185 Lee Jackson on Event Website Design

Lee Jackson returns to talk his other company, Event Engine. This is a web agency devoted entirely to website design for conferences, events, and expos. We look the unique challenges faced by conference website managers, and some great tips for digital marketing for events, expos, and conferences.   Links Event Engine The Event & Expo Podcast Angled Crown   ==================   Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting. Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.   ==================   Table of Contents for Episode 185   0:00 Podcast intros. 3:29 What made Lee choose events and expos as a vertical? What led to him developing the Event Engine CMS? 6:50 What research went into adding features and modules to the Event Engine CMS? (built on top of WordPress). How did this product evolve? 11:09 How do they get in front of these event companies? What marketing methods work? 13:13 The benefit of publishing content year round for conferences and expos that only happen once a year? 17:07 Why giving away free content year round doesn't hurt ticket sales, but rather helps it. Tools for building a social element on a conference website. 19:40 Using the Facebook Pixel for retargeting and follow-up marketing. You can also do this on Twitter and LinkedIn. 22:39 Tips for marketing in person. 27:09 How Lee decided what to keep and what to turn off by default in the modules of Event Engine. Thoughts on the possibility of modules in WordPress. Backwards compatibility in WordPress. 30:28 Thoughts about WordPress growing the market share, and what it is happening to the market as a result. 37:10 Overcoming design by committee, and how Lee's process has changed over time to smooth this out. 41:22 Working with WordPress with outside apps using the REST API. 43:51 Podcast outros.   ===================   Additional Links mentioned during the show:   BuddyPress 165 WP-Tonic: Mojca Marš – All About Facebook Ads WP Innovator Podcast WP Innovator YouTube channel   ===================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/185-event-website-design/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ===================   WP-Tonic is a WordPress maintenance company, and the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast.