How to create an event website: Tips for attracting attendees

No matter the type or size of the occasion, an event’s website is an essential launchpad where potential attendees engage and learn key information. It’s instrumental in attracting guests and influencing their decision to show up. After all, the best event sites also act as promotional material to drive ticket sales.

Below, we’ll unpack how to create an event website that balances aesthetics, function, and valuable content to deliver a seamless online experience and convince visitors to attend.

Do you need an event website?

If your organization hosts an event of any kind, you’ll benefit from an event website — even if you already have a dedicated business or organization site.

While you could choose to create an event page on your main site, designating a separate site lets you provide all event-related details in one accessible space. Particularly for complex or multi-day functions, an event site lets you use multiple pages to convey all logistics and information and prevents cluttering your main website. Presenting logistics and overviews in an organized format like this improves your visitors’ user experience (UX) and therefore drives conversions.

An event website, also known as an event-specific web platform, is a dedicated online location tailored for a specific occasion — like a hackathon, a product launch, or a virtual event for your company. It functions as a central hub of information. Here, event organizers offer logistical details like schedules, location, or ticketing information. It also provides a space for attendees to RSVP or buy reservations. Most importantly, an event site engages attendees before, during, and after an event.

This platform builds buzz before an upcoming occasion, especially when linked to promotional material or social channels. While an event is live, attendees may refer to the website to find information on schedules, speakers, and updates in real time.

And finally, the site serves as an archive of speaker bios, overviews, or recordings of panels and presentations for attendees to revisit later. This fosters a connection between the audience and your organization and maintains interest long after the event is over, which translates into customer conversions and continued user engagement.

Tips for crafting an effective event website

Creating an event site requires a slightly different strategy than building your main company website. While your primary website serves as a comprehensive source of information about your business, an event platform is hyperfocused on a single occasion.

Consider these practical tips to get started.

Understand your target audience

Before designing your event site, you need a deep understanding of your ideal audience. This target may be more specific than your main site’s, perhaps a particular segment of your customer base or a new audience you’re trying to attract.

To accurately pinpoint and cater to your event’s target audience, consider using a combination of market research methods. Surveys and user questionnaires reveal specific interests and preferences. A/B testing — where you present two versions of a page or feature to different user groups — lets you track and compare the number of sign-ups on both sites to highlight which design or content delivers the most conversions.

Knowing your audience lets you incorporate their preferences into your site so you can create content and features that entice them to attend an event. For example, if you’re organizing a design conference, participants might be drawn to exclusive hands-on workshops. Conversely, a book launch might attract fans eager for signed first editions.

For example, Webflow Conf 2023’s event site was built to target our community of web developers, designers, marketers, and visual artists. Each menu and CTA button is interactive and changes color as you hover over it, showing design expertise through dynamic elements. Plus, ample white space ensures readers can sift through information without feeling overwhelmed.

As you scroll, you’ll see various locations and times with a brief overview of the conference, simplifying access to important information. Then, the site streamlines navigation to learn more — the menu at the top of the screen provides quick access to each location, with options to engage with workshops or view community events.

The site also highlights CTAs to additional resources, like other Webflow events and a keynote recap in video or blog form. Those who prefer recordings can watch the event back through the colorful “recordings” button in the menu, while those who favor text-based content can opt for articles.

Understanding your target audience’s unique desires lets you customize your event site’s content and website design to resonate with potential attendees, enhancing engagement and boosting attendance rates to ultimately contribute to your bottom line.

Create a positive user experience

To encourage visitors to engage with your site, it’s essential to reduce user friction and provide a positive online experience. One way to enhance UX is with thoughtful design, like building a well-structured, user-friendly site. By making navigation intuitive, you empower visitors to quickly locate the information they need to decide whether or not they’ll attend your event.

For instance, consider creating a single-page site to quickly grasp and retain your users’ attention. For more complicated events with lots of logistics, such as multi-day summits with several concurrent sub-events and various speakers or panels, create specific pages for details like day-to-day schedules or speaker bios so you don’t clutter your main page.

Optimize for accessibility

You can also improve UX by boosting your site performance and accessibility. This requires fast page load speeds and data caching. Peak mobile responsiveness should extend to all devices to deliver an optimal experience, whether users are sitting at their laptops or browsing from their phones.

Including alt text for all visual components is essential to website accessibility, so be sure to provide concise but comprehensive written descriptions alongside images. This helps site visitors make sense of images they can’t view, which is especially key for including users who are blind or have visual disabilities. Alt text also displays in place of an image if the file hasn’t loaded or when a user has chosen not to view images.

Screen readers also enhance accessibility, particularly for readers with visual disabilities or limited sight. This assistive technology works alongside devices to convert text, images, and other visual screen elements into audio or Braille outputs. Screen readers function best with websites designed with their needs in mind, so research best practices for optimizing your site to pair well with this technology.

8 essentials to include on your event site

A website’s look and functionality aren’t enough to convince attendees that your event is worth their time and money — they need to care about your cause or be curious about the event’s topic.

So, aside from the practical aspects of building your site, you must create compelling copy about the event’s purpose to stir up interest. Your content should also establish trust and stave off logistical confusion by setting clear expectations for the event.

We’ve compiled a list of eight key elements to include on your event site.

1. Event details

Prominently feature key event information, including the event’s date, time, and location. You should also include an event calendar for a multi-day event with a detailed agenda. This not only attracts your attendees, but it also helps them plan and sets clear event expectations.

2. Registration and ticketing

Create a user-friendly and secure registration process so users will feel confident about their privacy when providing contact or payment information. This builds trust with your attendees and also encourages ticket purchases — if purchasing or registering protocols seem at all insecure, it’ll deter visitors from offering their personal information to sign up. Consider integrating with a third-party event platform to streamline the registration and ticket purchase process.

3. Speaker and presenter profiles

Highlighting your event’s talent is essential. Consider displaying speaker and presenter profiles with photographs, brief biographies, and the topics they’ll address. This not only lends credibility but also entices potential attendees with industry knowledge they stand to gain.

4. Interactive features

Engage your audience with dynamic elements — such as chats, polls, or virtual networking rooms — to help attendees form connections with each other (and your brand) before the event starts. For example, a Q&A feature where attendees submit questions to speakers in advance provides an interactive touchpoint and prepares the speakers for topics of high interest. This proactive engagement elevates the attendees’ experience and optimizes the event’s content by ensuring relevant and resonant discussions.

5. Visual content

Compelling visual content doesn’t just look nice on your site — it sets the tone for your event before it begins by lending a glimpse into the atmosphere and environment guests should expect. Use high-quality images, videos, and infographics to capture your attendees’ interest.

6. Social sharing

Integrate your event site with social media platforms to extend reach and boost visibility. You can promote the function on your organization’s main social channels, create separate channels for the event itself, and encourage speakers and promoters to share teasers and registration information on their own platforms to encourage their established followers to attend. This will help create buzz in advance of the event and continue the conversation afterward.

7. Contact information

Providing access to event organizers helps build trust and offers support to both potential and registered attendees. Rather than sharing your email — which could expose you to site crawlers that will lift and spam your address — consider using a contact form. Human interaction, even when virtual, encourages connection to your cause. Be sure to respond to any requests or inquiries so attendees feel personally cared for and confident in your organization’s attentiveness.

8. A prominent CTA

Calls to action, or CTAs, act as signposts that guide users toward desired actions, like registering for your event, purchasing tickets, or joining a community. Strategically design visually compelling CTAs and place them throughout your event site to improve engagement. Make these straightforward to act upon, not demanding too much effort from users — effort that might discourage them from moving forward.

For instance, the website for Zip Forward, Zip’s 2023 user conference, places clear “Watch now” CTAs below prominent event sections featuring company founders and team leaders. The demarcation ensures each speaker gets their own spotlight on the page and helps viewers quickly find guests and topics.

The green “Watch now” buttons contrast well against the black background and change color as you hover over them. Plus, the site includes images and videos to add visual references and a glimpse into the event. These subtle yet engaging designs prompt visitors to take action, inviting them to watch recordings and register for the company’s next event.

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How to promote your event online

Once you’ve built your event site, you’ll need to promote it to attract attendees and sell tickets. Check out these practical event promotion strategies to ensure a successful turnout.

Leverage social media marketing

Harness the power of social media marketing to create anticipation around your event. For instance, targeted advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram helps reach a wider audience. Also consider collaborating with influencers in your industry to expand your reach — advertisements on channels beyond your own will broaden your audience and showcase your event’s popularity.

Optimize for search engines

Pay attention to the importance of SEO for your event site to enhance its online visibility. Following SEO best practices, such as incorporating relevant keywords into your content and optimizing your metadata. These actions improve your site’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), increasing your chances of reaching a larger audience.

Promote it through email marketing

Use email marketing campaigns to complement your event promotion efforts. These emails give you extra space to share event information, highlight key speakers, and offer exclusive early-bird discounts to incentivize ticket purchases. Craft your email content to be mobile-friendly and visually appealing to drive attendee engagement.

A place to create unforgettable experiences

An event website is more than just a digital brochure for your event — it’s the starting point for creating an unforgettable event from the moment attendees first land on your site. Strong event websites set the stage for pre-event promotion by building anticipation through compelling content, interactive features, and easy social sharing. This results in a smooth, engaging attendee experience.

If you’re ready to elevate your event website and create unforgettable experiences, explore the possibilities with Webflow Enterprise, a powerful visual website builder. Build a visually stunning event site to catch and keep your attendees’ attention before, during, and after your event.