July 2006

This monthly column features some of the best internet resources for ministries around. If you'd like to contribute a favorite resource, we'd like to include it! Let's get started...

Top Links:

CafePress
Maybe you don't feel like setting up a fundraiser selling t-shirts for your group. That's understandable. You can, however, offer quality stuff to sell on your organization's website. CafePress will take your logo (or whatever) and put it on a shirt, hat, mug, mouse pad, calendar, clock, or whatever...they'll print it and ship it to whoever orders it. You don't have to buy 50 shirts just to get the one you want. Customize your own stuff, or set up your own little store at no cost.

Writing testimonies for non-Christians
The power of a personal testimony of faith can't be overstated. If you're going to give your testimony, the people who need to hear it are...you guessed it: non-Christians. We Christians sometimes slip into our own language. Write your testimony, and avoid using Christianese, with these simple tips. There are two pages here:
1. Writing your testimony
2. Writing a testimony that targets non-Christians
Have fun!

Teen Alcohol & Drug Abuse
Most churches avoid dealing directly with issues like drug and alcohol abuse...until they have a serious problem. WebMD is a great place to start, with articles about the drugs themselves, prevention strategies, finding treatment, how to spot the signs of drug abuse, and more. A great resource to pass on to parents.

Devotionals:

No devotional link this month. Instead, I'd like to suggest an extension to your existing ministry: creating your own devotional.

It's likely that someone involved with your ministry regularly writes down their thoughts about, or their findings on, a particular Bible verse or passage. Why not take those words and compile them for future use? Sure, your kids or teens have already heard it...but what about everyone else? Someone, somewhere could use the same information. If you have a website, you can post each new devotional. Like Tony's Top Tips, For Him and Them, and Street to Street, you can create an archive of past entries.

Why not make the most of what's already being done? Someone you know may have been waiting for just such an opportunity. Someone you don't know may have been waiting to read just those words. In case you doubt me, here's some interesting info...it's a list of all of YPN's website visitors' home countries.

If YPN gets visitors like that in half of a year, imagine how many people might be touched by your ministry in the coming decade...all because someone took the time to put on the web the work they're already doing!

The online devotionals can be posted as separate web pages...but they're much better done as a blog. If you're not sure about blogging, you might brush up on the idea in a previous Top Tips issue. If you have any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to help you get started.

Website Faux Pas (Wrap-Up):

Let's Review:
So far, we've covered most of the common problems that plague ministry websites...I'll list these as things not to do:
Don't use huge background images
Don't use special fonts
Don't use pictures of words
Don't assume everyone's using the same computer
Don't use gimmicky, tacky stuff

There's one missing from the list: if you're going to use music on your site, make sure you give visitors the ability to shut it off. Some visitors will see your site at work, and a site that suddenly plays loud music will almost always be shut off instantly to avoid annoying their coworkers. Others surf the web while listening to their own music, and you'll usually lose that battle. The bottom line? If you use music, use a music player that allows them to stop, play, and even change the volume of your music.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's cover this month's tech topic: Web Hosting.

Most ministries are on a budget. If we can get something for free, we often jump at the chance...and websites are no exception. There are lots of companies that offer free web hosting, and many ministries take advantage of this offer. I'd like to suggest that you avoid most of them for the following reasons.

Banner Ads
Most free websites are provided in exchange for putting an ad on your website. Most are at the top of the page, some are at the bottom, a few are at the top AND the bottom. Yahoo's free sites have a right-hand sidebar that can be closed or minimized. In exchange for the free website, they put ads in front of your visitors. This may or may not be helpful. Some of the ads may contain questionable content. Some may lead visitors to questionable websites. All of them will reduce the effectiveness of your website.

Drive-By Downloads
Some free hosting sites offer their advertisers a hard-to-beat bonus: when visitors come to their site, a small advertising program is downloaded to their computer without their knowledge. These programs create pop-up ads while you're on the internet, which nobody wants. At worst, the programs can cause problems with your computer. My own computer was infected several years ago, which led me to research the problem. The culprit? A Christian band from Texas. They didn't know what was happening to their visitors...when they found out, they changed web hosts immediately.

Pop-Ups
Some free hosting sites will give you an ad-free page, but create pop-up ads for your visitors. Your website looks nicer than it would with banner ads, but visitors are annoyed at the one or two (sometimes as many as 5) pop-ups.

What should we do?
If you're looking for free hosting, look at a lot of hosting services. There are a few out there that really do offer quality hosting for Christian organizations, with or without ads. If you can't find any of them, I heartily recommend that you cough up between $60 and $100 per year to host your website. When you pay for hosting, you should have complete control over the visitor's experience. You should have complete control over your website, which you don't have with many free hosts.

To find web hosting services, simply go to your favorite search engine and type "free web hosting". Google says they have 422 million websites for you...there are plenty to go around. If you really can't find what you need, let me know. I'll be happy to help you find a service that meets both your budget and your needs.

That's it for now. I'll be back next month with more information on using the internet to enhance your ministry...and, of course, let YouthPartnersNET know if you have a resource you'd like to share. Have a great day!

Tony

Tony Scialdone has been online since 1997, but he isn't a web pioneer or an innovator or a groundbreaker. He is, however, a geek. In addition to spending almost enough time with his family, Tony operates Straight Street Design, a web design and hosting company in Morrison, Colorado. He manages the YouthPartnersNET website, and recently completed the new website design for YPN.

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