Photography money saving tips

An example of a Google Knol is "Money-saving tips for photography enthusiasts". Google defines a Knol as "an authoritative article about a specific topic."

• Knol search results for "photography"
• Knol search results for "digital camera"

Even babies like chunking

Johns Hopkins researchers have found that babies learn better with chunking -- grouped data. While that's news, it's not really so new. After all, web content experts have been advocating chunking of text for quite a while.

Breaking up text into bite-sized chunks in different ways makes it easier to quickly scan for information. No matter how good your content, you can improve it by separating the text into logical chunks -- chunking.

Some good ways to chunk and organize your text include:

• Use heads and subheads
• Use short, simple sentences
  See Write Simple or WebAim's "Writing Clearly and Simply"
  
• Put key information first (inverted pyramid style)
  
• Use short paragraphs (white space between chunked text)
  
• Use lists (unordered or ordered) when possible
  
• Use tables for tabular data
  

ScribeFire blog editor for FireFox users

ScribeFire is a blogging tool for FireFox users. Some of the ScribeFire features I like the best:

• Categorize and tag your blog posts
• Post an entry as a draft
• Save works-in-progress as notes
• Use FTP to upload files
• Upload images
• Set timestamps

I used ScribeFire to upload this as a draft post to the blog. Then I checked the code with the Blogger editor. Here's a couple things I learned:

• ScribeFire surrounds all the text you add in ScribeFire with a DIV element and a link to the W3C Validator. OK, but a bit much and not something I needed to add. So I deleted the DIV and associated link.
• ScribeFire uses no paragraph elements. Though that's the Blogger default too, I much prefer to use code for paragraphs and to use CSS as desired for the P element.
• ScribeFire left extra spaces around a lot of text and did not pull lines together. This can cause problems in Blogger and needed code cleanup.

In short, the tool is quite handy, but you may want to do some code cleanup before posting to your blog. I'll use this due to its ease of use but will publish only as a draft. I'll do code cleanup in Blogger. That's annoying for such a potentially great tool.

Finding a robust, easy CMS

Our church has been seeking a Content Management System (CMS) and new Web Hosting for over a year. The frustration is palpable.

In the process, though, we have come across a couple of very useful sites that let you compare CMS software features and even give them an online trial.

• CMS Matrix
• Open Source CMS

We have also had time to look closely at our list of required and desired Web Hosting features. While that list seemed great at the time, after looking at a feature comparison at CMS Matrix, we revised the list to add specifics about the CMS. The list below shows our current features list for both Web Hosting and a CMS.

Web Hosting

• Offers a Content Management System (CMS) and templates suitable for our church's use.
• The web hosting company must be an established one.
• 24 x 7 support. Email is OK, though phone is better.
• Hosting firm has good ratings (when I can find them).
• A very high percentage web server uptime.
• Web server operating system: Windows 2003 server, Linux, Unix, or Apache (needed for a lot of open source CMS solutions).
• The hosting package includes room for our web to grow (pages/disk space)
• Offers at least 30 email addresses, auto-forwarding, POP access, and Spam filtering.
• Hosting solution is $300 or less per year. (E-Zekiel is way out of our price range for the size web we have.)
• Domain name registration/renewal is inexpensive (these should be very low cost these days).

CMS

• The CMS should let nearly everyone (with minimal orientation) add, edit, or delete text, add or delete images, create or delete pages, and upload files. Templates must be pure CSS -- no use of tables for layout.
• Ability to directly edit the code as well as use a pure GUI.
• Must allow addition of alternate text and/or titles to image code (for accessibility).
• Ability to upload files via FTP or via Web.
• Absolutely no ads or forced frames with hosting company info showing.
• CMS templates must allow inserting of multiple-level menus -- horizontal or vertical or both. Pure CSS menus code is heavily preferred by Java is acceptable.
• The system requires email verification to activate a new account.
• Granular privileges by page or content item.
• Administrator can see who's logged in and disconnect the user if required.
• SSL logins and pages are possible.
• Versioning
• Good online help and developers forums.
• Drag-n-Drop of content
• The system lets you force friendly URLs, not database code characters for "page" URLs.
• Integrated Spell checking of content during editing.
• Users can subscribe to varied "pages" and receive email notification of changes.
• The Administrator can force a less advanced user interface for basic content editors.
• The system allows Undo of content changes.
• A WYSIWYG editor.
• You can schedule posting of content changes.
• The CMS allows sub-sites.
• The CMS provides Web-accessible statistics.
• Support for RSS.
• Support for iCal.
• Event management using the calendar.
• WAI compliant.
• XHTML compliant.
• Allows use of Metadata for content objects.
• Provides blogging capability.
• Provides Chat capability.
• An app to organize FAQs.
• Link management.
• Forms for email.
• Users can subscribe and unsubscribe themselves from email lists.
• Photo gallery.
• Polls.
• Surveys.
• Quizzes.
• Site search.
• Site Map.

Open Office 3.0 features

OpenOffice version 3.0 is about due for release and the OpenOffice.org Ninja blog has a decent article on some new OOo 3.0 version features.

Just try to ignore some of the fanboy rants (both pro- and anti- Microsoft Office) in the tons of comments. My take: OpenOffice is definitely improving but I'd like to see more and enhanced features along with an improved look and feel (user interface). That would make it an easier sell to more managers in the business community.

Also remember that Sun's StarOffice is free software you can grab as part of Google Pack. Installed that for my mother-in-law and she's never asked for any help with it -- a great sign of ease-of-use for the basic user.

Tech trends among Christians

A recent Barna Research group study, "Social Networking, Online Entertainment and Church Podcasts" has some interesting results. Christians use technology in the following most common ways (in decreasing order of use)

• Searching online (Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, etc.)
• Instant Messaging (including texting on a cell phone)
• Listening to a sermon or church teaching via a podcast. This was more common among Evangelicals and others who consider themselves "born again".
• Viewing a video of some sort online.

The challenge for churches is to better relate its message to the current generation. When Paul said, I am all things to all men" he meant that he couched the message of Christ in terms and in a way that the particular audience could best grasp it.

For churches today, that means seeking ways to better communicate using the web tools available to us. That also means keeping up with newer methods as they become available. At the same time, we must remember to help safeguard the privacy of our members and web site visitors. Until Facebook and similar social networking sites become more secure and users a bit more savvy about not divulging personal data, I'll stay away from using it as an integral part of the church's online presence.

You may want to read the full Barna report.

New media in ministries

What is "new media" and how can we use it in our church ministries? Aaron Linne has a few videos online about this topic. The introductory one, "New Media for Ministries: What is It?", is below. Here are links to the other videos on Vimeo (so far):

• Interactive Metafiction
• Creative Commons
• Concepting a web page

New Media for Ministries: 101 What is It? from Aaron Linne on Vimeo.

Technology 101 workshop slides

The Digital @ Leadership Network blog put slides to its Technology 101 workshop online. Be patient after clicking on the link -- the slideshow takes a while to appear.

Web 2.0 can be dangerous

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen says Web 2.0 can be bad. "Before throwing spending money at "2.0" features, make sure that you have all the "1.0" requirements working to perfection." He says that most web sites don't yet use terms in headlines and page titles that their visitors would use.

What's the message to church web developers? Before you leap into trying to adopt fancy new techniques, make sure you have done your best using the older methods. Few churches have a lot of time and funds to devote to web work, so make the most of what you have. For example, do you meet all the below criteria on every web page of your current site?

• Each page's code includes keywords appropriate only for that page, a descriptive page title, and a short description.
• Common, non-churchy language and terms.
• Easy navigation that any visitor can understand.
• An uncluttered design .
  Don't distract from the text message.
• No splash or introductory type page.
  Such pages force the visitor to click once again just to get to the real home page.
• A minimum of animated graphics.
  Animated graphics pull the eye away from the main content area, which should be the meat of the page.
• A good contrast of text and background.
  A background image may look great, but also make text hard to read when placed on top of it.
• Text is easy to read at any common screen resolutions.
  A fixed 10pt font on a 1024x768 screen resolution is "squint print".
• Visitors can easily resize text.
  At over 1024x768 pixel resolution, visitors may need to enlarge small text to make it easy to read.

Newsletters: Folds create snakes

If your newsletter uses vertical folds, it probably snakes text from the bottom of one column (or page) to the top of the next -- across the fold. While that's not bad for a printed publication, it's horrible for viewing electronically.

If you offer your newsletter to members by email or at your web site, avoid using a fold format. You will certainly fold the newsletter for mailing. That's not the issue here. It's the vertical fold built into a publication design that makes it hard to read online.

Below are two types of basic formats pulled from an actual newsletter (the tri-fold one) and a more user friendly one (no column snakes).

Vertical fold format

A vertical multi-fold format uses columns in which text must snake from one column to the next. Imagine the frustrating up-and-down scrolling you have to do to read that online. In the actual newsletter tri-fold example below, you also have to scroll horizontally to read the newsletter.

To make matters even worse for on-screen viewing, multi-fold publications, such as the one below, do not read properly from left-to-right. The numbers on the image show the actual publication page sequence.

Tri-fold format (reduced size pages from an actual newsletter):

A no-snakes format

You can use columns and avoid the snaking text and out-of-sequence on-screen viewing if you adopt a different format. The example below uses a two-column design but each column always reads straight down the page -- no snakes. You scroll back up to the top -- once -- to read the second column, but that's it.

This format also means that pages are never out-of-sequence for on-screen viewing.

No-snakes format:
The blue "bars" in the sample below indicate article headline text. The orange ones show placement of section heads. This design uses the wider left column for main articles and the narrower right column for standard sections (message from the Pastor, Calendar items, announcements, birthdays and anniversaries, etc.) Remember -- do not put complete birth or anniversary dates or members' full names online -- protect your members' personal data.

Be nice to your electronic friends ... use a format that has no column snakes. Avoid the vertical fold format whenever possible. You could, of course, convert a vertical fold format to a one-column one that reads straight down and use that for electronic viewing. But that takes time that you could save if the format were one without snaking column text. And that may result in an very wide column of text that's harder (slower) to read.

Podcasting trend goes down

The trend in podcasting is downward, when compared to video and blogs, says the "Will Podcasting Survive?" article at the Alex Iskold Technology Blog. Podcasting was an evolution of radio that never made it into our daily lives.

Sure, some "Pod people" downloaded podcasts so they could listen to music (or sermons) while they worked or played, and the idea of being able to subscribe to the audio files just like a blog was neat, but use of Podcasts never reached critical mass.

So you could download a thousand songs into a music player and listen to them anytime. But how often did anyone listen to all those songs? Did they become more like a partially ignored collection? Where was the interaction that a blog provides (assuming you want to comment on a posting)?

And yes, anyone with a computer microphone could create a podcast, but how many did so? Perhaps the average person didn't look at creating podcasts as all that easy. By comparison, commenting on a blog posting is very easy, though many people still just read and do not add comments. some reasons podcasting is on the decline:

• Multimedia videos are cooler than podcasts.
• You can scan a blog for what interests you, but not a podcast.
• You can interact with a blog posting.
• It's easier to jump to what you are looking for in a blog or video. Not so with a podcast.
• Reading a blog is more likely than listening all the way through a podcast.
• The content of a podcast is nearly always music or news. Blogs or video can be anything.
• Competition from commercial media. National Public Radio has podcasts. So does National Geographic, Comedy Central, ESPN, and many others. If you want to listen to streaming audio, you'd be more likely to stay with well-known content providers. On the other hand, many people enjoy reading the journaling and commentary by bloggers and video creators.

Podcasting has been "going out of fashion", Alex says. Today's "in" fad is "out" tomorrow. What impact does that have on church web sites?

• If you have limited resources, don't be too eager to adopt the latest "hot" new web gizmo. Instead, give it a hard look. Ask whether it looks like a fad or a long-term hit. Avoid the fads when you have limited resources.
• Carefully check what resources a new web feature would need -- people, equipment, time, expertise, and money. If you can't afford all the resources, don't adopt the new feature.
• If you really want to give a new feature a try, even with limited resources, look for ways to lessen the resource impact. Perhaps there is a way to "start small" that you can try out before deciding whether to jump in feet first.

Check your web in varied browsers

OK, so you're an avid [Firefox or Internet Explorer or Opera or Safari] browser fan. You checked your web pages and they look fine. In your browser. That's not enough.

You need to know if your web pages look good and don't "break" in other popular browsers. Some services are free, some are paid. Check browsers such as:

• Firefox 2.0
• Internet Explorer 6
• Internet Explorer 7
• Opera (varied versions)
• Safari (a couple of versions). iPhones use Safari, by the way.

Not only that, you need to check different operating systems, because some browser versions can and do differ on different OSs. Consider:

• Mac OSX
• Linux (which has a lot of flavors
• Windows

You can pay one-time or monthly fees to use a commercial service that checks a web page against varied browsers or you can go the free route.

Browsershots is a free online service I like. It uses computers of volunteers around the world to make snapshots of a web page in browser versions you select. After a wait (you can hang on or just return to that web page), you get a collection of thumbnail images. Click on one and get a larger view.

It's very easy to see if everything looks OK or if there's a problem with that browser displaying your web page as you intended. The image below represents about 35 minutes worth of waiting -- a price of the price.

As you can see from the image, one snapshot appears at only half-screen vertically. That's because the volunteer forgot to maximize the browser. When you run into that, this service even has an instant "problem" report for each browser snapshot.

Newsletters: Size matters

Among the many factors you need to think about when designing or redesigning a church newsletter is it's physical size. Why? Size affects:

• Ease of handling the printed newsletter.
• Column width and layout options.
• Ease of online reading.

All those are usability factors that you need to consider. Remember, the key is not what you think looks nice or what you've "always done", but rather how easily and quickly the many different readers of your newsletter can scan and read the content.

Also remember that online readers (and probably many readers of printed editions) scan text rather than reading it. The newsletter layout and design can help or hurt that scanning.

When you offer your newsletter as an electronic file attached to email or online, you have some added responsibilities:

• Make size readable. Make sure you use a size that does not exceed screen width. Make sure that if a visitor resizes a newsletter to their screen width, they can still read it easily. Reduced size fonts can become "squint print" in a hurry.
• Don't design for hi-res. Design for a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, but make sure the newsletter looks good at 1280 x 720 pixels. Why not design for hi-resolution and widescreen? Many people don't maximize browsers when they have widescreen monitors. Check your web site stats to see what screen resolution is most common, but remember that it needs to look great at 800 x 600 pixels (or the Mac equivalent).
• Colors. Keep color saturation and contrast in mind. Many LCD monitors "wash out" contrast and over-saturate colors. Window scrollbars may be very hard to see, as will light pastels or grays.
• No snake columns. Make sure readers don't have to scroll down and then up again on the same page to read your online or electronic file newsletter. This most often happens if you use "newspaper" columns that snake from bottom to top across multiple columns. Columns are fine, but avoid the snaking column. Do that by keeping stories flowing vertically; no column changes. If you have two columns, story text in each column flows only downward.
• Avoid folds. Whenever possible, don't use a folded paper format. A newsletter that has vertical folds results in a newsletter that exceeds the screen width. It also often means columns that snake across the fold. This format is quite hard to read online or in an electronic file format. Don't force your readers to print the newsletter to be able to scan and read it easily. Give up the old print mentality. Think of online and electronic file readers, while keeping the format attractive in print as well.

You can't have it all

Rarely do churches have the staff, volunteers, and funds to do absolutely everything they'd love to. The applies in the web communications as well as other traditional committee areas. So what do you do? You prioritize the work. But how do you do that and involve church members as well as staff.

Below are thoughts about getting fresh ideas and then prioritizing web work using brainstorming:

• Open a session with the understanding that your church cannot do everything it would like to.
• Brainstorm ideas for web communications of all sorts.
• Use a session moderator, one good at encouraging ideas.
• Adopt rules:
• All ideas are welcomed.
• Phrase ideas as positive ones.
• No discussion during this first phase -- just generate tons of ideas.
• Let others' ideas spur you to related ones.
• Don't criticize any idea given. Ideas at this stage may not even be practical, and may be "far out". The aim is a ton of ideas, some of which you'll end up using.
• Ignore whether your church currently has the resources to implement an idea or not. That analysis comes later.
• Set a time limit for brainstorming (30 - 40 minutes, maximum).
• Collect all ideas. One way is to use paper or a large "dry erase board" to record all ideas.
• Use one main collection method. One is a "limb and branch" approach [I forget the technical term] ... draw lines and mark the ideas above the lines. Fan out lines that are related. This actually helps spur ideas! [Anyone who knows the technical term -- post here for the benefit of all.]
• Categorize the ideas (some may fit in more than one category).
• Ask group members what categories (groupings) they see in the ideas.
• Jot down each possible grouping.
• Ask the group to assign actions to the first category.
• Record the responses.One way is to use a different colored dry erase marker for each category, then place "bullets" of that color next to each action associated with the category.
• Move to the next category, and continue till done.
• Record the final results (a digital photo of a dry erase board might work).
• Prioritize ideas
• Do a first cut at prioritizing the categories.
• Do a first cut at prioritizing the actions in each category.
• Disregard available resources at this time. That comes next.
• If the group deems an idea way too "far out" to be done at this time, mark it and put it in a "set-aside" group for now. Always keep ideas. You never know when today's "far out" idea will become practical.
• Analyze categories and actions
• Consider privacy aspects to each action.
• Consider security aspects to each action.
• List any resources needed to accomplish each action.
• Resources include people, time, and things (equipment, web hosting, web developer, etc.)
• List which resources your church already has.
• List which resources should be easy to get.
• List which resources may be very hard to get. Nothing is impossible, but look at the effort-versus-benefit of each "very hard to get" resource.
• Discuss alternative ways and approaches to getting hard-to-get resources. Conference funding? Temporary seminary student help? Grants?
• Agree on which actions should be postponed due to resource constraints.
• Re-examine the priorities in light of security, privacy, and available resources.
• Finalize initial milestones
• Acknowledge that people need to accomplish some actions that they just like to do, regardless of priority.
• Keep the web communications workers happy, motivated, and engaged.
• Re-examine priorities and establish short-term milestones.
• Plan early milestones that will be easy to accomplish -- you need some "wins" fairly fast to keep morale and excitement up
• Agree on how and when to next meet.
• Decide of you want an "email meeting" to add ideas that post-session thoughts and discussion may generate.
• The next meeting should address progress, resource challenges, future resource needs, any changes needed to existing milestones, and any possible milestones for other actions.

Decide on the type of meeting format. Meetings could be in person, via email message exchanges, or a web meeting. Explore options. Seek variety -- keep interest up.

Google's custom search engine

Google now has a "Custom Search Engine". You add code on any web page that immeditely adds a special search box. The key is that Google focuses searches on all sites linked on that page.

Possible uses:

• Search blogroll sites.
• Search based on a web page's theme, as shown by sites the page links to.
• Search focused on the links in a links collection page such as "Religion Resources".

Example use

Churches with topic-related pages that also include "Resource" links, "Related sites" links or similar on a page now get added value from a customized search. On a Missions page, for example, the custom search will let a visitor focus a search on any Mission-related sites linked on that page. So each different topic page -- for example worship, youth, and stewardship -- will result in different search results depending on what links appear on those pages.
This seems to be the replacement for the old "Site-flavored search" beta, which no longer works.

This also appears to be a great reason to add links of interest to the topical area of a church web page. Added value to visitors means happier visitors.

Tips for web designers

Here are some uselful links:

• Top 10 books for Web designers
• Top 12 blogging tips
• Web design - setting goals
• Get off your RSS (SitePoint)
• 3 ways to make a good first impression
• Great church web sites - things to do
• Great church web sites - things to avoid

Criteria for a new web host

Our church is looking at web hosting options. One criterion is to let an average person maintain the web. A second key criterion is to be able to "touch the code" if we have a person capable of doing that.

Below is the long list of criteria we're using to compare web hosting solutions and site builder type options:

• Offers a Content Management System (CMS) and templates suitable for our church's use. The CMS should let nearly everyone (with minimal orientation) add, edit, or delete text, add or delete images, create or delete pages, and upload files.Templates must be pure CSS -- no use of tables for layout.
• XHTML templates are preferred, though XML is OK as long as layout and CSS can be directly edited. (I'm resisting having to devote enough time to learn XML coding for very little benefit -- I won't use it at work, for example.)
  
• Ability to directly edit the code as well as use the CMS.
• Must allow addition of alternate text and/or titles to image code (for accessibility).
• Ability to upload files via FTP or via Web.
• Absolutely no ads or forced frames with hosting company info showing.
• Templates must allow inserting of multiple-level CSS fly-out menus -- horizontal or vertical or both. Single-level menus are not good enough, if we're going to improve the navigation, which we intend to do.
• The web hosting company must be an established one.
• 24 x 7 support. Email is OK, though phone is better.
• Hosting firm has good ratings (when I can find them).
• A very high percentage web server uptime.
• Offers hosting on Windows 2003 server (in order to keep our options open).
• The hosting package includes room for our web to grow (pages/disk space)
• Offers at least 30 email addresses, auto-forwarding, POP access, and Spam filtering.
• Hosting solution is $300 or less per year. (E-Zekiel is way out of our price range for the size web we have.)
• Domain name registration/renewal is inexpensive (these should be very low cost these days).

Optional, but desired features:

• Ability to upload and offer podcasts of sermons
• Ability to embed video (YouTube or similar)
• Ability to display RSS feeds on selected pages (like Blogger's new XML template system allows).

Sermon post format

Using the content suggestions at OurChurch, below is a sample template for a sermon posting in a Pastor's blog:

---

Bible passage(s): [link(s) to an online bible]

Key Bible verse: [link to an online bible]

Sermon Title:

• Main point 1
• Sub-point 1
• Sub-point 2
• Main point 2
• Sub-point 1
• Sub-point 2
• Sub-point 3
• Main point 3
• Sub-point 1
• Sub-point 2

Action step: [The specific action you want people to take in the coming days as a result of this message.]

Dig deeper: [linked references for added information related to the sermon topic.]

• Reference 1
• Reference 2
• Reference 3

Ask the pastor: Click on the "comments" link at the bottom of this posting or contact me at the church's email address. [The "contact me" link could go to the church's "Contact" web page or the actual church email address for the pastor.]

Traits of a great web site

Titus Hoskins in SitePro News lists seven traits of a great web site:

• Keywords are used
• Design is simple
• Pages are optimized
• Navigation is easy
• Content is fresh
• Good enough to bookmark
• Looks cool

Content in Pastors' blogs

What content should appear in a pastor's blog? Anything they want, of course. On the other hand, it depends on why the blog was created and the purpose of the blog.

Pastors may arrive at a church with a blog already. They may well use it for publishing daily happenings (journal style) and musings. If the church wants "their" Pastor's blog to integrate with the church web and church worship, the church and pastor need to discuss a blog that is directly tied to the church. Both type blogs can exist at the same time. Authoring multiple blogs is common.

The Christian Web Trends blog posting lists some great content ideas for "Supercharging sermons with a blog", which I have added to the below tips.

Come decision points about pastor blog content and design on which the church and pastor need to reach agreement:

• If the pastor has or wants a personal journal type blog, is the pastor also willing to author a pastor's blog that is a more direct extension of the local church?
• Should the design integrate with the church web design or its existing blogs?
• Should the pastor's blog contain any sermon texts, summaries, or outlines? Sermon messages can be one form of online evangelism.
• Should a "Sermon blog" be a separate blog or mixed in with the other postings in the church's Pastor's blog?
• Should the church offer (and link) sermon podcasts or video?
• Should the blog allow comments, as is the norm?
• Should any comments should be "moderated", so as to avoid anti-Christian rants and foul language appearing in blog comments? Yes, of course!
• Should the blog contain short "point of view" postings about spiritual life in a secular world? These could be "thought for the week" style, supplement a past sermon, or based on the pastor's and congregation's daily life experiences.

Sermon information

If the pastor's blog will contain sermon information, decide the following:

• When should such information be posted?
  Immediately or after a week or two delay?
  Some pastors and church leaders may fear that offering full text or even outlines immediately might lower actual church attendance. Others may want to immediately offer the message to shut-ins or people who were unable to attend church.
• Should it be full text, paragraph summary, or outline?
  I suggest a two-level outline format, which is easiest to scan. After all, research shows that most surfers scan, not read text on web pages. An outline of two levels includes the key points and yet is short.

Add sermon resource links

If posting sermon outlines, help people dig deeper by stirring in:

• Links to resources related to the sermon topic. Remember that your own church web may contain information or related link collections.
• Links to bible passages for the sermon.
• Titles of materials available in the church library.
• Links to Books, say available from Cokesbury, that are a really great reference.

Add the "So what?"

Sermons at their best are like editorials, not just commentary. Editorials urge their readers to take action. Here's the pastor's chance to reinforce the Christian actions that readers should take in their lives during the coming days and weeks. The Christian Web Trends blog calls these "Action Steps." Be specific. Make each action step short. Use bullets – make the action steps easy to scan.

Encourage contact

If you have enabled comments, your blog postings automatically have a way to "contact us". Some readers, though, may wish to contact the pastor personally, not via a blog comment. So it's best to also add a "Contact us" link. Since this is a Pastor's blog that is tied to your church, how about adding a "Send a prayer request" link too? It couldn't hurt and might be just what some blog reader needs.