One of the first impressions that a potential attendee will have of your association's conference is the website. Whether it is gathering information, registering to attend or an exhibitor signing up for a booth, your website needs to make a good impression on all who visit.

Association Conference Website Goals and Objectives

Before creating your association's conference website, be sure to have clearly defined goals and objectives that you want accomplished. There are a number of objectives that your particular site may want to accomplish, but having a clear goal in mind will make your website more effective in reaching a specific target.

Here are some examples of some conference website goals:

• Increase attendance
• Generate more press coverage for your events
• Create new revenue opportunities for your organization
• Sell more exhibit space and sponsorships

Features and Functionality

Once you have a clear goal in mind the next step is determine what the features and functionally need to be in order to make sure the goal is met. Your site can be as basic or advanced as you feel necessary.

Below are some features that can be incorporated into your conference website to reach your pre-set goal:

• An agenda that includes time and date information for sessions and activities
• Pages that describe education offerings including keynote presentations
• A conference reminder email newsletter that offers event updates
• A FAQ page that answers frequently asked questions
• E-mail marketing campaigns tied to an online registration database to track response rates to your email promotions
• Webcasts that deliver audio and video content from your events to a global audience
• Web-based surveys to track the educational and other interests of attendees and prospective customers

Look and Feel

One of the most powerful aspects of an association's conference website is the look and feel. Be sure that the look of the website ties in with the rest of your conference promotions. This may be a specific look for the conference, that ties in the location and/or the conference theme. Or, it could be a look that carries over from year to year.

Promoting Your Association Conference Website

Finally, once the website content has been developed and created it is time to market and promote the site. This may be one of the most important steps in creating an effective website. You may have a clearly defined goal and unique content development, but if the site is not effectively marketed and promoted to the public your conference website will not be a success.

Here are some ways to market and promote your site:

• Search-engine optimization to improve website rankings on popular search engines and directories
• Listing on event industry websites and portals that list upcoming events
• Targeted banner ads to drive qualified customers to your website
• Distributing news releases online to capture the attention of more editors and writers
• Affiliate programs that give incentives to other sites to drive traffic to your website
• Content syndication to build exposure for your organization by placing your articles and news stories on other websites
• Offline or traditional marketing to direct customers and prospects your website

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