Most newspapers and magazines, as well as many radio and TV stations, provide free calendars of events as part of their website. In many instances, users are allowed to submit their own events. By promoting your event on someone else’s website, your organization gets attention from an entirely new audience.
Some examples of online calendars in our area (the Hudson Valley of New York) include:
- Chronogram
- Hudson Valley Magazine
- HudsonValleyOne
- Poughkeepsie Journal
- The Spot 518
- Albany Times Union
- WAMC
- WMHT
- WGXC
- The Valley Advocate
- and there are many many others
How to determine which media outlets have a free calendar of events
If your organization is located in the Hudson Valley, start with the list provided above. If you live elsewhere, begin by visiting the websites of every media outlet you can think of. Hunt around for the calendar of events. The calendar itself, and more specifically the submission page, will be in a different place on every site. It can be a tedious exercise, but in the end, you’ll find that it was well worth the effort.
How to prepare to post an event to online calendars
Don’t limit yourself to posting on just one free calendar. Exposure on more sites means that more people can potentially learn about your event and visit your website.
- A little preparation can go a long way. Prepare the text you want to submit ahead of time by typing it into a document such as Word, Pages, TextEdit or something similar. This will allow you to copy and paste the text from your document to the web page. This will save time by not having to retype the same things over and over again.
- You’ll need: title, date, start AND end times (many calendars, but not all, will require an end time), location (venue name and address), description (the more information the better), ticket and/or registration link, contact email address, and contact phone number. While the process of entering your information into the calendar will work differently for each site, it is important to keep the details you submit as consistent as possible. Preparing the text ahead and copying and pasting means your content will be the same from site to site.
- Keep in mind that most online calendars will not let you go back and update your entry, so be sure to get it right the first time. Always include a high-quality image.
Free calendars can help drive more website traffic
There is no one single way to drive more traffic to your website. It takes a combination of planning and persistence. By posting your events to free online calendars you can expand your reach at little to no cost.
If this is too tedious and time-consuming for you, we can help. Call (518) 392-0846 or email [email protected].