[:en]Your online presence is more important than ever when it comes to hosting an event. Your website sets the tone for your event and acts as a one-stop destination for your attendees to receive information and purchase tickets. It’s prime real estate for event organizers to get the website design right from the get-go. A great event website educates, entertains, and entices people to attend your event. You want website visitors to be intrigued after the first click, so it’s essential to make a great first impression.
Whether you decide to hire an in-house design and development team or outsource an agency, making sure they have the historical knowledge about your industry is critical and can make all the difference when designing your website.
To build an effective event website here are eight things you should consider.
1- Always keep the attendee in mind
Your event website should be built with the prospective attendee in mind. What would they want to see on the website? Use data, analytics, and research to identify potential attendees’ interests and why they might be interested in attending an event like yours. Shifting to this mindset is the easiest way to convert website visitors into event ticket holders. The homepage must actively portray the event experience and help your attendees quickly make a decision on why they want to attend.
2- Get straight to the point
The worst thing ever is visiting a website that’s hard to navigate. Often event websites have way too much content on the page. Remember, website visitors, need to make a quick decision if they want to purchase tickets. So get straight to the point and have a clear call to action. After 60 seconds of clicking through the homepage, it is essential that website visitors know the time, date, and destination, along with how to find access to the content lineup and where to purchase tickets.
3- Tell a captivating story
If your website doesn’t convey your brand story, you are losing money. One of the most important components when building a strong event website is to capture the essence of your brand story. What’s the one memory you want people to remember about your brand after they visit your site? You want prospective attendees to have a glimpse into what their event experience will look like before they walk into the door. This can be achieved through strategic brand messaging, photos, and graphics.
Everything from your color palette, logo, and brand info needs to be displayed on the website.
4- Have a mobile-responsive design
In this day and age, your website needs to be built on a mobile-responsive platform. According to Statista, mobile accounted for more than half of website visits in 2019. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you just lost the opportunity to convert a vast majority of web visitors into event attendees. This means your website design should be optimized for all mobile devices. This will give your website visitors the option to view information about your event on their mobile phone or on a computer. Creating a responsive event website guarantees that everyone has a great experience.
5- Easy access to customer service
If a website visitor has an immediate question, how can they reach someone to answer that question? Avoid sending them to a general email address that rarely gets checked. Make sure your website has a toll-free number they can contact, a contact us form on your website, and a live chat option. Give website visitors multiple options to reach out to someone for help. Nobody likes waiting to have questions answered.
6- Details about the speakers and exhibitors
Try to have your preliminary speaker and sponsor information ready before the website launches. Seeing this information will entice people to purchase tickets. In addition to names include headshots, logos, and social media profiles. This area of the website is a further expansion into the story you are sharing about your brand. The speakers and exhibitors shape your event. Speakers and sponsors sell the tickets, so they should be front and center on your website.
7- Legal and privacy information
With the rollout of compliance mandates like GDPR, your website footer must include links to your privacy and legal information. You want website visitors to know that their data is safe and protected. This area should also include your refund policy. If someone has to cancel at the last minute, they should know what the terms and conditions are and who they should contact.
8- Multiple options to purchase tickets
Lastly, don’t forget about the registration page. You want people to purchase tickets to your event to generate sales. Your website should have a ticket sales tab and a pop-up banner promoting ticket sales. Make it easy for website visitors to purchase tickets on every page of the website.
In conclusion
Now that you’ve got a general idea of what needs to be on your website to attract the right audience, start working with a design team to build a fantastic website.
Use Event Management System for Managing your Events
InLogic’s Event Management System provides a wide range of features that help manage events with ease. You can use it to event registration, generate leads for your event, optimize your attendee journey, and analyze data to improve performance.
The best event management software puts everything you need in one place, making it easier for you to plan, market, and produce your event. It promotes engagement at every stage and gives you hard data along the way, helping you improve the ROI for your organization and your attendees.
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