Wedding Industry Blog

Before you think this is just another post about the depressing economy, think again! If you are a regular visitor to the blog then you will know that the results that I’m seeing suggest that there is no economic problem in the wedding industry, far from it in fact!

THE number one reason your enquiries have dropped off is that your website just isn’t up to it - FACT. You may have even been getting enquiries right up until recently and then all of a sudden they’ve dried up, coinciding with the credit crunch, but I’m telling you that is not the reason - you will almost certainly find that a competitor has launched a website which is performing and they have stolen all your enquiries!

That doesn’t sound good does it, a competitor profiting from what should be your enquiries!?!?

Well I’m afraid that is the nature of the business world, if you are not up scratch, there is always someone else willing to step in to take your customers!

Fortunately there are a few quick and easy things you can do to improve your sites performance:

Look at the words on the site - are they focused on what your customer wants, or are they completely focused on what you do, how long you have been trading and why your are so great? I’ll let you in to a little secret - people don’t care how great you say you are, they will make up they’re own minds based on the information they find on your website. Let’s face it, even if you were the worst company in the world you would still say you were great wouldn’t you? Brides aren’t stupid and they now this too!

How can brides contact you? - I see so many sites viagra the contact details are hidden away on the “Contact Us” page which can be hard to find. You’re telephone number or, better still enquiry form, should be in a prominent position on every page of your website. Also, don’t be mysterious, the worst thing I see is suppliers who just put a mobile number with no address!!! I guess the thinking is “I will travel anywhere for a customer it doesn’t matter to me”, well I’ll tell you that it does matter to a bride, if you don’t have an address on your website, she isn’t going to waste her time calling you to find out where you are (that’s right, while it doesn’t matter to you how far away you are, she doesn’t want a videographer traveling 200 miles on the morning of her wedding!!!).

Can you introduce a “bribe” to trigger an enquiry? - Don’t worry, I’m not talking about underhand cash incentives in exchange for their contact details, but what if you offered a free guide on choosing the best wedding dress or 10 tips to have the best wedding day? Do you think you would get more enquiries? NB. You should have a sequence in place to follow up with these enquiries as well, but that is for another day.

How does your site look? - This is a bit harder to fix, but it will give you an excellent insight into whether you need a website overhaul. Look at your site objectively, how does it look (honestly)? Are the pictures bright? Is the design tidy? Does it look like the site of someone who is meticulous, high quality and reliable? A lot of people find it very hard to analyse their own website, so I’d highly recommend getting someone else to do it for you - I’m always at hand if you can’t find anyone, use the free consultation form to book something in with me.

If you look at your site and it doesn’t tick all the boxes above then it is time for a serious rethink on your website, and my advice, get it fixed as soon as possible before it’s too late.

Remember, your website is no longer an important thing, it’s the only thing!

Until next time.

Edward

General Marketing, Websites

I’m getting back in the swing of things now and trying to make Wednesday morning my regular blogging morning!

I’m getting asked about advertising on a daily basis at the moment, it seems that people know they need to step up their marketing activity and they see placing a few adverts as an easy way to do it.

The truth is most advertising is dying, and I’m not talking about getting old slowly and gradually fading into the background before disappearing, I’m talking about advertising in the way we know it now, being gone within a decade.

But why is this?

It’s because most businesses who advertise are literally throwing their money away because they don’t understand how the advertising model now works

The old model was easy:

Company Place Advert - Customer Sees Advert - Customer Calls Company - Company Sells to Customer

A seamless four step process. This was good, everyone knew where they stood and if you needed more business, you just placed more adverts.

The new model is a bit harder for people to get to grips with (at the moment anyway):

Company Places Advert - Customer See Advert - Customer Visits Company Website - Customer Browses Company Website - Customer Sends Enquiry to Company - Company Sells to Customer

Its not a massive difference admittedly, but you would be amazed how much those two small steps change things.

You see it’s no longer a matter of how good your ads are, or by how many people they are seen, the whole process depends on your website being effective - FACT. An ineffective website now will be the reason why you, and the many people who call me every week, have seen a massive drop in your enquiries. Don’t be fooled, the economy has nothing to do with it - if you sit back and think there is nothing you can do about it then you’re wrong, my customers aren’t just seeing their enquiries stay constant, they are seeing a big increases! Why? Because their competitors are pulling their marketing as it’s not working so there is less competition and they are cleaning up!!!

Action points:

Look at your website and compare it to the best website in your market, how do you compare?
Make sure you have a call to action or a way of contacting you on every page of your site.
Look at your follow up to enquiries, once you have an enquiry you’ve done the hard work, its much easier to sell to that enquiry than it is to generate a new one!

If you are having problems with any of the above then book a free consultation or give me a call and I can give you some pointers

In addition to this whole process there are no much, much more effective ways to advertise than the conventional print and directory based ads, but thats a different story altogether - we can save that one for next week ;).

Until then

Edward

Advertising, Websites

I hope you are tucked up at home on the warm while you are reading this! I am in the office - it seems pretty much on my own as reception have been given the afternoon of for fear of hazardous driving conditions - and it is absolutely freezing!

Fortunately the cold weather hasn’t frozen my brain - no more than usual anyway - and it got me thinking how ironic this freezing weather has come at a time when there is so much talk about things freezing - sales are frozen, assets have been frozen, people are being frozen out, it seems everything is cold in one way or another.

With all this in mind I want to try and fight the freeze and talk about what I am seeing in the wedding industry.

Yes there are a lot of people who are struggling big time (if you are one give me a call as soon as you possibly can as I can help I guarantee it!), and there will be plenty more who feel the cold before we make it through to the other side, but it’s not all bad.

The results from the businesses I am working with is extremely positive, not only are bookings up but also profits, completely bucking the trend, not only of the industry, but of the whole country!

So what do all these companies have in common?

Well obviously they are all customers of ours which I would like to tell you is the reason that they are experiencing these great results, but the main reason is that they have a machine working in their business which sucks in potential customers, squeezes their contact details out of them and then primes them ready for you to get in touch with them! Sounds too goog to be true doesn’t it?

So do you want to know what this amazing machine is and where you can get one? Well the truth is, you probably have one already but just haven’t switched it on yet.

What all these success stories have in common is that they have a streamlined website with a structured internet marketing plan to back it up. They don’t spend any money on expensive print advertising, no expensive brochures and most of them don’t even attend wedding fairs!

So ask yourself these questions:

• Can you handle more enquiries?
• Do you get 5 enquiries from your website per day?
• Are you willing to to be a leader and not a follower?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes then you seriously need to analyse your website and how you can make it work better for you - I guarantee it won’t just be the best decision you make on this frozen Monday afternoon, but for the whole of 2009!

If you are interested in learning more about how you can make your website work for your wedding business, contact Evolution Wedding Services the wedding marketing experts and we can put you on the fast track to success in the wedding industry.

Enjoy the snow (and the warm if you are at home)

General Marketing, Websites

Your wedding website is the key to the success of your business and will be the hub of all your marketing activity. For 95% of brides that you reach, the first port of call after seeing your name, advert or leaflets is to check out your website. This means that if your website is poor, your enquiries will be as well!

Don’t worry though, here are 10 things which your wedding website must have for you to check and improve:

1. Clear Design and Layout
2. Easy Navigation
3. Customer Focused Headlines
4. Optimised Page Titles
5. Focused Keywords
6. Custom Descriptions
7. Useful Content
8. A Blog
9. Calls to Action
10. Contact Details or an Enquiry Form on Every Page

Whatever your business, your website should be returning at least 10 enquiries per week on average, if its not then one or more of the points above need to be addressed. For a full review of your wedding website you may be interested in our Website Review Service for Wedding websites.

To address any issues you find when looking at the 10 points above we recommend that you join the Evolution Programme where you can find all the information you ned to make your website a bridal trap!

General Marketing, Websites