Department Landing Page Template

• Hero image: Use a single photo that’s clear, compelling, discernible on a handheld device, and doesn’t interfere with the title text.
• Value proposition: Succinctly communicate the unique selling point(s) of your department. Think, How does a student benefit from being in this department at WPI versus another university? (Suggested length: ~100 words max.)
• “Discover Your Future in ____”: Paint a picture. Demonstrate return on investment (ROI). Help prospective students see what their future could look like if they enrolled in your department at WPI. For example, you might highlight popular careers, top employers, and alumni success stories. Content in this section can be copied from the template and tweaked to fit your department. 
• Links to apply: Positioning these calls to action (CTAs) in proximity to the ROI proof and student testimonials (i.e., social proof) is best practice for conversion. 
• “Meet Our Students”: These testimonials, imported from Student Voices, are seen by prospects as evidence that their peers have found value in your department at WPI.
• Highlight main pillars: Use rotating highlight blocks to tout the most important features of your department—and how they benefit your students. (In the example template, see “Hands-On Learning in State-of-the-Art Facilities” section.) Content in this section can be copied from the template and tweaked to fit your department. 
• Consider moving the News & Events widget: Information overload can confuse users, distract them from engaging with our CTAs, and even cause them to leave the page altogether. On your landing page, we want to prioritize the most important information that a prospective student would be looking for. Because announcements and events are more relevant to current members of the WPI community, you might consider moving them to a separate page to create less clutter. 

• Center the prospective student in your content. 
• You can repurpose the content in this template and make it your own. Feel free to steal the headings and body text and swap in your own department-specific details. 
• Add CTA buttons and guide prospective students to take action (e.g., request info, apply now). 
• Show off the cool things your department is doing—just make sure the benefits to the student are clear.
• Avoid large blocks of text. Keep your copy brief.
• Be careful about packing your landing page with too much information. If it’s not vital to a prospective student, you can add it to a subpage instead.
• Drupal blocks (aka widgets) are modular—meaning you don't have to do it all at once! You can work on your page one block at a time, save your work, and come back to it later. 

→ See this template in action: Check out the Department of Biology and Biotechnology page!