Early in my career, it was a well-known fact that our CFO would reject any paper or email that didn’t contain an executive summary. Once you understood this, you kept it short and to the point. He’d read more if he felt the need to. Sometimes, the summary was all he required.

Anyone on the receiving end of a long document can appreciate an executive summary, because it’s a short, easy-to-read synopsis of its most important, main points. You know what the paper’s about–its purpose; the details you want to pay attention to–the places where you’d want to skip ahead. 

The Home and About pages of a lab website, and even the research summary areas, are much like an executive summary. These pages give the visitor, particularly a busy investor looking for projects to fund, a synopsis of what’s going on. They basically market the research in that they provide more information than just a list of topics, but not so much that it turns the visitor away. It tells the visitor what to click through to next, such as the more detailed pages related to team members and publications.

A lab website turns research into marketing. It tells visitors what's current–what the lab is focused on, the latest hypotheses and findings. With Home and About pages serving as executive summaries, a potential donor knows whether a research project may be what they’re looking for or not, then entices them to learn more, and to even contact the researcher. 

Most universities, state innovation hubs, and research hospitals have researchers listed on their sites with some basic information, such as their area of focus and contact information. Today, it’s vital that these pages contain links to more detailed websites that give visitors that one-stop-shop to Home and About page executive summaries. 

Our goal is to help solve society’s problems by making research easier to find, and therefore fund. With networked, research-focused OpenScholar websites that filter up to a Research Dashboard, funders can find research and quickly learn what’s going on in a lab. 

Just like that CFO who wouldn’t read anything without an executive summary, you want to make sure your Home and About pages give site visitors enough information, but not too much that it turns them away. Treat it like an executive summary, and you’ll increase your chances of attracting what your lab needs.

For examples of sites with great summaries, check these out:

Clark Lab at Ohio University

Sharan Lab at Texas Biomedical Research Institute

MCCR at Texas Biomedical Research Institute

Tsokos Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Beth Vonnahme at UMKC