Behind the Redesign of
Adventist.org
An inside look at a crucial communication tool
T
he OUTLOOK team recently met through Zoom with Brent Hardinge, assistant director for communication at the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, to learn about the recent redesign of adventist.org. Here’s what we discovered.
Brent, what was the catalyst for redesigning the Adventist Church’s main website? It came from a number of individual things and happened over a period of time. About two years ago there was a series of meetings with communicators from around the building, including Hope Channel, Adventist Review Ministries, Adventist World Radio and ADRA. And we were asking, What can we do online to be more intentional about reaching people with what we believe as Adventists? Then I started reading Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller, and I realized that while we may not be selling a business product, we are “selling” something—Jesus, what He means to us and what He’s done for us. That hit me hard.
What goals did you have for the redesign? In the mid 1990s the first adventist.org site was established as a corporate site, sharing information about the Adventist Church. But there was no progression for taking the next step. We were missing huge opportunities to invite people to learn more about what we believe, to study the Bible or find an Adventist church near them. Now we have moved from being the corporate face of the GC to being more about who Seventh-day Adventists are. When you were developing the site, who did you envision using it? It’s an outward-facing site geared toward seekers—people who want to learn more
Adventist.org Brand Promise “You can understand the Bible to find freedom, healing and hope in Jesus.” 8 OUTLOOKMAG.ORG APRIL 2020
about spiritual things and specifically Adventism.
What are some lessons you learned along the way that could What do you want the be heplful to other site to help accomplish? ministries as they This site is partially the result redesign or update of Adventist evangelists fretheir website? quently telling us that we have to do something about how I would say bring together we present ourselves online. others in your church who Seekers want to know who we are interested in the site and are and what we have to offer. go for a long-term strategy. It’s all about studying the Bible Collaborate and keep the long and developing a relationship haul in mind. You also want with Jesus. to be consistent—so figure out how to sustain what you How are you utilizing are doing on a regular basis. SEO (Search Engine Try to meet the needs of your Optimization)? region and answer people’s Most of the content from questions. the old site moved through to the new site. But we didn’t have Why do you think information on the old site that conferences, churches and schools should still was geared toward bringing people in through their search. invest in their website? During our internal research we Is it relevant in the age of social media? learned there is a huge market for engaging seekers. And our The analogy that has beliefs section is consistently the always made sense to me is highest used section. this: Social media is like your So we developed two new community. You enjoy going large sections that are focused out into it, but you don’t own on SEO using “topic clusters” it. It is outside your control. based on keyword research. A website is like your home, And we are focusing on ways your property. You own it and we can better improve as you can control the content. Google continues to change If you want people to “come and develop how it treats over to your house,” you need subdomains, since there are to maintain it and make it approximately 160 other inviting to them. websites associated with the GC (education, family, youth, health and more).
