So it took a few days for the start up loan to hit my account. When I checked my account and saw it, that's when the real work started. So many things to do: build a website, book the talkers, find the venue, do a marketing plan, set up a business account and extra bits just keep being added to the list. Building the website was the first thing I had to start. A tip for other start ups, don't waste your start up money on a fancy website designer just yet. I opened a 'WIX' account to build www.livesporttalks.com. It gives you tons of templates, and then you replace their text with your text and photos etc. You can move bits around to suit you and what you feel looks good. I am pretty limited when it comes to that sort of thing, so if I can then I am sure you all can! You can add links in, a blog, a contact form and also you can design a newsletter to send to subscribers ( very similar to MailChimp). You can also link up google analytics as well, which is a nice extra. It is worth having a go, before committing to a designer.
TIP on bounce rate - So I was shocked by my very high bounce rate after a few days. I realised what didn't help, was that my mobile website was all over the place. On Wix, you can amend the mobile site separately, I spent some time on the site, moving bits around and making sure all links worked. They say that you should give your website a check every few days to make sure all buttons go to the right section etc. According to reports, visitors will only wait 6 SECONDS before clicking off your page if it hasn't loaded up, so make sure it works by checking.
For selling tickets, I decided to use the popular 'EVENTBRITE' website, which for those who don't know is a dedicated events site where you can browse different events. Naturally they charge for processing payments ( 6.5%) I believe. They do cool widgets too, so you could sell tickets on your website using their software. If you are running free events, then Eventbrite don't charge anything. They also offer stats too, such as what source are most of your visitors are coming from ( website widget, Eventbrite search directory etc.), which is also useful. I would recommend having the widgets on your website for buying tickets and not just linking people straight to the Eventbrite page, as it increases the time people spend on your website.
I also thought that sponsorship would be a great income stream for the event. There are some great websites now where you can list your event, and potential sponsors can find it. It is worth sending a well written email pitching your idea if you event is quite a niche to a compnay, but these websites are worth using too. I currently have my event on www.sponsormyevent.com and the UK sponsorship website. You have to pay £15 to £30 for the latter site, or pay sponsor my event 10% of the monies if you do get a sponsor.
So as you know, I am also a start up so I am trying out all these tools. If you have any golden nuggets of information, feel free to pass these on to me! Also happy to share any further details about these tools I have come across.
Thanks for reading my 3rd blog post, and if you haven't yet then check out my first 2!
And lastly, of course make sure you check out my events website www.livesporttalks.com!
#LiveSportTalks #Inspiringsportstories
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