Prep Your Website to Be a First-Class Event Ambassador
Delegate most of your work!
A website can be so much more than just a pretty brochure, but it’s surprising how many organizations are not using their websites to do the heavy lifting. While at one time it was pricey to get your webmaster to write the necessary code for running an event, we’ve come a long, long way since then! The trickiest part now is figuring out which powerful-yet-inexpensive options you want to use. Read on for some of the jobs your website can do:
Marketing
Social media, event calendars, emails, and the like will all be important broadcasting outlets to let people know about your event. You might even make use of radio or TV advertising. But no matter how much you talk about it, people are going to forget the details and will wind up searching online. That’s when accurate Search Engine Optimization techniques become super important. You want folks to type in the few words they remember and find your event immediately.
Registration
Particularly if you have to limit your audience size, registration for your event will be important. With online registration, folks have access 24/7 and no one from your organization needs to be available. FAQ pages can answer most questions, but you can add an email or chat feature for extra help. Also, you can download all that registration info for your spreadsheets or wherever you need the data.
Billing
If your event has a cost, folks can pay right away online. Simple for them, useful for you. No one is messing with money and there’s a great paper trail for your records.
Reminders
Improve your event attendance by sending out reminders to everyone who has registered. You can remind them a week before and again the day before because there are always a few that meant to attend and then forgot.
Attendance Details
“Where do I park?” “How do I log in?” Your website is the place for all the little details that folks didn’t even know to ask until just before the event starts. Post it all clearly so they can find what they need just in the nick of time. For in-person events, add mapping links so people can get accurate directions.
Presentation Delivery
With virtual events more common than ever, your website could host the event itself. Even if you are using a third-party platform to present your event, your website should be your event’s home base, the place where you have complete control over your branding.
Once we complimented a festival committee on their website and they replied “Oh, you found us on the web?” It shouldn’t be a surprise that your event is “found” on the web because that’s where people are looking for it! Furthermore, all of your event information should be easy to use on a cell phone because that is how your audience is looking.
Putting together an event takes a lot of effort whether it’s virtual or in-person. If your site isn’t carrying its weight, let us help you put it to work. Give us a call to talk over what you want it to do for you and let us help make it happen.
Photo by alleksana from Pexels
This article is an update to “Put Your Website to Work!” dated 6/23/2014.
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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