Anatomy of an Awesome Event Page

anatomy of event page

You want your website to make a great impression on your audience. You’ve spent hours designing a stunning site that’s unique and true to your brand, and now you need your event pages to match.

With a few key features and best practices in mind, you can give your event page the power to convince your users to attend your events, and ensure they have the information they need to have a good time.

Below is everything you’ll need to make your event page stand out from the crowd.

1. A Killer Event Description

The best event pages we’ve seen go above and beyond with their event descriptions. Think about everything you’d tell your audience about your event if you were speaking to them in person. Including details like the purpose of the event, the backgrounds of your speakers, or the history of your venue are sure to wow your users and create a lasting impression.

As a best practice, we recommend framing the event description as a value proposition. Don’t just focus on the what of the event. Focus on why they should care. What will they get out of attending the event?

The YMCA’s calendar is a perfect example of event descriptions done right. They include all the information that anyone interested in the event would need to know, from application deadlines to related courses. They also make it very clear who should attend and why, with value proposition sections like “key benefits” and “who should attend.”

Finally, they’ve included a simple summary of all the critical information near the bottom of the page. This is great for people who have already read the description, and are re-visiting the page to ensure they have the right start time and address. Well done, YMCA!

2. A Visual User Experience

Humans are visual creatures. Most of us love a site with great icons or creative buttons that convey clear information without the use of words.

For example, check out the “+” and “-” buttons surrounding the “People” fields in the ticket forms along the side of Erlebniskochen’s website. No doubt you know what to do when you see those buttons. The purpose is clear, and the design is kept clean and minimal. These buttons do the same job as instructional text, without the bulk.

Something else we love about this event page is the awesome detail they’ve included in their event description. Under the booking section they’ve included a menu of the food that will be served at the events. They’ve also included a gallery of photos for each event as opposed to the standard, single image. As mentioned above, these kinds of details paint a picture for your guest and could be the factor that persuades them to attend.

erlebnis

3. Branding

The best sites use branding to give users a certain feeling while they’re engaging with the content. It’s important to make sure your brand stays consistent across your event pages. Using a simple, unembellished event listing in a bright, bubbly webpage is sure to stand out—but not in a good way!

A great event page doesn’t need to include intense customization; it’s often just a matter of finding the right theme and tweaking a few colours, fonts, and curated images to make your event listing well-suited to the rest of your site.

Check out this simple but effective use of branding by Cotswold Electric Bike Tours.

cotswold

4. Images

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. In reality, a picture is more likely worth 60,000 words as the human brain processes images a whopping 60,000x faster than text!

Including a big, clear image on your event page is a great way to inspire an emotional reaction to your event, which can be a powerful promotional tool. Images have the power to convey the feeling or “vibe” your event might have much more effectively than words.

Art Center was really creative in their use of images, customizing their event page so a large, clear event image is the first thing you see with the key event details neatly beneath.

art-center

5. A Clear and Well-Placed Call to Action

Another great thing about the Art Center event page is one clear call to action. Their mission isn’t diluted with multiple buttons or actions for the user to take.

Keeping your call to action simple is a very effective way to encourage users to take that next step because you’ve eliminated the risk of them getting lost or distracted along the way.

If you’re selling tickets to your event, we recommend including the ticketing section right on your events page, as that’s where they’re most interested and excited about your event. Providing a call to action at the right time can be the difference between selling a ticket or not.

If you’re using the free version of Event Tickets, you can now sell tickets using our simple PayPal integration. For more complicated ticket sales, we recommend Event Tickets Plus, which will allow you to integrate our ticket-selling software with a more powerful ecommerce platform like WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads.

Both plugins allow you to set the location of your tickets form on the event page to best suit your needs.

6. Social Sharing Buttons

The best kind of promotion is referral marketing. There is no greater way to establish trust with a potential customer than a recommendation from someone they are close to.

If your event description gets someone excited enough to share it with their friends, make it easy for them to share by including social share buttons directly on your event page, like this example from Wardle Academy. For a few options to include social share buttons, check out this knowledgebase article.

wardle

7. Other Events

Finally, a great events page gives a shout-out to your other events. If your user gets to your event page and decides not to attend, all hope is not lost! They might be interested in another event you’re hosting.

Having a quick gateway to other events can keep a user browsing and prevent them from leaving your site. A simple redirection could even result in additional ticket sales!

Check out how Vegan Event Hub added an “upcoming events” feature down the right side by adding the Upcoming Events widget.

vegan

The Power of an Awesome Event Page

A great event page has the ability to turn visitors of your site into attendees of your events. It should also give them the information they need to make sure they have a good experience.

Giving your attendees a real-life positive interaction with your brand is a very powerful thing! When attendees enjoy your events, they’re likely to attend more of your events in the future—and possibly bring their network with them.

Don’t forget to check our other Premium Plugins for added calendar features!