metadata

and also

using the

keywords

because what

my keywords

was what

exactly he

was searching

for.

And oh my

goodness,

so that's

like the

fifth thing.

So this

is like a

really bonus

bonus.

But the

fifth thing

is longevity.

So the

more it's

there and

and the

dates say

that it's

been there

for quite

some time,

that gives

you a little

bit more

power to

rise to

the top.

So if

you're just

starting this,

do not

lose hope,

my fellow

brethren and

sister.

And you

will eventually

have longevity

to get

there, but

it might

take some

time.

And the

problem is

that if

you're doing

this correctly,

it's a lot

of work and

it takes a

lot of time.

I waited a

little long,

a little

farther into

this to

actually talk

about this,

but it's

free.

And the

thing is,

is that you

just have to

work hard at

it, stay

on topic,

stay on

key phrase,

and then

allow it to

just chill

there.

And if it's

a keyword

that people

are looking

for on a

regular basis

and you've

had content

up there

for a

while,

Google knows

that it's

going to be

deliverable and

you'll just

slowly make

your way to

the top.

Yeah, I

think it's

awesome.

Okay, so

you've given

us some

really good

tips so

far, whether

it's two

or three

of them so

far, because

you included

that fifth

bonus one,

we won't

go there,

but let's

talk about

the third

one.

Okay, yes,

we'll ignore

that fifth

bonus bonus.

So the

third one

is just

play nice

with the

internet.

So just

connect

yourself.

So it

used to be

that Google

would serve

people to

your homepage

and then

what they

found out

was that

people don't

want to

take the

time to

figure out

how to

get from

the homepage

to the

right content.

So Google

went, oh

yeah, that's

stupid.

Why would

we create

keywords for

a whole

website when

it's really

the individual

page?

So that's

why every

individual

page needs

to have

its own

unique

key phrase.

So then

when people

are looking

for information,

they go to

that direct

to that

inside page.

Oftentimes,

people don't

even get to

the homepage

unless they

want to

back out of

it.

It's like,

this is really

good content,

so I need

to go back

to the homepage.

But most

people don't

do that

anymore.

So what

they want

you to

do is,

okay, so

if you are

really good

at what

you do,

you should

lead them

around your

webpage or

website by

using links.

And those

links need,

I'm amazed

at how many,

I'm working

with the church

right now,

I called up

their website

yesterday,

we walked

through it,

and I said,

so this

page has

no links

on it.

And they're

like, yeah,

well, we

pretty much

say it

all.

Really?

So everything

that anyone

would ever

need to know

is right

here.

Or since

you know

your content

so well,

lead them

to another

place.

It would

be like

somebody

knocking on

the front

door of

your church.

You unlock

the door,

you say,

yes, can I

help you?

And they

say, yes,

I'm thinking

about bringing

my kids

here.

So you

go, okay,

do not look

at anything

else while we

walk through

the church.

I'm going

to show you

the kids

ministry.

No, no,

don't look

over there.

We're in the

kids ministry.

Here's the

kids ministry.

And then we

just stand

there.

Like, we

all know it's

like, okay,

well, if they're

a parent, they

might need

some help.

What about

our adult

ministries?

Did you know

you can come

to a church

service?

Did you know

you?

So it's

like, you

know, everything

that's going

on, or you

should, and

you need to

link to some

of those other

things.

So those are

called internal