Guide your Readers to Become Interactive

by Karen Schenk

Communities of evangelism and discipleship are built on a foundation of strong content. People come to the Internet looking for information so content is the primary point of contact. Every article is assessed from the perspective of:

• Is this article meeting a felt need?
• How can the reader of this article be connected with either chat or mentoring?
• Where will the gospel be shared?

Draw Visitors Deeper

Excellent content draws visitors deeper into the ministry of each site by:

Meeting the immediate felt needs of the visitor. Each person coming to your site is seeking something. Most often they arrive on your site due to a felt need being explored on a search engine. Regardless of what their purpose is for coming to the site, you can offer them the hope of Christ. You can do this through linking to a lifestory with a hot spot off a hook article. WomenTodayMagazine.com has an article about frizzy hair that has been a leading article for over four years. One woman came to chat and there was led to Christ as a direct result of this silly little article. The article links directly to another which shares the message of Christ.

Providing an opportunity to interact and ask questions. Each article links the reader to an interactive option. Some of those are: mentoring, discussion boards, topical chat sessions, open chat, online courses, and prayer requests.

Presenting the gospel or Holy Spirit message. Every article needs careful analysis to determine how the reader can be guided to a place where they will hear the message of Christ. The goal is to have the Gospel only one click away from any hook article. The gospel is shared in lifestories, articles that address felt-need, video clip gospel presentations and various gospel presentations.

Creating opportunities for follow-up. The simple act of logging into a chat room on any of the TruthMedia network of websites or writing an email addressing a felt need will immediately connect any of our readers with a trained and caring person. The people are trained to transition from the expressed felt need to share a message of hope. There are many creative ways that they are doing this. Opportunities are given for those who respond to one of our sites to continue the relationship with the mentor, to participate in chat, to engage in an online discipleship course and to sign up for that various resourceful newsletters.

Equipping readers with opportunity for a relationship with Christ.There is a distinct journey that a reader will go on when they arrive on a website. They usually come seeking information on a topic unrelated to their personal relationship with Christ. Through strategic linking, readers are offered articles that share the gospel, and then connected with chat or mentoring to help them to discover Christ or to grow deeper in their faith. Once they make a decision, guide them through the steps to deepen their walk with God.