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So as has been already said, the aim of this section is to help you create a “subtle” evangelistic site that can be used as part of the AVITW outreach Opposite are a series of steps that should help you design the perfect website.
If you need some ideas about creating an evangelistic site then have a look at one of the sites we have created aimed at a non-Christian audience: Also feel free to use our gospel presentation in your evangelistic site For the very best in advice on creating an evangelistic site check out Visual Evangelism
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Get advice The first thing you should do if you wish to create an evangelistic site with us is to make the most of the support that we offer. This can come in two forms firstly you can talk to other people who are creating evangelistic sites on our discussion board and secondly we would invite you to join our evangelistic team and become a part of our ministry within Geocities. Pray Prayer should be at the heart of any evangelistic site as without God’s help your site with be nothing more than a collection of words and pictures. Ask God to inspire you about the content for your site and how best to share the gospel and get prayer support. Choosing a theme Because your site is going to be based on the “subtle” template you need to select a theme for the site. This theme should be something in which you are interested and know something about. Some examples would be sci-fi, cooking, stamp collecting, movies, creating websites, surfing, soccer…the list is endless. Whatever interests you is a good basis for an evangelistic site. This is the hardest part of the process and you may need some advice if you are struggling so feel free to contact us or post a request for help on the message board. You might also wish to consider going to Geocities and having a look at what other people produce homepages on. Finding the right neighborhood As you should already know if you have read our overview of Geocities, it is broken down into neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own theme ranging from politics to fashion. The next step is to find out which area most suits the theme of your site. If you have been struggling to decide on a theme you may wish to pick a neighborhood and create a site suited to the area instead of the other way around. To choose a neighborhood for your site click here. Getting your space on Geocities Once you have chosen a neighborhood on Geocities you now need to find a free space and secure it. To do this follow the instructions found under this link. The theme content Once you have your space on Geocities and have decided on the theme of your site you need to consider how you are going to draw people in? What are you going to offer them that will make them come to your site? A good place to start is to attempt to picture the type of person you are aiming at. What does that kind of person look for in a web site? What information would they find useful? You will often find that the person you are picturing is similar to yourself as they will have the same interest in your theme as you. Therefore you could ask the question, what do I look for in a sci-fi or cookery site (depending on the theme) and then design the content accordingly. Don’t worry at this stage about the Christian content but rather concentrate on the theme of the site and what you will use to draw people in. For example our true alien site is aimed at sci-fi fans and draws people in through useful links, images and sounds as well as interesting theories into extra terrestrial life. Make a list of all the things that you think would be good to include and keep it for later. The Christian content Next you need to decide on how you are going to bring the gospel message into the site. You cant just create a section entitled “Jesus saves” as nobody will look at it *grin*. Rather you have to incorporate it into the theme of the site. For example if your site was on sport you might wish to do a overview of the Christians involved in sport and talk about why their faith is important to them. The true alien site we have produce compares aliens to a belief in God in a kind of parable format. Basically the idea is to create a modern day parable by using something your target audience is familiar with to share the gospel. This is following the example of Jesus who would talk about things people knew and understood. When Jesus spoke to fishermen he compared the Kingdom of God to a pearl and to nets while when he spoke to farmers he referred to seeds and plants. That is exactly what we are trying to do. Again this can prove a very difficult part of the process so be sure to get lots of advice by posting your ideas on our discussion board. You might also find it useful to look at the true alien site to get some ideas on how it could work. Organizing and collecting Once you have decided on all the content the next step is to organize the structure and text of your site. You need to collect any links or information and then draw out a structure diagram of the site. Only once you have a clear idea of what the site is going to look like and exactly what will be on each page can you start building the site. Building the site There are a number of ways to build your site depending on your experience in HTML. Below you will find a list of helpful resources when it comes to actually building a site:
Uploading your site There are two basic
methods of uploading a site to Geocities, both of which have comprehensive
help provided. To find out more about both methods click on the appropriate
link below:
Advertising your site Once you have your site up and running you need to encourage people to visit it. There are four main methods of achieving this:
That’s about it really accept to say that we are more than happy to help you in anyway we can. Drop us a note or post a question on the discussion board. You will also find that Geocities has a very extensive help facility available so be sure to check that out. |
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