The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer

Watch the video version of this episode of The #AskBrady Show here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProChurchTools   #TIMESTAMPS:   0:59 - When it comes to our churches Facebook group, what would you recommend as guidelines for things like soliciting from people who own businesses within our church? Should the group be private or public? 7:50 - So if you have 5 announcements on Sunday morning do you tell 5 stories and give 5 call to actions? 11:06 - Do you have any tips when it comes to naming a church or business? 19:23 - Our pastor uses fill in the blank sermon notes each week. Does anyone have a solution for doing this on your smart device?    Brady Shearer is the CEO of Pro Church Tools Inc., a company helping churches communicate better. Through weekly videos, podcasts, and articles, Pro Church Tools reaches more than 25,000 churches every month.   Brady is the host of The #AskBrady Show, a church communications focused Q&A video show and podcast, as well as the Pro Church Podcast, a weekly interview audio podcast.   Follow Me Online Here: Instagram: http://instagram.com/bradyshearer Facebook: http://facebook.com/prochurchtools Website: http://prochurchtools.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/bradyshearer

No one will know what your email says if they never open it. Brady and Alex discuss some email best practices that can help boost your email open rates.   What's In This Session? 10/10/80 Subject line testing (0:48) Re-send to those that haven't opened with a different subject line (1:56) Plain text emails (4:52) Purge your email list of dead contacts (6:08) Send at the same time of day and week (8:00)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned ActiveCampaign MailChimp Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/5-advanced-tips-boosting-churchs-email-open-rates-ep-072/.

Live chat enables people to get in touch with your church instantly. Brady shares some stories using live chat, and the software they're using to make it happen.     What's In This Session? Justin's story (0:26) The tools (2:09) Nathan's story (2:45) Devin's story (4:12) Owen's story (5:04) Ben's story (5:50)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Drift Intercom Nucleus ForefrontChurch.info Storytape Google AdWords Facebook LiveChat ManyChat.com Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/add-free-live-chat-widget-churchs-website-ep-071/.

Brady discusses a leadership lesson that is very important in his work and personal life - taking responsibility - in this episode of Pro Church Daily.   What's In This Session? Nobody likes someone who makes excuses all the time (0:22) Our haters (0:54) What can I learn? (1:33) You are not your work (3:07) Tiny example: Lily's toothbrush (4:10) Extreme example: Aunt asks about infidelity (4:56) Work example (6:27)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Nucleus Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/leadership-lesson-personal-responsibility-ultimate-key-ep-070/.

Brady talks about the marketing of Nucleus, as well as the difference between a bootstrapped company and one with investors, and why being autonomous is so important to us.   What's In This Session? The emails that sparked this episode (0:23) How it normally works (1:46) How Pro Church Tools works (3:00) The Autonomy Advantage (5:43) 80% of Pro Church Nation will never give us a dollar - and we love that! (6:03) How Central is meeting the changing market (8:26)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Nucleus Squarespace Dropbox Intercom HQ Pro Video Announcements Storytape Central Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/build-1-million-product-zero-funding-ep-069/.

Pre-registration for children of first time guests to your church and your kids' ministry will help streamline the sign in process, and save both your guests and volunteers time. Brady talks through the benefits and the process in this episode.   What's In This Session? Why you should offer pre-registration (1:02) Step #1 - The form (3:24) Step #2 - Follow up (4:28) Step #3 - First time visitor area (5:09)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Nucleus Nucleus Example Card Nucleus Walkthrough Planning Center People MailChimp Brady Shearer on Instagram Pro Church Tools on Facebook The #AskBrady Show on YouTube Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Twitter Pro Church Podcast on Apple Podcast Elevation Church Hillsong Church   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/offer-pre-registration-church-kids-ministry-online-ep-068/.

Taking the step to attend a church for the first step is a huge step. Asking for their contact information is another big ask. A great thank you gift helps.   If you haven't already, head over to ProChurchTools.com/Nucleus to download our 7 Church Website Page Templates. Pre written copy structured the exact way we would if we had these pages on our websites.   What's In This Session? Why a free gift? (1:12) It invites your potential new visitor into the act of giving and allows them to make a choice of which charity they want to support (3:16) It demonstrates that you are a generous church that is outwardly focused on the world and community - not inwardly focused on your own self-interests (3:45) As you'll see in the email copy below, by inviting your new visitor into the act of giving, they are required to reply to your welcome email with their charity of choice. By doing this, you'll be marked as a safe sender in this individual's email inbox AND this will help contribute to a better overall email deliverability profile for your church (4:13) One-on-one interaction with a pastor through email (6:10)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Email copy: Hey *|FNAME|*! This is Brady from Hope Church. Thanks for filling out our "I'm New" form! Here's what you need to know about Hope Church... We LOVE generosity. And we think one of the best ways to live like Jesus is to give. Knowing this, we'd love to make a $5 donation on your behalf to a charity of your choice. Simply reply to this email with your choice from the list of registered charities below - and we'll make a donation on your behalf! Charity:water Prevent Child Abuse America American Foundation For Suicide Prevention Boys & Girls Clubs Of America Talk soon! Brady Shearer The Shore Church Nucleus MailChimp Nucleus walk through Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at https://prochurchtools.com/best-free-gift-churchs-can-give-new-visitors-ep-067/.

Watch the video version of this episode of The #AskBrady Show here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProChurchTools   #TIMESTAMPS:   1:00 - Apart from changing the website completely, how can I have a call to action without referring to our website? 5:32 - What do you do with the Let Us Know You’re Coming info as a church of about 600? How do we know which visitor to look out for in the sea of people? 7:14 - I get that everyone wants to know what we’re about by way of a mission statement, but I wonder if some ambiguity could be useful? Any thoughts? 14:06 - Any advice on how to create more interesting captions on Instagram to increase engagement?   Brady Shearer is the CEO of Pro Church Tools Inc., a company helping churches communicate better. Through weekly videos, podcasts, and articles, Pro Church Tools reaches more than 25,000 churches every month.   Brady is the host of The #AskBrady Show, a church communications focused Q&A video show and podcast, as well as the Pro Church Podcast, a weekly interview audio podcast.   Follow Me Online Here: Instagram: http://instagram.com/bradyshearer Facebook: http://facebook.com/prochurchtools Website: http://prochurchtools.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/bradyshearer

The footer of a website is often overlooked, but being one of the only things available on every page, it can be extremely valuable to use this real estate well. Brady discusses what should be included in the footer of a church website.   If you haven't already, head over to ProChurchTools.com/Nucleus to download our 7 Church Website Page Templates. Pre written copy structured the exact way we would if we had these pages on our websites.   What's In This Session? #1 - Church Overview Statement (1:48) #2 - Physical Address (2:57) #3 - Email Address (2:57) #4 - Phone Number (2:57) #5 - Social Platform Links (3:59)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Nucleus 2015 B2B Web Usability Report Eye-tracking studies: first impressions form quickly on the web Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/5-items-every-church-website-footer-needs-ep-066/.

A lot of people find and research local businesses online. This means that it is important for your church to rank well in search results. Brady talks about Search Engine Optimization and some easy steps to improve your SEO.   If you haven't already, head over to ProChurchTools.com/Nucleus to download our 7 Church Website Page Templates. Pre written copy structured the exact way we would if we had these pages on our websites.   What's In This Session? What is SEO? (0:57) Google My Business (1:43) Facebook Reviews (3:11) Google Reviews (3:11) Keyword Phrase Optimization (5:44) Pingdom Web Tools (7:07)   Show Notes & Resources Mentioned Nucleus Moz Backlinko Pingdom Pro Church Tools Pro Church Tools on Facebook Pro Church Tools on YouTube Brady Shearer on Instagram Brady Shearer on Twitter Alex Mills on Instagram   Find the full transcript for this session of the Pro Church Podcast at http://prochurchtools.com/5-seo-improvements-can-make-churchs-website-ep-065/.