Want to double your sales next month (from this month)?
I'm talking about new sales.
You'll very likely pick up some end of the year business.
If you're a wedding band it's a great way to pick up holiday business and corporate party business.
Here's a great technique taught to real estate agents and it works for just about anyone. Better still, it costs almost nothing.
When you're in the competitive space of marketing to brides, don't just throw money into a blow torch. Do things that really work - and this is one of them.
Double Your Sales Next Month
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Double Your Sales Next Month (This Works)
New Report: "25 Point Internet Marketing Checklist" Free For ADVANTAGE Subscribers
25 Point Internet Marketing Checklist
There are hundreds of issues related to managing your online marketing. Here 25 things you can easily review that will keep you out of trouble and critical to a successful online marketing strategy.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Why Is My Website Top Ranked at Yahoo! and MSN But Not With Google?
Q: Why Is My Website Top Ranked at Yahoo! and MSN But Not With Google?
It's one of the most frustrating things I know of and here's why it happens and what you should be doing.
Questions, concerns, need help with your online marketing or website? Visit this link.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Get the ADVANTAGE for your website. More traffic, more brides, more inquiries, more sales.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Think You'll Make Big Money Selling Wedding Accessories and Invitations Online?
If you're thinking of jumping into the pool with the hundreds, if not thousands, of online wedding accessories and invitation websites reselling, drop-shipping, or offering affiliate marketing (i.e. Carlson Craft, Kate Aspen, etc.), you might want to first put on your life jacket and read this interesting, valuable, and controversial insight from Greg Howlett (be sure to read the follow-up posts... and pass the Kool-aid).
Six Reasons Not To Try To Be An Online Retailer
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Friday, August 24, 2007
Bad News For Banner Advertising
It looks like more bad news for the 'ol "banner ad" that was so popular back in the early days of the Internet.
A recent study by usability guru Jacob Nielson says it all... hmm... shows it all.
And think twice about an annoying ad (or website for that matter!).
In a study, commissioned by Streetblimps and conducted by Opinion Research Corp, "Nearly nine in 10 Americans said they were less likely to buy products that had annoying or offensive ads. Seven in 10 also said they were more likely to remember the ads."
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Conversion: Where The Rubber Hits The Road
Conversion is that magic moment when a bride who finds your website fills in your inquiry form or picks up the phone and calls you. With almost 70% of the country connecting via broadband (cable or DSL), it's not unlikely that a bride will just pick up the phone while viewing your website.
But conversion is a problem at most websites. You can tell quickly if you have a conversion problem if you have lots of traffic but no inquiries.
Poor quality traffic has an impact on conversion.
Poor design probably is a bigger factor.
Most designers have no clue when it comes to conversion.
80% of the people reading this today haven't heard the word before.
Ouch!
If you want more inquiries and more phone calls make it easier to find your inquiry form or phone number at your website. That's basic online Marketing to Brides 101 if you ask me.
Is your phone number at the top of all your pages (that's where I look for it).
Is your inquiry form on your home page?
Will I also find it on the three most visited pages at your website, according to your Google Analytics?
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Monday, August 20, 2007
Should You Be Blogging?
Heard this past week at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose:
"77% of adults think that blogs are a good way to get information about a company or product."
Rev. Claire Goodman has the right idea at her newly published blog promoting weddings in Virginia.
One word for Claire: PERFECT !!!
From my just published report: "25 Point Internet Marketing Checklist"
#21. Blogging
Having a Blog is smart online marketing.
While your website will be more of a “static” online brochure, blogs are basically an online diary and very effective at communicating personality, professionalism, and fresh information.
Use blogging to talk about recent customers, new employees, new products or services, associations or professional training – or just about anything else.
Blogging increases your overall online visibility and should be part of an overall search engine optimization strategy. Don’t forget to link to your website! It will help you build traffic and usually counts towards your total “inbound link” count.
Should you be blogging?
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Google Analytics: Good Stuff
Cheap (Actually, Free!)
Google offers anyone with a website free website statistics and they are pretty easy to install. Although there is a ton of information, Google Analytics are easy to understand and provide very valuable information about your visitors, including:
* How many total visitors for any given timeframe
* How many unique visits
* Where these people are coming from
* What they are doing when they get there (it may not be what you think)
* How much of your traffic is coming from search engines vs. other sources
* How effective your Google Adwords (PPC) campaigns are working
* The keywords brides typed and brought them to your website!
http://www.google.com/analytics
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wedding Bands & Live Music: Give A Girl What She Wants
I thought I'd share some notes from a post I recently read on an online bulletin board - related to wedding bands. It was from a long-time band leader who was commenting on the Internet and how it has changed the business of providing entertainment for weddings. Marketing to brides was very different than in the past, in some ways, but not in others. All agreed the competition was very tough.
When it's all said and done, he said brides want:
1) A clean cut band
2) A wide repertoire
3) An ability to engage the audience
Simple, yes?
Sometimes we forget the basics.
If you're a band leader and have a web site for your wedding band, how well does your website communicate these three things?
Add to this message your unique value proposition and your website will be a "home run."
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Marketing To Brides: "The Formula"
Whether you are starting out or re-working your online marketing strategy, you'll want to keep in mind "The Forumla."
(1) Build a great website.
(2) Market and promote it effectively, both online and offline.
(3) Develop and execute an effective traffic building strategy.
(4) It's all about CONVERSION, not much else matters.
(5) Stay ahead of your competition, catching up is always more difficult.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
FLASH Can Significantly Hurt Your Online Visibility
FLASH is fun, cool, and can be used to make some pretty impressive presentations.
The problem is that is can very significantly hurt your online visibility - what I call your "findability factor."
All Flash sites, websites made entirely of Flash, are the kiss-of-death (IMO).
When brides can't find you online they don't stop looking.
Oh no, they find one of your competitors.
Search engine spiders, the automated programs that continuously scan web pages, don't deal well with Flash. They can't read it and as a result they can't determine relevancy and so can't index it.
I'd say a website made entirely of Flash probably has a 20% findability factor compared to a spider-friendly, HTML crawlable website.
Let me put it another way.
800 brides who were looking for you using a search engine last month couldn't find your website!!
80%, maybe even as high as 90%, of the brides who could have booked your services probably found and booked with someone else. Ouch!
The sort-of-maybe-good news is: a Flash site, when designed properly, can convert well.
Unfortunately, that's rare, based on what I'm seeing out there.
Can you afford to live on 20% of the brides out there who are looking for you? In today's competitive environment, I think the answer is "NO."
Bottom Line: All Flash websites will hurt your overall online findability factor. They are probably impossible to get top ranked for any competitive category (I haven't found one yet!).
In order to get brides to your website you'll spend more money to advertise and promote your website vs. a competitor who has a search engine friendly, top-ranked website.
If you have an all Flash website, consider advertising at my popular Wedding Planning Links website to address this problem and make it easier for brides to find you online.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Universal Search
Universal search is the term used to describe searching through EVERYTHING on the Internet and presenting it to the person searching. As you might expect, Google is leading the way and pushing pretty hard.
Universal search combines:
Web pages (websites)
Images
Video
News
Maps
Blogs
... and of course, sponsored listings (i.e. pay-per-click).
Universal search will impact how brides find your website.
It has the potential to dilute your basic search engine optimization strategy, dilute any current top positioning you have, and open the door for your competitors to jump ahead of you - if they take advantage of the opportunities and you fall behind.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Friday, August 10, 2007
Being Top Ten or First Page in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPS)
Being top ranked for your keywords and keyword phrases is important.
No new news there.
Less than 1/3 of the people searching at a search engine make it to the second page. I actually think it's less than that.
Source: http://seo.elliance.com/
Marketing To Brides [An Experiment]
http://www.marketingtobridesonline.com
Groomsmen Gifts from Groom Stop. Unique groomsmen gifts and great wedding gift ideas for your entire wedding party.
A wedding planning website for brides and grooms getting married in Virginia and planning a wedding in Virginia or thinking about eloping or a weekday wedding.
Thoughts for the Day: Top Search Engine Positioning
Thoughts on a foggy, overcast day in Gloucester...
Catching up is always more difficult.
Ask Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods is certainly the best golfer of my generation. He would probably tell you it's better to stay in the top three than fall behind and have to play catch-up. Once you're six or seven strokes behind it gets pretty difficult to walk away with a win.
The same applies to search engine optimization and keeping your website top ranked.
(1) It's really hard to get top search engine positioning these days. At least for any competitive keywords/keyword phrases. There are probably 40 to 50 people fighting for the top ten positions in any city/category. And your competition isn't always LOCAL. Target, JC Penny, eBay... and a host of other brands are now competing for words like: Chicago Wedding Bands
(2) It probably will take six to twelve months - if not longer - to get a website into the top ten if it's not already there.
(3) And that's if you do EVERYTHING right and...
(4) Someone who is already in the top ten FALLS OUT.
(5) It could be longer.
(6) Why would someone fall out? There are a lot of reasons:
(7) Websites that appear stale and out-of-date.
(8) Design changes (example: moving to a FLASH website).
(9) A competing site that has developed more inbound links.
If you fall out of a top position it will probably be harder to get back where you are, if you don't act fast.
The best strategy is to proactively manage your search engine optimization strategy, combine it with an effectively managed pay-per-click strategy, and stay in the game.
A few ideas:
(1) Keep your home page fresh with new content posted at least monthly.
(2) Watch your web analytics and make sure the traffic you are getting from search engines isn't slipping.
(3) Get as many inbound links as you can, but remember, it's the QUALITY of those links pointing to your website more than the quantity. Your inbound link text should also match the keyword/phrase you are targeting like: Wedding Planning Advice
(4) Stay on top of your online marketing - having the right information and keeping up on the latest trends and changes in online marketing will help you get the best results from your website, get more inquiries, and book more weddings.
For more ideas and help marketing to brides visit my Book More Weddings website at http://www.bookmoreweddings.com.
Catching up... is always more difficult.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Average Cost of A Wedding
My good friend Shane McMurray over at The Wedding Report has updated his research. If you're in the Wedding Industry and marketing to brides you'll find his information and research valuable.
http://www.theweddingreport.com
Highlights...
The average wedding cost for wedding is $28,800.00
Typically included in calculating the average cost of wedding?
Attendant Gifts, Boutonnieres/Corsages, Bride Accessories, Bride Bouquet, Bride/Groom Hotel, Bridesmaid Bouquets, Ceremony Accessories, Ceremony Location, Ceremony Site Decorations, Decorations/Centerpieces, Flower Girl Flowers, Gifts for Each Other, Groom Accessories, Groom Tux/Suit, Guestbook, Hair & Makeup, Headpiece/Veil, Her Ring, His Ring, Invitations & Reply Cards, Limo Rental, Officiate/Pastor or Priest, Parent Gifts, Photographer, Reception Beverages/Bartender, Reception DJ, Reception Food Service, Reception Venue/Rentals, Rehearsal Dinner, Thank You Cards, Wedding Cake & Cutting Fee, Wedding Dress, and Wedding Favors
The question is: Are you getting your piece of the (wedding) cake?
:)
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Avoid Spamming Brides
When you take a bunch of email addresses of people (i.e. brides who attended a bridal show) who did not specifically ask to either:
(1) get email from YOU or
(2) receive information about your company
... you have just joined the world of SPAMMING.
Trust me, sending junk or unsoliciated email to brides isn't what I mean when I talk about marketing to brides.
When you get labeled or tagged as a spammer sending legitimate email starts to get a big dicey pretty fast.
Yes, it's true.
Get labeled as a spammer by your ISP or one of the major spam-busting services (Google, Spam Arrest, McAfee, Norton Anti-Virus) and you just might find your GOOD email isn't getting through to where you want it to go.
No, it's not in their INBOX, it's in their JUNK EMAIL folder - and you just lost a sale to a competitor.
All because you are doing something you shouldn't be doing... in the first place.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
Thursday, August 02, 2007
A Complete Waste of Money? Yes.
Marketing To Brides
Q&A With Chris Jaeger
Q: Chris, we're paying $40/month to have our website submitted to over 1000 search engines. I'm not sure what we're getting for our investment. Our search engine positioning doesn't seem to be improving. What do you think?
A: Submitting your website monthly to search engines has little, probably no, value. You're throwing your money way. If you've got time to kill submitting your website to lots of search engines may have some value - over time. I'd focus on Google, Yahoo!, and MSN (in that order).
If you're website is "in" Google (or Yahoo!) already there's no need to keep telling them about your website. Once they've found it they should regularly crawl it. Actually, the Google folks I spoke with told me at Webmaster World in Las Vegas told me: "there's no need to resubmit your website each month..."
If you're website is NOT in the Google "index" and not showing up then the best way to "get in" is to let Google find your website through ANOTHER website.
Let me say that again, carefully, because that is HOW you get in:
Let Google find your website (link) at another website. Preferably, it's a wedding themed website, as that will have more "weight" than a link from a non-wedding themed website.
Google does have a page where you can submit your website: http://www.google.com/addurl.html but most folks I talk with seem to think it doesn't really "get you in."
The second part of your question touches the issue of better placement. Since submitting your website has no value it certainly won't help your website get better placement or top ranking. To do that you'll need a search engine optimization strategy.
Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com
* Need more qualified traffic for your website?
* Want to make it easier for brides to find your website online?
* The solution is only a click away...
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