Top Five Ingredients for a Useful Event Website

The Internet is a great place to inform the public about your event, and there are a few key ideas that are important to know with regard to your event websites. This installment discusses the top five ingredients for useful event websites.

#1: News Feature/Blog

Most websites include a news section and/or a blog that informs visitors about what is going on within their organizations or events. This is a great way to tell people that are interested in participating in your event what they need to know for the competition, or even updates or changes that occur before the day of the event. It is also a nice place to post any media coverage that your event is receiving.

#2: Photo Gallery

Photo galleries are great to have on your event websites, especially after your event has taken place. Photos of the event can be uploaded onto your website and can be viewed by event participants. People can also view photos of past events and view what has taken place in previous years.

#3: Online Registration

Online registration is a convenient way for participants to sign up for your event. Instead of having to fill out paperwork and mail it to your event organizers, people can simply type in their information and pay their registration fee online. Compete-At's Event Manager software makes this simple for both event organizers and athletes. Convenience is a crucial factor for people, so the more convenient registration is for an event, the more ple that will be interested in participating in your competition.

#4: Correct Contact Information

There is nothing more frustrating for individuals who visit a website and want to contact the Webmaster and either have no contact information, or the information that is there is incorrect. If your potential competitors have questions about your event or organization and they cannot contact you this presents a problem. It is important to have someone who is in charge of answering e-mails and phone calls.

#5: Sponsorship Presence

A great way to advertise your sponsors is on your event website. It is easy to add a logo and a link to their website. Usually if you place your sponsors' logo on your website they will either pay you or exchange their services or products for presence on your website. Companies love to promote on the Internet because it is one of the easiest ways to reach consumers, so there should be a section on your website with their information or logo.

This question and answer section on LinkedIn provided many helpful hints and tips about event websites. I suggest reading it for more great ingredients for an event website: http://www.linkedin.com/answers/marketing-sales/advertising-promotion/events-marketing/MAR_ADP_EVM/184099-4138625?searchIdx=10&sik=1212410446092&goback=%2Easr_2_1212410446092

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Note about this article: This article is part of a newsletter series from Compete-At.com. Compete-At provides online event management and online registration software for sports.