Why A Christian Business Blog

Andy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:32:26 +0000

I was asked the other day why I wanted to blog on Christian online business. That’s a good question. Christians are under represented on the web and I hope to help change that.

As I looked around the web for information on doing business from a Christian perspective I didn’t find much help. There are a lot of web sites that are selling products that are supposedly Christian based and maybe they are. But there are not many resources for people who really want to be successful with an online business based on Christian principles.

I have spent considerable time and money learning how internet marketing works and trying different techniques. Some things I have found work great and others not so great. I use this blog to let others know what I have learned and hopefully lessen their learning curve.

I think one reason Christians are under represented on the web is because of the reputation the web received in the first few years. The reputation was well earned. Most of the people selling things were either dealing in pornography or in scams to get people’s hard earned money. Some people had said it was like the Wild West with no laws and no rules. This is very close to the reality.

Starting in the late 90’s and continuing after the dot com bust, main stream businesses have started to realize that the web can be an effective medium for doing business. It is time for Christians to realize that although there may still be some bad sites and people on the internet we can have a positive influence. There have been a few missionaries on the web from the beginning but it is time for mainstream Christians to become a strong presence.

We can look at the web like the printing press. The printing press revolutionized the transfer of information. For the first time the average person could have their own copy of The Bible. At the same time the printing press has made possible the spreading of a lot of terrible, evil ideas. But we don’t say the printing press is bad. The thing that matters is how the press is used.

It is the same with the internet. As a group we can use it to spread the Good Word and counteract the negative aspects of other web sites.

I have been called to help other Christians learn to do business and spread the Gospel by their good works. If we operate under the teachings of Jesus we are doing his bidding in the secular world. Everything on this Christian business blog can be held up to the Light for scrutiny.

Join me as we build a presence on the web that furthers the Word of God. You can truly become a Christian business leader and support your family while spreading the Good Word with your own online business.

Don’t Miss The First, Most Important Step

Andy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:07:15 +0000

You can greatly increase the chances of building a successfull business by doing one thing. If you don’t do this first step then you are most likely going to fail. This one procedure in the building of your business is the foundation for all your other work. What is this most important step? Market Research.
You must be sure you have a market before you build your business. That is, there must be a group of people (your customers) who want what you will provide. Preferrably you want rabid customers. You want people who are searching for your solution so they will buy it from you.
If you have decided to start an online business then the best place to find out what people want is to find out what they are searching for. If they are searching for a particular item or solution then they have pre-qualified themselves. Pre-qualification just means they have raised their hand and asked for more information on the subject. Of course they didn’t really raise their hand. They actually pre-qualified themselves by typing a keyword phrase into a search enging like Google, Yahoo, or MSN search. For our discussion I will use Google as an example of a search engine because by far Google has more searches every day than the other engines.
A search engine like Google is a software program that helps you find a web site you will be interested in. The computer programmers at Google and other search sites have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars developing search engines or programs that will help a person find what they are looking for on the web. The search engines try to match the phrase you type into the seach box with web sites that will be relevant to that search. The whole goal of Google is to give the searcher the best web site matches for the search term.
The search term is call a “keyword”. Originally if you were to type one word into the search box that word would be considered a keyword. If you typed more than one word into the box the words together would be called a keyword phrase. Generally it is now appropriate to refer to any word or group of word typed into a search as a keyword. For example, “fishing” would be a keyword and the phrase “graphite fishing rod” would also be considered a key word even though it is actually three words. Don’t be confused. A keyword can be either one word or a group of words. The keyword is whatever the customer types in the search box.
For example, if you were interested in internet businesses for Christians you might type in online Christian business opportunity. (I hope you are interested in that topic because that’s what we talk about here). Goggle would then go out and find all the websites that had some or all the words from the keyword. Next, Google ranks those sites and gives them to the customer in a numbered order that shows the most relevant site first and less relevant sites in a descending order. So the first site on the list might have the exact phrase “online Christian business opportunity” in several places. Google sees this and thinks, “I bet this site is about online Christian business opportunities.” The website goes to the top of the list. Another site might only have the words “online Christian business”. This website would go a little farther down the list because it is probably relevant to the original search but it didn’t match it exactly.
The above example is a very basic explanation of how search engines work. There are actually many more factors that Google uses to determine which sites to put at the top of the list. Factor such as how long the website has been inexistance and if the keyword is found in other places on the site like in the title. Another important determination is what other website owners think of the site. Google determines a particular website is more important if other websites talk about the original site. Everytime one website mentions another website it is calles a backlink. Backlinks are the currency of web searches. The more backlinks a site has the more Google likes it and the higher the site will rank in the search list.
Don’t worry I won’t have a test on this tommorrow. We will spend a lot more time understanding market research and keyword searches as time goes on. Today I just wanted to give you an overview and start explainging some terms you will see as you start down the path to a successful internet business. Please do not be overwhelmed. I will take all the time necessary for you understand market research and keywords. If you have any questions at all then leave a message in the comment section or use the contact page. I will answer it as soon as possible.
Remember at the Online Christian Business Opportunity blog our goal is to help you build a profitable online business. You can’t be successful if you don’t understand something. So please ask any questions you want.
Our prayers are with you.

Online Christian Business Opportunity Blog » online Christian business opportunities

Why A Christian Business Blog

Don’t Miss The First, Most Important Step