How to Monetize a Christian Website?

62 replies
Hi all,

I want to start a Christian website. The aim is to give Christians a lot of free information (like audio sermons, etc) to aid spiritual growth, but mainly to raise money for the purpose of supporting missions and charity organisations.

Does anybody have good tips on how to monetize the site? Are there other Christians that know of good Christian affiliate programs, books, online stores etc?

I don't want to monetize with adsense, because you dont have any control over the content advertised in adsense.

Any tips and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.
#christian #monetize #website
  • Profile picture of the author kaddeesh
    Hey Nick,

    This is Everest John Alexander.

    How are you? I trust that all is well!

    I am actually in the process of re-building my Christian Website right now for more or less the same reason.

    I have a free Christian site on the NING Platform (KingdomLear.ning.com) but started rebuilding my site on the iGrOOps Platform and the new site is going to be a Freeium Site.

    That means it's going to have a Free level for anyone to join and a Premium (paid) level with more exclusive tools, resources and information available only to upgraded members.

    That's one way in which you can monetize your site.

    Of course, I'm a Bible Teacher for over 20 years and have Ebooks that I've written and self-published online since 2006 that have been sold all over the world.

    And I'm going to have these Ebooks as part of the Premium Section of the website.

    So, anyone who upgrades can get them for free.

    I've done basically the same thing with my Business Membership Site which I've moved from NING to iGrOOps and that's working out fine.

    The Business Site is located at: FreeHomeBusinessTools.com

    My New Christian Site is still under construction and will be launched later this month!

    If you have ideas as to how we can network together I'm open to suggestions.

    P.S. I just started promoting a FREE Affiliate Program that looks very lucrative right now and although it's not Christian per se, it does have several Born Again Believers in top positions with the company. You may want to take a look at it, I'm thinking about approaching my church with the idea. It has the potential to generate a significant monthly residual income! And it's free for everyone to join!

    YourDataBiz.com

    God Bless, Nick and all the best!

    P.P.S. I apologize that you'll have to copy and paste - I just started here and can't post live links as yet.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    Thanks for the reply kaddeesh, will send you a pm.

    God bless!
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
    William Butler Yeats
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  • Profile picture of the author terenceyang
    Hi Nick,

    It is good to hear what you are doing.

    Here's my 2 cents thoughts:

    (1) You can arrange for some webinars to be conducted, with topics that is biblical, like:
    (a) How to raise children in a Christlike manner.
    (b) Conducting your business the way Christ would be proud of
    (c) Having the correct family quiet time with God
    (d) etc....

    (2) You can then record the webinars and burn them into CDs or DVDs

    (3) Like what Kaddesh has suggested, making his ebooks available to premium members

    What you can do is to charge a nominal fee for the seminars and then give the webinars access to people who have paid for those webinars.

    But all these would work out better if you have a list.

    Even if you do not, you can contact the many Christian sites owners and see if they are willing to promote your webinars jointly with you. There will be some who may not but definitely there will be a number who will be interested to work with you.

    (4) You can look for some affiliate products to promote, either electronic products or physical products like books, tapes, t-shirts among many others...

    Do send me a pm and I would be glad to help you explore along this line...

    All the best and God bless.

    JUICE!
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    Thank you for the great ideas, Terence! Will be in contact with you soon!

    God bless!
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
    William Butler Yeats
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  • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
    Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

    Hi all,

    I want to start a Christian website. The aim is to give Christians a lot of free information (like audio sermons, etc) to aid spiritual growth, but mainly to raise money for the purpose of supporting missions and charity organisations.

    Does anybody have good tips on how to monetize the site? Are there other Christians that know of good Christian affiliate programs, books, online stores etc?

    I don't want to monetize with adsense, because you dont have any control over the content advertised in adsense.

    Any tips and advice will be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks all.
    Nick,

    I went to CBD (Christian Book Distributors) (christianbooks.com) yesterday, and it appears like they have an affiliation set up with Compassion, where people can earn a $25 gift certificate if they sponsor a child.

    Even though they give a $25 gift certificate, there is a "referrer" code attached when you click through the Compassion banner on the left hand side....so, I think CBD must be getting a small % of commission each time a child is sponsored and the recurring billing ($38/month) is made (can be automatic, if the sponsorer chooses that option....)

    just an idea...
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    • Profile picture of the author wjtyoung
      Have you considered testing not running any monetization other than donations? Christians are programmed to tithe and if they receive enough value from another Christian (you and your web site) and understand what the money is for, you may very well get more money coming in than even a combination of advertising and donations. Advertising can be a turn off and possibly cut down on donations.

      The other idea that came to mind is you could create a line of info products like CDs and DVDs to sell into the market. Some of the people in the Christian market have huge info businesses. Take a look at the store at Charles Stanley's site intouch.org for an example.

      Added: Just to clarify, I didn't mean programmed in a bad way, it was just the word that came to mind.
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      • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
        Originally Posted by wjtyoung View Post

        Have you considered testing not running any monetization other than donations? Christians are programmed to tithe and if they receive enough value from another Christian (you and your web site) and understand what the money is for, you may very well get more money coming in than even a combination of advertising and donations. Advertising can be a turn off and possibly cut down on donations.

        The other idea that came to mind is you could create a line of info products like CDs and DVDs to sell into the market. Some of the people in the Christian market have huge info businesses. Take a look at the store at Charles Stanley's site intouch.org for an example.
        Yes, 'God' can be very profitable....lol

        But...seriously....that intouch.org website has the "in Touch Messenger" product...

        In Touch Messenger - In Touch Ministries - Dr. Charles Stanley 2010

        lol...brilliant...
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      • Profile picture of the author bl
        Originally Posted by wjtyoung View Post

        Have you considered testing not running any monetization other than donations? Christians are programmed to tithe and if they receive enough value from another Christian (you and your web site) and understand what the money is for, you may very well get more money coming in than even a combination of advertising and donations. Advertising can be a turn off and possibly cut down on donations.

        The other idea that came to mind is you could create a line of info products like CDs and DVDs to sell into the market. Some of the people in the Christian market have huge info businesses. Take a look at the store at Charles Stanley's site intouch.org for an example.

        Added: Just to clarify, I didn't mean programmed in a bad way, it was just the word that came to mind.

        Do no count on the tithe idea because not a lot Christians will put down money on things like website donations. It is becoming know that a lot of these websites are just taking money and not providing a service. And they view them untrustworthy unlike intouch.org. The pastor there has been around for over 30 years and is known to be effective with the donations and the products that he provides.
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  • Profile picture of the author poker princess
    You can sell space for Banner ads and join few affiliate programs and add a gift shop, this will help you to monetize. Also try out referral program that will help you to get more members.
    Also check what Clickbank has on the Christian niche.
    Maybe even CJ.com where you can find a Christian Dating Service.
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    • Profile picture of the author stevendbrady
      Originally Posted by poker princess View Post

      Also check what Clickbank has on the Christian niche.
      Yeah, I know there are some Christian ebooks about dating, dieting that might do well. Then again, there's also a few "Christian" products that I'd certainly avoid.

      I'm also signed up through LinkShare.com for some affiliate programs, and ChristianSingles.com is one of the programs there. They've got a pretty decent selection of banners and buttons in various sizes, so I'm sure you could find something that's won't overly commercialize your website.

      Also, since you are doing sermons, might there be a good affiliate program for an MP3 site that might have sermons or some good worship music that you could link to? Amazon or Walmart MP3 or whatnot?
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      • Profile picture of the author paulie888
        Originally Posted by stevendbrady View Post

        Yeah, I know there are some Christian ebooks about dating, dieting that might do well. Then again, there's also a few "Christian" products that I'd certainly avoid.

        I'm also signed up through LinkShare.com for some affiliate programs, and ChristianSingles.com is one of the programs there. They've got a pretty decent selection of banners and buttons in various sizes, so I'm sure you could find something that's won't overly commercialize your website.

        Also, since you are doing sermons, might there be a good affiliate program for an MP3 site that might have sermons or some good worship music that you could link to? Amazon or Walmart MP3 or whatnot?
        I have promoted the christianmingle dating CPA offer, and that converts quite well for me. Amazon would be a good resource for promoting various Christian music, and there are many that are also available to purchase as single MP3 downloads. There are also Christian books and movies/DVDs that you can promote there.
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        • Profile picture of the author jhuman
          How about "tithe-a-miracle" - it's like a groupon model where people donate $$ to pray for a specific request on a specific date where all participants pray and tithe on the date/requested time. Votes rank the request higher on the ladder and once it hits a threshold, the tithe kicks in and the prayers pour out.
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  • Profile picture of the author perfumer
    paid membership is the way to go
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    Thanks for all the input so far.

    One thing I really want to avoid is making the site too commercial, so i agree that too many adverts is not a good idea (thanks wtjyoung). Thats another reason I don't want to put adsense on the site.

    I know there are a lot of "Christian" websites that are there purely as a business to fill the pockets of the website owner, and in my honest opinion, that goes against the principles of Christianity itself (using God and Christianity as a vehicle to become rich). (Refer Matthew 21:12-13)

    What I want to offer is something of real value to the visitors, even if payment is optional. I like the idea of donations, and I will definitely have a donation button on the site.

    The site is not going to be intended to fill my own pockets, but the pockets of those who desperately need it. I believe that you reap what you sow.

    Thanks for the ideas you all have put forward, there is some real good advice here as usual on Warrior Forum and I appreciate it!
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
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    • Profile picture of the author ozduc
      Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

      in my honest opinion, that goes against the principles of Christianity itself (using God and Christianity as a vehicle to become rich). (Refer Matthew 21:12-13)
      Perhaps you should forward that statement to the Vatican.
      One of the wealthiest organizations in the world. Here's an interesting article to help put it in perspective.
      Time magazine

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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by ozduc View Post

        Perhaps you should forward that statement to the Vatican.
        One of the wealthiest organizations in the world. Here's an interesting article to help put it in perspective.
        Time magazine

        Christian doesn't necessarily mean Catholic. Since you chose not to offer any help to the OP, what is the real purpose of your post?
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        • Profile picture of the author ozduc
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          Christian doesn't necessarily mean Catholic. Since you chose not to offer any help to the OP, what is the real purpose of your post?
          My purpose was to point out that he should not feel that raising money and becoming wealthy by using God and Christianity as a vehicle is wrong. The largest Christian organition in the world is also the richest.
          Now what he chooses to do with all the money will have a bearing on whether or not it is right or wrong but this applies to everyone in all walks of life whether religion is involved or not.
          The catholic church is responsible for helping millions of children world wide. If they weren't using God and Christianity to become wealthy where would that leave all those kids?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    The gift shop is a good idea, thanks Poker Princess!
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
    William Butler Yeats
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Barrs
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
      Originally Posted by paulbarrs View Post

      I'll kick thing off for you, I'm an ex-alco now running a successful business. It was Grace that made it possible...
      Amen bro, thanks for sharing! Thanks for the ideas and motivation.
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      "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
      William Butler Yeats
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  • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
    This guy may spark some ideas. He's a kind of Christian Marketing guy:

    churchrelevance.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Aljiro
    God will provide.

    Donations would be a viable choice. Also if you have the talent/inclination you can try and create something like Chick Tracts(I hope you know what I'm talking about if not you can check out my sig and get acquainted)

    Maybe you can also design statement shirts with Gospel messages.

    Hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author roley
    Don't even get me started on Christianity please... lol
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  • Profile picture of the author badboy_Nick
    Christian dating is pretty hot ... if you have the traffic I'd certainly slap a few of these CPA offers on your site.

    Any questions just let me know

    Nick
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  • Profile picture of the author ProEFI
    Hi Nick,
    I have just 'officially' launched my paid membership site - targeted at church leaders and pastors. You can see it here: The Lean Church - Lean Training and Simple Tools for a Lean Church.

    It's based on a Wordpress/Memberwing platform (was using Wishlist) that works fantastic. I have also incorporated Rapid Action Profits as the affiliate platform.

    My approach is to provide 'business advice' to church leaders interested in improving the efficiency of their church organizations. I'm trying to maximize my own content (not affiliate links or adsense) and develop products that I can both sell or offer as part of the paid membership.

    Hope this helps.

    Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    - You can put an Amazon jukebox widget on the page that will play 30-second clips of only the songs you pick. The songs link to the album where you earn commissions on sales.

    - Put groups of sermons on disk and sell the CD's. You can do it all through Kunaki CD/DVD manufacturing and publishing service. Sort them by topic or have them cover issues in an A to Z fashion.

    - Add a Donate button to collect donations - kind of an online collection plate. Without checking to verify, off the top of my head I think you can do this through Amazon or Paypal

    - Add a Christian Bookstore linking to Amazon. Or, post book reviews linking to Amazon. You could review Christian music too. On a "how you can help us" page you could ask for volunteers to write reviews. Get a few active takers and you could quickly build up quite a collection of book and music reviews.

    - You can write Christian ebooks and sell them. Again, you could use the "how you can help us" idea and recruit volunteer writers and create ebooks from their offerings.
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    • Profile picture of the author bigcullie
      Hi Nick,

      I am happy to see what you are trying to do, and wish you all the best.

      Everest (good to here from you again) has done a lot of work in this field and his advice is good.

      I myself wanted to do something similar as yourself but failed to get going; because after a lot of research, I just could not find much money to be made, other than selling books. In fact, the furthest I got was to create a blog at (ceirastar.blogspot.com) where I ended up just archiving old sermons and, inputs to various magazines. There is adsense in there but have made no money, mainly because I did not get round to promoting it.

      However, there have been some good replies to you request and I would be most interested re-investigating it further.

      On the negative side it does seam easier to sell products to any obscure niche rather than to a genuine christian group. I personally would buy relavant information, but I find there is so much available on the web for free. I therefore think it is a difficult area to make money in, but if somebody could redirect me, I would forever grateful.

      Gordon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tomwood
    this is a good niche i don't have any ideas on how to monetize the niche but I would like to point out the fact that most Christians are quite keen to spread the good word and educate others in Christian practices.

    This means handled correctly your posts and articles could go viral very quickly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

    Hi all,

    I want to start a Christian website. The aim is to give Christians a lot of free information (like audio sermons, etc) to aid spiritual growth, but mainly to raise money for the purpose of supporting missions and charity organisations.

    Does anybody have good tips on how to monetize the site? Are there other Christians that know of good Christian affiliate programs, books, online stores etc?

    I don't want to monetize with adsense, because you dont have any control over the content advertised in adsense.

    Any tips and advice will be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks all.

    I went through all of this and asked these exact questions (to include the Adsense concerns) in reference to a pro-life website I created. I chose to use Ask Question & Experts Answer You ASAP! Name Your Price, Get Online Advice & Help - Just Answer! (no affiliation).

    There are many alternatives but I think the best is to create your own product. God bless your efforts.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Atkins
    Maybe you can promote bibles from amazon, or something
    related to christianity.
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    • Profile picture of the author tjs1954
      Sign up for an associate account with Amazon, they have a lot of DVD's, books, CD's etc within your niche. You will be able to create widgets to put in sidebars and other ad resources. You of course make commission on every sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    Originally Posted by Chianti View Post

    Organised religion has spent a lot of time and effort proselytising and indoctrinating a huge proportion of the children in our societies, so I'd be inclined to capitalise on that (as the religions themselves do). They've done all the work putting their special brand of delusion and ignorance into peoples' heads, so it should be easy to utilise and build on this.

    What about adapting your toaster to produce a rough silohette of Miriam/Maryam and selling bits of miracle toast to the delusional masses? I heard about a miracle sandwich that sold on ebay for 50,000$.

    Of course, a huge amount of the money raised will go back into the proselytism of some struggling, developing countries, where people live in poverty and lack education and information, and are therefore targeted by organised religions because of the equal amounts of despair and hope they have.

    So you might want to raise money for a secular charitable organisation instead, since they will not have this wasteful overhead, and will allow the population to follow their own traditions and beliefs, rather than have the ulterior motive of converting them.

    I hope these monetization ideas are useful.

    NO not really ... take your beliefs to the off topic sub forum.
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      Originally Posted by Marhelper View Post

      NO not really ... take your beliefs to the off topic sub forum.
      Aint religious and political topics against the rules of the off topic forum
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  • Profile picture of the author stevendbrady
    Originally Posted by Chianti View Post

    Organised religion has spent a lot of time and effort proselytising and indoctrinating a huge proportion of the children in our societies, so I'd be inclined to capitalise on that (as the religions themselves do). They've done all the work putting their special brand of delusion and ignorance into peoples' heads, so it should be easy to utilise and build on this.
    You know, the topic of this discussion is what clearly brought you here. We can tell that you had no real reason for commenting other than to be completely and blatantly a troll. You're a sad little man. I'm glad the rest of the forum is much, much more professional than you, otherwise everyone (Christians and non-Christians alike) would have been driven away a long time ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    There are tons of massive christian forums so you could do some advertising there.
    As for monetizing, I'd say books would be number one, the cd/dvd idea is another good option, and there's also a lot of bible software which offer affiliate programs.


    Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    To the trolls that want to turn this topic into a debate about religion: knock it off. The OP clearly wanted to know how to monetize a NICHE website. Who cares if you don't like the niche. It's a legitimate question, and trolling this topic in such a fashion will bring you close to meeting a moderator's ban hammer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Calamaroo
    You can sell indulgences (a.k.a. FORGIVENESS) just like the Catholic Church did back in the early 1500s. "Indulgences" according to Wikipedia:

    "An indulgence, in Catholic theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the Treasure House of Merit accumulated by Jesus' sacrifice and the virtues and penances of the saints. They are granted for specific good works and prayers.
    Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early Church. More exactly, they replaced the shortening of those penances that was allowed at the intercession of those imprisoned and those awaiting martyrdom for the faith.
    Abuses in granting indulgences were a major point of contention when Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation (1517)."

    "The later Middle Ages saw the growth of considerable abuses, such as the unrestricted sale of indulgences by professional "pardoners" (quaestores in Latin), who were sent to collect contributions to the project. In many cases the preaching of these, out of ignorance or shrewdness, went far beyond dogmatic teachings; some of them even dared to promise that the damned would be released from hell. Permission began to be granted to Catholic kings and princes, particularly on the occasion of Crusades, to retain for themselves a rather considerable part of the alms collected for the gaining of indulgences. The most well-known and debated question is the indulgence granted for building the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome."

    "The false doctrine and scandalous conduct of the "pardoners" were an immediate occasion of the Protestant Reformation. In 1517, Pope Leo X offered indulgences for those who gave alms to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The aggressive marketing practices of Johann Tetzel (my note: this guy invented the ad copy, with headlines and sub-headlines and bullets) in promoting this cause provoked Martin Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses, protesting against what he saw as the purchase and sale of salvation. In Thesis 28 Luther objected to a saying attributed to Tetzel: "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs". (my note: this was an example of one of his catchy headlines - not only could you buy your own forgiveness, you can also get a relative who is in purgatory forgiven) The Ninety-Five Theses not only denounced such transactions as worldly but denied the Pope's right to grant pardons on God's behalf in the first place: the only thing indulgences guaranteed, Luther said, was an increase in profit and greed, because the pardon of the Church was in God's power alone.
    While Luther did not deny the Pope's right to grant pardons for penance imposed by the Church, he made it clear that preachers who claimed indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error."

    Hey! If the Church can do it. Why can't we? I'm sure there are loopholes.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chianti
      Ooo... be careful Calamaroo... I got an infraction and a warning for my two posts. Watch out that someone doesn't take your suggestion the wrong way, or you may face a similar fate!
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      • Profile picture of the author butters
        Originally Posted by Chianti View Post

        Ooo... be careful Calamaroo... I got an infraction and a warning for my two posts. Watch out that someone doesn't take your suggestion the wrong way, or you may face a similar fate!
        Dude... I don't belive in religion, I don't agree with it etc. That being said, know your place, learn when to speak and simply know when to shut it. Religion is always a touchy subject, you went out of your way to make a sarcastic reply which would obviously rattle nerves... Quit while your behind.
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      • Profile picture of the author Calamaroo
        Originally Posted by Chianti View Post

        Ooo... be careful Calamaroo... I got an infraction and a warning for my two posts. Watch out that someone doesn't take your suggestion the wrong way, or you may face a similar fate!
        Mine is a legitimate marketing post. Most people think that copywriting started right around the time of Richard Sears and his partner Roebuck. But they would be wrong. The "pardoner" guy that Martin Luther quoted in his thesis beat Sears and Roebuck by centuries. Something worth knowing about.

        And by the way, Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the INTERNET of his day - Gutenberg's printing press. All Martin Luther did was post a copy of his Thesis on the Church doors, and guess what happened next? Thanks to the newly invented Gutenberg printing press, his message went totally viral throughout Europe. It reach the "tipping point" in mere months thanks to the new meme spreading technology. "Buzz" like that was not possible just a few years before.

        "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs" - Tetzel's copywriting headline to sell "forgiveness" not just for the living but for relatives that were already in hell or purgatory.

        And yes, he offered "buy one, get one" deals, according to a History Channel episode about the subject. Plus, he used "affiliates", while he himself was a "super-affiliate" of the Catholic Church.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chianti
    > simply know when to shut it

    Just to be clear, I wasn't commenting any more on the subject. Someone said 'sell forgiveness', and I thought I should warn them that my suggestion of selling 'edibles' got me into trouble. That's all. I definitely don't want a ban, and will not say anything more about religion.
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  • Profile picture of the author King Arthur
    Yeah best way is amazon.

    Here is the way you do it.

    Set up 4 pages on your site. Run to amazon and get a Amazon e-commerce widget for a line of products. Then amazon will give you an Iframe where you can put it on one of your pages.

    Repeat the same process for the other line of products.

    So at the end your site will have 4 pages. And each of them with a build in amazon store for a different line of products. Ex One page for christian books, another one for christian AudioBooks, another one for christian Movies, etc.

    The beauty of this model is that you can choose yourself what items to actually list on each of the pages.

    It supper easy and should take you 15 minutes max as you are embedding all the amazon stores into your site.

    PM me if you need further help

    Hope it helps

    King Arthur
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Birch
    I just mentioned this offer in someone elses thread, but if you need some new Christian articles, Terra has just written some and I have read them and I can vouch for them:

    Multi Niche PLR Content - TM Content Alliance Team Presents: The Spider Web (mods please note no aff link there)
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    • Profile picture of the author Bugala
      Bit of a late reply, but just found this thread with google.


      Although this is slightly off topic, i like to point this out anyway. It is about the question of wether to monetize on Christian stuff or not.


      I personally believe, that it is the greatest way to simply give out free and trust that God pays you. However, while it is true that God can give you million dollars just like that, it is very rarely the case. And often we lack the faith to truly give free and receive the money from God, as much as we like.

      Hence you should consider these things:

      If you give say ebook for free, and you make another ebook, you are still on the same situation as with the first one (when forgetting the possibilities of bigger mailing list etc.)

      On the other hand, if you had sold your first ebook for money, you could maybe have say 3 000 USD to use to market that second book, which you can give for free or sell.


      Lets compare these two

      1. First ebook is free, and spreads to 1 000 people.
      2. Second book is free too, and spreads to 1 500 people.

      In total 2 500 people read them.

      1. First ebook costs 10 USD, and spreads to only 300 people.
      2. Second book is free and you use 3 000 USD to promote it in different targeted websites and it spreads to 10 000 people.

      In total 10 300 people were reading the books and some who read the second book, also decided to read the first book, and maybe the reading of first book bumped to same 1 000 too, although bit later than in first scenario.


      Many times giving free might be preventing you from spreading your message, while monetizing with your product, you can get much further.


      There are good sides to both monetizing and not monetizing.

      But as extreme example. If you look any big Christian Book publisher, they get 1 - 2 extremely good books a year, some which come from unknown publishers.

      Because they have lot of money behind, they are able to promote that book so effectively, that they get 1 million people to read it (and make profit along the way) despite that it is from unkown author, like for example "the Shack" to my understanding is that writers first book (not sure thou).

      Lets say he had decided to give "the Shack" for free as a ebook on a website. I doubt it wold have been read even by 10 000 people, since he wouldnt have any muscle to push it to peoples knowledge.


      Also quoting fromk memory the Finnish bible, Paul said "Workman have earned his wage"

      meaning that if you do some work for God, you are not only allowed, but even encouraged to get your pay from it.

      And it makes perfectly sense. Since if you dont need to work at factory, you can use all that time for christian stuff and get done so much more.


      I just wanted to bring this side of the issue to you, since this is something I myself have been and am wrestling with too, that it feels like it is not okay to monetizde with holy matters, even there are some couragements to that in Bible, although Paul was a bad example in this, since what he said and did were different. for to cut it short, he in couple of places mentioned that he should get paid from his holy works, yet he refused the money offered to him from people and churches (or whatever they called in english those things they had then) and instead made tents to support himself.



      But to actual topic:

      One way that you can monetize the freidnly way is that you give everything away for free, but you can always add for example to ebooks a notice to first and last page that says something like:

      "If you felt like you got something from this ebook, please consider donating something to our ministry at http://www.clickableadress.com"

      This way people would have free access to your books, yet some would proapbly donate you some money which helps you to push that site in to more peoples knowledge.


      Another thing I think you could do is to build a mailing list or have some "Payable product of the week" highlighted in front page.

      Clickbank has some christian products in there, some even somewhat controversial like "Christian Wifes guide to sexual satisfaction in marriage" ebook (name from memory).

      Because that ebook is not available for free anyway, you can be doing a great favor to someone by introducing that ebook to him (for example through that "Support us product of the week") and when he buys it, you get commission.


      And that mailing list could be introducing some new christian businesses that accept affilaites or are affiliate products.

      odr you could even arrange with some christian businesses some deals that you tell about them in your mailing list, and if they get clients through that, then they would give you some commission.

      That way you would do great favorite by introducing some christian businessess and products to people while getting some money out of it for yourself too.

      On top of that, you can use the mailing list to keep people up to date what is happening in our website as well.


      Then another possibility to get your site monetized is thorugh my own product that you can see in my signature.

      In short it is traffic exchange, but it works bit unusual way. For the thing is that if you have links to other sites in your website, you can change those links into traffic exchange links.

      It works so that everytime one of your visitors click one of those traffic exchange links, you would get ad credits.

      Good thing in this is that as you said, you dont want your page to scream "give me money" in any way, which is even one of the reasons not to use ad sense for you. So since this is chagning your links into traffic exchange, it wouldnt change the look of your site at all. They wouldnt see any ads until they are already leaving your site through a link.

      And since you are getting ad credits, you could then use those ad credits to display some actual sellable products that dont necessarily have nothing to do with your site.

      So this way you could separate from visitors your site and the money getting part completely.

      On top of that, since links are categorised, you would actually be doing favorite to many other christian sites by getting them more exposure through your links that have been changed into traffic exchange.

      However, one warning, I still havent done the actual launch of my product yet, and it is in the prelaunch state. So right now there are only very few links and ads in the system, and it propably wont generate you any money yet, but I am planning to launch it in near future, and trust things will then change.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    You could ask for donations. I dunno.
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  • You can try and do some advertising on plenty of fish they have lot's of christian users.



    Kristof
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    "A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it"

    William Feather

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  • Profile picture of the author LaLaLives
    Are you sure that you have no control over AdSense ads? A Christian forum I used to frequent began using them a while ago. Soon after they began, a questionable ad slipped through. People complained and the moderators indicated that they'd contacted someone to have it removed and that another slip up was unlikely based on some sort of agreement they had in place. I'm not certain about the details or even if such a thing is truly possible, but it may be worth looking into.
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  • Profile picture of the author marcuslim
    Originally Posted by Gordon Gekko View Post

    Lol...
    The same way the church does. Just tell them that you have the answer to everything and sell prayers for high dollars.
    lol this would be like the Reformation all over again...the church selling indulgences.
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  • Profile picture of the author SHAOLINSINZ
    I recommend having content from Dr William Lane Craig and from Dr Jack Hyles. Should bring some good traffic and 2 of my favourite people to study outside of the Bible.

    As for as monetization goes have a look into Babylon translation app and doing affiliates for them. From what i've heard it converts really well and i can see how it could come in handy to that kind of audience.
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  • Profile picture of the author smaxor
    We have a few Christian related lead generation dating offers. Just hit me up.
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    Jason Akatiff, CEO, A4D Performance
    Skype: smaxoro, twitter: http://www.twitter.com/smaxor, blog: http://oooff.com/php-affiliate-seo-blog

    Join A4D, Now Accepting experienced PPC, Display, PPV, Email affiliates. http://www.a4d.com

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  • Profile picture of the author danr62
    I am getting started in a niche that is within the Christian market and my plan is to write books and self publish them on the Kindle and other reading devices. Each book would also provide branding for my website, where I will be building a list and giving away a lot of valuable content.

    That way, if someone finds my books through Amazon or another merchant and buys them, the branding in the book should send me some traffic, where they can find more of my books and affiliate products I recommend.
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  • Profile picture of the author mkensington
    I have been running a christian dating site for a few months - it's an affliate on the dating factory network and it seems to attract good membership although the sector is very competitive.
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    skype latenitedrink
    mature dating

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  • Profile picture of the author shermancox
    I have been in a specialized christian niche for about 5 years...A website speicifically for ministers has made decent money but there are a few thigns to keep in mind...

    1) it is possible to make money, but your efforts would probably get you more money in another niche...

    2) You will always get emails and comments from Christains who think that you shoudln't be charging any money for your stuff...

    3) You will also get emails thanking and blessing you for your work.

    4) You will get folks sending you to hell and hoping to see you in heaven..lol


    At any rate, I have sold ebooks, amazon ebooks, kunaki CDs, kunaki DVDs, membership sites, and mp3s...I have also tried and continue to use amazon affiliate program as well as adsense...

    I have done webinars, youtube videos, and blogs....

    I suggest:

    * find a niche. Don't just do a Bible study site...do a Bible study site on a particular subject or to a particular people. Like Bible study for youth, or The best Bible studies from Genesis, or whatever. Find a good keyword and then expand once you dominate that...

    * build your list. Yep build it. I did it from a free ebook kidn of thing.

    * Keep the two sides in your mind at all times, that you are in ministry and you should ask for money as well. Keep them both in mind at all times.

    Hope that helps...
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  • Profile picture of the author JennyPellicer
    Banned
    I'd say that selling a monthly membership would probably be your best choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author shermancox
    On JennyPellicer's point, I wasn't making much money until I started a membership site...
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  • Profile picture of the author ShaneGorry
    This list of affiliate offers may be worth a look.

    30 Christian Affiliate Programs To Join

    Regarding monetizing your site, I think it really comes down to three things:

    Is the form of fund raising in-line with the overall spirit of the site?

    Is the form of monetization of service to the kind of visitors that frequent your site? It's probably worth thinking this over before ruling out advertising and/or affiliate programs. There may be a number of things that people genuinely appreciate you connecting them with.

    And finally remember where the money raised is going. If your happy that the above two areas are being dealt with correctly then I'm sure everything will fall into place to achieve the outcome that you have intended.
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  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    Here's an option ...

    The Bible Secret

    It is my own product and I set it up because I was finding difficulty finding a good quality resource to promote. YOu can promote it through ClickBank ...

    https://www.clickbank.com/mkplSearch...e+bible+secret

    Cheers,

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author WriterWahm
    At the risk of repeating what has already been said, I think you should have a shop where you sell books, CDs, MP3s, t-shirts, mugs, stickers...etc. Then from time to time, promote an item within the body of your site, say in a blog post for example.

    Whatever you decide to do, don't forget to have a newsletter and get people to sign up to that. I read Christian newsletters more than I visit Christian websites
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    PM me if you want a romantic fiction ghostwriter.

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  • Profile picture of the author kvnkane
    the simplest way would be to have a donation button.
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  • Profile picture of the author shermancox
    Donation button is simple and easy...but I never got anything at all from it. It is funny, I had a lot of readers who thought I was getting decent money from donations, but none of them were donating squat. Of course I am not a non profit organization either...

    On the adsense thing, you do have to keep track of folks who show up and filter out bad ads that come through periodically...some folks can get pretty angry about seeing a lady gaga ad or soemthing like that showing up on the Christian site they are reading...
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