I speak frequently at civic clubs and political organizations on the subject of Christians in the Middle East. My undergrad background was heavy on Balkans studies, and so I spent a lot of time studying the life of Christians under Muslim rule. Little did I realize, of course, when I was taking classes like Ottoman History and Arab Politics back in the early 90's, that someday the topics of Jihad and Dhimmitude would be paramount concerns in the 21^st Century.

In any case, about four months ago one of the organizers of a speech I was giving asked me for my Website address. I gave her my corporate Website. She called back a few hours later and said, "There's nothing about you on here."

Unfortunately, that was a true observation. My corporate site is all about the eServices my company provides, plus it is a shopping site with wholesale merchandise to support fundraising. What this nice lady wanted, however, was information about Glen Chancy the speaker, writer, and former University faculty member. She didn't want information about my company, but about me.

I spent some time considering whether or not to launch a site dedicated to me as a speaker. Obviously, designing and building a site for myself wouldn't really be a problem for me. I have done a couple of them before, to say the least. But, did I need a whole site dedicated to this purpose?

I ticked off the list of things that I needed. I needed a unique URL that would be easy to publicize at my speeches. I needed a bio of myself. I needed a page with news, and since I'd like to do a newsletter, a page for subscribers to sign up. Beyond that, I wanted a photo gallery for some of my Web work, a Bibliography page, and some downloads.

But, at the same time, I didn't want the overhead of maintaining another hosted environment and having to work with the infrastructure. Not to mention trying to market it. I had the skills, but I found myself lacking both time and the drive to take on this personal project.

So the solution for me was using a mini-site on Orthodox Biz. A mini-site is a unique set of pages that all belong to me, but within the overall architecture of Orthodox Biz.

I have a unique URL for the site: www.orthodoxbiz.com/gchancy.html

I put that on all my speaking notes, and this helps people find me. I have all the pages I need, and nothing more. I don't have to maintain the infrastructure, or spend a lot of time with installation and build. Right out of the gate, the mini-site software gave me what I needed and was very easy to use.

Start to finish, my entire mini-site was built in under two hours.

Plus, I get to use my mini-site to attract attention for Orthodoxy. Most of the civic organizations I speak to are populated by non-Orthodox Christians. Routing them to an Orthodox-affiliated Website like Orthodox Biz helps me evangelize in a low-key way. It puts my Orthodoxy front and center, but not in a pushy way. When they visit the site, they are also likely to click around and get to know the Orthodox community. We're normal, every day Americans just like them.

But really, above all else, convenience is the big driver here. Mini-sites are simple to maintain. That is why so many businesses with simple online needs have skipped having Websites altogether and go strictly with a mySpace profile or some other kind of social networking site as their primary focus.

That can work, but of course, for Orthodox Christians there are other considerations. mySpace has its unsavory side, and other sites that might be attractive are also subject to advertising that I just can't abide.

I don't want organizers who are considering booking me for a speech to have an ad in their face asking them if they want to hook up tonight. Chances are if they do, then I'm not their preferred class of speaker anyway.

Of course, potential customers also look me up online. I do a ton of non-profit work, particularly Christian-based charities and relief organizations. Being affiliated with the Orthodox Church is a plus in that crowd. Being lumped in with the crowds that hang out at many social networking sites is definitely NOT a plus.

So for me, even as a professional Web developer, a mini-site just made an awful lot of sense. That's why I'm using it as my primary marketing tool for my speaking engagements, and why I'll be using it for quite some time.

Eventually, I'll probably work up the time and energy to do a full-blown site for myself. But, that won't be anytime soon. Frankly, as busy as I am (day job, side business, two kids, homeschooling, God, etc.) that isn't going to be any time soon.

Glen Chancy is CIO for corfun.com and publisher of Orthodox Biz. You can contact him here .

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 [A Mini-site?]

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