Your conference website is one of the first milestones in the conference planning process
Anyone looking for information about your conference will start by looking for your website in a search engine. Your website is an important promotional tool and will help you establish credibility and showcase your event. Plus, it can save you a lot of time: instead of having to answer the same questions over and over again through individual emails, you can use your website as a portal where users can submit, sign up, and find all the details on how to participate. . It’s your conference. That’s why it’s so important to get a good website up and running as soon as possible.
So how do you build it and where do you start? Here are eight steps to creating an effective website for your conference.
Step 1: Plan your project
The time it will take to build your website depends on several things:
- Its complexity. How many pages will it contain? Will you need built-in features like logging? Are you happy with a classic but efficient design or do you want a unique design?
- Who will build it. Are you going to work with a design agency or do you have someone who can build it within your team?
- If you are starting from scratch or already have a well-functioning design and structure and just need to update the information.
Keeping all of these elements in mind, establish key project timelines. Keep in mind that you won’t have full control over all of them, especially if you’re hiring someone to do the work. Don’t underestimate the amount of work you’ll have to do, either. Gathering information, writing content, and liaising with all stakeholders is time consuming. Set realistic deadlines and allow plenty of flexibility.
On average, it takes a design agency 12-16 weeks to create a custom website.
Step 2: Allocate resources and establish a Budget
Before you start delving into the details of what your website should look like, you need to set a budget.
How much money can you spend on website design and development? This will have a huge impact on what you can do and what you will get. It will determine whether or not you can hire a web agency, whether you can afford a custom design, and the type of solution you can use.
Building a website doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are some great free tools out there, and you can get a simple but efficient website for less than $150.
Step 3: Define the Website Structure
Now that you understand the Bolts Covered, let’s get down to the details.
The first step is to define what the structure of your website will be. To solve this, put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and list all the actions you want them to take: register for the conference, send an abstract, contact you… Always link these actions to the needs of the visitors. What is the problem they are trying to solve? What information are they looking for? What questions do they have?
Be sure to consider all the different types of visitors: authors, delegates, patrons, etc. Next, plan the path you want your visitors to take, that is, the set of actions that lead them from a landing page to the final action. A typical delegate path might be: Home page > How to attend page > Registration page > Registration form > Confirmation page with a Twitter Share button.
After this exercise, you should have the list of all the information and pages you need on your website and the journey you want users to take. Now you can draw the structure of the website. Kissmetrics gave some great advice on how to create a powerful site structure. It should be logical and simple: no more than seven main categories. Make sure the most important pages on your website are easy to find. Your site’s hierarchy will dictate your navigation structure.
For example, your site’s hierarchy might look like this:
Step 4: Write the Copy
Once you describe the path you want the take your visitors and the pages you need to build, you can start working on the content of the website.
You should write your copy first and then decide the look and feel of your site. This will ensure that your design serves your content and not the other way around. Your copy should be clear and to the point. Headlines, bullets, and images will enhance the reading experience.
Consider search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is what makes sure your website ranks well in search engines, meaning that people find you easily when they search for your website. SEO is quite complex and takes time to master, but there are some easy things you can do. We won’t go into more detail in this article, but you’ll find some great tips in MOZ’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO.
Step 5: Find a solution
Now comes the big question: how will you design and develop your website?
The answer largely depends on the deadlines and budget you set and how complex you need it to be.
There are some great solutions out there for building simple, cost-effective websites. One of the best is WordPress. This DIY tool will allow you to create a website and manage all the content easily. We wrote an article to show you how to create a profitable website with WordPress. Another solution is to hire a design agency to build the website from scratch. This is a more expensive option, which can also take more time, but you will be able to get a more complex website.
Step 6: Structure your website
Structure is an essential step in the design of a website. Depending on the solution you use to create your website, you can either do it yourself or have an agency do it.
A wireframe is a visual display of the information hierarchy. It is the backbone of your design. Wireframes help you focus on functionality and user experience. They are simple black and white layouts that outline where the different elements of your pages should be placed. Wireframes contain titles, text, images, buttons (calls to action), and any important elements you need to include.
If you work with an agency or designer, wireframes are a great way to clarify your expectations. and make sure you are on the same page and share the same vision. You can use the proper drawing tools (Balsamiq is a good choice) or you can just draw on a piece of paper or a whiteboard.
Step 7: Layout
Once that you know where all the main elements of your website should go, it’s time to dress up your website, give it personality, color and style.
Keep it simple; functionality should always come first. It should look professional to ensure credibility. Make sure the layout reflects the tone of your conference. Click here for inspiration.
Don’t forget to choose and buy a domain for your website. Be sure to take into account how long the website will be up when you purchase your domain and arrange hosting. What will happen to the site afterwards?
Step 8: Get it online and promote it
Congratulations, your website is up and running! Now you need to attract visitors. There are several things you can do to drive traffic to your website.
Here are some ideas:
- SEO: To stand out from all the crowd conferences in your field, focus on keywords that will attract relevant visitors and help you.
- Email: A great way to keep your community informed about what’s happening with your conference and to nurture relationships.
- Social Media: Use Twitter and Linkedin to spread the word about your conference and keep your community in the loop.
- Blog – Provide interesting content about your conference and your industry to drive more traffic to your site.
- List your site on conference announcement sites. Check out our list of ad sites
- Network: Word of mouth is a powerful thing. Encourage authors, reviewers, and delegates to recommend your conference to their peers.
- Paid advertising campaigns: Try paying for ads on search engines.
Some of these strategies will be easier to implement than others. Choose the strategies that seem most relevant to your conference and that will appeal to your delegates.
Building a website can seem like a daunting challenge to someone who has never done it before, and the truth is, it can be. It does not have to be like that. You can simply decide to go with a simple website. As long as you answer all of your visitors’ questions and make it easy for them to do what they need to do, a simple website can be just as efficient as a sophisticated one.
Download our planning eBook for more details on all the milestones of your conference planning.
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