Think Like A Bride-Marketing Mojo for Wedding Businesses
Everything you need to know about marketing and growing your wedding business
A couple of years ago I put together a blog for Courtney Hammon’s company A Magical Affair. This year she decided to finally bag her old flash website in favor turning that blog into a complete website. Yeah! Courtney. Now you get all the SEO power of WordPress and Genesis.
Of course we did some updates but kept the same basic look she loved in the blog. Click the image to visit the site.
It may not look like it on the surface, but this was a huge project. The mandate was to take two very dated, very old school websites and bring them into 2012. There were so many pages and interior links that just sorting it out required a flow chart. The SEO was Jurassic but losing ranking in such a competitive market wasn’t an option. Top it all off with an eCommerce component and a former webmaster that didn’t want to be a team player. I even pulled in old friend Marc Fuller to tweak the SEO.
The shining light was a client I just love. He understood the challenges and listened to my advice. Now he is no longer held hostage and is amazed at how easily he can update the new site himself.
Fisher’s Tudor House 2012
Just so you can get some idea of where we started…
thanks Pete.
I ran across an interesting question today about where you should put more effort, in your blog or your Facebook page.
I’m not really sure why that is a question. Let me break it down for you.
Your website is your own personal piece of internet real estate. Think of it as your home because in terms of your marketing, it is. Your blog should be the heart and soul of your website. In web design today, integrating your blog as a page on your website is the only way to go. If your blog is off on another url from your main one you are missing the boat.
Reread that last sentence. Notice I did not say for your name. I hope to hell you rank number one for your name. Unfortunately, that isn’t how brides search. They search for things in places.
Huh?
They search for florists in Bucks County.They search for wedding planners in Washington, DC. They search for caterers in Fairbanks, AK. They don’t search for Polly Sue Purebreds Catering. If they do it is because they have already been made aware of Polly Sue from a referral and that is a post for another day.
Now that you understand this, you understand why your personal piece of real estate is so important.
Back to the original question: your blog or Facebook.
Every time you post to Facebook, you are sending all that Google juice to Facebook.com, not to Polly Sue’s url. Great, I’m sure Mr. Zuckerberg appreciates the Google juice, but frankly, you need it worse than he does.
Think of it this way, you have an office or a store but you still meet people in the local coffee-house. Instead of investing to improve your office or store, you take time and treasure to improve the coffee-house. That’s just dumb.
How about this instead, you work on improving the store, and then post updates on the coffee-house bulletin board. When your potential customers start looking for you the coffee-house bulletin board is one of the many signs pointing to your store. When they get to your store, they see how amazing you are.
Enough with the analogies, if you don’t get it yet you never will.
Your blog should be an integrated part of your website.
Facebook should send traffic to your website, not the other way around.
Post to your blog and have it automatically cross-post a headline and an excerpt to your Facebook page leading them to your website.
Done.
I was out trolling the internet for inspiration this morning and ran across a little website I rather liked until I saw this on the portfolio page…
For current photos, please visit our blog or facebook fan page.
Excuse me but that is exactly backwards. Exactly Backwards. Your social media presence is (or should be) designed to funnel people to your website, not the other way around.
Your website is the main hub of all your marketing. Everything else you do should be designed to get them to that point. It is where you have (or should) the most real-estate to capture their undivided attention. It is where your contact forms are, your full portfolio, your pricing information and for goodness sake your freaking sale pitch. Why would you use it to send them somewhere else?????
What this one statement told me is that first off, the website was not designed with the clients needs in mind. You, as the site owner, should have full control of your site. You should have full reign to update any and everything on it. Moreover, you should have been trained on how to use it. If you weren’t, you are being held captive by your web designer.
Then there is the issue of the blog being on a different url. Why? Your blog should be a fully integrated part of your website. Your blog is one of your best SEO tools. It is a near effortless way to add important keywords and tagged images for the search engines to delight over. Why put that much effort into a blog in the hopes that people will make the leap to your website. Dang it, they should already be there.
{can’t your tell I am just slightly irritated}
Your blog is an integrated part of your website, just another page really. You work hard and keep updating your blog. The best of the best pictures you also ad to your gallery/portfolio. Every time you do that, your site is set up to automatically post it to both your Facebook page and your Twitter account. Now doesn’t that sound simple?
How about…If you have a website, a separate blog and are still putting all you effort into your Facebook page you are working way to hard. Just like the hub that it is, your website should not only be the central point you bring everyone, but it should also radiate out your hard work.
or is that to Lord of the Rings?
I have said it and said it: the content on your website is the most important thing you can do for SEO. If you aren’t blogging and tweeting and adding new GOOD, RELEVANT content on a regular basis, then you are behind the times.
Search is all about relevant content. The more you add the higher you rank. This info graphic says it better than I ever could, well at least more completely anyway.
Oh, one more note: for all you people that think your Facebook page is all you need, do you even see Facebook mentioned on here?
Still unsure about blogging? then get your tushie over to Eventbrite and sign up for Ashley’s blog camp. Not is the mid south? Send her an email since she is considering either taking the show on the road or packaging it into a single weekend so you can fly in to take it. Ya, it really is that important.
Disclaimer: Yes I am a speaker at Blog Camp but no, I am not making a dime. I just believe in it that much.
I’ve been busy busy in the pixel mines of late. Good thing the treehouse has direct access to their deepest darkest recesses!
First up is a new client Mrs J’s Baking and Catering that was, of course, a referral from another happy friend of Think. Celeste Morris, the owner, was living with a site she hated and had very little control over. Oh, she could add some content but not much and had little or no control over the look or the galleries. Well now you know I was going to fix that nonsense!
Her site looked generic with no real branding to match what she did. You see, unlike a lot of caterers, Celeste specializes in southern style comfort food. Not much except the menus reflected that. So here at Think we fixed her right up with a new logo and new branding to go with her shiny new site. An hour or two of my standard tutorials and she was able to update anything she wanted. She has started to blog and this fall we have her signed up for Ashley’s Blog Camp!
Tale a look. (I just love her background) The image is a link to her site.
Next up was a redo for a site I originally built back in 2009. Sarah Morris, The Something Blue Shoppe in Hartselle, AL still loved her site but she came back from Bridal market full of ideas and energy. Well you know how we women are, fill us with ideas and energy and the first thing we do is redecorate! It was time for an update anyway so off we went. I added a few features and made the look a little sleeker.
Let me know what you think.
Sarah’s other store Something Blue Too’s website is slated for the same treatment as soon as I get finished with the 3 wedding planners sites I am working on now. We have to get it ready for prom!
I have said it for so long that I am blue in the face:
Yet year after year, so many wedding vendors throw money at the Knot for ads that aren’t working. They throw money at Wedding Wire and every little portal website that comes along. Then they wonder why they aren’t getting any return on their investment. ~gah~
There was a time when the Knot really was a place for brides to go to get the information and inspiration that they needed. Today? uh, no. Why would they sort through pages of nonsense when all the have to do is Google exactly what they are looking for and get pages of very specific related answers. Even better, pages of images.
Finally I have back up. Today the Motley Fool picked XO Group(formerly the Knot) as their “Throw This Stock Away” pick of the week. Below is the best quote of the article:
XO in general — and The Knot in particular — just aren’t as necessary as they used to be. Friends swap wedding service referrals for free through Facebook, and Angie’s List has grown into a powerhouse of vetted reviews.
Brides today are going to go where they already feel comfortable.
Now take a look at this quote about a stock they would pick to replace XO Group.
- Google: XO relies on wedding service providers paying up to be featured on TheKnot.com. Despite all of the lifestyle site launches and acquisitions over the past four years, revenue has climbed just 22% higher at XO. Where are the advertisers going? My best bet would be Google. The search giant’s AdWords platform makes it easy to smoke out leads for pennies per click. It’s also hard to argue against Google at less than 13 times next year’s earnings.
I hate to leave you hanging at the altar XO, but I’m just not that into you.
What does all this mean to you?
In a nutshell, brides are finding information by searching on Google. If your website isn’t top notch and built to be search friendly, no amount of money you throw at advertising is going to do you any good.
Remember when I said “In 2008 we hit the reset button?’ Well this is one of the things that has changed. Ignore it at your own peril.
Oh and one more thing. If you own any stock in XO, I’d probably take the Fool’s advice.
Last week I posted about a website I had updated for a client, Picture This Nashville.
Well today I got this in an email from Elaine, the sites owner.
Wouldn’t you love results like this for your website?Just sayin’
I have been a busy, busy bee. Lot’s of my client sites were in need of an update, but I still found time to build a few new ones.
First up, A Song for Her. Gil Grand and his PR agent Melissa Mathews first approached me with their idea in the spring and it was a great one. Gil is an award winning singer songwriter and now you can have him write a custom song for you. Need to say “I love you” or “Dang, I screwed up” or “I miss you?” Then Gil’s you guy.
Now I will be the first one to admit that I know virtually nothing about music or the music industry ( ya, ya I know I live in NashVegas) but by listening to what they wanted and what they did, I was able to identify their target audience and give them what they needed. Have a look
To make a long story short, Gil and Melissa were so happy that when Gil’s company, Grand & Gee were nominated for CCMA Music Publisher of the Year they called me to do their ad! We wish Grand & Gee all the luck in the world, they deserve it.
I know I have been MIA alot lately. Well, I’ve been deep in the pixel mines creating sites for 3(4 sort of) of the most wonderful clients ever.
First up, are the wild and wacky Koko Brothers, an entertainment firm out of Baltimore. I loved working with Lou and Angelo, they cracked me up every time we spoke. If you are in the Baltimore area, or anywhere else in the world for that matter and want to have a lot of fun at your event, give them a call.
Next was a site redesign for dear friend of Think, Vicki Sanders at Branching Out Event Florist. I had built her last site but she’s been taking my advice about re-inventing. She is expanding into vintage rental and needed an update to reflect that. We still have to polish up the floors in her portfolio, but that can wait until she gets past the unbelievably busy May she has. You go Girl!
Then of course, there was the site for eWedNewz. That one went up in 24 hours because it had to.
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