Church Website Builders/Themes (USD 40K MRR)
When I started exploring things in “Church Tech” early this week, it did seem like something that is not really a “tech startup” idea. But as I dug a little deeper, I found a lot of opportunities that are ripe for disruption by startups or even an indie hackers.
For the sake of keeping it focussed, I decided to go with the most straightforward idea that I found in this domain - Church Website Builders and Themes.
So here is what you’ll get in this playbook.
Available domain names (Under $13)
SEO keywords
Blog ideas based on SEO keywords
Relevant journalists & their Twitter URL
Communities for promotions/partnerships
And before we get started, remember that research like this takes time. A market research firm or a marketing agency will likely charge $500 or more for similar reports, so take full advantage of the information shared.
If you’d like to build this with me, read till the end to know how you can do that.
Church Tech Right Now
Church tech is taking off and some of the companies that are worth following include Subspalsh, ChurchDesk, Boxcast, FaithLife, Church Community Builder, Church Motion Graphics, Sharefaith, TrueLife etc.
I made a tweet about another company that was doing $40k (Stripe Verified) in monthly revenue (See Tweet).
In terms of funding too there seems to be some decent action. A Copenhagen-based startup ChurchDesk, a cloud-based platform and mobile apps for iOS and Android that helps church staff and volunteers run their church more efficiently and better engage with the local church local community recently raised $2,000,000.
A big player called Subsplash has been actively acquiring companies in the space. They acquired their competition Custom Church Apps last year and they acquired StreamSpot this March.
There seems to be increased investor interest in the space and there are small ventures popping up, especially in North American Region and Europe.
Opportunity
There are no recognisable “big” names in the space right now. Yes, there are companies that are doing well but none of them seem to have a good brand following based on Google search data for brand terms.
The funding scene too is fairly nascent so there are no big money players right now who are driving up the acquisition costs in the market, so with a decent SEO & PPC strategy you can acquire customers at a reasonable cost.
Also, the market in Asia and Africa is wide open. There is no one that I could find who is doing even a half decent job, so if you are from the region then it is a gold rush if you can make it happen.
Finally, niching down on church website builders or themes and then branching out makes sense since this the entry point for most of your customers when it comes to online engagement.
So we will focus on this niche for now.
And as far as features are concerned, there are a few things that your prospective users are looking for based on my research:
Online prayer booking
Payment integration for tithing and other donations
Option to have a local community forum on the website
Church newsletter integration
New member sign-up/on-boarding forms
There might be more features that the users might expect but these stood out based on data from user search queries.
Getting Started With Domains
I’ve compiled a list of ~150 relevant .com domains that you can use. All these domains are priced at $13 or less, so pick them up before someone else does.
I usually use Namecheap or Google Domains, because they are economical. But you can get them anywhere for less than $13.
I have no affiliation with either of them.
Download the list of cheap .com domains here
SEO Keywords
The SEO keywords shared in the report are based on your current competition. The websites that I considered for this list were Sharefaith, Nucleus Church & Ministry Designs.
There are 2 lists of Keywords here:
Intent based keywords
Context based keywords (LSI)
Intent based keywords are phrases that you’ll want to rank for on Google search. Keywords like “church website builders“, “church themes for wordpress” etc will fall under this category.
To get the most out of Intent based keywords use them in important places like Titles, H1s and subheadings.
In short, build your web pages around these keywords.
Also, if you want to be more aggressive in acquiring customers, you can use “Intent keywords” in your PPC campaigns for search and GDN (Google Display Network) ads.
Download the list of intent-based keywords here
Context based keywords (LSI) on the other hand are used to indicate to search engines that a particular webpage is about a certain topic. For example a page about church website builders will likely have LSI keywords like themes, builders, SEO, website, responsive design etc.
To get the most out of LSI keywords use them in the body text. Keep the density of these keywords to about 1-2% of the total keywords on the page.
In short, add these to your paragraphs and other less important locations.
Download the list of context based keywords here
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Blog Ideas/Topics & Content Sharing
With respect to the blog content this is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are a lot of content opportunities that you can exploit.
And with this list I’ve mostly gone with content around low intent keywords.
So, when you are thinking of content creation think of how you can get people into the top of your funnel first and then get them to convert instead of making a sales pitch from the start.
If you manage to stay on top of your prospective customer’s mind, they will likely remember you when they are making a buying decision. So make sure that you get in front of them often even if the topics are not necessarily directly related to your core product.
Topics like free church templates for presentation, sermon template inspiration etc will get more people to notice your brand. Also, there is only so much you can write about “church website themes” so it is a good idea to expand your content marketing scope to include supplementary content.
Download the list of topics/ideas here
Share these content pieces with relevant communities when you publish them.
The “Wait and they will come” approach will cost your time and money, so get it in front of people as soon as possible.
I’ll be sharing a list of communities in the last section where you’ll find relevant places to distribute this content.
Relevant Journalists & their Twitter
I’ve compiled a short list of journalists who have covered this space recently. So, try and engage with these journalists on Twitter to see if there is an opportunity to get featured in one of their stories.
To find more journalists in the space, look at who they are following. You’ll usually find a few more prospects in that list.
Needless to say, do not spam them. No one likes it and having worked for a couple of PR firms, I can tell you that the spam some of the business journalists get is unreal.
So work on creating a story piece and reach out to them with your best work. Things like surveys, research studies, breakthroughs etc will get you better results than random announcements.
Also, there are journalists in the communities that I’m sharing in the next section, so keep your DMs open on all these platforms especially Reddit and Twitter.
Adding an email address to your profile can also help journalists reach you.
Download the list of journalists here
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Communities for Promotions & Partnerships
With the communities here, strategy can be critical to your success.
So I have gone ahead and added a column with recommended strategies for engagement and partnerships.
The initial goal is to become visible in the community. The sales pitch can wait (if any).
I’ve also added a few communities that can act as a peer group for church tech startups/projects, which I believe is important.
As mentioned earlier, the value that you can derive from these communities is dependent on your strategy, so choose wisely and double down.
Download the list of communities here
Final thoughts
So that is it, what did you think of this report?
What more would like for me to add in the next idea report?
Let me know by replying to this email or write them down in the comments below.
Special Announcement
Some of you asked me if you could get a customised competition report for your own business idea like you’ve seen in this post.
So, I’ve decided to do it. You can now order your own competition report customised based on your business or even just a business idea.
Only you will get access to this report.
This is a great way to validate your ideas or even explore new ones.
In this report, you’ll get:
1. SEO Keywords that your competition is using
2. Content ideas that'll help you rank above competition
3. List of communities you can leverage for growth
4. Q&A opportunities to gain more exposure
5. List of influencers with audience in your niche
Additional Bonuses (Value $300):
Bonus 1: 4-5 growth hacks your can use to grow your SaaS product.
Bonus 2: List of 30+ cheap .com domain names for your business.
Super Bonus: 60 minute call with me to discuss your business growth strategy
You can now order it here for just $99.