When did you last "Google" your event?
Why I don't trust event ticketing companies ...

When being #1 in Google is a BAD!

Here's an ironic follow up to yesterday's email "When did you last Google your event?"

If you haven't already, please start by reading yesterday's advice. It will help contextualized what follows.

You're probably asking yourself, "how the heck can my event website being #1 in Google possibly be bad?" And yes, I do mean the number one organic or paid listing in Google search results. I'm not trying to be crafty here. As you probably know ... the number one search engine result position, almost always, gets the most clicks.

This morning at the gym a gentleman asked me about a local event. He had never been to the event and wanted to bring his grandchildren. He asked me about the dates of the event. The event organizers keep changing their event website address (a bad move on their part). And I could not remember which web address to use. So, I went to my phone and tried to look up the event on Google. The event website was the number one search result. I clicked on the link and BOOM! "The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments." Maybe it's my Internet connection ... nope! I tried three different networks and still no luck.

Being #1 in Google is BAD when your event website is down. What's worse is when you don't know your web site is down. It's now four hours later, and the website is still down.

But wait there's more ... because the "official" website was down, it was frustrating to find the dates the gentleman asked me about. I had to spend more time looking for answers. That's a user experience problem! Because it's a major local event, I'm probably not the only one looking for info today. It also erodes the credibility of an "official" event website.

Here are the questions to ask yourself ... "Do you have an automatic process in place to make sure your event web site isn't down?" If not, it can be very costly. Especially if most of your tickets are sold online.

Second question, "what’s your website backup plan?" If your site goes down, it needs to be up ASAP.

When your event website is down ... you cost your event trust, credibility, and ticket sales with potential attendees. And in today's world, consumer trust is paramount! Be sure you have a plan and process in place.

Below are some short articles to help you with search engine optimization ideas for your event web site.