Just a quick update on the advertising campaign for GodLovesRussia.com:

In the last 3 weeks, 39 people clicked “Yes” I accepted Jesus at the end of the page.
That was 28% of the people who clicked on the ad! 1 in 3 people who clicked on the ad responded! Wow.
(1.2% of the people who had the ad on their search results page clicked the ad).

Of those who clicked “Yes,” 13 filled out the response form.
Of those who filled out the response form 6 said they just prayed to receive Jesus for the first time, and 7 said they just recommitted their life to Christ.

The cost of this advertising on Google.ru was $17.

It occurred to me the other day that evangelism of this sort sits within easy reach of anyone.

1. Use any free web publishing service (Blogger.com, WordPress.com, etc.) to create a short, clear gospel presentation.

2. At the end of the presentation create a link which sends a response form to you or a group of volunteers. (There is a simple contact form plugin for WordPress that would do this easily, or you could create an email link with your address.) Experience would suggest it is best to offer the absolute minimum amount of options at the end of the page.

3. Set up a Google AdWords account and bid on a set of keywords that relate to your page. (Start at Google.com, click “Advertising Programs” then “Google AdWords” then “Sign Up Now.”)

4. Write a short ad that points to your site. Google’s site has many helpful suggestions to help with this.

5. Watch God work and respond to those He brings your way.

I used to think Internet evangelism required the production of a reasonably well-rounded site. Not anymore.
I used to think it would be necessary to have a large team of volunteers ready to answer any potential flood of emails. Not anymore (If you get too many responses, just pause the Google AdWords campaign.)
I used to think I wasn’t in a position to do personal evangelism in this way by myself. Not after writing this post!

So there it is. I just published my own challenge. In the next month or two I will attempt to produce something like this and report back on the results.

I imagine that others reading this might well be able to try something sooner. If you do, let me know how it goes!