Using Your Website to Boost Event Attendance

18th March 2008

Communicating with people from different parts of the country or even the world is no longer a time consuming task. Thanks to the internet, you can now communicate to thousands of people scattered across the globe with a simple click of a button. This advancement in technology has made promoting your event on a global arena an easier task.

One way to promote your event on the internet is by creating a website for your event. Today, a majority of people are 'Net Savvy' and they rely on the internet (i.e websites) as their source of information. A savvy event organizer should not miss the opportunity to promote their event using this inexpensive medium.

Here are some ways to increase attendance at your event with the help of your websites:

Website: The most important

If you do not have a website for your event, you need to create one.

• Make sure that the website is asthetically designed and will appeal to your target audience
• Write content that is clear, up-to-date and relevant. Website users scan pages so don’t use long sentences and paragraphs, highlight key words and use descriptive headings
• Make it easy for interested parties to register by including 'Register Now' buttons of all pages
• Add your website address on all 'online and offline' sales, marketing and communication material. This will help you promote your market your event, your event website and reach delegates who are interested but can’t spare the time to come down to your office for details

Search Engines: How to create a strong online presence
The internet is a big place and delegates need to be able to find your website easily. The best way to achieve this is to optimize your content to make it attractive to search engine. Here are some steps you can take to ensure your website ranks high on the search engine:

• Keep content relevant
• Use descriptive keyword phrases
• Add ‘alt’ tags to graphics
• Add a ‘sitemap’ webpage

Invitations, Newsletters and Emails: Draw attention to your website
Promote your event and encourage attendance by designing and sending potential delegates an online invitation, a newsletter or an email. This is an inexpensive method of advertising and marketing your event. Make sure your communications includes :

• Ensure that the design reflects the website look and feel
• A short summary about the event with links to relevant content pages
• All relevant information such as event location, cost, date, time
• A ‘Book Now’ button that is linked to the registration page.
• A‘Tell a friend’. This will allow your delegates to market your event for you as they can forward information about your event to interested friends and collegaues easily

Registration and Payment: Make it Simple
The more complicated the registration and payment process, the less inclined is the delegate to register. So, keep the registration and payment process short and simple.

• Offer an online registration form on your website. Ask only ask for essential information - remember, users have a very short attention span.
• Offer an online payment option. Include a security certificate or your privacy policy to reassure them of their data security.