Don't worry we're not going far, just launching a new blog based on our site.
You'll have probably noticed that there haven't been many posts on the blog for the last 6 months or so and ths is all because we have been developing some new and really exciting new products for wedding suppliers. I'll be giving more details on the new blog over the next few weeks but they are really going to help wedding businesses of all shapes and sizes and all will carry our usual 200% money back guarantee.
Click here for the new wedding industry blog.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
New Addition to the Team
Good morning everyone,
Just a quick one for you today to announce our newest member of staff.
Awais Khan joins us as our resident SEO expert. Awais started on Monday and is just finding his feet within the company but I'm sure a lot of you will be speaking with him very soon or certainly reading the articles he is going to be posting.
Awais's background and calibre is pretty impressive having worked for one of the largest and most respected internet companies in the world (without giving too much away!!!) and has made the brave claim that he can take any wedding company's web site to the top of Google's results! I'm sure he's going to be put to the test over the coming months and years!
While Awais is getting up to speed and his workload is fairly light we'll be offering some reduced cost Optimiser Programmes for the lucky few - obviously these will be offered to our Evolution Programme members first, so if you're a member then get in touch sooner rather than later as they are going to be snapped up quickly. If you're not a member then please get in touch with us as soon as you can as there may be an extremely limited number of spaces available for non-members - Awais will only work on one customer from each supply group in each area in the interests of fair trade.
You can get more details about the Optimiser Programmes and what they contain by clicking here.
Awais will be writing a blog post tomorrow and I'll be mailing around to everyone in the next couple of days so apologies if you already know!
On a final note I'd just like to say a belated congratulations to my good friends Ian and Lisa on the birth of their first child baby Caitlin. I know Ian is a regular reader of the blog and I'm sure it won't be long before Caitlin is subscribed and launches her own successful wedding business as a result!!!
Until tomorrow
Edward
Just a quick one for you today to announce our newest member of staff.
Awais Khan joins us as our resident SEO expert. Awais started on Monday and is just finding his feet within the company but I'm sure a lot of you will be speaking with him very soon or certainly reading the articles he is going to be posting.
Awais's background and calibre is pretty impressive having worked for one of the largest and most respected internet companies in the world (without giving too much away!!!) and has made the brave claim that he can take any wedding company's web site to the top of Google's results! I'm sure he's going to be put to the test over the coming months and years!
While Awais is getting up to speed and his workload is fairly light we'll be offering some reduced cost Optimiser Programmes for the lucky few - obviously these will be offered to our Evolution Programme members first, so if you're a member then get in touch sooner rather than later as they are going to be snapped up quickly. If you're not a member then please get in touch with us as soon as you can as there may be an extremely limited number of spaces available for non-members - Awais will only work on one customer from each supply group in each area in the interests of fair trade.
You can get more details about the Optimiser Programmes and what they contain by clicking here.
Awais will be writing a blog post tomorrow and I'll be mailing around to everyone in the next couple of days so apologies if you already know!
On a final note I'd just like to say a belated congratulations to my good friends Ian and Lisa on the birth of their first child baby Caitlin. I know Ian is a regular reader of the blog and I'm sure it won't be long before Caitlin is subscribed and launches her own successful wedding business as a result!!!
Until tomorrow
Edward
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Advertising Part 2
Hi Everyone,
I know I only posted yesterday, but my last post has created such a stir that I felt I had to touch base with you again.
In yesterday's post, I gave you my frank thoughts on print advertising which seems to have opened something of a hornets nest and I've had calls and emails form all over the country as a result.
Now I'd like to point out at this stage that a majority of contact I received agreed with my views and shared stories of how they had run expensive adverts and had experienced little or no return. However, I did receive some messages that were less than complimentary on my observations from advertising advocates (and publishers) and even someone who felt so strongly they were shouting down the phone at me and then hung up (you know who you are!).
I'm not going to make any apologies for what I write as, at the end of the day, it's my blog and you don't have to read it! All the views and thoughts I post are my own and I have no hidden agenda. Yes I am working for a company which is selling a product, however, as those of you who have spoken to me will know, I will tell you what I think honestly and for those who aren't a match, I will tell you we can't help.
I never said advertising didn't work! I said that there were more effective ways of spending your marketing budget (which is 100% true). Print advertising can work, but it needs to be used as part of a structured plan, just throwing an advert out there is a waste!
But enough of the disclaimer type stuff!
For those of you who still want to use advertising as you main form of marketing, to appease the publishers who I've upset and for the rest of you who are interested for future reference, I'm going give you a few tips on advertising.
Tip one was given yesterday - Spend Your Money on Something Else (sorry I couldn't resist).
"We have been established 30 years and offer the highest standards in xxxxxxxxx, (product removed to protect the innocent!) priding ourselves on personal service, care and attention to detail"
Does anyone book a company based on how long they've been in business? Surely personal service and attention to details should come as standard rather than be a selling point?!?!?!
Here's more what I would focus on:
"Want to feel special on your wedding day? We make our customers feel like that from the moment they contact us!"
I'm guessing that's pretty much the same message that the company from the first headline was trying to get across but I know which headline would make me take note - and not because I wrote it.
Don't think that that's the sales made once you have your headline, the hard work has only just begun!!!
If you come up against a mental block when trying to think of your headline, don't just use mine, give us a call and we can give you a hand!
Look forward to speaking to you.
Until then.
Edward
PS I'll be checking all the bridal publications in the coming months and naming and shaming anyone who uses that headline!!!
I know I only posted yesterday, but my last post has created such a stir that I felt I had to touch base with you again.
In yesterday's post, I gave you my frank thoughts on print advertising which seems to have opened something of a hornets nest and I've had calls and emails form all over the country as a result.
Now I'd like to point out at this stage that a majority of contact I received agreed with my views and shared stories of how they had run expensive adverts and had experienced little or no return. However, I did receive some messages that were less than complimentary on my observations from advertising advocates (and publishers) and even someone who felt so strongly they were shouting down the phone at me and then hung up (you know who you are!).
I'm not going to make any apologies for what I write as, at the end of the day, it's my blog and you don't have to read it! All the views and thoughts I post are my own and I have no hidden agenda. Yes I am working for a company which is selling a product, however, as those of you who have spoken to me will know, I will tell you what I think honestly and for those who aren't a match, I will tell you we can't help.
I never said advertising didn't work! I said that there were more effective ways of spending your marketing budget (which is 100% true). Print advertising can work, but it needs to be used as part of a structured plan, just throwing an advert out there is a waste!
But enough of the disclaimer type stuff!
For those of you who still want to use advertising as you main form of marketing, to appease the publishers who I've upset and for the rest of you who are interested for future reference, I'm going give you a few tips on advertising.
Tip one was given yesterday - Spend Your Money on Something Else (sorry I couldn't resist).
Tip two - Your Headline is THE Most Important Part of the Advert.
Getting people to read you ad is the first and biggest challenge you face, a good headline can mean the difference between a bride passing over your ad or stopping and taking note. Think about that when you next look at an advert, the headline shouldn't be written to sell your product or service, it should be written to get the bride to read your ad.
With this in mind, the headline you come up with should be about the reader, not you, so any headline you come up with that starts "We do this" or "we can that" should be ditched immediately. If your headline contains the name of your business then that one can go the same way.
The best advice I can give you is to test some different headlines before you use any in an expensive ad and see which ones produce the best reults. Be as adventurous as possible as you'll probably find that the more adventurous the headline the more successful the ad!
Here's an example of a bad headline:"We have been established 30 years and offer the highest standards in xxxxxxxxx, (product removed to protect the innocent!) priding ourselves on personal service, care and attention to detail"
Does anyone book a company based on how long they've been in business? Surely personal service and attention to details should come as standard rather than be a selling point?!?!?!
Here's more what I would focus on:
"Want to feel special on your wedding day? We make our customers feel like that from the moment they contact us!"
I'm guessing that's pretty much the same message that the company from the first headline was trying to get across but I know which headline would make me take note - and not because I wrote it.
Don't think that that's the sales made once you have your headline, the hard work has only just begun!!!
If you come up against a mental block when trying to think of your headline, don't just use mine, give us a call and we can give you a hand!
Look forward to speaking to you.
Until then.
Edward
PS I'll be checking all the bridal publications in the coming months and naming and shaming anyone who uses that headline!!!
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Surviving a Downturn
Hi Everyone,
It's good to be typing this bathed in sunshine for once, hopefully this is the turning point in the year and the snow, hail and rain are behind us!!!
I've been speaking to a lot of people recently who are concerned about the much publicised credit crunch and the effect it's going to have on the economy and the knock on effect on their business.
As a result they are cutting back on all advertising and marketing expenditure they can!
Very wise you would have thought, and this may be true. But surely in times of hardship the marketing budget should be increased not decreased? If marketing brings in business then it only makes sense that increasing the spend will increase or at least maintain the level of business you're doing?
This uncovers a massive problem in the industry and almost everyone I speak to is or has been a victim - even me I am sad to say. The problem is investing in ineffective marketing methods and/or not measuring your marketing activity. For the benefits of this post I'm going to split the two down into parts and go through each one.
Inaffective marketing methods.
Ever been sold an advert in a guide magazine or on a website that has been promised to bring in 100s of enquiries per month and it deliver exactly 0% of that figure? If not then your are one of the very few and I congratulate you on your shrewdness. If this sounds familiar then read on....
The truth is the world is changing at a dramatic rate, the internet has revolutionised not only the way we do business but life itself! The old fashioned model of business used to be Advert - Contact - Sale, the new model is Advert - Website - Contact - Sale. 95% of brides will have viewed your website before they contact you so effectively when you buy an advert anywhere, you are essentially buying traffic and visitors to your website. Understanding this then starts to put things in perspective, how many visitors are you likely to get through your site from a half page advert costing £500?
The old fashioned model used old fashioned methods, which means there must be new methods which work with the new model. Damn right there are! Peform any search on Google and contact the person at the top of the results page and ask them how business is - I'll guarantee you that if they say not good they're either doing something seriously wrong on their web site or sales process or they're lying to you! Search engines are where marketing is at at the moment, succeed on there and you'll succeed in your business, whether it's SEO or PPC either way it's the best, most cost effective method of promoting your business.
On this section I'll leave you with this thought, how many times have YOU contacted a publisher after seeing an advert to be included in their publication? I'll tell you that the answer will almost certainly be never as publishers don't advertise. Surely this is a bit strange as they are selling advertising as a successful business generation medium, if this was not the case would they not be advertising everywhere to attract their customers!?!?!?
Measuring your Marketing Activity
If you are spending money on advertising or any marketing method, not measuring the results your investment brings is a cardinal sin! Rest assured that if you don't know how an advert has performed throughout the year, you'll be told that it has been the result of any successes you've experienced when your ad sales rep calls and, inevitably, you'll sign up for another year. Watch and listen to the ad rep squirm when you tell them exactly how your ad has performed that year and how far off their estimates it was!!!
At the very worst this puts you ina position of power and, if you did want to continue with the advert, you are sure to be able to negotiate them down greatly from their initial price.
When you start looking at web based methods they are a lot easier to track. Get yourself Google Analytics (completely free), upload it to your site and it will tell you where all your visitors have come from and which of them turned into enquiries. It will then plot them all on a graph or pie chart for you so you can see 100% which of your marketing methods are working the best. I'd recommend you go one step further though and track each enquiry down to the amount of money they spend so you can tell where your most profitable enquiries are coming from as well.
For more information on Google Analytics visit http://www.google.com/analytics/en-GB/ and keep checking back here as I will be uploading a video walking you through how to upload the prgramme and some of the tools that are available.
So whats the best advice I can give you to prepare for any economic issues? Carry out a review of all your marketing activity, establish which is working for you, ditch what isn't and then redeploy the money in Search Engine based methods.
As always if you are a member of the Evolution Programme we can help you with your marketing review and offer recommendations on where to cut back and where to spend. If you're not a member, click here for more details.
Until next time.
Edward
It's good to be typing this bathed in sunshine for once, hopefully this is the turning point in the year and the snow, hail and rain are behind us!!!
I've been speaking to a lot of people recently who are concerned about the much publicised credit crunch and the effect it's going to have on the economy and the knock on effect on their business.
As a result they are cutting back on all advertising and marketing expenditure they can!
Very wise you would have thought, and this may be true. But surely in times of hardship the marketing budget should be increased not decreased? If marketing brings in business then it only makes sense that increasing the spend will increase or at least maintain the level of business you're doing?
This uncovers a massive problem in the industry and almost everyone I speak to is or has been a victim - even me I am sad to say. The problem is investing in ineffective marketing methods and/or not measuring your marketing activity. For the benefits of this post I'm going to split the two down into parts and go through each one.
Inaffective marketing methods.
Ever been sold an advert in a guide magazine or on a website that has been promised to bring in 100s of enquiries per month and it deliver exactly 0% of that figure? If not then your are one of the very few and I congratulate you on your shrewdness. If this sounds familiar then read on....
The truth is the world is changing at a dramatic rate, the internet has revolutionised not only the way we do business but life itself! The old fashioned model of business used to be Advert - Contact - Sale, the new model is Advert - Website - Contact - Sale. 95% of brides will have viewed your website before they contact you so effectively when you buy an advert anywhere, you are essentially buying traffic and visitors to your website. Understanding this then starts to put things in perspective, how many visitors are you likely to get through your site from a half page advert costing £500?
The old fashioned model used old fashioned methods, which means there must be new methods which work with the new model. Damn right there are! Peform any search on Google and contact the person at the top of the results page and ask them how business is - I'll guarantee you that if they say not good they're either doing something seriously wrong on their web site or sales process or they're lying to you! Search engines are where marketing is at at the moment, succeed on there and you'll succeed in your business, whether it's SEO or PPC either way it's the best, most cost effective method of promoting your business.
On this section I'll leave you with this thought, how many times have YOU contacted a publisher after seeing an advert to be included in their publication? I'll tell you that the answer will almost certainly be never as publishers don't advertise. Surely this is a bit strange as they are selling advertising as a successful business generation medium, if this was not the case would they not be advertising everywhere to attract their customers!?!?!?
Measuring your Marketing Activity
If you are spending money on advertising or any marketing method, not measuring the results your investment brings is a cardinal sin! Rest assured that if you don't know how an advert has performed throughout the year, you'll be told that it has been the result of any successes you've experienced when your ad sales rep calls and, inevitably, you'll sign up for another year. Watch and listen to the ad rep squirm when you tell them exactly how your ad has performed that year and how far off their estimates it was!!!
At the very worst this puts you ina position of power and, if you did want to continue with the advert, you are sure to be able to negotiate them down greatly from their initial price.
When you start looking at web based methods they are a lot easier to track. Get yourself Google Analytics (completely free), upload it to your site and it will tell you where all your visitors have come from and which of them turned into enquiries. It will then plot them all on a graph or pie chart for you so you can see 100% which of your marketing methods are working the best. I'd recommend you go one step further though and track each enquiry down to the amount of money they spend so you can tell where your most profitable enquiries are coming from as well.
For more information on Google Analytics visit http://www.google.com/analytics/en-GB/ and keep checking back here as I will be uploading a video walking you through how to upload the prgramme and some of the tools that are available.
So whats the best advice I can give you to prepare for any economic issues? Carry out a review of all your marketing activity, establish which is working for you, ditch what isn't and then redeploy the money in Search Engine based methods.
As always if you are a member of the Evolution Programme we can help you with your marketing review and offer recommendations on where to cut back and where to spend. If you're not a member, click here for more details.
Until next time.
Edward
Thursday, 10 April 2008
It's Finally Here! Web Basics for Wedding Suppliers Video.
Well after what seems an eternity of talking and promising you a video, it's finally finished and you can view it here. The full video is posted on the Evolution site and that's where the link to get the Pay Per Click vouchers so if you want those vouchers then click on the link under the video. There are more videos in the series which will only go out to subscribers so make sure you register.
The video you're watching is reduced in quality due to the restrictions of Blogger so if you do have problems with it just click the link.
The video you're watching is reduced in quality due to the restrictions of Blogger so if you do have problems with it just click the link.
Click here to view the full quality video and get yourself £130 of Pay Per Click vouchers.
Until next time.
Edward
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Video Going Live
Hi everyone and apologies it has been so long since I've posted.
The reason for the absence has been the speed that things have been moving over the last couple of weeks. Our upcoming promotion has been gathering speed and we are fielding a huge increase in contact on a daily basis so you'll have to excuse the erratic timing of posts over the next two months as it's set to get even more hectic!
Well that's enough hype about the launch of the bridal site - I'm sorry but I can't help it I'm that excited! - no doubt you want to know what I've got for you. Well I'm afraid I don't have anything for today at least, but I've nearly finished the first video in my "Web Basics for Wedding Suppliers" series. This is a free series of videos aimed at helping you improve your website and increase your online enquiries. Video 1 is literally hours away, so check back as I'll post it here as well as on the Evolution site - quality will probably be a bit sketchy here though as the file size is reduced, there will be a link as well so if there are any problems just click that.
Well that's it for now, I know it's brief but I need to finish this video off. I'll post it together with a link to find it on the site in the next 24 hours.
Until then.
Edward
The reason for the absence has been the speed that things have been moving over the last couple of weeks. Our upcoming promotion has been gathering speed and we are fielding a huge increase in contact on a daily basis so you'll have to excuse the erratic timing of posts over the next two months as it's set to get even more hectic!
The promotion web site has now gone live and I can't believe how many brides there are who have registered already, I've done a lot of research on wedding statistics and I know the number of weddings in the UK each year almost down to the nearest 10, and I can't believe the percentage of these that have registered on the iste already - we've only received publicity in a couple of regions! I suppose it's a good demonstration of the viral power of the internet and something which I've talked about in the past, but I never really thought it could work so well!
Well that's enough hype about the launch of the bridal site - I'm sorry but I can't help it I'm that excited! - no doubt you want to know what I've got for you. Well I'm afraid I don't have anything for today at least, but I've nearly finished the first video in my "Web Basics for Wedding Suppliers" series. This is a free series of videos aimed at helping you improve your website and increase your online enquiries. Video 1 is literally hours away, so check back as I'll post it here as well as on the Evolution site - quality will probably be a bit sketchy here though as the file size is reduced, there will be a link as well so if there are any problems just click that.
Well that's it for now, I know it's brief but I need to finish this video off. I'll post it together with a link to find it on the site in the next 24 hours.
Until then.
Edward
Monday, 31 March 2008
Exciting News & Big Opportunities
Good morning everyone, I trust it was a good weekend. We're really getting close to the busy time of the year and a couple of people I spoke to last week had two and three weddings last weekend - that is good going for March!!!!
I've got some really exciting news for you today, we're getting close to the launch of the Your Wedding In website that I have mentioned to most of you that I've spoke to in the last few months. To launch the site there is going to be a truly monumental publicity campaign and promotion the likes of which we have never seen before!!!
I know it sounds like a lot of hype but, trust me, this is going to be huge!
You see over the last few months, as well as helping and giving advice to you guys, I have been studying, researching and talking to the biggest names and pioneers in marketing. It's been tough going let me tell you, I've worked 14 & 15 hour days EVERY day for as long as I can remember!
What all this hard work means though is that I have an absolutely killer promotion lined up which is going to include all the strategies that I have written and spoken about as well as some others which are completely new. It will be a great demonstration on how to use the techniques and create desire for a product so make sure you follow closely.
If you're a sceptic about anything I have said or written in the past then watch this space and you will see how powerful the methods are. As individual methods they are good, but when they are combined and used together you'll be amazed!!
It's going to be a big opportunity for you guys too, I'm going to post a video on the blog explaining all about it this week but I'll give you a few brief tasters now.
The campaign is going to be national with extreme levels of exposure online, offline in all types of media all created it will be limited into a short space of time - the next two months - which will increase the exposure further and will then come to a head when the site is launched on a specified date - top secret for the time being.
I know everyone has their own thoughts and views on marketing, advertising and promotion and a lot of you probably won't be interested in taking part, but I would highly recommend that you follow what's happening very closely (I'm pretty sure you won't be able to avoid it anyway) as it will give you some fantastic ideas and a first hand insight into the effectiveness of a good campaign.
As usual members of the Evolution Programme will be offered the first spaces free of charge, so if you are a member then contact me and I can give you some more specific details. If you're not a member then I'm afraid membership will be made unavaiable for the campaign period, that gives you approximately 36 hours to join otherwise you'll have to wait.
To keep up to date with developments on the campaign then register your details on the Evolution home page and you'll receive further details by email.
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/
That's it for now, things will be happening pretty quickly now though so make sure you check back often.
Until then
Edward
I've got some really exciting news for you today, we're getting close to the launch of the Your Wedding In website that I have mentioned to most of you that I've spoke to in the last few months. To launch the site there is going to be a truly monumental publicity campaign and promotion the likes of which we have never seen before!!!
I know it sounds like a lot of hype but, trust me, this is going to be huge!
You see over the last few months, as well as helping and giving advice to you guys, I have been studying, researching and talking to the biggest names and pioneers in marketing. It's been tough going let me tell you, I've worked 14 & 15 hour days EVERY day for as long as I can remember!
What all this hard work means though is that I have an absolutely killer promotion lined up which is going to include all the strategies that I have written and spoken about as well as some others which are completely new. It will be a great demonstration on how to use the techniques and create desire for a product so make sure you follow closely.
If you're a sceptic about anything I have said or written in the past then watch this space and you will see how powerful the methods are. As individual methods they are good, but when they are combined and used together you'll be amazed!!
It's going to be a big opportunity for you guys too, I'm going to post a video on the blog explaining all about it this week but I'll give you a few brief tasters now.
The campaign is going to be national with extreme levels of exposure online, offline in all types of media all created it will be limited into a short space of time - the next two months - which will increase the exposure further and will then come to a head when the site is launched on a specified date - top secret for the time being.
I know everyone has their own thoughts and views on marketing, advertising and promotion and a lot of you probably won't be interested in taking part, but I would highly recommend that you follow what's happening very closely (I'm pretty sure you won't be able to avoid it anyway) as it will give you some fantastic ideas and a first hand insight into the effectiveness of a good campaign.
As usual members of the Evolution Programme will be offered the first spaces free of charge, so if you are a member then contact me and I can give you some more specific details. If you're not a member then I'm afraid membership will be made unavaiable for the campaign period, that gives you approximately 36 hours to join otherwise you'll have to wait.
To keep up to date with developments on the campaign then register your details on the Evolution home page and you'll receive further details by email.
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/
That's it for now, things will be happening pretty quickly now though so make sure you check back often.
Until then
Edward
Thursday, 27 March 2008
The Effect of Your Email Address
Good morning everyone and I hope you are all enjoying the first piece of half decent weather for what feels like years!!!
I was reading an extremely interesting report yesterday and I thought that I had to share it with you as I know many of you may be directly affected by the information contained in it!
The report was carried out on the value of having a company specific email address over a generic one - @evolutionweddingservices.co.uk over @hotmail.co.uk for example. The research carried out suggested that potential customers perceived a generic email address as unprofessional and, faced with a choice, were 80% more likely to contact a company with a company specific email address.
80% more likely!!! That's 8 out of 10 people, a huge amount.
Let's put it into perspective.
Imagine you've got a pretty good website and you're getting 100 visitors through it per day. Unfortunately you're never going to convert all of your visitors into enquiries, but you can potentially get up to 10% (sometimes beyond) if you implement my techniques (but I'm sure you knew that already :)). That means of your 100 visitors, 10 will be making an enquiry... unless you have a generic email address. In that case you'll be getting only 2!
I've already had this conversation with someone who replied "I can live with two enquiries a day!" I think he missed the point slightly, but my response was "Maybe you can, but can you live without the 8 enquiries you are losing?!?!?"
He was adament that this was fine so I ran through some figure with him (it really bugs me when people can't take good advice!). It turned out he was spending copious amounts of money on advertising to get these 2 enquiries per day along with a few telephone enquiries so I laid it on the line for him - "How much would you be willing to pay for an advert that bought in an extra 250 leads per month?" I could sense he was starting to get the point!!!
Most hosting companies will supply you an email address which is specific to your web domain for a maximum of £7-8 per month, most a lot, lot less. That could mean a 500% increase in enquiries for less than a tenner a month - if that doesn't make sense to you, then you are wasting your time reading this!!!
FYI a generic email address is anything that is recognisably not associated to your website: aol, hotmail, gmail, live, yahoo, lycos, plus any number of others.
If you have any questions then just give me a shout, or look at the articles in the members pages of the Evolution site. If you need to email me its edward@hotmail.com - only joking!!!!
Until next time
Edward
I was reading an extremely interesting report yesterday and I thought that I had to share it with you as I know many of you may be directly affected by the information contained in it!
The report was carried out on the value of having a company specific email address over a generic one - @evolutionweddingservices.co.uk over @hotmail.co.uk for example. The research carried out suggested that potential customers perceived a generic email address as unprofessional and, faced with a choice, were 80% more likely to contact a company with a company specific email address.
80% more likely!!! That's 8 out of 10 people, a huge amount.
Let's put it into perspective.
Imagine you've got a pretty good website and you're getting 100 visitors through it per day. Unfortunately you're never going to convert all of your visitors into enquiries, but you can potentially get up to 10% (sometimes beyond) if you implement my techniques (but I'm sure you knew that already :)). That means of your 100 visitors, 10 will be making an enquiry... unless you have a generic email address. In that case you'll be getting only 2!
I've already had this conversation with someone who replied "I can live with two enquiries a day!" I think he missed the point slightly, but my response was "Maybe you can, but can you live without the 8 enquiries you are losing?!?!?"
He was adament that this was fine so I ran through some figure with him (it really bugs me when people can't take good advice!). It turned out he was spending copious amounts of money on advertising to get these 2 enquiries per day along with a few telephone enquiries so I laid it on the line for him - "How much would you be willing to pay for an advert that bought in an extra 250 leads per month?" I could sense he was starting to get the point!!!
Most hosting companies will supply you an email address which is specific to your web domain for a maximum of £7-8 per month, most a lot, lot less. That could mean a 500% increase in enquiries for less than a tenner a month - if that doesn't make sense to you, then you are wasting your time reading this!!!
FYI a generic email address is anything that is recognisably not associated to your website: aol, hotmail, gmail, live, yahoo, lycos, plus any number of others.
If you have any questions then just give me a shout, or look at the articles in the members pages of the Evolution site. If you need to email me its edward@hotmail.com - only joking!!!!
Until next time
Edward
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
What's Been Happening at Evolution
Hi everyone and welcome to a new week on the Bride Booker Blog - albeit just a short one!
You'll have probably noticed that there hasn't been much activity on the blog over the last two weeks and this is partly because I had the virus/flu/sickness which is going round (I've still got an extremely annoying cough that I can't shake off!) but part of it is because I've been working flat out on the new video section of the Evolution site.
If you've spoken to me in the last 12 months then you will have heard me say about video being the future of online marketing, well it got to the point where I was embarassed to keep telling people when, although it is as good as fact, I still hadn't practised what I preached and there isn't a single video on the Evolution site.
Obviously this has been of growing concern to me as I'm telling more and more people that it's the way forward so I've been working on putting it right. As a result, there will be a series of videos going live on the site over the next few weeks including the new Video tutorial section which will cover a variety of subjects.
We'll be looking for guinea pigs to try the videos and also request tutorial subjects to give me some feedback. If you are interested in testing some of these tutorials please get in touch with us either by phone or email and we'll add you to the list.
In addition to this section of the site I'm also planning on producing a video post for the blog on a regular (probably weekly) basis.
I'll keep you up to date with the progress of the new content, but if you want to learn more about producing and adding video content to your own site then just give me a shout - you won't make a better decision all year!
Until next time.
Edward
You'll have probably noticed that there hasn't been much activity on the blog over the last two weeks and this is partly because I had the virus/flu/sickness which is going round (I've still got an extremely annoying cough that I can't shake off!) but part of it is because I've been working flat out on the new video section of the Evolution site.
If you've spoken to me in the last 12 months then you will have heard me say about video being the future of online marketing, well it got to the point where I was embarassed to keep telling people when, although it is as good as fact, I still hadn't practised what I preached and there isn't a single video on the Evolution site.
Obviously this has been of growing concern to me as I'm telling more and more people that it's the way forward so I've been working on putting it right. As a result, there will be a series of videos going live on the site over the next few weeks including the new Video tutorial section which will cover a variety of subjects.
We'll be looking for guinea pigs to try the videos and also request tutorial subjects to give me some feedback. If you are interested in testing some of these tutorials please get in touch with us either by phone or email and we'll add you to the list.
In addition to this section of the site I'm also planning on producing a video post for the blog on a regular (probably weekly) basis.
I'll keep you up to date with the progress of the new content, but if you want to learn more about producing and adding video content to your own site then just give me a shout - you won't make a better decision all year!
Until next time.
Edward
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Websites That Work - Part 3
Hi everybody and firstly apologies for the absence of any posts on the blog last week. Unfortunately I got struck down with the flu bug that's going around and was layed up in bed all week. I'm back now though and raring to go!!!!
Hopefully my time off from the blog has given you adequate time to consider the first two posts in the series.
On this post we're going to cover the planned progression of your site. In Part 1 we covered having a goal for your website and this lesson leads on from that on how we can lead our visitors into the desired outcome.
This may sound very complicated to some of you but it is something which goes on all the time, any high street shop you visit will have a carefully planned layout which is designed to squeeze the most money out of you - sweets at the counter ring a bell, do you think they're there because a series of shoppers thought it would be a good idea?!?!?!
As an example for this I'm going to use an Invitation company who has a site which enables customers to order online.
What is the goal for this site? Clearly if your site has an online store then your goal is to make a sale of a particular product or service so therefore we're looking to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to make their way through to the checkout and make a payment.
The best sites will minimise the number of steps to get to this outcome and will remove any potential barriers which could prompt a visitor to leave the site. What could these barriers be? Hard to find products, unclear layouts, not knowing what to do are all fairly major barriers which will more likely than not see your visitor find a site which they can use.
Don't think that I'm being picky on this, I worked with a company not so long ago who had a pretty good site and were experiencing fairly steady sales. They wanted to spend a lot of money making their site more visible through SEO and Adwords campaigns. I always like to make sure that things are working the way they should before I take on any project so I took a look at their site analytics. What it showed was that they were losing a massive 50% of their funnel traffic at a particular page everytime!!! By looking at this page and pinpointing the problem we were able to almost double their sales!!!
Do you think there are any bottlenecks on your site? If not I'd recommend that you ask a third party to have a look for you as its amazing how easy things are when you know what you're doing!!!
Until next time.
Edward
Hopefully my time off from the blog has given you adequate time to consider the first two posts in the series.
On this post we're going to cover the planned progression of your site. In Part 1 we covered having a goal for your website and this lesson leads on from that on how we can lead our visitors into the desired outcome.
This may sound very complicated to some of you but it is something which goes on all the time, any high street shop you visit will have a carefully planned layout which is designed to squeeze the most money out of you - sweets at the counter ring a bell, do you think they're there because a series of shoppers thought it would be a good idea?!?!?!
As an example for this I'm going to use an Invitation company who has a site which enables customers to order online.
What is the goal for this site? Clearly if your site has an online store then your goal is to make a sale of a particular product or service so therefore we're looking to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to make their way through to the checkout and make a payment.
The best sites will minimise the number of steps to get to this outcome and will remove any potential barriers which could prompt a visitor to leave the site. What could these barriers be? Hard to find products, unclear layouts, not knowing what to do are all fairly major barriers which will more likely than not see your visitor find a site which they can use.
Don't think that I'm being picky on this, I worked with a company not so long ago who had a pretty good site and were experiencing fairly steady sales. They wanted to spend a lot of money making their site more visible through SEO and Adwords campaigns. I always like to make sure that things are working the way they should before I take on any project so I took a look at their site analytics. What it showed was that they were losing a massive 50% of their funnel traffic at a particular page everytime!!! By looking at this page and pinpointing the problem we were able to almost double their sales!!!
Do you think there are any bottlenecks on your site? If not I'd recommend that you ask a third party to have a look for you as its amazing how easy things are when you know what you're doing!!!
Until next time.
Edward
Friday, 7 March 2008
Websites That Work - Part 2
Good morning and welcome back to the Bride Booker Blog.
We're going to talk more about making your website work today, but before we start I'd like to let everyone know that today is the last day of the 50% launch discount on membership to the Evolution Programme. If you are interested in joining and receiving all the benefits of the programme, I'd highly recommend that you act now and save yourself £££s.
So on with the post.
Today we're going to talk about your home page, maximising its appeal and minimising the chance of people bouncing off.
First of all, take a look at your home page and analyse it from a brides point of view. How quickly does it load? How does it look? Can you see exactly what it is you are looking for? All these aspects are potential stumbling blocks and could mean that one of your valuable visitors leaves your site without actually looking at anything!!!
Make sure your landing page loads quickly by minimising the number of files and pictures on the page, ensure all pictures are the minimum file size to maintain the quality your desire. This is one of the sections that Flash sites fall down, many of them take in excess of a minute (simetimes even longer) to load, the site may look great once it has loaded, but I guarantee you'll lose a significant percentage of visitors before they have ever seen it!!!
Make sure you site looks clean, crisp and professional. I see sites every day that look awful and speak to their owners who say that web site enquiries are very rare but don't know why!!! Would you book the services of a company whose website looked amateurish? I know I wouldn't, I'd keep looking until I found a site that looked professional. Do you think a bride would risk it for her wedding day?
Your home page is the gateway to your site so not only should it be immediately obvious what it is you are all about, it should be easy for a visitor to be able to navigate quickly to the information they require, if they can't see it quickly - or even worse, can't find it at all - then be sure they will find a site where they can find it!!!
A big mistake a lot of people make on their sites is having their home page as an entry page with a picture and a click here to enter link - THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE! A page like this serves absolutely no purpose but to increase your bounce rate so if you have an entry page on your site make sure you get rid of it quick!!!
So thats it for today, hopefully you have enough information to go away and analyse your own home page and start directing more of your visitors to the real information on your site.
Before I leave, remember to take advantage of the last day of the Evolution Programme launch offer today!!!
Until next time.
Edward
We're going to talk more about making your website work today, but before we start I'd like to let everyone know that today is the last day of the 50% launch discount on membership to the Evolution Programme. If you are interested in joining and receiving all the benefits of the programme, I'd highly recommend that you act now and save yourself £££s.
So on with the post.
Today we're going to talk about your home page, maximising its appeal and minimising the chance of people bouncing off.
First of all, take a look at your home page and analyse it from a brides point of view. How quickly does it load? How does it look? Can you see exactly what it is you are looking for? All these aspects are potential stumbling blocks and could mean that one of your valuable visitors leaves your site without actually looking at anything!!!
Make sure your landing page loads quickly by minimising the number of files and pictures on the page, ensure all pictures are the minimum file size to maintain the quality your desire. This is one of the sections that Flash sites fall down, many of them take in excess of a minute (simetimes even longer) to load, the site may look great once it has loaded, but I guarantee you'll lose a significant percentage of visitors before they have ever seen it!!!
Make sure you site looks clean, crisp and professional. I see sites every day that look awful and speak to their owners who say that web site enquiries are very rare but don't know why!!! Would you book the services of a company whose website looked amateurish? I know I wouldn't, I'd keep looking until I found a site that looked professional. Do you think a bride would risk it for her wedding day?
Your home page is the gateway to your site so not only should it be immediately obvious what it is you are all about, it should be easy for a visitor to be able to navigate quickly to the information they require, if they can't see it quickly - or even worse, can't find it at all - then be sure they will find a site where they can find it!!!
A big mistake a lot of people make on their sites is having their home page as an entry page with a picture and a click here to enter link - THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE! A page like this serves absolutely no purpose but to increase your bounce rate so if you have an entry page on your site make sure you get rid of it quick!!!
So thats it for today, hopefully you have enough information to go away and analyse your own home page and start directing more of your visitors to the real information on your site.
Before I leave, remember to take advantage of the last day of the Evolution Programme launch offer today!!!
Until next time.
Edward
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
More Free Money
Don't say I never give you anything!!!
I've just uncovered a relatively straight forward grant for companies based in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the Bourough of Milton Keynes.
The grant is only for a small amount - £250 - but requires little in the way of work on your behalf and can be gained quite easily (or so I've been told).
For more information visit the following page on the Evolution site and you can download an application form:
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/specials/broadband_support_grant.html
Don't waste this opportunity as it won't be around for ever.
Until next time.
Edward
I've just uncovered a relatively straight forward grant for companies based in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the Bourough of Milton Keynes.
The grant is only for a small amount - £250 - but requires little in the way of work on your behalf and can be gained quite easily (or so I've been told).
For more information visit the following page on the Evolution site and you can download an application form:
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/specials/broadband_support_grant.html
Don't waste this opportunity as it won't be around for ever.
Until next time.
Edward
Monday, 3 March 2008
Websites That Work - Part 1
Hi everyone and welcome to not only a new week, but a new month!
for a lot of you February and March are the busiest months of the year for enquiries and bookings so at this point you are half way through!!!
I've spoken to a lot of people over the last week, but the single, and everyone seems to be interested in search engine optimisation and focused on getting more traffic through their site. This is obviously a good tactic and it makes sense, if you get twice as many brides through your site then statistics say you'll get twice as many bookings.
But is this possible? SEO is a real pain, not only is it complicated, but its time consuming and laborious, yes the benefits are very real, but what if you can get more enquiries without having to go through all the rigmarole?
That's where conversion comes in, if you can ensure you are converting as many of the brides that visit your site as possible, then you have a firm foundation to go away and get more, otherwise you're wasting your money!
Where do you start on conversion? As with all good stories you start at the beginning. To increase the conversion of your site, you need to first understand what you want your visitor sessions to convert into. This will be different for everyone, but for most it will be either a direct point of contact, request for more information or a sale in your online shop.
Do you know what your goal is? If not then I'll guarantee that you're not converting as many visiotrs as you could do.
Once you know what your goal is, you'll be able to see where the barriers are for visitors reaching that desired outcome and, more importantly, you'll be able to fix them!!!
On Thursday, we'll cover Part 2 of conversion and address some of the barriers that must be overcome to ensure your visitors delve further into your site from the home page.
Until then
Edward
for a lot of you February and March are the busiest months of the year for enquiries and bookings so at this point you are half way through!!!
I've spoken to a lot of people over the last week, but the single, and everyone seems to be interested in search engine optimisation and focused on getting more traffic through their site. This is obviously a good tactic and it makes sense, if you get twice as many brides through your site then statistics say you'll get twice as many bookings.
But is this possible? SEO is a real pain, not only is it complicated, but its time consuming and laborious, yes the benefits are very real, but what if you can get more enquiries without having to go through all the rigmarole?
That's where conversion comes in, if you can ensure you are converting as many of the brides that visit your site as possible, then you have a firm foundation to go away and get more, otherwise you're wasting your money!
Where do you start on conversion? As with all good stories you start at the beginning. To increase the conversion of your site, you need to first understand what you want your visitor sessions to convert into. This will be different for everyone, but for most it will be either a direct point of contact, request for more information or a sale in your online shop.
Do you know what your goal is? If not then I'll guarantee that you're not converting as many visiotrs as you could do.
Once you know what your goal is, you'll be able to see where the barriers are for visitors reaching that desired outcome and, more importantly, you'll be able to fix them!!!
On Thursday, we'll cover Part 2 of conversion and address some of the barriers that must be overcome to ensure your visitors delve further into your site from the home page.
Until then
Edward
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
What a Bride Wants?
Good morning everyone.
I hope everyone is in a receptive mood as this one is going to give you some food for thought!!!
Since I started talking to my clients on this subject and giving them examples, the results have been truly amazing - it is certainly a "pull the wool from the eyes" subject!
So what does a bride want?
Do you think a bride wants a videographer, a cake maker or a florist? Does a bride even want a wedding dress?
Of course she doesn't!
A bride doesn't even want a wedding DVD, a cake or flowers. A bride wants something completely different!
When a bride books a videographer, she is buying the memories of her wedding day captured and delivered in the way she wants it.
Have a think about what you are selling. What is it that you are offering your customers?
If you are offering wedding DVDs then you're not making the connection with the customer and addressing what it is she exactly wants.
I'll give you a real life example, have you ever been into a shop and the sales assistant tries to sell you something which you are pretty sure is exactly what you want, but the way they describe it, it does everything but what you want it to do?
It is a well known phrase in marketing that a person who bus a drill doesn't need a drill, the person who buys a drill needs a hole.
What do your customers want?
It's all about being in touch with your customer's needs, if you're not, then you are probably losing both sales and enquiries from brides who only need to be told one little thing to get them reaching for their cheque books!!
If you have a Unique Selling Point (USP) that you use, it is likely that you'll be more in touch with your customers than most, but you could still be a fair way away!
There will be a new article going on the website soon so if you are a member of the Evolution Programme make sure you check it out as it can make a big difference!!!!
If you want to discuss what your customers are buying, why not take advantage of the FREE Consultation I offer on the site, just click here for more details:
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/info/free_consultation.html
Until next time
Edward
I hope everyone is in a receptive mood as this one is going to give you some food for thought!!!
Since I started talking to my clients on this subject and giving them examples, the results have been truly amazing - it is certainly a "pull the wool from the eyes" subject!
So what does a bride want?
Do you think a bride wants a videographer, a cake maker or a florist? Does a bride even want a wedding dress?
Of course she doesn't!
A bride doesn't even want a wedding DVD, a cake or flowers. A bride wants something completely different!
When a bride books a videographer, she is buying the memories of her wedding day captured and delivered in the way she wants it.
Have a think about what you are selling. What is it that you are offering your customers?
If you are offering wedding DVDs then you're not making the connection with the customer and addressing what it is she exactly wants.
I'll give you a real life example, have you ever been into a shop and the sales assistant tries to sell you something which you are pretty sure is exactly what you want, but the way they describe it, it does everything but what you want it to do?
It is a well known phrase in marketing that a person who bus a drill doesn't need a drill, the person who buys a drill needs a hole.
What do your customers want?
It's all about being in touch with your customer's needs, if you're not, then you are probably losing both sales and enquiries from brides who only need to be told one little thing to get them reaching for their cheque books!!
If you have a Unique Selling Point (USP) that you use, it is likely that you'll be more in touch with your customers than most, but you could still be a fair way away!
There will be a new article going on the website soon so if you are a member of the Evolution Programme make sure you check it out as it can make a big difference!!!!
If you want to discuss what your customers are buying, why not take advantage of the FREE Consultation I offer on the site, just click here for more details:
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/info/free_consultation.html
Until next time
Edward
FREE Advertising
Good afternoon,
Just a quick note from me today as I've got a pretty good post for you tomorrow!
In my ongoing search for tools and resources for you guys I've come across another site that allows a free advert - and they have a wedding section to boot!!!
The website is Sheriff Ratings and can be reached by clicking the following link:
http://www.sheriffratings.com/business/
It looks like the site is offering their free adverts in an attempt to generate revenue from their Google PPC products. As yet I haven't had any experience with them as a company so I'm not sure if their service is any good or not, so if you get tempted by their sales pitch ask them what sort of guarantee they'll offer you - that normally seperates the wheat from the chaff!!!
If you want more information on Google PPC just give me a shout.
Until tomorrow
Edward
Just a quick note from me today as I've got a pretty good post for you tomorrow!
In my ongoing search for tools and resources for you guys I've come across another site that allows a free advert - and they have a wedding section to boot!!!
The website is Sheriff Ratings and can be reached by clicking the following link:
http://www.sheriffratings.com/business/
It looks like the site is offering their free adverts in an attempt to generate revenue from their Google PPC products. As yet I haven't had any experience with them as a company so I'm not sure if their service is any good or not, so if you get tempted by their sales pitch ask them what sort of guarantee they'll offer you - that normally seperates the wheat from the chaff!!!
If you want more information on Google PPC just give me a shout.
Until tomorrow
Edward
Monday, 25 February 2008
Competitive Markets
Good morning everyone, I hope it was a successful weekend?
I visited a wedding fair in St Albans this weekend at Sopwell House and it triggered this post.
I was amazed walking around the fair, there must have been over 10 photographers there, every other stand seemed to be a photographer! I'm not saying this is a bad thing, wedding fairs obviously work for photographers otherwise they wouldn't attend, but immediately you narrow your target market.
Lets imagine that the fair was a blinder and received 200 brides through the doors, immediately your potential for the fair is, in effect, reduced to 20 prospects. Does it seem such a good outlay then?
To answer this question accurately you need to know what your cost per enquiry (CPE) is. If you have registed for my FREE 7 Point Success Plan then you will be familiar with CPE and what it means to your business. Every business is different - especially photographers! - so for some an anticipated cost of approximately £30-40 per enquiry is fine, but for others (those of you who have used the first three lessons of my success plan and have a bride fiendly web site for example) this will be a huge amount to spend on an enquiry compared to the ones that you are currently receiving, and you'll choose to invest your money elsewhere!
The key to the whole process is knowing in the first place and being able to make an informed decision.
If you want to learn more about your CPE, register for my FREE plan if you haven't already - http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/ - and wait for Lesson 7 or get in touch and register for my upcoming webcast which is also free to attend.
On a final note, when you agree to attend a wedding fair, always find out how many brides they expect and how many competitors will be in attendance before signing on the dotted line!
Until next time.
Edward
I visited a wedding fair in St Albans this weekend at Sopwell House and it triggered this post.
I was amazed walking around the fair, there must have been over 10 photographers there, every other stand seemed to be a photographer! I'm not saying this is a bad thing, wedding fairs obviously work for photographers otherwise they wouldn't attend, but immediately you narrow your target market.
Lets imagine that the fair was a blinder and received 200 brides through the doors, immediately your potential for the fair is, in effect, reduced to 20 prospects. Does it seem such a good outlay then?
To answer this question accurately you need to know what your cost per enquiry (CPE) is. If you have registed for my FREE 7 Point Success Plan then you will be familiar with CPE and what it means to your business. Every business is different - especially photographers! - so for some an anticipated cost of approximately £30-40 per enquiry is fine, but for others (those of you who have used the first three lessons of my success plan and have a bride fiendly web site for example) this will be a huge amount to spend on an enquiry compared to the ones that you are currently receiving, and you'll choose to invest your money elsewhere!
The key to the whole process is knowing in the first place and being able to make an informed decision.
If you want to learn more about your CPE, register for my FREE plan if you haven't already - http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/ - and wait for Lesson 7 or get in touch and register for my upcoming webcast which is also free to attend.
On a final note, when you agree to attend a wedding fair, always find out how many brides they expect and how many competitors will be in attendance before signing on the dotted line!
Until next time.
Edward
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Convert More Visitors Using FREE Technologies
Good morning everyone and welcome back to Bride Booker Blog.
Well fresh from my success on Monday, I've been speaking to even more people than normal - every reason to speak to a customer should be taken! - and there are a number of things that have been coming up again and again and again. Just about all of these can be summed up in a single term - Social Networking!
Social networking is somewhat of a phenomena that has skyrocketed in the past year or so but that has always been around since the rise of the internet - anyone remember Friends Reunited?
As its such a broad topic I'm going to touch on one subject at a time, the first area I want to talk about is video.
Now video is something that I've been investigating and working on for a number of months now, and speaking to you guys this week has made me realise that I probably need to cover it immediately rather than wait for my series of videos is launched in a few weeks.
The results of video integration has been in for a long time now, and let me tell you, they are all good!
Bearig this in mind, the question you should be asking should no longer be "should I be using video on my site?" but "what video can I produce to maximise my results?"
Let me explain. The phrase "producing a video" can sound a little daunting and gives many people visions of directors, sound men and millions of pounds worth of cameras in a brightly lit studio, needless to say they immediately associate producing a video with a high cost.
The truth is, creating a video for most people will only cost you your time. The massive availability of mobile phones, webcams and digital cameras and camcorders together with websites such as youtube Google Videos and Video Jug mean that producing and publishing a video on your site is not only free, but pretty easy as well!!!
Okay, so you can't just grab your mobile phone, record something and upload it, just like you wouldn't open word type something and mail it out to people, you need to think about a focus and a purpose. How could video help your site? What would your customers find useful? What message would you like to get across?
This last point is the most important to consider, if you have a compelling sales pitch - a real USP - then just including it in the text on your site might mean that many people miss it - take a photographer for example, what they write on their site will almost certainly be reviewed after their pictures have passed the initial test, if at all - by including this in a short video somehow, you'll maximise the number of time the message gets heard, increase the liklihood that it gets taken in and, as a result, increase the number of enquiries that come from your site.
I'll leave you with this thought:
Well fresh from my success on Monday, I've been speaking to even more people than normal - every reason to speak to a customer should be taken! - and there are a number of things that have been coming up again and again and again. Just about all of these can be summed up in a single term - Social Networking!
Social networking is somewhat of a phenomena that has skyrocketed in the past year or so but that has always been around since the rise of the internet - anyone remember Friends Reunited?
As its such a broad topic I'm going to touch on one subject at a time, the first area I want to talk about is video.
Now video is something that I've been investigating and working on for a number of months now, and speaking to you guys this week has made me realise that I probably need to cover it immediately rather than wait for my series of videos is launched in a few weeks.
The results of video integration has been in for a long time now, and let me tell you, they are all good!
Bearig this in mind, the question you should be asking should no longer be "should I be using video on my site?" but "what video can I produce to maximise my results?"
Let me explain. The phrase "producing a video" can sound a little daunting and gives many people visions of directors, sound men and millions of pounds worth of cameras in a brightly lit studio, needless to say they immediately associate producing a video with a high cost.
The truth is, creating a video for most people will only cost you your time. The massive availability of mobile phones, webcams and digital cameras and camcorders together with websites such as youtube Google Videos and Video Jug mean that producing and publishing a video on your site is not only free, but pretty easy as well!!!
Okay, so you can't just grab your mobile phone, record something and upload it, just like you wouldn't open word type something and mail it out to people, you need to think about a focus and a purpose. How could video help your site? What would your customers find useful? What message would you like to get across?
This last point is the most important to consider, if you have a compelling sales pitch - a real USP - then just including it in the text on your site might mean that many people miss it - take a photographer for example, what they write on their site will almost certainly be reviewed after their pictures have passed the initial test, if at all - by including this in a short video somehow, you'll maximise the number of time the message gets heard, increase the liklihood that it gets taken in and, as a result, increase the number of enquiries that come from your site.
I'll leave you with this thought:
"Never before has something been worth committing more of your time to plan and implement on your site."
As I mentioned earlier, my range of videos and video tutorials will be going live very soon, one of these videos will be advice on producing a video so if this post has grabbed your attention, give me a call and I'll keep you updated with progress.
Until next time
Edward
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Success!!!
Well I got the call first thing this morning to say that Evolution's grant application had been successful, so all the hard work and late nights since Christmas have been worth it!!! Many thanks to all of you who contacted me yesterday and wished me luck, it is much appreciated.
So what does the grant mean for the company and more importantly for YOU?
Well the grant will be used to promote the Evolution Wedding Services website which you should all be familiar with - if your not then pay it a visit, I'm sure you'll find it worthwhile. This will mean more traffic coming through which hopefully will mean we will grow our group even further, good news for all of us I'm sure you'll agree.
More importantly for you it will mean more articles, more regularly, more special reports (the first should be with you very soon) more seminars, more webinars and the introduction of video content onto the site - GREAT NEWS.
As a spin off from all this additional information the companies other products will be fast tracked, meaning we'll be able to reach more areas more quickly. So if you are a wedding supplier who wants to be booking more wedding more easily you're in luck, Evolution will be coming to a city, town or county near you very, very soon!
Finally I'd like to pay a special thanks to Stephen Milne at Aylesbury Vale Enterprise & Mena Caldbeck at AVDC, both who have given a lot of help over the last month or two.
Until next time
Edward
So what does the grant mean for the company and more importantly for YOU?
Well the grant will be used to promote the Evolution Wedding Services website which you should all be familiar with - if your not then pay it a visit, I'm sure you'll find it worthwhile. This will mean more traffic coming through which hopefully will mean we will grow our group even further, good news for all of us I'm sure you'll agree.
More importantly for you it will mean more articles, more regularly, more special reports (the first should be with you very soon) more seminars, more webinars and the introduction of video content onto the site - GREAT NEWS.
As a spin off from all this additional information the companies other products will be fast tracked, meaning we'll be able to reach more areas more quickly. So if you are a wedding supplier who wants to be booking more wedding more easily you're in luck, Evolution will be coming to a city, town or county near you very, very soon!
Finally I'd like to pay a special thanks to Stephen Milne at Aylesbury Vale Enterprise & Mena Caldbeck at AVDC, both who have given a lot of help over the last month or two.
Until next time
Edward
Monday, 18 February 2008
Into the Dragons Den
Many of you will have seen the hit BBC series Dragons Den, well I visited the den for the first time about an hour ago and my heart has only just slowed to a normal rate!!!
Okay, so it wasn't Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and co and the amounts at stake were in 4 figures rather than 5 or 6 but let me tell you its nerve racking nonetheless!
The reason for this post is two fold, firstly to share my relief at getting out alive and secondly to explain why I was in there in the first place and how it can potentially benefit some of you.
Before we get started, for those of you who have no idea what I'm on about, take a look at Wikipedia to familiarise yourself with what dragons den is all about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons'_Den
So why was I in a Dragon's Den situation? The reason for my trip to the den, and all the anxiety it caused, is a business development grant available to businesses operating in the Aylesbury Vale.
So what does that mean? Free money essentially! The grant is available for amounts up to £5000 for established businesses and £3000 for start up companies, and can be used for a variety of activities with the only stipulation is that you have to match fund the grant.
If you're not based in the Aylesbury area and are rapidly losing interest, then don't. Every region has a number of incentives for different types of company at any one time - its just a matter of knowing where to look.
I knew you'd ask so here is a link where you can search the grants available in your area:
http://www.grantsnet.co.uk/search.asp
Just enter your own company details and a list of the grants available will be displayed, I can't guarantee it will be an easy (and stress free!!!) process, but I can guarantee it is worth the effort!
So back to me, how did I fair? Well ultimately I won't know until sometime tomorrow but I have a very good feeling as you often do when you are stopped and asked whether you want to quit while you are ahead?!?!?!?
I'll give you an update at some point tomorrow to let you know what the outcome was, and what it means for Evolution, but in the meantime, if you want any help or advice identifying or applying for grants please get in touch and I can give you some very useful - and very personal - advice!
Until next time.
Edward
Okay, so it wasn't Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and co and the amounts at stake were in 4 figures rather than 5 or 6 but let me tell you its nerve racking nonetheless!
The reason for this post is two fold, firstly to share my relief at getting out alive and secondly to explain why I was in there in the first place and how it can potentially benefit some of you.
Before we get started, for those of you who have no idea what I'm on about, take a look at Wikipedia to familiarise yourself with what dragons den is all about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons'_Den
So why was I in a Dragon's Den situation? The reason for my trip to the den, and all the anxiety it caused, is a business development grant available to businesses operating in the Aylesbury Vale.
So what does that mean? Free money essentially! The grant is available for amounts up to £5000 for established businesses and £3000 for start up companies, and can be used for a variety of activities with the only stipulation is that you have to match fund the grant.
If you're not based in the Aylesbury area and are rapidly losing interest, then don't. Every region has a number of incentives for different types of company at any one time - its just a matter of knowing where to look.
I knew you'd ask so here is a link where you can search the grants available in your area:
http://www.grantsnet.co.uk/search.asp
Just enter your own company details and a list of the grants available will be displayed, I can't guarantee it will be an easy (and stress free!!!) process, but I can guarantee it is worth the effort!
So back to me, how did I fair? Well ultimately I won't know until sometime tomorrow but I have a very good feeling as you often do when you are stopped and asked whether you want to quit while you are ahead?!?!?!?
I'll give you an update at some point tomorrow to let you know what the outcome was, and what it means for Evolution, but in the meantime, if you want any help or advice identifying or applying for grants please get in touch and I can give you some very useful - and very personal - advice!
Until next time.
Edward
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Valentines Day Opportunities
Happy Valentines day from me and all here at Evolution Wedding Services.
You may not realise it, but for many wedding suppliers today is the most profitable day of the year, both for wedding bookings and add on sales from previous weddings. It's no coincidence, the suppliers in question have recognised the potential of Valentines Day as a marketing tool and taken advantage of it.
Now this isn't going to apply to every business type, but I would strongly recommend that you read on and think about how you can fit a Valentines promotion into your marketing plan.
There's no secret magic formula, just common sense and the application of some existing, fairly straight forward marketing methods, that many, if not all of you may be using.
You see the key is Valentines Day itself, no other day in the calendar has more relevance and appeal to every bride in your prospect list, there is an obvious link between today and the romance of a bride's wedding day!
So how can you take advantage?
First of all you need to prepare a compelling offer - I understand that this may be a bit late for many of you now, but make sure you use it next year - and highlight that the offer is only available for Valentines Day, after today the offer will be gone forever.
Next you need to promote this offer into your list of prospects and make them aware that the offer is available for today only.
If you really want to be clever then you can run an upsell offer to your current bridal bookings in parallel to generate even more income and the same principal can be used for brides previous.
The appeal of Valentines Day along with the time sensitive nature of your offer will trigger bookings and orders galore!!!
For more information on this post, I've written a comprehensive article available in the members pages of the Evolution Programme, click here to view the article.
I hope you find this useful - if you want any help or advice on your own Valentines Day strategy you know what to do.
Until next time.
Edward
You may not realise it, but for many wedding suppliers today is the most profitable day of the year, both for wedding bookings and add on sales from previous weddings. It's no coincidence, the suppliers in question have recognised the potential of Valentines Day as a marketing tool and taken advantage of it.
Now this isn't going to apply to every business type, but I would strongly recommend that you read on and think about how you can fit a Valentines promotion into your marketing plan.
There's no secret magic formula, just common sense and the application of some existing, fairly straight forward marketing methods, that many, if not all of you may be using.
You see the key is Valentines Day itself, no other day in the calendar has more relevance and appeal to every bride in your prospect list, there is an obvious link between today and the romance of a bride's wedding day!
So how can you take advantage?
First of all you need to prepare a compelling offer - I understand that this may be a bit late for many of you now, but make sure you use it next year - and highlight that the offer is only available for Valentines Day, after today the offer will be gone forever.
Next you need to promote this offer into your list of prospects and make them aware that the offer is available for today only.
If you really want to be clever then you can run an upsell offer to your current bridal bookings in parallel to generate even more income and the same principal can be used for brides previous.
The appeal of Valentines Day along with the time sensitive nature of your offer will trigger bookings and orders galore!!!
For more information on this post, I've written a comprehensive article available in the members pages of the Evolution Programme, click here to view the article.
I hope you find this useful - if you want any help or advice on your own Valentines Day strategy you know what to do.
Until next time.
Edward
Monday, 4 February 2008
Attention All Suppliers in Buckinghamshire
Just a note for everybody reading that is based in Buckinghamshire.
Our Your Wedding In product for Buckinghamshire is going to close at the end of this month so if you want all the benefits you need to get in touch sooner rather than later.
Your Wedding In has a variety of features that will help you
Our Your Wedding In product for Buckinghamshire is going to close at the end of this month so if you want all the benefits you need to get in touch sooner rather than later.
Your Wedding In has a variety of features that will help you
- GUARANTEED results
- Exclusive membership
- Steady stream of enquiries and leads
- Exclusive half page advert in Your Wedding In Buckinghamshire guide
- Editorial in the Your Wedding In Buckinghamshire guide
- Exclusive advert on Your Wedding In website
- Free Subscription to the Evolution Programme
- Dedicated business support
- Small monthly cost
If you want to be part of this exclusive group for wedding suppliers in Bucks then get in touch as soon as possible.
Remember, Your Wedding In is COMPLETELY exclusive and conflict free so you will be the only business from your category included, so call now before your competitors beat you to it.
CALL NOW on 0870 300 4971 or click here and fill in our web form.
UPDATE: There are now only 5 categories left so be sure to be quick before the remaining categories are snapped up!
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Bookings For Free
Good morning everyone and welcome to another week on Bride Booker.
As wedding fair season is in full swing, you will no doubt be sending information out and dealing with incoming enquiries on a daily basis (if you're not click here), obviously some of you will be busier than others.
It's the next few months that will determine how successful most people year's are, a good three or four months with incoming enquiries will mean a great year at the other end, a quiet few months on the enquiry side will mean a struggle!
I think there is an abnormal focus put on enquiries in the industry and, a lot of the time, what happens to these enquiries gets forgotten! At the end of the day, an enquiry means nothing until you get that deposit or order cheque!
This is fatal as if you don't deal with the enquiries you do have well, then it doesn't matter how many more you get, "you ain't gettin any more bookings"!
90% of people I deal with can quite easily squeeze at least another one or two bookings or orders out of their exsiting enquiries, for some it can be a lot, lot more! You've just got to give each enquiry the time and attention it deserves, it makes me cry when I sample people's sales strategy and after making an enquiry, don't get a reply for a week or so!
I'll stick my neck out here and say, everyone reading this post can convert one more enquiry at least in the next year with a little effort. What would that extra enquiry mean to you? How much is a wedding booking worth? How much does each enquiry cost you? Add these factors together and you'll see the true value of conversion!!!
To read more about wedding conversion click here.
Some food for thought I'm sure!
Until next time
Edward
As wedding fair season is in full swing, you will no doubt be sending information out and dealing with incoming enquiries on a daily basis (if you're not click here), obviously some of you will be busier than others.
It's the next few months that will determine how successful most people year's are, a good three or four months with incoming enquiries will mean a great year at the other end, a quiet few months on the enquiry side will mean a struggle!
I think there is an abnormal focus put on enquiries in the industry and, a lot of the time, what happens to these enquiries gets forgotten! At the end of the day, an enquiry means nothing until you get that deposit or order cheque!
This is fatal as if you don't deal with the enquiries you do have well, then it doesn't matter how many more you get, "you ain't gettin any more bookings"!
90% of people I deal with can quite easily squeeze at least another one or two bookings or orders out of their exsiting enquiries, for some it can be a lot, lot more! You've just got to give each enquiry the time and attention it deserves, it makes me cry when I sample people's sales strategy and after making an enquiry, don't get a reply for a week or so!
I'll stick my neck out here and say, everyone reading this post can convert one more enquiry at least in the next year with a little effort. What would that extra enquiry mean to you? How much is a wedding booking worth? How much does each enquiry cost you? Add these factors together and you'll see the true value of conversion!!!
To read more about wedding conversion click here.
Some food for thought I'm sure!
Until next time
Edward
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Duplicate Content & Google
Hello again and welcome back to Bride Booker Blog.
I've heard a lot of talk over the last month or so about duplicate content and how google hates it and it will kill your search engine position or prevent you from moving up the rankings.
A lot of these people don't actually realise what Google sees as duplicate content and how it will affect your search ranking, so, while what they're saying is true, what they actually believe is duplicate content and the methods they take to remove are completely wrong!
Firstly, the term duplicate content is slightly misleading, it suggests that it is a page that has content copied from another source. While it is possible to get one of your pages dropped by Google for this reason, you are far more likely to lose pages on your site which are too similar.
This can be a BIG problem for you! Imagine you have two pages which are very similar but contain information about two different products and, as a result show up on different searches. If Google looks at your pages and thinks that they are too similar, it is likely that one will get dropped from the search engine results pages.
Secondly, if you're pages get dropped from the results pages they then lose their page rank which had been passed onto your optimised pages meaning they will fall down the results pages!!! Pretty serious stuff!
What makes it even worse is that I have seen supposed SEO experts optimise customer sites and actually create a duplicate content scenario by their efforts!!! Just imagine that, you've paid someone to try and get you to the top of the Google's results and thay have actually got your pages banned!!!
I've written an in depth article on what exactly duplicate content is and how you can avoid it which you can view here.
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/members/218.html
Let me know if you have had your site optimised by a specialist SEO company and I'll check it to see if they have created any duplicate content in the process.
Until next time.
Edward
I've heard a lot of talk over the last month or so about duplicate content and how google hates it and it will kill your search engine position or prevent you from moving up the rankings.
A lot of these people don't actually realise what Google sees as duplicate content and how it will affect your search ranking, so, while what they're saying is true, what they actually believe is duplicate content and the methods they take to remove are completely wrong!
Firstly, the term duplicate content is slightly misleading, it suggests that it is a page that has content copied from another source. While it is possible to get one of your pages dropped by Google for this reason, you are far more likely to lose pages on your site which are too similar.
This can be a BIG problem for you! Imagine you have two pages which are very similar but contain information about two different products and, as a result show up on different searches. If Google looks at your pages and thinks that they are too similar, it is likely that one will get dropped from the search engine results pages.
Secondly, if you're pages get dropped from the results pages they then lose their page rank which had been passed onto your optimised pages meaning they will fall down the results pages!!! Pretty serious stuff!
What makes it even worse is that I have seen supposed SEO experts optimise customer sites and actually create a duplicate content scenario by their efforts!!! Just imagine that, you've paid someone to try and get you to the top of the Google's results and thay have actually got your pages banned!!!
I've written an in depth article on what exactly duplicate content is and how you can avoid it which you can view here.
http://www.evolutionweddingservices.co.uk/members/218.html
Let me know if you have had your site optimised by a specialist SEO company and I'll check it to see if they have created any duplicate content in the process.
Until next time.
Edward
Monday, 21 January 2008
Another Freebie
Good morning and welcome to another Monday Bride Booker Blog.
Just a quickie to tell you about today, but it could be of great value to some of you.
In my ongoing quest for wedding industry information, I've come across an opportunity for some (not all I'm afraid) of you to get a free advert on the new Wedding Planner website.
For those of you who don't know or haven't heard of Wedding Panner before, they publish a series of regional printed guides called "The Wedding Guide".
Click here for more details and to find out if you qaulify for the free advert:
http://www.weddingplanner.co.uk/Content2.aspx?PageId=10c
I hope this helps
Until next time.
Edward
Just a quickie to tell you about today, but it could be of great value to some of you.
In my ongoing quest for wedding industry information, I've come across an opportunity for some (not all I'm afraid) of you to get a free advert on the new Wedding Planner website.
For those of you who don't know or haven't heard of Wedding Panner before, they publish a series of regional printed guides called "The Wedding Guide".
Click here for more details and to find out if you qaulify for the free advert:
http://www.weddingplanner.co.uk/Content2.aspx?PageId=10c
I hope this helps
Until next time.
Edward
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Tracking and Measuring
Good afternoon on this rainy January Thursday - is this rain ever going to stop????
For those of you who know me, have been reading my blog or are an Evolution Programme subscriber, you will have certainly heard me drone on about tracking and measuring your sales and marketing activity - you may not do it, but you will have certainly heard me talk about it!
If you haven't been tracking and measuring then you are certainly not the only one, in fact no one seems to listen to me when it comes to this subject (if you do please let me know!), so I have been thinking about ways to make it easier for you to track and trace what you are doing.
It is because of this that I have been spending my January evenings putting together a Wedding Marketing Tracker spreadsheet. Fingers crossed its nearly finished so I thought I would pre warn you that it would be appearing on the web site soon. I'll post a message when it finally goes live, but, provided you are subscribed to my updates, you will receive notice when it does.
As usual, if you have any comments good or bad, please let me have them - its how I track and measure myself!!!!
I hope you find it useful.
Edward
For those of you who know me, have been reading my blog or are an Evolution Programme subscriber, you will have certainly heard me drone on about tracking and measuring your sales and marketing activity - you may not do it, but you will have certainly heard me talk about it!
If you haven't been tracking and measuring then you are certainly not the only one, in fact no one seems to listen to me when it comes to this subject (if you do please let me know!), so I have been thinking about ways to make it easier for you to track and trace what you are doing.
It is because of this that I have been spending my January evenings putting together a Wedding Marketing Tracker spreadsheet. Fingers crossed its nearly finished so I thought I would pre warn you that it would be appearing on the web site soon. I'll post a message when it finally goes live, but, provided you are subscribed to my updates, you will receive notice when it does.
As usual, if you have any comments good or bad, please let me have them - its how I track and measure myself!!!!
I hope you find it useful.
Edward
Monday, 14 January 2008
Wedding Fair Success Part 3
Hello again. I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready and raring to get stuck in.
Well for those of you who have been with me for the past couple of weeks, you've made it to the end of my Wedding Fair Success series and, after today, you should have some great ideas to improve the way you attend wedding fairs. For those of you who have joined in the middle, don't worry, you can read all my previous posts below or by clicking on the links to the right ->>>>>
Okay, so I've touched on Planning, Location and Appeal previously, I'm now going to talk about when the doors open and there is nothing more you can do on the preparation.... you're now into sales territory whether you like it or not!
Many people over the last few years have told me that they "don't sell to any of their brides", "I don't believe in it, I just answer a brides questions and let her make up her own mind". Well that's fair enough if that's what you believe, but what these people have described is your basic soft sales pitch.
So what's my point? SALES, that's what it all boils down to!
No matter what you do before or after, you're success or failure at the fair will depend on your sales pitch and how many people you deliver it to.
Bear these points in mind:
Every wedding fair is different.
At the quiet ones your pitch should be long.
At the busy ones your pitch should be short.
Your pitch should instill confidence in your potential customer.
You should have a reason for taking the details of every bride you speak to.
At the fairs I have visited, I have seen suppliers at either end of the spectrum - some who will wander around when their stand is quiet, stopping and speaking to brides and others who spend the whole day sat down behind a table on their stand. Which end of the spectrum are you and which end do you think you should be?
Well that brings to an end my Wedding Fair Success series, to sum up, essentially all a wedding fair is, is a gathering of potential customers, how many of these you turn into actual customers depends on your Planning, Preparation, Delivery and Follow Ups. Provided you address all of these points you will ensure that your wedding fairs are a valuable part of your annual marketing plan.
If you are an Evolution Programme subscriber, you can read further information by visiting the Wedding Fair department on our web site.
I would welcome any feedback that anyone has on this series and I will be releasing a more in depth series of lessons later in the year. If you haven't already, register your details on our website to be kept up to date with all my upcoming releases and receive your free 7 Point Success Plan.
Until next time.
Edward
I haven't completely decided what subjects my next posts are going to cover, so if you are experiencing any particular wedding business issues, drop me a line and let me know and I'll try and cover them in one of my posts over the coming weeks.
Well for those of you who have been with me for the past couple of weeks, you've made it to the end of my Wedding Fair Success series and, after today, you should have some great ideas to improve the way you attend wedding fairs. For those of you who have joined in the middle, don't worry, you can read all my previous posts below or by clicking on the links to the right ->>>>>
Okay, so I've touched on Planning, Location and Appeal previously, I'm now going to talk about when the doors open and there is nothing more you can do on the preparation.... you're now into sales territory whether you like it or not!
Many people over the last few years have told me that they "don't sell to any of their brides", "I don't believe in it, I just answer a brides questions and let her make up her own mind". Well that's fair enough if that's what you believe, but what these people have described is your basic soft sales pitch.
So what's my point? SALES, that's what it all boils down to!
No matter what you do before or after, you're success or failure at the fair will depend on your sales pitch and how many people you deliver it to.
Bear these points in mind:
Every wedding fair is different.
At the quiet ones your pitch should be long.
At the busy ones your pitch should be short.
Your pitch should instill confidence in your potential customer.
You should have a reason for taking the details of every bride you speak to.
At the fairs I have visited, I have seen suppliers at either end of the spectrum - some who will wander around when their stand is quiet, stopping and speaking to brides and others who spend the whole day sat down behind a table on their stand. Which end of the spectrum are you and which end do you think you should be?
Well that brings to an end my Wedding Fair Success series, to sum up, essentially all a wedding fair is, is a gathering of potential customers, how many of these you turn into actual customers depends on your Planning, Preparation, Delivery and Follow Ups. Provided you address all of these points you will ensure that your wedding fairs are a valuable part of your annual marketing plan.
If you are an Evolution Programme subscriber, you can read further information by visiting the Wedding Fair department on our web site.
I would welcome any feedback that anyone has on this series and I will be releasing a more in depth series of lessons later in the year. If you haven't already, register your details on our website to be kept up to date with all my upcoming releases and receive your free 7 Point Success Plan.
Until next time.
Edward
I haven't completely decided what subjects my next posts are going to cover, so if you are experiencing any particular wedding business issues, drop me a line and let me know and I'll try and cover them in one of my posts over the coming weeks.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Free Live Chat Software
I hope you're enjoying my current series of posts on Wedding Fair Success, the last part is going to be posted on Monday, hopefully in plenty of time for you to use for any upcoming fairs.
Before then I just thought I'd let you know about a great piece of free software that I've just come across which could give your website an advantage over your competitors. It's called Volusion Live Chat and lets your website visitors see when you are online and then contact you directly to ask questions about your site.
You can see more details by clicking on the link below.
http://www.volusion.com/livechat_software.asp
Depending on how much you know about changing your website you should be able to install it quite easily, alternatively ask your webmaster to do it for you - it should take him a matter of seconds.
For those of you who are well and truly stuck, I'll hopefully try and post a video instruction clip in the next couple of weeks.
Any problems in the meantime please let me know.
Until Monday.
Edward
Before then I just thought I'd let you know about a great piece of free software that I've just come across which could give your website an advantage over your competitors. It's called Volusion Live Chat and lets your website visitors see when you are online and then contact you directly to ask questions about your site.
You can see more details by clicking on the link below.
http://www.volusion.com/livechat_software.asp
Depending on how much you know about changing your website you should be able to install it quite easily, alternatively ask your webmaster to do it for you - it should take him a matter of seconds.
For those of you who are well and truly stuck, I'll hopefully try and post a video instruction clip in the next couple of weeks.
Any problems in the meantime please let me know.
Until Monday.
Edward
Monday, 7 January 2008
Wedding Fair Success Part 2
Hello again and thanks for visiting back to check out part 2 of my Wedding Fair Success series.
Hopefully the January blues aren't hitting you as hard as they are me, and you have found it in yourself to give my first post some thought, maybe you've even come up with a killer "icebreaker" for your next fair or a surefire way to get a brides attention at your stand?
No? Don't worry, although I'd still recommend that pay some serious attention to your fair planning it's this part and the next which are the really valuable ones.
Unless you're very lucky, you'll find yourself competing against someone else supplying the same product or service as you at almost every fair, even if you've got no direct competition, you're in an ongoing battle to get visitors to pass your stand first and foremost and then stop to talk to you.
Now there are ways in which you can help maximise your exposure to passing guests and then increase the chances that they'll stop and pay attention to your stand. Some of this will go back to my previous post on Planning, so if you haven't read it already, pay attention now.
There are two point which you need to consider to ensure that more of the visitors at the fair stop at your stand, Position - where you are located, and Appeal - does your stand look interesting.
Position - Think about the venue of the fair and try and work out where the best positions will be for capturing visitors and then request that you're stand be positioned in one of these locations. Obviously this will need to be done beforehand to avoid disappointment, unless you want to take a chance and get up extremely early on the day.
Appeal - Think about the appeal of your stand. Does it draw attention? Is there something of intrigue which will help stop a bride in her footsteps? Is it clear what it is you are selling or providing?
Bear these two points in mind and you can be sure to increase the number of brides that stop and speak with you on the day.
If you are a subscriber to the Evolution Programme there are articles available on both of these subjects:
Click here to learn more about positioning your stand.
Click here to make your stand more appealing.
There is also my Wedding Fair Supercharger strategy to convert even more visitors to enquiries. Click here for more details.
Remember to check back next week for the final part in this series.
Until next time.
Edward
Hopefully the January blues aren't hitting you as hard as they are me, and you have found it in yourself to give my first post some thought, maybe you've even come up with a killer "icebreaker" for your next fair or a surefire way to get a brides attention at your stand?
No? Don't worry, although I'd still recommend that pay some serious attention to your fair planning it's this part and the next which are the really valuable ones.
Unless you're very lucky, you'll find yourself competing against someone else supplying the same product or service as you at almost every fair, even if you've got no direct competition, you're in an ongoing battle to get visitors to pass your stand first and foremost and then stop to talk to you.
Now there are ways in which you can help maximise your exposure to passing guests and then increase the chances that they'll stop and pay attention to your stand. Some of this will go back to my previous post on Planning, so if you haven't read it already, pay attention now.
There are two point which you need to consider to ensure that more of the visitors at the fair stop at your stand, Position - where you are located, and Appeal - does your stand look interesting.
Position - Think about the venue of the fair and try and work out where the best positions will be for capturing visitors and then request that you're stand be positioned in one of these locations. Obviously this will need to be done beforehand to avoid disappointment, unless you want to take a chance and get up extremely early on the day.
Appeal - Think about the appeal of your stand. Does it draw attention? Is there something of intrigue which will help stop a bride in her footsteps? Is it clear what it is you are selling or providing?
Bear these two points in mind and you can be sure to increase the number of brides that stop and speak with you on the day.
If you are a subscriber to the Evolution Programme there are articles available on both of these subjects:
Click here to learn more about positioning your stand.
Click here to make your stand more appealing.
There is also my Wedding Fair Supercharger strategy to convert even more visitors to enquiries. Click here for more details.
Remember to check back next week for the final part in this series.
Until next time.
Edward
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Wedding Fair Success part 1
Happy New Year
Well we're into 2008 and wedding fair season is just about to get well and truly underway. I've been spending most of my Sunday's since September visiting different fairs and looking at the successes and failures of different exhibitors and the techniques they use. From visiting these fairs and talking to exhibitors on both a professional level and from a customers point of view, I have made a list of the points you need to consider if you want to have all the fun at the fair!
First and foremost, and weeks before the fair you are exhibiting at, you need to plan your attendance at the fair. What do you want to achieve? Are you promoting a special offer or new product? Have you prepared your leaflets and flyers, stand, samples and sales message? Have you got something that will make a bride remember you? What reason has a bride got for visiting your stand?
One thing that stuck me when visiting fairs was the "icebreaker" that seems to be a standard line across the board - "so when is your wedding?" Now I'm not saying that I'm in the same frame of mind as all the brides that visited these Fairs, but my Fiancee Sarah is, and that was one of the top points on her feedback list - is there no one original out there???
Think about this, spend a little time before your fair thinking about something which will make you stand out from the crowd, I guarantee it won't do any harm (provided you stick within the boundaries of social decency!) and even if it gives you just one extra enquiry it has to be more than worth it!
In Part 2 I'm going to touch on raising your exposure at Fairs and getting more people to visit your stand.
For my Evolution Programme subscribers you can view my "Wedding Fair Supercharger" article which gives you an integrated marketing strategy to turn more visitors into wedding enquiries for you.
Click here for more details.
If you have any questions about making the most of your wedding fairs, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Until next time
Edward
Well we're into 2008 and wedding fair season is just about to get well and truly underway. I've been spending most of my Sunday's since September visiting different fairs and looking at the successes and failures of different exhibitors and the techniques they use. From visiting these fairs and talking to exhibitors on both a professional level and from a customers point of view, I have made a list of the points you need to consider if you want to have all the fun at the fair!
First and foremost, and weeks before the fair you are exhibiting at, you need to plan your attendance at the fair. What do you want to achieve? Are you promoting a special offer or new product? Have you prepared your leaflets and flyers, stand, samples and sales message? Have you got something that will make a bride remember you? What reason has a bride got for visiting your stand?
One thing that stuck me when visiting fairs was the "icebreaker" that seems to be a standard line across the board - "so when is your wedding?" Now I'm not saying that I'm in the same frame of mind as all the brides that visited these Fairs, but my Fiancee Sarah is, and that was one of the top points on her feedback list - is there no one original out there???
Think about this, spend a little time before your fair thinking about something which will make you stand out from the crowd, I guarantee it won't do any harm (provided you stick within the boundaries of social decency!) and even if it gives you just one extra enquiry it has to be more than worth it!
In Part 2 I'm going to touch on raising your exposure at Fairs and getting more people to visit your stand.
For my Evolution Programme subscribers you can view my "Wedding Fair Supercharger" article which gives you an integrated marketing strategy to turn more visitors into wedding enquiries for you.
Click here for more details.
If you have any questions about making the most of your wedding fairs, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Until next time
Edward
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