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've had lots of people asking about easy ways to add video and audio podcasts to their church websites.  We've had the Advanced podcasting feature for several months but we're now ready to announce that things just got a whole lot better.

The New Flow Podcast Feature is here.   Sign up for a 100% risk free 30-Day trial to test it out yourself.

There are all sorts of features that you are going to love.

Check out the video tour that will show the player in action.

Here are a few of our favorite features:

1. Easy Video Integration - If you are video recording your sermons, you can host the files on services like vimeo.com or blip.tv for free.  Now with a simple click of a button you can have your video popup right from your website so that people can watch and share.
    
2. Social Integration - Imagine that I came to your church on Sunday and heard a message that I loved.  I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with a friend (or all of my friends.)  Now, I can go right to your website and click on the email or tweet button for the sermon and just like that, I have shared the blessings with others.
    
3. Sermon Archive - Do you want to keep several years (or more) worth of sermons available on your site? With the new Flow Podcast Feature...

The Twitter Feed feature has been out for a few weeks now and we're getting lots of great feedback.  So far our favorite way that we have seen it used is as a simple and elegant newsfeed on a church home page.  It's an easy way to let your community and the rest of the world know what's going on at your church.  Check our current favorite instance of it.  

If you are using it on your site, let us know so we can take a look. If you have yet to get it set up, just send us an email at support@snapshotweb.com with the word TWITTER and your domain name and we'll have it configured for you so you can drop it on your site right away.

As always, you can follow the latest from SnapShot Web on twitter, facebook, and our blog.

We've just released a sweet new twitter feature for your SnapShot Websites.  It's included will all three plans.  If you don't yet have it on your site, just send an email to support@snapshotweb.com or a direct message to @SnapShotWeb with your domain name and the word TWITTER.  We'll add it to your site right away. Check out this quick demo to see the New Twitter Feed in Action...

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.