By keeping your division website updated and offering useful, relevant content, your division can position itself as a trustworthy online source as well as a point of connection for psychology students and professionals seeking to expand their networks with others who share their specialties and interests. Your division website is a key source of connection to inspire and galvanize current members as well as bring in new members. Do you want your division members to come to your website for information relevant to their specialty? Do you want to show potential members that your division should be their new professional home? Whether your division’s website is hosted by APA on APADivisions.org or your division maintains its own website, you’ll want to create web content that is engaging to readers, relevant to your division, and holistically supportive of your division’s initiatives and goals.
In working with divisions on their APA-hosted websites, we’ve noticed that certain content areas and topics grab readers’ attention. Here are some ideas for website content that your current and potential members will undoubtedly find useful:
- Information for students and early career psychologists (ECPs). Data APA has about website visits show that content useful to students and ECPs draws readers to division websites and keeps them coming back. Think about what you wish you would have known as you navigated graduate school and began your career. How can you pass that information on to those who are just getting started in the field? We encourage you to reach out to student and ECP members of your division for their thoughts on what online information and resources would be most useful to them.
- New findings, research and current events in your field. Many division members are experts in their field, and your division website is an excellent place to showcase their knowledge and work. In what research are your members engaged? What are the key conferences and conventions where topics related to your division’s niche are discussed? We encourage you to submit this information to share on your website to show your members the ways in which your division is active in psychology.
- Stories about the value of division membership. Division membership can offer a valuable network for psychologists at all career levels. Did you meet a mentor through a division event? Were you inspired to pursue your line of research by articles in a division publication? How has division membership helped you in your education and career? Stories shared by your division members about what being part of the division means to them, or how the division has supported them in their work, are some of the best ways to demonstrate the importance of your division to psychologists.
Strategic and up-to-date web content that elevates the efforts of your division within the field of psychology will appeal to your current members and attract new ones. Whether hosted by APA or independently, websites can broaden your division’s reach, connect with current members and bring in new members. When considering what kinds of information to share online, think about ways to create website content your membership and professional counterparts will use. Your division website can be a powerful resource to keep people up-to-date and bring them together.