ShoutLife=Good — Pimpin’ Your Ministry=Bad

Over the past few days, I’ve been researching writing, writers, Christian writers, fiction writers, non-fiction writers and authors (although I’m still not sure what the difference between being a writer and being an author is). I’ve looked at hundreds of web pages — most are poorly designed and the information shared there is solely about the products that person has for sale. Tip: provide a little useful information on your site about you or what you write about for free to pull people in to wanting more.

One of the sites I came across with a group for Christian writers/authors is ShoutLife. Now, probably every one has heard of MySpace. ShoutLife is “a fresh approach to social networking.” That’s their tag line. Here’s a quick blurb from their home page:

ShoutLife.com is a free Christian owned and operated social networking / community website. We offer completely free access to profile creation & customization, blogging, unlimited pictures, group participation, private messaging and more. ShoutLife.com does not consider itself to be just an alternative site — we hope to do better than that. We provide a fresh and clean approach to the world of community / blog websites that is extremely easy to use, yet still full of the features you want. There are absolutely no costs required to enjoy every feature on this website.

At ShoutLife.com, you will find thousands of positive, uplifting people and you can connect with many faith-based music groups/solo artists, authors/writers, comedians, churches, camps and more.

Enjoy your time at ShoutLife.com!

So it’s sort of like a good MySpace — a positive social networking site. I mentioned it to one of my friends who *loves* MySpace for some reason and she joined ShoutLife before I could sign up (I wanted to read more about it). She was inundated with emails, friend requests and such. When she told me that, I asked her if they were all requests from people just pimpin’ their ministries. She said yes.

This is where I’m thinking I don’t want to be like that — always stressing my products for sale. I recently wrote about my lack of business sense when it comes to selling — I tend to want to help people and give things away.  I understand there’s got to be a good balance — a way for me (and you) to promote your work to those who it would benefit most while charging a reasonable price for that work (whether it be a service or a book or an article).

Here are going to be my tips to you for social networking (note the word social in there?).

Don’t assume because you are excited about your ministry that everyone else will be as well. God’s laid your ministry on your heart for you to share with certain people. I may be one of those people, and I may not be one of those people. Can you take 5 minutes out of your busy day to actually stop and learn about me before you assume I want to come see your profile page? If you are absolutely crazy about youth ministry, I am not the person for you. If you see we have something in common, let me know what that is — make me believe you actually read about me.

Stop trying to let everyone in the world know of your ministry/product/image/self/whatever. If you reach a few very targeted people with your ministry, trust me — they will be your biggest, best advertising! Toy manufacturers know to advertise during Barney and Sponge Bob to create the desire in the kids. The kids then in turn harass the parents (or grandparents!) to buy the toy. You can learn a lot from secular marketing! My friends are constantly recommending music cds, books, and blogs they think I might be interested in.
Get personal! I don’t know about you, but my God is a very personal God. Jesus knew everyone intimately. Will you know every deep dark secret? No. One lady came to Jesus to heal her health problem. Another lady came to the well looking for water. We all come to Jesus looking for and needing different things. If you write about a rare heart defect in children, take the time to find out if I even have children — much less one with this defect — before you leave me a comment to read your blog. Learn something about me before you comment on my page/blog/email/whatever. If you sell natural products for menopausal women, at least get to know me well enough to know I’m in my 30s!

Now all that said, I’m speaking about leaving generic comments — you know the kind that can be left to anyone?

Welcome to Shoutlife! it’s an awesome place, because the people are really friendly.

Stop by my page if you have a minute–and check out the blogs I have running! I’d love to have your input, or you could just cruise around and take a look, too.

Wishing you every blessing,

This message was left on my friend’s page, but could’ve easily been left on my page as well. If I don’t have anything on my profile you can comment on or say — oh yeah, I drink Coke or haha, I love Pepsi — then wait for a day or two. See if I pop up in any of the groups. The groups should give you a clue as to my interests.

Finishing this rant, I’m off to ShoutLife to see if I can leave some quality comments on some pages and find some people I can relate to. Oh, and if you can relate to me and what I write here — visit my ShoutLife page.