Spiritual Web Site Sees Significant Growth

DailyWord, a 21st-century outgrowth of the Daily Word magazine, has grown from an initial user base of 150 to more than 30,000 since its launch in March 2005.

"Our goal was to make Daily Word conveniently available to as many people as possible at any time, day or night," said Tom Zender, president and chief executive officer of Unity, the publisher of the magazine. "More and more people are turning to the Internet for spiritual guidance and enrichment, so to serve spiritual seekers well, we needed to be where they are."

Daily Word has been published since 1924, making it the oldest continually published daily inspirational magazine in the nation. The print version is published in seven languages and has more than 1 million readers in at least 180 countries and territories around the world.

Unity is a transdenominational organization based near Kansas City, Mo., whose goal is to help people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles to their lives.

Besides offering access to daily messages of inspiration, DailyWord.com provides messages that reflect on current events. DailyWord.com was able to respond quickly with a request for affirmative prayers for the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the hurricanes in the U.S., the earthquake in Pakistan and the mining accident in West Virginia.

DailyWord also offers premium privileges to paid members. For example, members can share thoughts and feelings about daily messages or other spiritual-related topics in the Daily Word Cafe.

"Another benefit for paid members is the online Daily Word archives. We now have all Daily Word messages included in the DailyWord.com archives going back to 1924. This is a total of more than 25,000 individual daily inspirational messages," said Zender. "People love to search these archives to find the messages from significant milestone dates in their lives or in history. Many members tell us they e-mail specific messages to their friends or print them for keepsakes."

Zender said the percentage of trial members who decide to stay with DailyWord has been outstanding.

"We're so gratified that 98 percent of our members stay with us beyond their 14-day free trial period," he said. "This tells us people are receiving from Daily Word.com the spiritual content and inspiration they need."