20 Things Every Event Planner Should Include On Their Website

Today, we’re going to try something a little different. See, I’d like to think we’ve already driven home the importance of having a website – or at least some sort of online presence – as an event management professional.  While it’s certainly possible to get by without a website, I wouldn’t advise it.

After all, why miss out on an entire market of potential clients?

Now, not all websites are created equal. There are certain elements which make one website more successful than another. If you really want to see a return on the effort you put into your site, you’re going to want to make sure it’s got as many of those components as possible. Here are just a few of the things every event management website should include:

1. A strong main landing page.  This needs to be both simple and eye catching. More importantly, however, it needs to provide enough information about your firm that prospective clients know whether or not they want to work with you right away.
2. A simple, easy-to-remember domain. There’s no need to complicate things
3. Contact information – make sure it’s easy to find.
4. Navigability. Make sure your site is laid out in an intuitive fashion, so that people can find exactly what they’re looking for with relative ease. Not sure if your site is navigable? Show it to a friend or relative, and ask them to look around.
5. A unique sense of style. Your website cannot look boring, nor can it look identical to all the other event planning sites out there.
6. A clear description of your firm, and what it does. Where is it located? What sort of events does it generally manage? What clients does it typically work with? Are there any additional services it provides?  What’s its history?
7. Details on you. Do you have any history that’s worth mentioning? What makes you so qualified to run events for prospective clients?
8. Details on your event management team. Look here for a good example. Well…except for the typo at the end of the page. That’s bad.
9. Your rates – how much would it cost to hire your firm to manage an event?
10. Testimonials – if you don’t have any clients that are willing to talk about what a good job you did running their events, how will anyone know you’re worth hiring?
11. Proper search engine optimization. If you don’t know what I mean by that, SEO Moz is a fantastic place to start looking.
12. A weblog (optional). Share your expertise on event management, or invite guest speakers and sponsors to write posts for you on their industry.
13. Mobile optimization. More people are surfing the web on their phones than ever before – don’t alienate those users.
14. Social media integration. Again, this is optional, but if you’ve any social networking accounts (or a Facebook page), make sure there’s a link to it on your site. While you’re at it, you might as well include sharing functionality, as well.
15. A calendar of your upcoming events (and a catalogue of your past events).
16. A “News” page detailing any positive press directed your way. This could include awards you’ve received, important events you’ve hosted, or new staff you’ve hired.
17. Security. If your web host isn’t 100% secure, find one that is – you don’t want your information falling into the wrong hands, especially if you’re running registration through your site.
18. A page for prospective employees. Make sure it’s always kept up to date.
19. Photos and videos of your team, your events, and your venue(s).
20. Coherent, compelling, well-written copy. Nothing’s more jarring than seeing a huge typo on the main page of a firm you’re thinking of hiring.

Not every event planner needs an online presence (though most could greatly benefit from one).  For those of you that choose to maintain a website, there are certain components you need to include – certain details you need to take stock of. If your site doesn’t include every item on this list (or at least the majority of them), then you might as well not bother going online at all.