© 2021 Jena Lassiter
© 2021 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Divine Synergy | Volume 21, Number 1, 2021 (Summer) — Index | Chronology of Death Resurrection Ascension of Jesus |
Many of us have introduced the teachings to people we know. Our lives are richer because of our understanding of The Urantia Book teachings. Many of us believe that there would be more joy and peace in the world if everyone on the planet could see that our physical lives here are a part of a larger journey as spirit beings. I am so inspired by the teachings that I have tried to introduce the book to my friends and family hoping that they could experience a similar transformation.
Now we are in an age where people are finding information not just through conversations with family and friends but by “going online.” Just in the last hour, I’ve read or listened to the words of ten strangers and talked to zero friends or acquaintances. Whenever I have questions about anything, I will go to my computer or phone or tablet and look for an answer, rather than talking with people I know.
The Urantia Book Fellowship (The Fellowship) has around 15,000 people coming to its website every month (an average of about 500 site visitors per day). Thanks to someone’s insight several years ago, the Fellowship applied for and received a Google Ad grant for Google text ads worth $40,000 per month at no expense to us. We have used this grant to create Google Ads and are using nearly all of this grant every month. That is, we are “spending” around $40,000 every month with our ads. Google Ads explained: wordstream.com/google-ads
Visitors are from all over the world but are mostly from the USA and are mostly under 45 years old. They spend an average of 30 seconds on the site and then leave. Many of us think they spend so little time on the site because most ads take them directly into The Urantia Book online. For the modern, young, site visitor, digging through the text they are directed to probably doesn’t meet their needs for their search. Websites today commonly contain beautiful images, some brief text, and videos. Can the Fellowship deliver content that better meets those search needs?
The Stepping Stones Program was created last year with the goal of introducing the concepts of The Urantia Book to site visitors without the expectation that those visitors will read the book (although we hope to introduce the book where and when appropriate). Here’s our plan:
We encourage content creators to use their creativity and passion to decide on the path of content they want to create for a new site visitor. We use mind-map tools (see mindmapping.com/mind-map) when possible to break down the content into bite-size pieces. We also encourage a focus on the audience they are trying to attract. One of our members, Albert Einstein Lassiter, has considerable experience in user personas and how to maximize website participation using that information. For example, some user personas are: UB Newbie, General; UB Newbie, Anti- Church; and UB Newbie, God-Knowing.
The team working on the Stepping Stones Program recognize the sensitive nature of website exploration. If people doing searches in Google click on an ad and get past initial mild interest and see relevant content, they may begin to openly explore the website. They may then even be inclined to return to our website later. Google Analytics gives us the ability to see what they clicked on and also see what page they left from. That knowledge can inform our improvement process.
A key feature is to create interaction early on, rather than just presenting something to read. When people start to engage, spiritual growth happens. In fellowship we grow. Links appear on the landing pages to move beyond initial images, videos, and words and enables the visitor to talk to someone. Moderators will be trained to listen and stay with concepts rather than leading with The Urantia Book specifically.
Training will be available so moderators will know how to truly listen and support loving interactions—to positively represent the Fellowship. We are working with Urantia University International to help with the training of moderators.
Topics being worked on currently are family, grief, spiritual growth, spiritual conversations, life purpose (i.e. Why are we here?), and life after death.
The team working on the Stepping Stones Program believes that there is great potential for reaching thousands of new people every month with teachings from The Urantia Book. If you want to help we need:
You can contact jena.lassiter@urantiabook.org for more information about how to help.
Training will be available so moderators will know how to truly listen and support loving interactions—to positively represent the Fellowship.
| Divine Synergy | Volume 21, Number 1, 2021 (Summer) — Index | Chronology of Death Resurrection Ascension of Jesus |