An initiative to help local, state and national dental societies achieve a more cohesive online brand reached a milestone March 28 with the launch of its 50th website.
The ADA launched the Branded Web Template project in October 2014 as a Power of Three effort to give members a consistent online experience while giving dental groups a more cost-effective website design and development.
The first two state dental societies to launch new websites using the
ADA.org template were North Carolina and New Hampshire. Today, 50 websites have used the templates, most recently the state dental societies of
Missouri,
Virginia and
District of Columbia.
"The VDA is committed to supporting the Power of Three and converting to the template site is a huge step forward in that initiative," said Shannon Jacobs, VDA director of communications. "The redesign enhances most aspects of the member experience. Locally, it allowed some of our components to create websites where they previously had no resources to do so."
Benefits in using the Web template include:
- A responsive design for easy viewing on mobile devices and tablets.
- More public content and videos from MouthHealthy.org and integration to ADA Find-a-Dentist database.
- Easier access to information with rotator images and quick links to internal content, calendar, videos and social media.
Member surveys deployed before and after the website launches show an increase in favorable ratings. For example, after the New Hampshire Dental Society used the template, 94 percent of members said they would likely recommend the website — up from 57 percent.
"Truly, this experience with the branded template was, in my 14 years with the MDA, the best experience I have had with the ADA," said Melissa Albertson, MDA communications director. "We are excited for what the website is now and for how it may grow to accommodate needs in the future as more states roll it out and needs are understood."