Event landing pages are the website equivalent of a direct mail postcard. They're a simple and effective way for event professionals to generate leads and drive traffic but getting them right can be tricky.
If your event landing page isn't meeting its visitors' expectations or making it easy for them to go from awareness to registration, then you've wasted an opportunity—and probably some money.
In this article, I'll show you how to make sure that doesn't happen by giving you a list of dos and don'ts when creating your own landing pages.
Do: Place all necessary information on the main page.
Don't make the user click through multiple pages to get the information they need.
If you have a lot of important information to share with your users, it's best not to hide it behind a series of menus or links. Instead, place all necessary information on the main page and use appropriate CTAs to guide people further into your funnel.
This way, you'll ensure that they read exactly as much text as they need without being overwhelmed by endless scrolling or having to hunt for what they want in an endless stream of content (not fun).
Do: Make sure your landing page is responsive across platforms
To make sure your landing page is responsive across platforms, you need:
- A responsive design
- A responsive template (if you're building one yourself)
- A responsive builder (if you're building it yourself)
- A responsive tool (if you're using someone else's code)
Do: Make it easy to complete the call-to-action.
For a call-to-action to be effective and accomplish its goal, event professionals need to make it easy for visitors to find and complete the CTA.
- Make sure the call-to-action is easily identifiable. If you have more than one CTA, make each unique so that visitors can identify which button they should click on if they want to take action. For example, don’t use “Buy Now” and “Learn More” as CTAs if event professionals want users to click on them both, use something like “Buy Now” or “Learn More + Download Free eBook!”
- Make sure the CTA is visible when someone views your landing page in their browser window. People are going through your website quickly—don't hide the most important thing on your page! This makes it harder for people who may not know what they're doing yet with their mouse/keyboard controls because they're newbies who haven't learned all their tricks yet (or maybe even just aren't very good at using them).
- Make sure that when someone clicks on this button it takes them somewhere else instead of back onto another page within this same site (unless there's something really important here).
People don't want endlessly scrolling down pages at once unless there's good reason for it! They might get lost inside of those endless layers until eventually giving up altogether when nothing seems clear enough anymore.
Don't: Post irrelevant content on your landing page
You need to ask yourself: does this content help me convert? If the answer is no, then you should reconsider posting the content.
If you’re doing a webinar for your event, post the webinar registration form on your landing page.
If you’re running an online contest, post all relevant information about it on your landing page.
In addition to being relevant to the visitor’s goal (signing up for something), these elements should also make sense in terms of brand consistency and business goals.
Don't: Overuse PDFs
You might think, "Hey! I have this Word document filled with all sorts of important information that people need to know!" And you'd be right. But there are some things you should know before you hit the publish button: while it may seem like a good idea at first glance, don't overuse PDFs.
Why? Well, because your audience is on their phone or tablet. A PDF is an unnecessary burden when it comes to reading content that's been optimized for mobile devices. And in this day and age who really wants to download something just because they can't access data from their browser? Exactly nobody!
So, what should you do instead? Use landing pages for your content marketing needs! They're easier for users to navigate and faster than downloading a large file from email or even through Google Drive (which still requires users to install software).
Plus, if you have multiple pieces of content on one page, people won't have any trouble finding what they're looking for without having them scroll endlessly through several documents trying not get lost along the way.
Instead, it'll be easy since everything will be organized into categories by topic so people only have one thing requiring attention during each visit instead of multiple things making them lose focus on what matters most: reading through all those helpful articles full of tips & tricks that could change someone's life forever.
Don't: Hide event details under multiple tabs.
This is a common mistake seen on landing pages, and one that should be avoided at all costs. When you have to click through multiple tabs just to get the basic information about an event, it hurts your conversion rate.
If you have anything important to say about your event, put it right on the main page of your landing page. You don't want to make people jump through hoops as they try to complete their call-to-action!
The best event landing pages meet their visitors' expectations and make it easy for them to go from awareness to registration.
If you're a person who has ever been to an event landing page, you know that the experience is often disappointing.
We've all been there: You click the link for an event, and you get taken to some generic landing page with no information about what's going on or where it's being held. You scroll down and find nothing but a box asking for your email address. No mention of what kind of event this is or how much it costs or when it starts or who else will be there—nothing!
Well-designed event landing pages can make all the difference in your ability to generate awareness, interest and action from potential attendees who are browsing through their inboxes looking for something fun to do this weekend (or any other time). If you want people to fill out those registration forms, implement some of these tips on how to build effective online and convert fresh leads into paying customers for live events like yours!
Conclusion
You should now have a good idea of what goes into creating a great event and landing page. It can be challenging to get all the pieces right, but with this guide in hand, you'll be able to start building your own landing pages tomorrow.
Event professionals can learn more tips and tricks on making the most of their brand and offers at The Event Planner Expo where you can sign up for workshops that will help you build a SOLID business.
