From conferences to concerts, celebrations to charity, a meetup website is an essential platform to make all events come alive. As the world continues to adapt digital solutions from lifestyle, entertainment, education, and banking matters, it's no wonder organizations are also taking advantage of the web to plan events.
We're all still at the height of a global health crisis and to mitigate the risks of spreading COVID-19, everyone is advised to stay at home as much as possible. However, while self-isolation takes us away from the virus, it brings us closer to detrimental effects on our mental health and our social relationships.
Our physical health should be at the top priority of course because we're battling a deadly disease that has claimed millions of lives already. On the other hand, we shouldn't neglect our mental health, knowing our bodies were designed to socialize, communicate, and engage with others.
This is how a meetup website can help tremendously. Meetup websites are designed to foster healthy socialization among like-minded people, and the best part is, meetups can be virtual! This gives us the opportunity to stay safe inside our homes but still maintaining the balance in our social relationships.
Think about the things you enjoy the most. Do you like music? Reading? Are you a big film fanatic? Truth is, no matter what you're passionate about, there will always be someone out there who likes the same things as you. You just need to know how to find them, and how they can find you.
If you want to start a meetup page for a specific hobby or passion (even romantic dating), then you need the help of a website builder that could give you all the essentials of a meetup website that matters
Before learning how to make your own site, let's take a quick dive into what meetups are, and how can they help you get through these trying times
What is a Meetup Website?
What is meetup used for? It's definitely a term you've heard before but in general, it serves as an umbrella term for anything that involves human connection. And when we speak about human connection, we're talking about connection at the physical and mental level. Not sure what that means? We'll explain it to you.
Meet up websites are a way to connect people physically. Let's say there's a concert event in town this Saturday. The organizers of this concert would put up a meetup website to let people know where the concert is, how to get there, and when. It has a physical location and physical presence is required to attend.
But we know events like concerts and big social gatherings are still very risky, and we don't want to put our lives at stake just for a little fun, right? This is why virtual meetups are a thing now, and in fact, they might still even remain on-trend for a long time.
Virtual meetups allow people to connect on a mental level - like-mindedness, the similarity of interests, sharing of space - all without the need to go out of the house. Connecting to people helps us build new relationships, find new friends, and develop new skills.
A meetup can be many things. It can be for pure entrepreneurial reasons or for fundraising occasions. Simply put, it's a social networking platform, much like Facebook and Twitter, but on a more specific niche, and frequently smaller audiences.
So the next time the word meetup website pops into your head, you'll understand that it isn't just a simple platform for gathering people, it can serve as a support group too.
Finding Your Niche
Let's say you and your friends are big music fans. You like to jam to the latest pop songs and attend concerts of your favorite bands. But music alone is a big niche - there are tons of talented artists out there, hundreds of experimental genres, and millions of songs tailored to each bit of memory - where do you start?
- Keeping Your Circle Small
Filter your interests. Narrow down your niche. Select only those that you matter to you the most. The key thing to remember is - not everyone needs to be involved.
Image taken from Strikingly user website
Take a look at this amazing meetup website created with Strikingly. TONES 2015 was a music festival event organized by the School of the Arts Singapore.
Instead of going big and inviting all the artists they could find to perform at the festival, they narrowed it down by featuring local Singaporean artists only.
If you're building your own meetup website, you can still filter down your interests into specific categories, like genres for music. If you want, you can create a meetup group for fans of a particular band only. This will give your website distinction and uniqueness.
- Providing Clear Directions
Meet up sites need clear directions. Simply put, your meetup website needs to answer these five things: Who, What, Where, When, and How.
Who are the key persons involved? Who can join? What is the event name? Where is the meetup going to take place? When is it? How can people join? Once you nailed all these questions down, then you need to add them to your website.
Image taken from Strikingly user website
Look at the event overview of Crazy's Day in the image above. This is another website built by Strikingly, and all the necessary information was clearly laid out.
They added details about the date, location, price, and capacity. They also provided conditions for everyone joining the event. Clear as crystal.
Online meetup sites need these clear directions because it's the only way potential attendees can connect with the organizers.
To make everything more convenient, you can even add an online join form and an interactive map to make sure that your participants can make it to the event. But if your meetup website is completely virtual, you can add details such as the video call channel they need to use, links, password, and emails.
Building Your Meetup Website
Meetup categories are everywhere and opportunities are enumerable, but building your meetup website can still be a difficult ordeal especially if you don't have the right resources and funds.
If you already have an idea of what you want in your meetup website, then all you need to do is visit Strikingly, create your account, and start making your own website.
Strikingly has one of the best sets of tools and functions that enable non-experienced users to create their own website. Even if you have zero coding skills and zero technical knowledge, Strikingly's user-friendly interface will make it easy for you.
Just follow the steps below to create a meetup website that matters:
- Select A Template
Choose a meetup website template that represents your interests. Strikingly has a wide selection of templates that go from clean, modern designs to grungy, dark aesthetics. Just pick the one that you feel is best for your meetup. Don't worry about selecting the wrong template, you can always change them later.
Image taken from Strikingly product
After selecting your template, you can customize the layout and structure of your meetup website. As you can see on the left-side menu, you can "Add New Section", "Add New Page", or "Add External Links".
Regarding the visuals of your website, you can always tweak them at the "Styles" menu at the upper left corner of the screen. You can always change the color and background depending on how you like it.
- Add Important Details
Like we discussed earlier, meetup websites need to have clear directions including necessary information that answers who, what, when, where, and how.
Image taken from Strikingly product
Make sure to dedicate a page that will emphasize all these details. Use a font that is easy to read, big enough to be visible, but not too big to look out-of-place. If you're adding a background image to the page, make sure to use a font style and font color that contrasts with the background.
Add a fill-up form for participants who will join the meetup. Just ask them for important details such as their names and emails. No need to ask for information that wouldn't be useful anyway.
- Publish You Meetup Website
Before hitting "Publish" in the builder, make sure to go back and forth to each section of your site. Make sure that visuals are consistent, that information is well-organized, and that people can access the functions.
If you're working with a team, make sure that everyone involved can have a say with the output. Consider their suggestions then decide if you would apply them. Once everyone is happy with the outcome, hit "Publish", and launch your meetup website.
- Post-Development Promotion
Since you're building a meetup website, you need to get it out to people so they can connect with you. Share the meetup website that you published with Strikingly on your social media pages and friends.
Promotion is very important in the process as this is the stage where potential participants can get to learn more about the event you're launching.
Creating free meetup websites is now possible with a builder like Strikingly. With just simple clicks, little changes, and tiny adjustments, you can make a meetup website that can bring a huge impact on people.
