May we all have a HAPPY 2009

Happy New Year Everyone! (Hard to believe the naught years are almost over)

What a Wonderful World – Joey Ramone (I love the upbeat tempo of this version. We did a wedding video montage with it once)

Yet Another Blogging Resolution, use your blog for “look forward” marketing

I think too often we tend to look at the past when creating blog posts. For the New Year I will try to use my blogging to explore potentially emerging market segments.
What I mean is that blogs are supposed to be a dialog with our site visitors and too often we don’t risk advancing [...]

Another New Year’s Blogging Resolution, details details details

Be more explicit! Totally explicit!

As I look back through my search engine referrals and the terms that brought them, I repeatedly find that it is the details and specifics that are very important. So put all the details in the blog post.
In the “old days” (circa 1996) we used to use very [...]

When upscale brides downshift

It is time to shift your positioning.
There are probably some lessons here for wedding professionals as we go into the booking season.
Regardless of client base, many of us have already noticed that for 2009 it seems that ostentatious luxury is “out” and here are a couple of articles with some measurements.
First from Conde Nast [...]

A New Year’s Blogging Resolution

As I read through my own blogging, and that of other wedding professionals of all walks, I see that I/we need to makes some changes for the New Year.
PROMOTE YOURSELF! Use at least 10%-20% of your posts to:

Share your solutions.
Stress your benefits.
Promote your business.
Illustrate your work.
Demonstrate your dedication
Portray your professionalism.
Educate about your continuing education
Celebrate successes.
Quote [...]

Merry Christmas

May everyone enjoy the blessings of the Season

Can your wedding business thrive during a recession

Yes! It is possible for a wedding professional to grow their business during this difficult time. In fact, this may the best opportunity you have had. Fortunately people will always be getting married so as wedding professionals we can count on continuing demand. But to grow (or maybe even to continue) we must innovate [...]

Getting the most out of your Bridal Show investment.

For many of us, it is that time of year again. In a few weeks we will be stting up our displays in wedding and bridal shows, hoping to schedule weddings for 2009 and 2010 or at least get solid contacts that will soon convert to contracts.
So I though it might be helpful to [...]

Amazing increase in professional photographer’s website traffic from merging existing Flash template into web/blog site.

One of the pioneers in using a WordPress web/blog site as their main web presence is Christine Tremoulet of Houston. Recently I came across a Flickr discussion board comment where she shared a snap shot of the amazing results from making the change. To get it done she even needed to extensively modify [...]

How to write with “effective keyword density”

Often you will find a reference that SEO experts know how to write content for your website with effective keyword density. Well you can, too. Just include the details. The who, what, when, where, why and how. I never imagined that my high school Composition class teacher was trying to train [...]

What is a top search result showing worth to your business

What is it worth to your company to show up in the top search results for your type of services or products? Shouldn’t that be the primary goal of your website? Shouldn’t your website market you, rather than you having to market your website?
Many of us make decisions about our website without first [...]

WordPress Based Websites Dominate SEO Worldcup Challenge

Did you know that there is a large-scale SEO competition … until a few days ago neither did I. And after telling wedding professionals that our WordPress based websites would dramatically increase their search ranking I am happy, because now there are concrete results for what is the best website basis for excellent [...]

How to get 300+ inquiries, you’ll make so much more money

David Jay’s Open Source Photo (OSP) forum has quickly become a favorite. It has a great easy attitude and a tremendous amount of helpful information is exchanged.
Outstanding is a list put together and recently shared in the OSP forum by Matt McGraw, of Matt McGraw Photography which he directly titled “How to get 300+ [...]

No way! That’s a blog?

It may not look like one, but at its heart it is … a blog/website. Take a look at the new “reskinned” website for The Agency at Think Like A Bride. New template, new colors, new site organization without needing to redo any content. Pretty. Easy.

While it offers all the innovation and [...]

Why should I care about this SEO stuff?

The most basic question is often the best question. And this is also a question that my brother-in-law asked.  My brother-in-law said after listening to a lot of words about SEO he still didn’t understand the value of it or why the proposed fees were so high. Might I help him understand?
To keep it [...]

Use your blog/website’s unique properties for search engine marketing

Many of us over look a unique power of a blog/website for search engine marketing.
In addition to Google, blogs and blog/websites have another type of search engine that can benefit your business. These search engines are dedicated blog search engines like Technorati.
And, just as it is beneficial to verify your website with Google, [...]

Some of the most important customers to “see” your website are not human.

We all agree, the purpose of your website is marketing. But what good is your website, if very few prospective clients ever find it?
This why you need to consider both customers for your website; the HUMAN customer and the search engine’s SEARCH-BOT customer when you develop or enhance your website.

While the search-bot is hidden and [...]