Did you know that there are about two billion hits when you search Google for the word “Welcome”. That’s because nearly two billion web designers have made the classic mistake of using this “default” tag word on their home page. By contrast there are about one million hits for the word sex, 390,000 for the word conference, 155,000 for convention and 134,000 for congress.
Following are a few hints that may be the difference between a website that simply provides information and one that can actually boost delegate numbers.
First, there are search engine issues. You need to be found easily, not buried as one of those 390,000 conferences. In order to be found in a typical search you need to ensure that you use 10 to 15 words that consistently, accurately and concisely describe what you are promoting on each and every page on your website – not just the welcome page.
There are many places on each page where you can put these terms: meta tags; title tag; description tag; keywords tag; comment tag; heading tags; the text itself; formatting tag; and the alt image tag. Just do it and your ranking will jump considerably.
Your site also needs to provide a text-based menu system because clicking on a jpeg photo or image or some bizarre programmers words like www.xyz.com/displaydetails.aspx?key=204152 to go to another page can reduce search engine effectiveness – far easier for a search engine if it says www.xyz.com/registration.
For example, using the word “registration” as a menu link will put you in the same basket as 600,000 other websites. But embedding the appropriate terms like “Risk_Manager” in the menu tag will reduce that to about four - use those aforementioned search words to point to other content pages.
Your site is also ranked according to the number of links that other sites have to it. Be brutal and coerce, co-opt or cajole as many other sites (sponsors, exhibitors, speakers) as possible to include a reciprocal link to the event site. It is as easy as providing a simple piece of HTML code which a referrer can embed into their home page. A website called www.kartoo.com can help you to identify links to your site.
Search engines also rate sites more highly that are frequently updated so keep it current. They prefer sites that have long-term domain names, so register an ongoing name (longevity) and use it for your event instead of a new name or a PCO-provided name.
Avoid at all costs a /slash/ sub-name i.e. www.xyz.com/eventname as the chances of a search engine reviewing your pages are slim. It is far better to use a “super” domain i.e. www.eventname.xyz.com because it will generally have its own IP address and DNS entry.
But making a site easy to find is just the tip of the iceberg. Some years ago I wrote about “Webonomics” (a word I wished I had invented) - the science of making websites more user-friendly.
Too many websites are just a mishmash of text and images thrown together linked by an illogical menu. To find things you have to delve into most of the pages and can give up in frustration.
Enter the new term called “pathways” (again a word I wish I had invented). In essence the website is customised for the person visiting it. Let’s say you are a delegate to a conference – you select “delegate” as your pathway and are presented with information that is logical, sometimes “flow charted” and pertinent. If you are a speaker or sponsor or exhibitor – ditto. Pathways are the next big thing in web design and it appears that they effectively help the visitor to spend more useful time on your site.
Beware that traditional methods of marketing your event are failing. Email is now buried in a sea of spam. Websites seem to have more emphasis on looking good than the content and can be hard to find. You would be exceptionally brave or stupid or both to rely entirely on electronic means to promote your next event. It may be cheap but it has lost the gloss and is not effective!
Ray Shaw is an accredited meeting manager (AMM), IT journalist and chairman of Event Planners Australia. To contact him email ray@im.com.au or visit www.eventplanners.com.au.
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