Solutio Blog

Well, it's that time of year where all of our parish websites see a spike in traffic.  Whether it's visitors or parishioners, everyone is wondering when are Mass times for Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  Here's my idea: Optimize your sites for this time of year!  If you're wondering what I'm talking about, then I encourage you to check out www.BlessedSacramentWichita.com.  The pastor has a short YouTube video about the nativity scene in front of the church.  There is a video about the O Antiphons, a video message from Pope B-16, and another video about the Christmas story.  At a time when you may have more traffic in a week span than you have at any other point in the year, your parish website can be a valuable place to catechize, evangelize and draw more people into your parish life.  Have a blessed Christmas season - talk to you again in 2012!

If you are anything like millions of other Americans (including my mother, my wife... and myself), then you may have purchased something for yourself or a family member/friend on Black Friday.  If you fall into that category, then you may have also fallen into another rapidly growing category: shoppers who purchased something online on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  According to recently released results, online sales on Black Friday were up 24.3% compared to last year.  For Cyber Monday, the number of sales increased 22% to account for $1.25 billion being spent on that day.  Here's what this tells me - people like to make transactions online.

What I believe parishes need to do now is capitalize on this ever growing trend.  Setting up automatic withdrawal for tithing has been around for quite a while.  What I'm talking about is allowing parishioners to pay for event registration online.  Allow people to contribute to various causes and initiatives online.  For example, if your parish has a benefit auction every year, then allow people to make donations online in case they couldn't make it to the event.  Some parishes even allow their members to pay for various dues online, such as religious education fees, Knights of Columbus dues, etc.  If parishes adopt these practices, people will make use of them.  Black Friday and Cyber Monday have taught us that online transactions are only going to continue to increase.

We have been working hard to prepare for the upcoming International Catholic Stewardship's annual conference in Orlando.  We will be speaking at the conference, and Solutio is proud to announce that we are partnering with the ICSC this year as a Gold Sponsor.  If you're going to be at the conference, please come listen to our talk at 2:00p on Tuesday, October 25.  And remember to stop by our booth and pick up your homemade cookie!  See you in Orlando!