I got to do something really nice last week. As an Orthodox Christian and Web professional, I'm always thrilled whenever I get to help out new ministries get started. That is why being able to help the online presence of a new ministry dedicated to helping our missionary families was such an honor.

A little background first. Two of the ladies from St. Stephen in Longwood were inspired by Father David Rucker at the OCMC to found a new ministry. Dubbed, "Mission Re-Charge," the goal of the new ministry is to help mission families recover their intimacy and familial bonds through vacation fun. Mission Re-Charge will be organizing one week stays at the attractions in Orlando for mission families after they return from the mission field.

In this blog, I'd like to just go through some of the checklist of things that a Web marketer launching something new like this would go through.

The first thing we did was write a press release. We published that press release on Orthodox Biz, and then massaged the URL for the release to contain as many keywords as possible. Here's what that end of the custom URL looks like:

/orthodox-christian-mission-families-missionaries.html

Notice that I included some phrases which are likely search topics directly in the URL. I always do that with articles on Orthodox Biz to maximize the search engine placement of content.

The next step was to Digg the story on Digg.com This is easily done from Orthodox Biz, because the articles there are integrated with one-step click for all the social networking sites.

Within Joomla CMS, the above toolbar is provided by a free Mambot called Social Bookmarker. I highly recommend it!

The reason for digging articles is quite simple - the more links back to a given story the better its placement in search engine queries. This is a new ministry with no budget and no marketing department. The fact is that people are not going to look for the ministry by name, but they are going to be looking for things that the ministry does or information about areas that the ministry touches.

Therefore, search engine placement is critical.

So, by hitting the social networking sites like Digg and Redit we get better search engine placement for the article, and greater name recognition for the overall ministry.

See below for the results. Notice that the Digg of the article actually scores better than the original article itself, even though the article is indexed by Google. Search Engines just love Digg.

The next step was to publish the initial press release more broadly. In addition to Orthodox Biz, we hit multiple free press release submission sites. I've listed the main ones we use below:

http://www.free-press-release.com/

http://www.1888pressrelease.com/

http://www.prlog.org/

For free press releases, the above sites offer no-frills service. I usually don't code the press releases with HTML tags. The sites (unlike Orthodox Biz) don't have HTML editors for their submissions, and coding HTML commands by hand in a blank window is a drag. So, I normally just paste in simple text.

The primary reason to use these sites is that the search engines love them. By putting a large number of press releases out there, you increase the likelihood of being found by folks looking for something related to what you do.

The next step was to create a Website for the ministry. In today's environment, a Website is a must-have item. People expect to be able to get more information about your ministry, and to be able to find you. To get a Website online and inexpensively, I used the mini-site capability on Orthodox Biz.

A mini-site is a component that allows users to build their own pages within a bigger site. It is similar to the profile concept on Orthodox Circle or mySpace, except that it allows for multiple pages. Instead of trying to pack all of your information into a single long page, you can break up your information into multiple pages. (The current limit is 5.)

I then created a special URL for the mini-site:

http://www.orthodoxbiz.com/mission.html

This URL leads straight to the Mission Re-Charge mini-site, which includes information about the ministry and how to support it. The ministry can put that URL on business cards and hand it out as a permanent contact point.

To see how mini-sites are built in a Joomla framework, you might want to check out this tutorial.

As an aside, I think this mini-site technology is a great idea for ministries with local chapters, for example. It allows individual chapters to have their own pages, but still be part of the overall Web presence of the mother organization.

The next step was to add the ability to accept online donations. My umbrella company, Corfun.com, already runs eCommerce sites, so we had the ability to process credit card payments. To help out Mission Re-Charge, I installed a component which processes donations through Authorize.net

This component is a Joomla plugin called Dt Donate, and it works great for processing online donations through either PayPal or Authorize.net (regular credit cards).

By using our existing Authorize.net, I was able to arrange for Mission Re-Charge to take credit card donations with no out-of-pocket cost.

I next got them listed in the Orthodox Biz directory with a customized URL, the ending of which is listed below:

/donate-help-orthodox-Christian-mission-familes.html

Again, looking to pack keywords to get more Google Juice.

The final step was to send out the Orthodox Biz newsletter with the press release as a lead. This helped generate substantial traffic to read the announcement.

Now, this is just a launch strategy. The next steps are going to be to do more of the same. That means more announcements, blogging about activities, registering events online, etc. Those steps are up to Annette and Helen, obviously.

There is a ton of competition for organic placement given the fact that every single Orthodox mission church in America will be scoring high for Orthodox mission in search engine queries. Obviously, getting noticed is going to involve some real work.

A ministry like this needs support, but to get that support people have to actually be able to find you! It is a proven fact that people who don't know you exist will not donate money or time to support your cause.

And while you build your network and your connections, the best thing your ministry can do is get Search Engine placement, partner up with others to get links back to your site, and keep publishing new press to keep your name in front of the community!

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

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 [Quick Guide to Launching Your Orthodox Ministry Online]

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