I don't know how long you spent on your last B2B web build but I'll bet it was quite a while. Months if not years. So, it might seem crazy that I'm going to teach you to draft an effective page for your next event in just 30 minutes. But I am. 

A B2B event website generally has a limited shelf life and needs to materialise incredibly quickly compared with it's B2B brand, product or service cousins. It's for this reason that we don't want you spending months creating it. In short, it just isn't worth your while. Instead follow this simple method and you'll have the bones of your site down in as little as 30 minutes...

Step 1: Make Sure You're Mobile First

It is now extremely likely that more people will use a mobile device to access your B2B event website than a desktop computer. Google recently announced a shift to indexing the mobile version of sites rather than the desktop. So before you do anything, make sure you're thinking mobile first. Not just mobile responsive, but actually designing your web experience for the mobile device.

Step 2: Don't Reinvent The Wheel

Ideally, you'll use your existing web infrastructure to create your B2B event website. If not, use a free tool like EventBrite. Do not waste precious weeks and budget creating something specifically for your event. You want it to look clean and compelling but it doesn't have to be ground breaking, award winning design. You don't have that kind of time.

Step 3: Note Down Your Essentials 

You'd be amazed how often event websites miss out on essential information that then makes it almost impossible to commit to attend. Using an event specific tool will help to do some of that thinking for you, but if you're using your own site, make a note of:

• Event name
• Event dates and timings
• Event location (all venues as well as city and country)
• How to register
• Ticket price (if any, make sure that if it's free you say so too)
• Entry restrictions & registration deadlines
• Event content (session names, speakers, format details etc.)
• Partners and stakeholders who need to be recognised
• Event USP and benefits
• Content marketing piece to help illustrate event value (ideally with lead capture)

Step 4: Organise Your Content 

Your next step is to organise your essential content into an order that reflects how the attendee thinks. 

• Instant relevance judgement: The attendee will make a snap judgement of the event's relevance based on the first few words they read. Most often this is the event name and possibly the strap line if not too small or wordy.
• Hygiene factor assessment: The attendee then looks for hygiene factors that might rule the event out for them like date, location, pricing etc. These need to be given the next highest priority in terms of accessibility and visibility.
• Detail verification: The attendee then looks at the event detail for verification of their initial relevance judgement. They will look at things like the benefits, speakers and agenda for proof of the event's value. This content can be less accessible than the previous two types as the attendee expects it to be a next step from their initial assessment and therefore a click to get there doesn't seem awkward or inconvenient.
• Consideration: There is then a potential hiatus as the attendee considers their options or seeks permission to attend. They may revisit the site in this time searching for additional information or evidence to support their attendance. Content is useful here to give them a flavour of the event's content and value before they commit. It should not be buried so deeply that it cannot be easily found by a returning or indeed first time visitor.
• Commitment: The final visit to the B2B event website is the most important. The one where the attendee signs up. This may take place as part of the first visit but this has become less and less likely over the last decade to the point of being unusual. This means that the commitment call to action must be immediately obvious to the visitor as they return to the page as they are not necessarily going to remember the navigation from previous visits and having a singular goal in mind will be short on patience.

Now that you've drafted your site, you can spend a bit of time polishing it and fine tuning those last touches. Here are some additional resources that can help you create a better website:

• A list of good website designs to inspire your layout - don't be shy of just copying something you've seen that would work there's no shame in that! 
• 14 concise tips to create killer event websites, easily digestible, bite sized bits of content that you can use today.
• And finally some great mantras that'll guide your content creation for increased website visits.

Last but by no means least, make sure you grab a copy of our website checklist: