I love Canva and I feel no shame about that fact. The professional graphic design community loves to make fun of Canva users. I, on the other hand, think Canva is a great tool: an accessible alternative to expensive softwares. If everyone could be a pro at Adobe Illustrator, that would be great! But that's just not reality. As someone who is fairly comfortable with both ends of the software spectrum, I want to teach you a few ways to level up your Canva usage. 1) Instead of the "Lift" text...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Are you making the most of Facebook Events? If you're putting on any sort of outreach event in the coming weeks, I'd encourage you to take a few minutes to set up a Facebook Event. Then, use the list below to spread the word! You might be surprised how much visibility you can gain for free (or just a few dollars). Rule #0: Make absolutely certain that you include a location in your event wherever you can. If you do, you'll automatically be added to the list of events for your city/town, which...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Here are 3 ideas for the header of your Facebook page: This is valuable real estate! Everyone who visits your page sees this first. What kind of impression do you want to make? Here are 3 ideas in order of least to most effort: 1) A candid photo of your community I've said it once, I'll say it again: You cannot go wrong with happy, smiling faces! Ideally, this is candid, not posed. 2) Your logo with text Another option is your logo with some simple text underneath. The background can be a...
19 days ago • 1 min read
It's the little things... Churches and schools do a lot of link sharing. Think about it: sign-up forms, landing pages, devotional resources, Facebook events... Using phrases like "Click here" or "Learn more" on your website or social media pages isn't always the most compelling way to communicate. In fact, those phrases can do more harm than good. Here are five tips to help increase clicks and generate buzz when sharing links: Tip #1: Reframe the sign-up. If you're linking to a sign-up form,...
26 days ago • 2 min read
The quickest test you can perform on your website: I was a little long-winded last week, so I have a quick tip for you this Friday. 🤔 How many words do you have on your website's homepage? Is it the right number? Find out: Click and drag to highlight all the text on your homepage. Copy it. Make sure to grab all the text from various interactive elements or gallery-style sections that have more than one view. Exclude content in the main navigation as well as the footer of the page. Paste it...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
There are a million things I love about my job, but logo design is near the top of the list. Watch me carry out my logo design process with Beautiful Savior (Oakley), one of the WELS 100 in 10 missions. I have permission from the pastor to share. 😉 Step 1: Understand the Client During my Discovery Process, I gather a lot of information about goals for the project, the organization's mission and location, and the demographics of the area. Every decision I make is guided by the information I...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
The Power of a Facebook Group After reading the subject line, you may have the misconception that I mean to create your own Facebook group for your church or school. No, I'm suggesting something much simpler than that. I'm referring to the Facebook groups that already exist as local community hubs. Ex: My two closest neighborhoods in Cincinnati have a Facebook group called "Oakley/Hyde Park Moms and Friends" that has 21 THOUSAND members. 🤯 It's extremely active. At any given time on any given...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
My thoughts on AI I've been a pretty outspoken AI hater to this point. Let the record show that I still am. However, I have found it to be a real powerhouse in a few specific contexts. Keep reading... 🛑 3 ways AI is not useful: As a replacement for any form of human communication (without disclosure) I recently got a text reminder from a workout studio I had visited once. The text was from "Heidi," asking if I'd like to sign up for a monthly membership. I replied to decline. Almost...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Next time you run an event, try this: (jump to the 💥 emoji to skip the backstory) I'm going to share a Google calendar tip in a second, but please read this as a lesson in communicating not in the method that you think you're supposed to, but in the method that your audience prefers. This was born out of some recent confusion about the date and time of a launch team event, even after my husband sent a few emails about it. After a short discussion with our team, we decided that calendar...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Go from recorded livestream to nicely edited sermon & short-form social media clips in about an hour. Setting the stage: I am starting from a recorded livestream of the entire worship service. The video file is shared with me via Google Drive. I'm working with a MacBook Air, an iPad Pro, and a Canva Pro subscription. This is not a Canva tutorial, but a description of my workflow. Use YouTube to help you with your chosen video editing software. Step 1: Download the entire livestream. Step 2:...
2 months ago • 2 min read