Sharing faith and growing your church using domain names

Reading Time | 4 Minutes

Although it’s sad to admit, churches are often quite behind when it comes to embracing and harnessing the power of technology to share their faith.

Fortunately, I’m grateful to be an active member of a church in the eclectic city of Austin where only roughly 16% of the population actively attends church.

Our church embraces technology and does a decent job effectively using domains to share the Gospel and draw awareness to the Gospel in general.

I’m always amazed and encourage to encounter churches embracing domains to grow their church as well as share the Gospel.

Most recently, my wife, our kids and I traveled to the great Texas city of Conroe to spend time with family. It had been a while since I had been back, so it was good to see family and friends.

The highlight of this trip was getting to see my beautiful wife recognized as a previous Montgomery County Fair Queen. It was a great event to attend and reminded me of a miniature Texas State Fair minus all the various fried foods. 🙂

Nevertheless, I encountered two churches using domain names effectively.

The first encounter was The Ark making good use of EasterAtTheArk.com yard signs. I must have seen a dozen of the yard signs throughout Conroe.

Easter at The Ark - Conroe Texas

It’s quite a creative method to draw attention to one of the most well-attended Sundays for churches in general. In fact, it’s referenced too as the Super Sunday for churches in regards to the number of people drawn to attend church on Easter Sunday.

I personally like to see and encourage churches to put domain names to use in such a manner.

For one, using a different domain than your church’s primary domain allows greater visibility of whether or not the yard sign investment produced fruit or increase for the church.

From measuring website traffic to the number of persons stating the yard sign or specific domain as their referral source, secondary domain usage in general is one of the smartest and affordable investments a church, business, or person could make.

Easter is not the only holiday where and when secondary domains could prove to be beneficial. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and many others. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a holiday to use secondary domains.

The second domain I encountered was a very popular phrase for rural churches using the .tv extension: CowboyChurchLive.Tv.

Watch Cowboy Church Live Online

I really like this popular phrase “CowboyChurch” with the addition of “Live”. As for the .tv extension, I’m not a big fan of .tv or any of the new domain extensions. This doesn’t mean that new domain extensions are worthless or useless.

Do I believe that all new domain extensions will success as much as .com, .net, or .org? Not by a long shot, but I do believe that certain phrases can be used effectively as domains.

When I saw this billboard, it all clicked for me. I love the fact that the domain name is the center of attention in the billboard ad. The laptop is well positioned and the phrase “Watch Online!” needs no other clarification.

In short order, you quickly grasp that you can watch Cowboy Church online via the Internet using your laptop, iOS app, or Android app.

The only downfall I see with this advertisement is if someone inadvertently types in .com instead of .tv. We’re so accustomed to typing in .com for the last 20 and counting years that it’s an easy freudian slip.

Nevertheless, because the phrase “Cowboy Church” is so popular, there are not many domain names available. However, here’s what I found (* denotes available)

I’m certain there are other hacks and combinations to consider. The ones listed are just a few that came to mind when encountering the CowboyChurchLive.tv billboard advertisement.

It’s likely too late to get a jump on Easter this year, but at least you can begin to plan for next year, and for other religious and non-religious holidays.

Oh yeah, before I forget but as I sign off… GoodFridayServices.com and GoodFriday.Church were available too.

Alvin Brown

Alvin is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with an avid love for domain name consulting. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DNAdverts.com, his assignment is to ensure business and personal brands don't suffer the consequences of common domain name pitfalls.

As a domain investor and business consultant, Alvin actively participates in daily domain auctions. Outside of auctions, he passionately shares his views, opinions, and vision for how businesses should and should not use domain names to generate greater customer growth and revenue.