The folks at NorthPoint Church have done a great job communicating to their community with their e-newsletter.  Here are a few things we love about it:

1. Great Content - Each newsletter includes a personal reflection from one of the church staff.  It's typically a few paragraphs long.  It's sometimes informational and other times inspirational.  
    
2. Upcoming Events - They included a simple list of upcoming events.  The list includes dates, times, locations, and links for more info.  It's just enough to inform but not overwhelm.
    
3. Options for Connection - They provide obvious links to connect on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes and email.  They also have their service times and a link to a map prominantly displayed.
    
4. Clear and Beautiful Layout - They layout the newsletter to match their website's look and feel.  It's clean and simple, and it's great branding.
    
5. One Click Share Options - When viewing the newsletter in a browser, you can share it via Facebook, Twitter, or Google + wtih a simple click.

What are you doing to communicate with your people?  Are you using e-newsletter?  Has it been effective?  

Check out the latest feature for adding great social elements to your church websites.  With the new year, we're set to launch some new ways of sharing and the Fancy Social Bookmark feature is the first.  With a few clicks of your mouse, you can offer your site visitors options for sharing a page via facebook, twitter, linked in, google buzz, and about 100 other bookmarking tools.

it's included with the Plus and Pro levels at SnapShot Web.  If you don't yet have a SnapShot Website,  Sign up for a 100% risk free 30-Day trial to test it out yourself.

Check out the video tour that will show you the Fancy Bookmark Feature in action and test it for yourself at the bottom of the page.

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Sign up for a 100% risk free 30-Day trial to try out a SnapShot Website for yourself.

We came across these Free Social Media Icons from Elegant Themes.  We think that may be a great fit for your website.  There are icons for just about every social media site you can imagine (and several that you may not have heard of just yet.)  Take a look, download them, use them, and let us know if you need anything.

Adding Widgets and Social Bookmarks to your Church website is a great way to increase traffic, improve your SEO, and allow people in your community to easily share your website with their friends and followers.  If you are new to all of this, here are six ways to get started:

1. Add a twitter or tweet this option
   
   You'll certainly want to make it easy for visitors to your site to tweet about your site with s simple click.  You can embed the javascript that you will find at a service like http://www.tweetmeme.com/
    
2. Add a Google Buzz button
   
   Google Buzz is a way to "share updates, photos, videos, and more."  You can generate the embed code to drop the Buzz Button on your site here http://www.buzzcounter.net/

SnapShot Web has been working on away to make Church and Ministry Websites more social.  The wait is over.  The new SnapShot Web SEO and Social Bookmarks Feature is here.  It's included with all SnapShot Packages and we're certain you are going to love it.  In order to celebrate the new release, we're offering a $5 gift card for Starbucks, Peet's, or Dunkin' Donuts to anyone who will check it out and give us some feedback.  Here's all you need to do for the free coffee:

1. Make sure that you live in the US and you are not a current SnapShot user.
2. Fill out the quick form here
3. Test out the new features and let us know what you think
4. We'll send you a gift card to the coffee shop of your choosing

It's that easy.  Enjoy.

To make your church website more social and improve your Search Engine Optimization, you'll want to add the newest Social Bookmarks Feature from SnapShot Web.  Add bookmarks to Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, Linked In, Yahoo Buzz, Email and over 30 more.  You can also add a Follow Me On Twitter button and a Tweet This Page button.

Check out the quick demo that will show off this great new tool.