I’ve been getting feedback, both online and off that folks are finding these Spotlight posts useful. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our other Spotlight posts: Your YWAM Center Profile Page and Using the Spiffy Contact Page.
The Outreach posts are the heart of our new web site. In fact, I would venture to say that they’re the whole reason we would even want a web site. Youth Workers come to missionadventures.net to find an outreach for their group, so ummm… You could say these posts are our raison d’etre as they say in Russian. (Thanks Tim, that one is for you!) So I know you’re chomping at the bit to make your own Outreach posts, so hang on, here we go!
This User Manual Is Awesome
First, let me just say again that our new site has a rockin’ help system. Here’s a tutorial on how to Create a Journal Entry. Go take a look at it, (it even has a video), then come back here for even more info.
Add Your Outreach to the Right Journal
Under the Outreaches link in the top navigation bar, you’ll see a drop down list like the picture to the right. I’ve broken up the world into five different regions, and I’ve added one for Fundraising Ideas. So make sure you add your outreach to the correct Journal. (Don’t worry if you post to the wrong one, they’re easy for me to move—just email me and I can fix it for you.)
Make A Post for Each Outreach
You’ll want to create a post for each of your outreach destinations. That way you can give specific info about each one in the post. I encourage you to put your dates and prices on the post. Most youth workers that come to the site have specific dates in mind, so if your post is vague, they may skip over it. You may also want to create a link to your Profile so youth workers can see more about your ministry and what sort of other outreaches you offer.
Tag, You’re It!
Many of our partners are using tags with their posts. This is a great idea because it will help youth workers find their post when they search for it. Here is some more info about tags from the amazing user guide help system thingie.
It’s a Media, Media Media World
You can spice up your Outreach posts with all kinds of media. Of course, you’re going to want to put the best photograph you have as part of your post. It’s just as easy to add a photo to your Outreach Post as it was to add it to your Profile. Here’s a handy tutorial on how to do it. (Again, isn’t this help system the bestest ever?) Okay, pictures are great and maybe they are worth a thousand words. But video, now that’s where it’s at! A couple of awesome Kiwi’s have embedded videos on their Outreach posts—check ‘em out. And if you’ve got a video, you can do it too!
PDF Files and Such
Let’s say that your base makes some sort of Registration Form or an Info Pack or that you published a really great story about how when you went on this outreach you rode unicorns and made bracelets out of the hair of their manes. Well, of course you can make these sorts of files available on your outreach posts! Seriously though, if you want to make a file downloadable from your Outreach page, here are the instructions.
Let’s Summarize
As you can imagine, these Outreach posts can get quite long. And if there are lots of Outreaches in a certain Journal, that can make that page so long that it reaches to China! (Whoops! Apparently, I’m wrong, when a page goes down off the bottom of the monitor, it does not extend all the way through the earth’s core. It just curls around behind the screen. Don’t ask me how they do it—it’s magical!) Anyway, in order to keep our Journals to a manageable length, let’s all Summarize! Here’s how we’ll do it:
When you’re creating your post, you ought to see something that looks like this:
Highlight the text you want to use to summarize your post. Usually you’ll want to highlight the first sentence or two. Then click the handy dandy Define Excerpt Icon. It’s right here next to the Spellcheck Icon. Here’s a screenshot to help you find it: 
Then you’ll want to… Wait a minute, that’s it—you’re done! Just hit “Save & Close” and you’ve earned the title of Summary Master. Feel free to have a business card made up. Tell ‘em Craig sent you—I’m sure they’ll give you a discount.
When you go look at the Outreach Journal, you’ll see a “Click to read more …” link underneath your summary.
Next Right Steps or NRS™ for Short
The whole goal of creating outreach posts is for youth workers to find them and read them. The whole goal of them reading your post is to get them to take a step towards joining you on your awesome outreach. So make sure that your post has the NRS™ (patent pending) prominently displayed. Now I can’t tell you what the Next Right Step™ is for a youth worker to join your outreach. So it may be different from other bases’ NRS’s™. It could be something like:
- “Call Me! (555) 555-1212” or
- “Click Here to Go to My Base Web Site and Sign Up Online” or
- “Download this Form”
The best NRS’s™ somehow involve you. By that I mean, it’s great if you actually know when someone has taken an NRS™. So you may want to have them use your Spiffy Contact Page to get started. If all they do is download a form or visit your base web site, and you don’t know, then you can’t follow up with them later. ‘Cuz let’s face it., youth workers are forgetful I mean busy, and they may forget that they were going to take that Next Right Step™ but then they forgot I mean got busy. So if you know that they’ve expressed interest in your outreach, then you can follow up with them if they don’t take that Second Right Step® in a timely manner. Kapiche?
Okay, thanks for hanging in there with me on this long monster post. Have a great day!