More and more people are using the web to invite guests to events. Whether its a grand opening of a new store or venue, a live performance, a family celebration or a charity event, event websites are quickly replacing more traditional channels of announcement: snail-mail invitations, postcards and paper fliers.
Posting a link to ones event website to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites spreads word like wildfire. Many party planners, small business owners and entrepreneurs are growing more aware of this fact, and are taking advantage of the the low cost of using a free website to quickly and effortlessly promote an event.
Creating a free website (1-page) that acts as a flier for an event, requires nothing more than registering for a free user account at Wix.com, and a couple minutes of what Wix users like to call play-time. Wix is free online software that uses a drag & drop interface to act as an intuitive website builder, making it easy for those with no technical experience to make a website and publish it online. Wix also provides a wide variety of Flash templates which users can replace with their own photos, logos, contact information, and add fun widgets like Facebook like buttons, music or video files, and site counters.
In addition to fliers, event websites can consist of multi-page sites, with sectiocrens for photo galleries, contact pages with Google maps, a schedule page with a Google calendar, RSVP forms, and even online ticket reservations or purchasing. Users can adjust the color of each element, assign link behaviors and even special effects like rollover animation and even sound effects.
Abrahami says, This new trend of creating event websites makes Wix an ideal tool…users can advertise their events with a beautiful website – for free. Time and money can be saved for the event itself. Now thats added value.
Wedding websites have emerged as a popular niche for the creation of event sites. The soon-to-be hitched enjoy creating websites to share their story and wedding plans, and invite guests to participate and interact in the event as it unfolds.
For their wedding, Kiran and Khyati used Wix to build a unique Bollywood-style free website. They added clip art designed to look like posters, with images of the bride & groom. Visitors can click on different movies to read the couples story, and even watch an embedded video of the engagement. A comment form lets visitors send wishes to the happy couple.
Weddings are just one example of the growing use of Wix to coordinate and promote events online. Rock concerts, theater performances, parties and other events are promoted each day, with a customized free website built with Wix.