I met Spencer and Ryan in person at the Kentucky Funeral Directors Association convention in June, but Spencer has been a long-time reader of the blog.

Now they’re not just our friends, but our newest sponsor.

Hilltop.net offers some pretty impressive funeral home website software.  In fact, if you can format a simple letter in Microsoft Word, you can use Hilltop’s software to create a beautiful website for your funeral home.

Spencer, Ryan and their staff will help you with the initial planning of your site, including decisions to do with colors, photos of your funeral home and ad copy for the pages you select.  They’ll also help you choose a template from their large collection, which they’ll then customize with your colors and photos.

After that, it’s easy for you or a member of your staff to customize the site and add obituaries.

That’s right:  you can add obituaries at anytime you like!  You don’t have to email the text and photo to someone else to enter for you and the photo can be uploaded at it’s current size.  No cropping or re-sizing required.

I tested their product at the Kentucky convention and was able to add an obituary and photo (start to finish) in less than 2 minutes.

The only thing that could make this a better deal is a low price, and boy, does Hilltop.net deliver.

Sign up for a year and you pay just $29.95 a month!

Want to know more?  Click on the sponsor link at the bottom of this post and others during the next few weeks.

In this day and age, I can’timagine a business not having at minimum a website, let alone an interactive site that engages clients or potential customers.

At Clock Life Story Funeral Home, we believe in technology so strongly that outside of our several bricks and mortar operations, we have created a separate business where the entire value proposition is 100% online.

Families & friends now come to our primary website www.lifestorynet.com to share a thought or a memory.  They also are invited to visit www.eCrematory.com or the www.Todaycenter.com, which are both websites where consumers can (and do!) drive down the cost of their funeral through actively completing some of the functions they are legally able to complete (a self directed funeral, if you will).

Our website engages thousands of consumers daily and millions throughout the year.

In my opinion, funeral service as a whole has barely scratched the surface embracing technology.  We’re doing a dis-service to families.

In closing, I’ll quote Todd Van Beck and with his infamous Mr. Heefy stories, “nothing has changed the face funeral service since the replacement of the gravity based embalming machine!”, when he was referencing the introduction of www.LifeFiles.com, just one of the pioneering funeral technology companies.  We can not ignore technology!

Lately, we’ve been discussing how funeral professionals can use the Internet to reach customers in their service area.

I’ve suggested a well-made website and, for the adventurous, a blog.

Today, I’m suggesting you comment on some blogs as a way to reach your customers.

Why?

First, committed blog readers are fiercely loyal.  A well-made and relevant comment about a specific topic will get you some respect from the blog writer and many of the blog’s readers.

Second, search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) like blogs, because they’re constantly updated, unlike websites that can remain unchanged for years.  The first page of most Google searches now return both website and blog results for the topic queried.

So if you comment on a blog, and remember to mention that you “run a funeral home in Billings, Montana” you will see your comment returned in the results for a search of “funeral homes in billings montana” after a few days or weeks.

Want to get started?  I found a post on the site, Young Widows and Widowers, that could use a funeral director’s touch.  The writer, Lisa Iannucci, shares a letter received from a recent widow, who wants to find ways to memorialize her cremated husband without scattering his remains.

Here’s the link:  What to Do With the Ashes?

Flickr user, Sighthound posted “Delete Marilyn?”

FROM FOXNEWS.com:

IRVINGTON, N.Y. —  An 80-year-old man who thought he’d lost the only recording of his dead wife’s voice can hear her again, any time he wants. When Verizon upgraded Charles Whiting’s telephone service, his wife’s voice, saying, “Catherine Whiting,” disappeared from his voicemail system.

She had died in 2005 and Whiting said he listened to her voice every day for comfort. He blamed Verizon for the loss, saying, “Now they took her voice away.”

But Verizon had archived all the old greetings and messages. Company spokesman John Bonomo said Tuesday that a contractor found the recording and restored it to the new voicemail system.

“I’m glad they rescued it,” Whiting said. “I’m very happy.”

Russell, from MobHappy.com, read this story and posted Dead Happy, in which he decides it’s kinda creepy to listen to the voice of a dead person.  In fact, he even refers to his previous post, Dead Man’s Cellphone, about a new play that deals with a similar issue.

Since Russell runs a site about mobile technology, I can see how he would not have expected the strong reaction he got from his readers.  Here’s a few examples of the comments left about this story:

I can actually comment from a personal experience. About 2 years ago my father passed away (at 63 years old) suddenly. My sister had been living abroad for 6 month prior and luckily had returned only a week before we lost him. As such she didn’t have a US cell phone, so she started using his. For about 2 weeks after the funeral, every time I called her, she picked up. But then, I called and got the voicemail - which was his voice. It literally floored me. It was my Dad’s voice, the one I never expected to hear again.  ANDREW SEIGEL

My mother died suddenly just before Christmas in 2004. I have her last voice mail message to me still on my cell and every 30 days the system will offer to delete it for me. I never do even though it’s not particularly sentimental (and she never says “I love you” which sometimes I wish she had). Still, it comes up as a surprise sometimes when I seem to need it most. I suspect many more people have done this than we hear of in the news.  TORI

My father died of cancer in 1998 and I never really got to know him, although we tried to become friends during his final months. My (then) stepmother stopped answering the phone after his death and I would call the house just to listen to his voice on the answering machine. I completely understand how the guy feels, even with the difference in relation to our dearly departed.  AARON

I received an invitation from my friend, Robin Heppell, to register for an online demonstration today at 12:00 noon, Eastern Time.  That’s just 2 hours from now.

If you’d like to learn how to “Get Preneed Leads” from Robin, click here to register.  It’s free and you just might learn a few things.

Robin has also created the site, Preneed Referrals, to help funeral directors with their preneed lead generation.

Even if you don’t register for today’s demonstration, make sure you check out Rob’s great ideas at Preneed Referrals.

Spencer commented on the post, Tim and Robin Discuss “Funeral Home Blogging”, and was gracious enough to answer my last question:  Do funeral homes REALLY need the Internet? 

First off, allow me to thank Tim for such a great blog, and for the opportunity to write this post.  I’m not a writer so please bear with me as I try to bring out some points that I believe are important.  I believe that Funeral Homes are just now starting to see the plus in getting a website.  My goal is to make it something that they find useful, something that helps their business.

Since this post is about Blogs and Web Site, let’s look at the meaning of both words:

Blog:   A frequently updated journal or diary—the first thing that pops into mind is: happenings in everyday life: such as….a funny thing happened today as I was driving down Elm St…….

Web Site:  A website collection of pages of text, images, and other files (such as audio) that make up a company online presence.

I would like to take a look first at what a website should be, or is, to a business.

Bill Gates once said: “There are two types of businesses in today’s world.  Those that are failing, and those that have an online presence”.

Your online site is much like a fingerprint—it marks you, and there are parts about each site that are different.  With blogs it is harder to customize it to fit YOU.  With ONE look when you first go to a site you can tell if they are using Blogging software, Front Page (or something close) or if they have a custom, professional website.   A website must FIT you.  If it doesn’t, you won’t have good success with it.

With the World-Wide-Web there has been unlimited possible ways for people to get their message out for others to see.  There is the younger age, “personal” way of blogging it, and there is the professional way of doing it through a traditional website.

Funeral Homes have always been a place of dignity, and a place where respect is given to the family that has lost a loved one.  That dignity must not be thrown out the window for the sake of keeping up with the 21st century or just to save some money.   A professional website speaks of care, and something that takes work, and maybe some money, to put together and keep up.  While a blog is, and can be a lot of work, in most cases it is free (or very low cost), and can’t be customized to where it can be like a fingerprint.

When visiting a business website most people are looking for something pertinent to that field. If you go to a Hotel Website, you are most likely looking for rates, and maybe photos of the rooms. If you go to a Funeral Home website most likely you are looking for an obit, or directions, or to learn more about the place you are interested in making your arrangements.  This is all much more possible, and easier with a website, than a blog.  You can control the inner workings with a website with ease, and you can make it work FOR you and not you for it.

With a website you have much, much more freedom to add, and work on your website to make it reflect YOU. Adding forms, photo galleries, download galleries, video files, email lists, guestbook, calendar, Shopping Cart, and audio files are much easier, and some of those might not even be possible with a blog.  Some blogging software doesn’t allow the owner to have Java script, or Flash.  This isn’t to be something you have to work around…this should be a tool that works for you.
 Since the first blog (I believe the first blog was started in 1997) there has been a place and a time for a person/company to have, and use a Blog.  

Blogs have been and always will be an important item in today’s online world, there is no denying that.  As of Dec. 2007 there was an estimated 112 million blogs.  But the traditional website still has the major role in the online world.  

I feel that in most cases a blog’s usefulness ends at the place of Professional Business.  As I think about it, a blog might be best suited for a Funeral Director.  The Funeral Director can update it with either pertinent information or everyday like facts.  If a link is placed on the Funeral Home website to that blog, that is up to the Funeral Home.   Maybe the best way to mix a blog and a website for a funeral home is the way Dale’s friends at geibfuneral.com do.  I must say I was impressed with the way the blog was integrated into the site.

In the last post by Tim, titled Do Funeral Homes REALLY Need the Internet?, he says:

Does this mean that funeral homes should run out and get the latest, greatest technology, just because the kids have it?  You can answer that for yourself (hint:  NO).

But it does mean that the day is quickly approaching when those 20 and 30 year olds will be deciding which funeral home to use for dad’s service or grandma’s memorial.  And they don’t pick up phone books anymore.

I agree!  The people you are serving today are the ones who use the internet to do their searching.  If you aren’t there….how do they find you? 

I guess my ending line would be: Your site should be YOU.  If YOU and your Funeral Home are more of a tech savvy, updated FH, then blog it baby!

As I type this my company is in the process of developing some new software that will help funeral homes with the issue of websites.  When it is completed I hope to send a sample to Tim and let him check it out and give us his thoughts.  I think he will be impressed with the ease of making, producing, and updating a website.

I’ve sparked a bit of a controversy amongst a few readers with my post, Tim and Robin Discuss “Funeral Home Blogging”.  While some of my readers were busy discussing Robin Heppell’s beauty, Spencer took me to task for suggesting that funeral homes could benefit from blogs and not focusing on the need for a regular website.

Dale quickly lept to my defense and reminded Spencer that funeral homes can do good work with both a website and a blog.  He even pointed to his friend, Brian Hanner at Geib Funeral Home who has both.

So which is it?  Are blogs great for certain funeral directors or are they a waste of time?  Can a funeral home operate without any connection to the Internet?  Or will such a firm shrivel up and *poof* cease to exist?

I’ll offer my opinions here, but I caution you to take even my suggestions with a few thousand grains of salt.  Every time I hear someone offer insight in to the future of anything (but especially technology) I’m reminded of those supermarket tabloids that endlessly herald new year’s predictions from some quack astrologist, with the requisite Nostradamus clipart and tales of upcoming death and destruction.

“There will be a huge earthquake in late November that kills 100,000 people!” 
“Balinese woman will give birth to the Anti-Christ!” 
“Major U.S. investment firm will go bankrupt, company sold for pennies on the dollar to maverick cult leader!”

Seems no one has a crystal ball that clearly predicts the future.  So why do we all like to make such predictions?  Because it’s fun!

So here’s my take on technology and the funeral industry.

The Internet is HUGE.  Absolutely mammoth, with billions upon billions of websites webpages touting everything from wigs for cats to organic burial. 

And the Internet isn’t just about selling products; sites like MySpace and Facebook attract millions of visitors each month and have become, for the youngest among us, the #1 destination on the web.  Fact is, while many of us used to hang out behind the gym to catch up with our friends, kids today hang out just as much on their friends’ MySpace pages.

I can already hear the phrase “So what?” coming.  And I can agree, to a point.  Does it really matter that kids today use the Internet to keep in touch with their friends?  Don’t older generations still make telephone calls to stay in touch?

Of course they do, which means funeral homes are perfectly safe from technology changes, right?

Consider, for a moment, the way an elderly person, a middle-aged person, a 30-something person and a 20-something would get a message to a friend living in another state:

ELDERLY:  Write a letter on paper.  Stuff it in an envelope and mail it.  Might call, if it’s important, but won’t want to spend money on long distance call.

MIDDLE-AGE:  Pick up the phone.  Or fax a letter.  Or email.

30-SOMETHING:  Call on the cellphone (many 30-somethings have dropped their home phone line).  Instant message via Internet.  Send an email.

20-SOMETHING:  Text from cellphone/mp3 player/video player.  Send instant message on Internet.  Write post on MySpace blog.  Send friend request on MySpace.  Check out friend’s Facebook account.

To serve elderly or middle-age folks, you’ll just need a phone and a mailing address.  And while the more progressive ones might want to send you an email, most older folks think a computerized message is too impersonal and not appropriate for important communications like funeral arrangements.

But when 20- and 30-somethings routinely use cellphones and text messages to break off a relationship, shop for a car or propose marriage, we have to take notice.

Does this mean that funeral homes should run out and get the latest, greatest technology, just because the kids have it?

You can answer that for yourself (hint:  NO).

But it does mean that the day is quickly approaching when those 20 and 30 year olds will be deciding which funeral home to use for dad’s service or grandma’s memorial.  And they don’t pick up phone books anymore.

An article by Jennifer Bingaman, from the Indepedent Florida Alligator (University of Florida) describes the death of phonebooks for the university crowd:

Andrea Booher owns a phone book, but she never uses it.“It’s a waste of paper,” Booher said.

The 20-year-old aerospace engineering student said she usually uses the Internet when she needs to look something up.

In response to another online article, titled Please Stop Delivery the Phone Book to My House, David says:

I cannot believe advertisers actually still pay to be in it…I would think that throwing my money on the ground with my company named typed on it would be more beneficial to them!

This trend would suggest that funeral homes need at least some presence online, in an Internet Yellow Pages perhaps?, to reach the younger crowd.

But how does anyone search the Internet for a funeral home?  Do they go to a Yellow Page website?  Or do they use a search engine like Google or Microsoft Live! or Yahoo!?

In my opinion, funeral homes need to control their online advertising the same way they control their off-line advertising.  And while funeral homes often cede a lot of control about the way their yellow pages ad looks or the exact structure of an ad in a church bulletin, there’s a lot more control to be had over the look, feel and content of a website.

Of course, this still fails to answer the question:  Does a funeral home need a blog or a website?

So my answer is maybe/maybe not.

Stumped, aren’t you?

To put it more simply, it really depends upon the funeral home.

You should know that I also don’t think every funeral home needs a yellow pages ad.  And many funeral homes have billboards that don’t work for them.  Still others sponsor little league teams when they shouldn’t, while others have an email address they don’t need.

Fact is, many funeral homes can’t even figure out the basics.  Ever seen a truly hideous brochure for a funeral home?  I have.  More likely, you’ve seen a bunch that are boring. 

Brochures, newspaper ads and flyers are meant to be exciting, like Sunday brunch.  Imagine you dress up in your finest clothes, drive down to the local lakeside inn, pay $20-40 each for a scrumptious brunch and find out that the buffet line features nothing but cream-of-wheat, oatmeal and grits. 

You’d be disappointed, right?

The same thing happens when a potential client opens your brochure and sees clunky writing, dark and boring pictures of chairs in your funeral home and a history of you and your firm where they were expecting to find out what you can do for them.

How can we expect that firm, the one that can’t even figure out how to design an effective brochure, to create and maintain a moderately-successful website designed to bring in customers, not scare them away.

Here’s a disappointing experience I had lately:  Searching for contact information for area fire departments for a special project, I got frustrated clicking through page after page to find phone numbers, addresses and email addresses for the organization which had created the website.  In some cases, the contact information was buried three or four pages into the site, with specific clicks on each page required to reach the next blockade.

Funeral home websites are usually just as bad, with multiple clicks required to get to the “Contact Page”.  Even worse, many of these sites are built by high-priced web designers.

But back to the main point:  Do funeral homes REALLY need the Internet?

If they want to succeed in the future, they do.  Of course, using the Internet means figuring out HOW to use the Internet.  Otherwise, spectacular failures lie ahead.

More on this later, as our readers continue to discuss how important both blogs and websites can be in the industry today.

I got a call the other day from a panicked funeral director because a family handed a CD of photographs and a music CD and asked him to make them a memorial video.

He didn’t have a clue how to do it.

This immediately reminded me of his quandry just a few months ago when another family asked him to show a video they had created; he didn’t know what to do because he didn’t have a big TV or projector system.

When I asked him why his funeral home, the leader in his large, metropolitan area, didn’t have the equipment, he answered with a roundabout answer that the corporate offices only gave them one big TV and DVD player for a 10-plus location group of funeral homes.

Not surprisingly, this funeral home group routinely sells $10,000 funerals and $3000 cemetery spaces.

How long do you think they’ll be the market leader if they can’t figure out that their clients want state-of-the-art technology?

Want to get a better grip on Web 2.0?  Want to know what in the heck “Web 2.0″ even is?

Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

Web 2.0, when used in the context of analysis and promotion of web-technology, refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

Basically, these are sites about sharing and collaborating, rather than just reading information and being static.

I’ve found a nice, big list of web 2.0 sites that you might find interesting.

From sites that let you share your iPod music to online calendars and even sites that let you create a fundraising charity, this list has 1000 great links!

Check it out by clicking this sentence.

This is part of a larger series of articles about creating a free website for your funeral home. 

The first article was published Friday, titled Cheap (sometimes FREE) Company Websites.

In the next few paragraphs, I’ll describe the issues to consider when choosing a presentation style and I’ll tell you what a blogroll is and how to use it.

 All blog hosting companies offer you several free presentation styles (also called a template or theme) that will help make your blog or website unique.  I use the WordPress template called “Connections” for Final Embrace.  For Treasured Memory Bears, I chose “Ambiru.”

Each template has different features, so try out a few of them before you decide.  When designing Final Embrace, I wanted to have a site that was easy to ready, but that had links of the side for easy reference.  This meant a two-column layout with the blogroll and other information on the right side.

Since Treasured Memory Bears is designed to look like a typical website, I chose a theme that had one column in the middle and the page links on the top.  The “Ambiru” theme also features a customizable header, which allows me to insert a different picture in the top portion of the site.

Once you’ve chosen a theme, you might want to fill a blogroll.

I hear you - ”What’s a blogroll?”

Look to the right column, and below the section called “categories.”  See all the names of companies and other blogs?  That’s my blogroll.  It allows me to gather, in one place, all the people or companies that my readers might need to search out.

When I read a new blog that I find exciting or interesting, I check out the blogroll.  It lets me figure out who the writer knows and I often find a new favorite writer or resource.

For a traditional website, the blogroll can act as a quick link section.  Imagine gathering the links for Social Security or your recommended estate planner or for the VA in one place for your clients?

Blogroll names are added in the administrative sections of your blog provider’s website.  Adding a link is as easy as listing a display name (what you want the reader to see) and the url (that http:// thingy that comes up in the address bar for a website) for the page you want to feature.

Tomorrow, I’ll describe the pleasure and pain of comment management!