Christian Businesses From Home

From Wordtracker, the phrase “Christian Businesses from home” had a very high search engine value a few days ago. The subject is one I’ve wanted to examine for a long time. Much of the SPAM I receive has “Christian...” in the subject line. Every sort of opportunity is included: low-interest mortgages, debt relief, business opportunity, and everything in between. This indicates, to me, that many promoters feel a Christian association will help their marketing efforts. Maybe we can find out if this is true and, if so, what are some ways to use the association.

Christianet.com is an advertising site using Christian ideas to promote all kinds of businesses. Their traffic rank on Alexa is 24,472, which is very high; such a rank will attract traffic and is a good place to advertise anything. Their site tells visitors, “Take your organization to new levels of growth through the fastest and highest Christian advertising exposure available in the world! Increase the number of quality leads while you watch your organization grow. Benefit from effective and time-tested Christian advertising techniques.”
A user said, “With ChristiaNet, we saw close to a 400% increase in the traffic to our Website."
ChristiaNet says, on its Website, it has 1.5 million different visitors every month. These prospects view 12 million page views and produce 300,000 e-mail subscribers. They claim to use influential and persuasive Christian advertising methods which produce these huge results. They say they are the world’s largest Christian portal and that they can produce leads to any Christian market including pastors, church decision makers, business owners, or Christian consumers.
You can set up your marketing plan with a free consultation with one of their experts. You can either complete the form on the Website or call them. They will place you in their mall using one or more of these programs:

• Banner package consists of a listing in a mall category with a banner at the top of the page. The banner contains a link to a lead-generating form or to the advertiser’s Website.
  
  
• Opt-in e-mail package generates 1,200,000 opt-in e-mails directed toward the Christian community. Each week you may adjust your message to get better results.
  
  
• The Button package places buttons in prominent locations on the ChristiaNet site with a link to the client’s Website.
  
  
• Link to ChristiaNet directs prospects to various popular activities users can’t find on other Websites.

The ChristiaNet Mall has a very large number of categories. Many are specifically religious in nature, but others are not. You can find, under “Business Opportunities”, a number of home-based businesses. In the “Christian Home Based Business” heading you will find several travel agency opportunities with a Christian designation, for example, In God We Trust Travel which offers several levels of participation ranging from zero to $500 initially for being a Representative. This agency is a YTB company and this particular member’s name is “In God We Trust Travel.” That’s really a good idea to combine Christianity with patriotism. Many of these opportunities require completing a personal information form before telling much about the opportunity.
If you drill on down on this category page to the banner at the bottom, you will eventually find a portal to a number of additional businesses. One of the opportunities is “Home Income Locator.” Here you complete a personal information form and they say they will match you to the best business for you. Maybe so, but you have certainly given a lot of personal stuff to someone you don’t know.
Another program you will find is World Ventures, a travel group. Then there’s a Google business (uses Adsense, etc.), a plan where you can earn $44 to $154 whenever you have a couple of hours, some business coaches, and other similar ventures.
The point is any operation that is conducted in a civil and ethical way will generally be within what is acceptable by people of faith. If they also have considerate customer service, any opportunity may qualify as “Christian” because it functions within accepted Christian principles.
Another Christian home-based business portal is Christian Home Businesses (Biz.Crossmap.com) with an Alexa traffic rank of 40,656 which is very good. This portal lists apparel, jewelry, Web hosting, and all manner of other products and services in addition to home businesses. You can get a "plus" listing which may vary from a button on up to a significant banner for prices beginning at $40 per month. Basic listings are free and appear as they are made.
At this writing the main page shows three "plus" listings:
1. First is Personalized Gift Business Opportunity. This business provides software and initial inventory so you can immediately begin to make money. What you do is use your computer, with their software, to create a line of First Name Meaning Gifts, Personalized Poetry Gifts, Popular Bible Verse Gifts, Famous Quotation Gifts, or Family Tree Gifts. The customer chooses the message and background and you do the rest. Your product can be framed or used with other gifts. The company says your markups range from 300% to 4000%.
The individual items you can make are framed items, mouse pads, mugs, key chains, jewelry boxes, glass frames, and many others. It takes about two minutes to make an item. The suggested price range for various items is $7.95 to $44.95. There are many places to sell these items besides the Internet, including mall kiosks, flea markets, hospital gift shops, bookstores, and anywhere else you can imagine. The company has been around since 1989.
The initial cost, including software and beginning inventory, begins at $249.
2. Another "plus" listing is The M.O.M. Team. This is an International Wellness Corporation based in part on this statement by author Paul Zane Pilzer: “By the year 2010 an additional $1 TRILLION dollars of the US economy will be devoted to the Wellness Industry. People are becoming concerned with the consequences of not living a healthy lifestyle.” The M.O.M. Team affords not only wellness items you may purchase for use yourself, but it offers opportunities for your own personal financial well being, if you choose to take advantage of them.
The company is about 20 years old but you must provide personal information including a telephone to find out more about it. The cost to begin is $29.00. They say they are not MLM, you have the opportunity to use their products and services for yourself and you also have the opportunity to sell them to others.
3. The last "plus" listing is God’s Link, Your Christian Superstore. This online store really is a Christian business. They sell books, clothes, jewelry, and many other things all oriented toward the church and Christian ideas. Some of their jewelry is made by native craftsmen trying to support themselves from many countries. And they have candy inscribed with scripture verses from the Bible. You can’t get any more Christian than that.
They also offer a similar opportunity to have your own online Christian bookstore similar to this one. A 30Fold Christian bookstore is available to qualified owners for a one-time fee of $198. There is no inventory requirement, no extra space, and no employees. Here’s a wonderful opportunity to get into the Christian business field.
The above three "plus" businesses all have very high Alexa ratings and will get a lot more hits from a busy Website like Christian Home Businesses.
Among the basic (free) listings are businesses that aren’t especially rooted in Christian ideals. Some of these are:

• DWP Save, a petroleum additive business.
  
  
• Christian Business Builders, a site parked for free by GoDaddy.com.
  
  
• Watkins, a wonderful old food business, but not Christian.
  
  
• Coastal Vacations, a vacation package business that can be dressed up to say it incorporates Christian values.
  
  
• Fun Adventures For You, LLC, a travel agency.

So, what do you think about using the “Christian” idea in your marketing plan? Recent studies show about 80% of people in the U.S. say they are Christians; probably, this includes you. Simple business ethics used to be don’t lie, don’t cheat, and don’t steal. Business changes have brought other issues into the arena of morals like Michael Milken and his junk bonds, environmental effects of business, and health issues. But most of us in the home-based business area use the old fashioned ethics. We think you make a profit by providing quality goods and services, in a caring and courteous manner, and at a price people will want and be willing to pay. This, itself, is a monumental task. We are all well aware nobody wants to pay for anything.
As long as we don’t sell atheist banners, pornography, gambling, alcohol, or tobacco, there should be no problem selling under a Christian business umbrella.
If you decide to market through Christian channels, the portals we discussed above would all be good places for your advertisements.
These sites have very good Alexa traffic ranks which is what you want for all your marketing efforts. I’ve learned a lot from this research, and I hope it helps some of you who have also been considering this idea.