Two Key Website Strategies To Increase Membership

by Yoram Samets

If you are like most synagogues, you are unhappy with the number of new members that join every year.  And year after year the synagogue is doing the same things to attract new membership -- which in my experience is not very much, because most synagogues are focused on their existing members. As the world has changed, and synagogues and Jewish organizations are no longer the central part of life for Jews in America, the opportunity is to reach out and connect more with non-members.  

Two key elements of connection are:

Add Content To Your Site.

If you want your site to generate the opportunity for new members, you need to be adding quality content to your site. With an ever more dispersed Jewish population looking for a synagogue when they need one, your website has to have a depth of engagement that will resonate for the prospective new member.  

Content is the price of admission for an effective website strategy. Most synagogue websites are filled with basic information. Your opportunity is to deepen that information and make it more personal. The first step is to determine the two or three key reasons new members should join your synagogue; these are the areas you want to focus more attention to on your site. If you do this right, your efforts will pay off with new members. For example, if most of your new membership is coming from the parents of school-aged children, then concentrate there. Make sure your religious school section of your site is current and robust.  This would be a great area for an ongoing blog effort, too. Make every teacher responsible for one blog per month or every other month. This spreads the work out, and provides a great deal of content quickly. Think about your religious school section on your site as a microsite. Most synagogues will supply a list of learning features on their religious school home page, and you have the opportunity to stand out differently when you do not just list children's book library, Jewish holiday rituals, Israel, etc, but actually link those features to a deeper understanding of what you provide. Instead of just saying Israel - take them to Israel.  

Building content is hard work. It takes time. Your synagogue should have a content plan for what you wish to build out.  Over time, your synagogue will differentiate itself from others. And the drive by synagogue shopper will be able to make the best membership decision.

Increase Your Contacts.

I have noticed that most synagogues have a vibrant communication program focused on their existing members, but the bigger opportunity is to build your database with prospective members. Synagogues need to be reaching out to create membership opportunities. If you have 400 members you should have a prospect database of an additional 400 members. Let’s stop keeping all your good work, your incredible events, and your caring for the community a secret. The email newsletter you work so hard to put together -- why limit its distribution to just your members?  

Everyday, your members are connecting to other Jews, connecting to others who could become part of your synagogue. Ask your membership committee to create a referral program. Regular communication with members that asks them to provide names and email addresses for your synagogue to communicate with.  This is an opportunity for you to show the benefits of joining the synagogue. This provides you with the opportunity for getting non-members to learn about you -- on their time and over time.

By focusing on your website content and your database, you will be working toward the long term health of your synagogue.

The Key to Digital Connections
by Yoram Samets

The speed with which communications has changed is almost beyond comprehension. If we just look at the last 100 years, we see a steady rise in the ways in which we are communicating with one another. I for one look back with nostalgia at the simplicity of the past. Even the word we use for communicating with one another is now being described as connecting.  

Still, at the core of our connections strategies for synagogues, we find a strategy that is reminiscent of the way we used to communicate at the grocery store, the kitchen table, or at shul on Shabbos. In fact, we have come full circle with our communications. Over the last 50 years, I believe we've gone from a one-to-one communications strategy to a less personal “push” communication strategy (think TV commercials, or even your synagogue newsletter) and back again. The tools we are using may have changed, but the goal of reaching each other on a personal level to enhance community involvement hasn't.

More sophisticated technology has enabled us to reach hundreds (or thousands) of “friends” and effectively communicate -- one to one -- with the click of the button. As we live this increased personalization, we are becoming more and more select with those we are letting through our gated message barriers -- our phone, our computer, our iPad, etc.  

Synagogues and other Jewish organizations have an advantage over many other "personal" messages we get. By and large, a synagogue connects with a group of people who have opted in, making them predisposed to their messages. The challenge for synagogues is to make sure the communication is relevant and has a mechanism to create further engagement or action.

For most synagogues, their primary communication/connection tools are a printed newsletter, an email newsletter, a website, and Facebook. One of the biggest challenges a synagogue faces is using these four tools generically. Take the email newsletter for example, most still list every event and every holiday in a very linear fashion. They are communicating from their perspective, not from their members’ perspective.  

How would a parent of a religious school student be captured by your email newsletter, or one of your elder congregants, etc? The complexity of membership and membership needs should be reflected in all your communications. For example, change your email newsletter to open with a variety of featured content that is relevant to your different members, and let them find the full content -- preferably on your website -- that links directly to an online event registration or donation form. The same holds true for your website. Mix it up. Put fresh content on daily (or at least, weekly). Drive that content out to a segmented group of your membership, and then link them back to your website.

Successful communication has always been about content -- the right content reaching the right people at the right time. The more you make your content relevant to your audience, both online and off, the more likely they are to respond. If you think about it, things haven’t changed all that much after all.

Embracing Change Online and Off

by Guest Blogger Molly Ritvo

Let’s face it: traditions change. Judaism continues to evolve. For many of us, our contemporary practice

today looks very different from the ways our parents and grandparents observed Judaism. We are

creating new ways to connect with the world in order to embrace contemporary expression and to stay

present. One way that Jewish organizations can remain connected to our current world is by embracing

technology.

I have witnessed many synagogues and Jewish organizations welcome change and utilize the many

robust opportunities that change can bring, such as new leadership, younger members, and more

vibrant programming. I have also witnessed other organizations resist the pull of technology. Having a

dynamic website and engaging content online will help you increase membership and fundraising while

helping your organization engage your existing members,

We live in an online world. We find dates and clothes and houses and couches jobs online. And

synagogue shopping is no different. When a Jewish family moves to a new town, the first place they

will look for a synagogue is online. Synagogue websites tell the story of their congregants; it shares

the vibe and the culture and the joys and challenges and the history of the people who make up your

community. If your synagogue has a boring and unexciting website (or even worse, no website at all),

you are losing prospective members. On the other hand, if your synagogue is utilizing social media, you

will come across as a savvy place that knows how to stay current. If your Rabbi understands that in order

to be an effective leader, she/he needs to reach congregants where they are, and for most of us, that is

online. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70% of adults are active on social networking sites.

If your organization isn't active on social media, you should consider joining audiences online. There are

many resources available that can help you do so. 

Embracing technology will also increase philanthropy. Donors prefer to give online. Do you have

a dedicated donation page where your members can make a contribution or pledge? Successful

fundraising is about making it easy for the donor. Online giving takes away the need for dated

phoneathon pledging and can happen in real time, anywhere, any time of night without waiting for

the postal system. Additionally, online giving is more cost-effective. While it may cost up to $1.25 to

raise every dollar from a direct mail campaign, the cost of raising a dollar online is about 5 cents. And

lastly, and most importantly, online giving is important because of the demographic of who is giving.

Younger, more generous donors are online. According to Network for Good, the largest nonprofit site

for charitable giving, online givers are between the ages of 38-39 and give several times more than

offline donors.

Utilizing a vibrant, colorful website will increase membership and programming because members will

be able to know what kinds of programs your organization offers as you utilize easy-to-read calendar

functionality. Your members, and future members, will be able to receive up-to-date information

and news on their mobile phones, such as if Hebrew School is cancelled due to inclement weather.

Additionally, your teachers can offer lessons online so members who travel in the winter, or perhaps are

house-bound due to illness, can connect and learn with their peers.

Remember when you were a child and experienced the world though all of your senses? Remember

how learning new skills and competencies excited and delighted you? Let’s bring this sense of

wonderment into the Jewish world and embrace all the offerings that come with new technology. Let’s

find our community online and learn how to become digital storytellers as we build websites together

and discover unexpected connections.