Festivals & Event "Web World Strategies"

Interview with Mr. Shawn King
Web World Strategies

Part 3 - Should you Optimize Your
 Festivals and Events Website?

Having a website is one thing … having a GOOD WEBSITE is another! Part of having a Good Website, Shawn tells us, "is maximizing your website's visibility by using techniques of “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”. My understanding of Search Engine Optimization is that you use different techniques to maximize how Search Engines see your website in certain categories or "key words/key word phrases".  The Search Engine rates your website for these key words, the higher the key words the higher the placement on these internet websites. To optimum is to be on the "first page" of the major search engines' websites for specific "key words" that relate to you and the web visitor you wish to reach. If ,for example, you go to “Google” on the internet and type in the name of an event you wish to attend, you may not find it right away (or at all) or. If the website has been properly optimized, you might find it right at the top of the first page. There are hundreds of pages of listings of similar names and types of events listed. Sometimes, festivals and events authorized websites are not listed until many pages deep into the search. There may be articles written about the event, “You Tube Videos”, or many other postings on the search engine that will show up before yours. These are not the “official” website of the festival/event, but still rank higher".

Shawn King shares with us … “You want to draw people to your website. As much as people are looking for information, they don’t like to read. If you know your demographics (the visitors you are looking for, their age, diverse income levels, types of interests, families, couples, young, old, etc.) you can identify your Search Terms and the Key Words that you can use in your Optimization". I wondered then, how a festival/event would know if their website was best “optimized”. Shawn tells us “that if you simply use a search engine to find your event, you can see where you stand in the listings. Part of knowing how well you are doing is by understanding the importance of having a Good Website in the first place! There are programs to help you track your ratings on the internet and through Search Engines. The attendance of your event increasing may be an indication of how well you are getting your word out there”.

(To Be Continued)