Grow Your Event Planning Website From the Ground Up
March 26, 2025
Spring has sprung, and whether you have a green thumb or not, there’s something satisfying about watching something you planted take root and grow. The same goes for your business – especially when it comes to planning events. Every industry, at some point, plans or participates in an event – a conference, a networking forum, a workshop, or a product launch. Did you realize that one of JamboJon’s core services is building websites for events? It’s true!
Here, we approach every website like a well-planned garden. If you plant the wrong seeds in the wrong places, you’ll end up with a tangled mess, or worse, nothing at all. With a little strategy, foresight, effort, and the right tools, your event website can bloom beautifully, bringing in registrations and revenue. Rest assured that with your website doing the heavy lifting, everything can run smoothly on the big day.
So, let’s dig in. . .
Start with a Strong Foundation. Plan Before You Plant.
Before planting, as a gardener, you’ll loosen the soil with a shovel and mix in compost. You add nutrients, smooth out the soil, and form rows for drainage. You are thoughtful and intentional.
Can you imagine, if you just tossed an unknown seed into the air expecting the universe to take over? You could never expect a good harvest.
The same logic applies to your event website. A little effort goes a long way. Before you pockmark that lush garden bed with unruly holes, ask yourself:
- What’s the purpose of this event? (Is it a networking conference, a product launch, a gala, a workshop, or a special performance?)
- Who is my audience, and what do they need? (Do they want detailed itineraries, quick registration, or tiered ticket options?)
- How will I involve my audience in the event experience? (Do I need to sell tickets to attend in-person? Will this event be broadcasted via technology, social media or news outlets?)
- What follow up communication will be required? (Confirmation emails? Event reminders? Post-event thank-yous?)
These questions form your planting chart. They help you figure out the logistics so every square inch of your plan gets the attention it needs. If you don’t chart it out, you’re just hoping for the best. Let’s examine one of the most masterfully-planned events in recent years:
In 2012, Red Bull pushed the boundaries of marketing with the Stratos Project. “The idea was simple yet revolutionary: send a human to the edge of space and have them free-fall back to Earth, breaking the sound barrier in the process.” Red Bull’s brand has always been linked with adventure, but this bold idea was extreme, even for them. If successful, this event would capture the attention of a worldwide audience and break records in the process. Their name would be on everyone’s lips. With this crystal clear purpose in mind, they chose Felix Baumgartner, an experienced BASE jumper and skydiver, to front their event. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.
Like an intricate garden spanning miles of terrain, the planning and logistics took years to prepare. It required research, testing, and the development of specialized equipment. Doctors and lawyers weighed in with their opinions. But in the end, on October 14, 2012, a global audience watched Felix Baumgartner step into outer space from the door of his space capsule. YouTube streamed the live event, while major news outlets drew in multimillions of viewers. In a solid motion, he leaped from the capsule, careful to not over-rotate.
The Right Soil for Success: A Few Takeaways:
Whether you choose to hold your event at a local bookstore or you live stream it on social media, your event website needs to follow some key principles.
- Keep the event details clear. Make the date, time, location, and schedule front and center. No one wants to hunt for the “start time” buried in a paragraph somewhere.
- Use visuals to build excitement. Leading up to your event, release little snippets of interesting info, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews to tease your event. This content builds anticipation and keeps the audience engaged. Just like flowers add beauty to a garden, great imagery, videos, and branding bring your event website to life.
- Make ticketing simple. Your ticketing system should be easy to use, whether you’re selling general admission, specific seats on a specific date for a show, VIP upgrades, or multi-day passes. Make sure attendees can access their tickets effortlessly via email or text.
- Make checkout easy. A smooth purchasing process ensures people don’t abandon their cart halfway through.
Things to Avoid:
- Confusing follow-up. If your attendees don’t get a confirmation email immediately, they’ll panic. Set up automated emails with event details, ticket access, and follow up reminders.
- Overcomplicating the process. An event website shouldn’t be cluttered with unnecessary features. Keep it clean and functional.
- Forgetting Mobile Users. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re losing registrations.
Ticketing – The Heart of Your Event
Let’s talk about specific strategies. Real, tangible ways to activate your So you’ve mapped out rows of fruits, vegetables and herbs for your garden. . . now what? You head to the local nursery and purchase the supplies. Then, you spend a beautiful, sunny morning planting with intention. The same goes for ticketing. Whether your event is free or paid, ticketing should be strategic, clear, and easy to manage.
Make your ticketing process a breeze:
- Decide on ticket types. Are you offering single-day passes, VIP experiences, group rates, or tiered pricing? The clearer your structure, the easier it is for attendees to choose.
- Keep pricing transparent. Surprise fees at checkout can turn people away. Be up front about costs.
- Offer upsells if it makes sense. Can attendees add merch, early access or special perks for an additional fee? Consider what enhances the experience.
- Make ticket access foolproof. After purchase, attendees should immediately receive their tickets via email or text. Bonus points for a QR option that makes check-in a breeze.
- Set up automated reminders. A week before, a day before, and the morning of– ensure your attendees never forget their tickets or event details.
Create a Follow Up Plan – Harvest the Fruits of Your Labor
You’ve planned, you’ve built, and your event day is here. But what happens afterwards? After the infamous Stratos jump, Red Bull didn’t just walk away and hang their record-breaking plaques on the wall. They “continued to release content, including highlight reels, in-depth documentaries, and interviews. This sustained the campaign’s momentum and kept the conversation going long after the event.” Just like a garden needs ongoing care, your event strategy shouldn’t stop when the doors close.
Keep your event growing even after it's over:
- Send a thank-you email. A quick “thanks for coming” keeps the connection alive and can include post-event resources or special offers.
- Ask for feedback. Short surveys help you improve future events and show attendees you value their input.
- Repurpose event content. Got great speaker sessions or behind-the-scenes footage? Like a compost bin, use bits and pieces to grow social media, future promotions, or even an evergreen resource page. Create buzz and provide real-time updates.
- Start planting for next time. If this event was a hit, consider how you can turn it into a recurring opportunity. Can you make it an annual event? A quarterly series? Keep the momentum going!
Don’t Forget to Tell Your Story
A great event begins with a bold idea. Your event website is CRUCIAL to your event’s success. Your attendees expect the best. It must be treated like a garden bed planted with intention, nurtured with strategy, and designed to grow. Give yourself the right setup, smart ticketing, and a solid follow-up plan, and you’ll reap the rewards – without the weeds and the chaos.
The Red Bull Stratos project set a record for the most-watched live stream event at the time. The Red Bull marketing team got their audience invested in the event well before it ever took place. They sustained that engagement through ongoing interactions with the public who wanted to know more about the story. The same goes for you! Showcase the ins, the outs, the behind the scenes, the build up, and the final curtain call. Let your audience be part of it.
If you want a professional partner to help design a hub for all the exciting interaction that is about to take place, give JamboJon a shout. Let us take the load off your shoulders. That’s what we do!
Let’s get planting!
