Belpres Church
Communications Intern
I attend a highly ranked business school, which fosters a climate of ambition and encourages the incessant pursuit of prestige. The unspoken message is that unless you work for a tech titan or a Big Four company in your field, you aren't very successful. I am pleased to say that this couldn't be farther from the truth. The best experience I have gained to date came not from one of these places, but from the church I grew up in, in Bellevue, WA.
I served as the communications intern at BelPres Church the summer of 2020. I was in charge of creating social media content designed to generate engagement and further the church's vision. I also authored several blog posts to be read by an audience of over 2,000 people, and researched and launched a foundational SEO strategy. Through this internship I gained valuable skills in the areas of video editing, graphic design, social media management, copywriting, and SEO best practices.
BelPres SEO
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Conduct initial assesment
Identify target audience
Brainstorm topics to be known for
Choose keywords
Edit Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook
Optimize website for SEO
Create backlink building plan
BelPres is a relatively large church in the Greater Seattle Area, with about 4,000 congregants. However, despite the size and their prominence in Bellevue, the church was not ranking well in organic searches. So, I was tasked with researching and developing a basic SEO plan for the church to follow.
This was my final project before the internship ended, so I was only able to implement the first few steps of the process. However, from this experience I now have a solid understanding of SEO best practices and I was able to help the church begin developing a stronger online presence.
I began by conducting an initial assessment to see where the church ranked in various searches. Then, I collaborated with the Communications team to identify a target audience and brainstorm topics to be known for. We decided we wanted to be known for discipleship, outreach, community, and racial justice. From there, I put together a list of short-tail and long-tail keywords to use to help boost rankings in these areas. In a comprehensive document I outlined the steps we had taken so far, and why we took them, as well as next steps for the church. These included updating and maintaining the church's Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook accounts, how to optimize the website for SEO (how to use meta descriptions, interlinking pages, etc.), and ideas to create more backlinks to the website.
Engaging Graphics
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