Ethan Linden isn't your grandfather's rabbi. As leader of ShirChadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie Linden, 32, writes aJewish faith blog and chats about baseball and news headlines onTwitter. He's looking to broadcast interviews and religiousdiscussions live online.
The story was different early last year when Linden moved to ShirChadash from Massachusetts and started beefing up a feeble webpresence with a congregation member.
"To put it as nicely as I can, the website looked like it wasfrom 1981. There were gerbils running the inside of it," Linden saidlaughing.
Shir Chadash plugged into free social media but also hired a NewOrleans web design firm to build a new website that went live inlate 2010. The expense, Linden said, was necessary to appeal toyounger members and better include current members.
"For us, it's sort of an identity remake," he said.
Shir Chadash is one of thousands of houses of worship nationwideenlisting professional firms to overhaul their online identity. Asdemand grows alongside a desire to attract younger and newermembers, New Orleans web design firms say religious communities arean emerging market for their services.
In New Orleans, churches anchor just about every neighborhood andare synonymous with education in many areas. The Archdiocese of NewOrleans encompasses 108 churches alone.
At New Orleans-based Design the Planet, the firm that designedthe Shir Chadash website, churches are a small but growing part ofits project base. Owner Adrienne Folse said word-of-mouth hasboosted demand for church website design and branding work in recentmonths.
Custom designed church websites cost between $7,000 and $10,000and take about two months to create. Design the Planet also includeswebsite management training for church staff.
Design the Planet is working on projects for two churches now,including the Tulane Catholic Center. Folse said churches thatignored the Internet or relied on volunteers to keep up theirwebsites are rethinking their approach. Budgets are limited, shesaid, but churches are spending.
"They are realizing that they have to advertise to get in frontof people," Folse said. "Also, the older their congregation gets,they're starting to realize, 'Hey, we need to start getting morepeople and those people need to be younger.'"
After Hurricane Katrina scattered many congregations, websiteshave helped distant members reconnect and make donations. Now, ontop of managing websites and social media profiles, many churchesare folding visual graphics and audio into services and streamingsermons online.
"We're spending money," said Travis Manint, media arts directorat Vintage Church in Uptown and Metairie.
Since opening in 2008, Vintage Church has more than 250 members,many younger than 30.
Sunday services are a mesh of live music and video displays. Atrendy church website guides users through edited video, socialmedia pages and updated posts from the pastor.
Manint manages the church website and video editing in-house.Still, he said he consults with area churches interested in doingthe same with professional help. Businesses, he said, should takenote.
"It's kind of a silly thing to not pay any attention to thismarket," Manint said.
Thomas O'Connor, a professor of marketing at the University ofNew Orleans, agrees. In general, he said homing in on a demographicis a good business decision that allows small firms to developexpertise.
Knowledge of how churches operate and how to address their needscan be particularly valuable, he said. O'Connor notes that news ofgood work can spread quickly through a congregation and to otherchurches. The same, he said, goes for bad work.
"For a firm that has a sense for what they're doing, it could bea very, very good specialty market," O'Connor said.
Even so, few New Orleans web design firms market their servicesdirectly to churches.
Judy Weitz, CEO of Compucast Web Media in Metairie, said there isdefinitely a desire to get online among churches.
"For a while, I think (churches) weren't sure if religion had aplace on the web, but it definitely does," Weitz said.
In recent years, Compucast has designed websites for theArchdiocese of New Orleans and several Catholic parishes and groupsin the area. Still, Weitz said she considers her work with localchurches and nonprofits as donations, as she is more flexible onpricing and projects often starts work based on with personal ties.
"I'm not knocking on church doors," Wetiz said.
Andre Greenwood, owner of Iconographx Inc. in New Orleans, agreesit can be tricky to approach a church without a prior relationship.
Greenwood was a member of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church beforeIconographx designed its website in 2001 and has been updating itover the decade. This year, Iconographx is working with churches inColumbus, Ga., and Philadelphia. Both of those churches saw theFranklin Avenue Baptist Church site and contacted the company.
"There is a market there. It's just a matter of trying to reachthat market," Greenwood said, adding that he prefers references.
Rabbi Linden said he and the Shir Chadash congregation areenjoying a renewed online life. Google analytics help the synagoguesee where online interest is coming from. Monthly newsletters areposted online and emailed to avoid mailing costs.
When asked what's next, Linden pauses before answering.
"I'm going to make myself into a hologram so I can just appear inanybody's house at any time," Linden said, pausing again. "OK, I'mkidding."
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