PatronManager

Prospective patrons are always searching the internet looking for their next performance, recital, or opera to attend. To capture this audience, it’s important that your organization’s website is easily discoverable in those search results – ideally at the top of the page! Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of improving your website so search engines like Google or Bing will rank it higher for free. Utilizing SEO best practices is essential in promoting your performances because it targets those who are already interested in what you have to offer, increasing the likelihood that they’ll make a purchase.

Read on to discover how to take advantage of SEO opportunities to boost your website’s visibility, drive more traffic to your site, and ultimately sell more tickets!

 

1. Optimize your website’s title tags and meta descriptions

When you look something up on a search engine, each result listed has a title and description that explains what the webpage is about. A page’s HTML title tag is the title of your webpage, and your meta description is the other HTML element that appears below the page title on the search engine results page (SERP). These give readers more details on what content they can expect to find and are often the first things people see in their search results. That means this is your chance to make a great first impression!

Each title tag should be around 60 characters long, contain one or two main keywords from the page, and include descriptive yet eye-catching phrases to stop readers in their tracks. Likewise, each meta description should be 160 characters, include what your page is all about, and have a call to action that entices readers to click. Check out this example:

 

https://www.grandeurtheatre.com
The Grandeur Theatre: Broadway Shows, Musicals, & More
The Grandeur Theatre is a nonprofit organization for performing arts of all kinds located in the heart of West Virginia. See what shows are coming your way!

 

2. Add accessible photos and videos to your website

Not only is adding great imagery to your website essential to the first impression you make with your site visitors, it’s also key to your SEO efforts. Add a picture of your venue, images of your performers on stage, or a highlight reel of past performances, and add alt text to all of them. Alt text (short for “alternative text”) is a short written description meant to appear in place of an image if it fails to load on your website. It allows search engines to better crawl and rank your site in related search results. Plus, it can make your content more accessible for potential patrons who may be visually impaired and rely on screen reading technology. This includes using closed-captioning or transcripts for your video content, too!

 

3. Fill your website with important details

Once you get a potential customer to click, it’s time to seal the deal and encourage them to navigate to your event page to buy tickets. To do so, include clear details about your venue (e.g., name, address, directions, etc.) up front on your site and let visitors know what kind of experiences you have planned, like a one-off opera performance or a seasonal series of shows. The text on your page should include the same keywords they saw in the title tag and meta description, a call-to-action (CTA) to purchase tickets, and relevant imagery to get them excited for your shows. Be sure you’re putting the most enticing information at the top of your page to encourage visitors to keep scrolling and learn more.

 

4. Link to your website from third-party sites

Share your website across social media and other third-parties, like news articles, directories, industry blogs, and other reputable sites. This is known as “backlinking.” It establishes your website’s credibility and shows that you’re providing valuable, trusted content. Therefore, Google and Bing will be more likely to rank your website higher in search results related to your organization. The simplest way to gather quality backlinks is by asking speakers, performers, affiliates, and sponsors of your event to link to your website from their own, so start networking!

 

5. Track your success

As you bring in more visitors to your website, it’s vital to understand how they’re interacting with your site and if they’re visiting your event page. Utilize analytics software to determine how successful your SEO efforts have been and where you can further optimize. Tools like Google Search Console can help you understand what sort of queries made your site appear in search results and where the webpage ranked. Remember: SEO is a marathon, not a sprint! It’s a powerful tool that should be done alongside your other marketing campaigns, like paid social ads and email promotions, and needs to be nurtured the same way by analyzing your data.

 

Like what you’ve read so far? For a deep dive into SEO best practices, check out one of our favorite guides from HubSpot.