From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org  Mon Oct  1 11:22:36 2007
From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter)
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 13:22:36 -0500
Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 2, Issue 40
Message-ID: <dc28d5c20710011122m37978035r82b76e28f6cc6b5c@mail.gmail.com>

  [image: NetAdventist News And Notes]

      Volume II, Issue 40?Monday, October 1, 2007   [image: WEEKLY POLL]

      Each week a poll is posted on the *net*Adventist website. Respond by
clicking on the poll graphic below?which doesn't necessarily represent the
current poll ?then looking for "Local Poll" in the left-hand menu
bar.Yourfeedback is important to us. We appreciate you taking the time
to
participate in our weekly polls. *This week's poll question is "Do you have
your Web site URL registered with Google?"*

In the results from last week's poll, 46% of respondents said they allow
visitors to sign-up for an email newsletter on their Web site, while 54%
said they did not.
      [image: VIEW POLL AT
http://www.netadventist.org]<http://www.netadventist.org/>


   [image: netTip of the Week]

*Three Rules to Remember About Email Newsletters*

Whether you are using an email newsletter to communicate with people at your
church, school, or ministry, it is important to follow some simple rules.
This goes for any marketing emails you send for your organization or your
Web site. Here are three principles you should remember:

*1. Always provide a way for people to unsubscribe.* It is important to give
people the opportunity to get off your email list. Provide a unsubscribe
link or an email they can respond to. The same goes for subscribing. Get
permission before you add someone new to your email list.

*2. Don't get over ambitious with HTML.* Keep your e-newsletter designs
simple. HTML email is great, but it can get bulky and slow for recipients,
if you don't know what you're doing. Stick to the basics: simple HTML
(tables and embedded CSS is about as fancy as you can get) and plain-text.
If you're sending simple "news alert" style information on a very frequent
basis, consider sending it in good old-fashioned plain-text format. Some
people prefer plain-text (especially the more "technical" users out there).

*3. Test your email newsletter before you send it.* Be sure to always send a
test email to yourself before sending your e-newsletter to your subscriber
list. Also, be sure to go through and test all your links in your test
email. If you make any changes, resend a test email with the new changes to
yourself again.

*Feel free to email us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> your netTip ideas. Your
information may be featured in an upcoming newsletter.*

   [image: Featured User]

*Upper Columbia Academy Church ? Part 2*

*Periodically we highlight organizations that are using netAdventist to
develop and maintain their Web sites. In this newsletter, we are
highlighting the Web site development of an academy church (Upper Columbia
Academy Church in northeastern Washington).*

The UCA Church is currently in the process of launching their Web site.
Lorna Hartman, their Web master, has agreed to share with us some of the
things they are doing to develop their site.

"We put announcements in our church bulletin prior to the initial site
launch and announced it upfront in church. We also signed-up with Plusline,"
says Lorna.

Lorna periodically prepares reports for the pastor about her progress. Some
of the unique things they have done so far in developing their site include
adding a "Bookmark Us/Make Us Your Home Page" link, adding a church
newsletter sign-up form, and creating a link to the mission
blog<http://lizrandall.blogspot.com/>of one of their church members in
Africa. "We have also done things like
adding the Adventist Channel plugin and a Meebo chat window, as well as
slideshows, news groups, polls, and member news (including recent baptisms
with photos)," says Lorna.

"We are still in the process of recruiting and organizing our Web site
staff," says Lorna. "We also plan to generate a weekly sermon podcast for
our site, as well as a welcome video from our pastor and a video tour of
each church ministry."

In addition, Lorna says the UCA church plans to feature a different church
member each week on their site and have a photo contest for new slideshow
pictures. They will also be adding a module for AdventistGiving and posting
the church's newsletter online, as well as adding forms for their Pathfinder
club (i.e. permission forms for field trips). "We also still need to post
our Meebo chat hours, link to the sites of our academy and elementary
schools, create media groups, and provide links to local resources," says
Lorna.

Lorna will share more with us about their site development in an upcoming
issue. To view their developing Web site, go to www.ucachurch.org.

*Feel free to send us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> other resources or articles
you'd like to see.*

   [image: FAQs]

     *I just tried to Google our new Home page, but couldn't find it. Is
there any way to add meta tags to the Home page to increase traffic? I have
already submitted our URL to Google, Yahoo, etc?*

 Good for you! Registering your domain name and having it redirected to the
*net*Adventist Web site is the first step toward search engine availability.
If you follow the tips below for increasing traffic on your site, you won't
need to worry about meta tags either.
 *Use a customized Web site address. *Purchase a URL similar to your
establishment's name?basically an online name brand for your school, church
or ministry. This enables people to find your site easily through a Google
search or a Yahoo search.
*Have content from your local community on your site. *Having local
community interests on your site means your establishment pops up whenever
someone searches your city or neighborhood.
*Get other churches to add you as a church to receive news from. *The more
churches that list you as a source, the higher you will be in the search
listings. Also, whenever you create articles on your Web site that other
churches have listed, it increases your ranking in search engines. So
instead of being the hundredth listing three pages down, you can be the
fourth listing on the first page.

For more on increasing Web traffic, visit our Help
site<http://help.netadventist.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=26>
.

*To submit a question for the FAQs column, email us<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
Your FAQ may also be added to the FAQ list in our online help
manual<http://help.netadventist.org/>.
*
* *

* *
* *
------------------------------
*
Publisher: TAGnet
Editor: Daniel A. Houghton, Executive Vice President
Managing Editor: Nicole M. Batten, Communications Manager/Content Liaison *

* Contact info
To suggest story ideas or questions, send information about resources to
include in this newsletter, or to submit articles, click
here<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.

For letters to the editor, click here <nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
To submit a change of email address for your own subscription to the
newsletter, click here <newsletter-owner at netadventist.org>. *
* *
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From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org  Mon Oct 15 16:43:23 2007
From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter)
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:43:23 -0500
Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 1, Issue 42
Message-ID: <dc28d5c20710151643s7efc5c14s2f3d86897af271eb@mail.gmail.com>

  [image: NetAdventist News And Notes]

      Volume II, Issue 42?Monday, October 15, 2007   [image: WEEKLY POLL]

      Each week a poll is posted on the *net*Adventist website. Respond by
clicking on the poll graphic below?which doesn't necessarily represent the
current poll ?then looking for "Local Poll" in the left-hand menu
bar.Yourfeedback is important to us. We appreciate you taking the time
to
participate in our weekly polls. *This week's poll question is "Where does
your site rank in Google search engine results?"*

In the results from last week's poll, 50% of respondents said they use RSS
feeds to keep content fresh, while 50% said they do not.
      [image: VIEW POLL AT
http://www.netadventist.org]<http://www.netadventist.org/>


   [image: netTip of the Week]

*RSS Feeds Can Help Search Engine Optimization Too*

Why should visitors come back if every time they visit your site, the
content is exactly the same? They don't have much of a reason, do they?
Well, that is also the way search engine spiders are programmed to think.
Search engines like Google use spiders to regularly surf the Web and record
what's there. That recording goes into the search engine's database ready to
be accessed by the next searcher. This process is called indexing.

When Google sends out a spider to your site, it may index some of it, but
necessarily all of it. The spider determines how often to revisit and index
your site by how often you update it. If you update it every day, then it
will visit much more often than if you rarely update it. Incidentally,
search engines consider the homepage the most important page, so it's good
to update it more often than the rest of your site.

This is where RSS feeds can help. Because RSS feeds help generate fresh
content on your site by regularly self-updating they can be a valuable tool
for search engine optimization?and that means more traffic to your site.

*Feel free to email us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> your netTip ideas. Your
information may be featured in an upcoming newsletter.*

   [image: Ideas & Resources]

*The Basics of Search Engine Optimization*

If you are looking to attract more visitors to your site and increase your
ranking in search engine results, you need to know the basics of Search
Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO.

When a search engine ranks a Web page, it does it based on two factors:

1. *The keywords on your Web page.* The more focused and relevant your
content is on your Web page?and the clearer you can show this in your title,
headings, and body text?the better your chances are of ranking high in
search engine results. So to optimize your search engine results you will
need to identify keywords used most by your target audience and use those
keywords in the text of your Web site.

2. *The pattern of inbound links to your site.* The quantity, the quality,
and the context of incoming links to your site affect your search ratings.
So to optimize your search engine results it is important you attract
incoming links from authoritative sites and target those links to searcher's
interests.

If your local church or school has a Web site that you want to receive
higher ratings in search engine results, then you would probably want to use
a lot of local key words in your site. This way when someone does a search
of your community, your church or school appears at the top of the list. You
might also want to use spiritual key words that today's seekers use or key
words that would attract new students and parents. You would also want to
get other local Web sites to link to your site.

Another thing to remember about Search Engine Optimization is that it is
also affected by how often you update your Web site and whether all the
links on your site are working or not.

*Feel free to send us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> other resources or articles
you'd like to see.*

   [image: FAQs]

     *I keep hearing the term Search Engine Optimization, what does it mean?
*

 Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is what you do to help your site to
appear higher in a list of search engine results?the higher your ranking,
the more people who will visit your site. SEO is essentially a marketing
strategy for increasing your site's relevance.

Think of it this way, if your Web page is search-engine-optimized it means
the search engines are going to love it and are going to give it a higher
ranking compared to non-optimized pages.

*To submit a question for the FAQs column, email us<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
Your FAQ may also be added to the FAQ list in our online help
manual<http://help.netadventist.org/>.
*
* *

* *
* *
------------------------------
*
Publisher: TAGnet
Editor: Daniel A. Houghton, Executive Vice President
Managing Editor: Nicole M. Batten, Communications Manager/Content Liaison *

* Contact info
To suggest story ideas or questions, send information about resources to
include in this newsletter, or to submit articles, click
here<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.

For letters to the editor, click here <nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
To submit a change of email address for your own subscription to the
newsletter, click here <newsletter-owner at netadventist.org>. *
* *
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From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org  Mon Oct 22 19:33:41 2007
From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter)
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:33:41 -0500
Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 1, Issue 43
Message-ID: <dc28d5c20710221933x20681f98u48776ba3c84fd4f@mail.gmail.com>

  [image: NetAdventist News And Notes]

      Volume II, Issue 43?Monday, October 22, 2007   [image: WEEKLY POLL]

      Each week a poll is posted on the *net*Adventist website. Respond by
clicking on the poll graphic below?which doesn't necessarily represent the
current poll ?then looking for "Local Poll" in the left-hand menu
bar.Yourfeedback is important to us. We appreciate you taking the time
to
participate in our weekly polls. *This week's poll question is "Do you have
a children's privacy statement on your Web site?"*

In the results from last week's poll, 89% of respondents said their site
ranked in the top three results on the first page in a Google search, while
11% said their site ranked somewhere on the second page.
      [image: VIEW POLL AT
http://www.netadventist.org]<http://www.netadventist.org/>


   [image: netTip of the Week]

*Complying with COPPA Requirements?What You Need to Know*

If you collect personal information (such as a phone number or address) from
children under 13 on your Web site then you need to know about COPPA?the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. An example of this would be a
registration form for your church's Vacation Bible School or a new student
registration form for your elementary school.

COPPA requires that internet sites inform parents and legal guardians about
how they collect, use, and disclose personal information from children under
13 years of age; and that any site collecting this type of information
obtain the consent of parents and guardians in order for children under 13
years of age to use certain areas of their Web site.

COPPA requires operators of Web sites to post a privacy policy on the
homepage of the Web site and link to the privacy policy everywhere personal
information is collected. It also requires operators to do the following: 1)
provide notice to parents about the site's information collection practices
and, with some exceptions, get verifiable parental consent before collecting
personal information from children; 2) give parents the choice to consent to
the collection and use of a child's personal information for internal use by
the site; 3) provide parents with access to their child's information, and
the opportunity to delete the information and opt out of the future
collection or use of the information; 4) not condition a child's
participation in an activity on the disclosure of more personal information
than is reasonably necessary for the activity; and 5) maintain the
confidentiality, security and integrity of the personal information
collected from children.

COPPA applies to the following Web site operators:

   - Operators of commercial websites or online services directed to
   children under 13 that collect personal information from children;
   - Operators of general audience sites that knowingly collect personal
   information from children under 13; and
   - Operators of general audience sites that have a separate children's
   area and that collect personal information from children.

*Legal counsel for General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is now
recommending that ALL church and school sites post a children's privacy
statement and comply with COPPA requirements.* To view the General
Conference legal COPPA policies and learn more about how to comply, click
here <http://www.es-es.net/4.html>.

To visit the FTC site for COPPA, click
here<http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/coppa/index.html>
.

*Feel free to email us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> your netTip ideas. Your
information may be featured in an upcoming newsletter.*

   [image: netReach]

*Four Things an Effective Church Web Site Can Do For You*

*1. Reach new residents* ? When someone moves to a new area they often do
their research for a new church online. Having a well-indexed, search-engine
friendly Web site brings new residents to your doorstep.

*2. Convert seekers* ? Don't be afraid to put relevant articles and good
spiritual content on your site. Provide God's answers to life's questions.
Reach out to seekers. There are times when people will visit your church
site casually and unintentionally because something of relevance catches
their eye, even though they were searching for something else.

*3. Build the "body" online* ? Ever feel the effects of communication
break-down? Your church site can help you easily, and electronically, keep
the right hand informed of what the left hand is doing through things such
as event calendars, online meeting minutes, and news updates.

*4. Maximize media exposure and ad space.* ? Sometimes you only have a six
second soundbite to get your church's name, slogan, and URL out on a
television or radio station, or in a newspaper or magazine. When this
happens leverage your Web site to provide the additional information (such
as service times and directions) that can't fit into a single line of
newsprint or six second soundbite.

*Feel free to send us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> other resources or articles
you'd like to see.*

   [image: FAQs]

      *What is a Forms Package? I see it in the drop-down menu of my Forms
tab.*

 Think of a package as a folder. As a rule of rule of thumb, every form you
create must be inside a package, and a package can contain several related
forms. For example, your church might create a Forms Package called
"Pathfinders" and place all the online forms that your Pathfinder group uses
in that folder. Or your school may create a Forms package called "Parents"
and place in it all the online forms that it sends to parents during the
school year.

*To submit a question for the FAQs column, email us<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
Your FAQ may also be added to the FAQ list in our online help
manual<http://help.netadventist.org/>.
*
* *

* *
* *
------------------------------
*
Publisher: TAGnet
Editor: Daniel A. Houghton, Executive Vice President
Managing Editor: Nicole M. Batten, Communications Manager/Content Liaison *

* Contact info
To suggest story ideas or questions, send information about resources to
include in this newsletter, or to submit articles, click
here<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.

For letters to the editor, click here <nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
To submit a change of email address for your own subscription to the
newsletter, click here <newsletter-owner at netadventist.org>. *
* *
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From newsletter_admin at netadventist.org  Mon Oct 29 14:08:53 2007
From: newsletter_admin at netadventist.org (NetAdventist Newsletter)
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:08:53 -0500
Subject: NetAdventist News & Notes - Volume 1, Issue 44
Message-ID: <dc28d5c20710291408x5763f4c8yea0954ba14dd55d0@mail.gmail.com>

  [image: NetAdventist News And Notes]

      Volume II, Issue 44?Monday, October 29, 2007   [image: WEEKLY POLL]

      Each week a poll is posted on the *net*Adventist website. Respond by
clicking on the poll graphic below?which doesn't necessarily represent the
current poll ?then looking for "Local Poll" in the left-hand menu
bar.Yourfeedback is important to us. We appreciate you taking the time
to
participate in our weekly polls. *This week's poll question is "Do you use
the registered trademark after the Seventh-day Adventist name on your site?"
*

In the results from last week's poll, 67% of respondents said they have a
children's privacy statement on their Web site, while 33% said they did not.
      [image: VIEW POLL AT
http://www.netadventist.org]<http://www.netadventist.org/>


   [image: netTip of the Week]

*Using the "Seventh-day Adventist" name correctly on your Web site*

The name *Seventh-day Adventist* represents the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, its institutions and organizations, its local churches and its
members. The name and the logo are trademarked and registered identities.
Trademarks and registration are important because they protect the name of
an organization and prevent others from misrepresenting it. For the church
to keep its trademarks, denominational entities must consistently use the
correct name and appropriate trademarks.

The Office of General Counsel asks that all denominational entities use the
(R) after the name *Seventh-day Adventist* and *Adventist*. Proper use looks
like this: Seventh-day Adventist(R) and Adventist(R). Every denominational Web
site should display appropriate trademark and copyright notices and symbols.
The name *Seventh-day Adventist*, should also always include the hyphen and
a lower-case "d" for "day". *Adventist* or *SDA* are both considered
appropriate abbreviations of *Seventh-day Adventist*.

For more information on correct name usage and trademark guidelines, click
here <http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/guidelines/main_guide5.html>.

*Feel free to email us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> your netTip ideas. Your
information may be featured in an upcoming newsletter.*

   [image: Ideas & Resources]

*New RSS Feeds from Pacific Press(R) and the Adventist Book Center(R)*

Pacific Press is offering several new RSS feeds that you can use on your Web
site.
*BookLook* - www.pacificpress.com/rss/booklook.xml

This feed reviews news books available at your Adventist Book Center.
BookLook reviews two new books every other week.

**
*Pacific Press News* - www.pacificpress.com/rss/news.xml

This feed displays news from Pacific Press.

**
*Adventist Parenting* ? www.pacificpress.com/rss/adventistparenting.xml

This feed displays news and resources available for Adventist parents.

To place one of these RSS feeds on your site, click on the Plugin drop-down
menu in your Layout Manager, select News, select Custom, and then select Add
New Public RSS Feed. Copy and paste one of the URLs above into the screen,
give it a title, and select how you want it displayed. *Note: The BookLook
feed displays best in the center column.*

*Feel free to send us <nicoleb at netadventist.org> other resources or articles
you'd like to see.*

   [image: FAQs]

      *Do I have to use the trademark after the Seventh-day Adventist name
every time it appears in an article on my Web site? It looks funny to have
the trademark ten times on one page.*

 Not necessarily, just make sure the trademark is displayed after the name
at least once on the page. It is best to use it in the headline or near the
beginning of your article.

*To submit a question for the FAQs column, email us<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
Your FAQ may also be added to the FAQ list in our online help
manual<http://help.netadventist.org/>.
*
* *

* *
* *
------------------------------
*
Publisher: TAGnet
Editor: Daniel A. Houghton, Executive Vice President
Managing Editor: Nicole M. Batten, Communications Manager/Content Liaison *

* Contact info
To suggest story ideas or questions, send information about resources to
include in this newsletter, or to submit articles, click
here<nicoleb at netadventist.org>.

For letters to the editor, click here <nicoleb at netadventist.org>.
To submit a change of email address for your own subscription to the
newsletter, click here <newsletter-owner at netadventist.org>. *
* *
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