Event professionals need great websites to attract leads and convert clients. It might feel intimidating to think through the mountain of opportunities that lay ahead in your website’s improvements, but it’s easy to start by simply avoiding key event prof website mistakes. Remember, you can build out a better UX or amplify your SEO down the road, but for now you want to avoid these top 10 mistakes that event companies of all types often fall victim to.

#10) Music on the Site

Auto play videos with sounds are also a hard no. Studies show people often are scrolling their phones in bed with their partner asleep by them. A loud video is going to not make them happy! Similarly, imagine if your website visitor is supposed to be working but they’re planning their sister’s baby shower. Don’t accidentally bust them with a blast of sound!

#9) Not Mobile-Friendly

One of the worst event prof website mistakes is not being accessible on mobile. The majority of visitors to your website are likely on their phones. It’s now considered the norm to have a fully responsive site, so be sure to note if this is a feature that comes included when you’re choosing website plugins and templates.

#8) Unprofessional Fonts

If you have comic sans anywhere on your website, please just delete it. The fonts that might have been considered “creative” in the late 90s are now considered to be about as professional as showing up to work in your pajamas. Don’t be tempted by creative font names and swirly designs- people want to be able to clearly read your text!

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#7) Overly “Creative” Titles and Descriptions

Speaking of creativity, events are obviously a creative industry. That’s great! But if you are too creative in describing what your company does or your personal title, you are just confusing your clients. If you give yourself the title “Fun Master” you need to ask yourself: “Is this what people are googling?” One of the most common event prof website mistakes is not thinking about SEO when designing the site. You also need to remember that people have short attention spans and don’t want to read a paragraph just to understand what it is that you actually provide.

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#6) “Set and Forget” Outsourced Websites

It’s totally fine (and often smart) to seek help from an expert in building your event company’s website. However, you need to be able to edit it. You can always tell who completely 100% outsourced something because they have broken links or something that says “coming in 2018”. Chances are, that person probably spent too much money on a team that created something they don’t even have a password to get into! Even if you hire a company who you plan to keep on retainer to maintain your website, you at least need to have the login credentials to make fast changes. If you don’t, you’ll end up pouring a ton of unnecessary money into development and/or end up with a very dated site.

#5) No Scoped Landing Pages

Having multiple different dedicated pages within your website helps with a few things:

1. It makes it easy for someone on your main page to know where to go.
2. It helps you win the keyword game. If you have one page that lists planning, rentals, design, and catering, you’re never going to win all of those. By breaking out pages, you can focus each on the various things you offer. You can have a page that says “event planning services in Dallas” and lists all the things you do related to that part of the business.
3. You can also have a direct link from an ad or a social media post about one service that goes directly to that specific service. If I click an ad about cool bracelets, I don’t want to go to a general jewelry store page. I want to go to the type of bracelets I just saw! You need a set page that matches the social media post, ad, or blog post that they are clicking from in order to ensure you’re directing them to exactly what they need.

#4) Keyword Stuffing

While separate subpages and dedicated landing pages are a great method to win the keyword game, you have to avoid overdoing it on keywords. Google doesn’t like it, and your clients won’t either. Don’t list bullet points of every single keyword or everything you do. You need to use photos and testimonials to really tell the story (visually when possible) of why people should want to choose your services. Remember that you are in this super tough dance of trying to win the SEO game for bots, but also win the hearts of potential buyers.

#3) Lack of Pricing

Speaking of buyers, one of the worst event prof website mistakes you can make is not display your pricing. There are countless blogs and webinars on this topic, but to cover some basic reasons quickly:

1. Impatience is more prevalent now in the consumer. If someone is shopping your services and can’t find the main thing they’re looking for, such as a price range, that frustration is so negative (regardless of what your price is) that they’re likely to look elsewhere.
2. People value their time. If a shopper is bouncing around your site looking for pricing, they start off resenting you for wasting their time because they’re searching all over for something and you’re not showing it.
3. Speaking of wasted time, one of the biggest things small business owners and salespeople in general waste time on? Unqualified leads. If your concern about putting pricing on your website is that folks might find it too high? Congrats! You’ve saved yourself from an unqualified lead who would otherwise waste your time before taking their business somewhere cheaper.
4. By not putting pricing out there you are giving the impression there’s room for negotiation. Event professionals frequently get annoyed by people trying to bargain. However, that’s the impression you’re giving if you’re cagey about your prices. There’s also a strong correlation in people who don’t show pricing getting more difficult clients, such as people who dispute their credit card charge, claim they never got their order, etc. By delegitimizing your business on the front end by not showing well established prices, you’re opening the door to dis-trustworthy shoppers.
5. Hiding your pricing from your website will not stop a competitor from undercutting you. A person is just as likely to ask you for a quote and then peddle that quote to a competitor. The difference would just be someone first wasting your time by calling you, getting a quote, then taking it down the street and having that competitor win. The clients who are hunting for the lowest possible price will always find someone cheaper. Chances are you are not in business because you have the literal lowest price in town. There are other reasons people choose to work with you. Your job is to put that reason why on your website.

#2) No Clear UVP

Which brings us to: UVP. For those who don’t know, this means Unique Value Proposition. It can’t just be “does great events” because that’s not particularly unique. It might be more like “We have the most well taken care of furniture rentals in the state of Kansas.” Or “We provide full service events from design to execution so you don’t ever lift a finger.”

Your UVP is what justifies your value-based pricing. You wouldn’t expect to see a website for a restaurant with basic offerings like burgers and cobb salad, no clear premium quality or service expectations, and astronomical prices, would you? The prices have to coincide with the value that you bring to the table. This value can be the best customer service, the most beautiful event rentals, or the most elegant weddings. Not stating a clear UVP is one of the classic event prof website mistakes. Make sure you’re clear about your UVP before launching your website.

#1) No CTA

Now that you’ve shown your unique value proposition, you’ve shown your value-based, clear pricing, and you’ve told a visual story for your event company’s brand….the customer is excited! Now what? They can maybe call a phone number, but what if it’s 4am? Or what if they’re a part of Gen Z and don’t like talking on the phone? Have you given them a way to start the process of working with you from the comfort of their couch?

That’s what something like the Goodshuffle Pro Website Integration is for! Make sure that your excited leads can shop your gorgeous inventory or select a basic wedding planning package and submit their desires to kick off the sales process.