Vendors, Get Your Websites Ready, the Brides are Coming!

Why? u ask?
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who also happens to also be in the wedding industry. She stated that this month (September ‘08) was really, really slow for them. Their bookings were down a noticeable difference from previous months. She also stated that a few other of her wedding vendor […]

Wedding Vendors, how long before you return an email?

DJ Francisco on September 10th, 2008

I was asked by a reader recently that same question:

How long should any wedding vendor go before responding to an Email inquiry?

His/Her argument was that he/she does not like answering an email immediately after receiving it because it makes it seem like they have no work and are desperate to take the event.

I think that’s a load of BS that you feed yourself so that you can make yourself feel important.

I usually answer an email or a phone call immediately because I know if I call a business or a friend, I want to talk to them at that exact moment. Not 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 days later. It’s then and there that I want to talk to them.

It’s important, if not vital that you return phone calls, or in this case, emails as soon as you get them. It’s a part of the selling Psychology. They are interested and more open to trusting you when they call you as opposed to hours or days after they’ve called you. Who knows if a few hours after the initial phone call they will have time to talk to you, or if they’ve already found someone who did return the phone call or actually answered the phone, or if they even recall calling you.

How many times have you gone to a store, and this happens in just about any store, pizza place, or restaurant. You stand in line for minutes or hours, you get right to the counter and the phone rings. Who is that clerk going to assist first??? Of course, the person on the phone. WHY? Why is it so important to answer the phone when you know that the person right in front of you might give you a hard time for doing so?

Now I don’t know for a fact, but I can bet that their managers and supervisors advice them to do so and have probably stressed the importance of the phone calls.

Phone calls and emails should be answered immediately or as soon as you can. It’s people calling you to find out about your products or your services. They have taken an action, and action that most people who are not interested do not take. They have an immediate urge for you to answer their questions, or come to their rescue, about/with your services. If you don’t do it, then in that short time that they have, they will find someone else who will. I know I’ve heard the comment, many, many times.

We loved the fact that you answered our call/email almost immediately after we contacted you (if not immediately)

I think that fills brides/clients with a sense of security, where as not answering an email or the phone immediately fills them with a sense of doubt.

One recent bride said the same thing about the main reason she went with me was that I always answered her calls and always answered her concerns. Whereas the other DJ’s could go days without calling her back and when they did, they would not give her straight answers. She also said that the preferred vendor at the venue did not call her back until the week of the event! WTF (dubya-tee-eff)? He shall remain nameless, but that was very-unimpressive.

So the answer to the question, for me, it is to answer an email immediately if not as soon as possible. It feels good, and it’s impressive, to have an email response almost as soon as you hit the send button. I think it makes the bride feel like someone there, and some one cares about her, and if they are that quick in responding to an email the they can only imagine how helpful the person on the other side will be when it relates the the most important day in her life. And winning over the bride’s emotions is almost guaranteed to be a right step in winning the trust and the opportunity for you be of service to the bride that wonderful day.

Happy Bloggin!

–
Francisco H. Perez
Bloggin Professional DJ in Houston

Tags: email, Email Leads
Read More Comments (2) Email Leads, Search Engine Optimization

Let me know What Specific Wedding Vendor Advice will help YOU?

DJ Francisco on August 25th, 2008

Dear Reader,

It’s Monday, I’ve just returned to the office after a successful Wedding Event this past Saturday where I got to meet many new wedding vendors; A Wedding Coordinator, A few Photographers, Videographer, Wedding Cake Vendor and of course the great staff at the wedding venue: Paraiso Marabilla. All of whom collaborated under the direction of the Wedding Coordinator to create an Elegant, Fun, Memorable and Beautiful wedding Reception on August 23rd, 2008.

The conversation came up with the Wedding Coordinator about ranking high in the search engines, and of course I offered a small bit of advice to her. I would have loved to help her more but because of the setting and how in detail I would have to go into to help her understand the success of my wedding dj website I just mentioned to her to make sure her SEO was all optimized.

So, today I will take a break from the series I had started and I want to ask you, reader, if you have any question for me about how to achieve website success. It can be related to marketing, list building, website optimization, Search Engine Optimization, strategic website planning, Email Autoresponders, Email Marketing, etc… Anything related to your website and how you can improve it, please feel free to contact me via this post by adding a comment or by sending me an email through my online Contact Form.

All questions will be answered in the order they came in and could also be the topic of an upcoming post.

Thank you and have a Great Monday!

–
DJ Francisco
Bloggin Wedding DJ in Houston

Tags: advice, ask question, help, wedding vendors, wedding website, wedding website help
Read More Comments (2) Getting Started

How to MAXIMIZE your Web Site Profits (Series) Pt.1

DJ Francisco on August 22nd, 2008

Wedding Online Marketing!!!

The best thing that could have EVER happened to my Houston DJ Business

How did my business become successful? Well if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that online marketing is the bread and butter of my business. The bloodline that keeps my (bad) spending habits alive.

However, it was pretty hard to find the correct formula. A formula that I have worked on and (I think) perfected over the last few years.

When you look at it, it’s pretty simple and easy for anyone to implement. Don’t we all love that word: EASY(sarcasm).

Main Objective: Gain the trust of your brides/website visitors and Convert them into Interested Clients. AKA Website Conversion.

What I am going to dissect or explain in detail here the actual website itself in hopes that you can make some few changes to your website, if it’s not bringing you any more clients, so that you can start capturing those brides/clients you never knew visited or viewed your wedding vendor web page.

What I will ignore here, or not cover, is how to get those brides / clients to your website, that will be covered completely separate. We just want to focus on how to direct your prospects through from the moment they arrive to the moment they become your clients.

So here is the formula of my DJ in Houston Wedding Vendor Websites Success.

1. The first thing you need is an aesthetically pleasing website.

   There is nothing that will kill trust or conversion faster than an ‘ugly’ website. Spend some time, money and energy designing a nice looking website, logo and look for your business. Your website more and more is becoming your centralized point of marketing. Just to clarify, a website is not a business, it’s a marketing tool. Make it look good and make it fit all your your other marketing materials. Jennifer Schafer with Premier Bride Magazine and Brandit Bandits in Houston is an advocate of creating an image, a brand that your clients can buy. Also consider the question, how many clients do I LOSE because of my website?

2. The Second thing you need is Compelling, Creative Content.

   The WEB is known as the “information superhighway.” Realize that brides visit your website looking for specific information that relates to their upcoming wedding. They want to be informed, they want to know what you can do for them, how you can take the worry away and create their beautiful wedding day, you need to gain their trust, they need to be convinced, they want to make the best choice available to them. Arrange your content to gain the trust of the bride and then drive, push them, convince them them to call you or submit their information into your contact form. A lot of wedding vendors with the most beautiful websites fail in achieving this. It is not easy, however, there are techniques and websites devoted to teaching people to create compelling sales copy on your website. Ask yourself, what do I offer the bride, what is the bride looking for, how do I help her find it, what is important; in the mind of the bride, what are some common concerns, etc… Then you set to create content on your website that answers those questions with how YOU or YOUR service can help them. NOTE: A reader pointed out something to me, that I already knew, but ignored for a long, long time (as you probably do too).

   Hi DJ! I have a couple of suggestions for you. First, put some contact information on your blog so readers can contact you privately. Second, use spell checker on your posts. I found typos in both of your first two posts that I read and then I lost interest in reading any more. Typos undermine your credibility as an expert. Good luck!– Tracy

Happy Bloggin!

–
DJ Francisco

Read More Comments (0) Conversion, Email Leads, traffic

Bloggin = New Content = Higher SE Rankings = More Bookings

DJ Francisco on August 15th, 2008

What’s the formula of a successful website?

Bloggin!!!

Blog often, ideally Daily, and you will attract the attention of the Search Engines with new content.

Attracting the attention of the search engines will get you ranked ( higher ) in the search engine results.

Achieving a higher Search Engine Result will result in more visitors to your website and in turn, and increase in the number of booking from your website.

Pretty straight foreword, right?

Then why don’t most businesses start a blog?

Is it not worth it? Is it not professional enough? Is it a lot of extra work? Is it not worth the return of FREE additional business? Why wouldn’t you do something that is proven to work, and is so easy and inexpensive to implement?

The biggest bloodline of my business is search engine traffic. Search engine traffic amounts to over 80% of my bookings for this year (2008) and last year (2007).

Word of mouth is great, but by the time people, who saw me perform at an event, try to book me, I’m already booked for their date.

I had released a website to start a photo booth business, and I started that website with a free blog (Wordpress) installed a free template, and it’s up and running. All I had to do was come up with the content, add a few pictures, post a few blog posts and vioala. I have a running business with $0 in advertising or in buying a template and a 1st page ranking in google for Photobooth related search terms. (Notice I am taking advantage and placing a link on this post to my photobooth website, it helps with search engine rankings, and no that is not the main reason I blog )

Search Engines LOVE Fresh New Updated Content. Blogs allow you to refresh your content easily and as often as can. Just Login, and start typing. It’s that easy (once it’s installed).

Sure the installation of a blog is technical, it will require more time out of your day (1hr - 2hrs max), and u have no idea of what to blog about. But it’s worth the time and effort. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have started this blog of free information and my success with bloggin. I love it and I want to attract as many people to this great resource that I love sooo much!

Maybe you are not the technical type. Pay someone to install it and configure it on your server and be done with it. If anybody is interested I could do it for only $50 USD.

Or if you are technically inclined or know someone who is here are some great videos that teach you how to do it for free.

Become a Blogger Videos - A free resource for complete bloggin beginners. It takes you through the steps necessary to install and create your blog.

Get started now, you WILL appreciate me in the future for telling you this and pushing you to do it.

Happy bloggin!

–
DJ Francisco
DJ in Hosuton

Tags: bloggin, increased bookings, start bloggin, traffic, wedding vendors, wedding website
Read More Comments (0) Getting Started

British Prime Minister’s Office website is a Wordpress Blog

DJ Francisco on August 13th, 2008

You may have heard that the official site of the British Prime Minister’s Office at number10.gov.uk launched earlier today. The great news is that it’s running WordPress…

–Source:WordPress at No. 10

That is interesting that National Website are going with Wordpress as their main Website Platform. I’ve used the bloggin platform for all my websites and it’s done really, really well, but for a National Website to do it, now that’s Cool!

Read More Comments (0) Bloggin Case Study

How to Brainstorm Topics for your Blog

DJ Francisco on August 7th, 2008

Writing a Blog post everyday is ideal for any blogger that wants to have success on the internet, however, it’s time consuming and it’s hart to come up with a good topic to blog about on a daily basis. That’s mainly because we don’t take the time to read and learn about some of the techniques that most professional bloggers use to stay at the top of their game. Reading a few minutes a day, posts by the top bloggers, will help you generate some great ides for coming up with useful content.

Yaro Starak, Darren Rowse, John Chow, Brian Clark. They all come up with the most helpful, up-to-date posts to their blog on a consistent basis. That’s why they have so many subscribers that read their blogs daily.

Here are 3 resources on Bloggin’ for Complete Beginners.

Blog Mastermind Blog Mentoring Program - This is the best coaching program and “getting-started-with-bloggin” program that I have ever taken and it is worth the investment.

Become a Blogger Videos - A free resource for complete bloggin beginners. It takes you through the steps necessary to install and create your blog.

Blog Profits Blueprint - A report to get you to understand the logic behind making money from your blog. Free PDF Report.

7 articles the pro-bloggers have written to help other bloggers stay at the top of the bloggin game.

• 20 Types of Blog Posts - Battling Bloggers Block
• 31 Days to Building a Better Blog
• Writing Good Content
• Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?
• Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques
• 10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer
• Podcast: How To Launch A Product Using Your Blog (May be used for services too)

Reading, or even scanning and reading the parts you don’t understand, will get you caught up on your bloggin terms and on a mindset that most successful bloggers have. Happy Bloggin!!! — DJ Francisco Your Bloggin DJ in Houston

Tags: blog links, bloggin, bloggin beginners
Read More Comments (0) Getting Started, Landing Pages

Results of Bridal Extravaganza Post on my DJ Website

DJ Francisco on July 30th, 2008

Last month, June 24th 2008, I wrote an article entitled:How POWERFUL can your Blog be?

Pretty much I wanted to show you how powerful blogs are and how much Google loves them.

As a marketer, your objective is to get your logo or your website in front of as many brides/customers as you can, where ever they may be or go. I know that a lot of brides use the internet to find information about whatever they may need at that time.

So I got an idea to get in front of the brides that would attend the Bridal Extravaganza Show in Houston. I knew they would be using key words such as “bridal extravaganza,” “Houston bridal extravaganza,” “Bridal Show July Houston.” So I wrote an article on my DJ in Houston Website and called it: Houston Bridal Extravaganza Show - July 2008.

It immediately ranked extremely high (1st page results in Google.com) in the search engines for terms related to the Bridal Extravaganza Show. I am talking about, hours after the post, I was indexed and ranked on the first page of Google for most of those keywords.

Luckily I use a visitor tracking program on my website and here are the results of the additional traffic and the keywords used to access my website.

For a Complete list of all the Google Tracking Details from my DJ in Houston Website Download the PDF Report Below.
2008_07_30-google-details-fhpentertainment

This report show ALL the traffic that came into my website as a result of Google.com only. In the month of July, Google.com provided me with 52% of my total monthly traffic, Yahoo 18%, and MSN/Live with 6% of my total monthly traffic. At the time of this post, July 30th, 2008 12:00 pm Central time, I’ve had a total of 3,651 visitors to my website this month. Note: This tracking program will count one person as 1 visitor for each day he or she visits the website. EX. if you visit it today, it will count you as 1 for the entire day (no matter how many times you return), if you visit it tomorrow it will count you again, so you become 2 visitors.

Now, I understand, these are just traffic numbers, they really don’t mean nothing to you until I report income as a result of that traffic.

All I can answer to that is that 85% of my DJ Business Income comes as a result of my website. I have one Ad in Premiere Bride Magazine, and that is ALL the advertising I do. Even that traffic is directed to my website.

Happy Bloggin!!

–
DJ Francisco
Blogger and DJ in Houston

Tags: bloggin, case study, google traffic, traffic, traffic pdf, traffic report
Read More Comments (0) Bloggin Case Study, traffic

For Serious Bloggers Only

DJ Francisco on July 30th, 2008

Are you ready for someone to show you the ropes on how to use your blog to make a lot of money?

Would you like to make additional income from your Business Blog?

Are you ready to work 2 (TWO) hours a day?

Want to know how the professionals do it?

How I Make Money Blogging

The Doors are already open for Yaro’s Blogmastermind Program, where he will take you by the hand and show you how he has done, and more importantly how easy it is for you to do it.

As an incentive for being a loyal BlogginforWeddingVendors.com reader, I am giving away one month free for one lucky reader who registers through this LINK-Bogmastermind Coaching Program.

If you sign up and pay for the entire course up front, you will save $85 dollars, and if you win the raffle, you will save a total of $182.

Head on over to Blogmastermind and get all the information about the program.

–
DJ Francisco

P.S.
This is the only course I have ever taken online and I can guarantee that it will open your eyes to new ideas and to specific tricks for you to do in order to generate more high quality content and a lot more profit from your blog. I would really recommend it to those of you who are starting out and have no clue of how to blog or what to blog about.

I ask you to just take one quick look at his website, read the information he has about his program and you can decide if this course is right for you.

Blogmastermind

Tags: blogmastermind, coaching, raffle, traffic
Read More Comments (0) traffic

An Interview with a Million Dollar Blogger

DJ Francisco on July 25th, 2008

Yaro Starak, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, has published a podcast interview with Alborz Fallah, a former Blog Mastermind student.

Alborz started writing about something he loved, Exotic Cars , and now he is making a full-time living from bloggin.

listen to the interview to hear how he did it: Audio Interview.

This is a great interview, and it explains at least one concept that you can use right away; writing the titles of your blog posts to get the most traffic to your website and to rank high for your targeted keywords. Also you can understand how to use what you yourself would type in the search engines to find your website. It will open your eyes and your mind to whole new world of online marketing.

Go now and listen to this Audio Interview.

Happy Bloggin

Tags: audio interview, Blog Mastermind, Exotic Cars, Million Dollar Blogger, Pro Blogger
Read More Comments (1) Bloggin Case Study, Search Engine Optimization, traffic