Web Content Strategy Overview

[Department name] at UB
E.g. "Music at UB"
This is the main landing page for the "About" tab, and should describe the Department X at UB experience, highlighting the culture of the department, interdisciplinary collaborations, student-faculty relationships, notable strengths and resources, and/or "fast facts" about the department. There are a variety of angles from which to present this information, as well as a range of formats. Some suggested sections include:

• Our Mission
• Our Students
• Our Faculty
• Our History
• Our Impact

What is [discipline?] 
E.g. "What is Geology"
This page is an opportunity to delve deeper than the "[Department] at UB" page into the nature of the department's main scholarly focus, taking care to dispel any common but erroneous assumptions about the discipline. E.g. "Geology is more than the study of rocks." This page should also note any concentrations or secondary fields of study that the department comprises. Though ideally this page should be interesting to any prospective student, it is likely most useful to prospective undergraduate students wishing to better understand the discipline before selecting their major. 

Careers in [discipline]
E.g. "Careers in Chemistry"
This page should include useful, current information about possible career paths open to undergraduate and graduate students from this department once they leave UB. At minimum, please provide a list of these careers. In addition to this list, networking opportunities, profiles of alumni working in these positions, links to professional associations, etc., would elevate this page even further. 

Meet Our Students
This page serves as an opportunity to showcase current student achievements, testimonials, experiential learning opportunities, faculty mentorship, or just to put a "friendly face" on the cohort for prospective students. One undergraduate, one master's-level, and one PhD student (in departments where this is applicable) is the suggested minimum. 

Leadership and Administration
At minimum, this page should list the faculty in positions of leadership (Chair, DGS, DUGS, etc.) and staff members. This is also an opportunity to present a message from the chair. 

Support the Department
This page should list opportunities for donors to support the department, or should be set to auto-redirect to the department's UB Fund. 

Contact Us
This page will be pre-populated by the web team, and include a general inquiry form, map and contact information. 

Undergraduate Overview
This page should introduce prospective undergraduate students to the Department of X. "What to expect as an undergrad in X" is the perfect subtext for this page. There are many ways that this page could be formatted. At the very minimum, we recommend including a list of degree options with brief descriptions, contact information for the director of undergraduate studies, and at least one strong photo that will help a prospective student "see" themselves at UB.

We also suggest student testimonials, videos, a description of the academic curriculum, the mission of the undergraduate faculty and highlights or "bragging points." 

BA in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

BS in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

Minor in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

Certificates (if applicable)
Certificate pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the certificate, and the requirements. 

Course Descriptions
This page should feature engaging descriptions of courses, but NEED NOT include details about schedule or faculty. Updating this information every semester takes a great deal of time, and information may change without notice. It is better to feature the descriptions and include links to the registrar or class schedules. 

Experiential Learning Opportunities
This page should be used to "sell" the opportunities that elevate the undergraduate experience in the department over other universities. Faculty mentorships, internships, service-learning courses, study abroad opportunities, performance opportunities, research assistance, conferences and events—whatever it is that undergraduate students can do through the department, outside the classroom, this is the place to showcase it.  

Financial Aid and Scholarships
This page should include information on any scholarships, awards or other departmental financial aid available to undergraduate students, as well as university financial aid. 

Admissions
This page should clearly outline the undergraduate application to a major/minor process, including a brief description of the application process, prerequisites (if any), forms (if any), links (if any), contact information and any additional pertinent information. 

Graduate Overview
This page should introduce prospective graduate students to the Department of X. "What to expect as an undergrad in X" is the perfect subtext for this page. There are many ways that this page could be formatted. At the very minimum, we recommend including a list of degree options with brief descriptions, contact information for the director of graduate studies, and at least one strong photo that will help a prospective student "see" themselves at UB.

We also suggest student testimonials, videos, a description of the academic curriculum, the mission of the graduate faculty and highlights or "bragging points." 

PhD in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

MA in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

MS in [discipline] (if applicable)
Individual degree pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the degree, and the requirements. 

Advanced Graduate Certificates (if applicable)
Certificate pages should focus on the student experience, the benefits of pursuing the certificate, and the requirements. 

Course Descriptions
This page should feature engaging descriptions of courses, but NEED NOT include details about schedule or faculty. Updating this information every semester takes a great deal of time, and information may change without notice. It is better to feature the descriptions and include links to the registrar or class schedules. 

Experiential Learning Opportunities
This page should be used to "sell" the opportunities that elevate the graduate experience in the department over other universities. Faculty mentorships, internships, service-learning courses, study abroad opportunities, performance opportunities, research assistance, conferences and events—whatever it is that graduate students can do through the department, outside the classroom, this is the place to showcase it.  

Financial Aid and Assistantships
This page should include information on any teaching/graduate assistantships, awards, fellowships or other departmental financial aid available to graduate students, as well as university financial aid. 

Admissions
This page should clearly outline the graduate application process, including a brief description of the application process, prerequisites (if any), forms (if any), links (if any), contact information and any additional pertinent information. 

Please note: This tab has been named "Faculty" (as opposed to "People" or a similar title) as testing shows that this term performs better in searches. 

Faculty and Staff Directory
This page will feature a directory of core faculty and staff, including photos, research interests and contact information. Additional pages may be created as needed for Emeritus, Researchers, Adjunct, etc.

Profile Pages
Each core faculty member will have an individual profile page. These pages are NOT intended to take the place of personal websites. Information on the profile will serve as a brief highlight, and faculty should provide links to their personal websites, Google Scholar pages, CVs, etc. 

Prospective Faculty and Staff
This page may be used to provide information specifically for prospective faculty/staff, including links to job postings or other pertinent information. 

This tab is flexible and should emphasize the department's main scholarly purpose. If that purpose is not research, substitute this tab for one that is more reflective of the alternative purpose. (E.g. Study Abroad, Auditions) We recommend the following pages for the Research tab menu, but the department should work with the web team to develop a strategy for best presenting their specific information. 

Research Overview
This page should introduce users to the main research initiatives of the department, the department's research mission (if any) and other information pertinent to research within the department. 

Research Areas
This could be one page or a series of child pages. Information to consider including:

• A brief but illuminating description of the research area
• A list of faculty in the research area
• Recent achievements in the research area
• Recent news or publications in the research area
• Opportunities for students to participate in the research area
• Awards related directly to the research area
• Courses taught relevant to the research area
• Photos of faculty and students from the research area, including any special facilities or equipment 

Our Impact
This page could directly discuss how departmental research is impacting the UB, regional, national, or international communities. 

Facilities, Centers, Labs
This page could highlight the different facilities, centers, labs, equipment, etc. associated with departmental research, and the benefits these spaces provide to students and faculty. Any pertinent information, such as faculty contacts, hours of operation, rules and regulations, policies and procedures, etc. should also be included.

Resources
This page could include a list of both internal and external resources for faculty and students. 

The web team will work with the department to decide how best to create and maintain the "News and Events" pages. Generally, we recommend the following pages:

Recent News

Upcoming Events

Department Newsletter (if applicable)

Additional pages as needed for special events or announcements

We invite departments to consider the following questions:

News

1. What type of news does the department like to feature on the website? (E.g. student/faculty/alumni achievements, faculty publications, changes/updates to the department, outreach initiatives, general news relevant to the discipline, other, etc.)
2. Where do you currently feature this news on the website: (Home page, news page, other, etc.)
3. How do you feature this news on the current site: (We write our own posts/articles, we link to UB Now or other periodicals, we use an RSS feed, other, etc.)
4. As a general rule, how often do you update news on the website? (Every day, every week, every month, not very often, etc.)
5. How do you update news on the website?
6. Who is currently responsible for updating news on the website?
7. Do you delete old news, or allow it to accumulate in an archive?

Events

1. What type of events does the department like to feature on the website? (E.g. seminars, visiting lecturers, performances, campus events, student events, etc.)
2. Where do you currently feature events on the website? (Home page, events page, other, etc.)
3. When you imagine your ideal website, how would you like the news to be presented, updated, and managed?
4. As a general rule, how often do you update events on the website? (Every day, every week, every month, not very often, etc.)
5. Who is currently responsible for updating events on the website?
6. Do you currently submit events to the UB Events calendar? 
7. If so, do you use a unique keyword? Please provide it here:
8. If you do not submit events to the UB Events calendar, how do you currently update your website? 
9. Do you use a Google calendar or other digital calendar?
10. When you imagine your ideal website, how would you like the events to be presented, updated and managed? 

This page can include a number of items, dependent on the department's alumni outreach initiatives and engagement. Some options to consider include information about the alumni association or board, recent alumni achievements, giving opportunities for alumni, "Meet Our Alumni" profiles, and/or an alumni directory. If there is a large amount of alumni content, this tab can support additional child pages.

All websites will include a standardized "Update Your Contact Information" form. 

Please note: The web team recommends developing home page content LAST, once all/most of the site’s other content is in place.

When developing home page content, the department should:

• Write a strong statement (3-7 sentences) about the department that speaks to the prospective student audience. Focus on attributes and benefits and the student experience.
• Choose either 1) a single strong “hero” image or 2) a series of images or web pages for the slide deck component. Images should have captions and links whenever possible.
• Decide on up to 5 “key tasks” users should be encouraged to do from the home page. (E.g. Apply, Study Abroad, Meet Our Students, Find a Scholarship, Schedule an Advisement Appointment, etc.)
• Decide on 4 “highlight areas” for the four content buckets across the bottom of the page. These can be related to but should not repeat the key tasks. (E.g. Distinguished Faculty, an affiliated center or institution, a special degree or program, etc. Note that each highlight area will need a photo (or video). One bucket can also be set aside for news/and or events.)
• Make a list of any additional actions, content pieces, or other items that the home page should include and share these with the web team. We will try to find the best way to present the information. 

This menu is used to target specific audiences and shows high usage in testing. Recommended pages include:

Info for Current Students (Forms, advisement, student directories, etc.)

Info for Faculty and Staff (Forms, calendars, resources, etc.)

Departments may create additional pages as needed for other audiences. (E.g. Transfer Students, International Students, Prospective Faculty)