Christian.com announced on September 9th its entry into the online Christian media arena, attempting to “become the preferred homepage on the Web for Christians in the U.S. and around the world,” according to its press release. One of the primary strengths of the new site is its highly unique and marketable domain name, Christian.com – a name that set off a frenzy when put on for sale 2 years ago.
The website provides a central place where Christians can check and write email, read the daily news, and find links to Biblical and Christian content. By offering various features that Christians would use daily, Christian.com hopes to become an integral part of every Christian’s online routine.
As a Christian portal, Christian.com joins the ranks of various well-established Christian sites. Praize.com is one of the best known Christian portals based in Canada offering many of the same features as Christian.com. Crossmap.com is another notable portal, offering a wealth of Christian content and resources, including the first index-driven Christian search engine. Christian.com hopes to increase its content offerings to differentiate itself from the competition.
"Christians live in the real world, and need a good search engine, news, weather, and email just like everyone else," says Christian.com President Lee Raney. "But Christians also want Bible tools and articles to help them
grow in their faith, and our site combines a Christian's spiritual needs with their daily life."
Many Christians want more on their Web homepage than what the major websites have to offer, according to Scott Swoboda, president of ChurchSites.com, a Web site hosting company for hundreds of churches and Christian organizations.
The Barna Group reports there are 80-85 million born again Christians in the United States. "Christians have interests on the Web that sites like Yahoo and MSN.com do not include at all," Swoboda said. "Christian.com is in a unique position to become a major niche portal for Christians."
Christian.com is a service of Christian.com Media Group, Inc. The Dallas- based company owns and operates other websites as part of the Christian Web Network(TM).
