When it comes to promoting regional events, a captivating and user-friendly website is the key to your success. When you find the right balance of just the right features, you can create a seamless and engaging user experience that leaves visitors excited about your event. That goes hand in hand with better engagement, bigger attendance, and happier stakeholders.
So how do you strike the right balance? Let’s explore ten essential features that we think are essential to elevating your event website. From clear event details to social media integration and mobile optimisation, we’ve got you covered. Read along and let’s boost your event’s visibility, grow your audience, and make a positive impact on your community!
Clear and Prominent Event Details
Your event’s homepage often serves as the gateway to your success. To immediately grab visitors’ attention, ensure that key information such as event dates, location, theme, and a brief overview is prominently displayed. Providing a concise snapshot of what your event offers enables potential attendees to quickly grasp the essentials. A well-designed homepage creates a lasting impression and encourages visitors to explore further.
Online Registration and Ticketing
Simplify the process of attending your event by implementing a user-friendly registration system directly on your website. Offering online ticketing options and secure payment processing not only streamlines the registration process but also builds trust and confidence in your attendees. With a few clicks, visitors can easily purchase tickets or register for your event, removing any barriers and maximizing attendance.
Personally, we love Trybooking. But we’ve also used Eventbrite, Ticketebo, Humanitix and others.
Published Schedule of Events
A published event calendar is crucial for any event website, especially where you’ve got a busy program. It provides visitors with a clear view of the event schedule, including activities, workshops, and performances. The ability to filter events based on preferences and to view the calendar by day, by location, or by theme ensures that attendees can plan their visit effectively. This feature enables visitors to tailor their experience, which increases their engagement and excitement for your event.
Comprehensive Event Information
It should be a no-brainer, but when it comes to planning and promoting an event, providing detailed information about the event is crucial. It gives potential attendees a comprehensive understanding of what your event has to offer and why they should attend. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the event website includes all the necessary details that visitors need to know.
As a general rule of thumb, you should include session descriptions, speaker or performer bios, exhibitor details, and details of any special features or attractions. By presenting this information in a clear and organised manner, visitors can easily navigate your website, and their interest and participation in your event will increase.
Moreover, a well-designed event website with comprehensive information creates a lasting impression and encourages visitors to explore further. It also helps to build trust and confidence in potential attendees, increasing the likelihood that they will attend your event.
Engaging Multimedia Content
One of the most effective ways to increase engagement on your website is by incorporating high-quality multimedia content, such as images, videos, and audio clips.
By showcasing the best aspects of your event, such as previous events, exciting moments, or even attendee testimonials, you can bring your event to life and create a sense of anticipation among potential attendees. This, in turn, can drive up attendance rates and help you grow your event.
When choosing media content, it’s important to prioritise high-quality visuals that are engaging and relevant to your event. For example, if you’re hosting a music festival, you might include videos of past performances, or if you’re hosting a food festival, you might include images of mouth-watering dishes.
In addition to driving up attendance rates, visual content can also help visitors picture themselves at your event. This sense of connection and excitement further increases engagement and participation.
Social Media Integration
The power of social media is no surprise to any of us. It allows us to share an event with people at home on their couch or interstate or gives others the opportunity to continue the conversation about your event for weeks/months afterwards. So why do so many regional events integrate only integrate social media in a token way?
At the very least make sure you include social media sharing buttons and live feeds from event-related accounts to encourage visitors to engage, share, and spread the word about your event across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Accommodation and Travel Information
Regional events provide are a key piece of the tourism economy, bringing travellers from city centres to amazing regional towns and locations. As such, regional events need to remember that many attendees are visiting town for the first time, and sometimes just need a small prompt to extend their stay or make it even more enjoyable.
Providing attendees with information about local accommodation options, transport, and nearby attractions is crucial. Include links to booking platforms or offer recommendations to make it convenient for visitors to plan their stay. By going the extra mile and assisting attendees with their travel, you enhance their experience and demonstrate your commitment to both their comfort and the local community.
Interactive Maps and Directions
There’s nothing worse than getting lost on your way to an event, right? The person in the passenger seat is giving directions (badly), you are already an hour late and you know that parking is going to be a pain when you get there, and you still have no real idea where you’re going. Sounds like fun!
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Leverage the fact that people commonly use Google Maps and Apple Maps, and embed these directly into your website. Not only will you be helping your attendees arrive at your event quickly, but you’re keeping those people on your website (and that’s the kicker!).
Of course, by also referencing important landmarks, nearby parking facilities, and public transportation options you help your attendees eliminate confusion and reduce the likelihood of attendees getting lost. Navigating to your event should be a seamless and stress-free experience for all.
FAQ Section and Contact Information
If one person has called, emailed, or sent you a DM with a question you can bet that a dozen other people also had that question but didn’t get around to asking.
So if 10x people have asked you the same question (such as ” Can I bring my dog to the event?”) you can almost guarantee that 100s of others are wondering the same thing.
Adding a dedicated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on your website not only saves you (and your attendees) time and effort but also builds confidence in their decision to attend your event.
Of course, that doesn’t stop you from encouraging people to reach out with specific questions or concerns by having clear contact information on your website, including email addresses, phone numbers, or a contact form.
Mobile Optimisation and Responsiveness
In today’s digital age, optimising your event website for mobile devices is no longer optional — it’s a necessity. With the increasing number of users accessing websites through smartphones, and often on the road on the way to your event, your website must offer a seamless browsing experience on all devices. By ensuring your website is super mobile responsive, you make it easier for potential attendees to access information and register for your event, regardless of the device they’re using.
So what next?
By incorporating these ten essential features into your event website, you will really set your event up for success and will likely be head and shoulders above most other events in town. Clear event details, user-friendly registration, interactive calendars, comprehensive event information, engaging multimedia content, social media integration, accommodation and travel assistance, interactive maps and directions, FAQ sections, and mobile optimisation all work together to enhance the user experience.
So what next? Simply take one of the items above and add it to your website this week (it doesn’t matter which one) and start leaving a bigger impact on your potential visitors today.
