You are all ready to go with your event! You got your speakers listed, you have your venue, you even finalized the contract with the food supplier! All you have left is to set up an event website and get your attendees in and registering.
But wait!!!! “I don’t have a website and I do not know anything about HTML, CSS or all those letters that mean nothing to real people!!!” I know the feeling. Been there many times. Everything is lined up and then you find out you are missing one really important piece of the puzzle. Then you have this great idea! I need a registration software, they will most likely be able to build an event website too. No?
First off, yes, you will find a registration software that can build an event website too. But like everything in life, the question is how will it work and how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. Meaning, how much time and effort do you want to put in to get the perfect event website?
At Regpack, a few million (yep, millions) people register for events every year. And most of them do it without an “event specific website”. Meaning without a website built just for that event. They either do it on the host’s main website (by embedding it) or they use a simple, fast and super effective template Regpack gives all their clients for FREE.
But this whole “event specific website” got me thinking about why people want to create an event website in the first place, and what are the best options to do that if you don’t have a website already or don’t want it on your main website.
Why People Think They Need an Event Website
Sometimes you are having a one-time event and creating a whole website just for the event isn’t worth the time, money, or effort. But you still want to offer online registration to applicants. Meetings and conferences are a great example of this.
Another reason you might not have an event website is you have a website, but don’t want to publicize the event or registration. We have a few big clients, for example, who offer employee training throughout the year and they use Regpack to register employees for specific training dates. They don’t want this registration to sit on the website they use for their clients, so they use Regpack to host the registration for these HR type events.
Generally, if you have a website already and you want to have your registration on your website, embedding it is the best option. This is another great option for a 1 time event. Here are a few other embedded systems examples:
But when you don’t have a website or don’t want your registration on your website, most people assume they then need to build a brand new website JUST for their event.
Building a brand new website is a lot of work, and depending on what you want it to include, can get pricey – both in the building and in paying someone to manage the project. You have options like Weebly or other quick and free solutions for a landing page that you can then embed your registration software onto via iFrame. Check out this system we embedded one of our test sites via Weebly.
Another simple, and FREE, solution is using an event registration hosted template.
What does a hosted template look like?
With Regpack and other registration software options, you get a unique URL that you can share with anyone you want to invite to register. You can customize the registration landing page with your logo, branding, and color scheme. This continuity helps reassure applicants that they are in the right place.
So instead of building a brand new website, you can get a unique URL that goes directly to your registration forms where applicants can login and complete your forms, make payments, and get updated information.
You can also create unlimited pages for applicants to see images, event or meeting agendas, FAQ’s, speaker pages, schedules, pricing and more! You can decide if the applicant can view these pages before registration or only once they’ve registered.
The ability to create these pages is huge when you think about the pros of having a website – multiple pages to provide all the information you want applicants to know about.
With Regpack for instance, hosted templates are also mobile-optimized. This is an important feature to look for in a hosted registration website, since many applicant register and pay from their mobile devices. A hosted template should allow you to get all the convenience of an event website to conduct registration, without the hassle of building it yourself!
You can see a few examples of registration that is hosted by Regpack. These are sample systems. You can see in both examples, below, the way we can customize your coloring, logo, etc to make the page look and feel like your website, without actually needing a separate website.
Conclusion
A hosted template with a registration software is a great and affordable option for a variety of events out there. It is affordable as compared to finding a software that offers a website builder option and takes less time and energy to set up, while providing all the functionality and features you expect from a traditional website!
