One of my favorite blogs to read is Startup-Review, a case studies blog profiling Web 2.0 companies like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube and highlight how they got to their elite status.

In their most recent case study, they profile YouTube … and give some statistics on YouTube’s place in the Internet video market … pretty interesting, so I thought I’d share:

• Fastest growing website in Internet history
• On average 100 million videos streamed per day
• 65,000 new video clips are uploaded every day
• More than 13 million unique visitors per month. An average user spends 30 minutes on YouTube and most uploaders are repeat visitors themselves.
• 58% of Internet videos are watched on YouTube
• 20% to 30% of traffic volume is from the US
• Wide range of user demographics, however the largest segment of users is the 18 to 35 year-olds.
• 30% to 40% of the content is copyrighted. There is a clear correlation between eyeballs and copyrighted content.

Church Redone has an interesting list titled 10 Ways to Keep Me From Discovering Your Church. They are:

1. Don’t have a website
2. Be completely inactive in the community
3. Don’t answer your phone
4. Allow misinformation
5. Lack clear signage
6. Have insufficient parking/seating
7. Ignore Visitors
8. Respond half-heartedly to inquiries
9. Be evasive about your beliefs
10. Lie to me

Read the whole post here.

Raj at Performancing has a nice post about using WordPress as a content management sytem.

He lists these benefits as reasons to use WordPress as a CMS:

1. Undated URLs — Change the permalink structure. Click on the “Options” tab then “Permalinks.”
2. Posts vs pages — On most of the sites I do with WordPress, the permalink structure looks pretty much the same for posts and pages.
3. Contact forms — I use Chip’s contact form and love it … I think I’m getting more response from people as you don’t have to copy and paste an email address, etc.
4. About Us page

See also how to finetune your WordPress blog with this excellent article.

You might also check out the whole series on using WordPress as a content management system I did recently …

Nathan and I have been releasing free WordPress themes left and right it seems like and I thought I’d take a moment to list them all so you can see the work we’re doing ….

Here are Nathan’s themes:

• RockinSuckerfish - an incredible theme that oughta take the WP by storm! It’s got drop down menus instead of a sidebar! Download (492) | Test run
• RockinDark - one of Nathan’s best … a dark 3 column theme - Download | Test run
• RockinSoft 3 Column - Download
• RockinSoft 2 Column - Download
• RockinBizRed - I still can’t believe more people haven’t discovered this theme. It’s got a super red color scheme … easily modifiable for a business or church. Download
• RockinBlue & Green - Nathan’s first theme, a 2 column based on my RockinBlue

Here are my free themes:

• RockinBlue Web 2.0 - yeah, a 2 column, web 2.0-styled theme with big fonts and an easy to change graphical header that includes the Photoshop file - Download | Test run
• RockinGreen - One of my favorites .. a three column green theme with content on the left and sidebars on the right - Download
• RockinMinimal 3 Column - a stripped down theme … Download
• RockinMinimal 2 Column - same, only even more stripped down - Download
• RockinPaper - One of my hottest themes out there in terms of downloads, a 3 column blue theme with a newspaper feel and style. Download
• RockinBiz - I’m really fond of it, but it’s my theme … I designed it for businesses, but like Nathan’s RockinBizRed, it could easily be used by a church too - Download
• RockinBlue 3 Column - Wow, still can’t believe how fast this one took off Download
• RockinBlue 2 Column - The theme that started it all … Download

See all our themes at the WordPress Theme Viewer here.

Oh, and don’t forget Micah Fries new theme StraightLaced … which is based on my RockinBlue theme with permission …

By the way, if you want a custom WordPress theme design or a modification of a theme, we’re doing that … check out our rates here.

While doing some research on an article I’m writing for a trade magazine, I noticed that Google had added four new features to its Local Business Center product. If you’re not familiar with Google Local Business Center, take some time to check it out. After you register as the business owner, you can edit the description of your church including hours of operation, and an overview of your ministry. You can see what Cory has entered on the overview information tab for Quail Springs Baptist Church.

Now with the new features you can do so much more.

1. Enhance Your Listing with Photos
You can add up to 10 photos to your church’s listing. Now potential visitors searching for churches in their area on Google maps can see what is shown in the example I found for the Granger Community Church. Read More→