Follow Marketing to Brides Online at Facebook. I post lots of free advice, helpful tips and techniques to improve your Internet marketing, reach more brides and book more weddings.
Marketing to Brides Online at Facebook.
Cheap hosting is no place for your website. Let's face it, you're trying to do business on the Internet. The last place you want to try and cut corners is with your hosting. If your website is unavailable, if your web pages load slowly, if your website is hacked and someone installs a nasty little virus that brides get on their computer when they visit your website... (oh yes, it happens and Google will penalize you and block people from getting to your website - see the graphic below), you just lost ANOTHER sale... because of trying to save $400/year - or about $30/month.
You can get high-quality hosting for $30 to $60/month, depending on your needs. High quality hosting delivers performance AND security.
There isn't a faster way to lose a sale, if you ask me. There are a lot of reasons a bride will leave your website. Cheap hosting is just one.
Poor Navigation
When a bride can't clearly figure out how to get from one page to another at your web site she'll usually just use the one thing she can count on every time - her BACK button - and leave. Navigation links should allow moving from your home page to any other page on your web site within two clicks. The most usable navigation (i.e. bride friendly) uses both TEXT links (underlined blue text links) and graphical buttons (buttons!! not pictures). I just finished a book by a consultant who works for America Online. They pay him big $$$ every year to make sure AOL is easy to use and "user-friendly". When it comes to navigation, at web sites that deliver the best results, he says it comes down to these five words, "Don't make them think." Poor
Overall Design
In the past 12 months the quality of most of the wedding sites I've visited has improved significantly. I attribute this to the fact that sharp business owners and managers know they can sell more wedding products and book more of their services with a top-notch web site. As a result, most understand that taking a casual approach to the design and marketing of their web sites is a mistake that costs them sales. If you've never built a web site before, if you don't have a very good understanding of online marketing, web page design, programming, and layout, it's unlikely a "home-grown" site will be very effective at selling more of your products or services. When brides find a poorly designed web site it doesn't leave a very good impression. Not surprisingly, they usually just leave and go looking for something better.
Poorly Written Marketing Copy
The words that appear at your web site communicate a message and if your message is poorly written, grammatically incorrect, or difficult to follow, you significantly increase the chances of a bride leaving your web site with a less than favorable impression about your business. Even if she doesn't leave, an ineffectively written and delivered message will reduce the results you get. Marketing copy makes a big difference.
Eye Candy Doesn't Work
Forget about loud colors, blinking or scrolling text, fancy animated graphics, that's NOT what brides are looking for. It isn't a very good way to portray your business and in some cases it communicates the wrong message. In the worst case, it leaves a bad impression. Anything at your web site that distracts or challenges someone's eyes is a potential problem and will most likely annoy a bride or groom who is trying to make a decision about using your products or services.
Get To The Point (FAST)
Give a bride or groom the information they came to your web site looking for and DO IT FAST. If you don't they're likely to become disinterested and then leave looking for better information somewhere else. You probably have less than 20 seconds to deliver enough information to keep a bride interested in staying at your web site. Keep your pages clean looking and well organized. Make it easy for a bride/groom to find information about WHO you are, WHAT you do, WHAT you're going to do for them, WHAT special services you offer, WHAT makes you different and WHY they should do business with you. Everything else is fluff. Brides don't buy fluff they want the real thing - so get to the point right away and give them what they came looking for.
Inadequate Contact Information
Brides love the Internet because it saves them time and makes finding local wedding services easier than ever before. Typically (or, hopefully) a bride will visit your web site, browse through several of your pages, and then want to know how to contact you. Besides an online inquiry form (not just an EMAIL link), you should have your company name, address, phone, fax and email address at the bottom of every page (or in another appropriately located position on each page). If this information isn't easily available it sets up a situation where a bride can visit your site but then leave without taking the next natural step: making an inquiry and requesting more information.
Happy New Year!
Hope it's your best yet!
Ten Reasons A Bride Will Leave Your Website
It's hard enough to get good traffic to your website. The last thing you want to do is lose a bride once she's there. If you're buying online advertising (which is smart!) you'll want to maximize your investment and make sure you don't give a bride any of these reasons to leave your website before making an inquiry.
Slowness
Most brides will leave a web site when they have to wait for it to load. If they think something isn't right, they just leave. The result: lost sales. Online marketing folks call it "bail out" and it's hands down the number one reason brides will leave your web site. Your first page needs to load in less than 5 seconds, 8 seconds at the most. That's right 5 to 8 seconds. Studies show bail out starts shortly thereafter. After 20 seconds, bail out rates can be as high as 80%. Slowness is usually a result of poor web site hosting, pages that are too large, pages with too many graphics or nested tables, complex programming, poorly written scripts, or maybe even FLASH.
404 Errors
When a bride or groom visits your site and requests a nonexistent page (URL) your server sends their browser an error page. This event is recorded as a "404 Not Found" error in your web server logs and is important information you should look for on a monthly basis. It means brides are NOT getting what they're looking for. Encountering an error page is a frustrating experience for a web site visitor and studies show this is a leading reason why people leave web sites. The most common reasons for 404 errors include: programming error, incorrect or outdated link on one or more of your pages, incorrect or outdated link to your site from another site, search engine index contains an outdated page, outdated user bookmark to a page you deleted, or a bride/groom made an error when manually entering a URL.
Web Site Text That is Hard To Read
Background images, use of italics, animated graphics dancing across a bride's computer monitor, use of multiple fonts, too much text and not enough "white space" all make it hard to read the information a bride is looking for. Dark colored text on light colored pages (non-background) will outperform any other combination 99% of the time. Also, DON'T SHOUT AT YOUR VISITORS BY WRITING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and keep text aligned to the top and to the left - that's how people's eyes are trained to read. Centered text in paragraphs is hard to read in most cases and should be avoided. Choose fonts that are easy to read like Arial, Verdana, Geneva, and Helvetica and keep them consistent in size and color throughout your site.
Frames
I still see too many framed web sites and I recommend most sites avoid using them. There is really no need to use them. In most cases they are more confusing to the brides and grooms who visit your site then they are worth. Frames can be useful on occasion, but often they create more problems then benefit. If you "have to" have that framed look, use a Cascading Style Sheet. Study after study shows web browsers have a more enjoyable experience at web sites without frames. If that's not enough of a reason, most search engines have problems or ignore pages that use frames. If your webmaster insists on using frames, ask him/her WHY and then how they will compensate for these two significant problems that can result in lost sales.
I really like Google Adwords as a source of high-quality traffic. It's not perfect, but then no source of traffic on the Internet is.
Think about it for a minute. A bride goes to Google, types in a search, a keyword search of three to four words (most likely), and then sees your ad.
If you bid high enough you show up at the top before the organic search engine results. If you're not a top three bid you probably show up on the narrow, right column.
She sees it (20% of the people who search at Google click on Sponsored Ads)
She likes it (it has the words in it that "connect" with her head in it's current state!)
She clicks on it (she's on her way to your website's home page or maybe a landing page).
The chances are at least 50-50 she's a good prospect for an inquiry. That is, if you're website converts well. If you have traffic but aren't getting inquiries you have a conversion problem.
Recently, I discovered a little weirdness with Google Adwords while bidding on keywords. Specifically, new keywords and their bids that would get me on the first page of Sponsored Listings.
Google Adwords, Keyword Bids, and the "Minimum Bid" to Show Up on the First Page
Here's a great video that talks about click fraud at Google Adwords. If you're concerned about click fraud on your campaign this video discusses what Google is doing about it.
Personally, I'm pretty comfortable Google is doing the right thing and keeping tabs on this. Adwords is their "golden goose" and I'm sure they want to carefully protect it.
http://videos.webpronews.com/2008/12/16/ses-chicago-google-explains-click-fraud/
#25 - It Will Be Hard To Get Top Ranked At Google Without Backward Links
Also called inbound links, backward links are links pointing to your website from other websites.
For the past 18 months backward links have played a critical role in moving up in position at Google.
Inbound links to your website, not in the form of link exchanges, are an indication to Google that other people like your website enough to link to it.
It's pretty easy for Google to identify a link exchange and it's likely Google gives more weight to inbound links vs. link exchanges. Building inbound links is a difficult and a time-consuming task and should be approached as a long-term strategy. Keep in mind, the quality of the links pointing to your website is more important than the quantity.
Also keep in mind that Google probably doesn't like to see dozens of inbound links show up over a short period of time - it can be an indication you are trying to just use links to move your positioning up.
The way to the top rank at Google is to have high quality websites linking directly to you using links that the Google spider can crawl - and to develop those links slowly, but methodically, over time.
Closing Thought: The Competition Is Getting Tough(er)
Every year, as the number of websites continue to grow, the competition is getting tougher and tougher and you can expect it to get worse.
Unless you have an effective online marketing plan, by next year I predict you'll have 30% more competition than you have today.
The competitors who "get it," have online marketing know-how behind them, execute their online marketing strategy effectively, and day by day - although you may not know it - take away one sale after another from you.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#24 - Don't Confuse Search Engine Optimization With Search Engine Marketing - You Need To Do Both
Search engine optimization is different from search engine marketing.
Optimization is the process of planning and modifying your website programming and page content to achieve organic or "free" top positions in the search engines on a search engine results page (SERP).
Search engine marketing is using "sponsored" links or paid advertising, in most cases pay-per-click advertising, to target and drive additional qualified traffic to your website.
What most webmasters fail to clearly communicate is the difference between search engine optimization and search engine marketing, the importance of each, and their role in the development of a solid, long-term, traffic-building strategy.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#23 - Search Engine Optimization Involves A Lot More Than Just Adjusting A Few Page Title Tags And Meta-Tags
I wish more webmasters would talk about all of the different variables related to search engine optimization, including: meta-tags, keywords in your page copy, content placement, content length (number of words per page), streamlined programming and coding, inbound links, outbound linking, deep linking into your sub-pages, and spider crawlability.
These are just a few of the other variables in the mix. Each one of these variables has multiple variables of its own.
Search engine optimization is very different from a year ago. Only when everything is correctly planned and everything is correctly executed, will you see results and your search engine positioning improve.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today. Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics? Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#25 - The Most Important Variable In An Over-All Search Engine Optimization Strategy Is Your Page Title Tag
I think most webmasters understand the importance of page title tags but what I don't think they understand is how carefully they have to be created.
If the words brides are searching for when using Google, Yahoo!, or MSN, are not in your page title tag, it is very unlikely that you are going to show up top ranked - plain and simple.
Also, putting your company name in your page title tags is a waste of time.
If they search for your company name, your site should rank in a top position in the search engine results page based on your page copy (i.e., your company name on your pages).
In most cases brides aren't searching for ABC Videography (a Philadelphia based wedding videographer), they are searching for "Philadelphia wedding videographers" or "Philadelphia wedding videography services."
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#21 - Getting Top Ranked At Yahoo! or MSN Doesn't Guarantee A Top Ranked Position At Google
Getting ranked well at Google right now has a lot to do with the number of links pointing to your website.
That said, the quality of those sites pointing to you is more important than the quantity.
Yahoo! seems to really be focused on keywords and relevancy - in other words, does your website have the most relevant information to match the search performed. MSN also seems to be putting most of its weight on page content also.
I wish webmasters would tell clients that each search engine has a different algorithm and/or different rules.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
Testing audio link from tele-clinic/webinar...
http://podcast.thebasementventures.com/telcorecordings/recording.rss?fileid=MN2124_11_11_2008_1070627&bridge=999834&email=
#20 - Search Engine Optimization Takes A Lot Of Time
I wish more webmasters would discuss this with their clients.
The simple fact is that search engine optimization requires knowledge, expertise, and time.
Even with experience, it takes expertise and time to break a client into the top ten for any competitive keyword/keyword phrase position.
If you do everything right, it can take months, even a year or more, to see your website move into a top position for competitive keywords.
Keep in mind that someone has to fall out of the top ten for you to get into the top ten, and you're not the only one trying. Also, the algorithms at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are each different and change from time to time.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today. Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics? Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#19 - If You're New To Pay-Per-Click, Start With Google Adwords First
If you're new to the search engine marketing playing field I recommend you start with the Google Adwords "Standard" edition (avoid the "Starter" edition) because it is the fastest way to test and fine-tune your pay-per-click program - it generates more traffic than Yahoo! or MSN and I believe in the wedding industry the quality of traffic is better (i.e., brides and grooms).
If you are unfamiliar with the "pay-per-click" model you SHOULD hire someone with experience to help you.
Setting up the system is fairly easy, but setting it up properly, identifying the right keywords and keyword phrases, and writing ad copy that pulls the most clicks (and beats your competitors advertisements) isn't for amateurs. The money you save should more than pay for the investment.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today. Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics? Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#18 - Pay-Per-Click Advertising Is Smart
Pay-per-click advertising, also referred to as search engine marketing, works and if it's not working for you there is something wrong with your website or your pay-per-click campaign set-up.
Driving targeted traffic to a website that converts visitors into inquiries - and then sales - is another no-brainer. Google offers Adwords, Yahoo! offers Yahoo Search and MSN offers AdCenter.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
Get more visibility for your website and reach more brides and grooms (MORE TRAFFIC)... visit the Daily Wedding Tip.
#17 - Online Advertising Is Smart
Online advertising is a requirement in today's competitive chase for the online bride and groom.
The days of a "free ride" and free traffic are over and free link exchanges are mostly useless for driving quality traffic these days.
Once you have a good website, one with a track record of converting bride/groom visitor sessions into inquiries, phone calls, and sales, online advertising is a no-brainer and should generate a fantastic return-on-investment.
Where should you advertise? Look for sites where your competition is advertising. Ask your peers where they are advertising and getting good results. Look for sites that show up top ranked in search engines for your keywords.
Be sure to monitor your web statistics and referrers to confirm and track the results.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#16 - Website Analytics: Review Keywords Regularly
In your website statistics you should also find "referring keywords," or the words people used to find your website through a search engine.
If the keywords you are targeting with your page copy and in your search engine optimization strategy are not showing up in your keyword referrals, there is something wrong with your keyword strategy, search engine optimization strategy, search engine positioning, or all three!
If you are getting only a few visitor sessions from the keywords you are targeting it could be an indication of poor organic (i.e., free) search engine positioning.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
#15 - Website Analytics: Make Sure You Identify Referrers
There are many things to look at when reviewing your website statistics but one of the most important things to review is referrers.
Referrers show you which other websites are sending you traffic and how much are they sending. This is particularly important if you're advertising online as it will confirm that you are getting traffic from the sources you are paying.
When I review someone's log, I go straight for the referrers after reviewing total visitor sessions.
I want to know where the traffic is coming from, how much, and over what period of time.
Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.
Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?
Sign-up for my free Internet Marketing Tips for Wedding Professionals and learn how to DOUBLE your traffic and TRIPLE your inquiries.
