Marketing to Brides Online Using WordPress for a Website - Why Not?

WordPress is blogging software. But it can also be used to create and manage a website. It is easy to update, offers a lot of flexibility with design and features, and is fairly search engine friendly (with a few tweaks). Without a doubt it can be used as an effective tool for marketing to brides.

Here is a great example. It's a bit simple but I bet if a bride visits she makes an inquiry, and that's what it's all about.

http://www.collectivememoriesvideo.com

Two Special Reports Now Available: Get Your Website Ready for 2008

As we move into the New Year and the kick-off of the 2008 wedding planning season, it's a good time to get your website ready. Two questions I get asked often this time of year are:

"How do I get better positioning for my website at Google?" and "How can I get more inquiries and get more of the brides who visit my website to make inquiries or call me?"

These two very important questions and they are answered in two special reports:

"Conversion: Turning The Brides and Grooms Who Visit Your Website Into Inquiries and Sales: Proven Strategies To Help You Get Better Results From Your Website (newly updated for 2008)" and "How To Get Your Website Top Ranked at Google: 10 Things You Need To Know (and What To Do Today)."

If you are a member of my ADVANTAGE program login and you have immediate access to these reports, and lots of additional information to help you get your website ready for 2008, free of charge. I'd encourage you to download/print them today.

Mention this post and get a free tele-consultation follow-up. Read my reports, make notes, and then let's schedule a time to talk and I'll answer your questions and/or address any concerns you have with your online marketing strategy. This is a limited offer, subject to change without notice.

How To Get Top Ranked at Google

Conversion: Turning The Brides Who Visit Your Website Into Inquiries and Sales

Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/

Get the ADVANTAGE for your website. More traffic, more brides, more inquiries, more sales.

Are You Getting Dizzy (and Losing Sales To Your Competitors)?

I don't know about you but I can barely keep up on everything that's happening on the Internet.

I mean, how am I supposed to be "the expert" and guide my clients through this maze when it changes almost overnight?

Because it does !!!

I feel for the folks I talk with. On top of all this "Internet stuff" they have to run a business, meet deadlines, meet with brides, process orders, pay dozens of bills, keep the inquiries coming in, show up at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast... WOW, there's always something to do.

And then there's that Internet stuff:

Should you be on MySpace, or is it too late?

What about FaceBook?

How's your current search engine positioning?

How'd you make out in the last "shuffle" at Google?

Are you paying too much for pay-per-click?

Keywords? Keyword selection and keyword density? What they heck is that?

And why should you care?

Why do you have "hits" but you're not getting many inquiries?

Sure, you're top ranked at Google - for a term no one is searching for!

If you have questions or frustrations like this, or you think that maybe you're not getting as big of a piece of the pie as you'd like (you KNOW the brides are online!), then take a moment to look at my ADVANTAGE program.

Paul Foreman at Captivating Images joined last week. We're re-working his website after he got some bad advice about six months ago that cost him previously good search engine positioning.

He told me this morning his investment probably has already paid for itself as a result of our initial phone consultation (which I do with all new members).

My ADVANTAGE program is like hiring an expert coach and your investment is only $240.00/year.

Take a look and see what it can do for you.

Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

Get the ADVANTAGE for your website. More traffic, more brides, more inquiries, more sales.

Double Your Sales Next Month (This Works)

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

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

http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

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

"Why Are Brides Leaving My Website?"

I spoke with a Wedding Consultant yesterday who was frustrated by the poor results she was getting from her website. She had put a lot of money and effort into a new website and marketing to brides online and wasn't getting any inquiries or phone calls.

We talked about how to turn things around and there were several things she had to deal with, but here are two things we talked about:

1) A Great Looking Website Does Not Mean Great Results

Brides want information, they want what they came looking for an you don't have a lot of time to mess around before you give it to them (less than 20 seconds!).

Your "great looking" website can easily become an obstacle to an inquiry and a sale and that's why most websites don't work.

Give brides the BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE and you increase your chances of turning them into customers.

2) It's All About CONVERSION

Conversion is that magic moment when a bride does something you want her to. Maybe she makes an inquiry, downloads a "take-away", or simply picks up the phone and calls you.

Everything at your website should be looked at as either a "facilitator" or "obstacle" to conversion. If it doesn't add value to the user experience, I believe it has no place at your website.

Other problems: Do you have graphics that aren't clickable, do you have confusing navigation, is your compelling offer buried too deep in your website to find?

And those are just three things that lead to poor results from your website...

Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

Conversion Tip: Turning The Brides Who Visit Your Website Into Inquiries

BAD

You can have a website but BRIDES CAN'T FIND IT. You have a traffic problem.

WORSE (OUCH!)

You have good traffic, quality traffic (not quantity), you're even PAYING to advertise your website (http://www.weddingplanninglinks.com/), but the brides who find you aren't making inquiries. You have a CONVERSION problem.

There is no one-answer-solution to conversion problems but here's one way I used a rather simple techique to effectively turn more website visitors into inquiries. Yes, it works very well.

http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/members/278.cfm

* You must be a member of my Book More Weddings ADVANTAGE program to have full access to this information.

Online Wedding Planning Goes Mainsteam

Internet wedding planning is alive, well, and kicking. BIG TIME.

Ignore your online marketing or put it on the back-shelf and you'll be making a big mistake.

I hate to say "I told you so" but I've been saying this for more than a few years.

Not understanding this technology, how to use it effectively, or how it is changing and taking advantage of the changes... is no excuse.

97% percent of brides now use the Web in their planning, according to a recent research study by Questus (http://www.questus.com).

93% said they found ideas and brands there they wouldn’t have otherwise found.

The "echo boom" will create an even larger audience of bride/grooms, with a 22% projected growth over the next 15 years (Fairchild Bridal Group).

Today's average wedding costs over $22,000.

Traditional weddings are still the most popular.

85% will marry with a religious ceremony.

The average number of guests: 168

Bad Advice Hurts Your Wedding Business

There's a lot of bad information about online marketing on the Internet. Usually, it falls into one of these categories:

Just Wrong
Vague
Misleading
Incomplete

1) Just Wrong

Almost daily I read articles that are just wrong. Yes, just wrong. The classic example is submitting your website to the search engines monthly. Another is that there are ways to optimize FLASH websites for search engines for top ranking.

If you do either of these things you are wasting time and money and you will not see the appropriate return-on-investment.

2) Vague

Many so called "online marketing experts" often talk about things just enough to pique your interest. They give you a few of the key buzzwords, but not enough information to clearly explain how it works, how you can apply it to your website, the benefits, the costs (time/money), the anticipated return on investment, and how long it might take.

A great example is search engine optimization. I hear people talk about meta-tags and keywords, but I NEVER hear anyone talk about the competitive nature of top ranking in just about any wedding category. It is almost impossible (YES, almost IMPOSSIBLE) to get top ranking at Google for positioning like: Chicago wedding photographers, Boston wedding bands, Orlando wedding ministers, Los Angeles wedding consultants...

3) Misleading

"Blogging is an effective online marketing tool..."

Sure it is, but I wouldn't put it on the top of your list of things to do. Should you do it, yes, should you drop everything else you're doing, put up a blog, add to it weekly, and expect brides to knock down your doors trying to buy from you? No. It doesn't work like that. Misleading information distracts you from what you should be doing. You end up spending a lot of time and money with little to show for it. Worse, you end up frustrated because you thought it would work.

4) Incomplete

A lot of the information I read or hear is incomplete. Do page-title tags play a role in top ranked websites, sure. But there are also 20/30 other elements.

OK "Mr. Expert" - what are those 20 other elements?

Wedding Minister Says: "I fixed my page-title tags, why is my competitor still showing up above me at Google?"

Chris Answers: "Who told you that would do anything by itself?"

5) TINSTAFL

Expertise, like in any industry, comes with a cost. You get what you pay for and there is no such thing as free lunch. Top rank in the search engines is worth thousands of dollars in new sales. A website (design) that converts the brides who find it into inquiries and sales is worth thousands and thousands of dollars in new sales. Staying ahead of your competition is priceless. To think you can do this "cheap" or do-it-yourself, in today's competitive marketplace, is most likely only wishful thinking.

Should You Put Your Prices Online?

Jean Phelan from Strings Attached, provides string quartets and ensembles for wedding ceremonies in the Tampa Bay area. She's a new member of my ADVANTAGE program and asked:

"We are wondering if it's better list all our rates on our website, or have the bride to contact us to get a quote. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to listing your rates. Our business is providing string quartets, etc. for weddings."


My answer is available to members of my ADVANTAGE program: Should You Put Prices On Your Website?.

Follow this link to learn more about my ADVANTAGE program and how it will help you beat your online competition, get better results from your website, and book more weddings.

The Bumpy Road Ahead

Every now and then I get out my Magic 8 ball and ask it questions.

I asked it "Will I ever see the sun again and will it ever warm up?".

It said: "Ask Again Later."

So I changed the topic: I asked it "what are the biggest challenges ahead for my customers?"

Here's what it said today:

COMPETITION
QUALIFIED TRAFFIC WILL BE HARDER TO GET
BAD ADVICE

COMPETITION

By far, the biggest challenge to your website and overall online marketing strategy in the next 12 to 24 months is COMPETITION.

Pretty much everyone who doesn't live under a rock has figured out that the Internet works.

Personally, I think it's the most effective way to promote your business.

It beats print, it beats bridal shows, it's measurable, it's cost-effective - it beats just about any form of traditional marketing.

I'm not saying don't use traditional advertising and marketing and certainly those should be part of your overall advertising and marketing strategy.

I'm talking about overall most cost-effective and dollar-for-dollar return-on-investment.

If you don't agree, chances are there is a problem with your strategy or execution.

Many of my clients are telling me 75%, 80%, even up to 90% of their new business is coming from the Internet, but to get these type of results you have to do everything, and I mean everything, right. Don't think it will be free. The Internet isn't "free" anymore. Those days are long over.

Three key points here:

(1) Probably 50 to 100 competitors want the same top ten position you're looking for in the search engines - where 80% of brides start an Internet session. 10 to 20 of these competitors will have expertise or expertise behind them.

(2) You won't beat your competition by standing on the sidelines waiting. You'll have to get in the game - and don't wait. Like the Superbowl, it's always harder to win when you're behind.

(3) It won't be free. To effectively compete, you'll have to make an investment. There's no such thing as free lunch (anymore) on the Internet.

QUALIFIED TRAFFIC WILL BE HARDER TO GET

The trickle down impact of competition is that it's going to be harder and harder to get qualified traffic to your website; to reach the brides and grooms you want to.

Remember, "hits" are not visitor sessions. "Hits" are not real brides and grooms. If you're webmaster still talks about hits.... you should find a new webmaster.

Probably 1/2 of your traffic is not qualified for your products or services. That's right. 1/2 of your total visitor sessions are worthless. They are not brides. They are your competitiors, they are web designers doing research, they are people doing searches for something else who accidentally landed at your website.

Qualified traffic will be harder to get because companies with big budgets, like Target, eBay, JC Penny, are competing for the same brides and grooms you are. They have more money to spend and they are reaching into what once was your "safe haven" - brides and grooms your local market. There's too much at stake and don't expect these companies to stay on the sidelines.

How will these companies and your other competition beat you? They'll out bid you in PPC, they'll out-optimize you for organic search positioning, they'll cobrand their website with their TV advertising, they'll use viral marketing and enewsletter marketing to build their brand and traffic. The result is dilution of your traffic. I call it "more noise" on the Internet.

When your traffic falls off you get fewer inquiries. Fewer inquiries means fewer sales.

BAD ADVICE

After competition, and attracting qualified traffic, the biggest challenge I see today, and into the future, is simply: BAD ADVICE.

An all FLASH website is simply a bad strategy.

Not understanding how to identify and use keywords and keyword phrases is why your brides are finding your competition before you.

Not writing great page copy that drives home your unique value proposition, discusses the benefits vs. features of your services, kills your website.

Should you be using a Blog?

Should you be advertising at The Knot?

What should you be looking at in your stats and how often do you have to review them?

Why isn't your website showing up where you want it at Google? How's your Google Love?

... and 10 Other Reasons A Bride Will Leave Your Website.

Next week... more from my Magic 8 Ball.

Chris Jaeger
Book More Weddings
http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

Learn more about my Book More Wedding ADVANTAGE program and how it can help you stay ahead of your competition, get better results from your website, and book more weddings.

Here's a link for your own fun with the Magic 8 Ball.

Keeping Your Website Fresh and Updated

Q&A With Chris

Q: Chris, how often do we have to update our website? How important is it?

A: You'll leave a better impression with a bride/groom visiting your website if your website looks up-to-date and has current information on it - particularly on the home page. Weekly updates are actually quite valuable. They don't have to be full page updates, but a paragraph about a recent wedding, a happy customer, or new service you are offering is surely valuable content and will keep your site looking fresh.

Keep in mind, brides may visit your website more than once, particularly those early in their planning process, so "fresh" does have value.

But if you're going to do this you have to do it right, like most things Internet. Your credibility falls like a rock if you have homepage content that is outdated or occurred two months ago.

So, yes, it is very important and the more frequently you can update or provide "freshness" to your homepage and website, the better.

Understanding The Brides Who Visit Your Website

There are four types of brides who visit your website and providing each of them the information they are looking for is critical to your conversion (turning a bride who visits your website into a phone call or inquiry).

Your navigation scheme and the content you provide at your website is very important when it comes to keeping a bride's attention.

Often the difference and conversion is heavily influenced by your unique value proposition.

Here are the four types of brides who visit your website.

1) She knows EXACTLY what she wants.

2) She knows approximately what she wants or has a pretty good idea.

3) She doesn't know what she wants, but if she found it, she'd buy it.

4) She found your website by accident and really doesn't want anything you offer.

When you start thinking about these things, while developing your online marketing strategy, you'll acheive a competitive ADVANTAGE, and be on your way to getting great results from your website and you'll consistently beat your competition.

Understanding Conversion

My friend Dianna Huff, at DH Communications, is a MARCOM writer and one who "gets it" when it comes to the Internet.

Today she sent me an article about conversion and it made me think:

Most people don't even know what conversion is or take it into consideration when developing a strategic online marketing plan or designing a website.

Here are some thoughts I'd like to share related to conversion:

1) Conversion is what it's all about. You can have all the traffic in the world, but if it doesn't convert, it's worth nothing. If the source of your traffic doesn't have quality traffic (i.e. brides who need your products and services) the result will be poor, or no, conversion. Start thinking QUALITY and not quantity.

2) AGAIN, conversion is what it's all about. You might have what you think is a "great website", some brides might even tell you they like it, but the brides who found it and didn't like it didn't call you to tell you it's lousy, trust me, they just left looking for your competition.

3) Conversion takes place ONLY after a bride has done these four things:

a) Read your page copy
b) Determined that you have what she needs or is looking for
c) Has connected with your unique value proposition.
d) Is ready to move to the next step

Conversion is usually a phone call, an inquiry form filled out, or some other form of desired action (i.e. she had downloaded your "take-away").

4) If you're not tracking and measuring conversion, you really don't have any idea how well your website is really working - or if the investments you make in your website and online marketing are really paying off.

Calculating Calculation

1000 visitor sessions
50 inquiries or phone calls
Conversion is 5%

Conversion doesn't "just happen" and if your competition understands how important it is, and you don't, you'll lose sale after sale to them.

You can buy a special report I wrote, with tips and advice to help you improve your website conversion, Conversion: Turning The Brides and Grooms Who Visit Your Website Into Inquiries and Sales, here.

Buy it online, mention you heard about it at my Blog, and I'll include a one-hour follow-up phone consultation, a $150 value, to answer your questions and evaluate your current conversion ratio.

Want Better Results From Your Website? Who Doesn't?

The marketing message you deliver at your web site does some pretty *heavy lifting*.

In other words, it's a primary reason a bride/groom converts from just another web site visitor into an inquiry or lead.

Trust me, it isn't your animated graphics, background music, or use of Flash (all of these things I recommend you do NOT use).

Do you focus on the value and benefits of doing business with your company?

What makes you different?

Why should a bride make an inquiry – today?

Here are some guidelines that will help you evaluate your marketing message:

+ Is the benefit of doing business with you communicated in a clear and very obvious fashion throughout your website?

+ As a new customer, would it excite you or make you more interested?

+ Is your message very specific about what's in it for the bride if she chooses you?

+ How does your marketing message compare to your competition?

+ Do you offer a unique value or benefit that they don't?

+ If you do, is that clearly communicated at your web site?

If you're conversion rate is less than 10% something is probably wrong at your web site.

A good place to take a first look is your marketing message and your unique value proposition.

5 Tips To Help Grab A Bride's Attention

Sometimes you get so hung up in "the look", or that FLASH is "cool", or fill-in-the-blank, that you lose sight of two very important objectives:

(1) Getting a bride to stay at your website once she's found it.

(2) Getting her to click to the next most important page.

Obviously, you'll want to add:

(3) Conversion: Inquiry, phone call, or take-away.

You only have a few seconds to grab a bride's attention once she gets to your website.

Online marketing folks call it the "3 Second Rule" and I believe it.

Here are five tips to grab a bride's attention and interest and keep her from heading for the back button on her browser.

1) Make Sure Your Homepage Loads Quickly

If your homepage takes more than 5 to 8 seconds to load you risk a "bailout". If you don't believe me, go take a look at your logs and see how many people are looking at one page and then leaving your website. One way to reduce this problem is to make sure your home page loads quickly (and without errors). Flash presentations or large graphics that take 10 to 15 seconds to load can create serious problems and adversely impact the results you get from your website.

2) Get To The WIIFM (What's In It For Me Message)

Brides want to know what you can do for them, what you've done for others, and "what's in it for them". If you don't open your homepage with that message what message ARE you delivering? Give a bride the information she came looking for immediately at the top of your homepage. THEN... and only then will she keep on reading.

3) Avoid Using Odd Colors and Background Images

When it's hard to read the information at your website brides will just leave - it's just that simple. Use black or dark blue text and avoid funky colors or background images that can distract attention from your marketing message (i.e. WIIFM).

4) Use Navigation Links That People Can Clearly See

Your links to sub-pages and other features at your website should be VERY CLEARLY identifiable. I shouldn't have to mouse-over them to see they are a link and they shouldn't be light colored in such a way they blend in to none-linked text.

5) Use Bullets To Highlight The Most Important Value/Benefits

People tend to scan web pages first before they make the choice to read the rest of your page copy or even to visit other pages. Using quick-and-to-the-point bulleted items you'll actually get them to READ about the value, benefits, or special and unique features of your services or products.

6) Important Content Goes Above The Fold

Put your MOST important information up front and "above the fold" or visible on the first screen with minimal scrolling. In other words, get to the point! When was the last time you visited a website and kept reading down a page (or clicked to another page) when the first paragraph of copy didn't DIRECTLY address the reason you clicked to that page in the first place?

10 Reasons A Bride or Groom Will Leave Your Web Site

10 Reasons A Bride or Groom Will Leave Your Web Site
By Chris Jaeger, Book More Weddings, http://www.bookmoreweddings.com

If you're not getting the results you expected from your websites you might be suffering from "bail-out" - that horrible moment in time when a visiting bride says to herself "where's my back-button".

Here are ten reasons a bride is likely to leave your website and look for another website:

Slowness

Most brides will leave a web site when they have to wait for it to load. The result: lost sales. Online marketing types 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) the 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 see too many framed web sites and I recommend most sites avoid using 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. 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.

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 three 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 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.