I recently started getting some traffic from a website which is Wedzilla.com. Being as curious as I am I decided to find out what it was, since it seemed to also include a Gmail.com value on the referring link. The website is collecting email addresses from Brides and Vendors, probably to send an email out when it is fully released to the public…

So what is Weddzilla.com?

It seems to be a site where brides can specify what they are looking for and allow for Wedding vendors to contact them through the website.

One of their motto’s is, “When Vendors Compete, Your Budget Wins.”

Here is a little more information about them from a page on Yournoodle.com

Who:
Brides – Stop contacting vendors 1 by 1 – Post what you need for free and Weddzilla.com brings the vendors to you!
Vendors – Stop waiting for a bride to contact you – browse Weddzilla.com now to find the perfect bride!

What:
Weddzila.com is a unique new website does the dirty work of planning a wedding for you. Brides can relax knowing that Weddzilla.com will do the tedious job of finding the perfect vendors for your wedding and vendors finally have a resource to browse local brides that are in need of their expert advice and services! Weddzilla.com was designed to help Brides and Vendors come together to ensure a picture perfect event!

When:
Use Weddzilla.com anytime to plan your perfect Wedding!

Where:
Find vendors & brides at Weddzilla.com, get vendor advice and wedding tips on our Blog, and visit our booth at a bridal show near you!

Why:
Weddzilla.com was created by a bride after dozens of unanswered phone calls and passed deadlines caused her to ask, “Why can’t the vendors just come to me?” Weddzilla.com was created for future brides with one goal in mind — to simplify the planning of her most important day! Weddzilla.com will never overload you with useless tools, bad advice, long checklists, or anything else that will add stress or make planning your wedding more tedious than necessary. Brides won’t become a Bridezilla as Weddzilla.com does the work…for FREE!

When doing my research, I also found that it seems to be a site built by a bride and groom but their idea for Weddzlila.com started out in 2008, so who knows exactly when the site will be released… however, according to the site, Yournoodle.com thier traffic to their website seems to be increasing over time… so they do have the attention of a large market and it seems that people are really liking the concept. Now if only the website could be released!

We wish them luck, as it seems that when they do release the site, it will be a major site that people will flock to join!

Happy Bloggin!
|o| Simply Frank |o|

Reaching the top of the Google.com Search Engine Results is pretty straight foreword with good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as I have proven it wit several websites; Most my own and a few are close friends who are completely clueless about SEO. Once they understand the basic concept, they easily achieve it.  It is challenging, and it even may seem like it’s never going to happen, but with consistent work, it’s ‘easily’ accomplished.

Even more challenging, is staying at the top for years and years to come. It takes consistent efforts of; playing by the rules, staying informed about current methods of SEO, and applying everything you’ve learned thus far.

This morning I was completely surprised that I have reached, once again, the #1 position in Google for the search Term, “DJ in Houston.”

There was a person with extensive SEO knowledge, probably a lot more then me, that went out and did things I don’t even know about, and withing weeks he was #1 on the Google Search results for “DJ in Houston.”

So when that happened, I became #2 and stayed #2 for over a year, which I was fine with. I didn’t stress nor did I try hard to achieve a #1 spot, I was staying busy and I was getting the business I wanted from the #2 spot. I never went lower than the #2 spot.

Today, I opened up the website, Google.com, and as I do about 2 or 3 times a month, I searched for the term, “DJ in Houston,” and to my surprise I turned up to be the #1 result and the person in question was bumped way down, lower than the #2 position.

Now, I have a few theories of why this happened so I will share them with you, in hopes that you can too reach the top of the search engines, just like my friend Audrey, from Events By Audrey, who is now at the top of the search engine results for her targeted keywords.

Theory #1: I’ve Been Doing It The Right Way

Just like everything else in this world, there is a right way of online marketing and there is a not-so-right way of online marketing. The not-so-right way of online marketing is known as Black Hat SEO. These are tricks that work, and work fast, but their practice are usually frowned upon and not tolerated by the major search engines. These tricks include; Hiding keywords into your pages (Example, white text on a white background), Meta Keyword Stuffing, Doorway Pages, and Link Farming. For more information read the Top 5 White Hat and Black Hat Search Optimisation Techniques.

Theory #2: I’ve Become Active Online

I’ve recently started participating in forums where the subject is the DJ industry. As a Wedding DJ, I felt I had something to say and I wanted to get feedback from other DJ around the world. So I researched some forums and started participating and putting my ideas out there to be heard.  Some agree with the ideas and some, strongly disagree with the ideas, even though reason that I provide them with my ideas is to help them out. Some people are so attached to their way of doing it that if you try to suggest to them a way to improve (even after they ask for it), it seems to backfire on you and before you know it, they are attacking not only your ideas, but you personally, without even getting to know you. Being active works on this principle: You participate on the forums, get well known, and people visit your site and Google can see that you are an active leader on your field.  So be sure if you do decide to participate on forums, that you include a link to your website (s) on the signature of your posts.

Theory #3: Uninformed Competition

This is the key to it all. I’ve almost hesitated giving this one out but, I guess if I want to help you out, as my regular reader, I’ve got to give you all my tools. Most people do very little to get to the top of the search engine results. They become complaisant, they stop trying when they don’t get what they want, they are following the wrong tips to getting to the top, they are focused on too many tasks at once, or they simply don’t know anything and don’t care to find out! When I realized that about the DJ industry, my heart and my thoughts started running 199 miles per hour with  ideas, plans, techniques, to-do’s (I’ve never been a to-do list type of person), and so on. I quickly found out how easy it is to get to the top… BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS REALLY TRYING TO REACH THE TOP… and this has been so for the last 5 years, well with the exception of the person mentioned at the top of this article.

I will keep it at 3 theories… I have more but they fall under these top three. One thing to notice is that Facebook had almost nothing to do with the fact that I am at the top of the search engines, and I’ve recently done little to no Twitting so I’m almost sure that had nothing to do with it. I’ve also done little to no blogging on my website, but I have done enough, about 1 post every 2 weeks just to keep the search engines coming back to my website and so they know I’m still active on my site.

Hope it helps you understand a little more. If you have a question or comment, don’t hesitate to leave it down there, and feel free to post a link to your website… as it will definitely help you out!

Happy Bloggin!

|o| Simply Frank |o|
Wedding Marketing Expert

Wedding Marketing Case Study Continued…

Well on my last post I started to a Wedding Keyword Marketing Case Study about a client of mine who allowed me to share her website statistics. I guess it’s time I post on here the conclusion, to that case study…

I will post statistics from August of 2009 even though it is the beginning of November just so that I can show you how quickly the search engines picked up her website and started showing it to her clients

Wedding Marketing Keyword Results (August 2009)

So let’s see, Now her website is ranked for ALL the keywords she was after, even though she is not highly ranked for some, she at least is ranked for most of them now.

The more popular keywords she is now ranked in the first page of the search engines.

Once again, the process is simple, and with the help of some very basic search engine optimization, her website is now picked up by all the search engines…

What is the Wedding Website in Question?

The website In question is Our Coordinator Friend, Events By Audrey… at http://www.EventsByAudrey.com.

How is her website doing now?

Why not check for yourself, today, if you were to go to Google.com and search for “Wedding Coordinator in Houston” you should see her website rank #3 or #4 on the search engine results.

Click the following link to see for yourself ( it will open up a new window)
Wedding Coordinator in Houston

Conclusion

Getting your website ranked high on the search engines is not hard work.

The steps taken for this case study were:

1. Search for Wedding Coordinator Keywords
2. Eliminate Blogspot.com, Blogger.com, and Wordpress.com
3. Install the Wordpress.org Blog on http://www.eventsbyaudrey.com domain
4. Install a FREE wordpress.org theme and edit it to fit our needs
5. Do some basic SEO
6. Blog at least 1 time per week

How easy is that? Besides 1 or 2 semi-technical steps, the rest is pretty easy and basic and now EVERY Blog post that Audrey Creates will benefit her and help her website increase her traffic.

Happy Bloggin!!

|o| Simply Frank |o|

I was inspired to write today because one of my readers sent me a friendly reminder that I have an interesting blog, but that I had not posted since JULY!!!!

That’s like the #1 rule of blogging that I broke, post often.

Due to many things going on in life like, my PHOTO BOOTH Rental business growing tremendously, My Houston DJ Service business BOOMING with events, dedicating as much time to my wife and daughters as possible (there is never enough time in the world for that) and maintaining a ‘regular job’ from Monday through Friday… I’ve left blogging to the side.

Blogging is an important part of any online business. I’ve grown two very successful businesses through blogging and I’ve helped countless other people do the same. I guess because of my success that I’ve already achieved I’ve left blogging alone for, well now going on two months. It has not affected my bottom line, I have established both of my wedding vendor websites on the first page of Google.com for my targeted keywords and the business has been so steady that I actually turn away business on a daily basis.

But that is no excuse to find an hour a day to dedicate to my blogging habits.

Wedding Marketing News

As time goes on, I am finding out that more and more Wedding vendors are creating new blogs incorrectly. And that is by going to the FREE blogging platforms and getting a blog started on Wordpress.com, Blogger.com or Blogspot.com.

Those who spend the extra $50 to have a blog installed on their domain name will almost instantly see the effects of it.

When you get a free blog at wordpress.com, for example, your domain name is
my-wedding-blog.wordpress.com.
So wordpress.com gets credit for everything you post and all the traffic that you generate.  Your website will never get any credit for that. Why is that important? Well the reason you blog is #1 to attract readers to your blog and #2 to attract traffic for the search engines… in order of importance. And in the hopes that those readers or that traffic converts into a lead and then into a client.

When you get a blog at your website, my-website.com, for example, the blog would be
my-blog.my-website.com
and all the traffic generated by your blogging efforts will go to my-website.com. So every time you create a new blog post, the search engines start ranking your website since it is hosted by you, not the FREE blogging websites.

Getting a blog through blogger, blogspot, or wordpress.com is free and easy for many reasons …

1. All your hard efforts WILL go unrewarded, the FREE Hosts get ALL the benefits
2. Your website will NOT get credit for any new traffic that you generate (Traffic is key to any website). the FREE Hosts get ALL the traffic benefits
3. It is NOT a professional way to blog (Kinda like printing your own business cards at home)
4. Whenever you post a new blog post, the search engines WILL NOT index your site, the FREE Hosts get ALL the benefits
5. Your Website WILL NOT move up in the search engine rankings for your targeted keywords, the FREE Hosts get ALL the benefits
6. You CANNOT target your keywords effectively, the FREE Hosts get ALL the benefits
7. YOU DON”T OWN YOUR BLOG!!! (At anytime, for any reason they can take it away and leave you back at NOTHING). This has happened over and over again and why would you risk someone taking away your blog? All the hard work and brainstorming that you have done… GONE, in an instant, no warning, to time to back up, no time to save or transfer your previous posts… just GONE!

Do you remember when websites first came out, NOBODY wanted to invest in putting their website on their very own domain name. People would go to the free hosting places like Geocities or AOL and they would put that address on their website on their Professionally designed business cards. I can even remember people not wanting to tell others they had a website for that same reason… they were ashamed of it… cuz it was free, or very badly developed. Man how times have changed.

Now, YOU KNOW you must put your website on your own domain name because it looks more professional.
Today, we are in the same situation with blogging. We don’t now what is the best way to do it, so we see what others are doing and we figure, hey if they are doing it, why can’t I? Right?  Save yourself a few years of going in the wrong direction.  PUT YOUR BLOG ON YOUR DOMAIN NAME.

I would NOT recommend that you go out and buy a new domain name for your blog as it will also not help you in your quest for more traffic and better search engine results.

Here are the top 5 Reasons I’ve discovered of why hosting your blog on your already-existing domain name helps your search engine rankings.

1. Every time  you post a new article, the blogging software automatically pings, or tells the search engines, that there is some new content on your webstie.  Search Engines LOVE new, unique content, so they visit your website and add it to their search results.
2. Every Post increases your page count. This is important because the more pages that you have the more authority that your site builds up.
3. You can target MORE keywords that you are going after. So if you find a new keyword that you want to rank for, you simply write a new post about it, do some search engine optimization and before you know it you will be ranked for those keywords. I used this to get ranked for Wedding Venues in the houston area, up lighting, etc…
4. Your clients only need to remember 1 domain name.
5. It is the most effective use of your time.

So spend some money, to the right thing and host your blog on your professional website. You will almost immediately see the power of a blog!

Happy Bloggin!

|o| Simply Frank |o|

Bloggin Wedding DJ in Houston

Did you know you could use your blog to easily increase and climb up the search engine results?

Disclaimer: This will not work for you if your blog is hosted on a 3rd party host such as blogspot.com, blogger.com, typepad.com, wordpress.com, or any other FREE blogging host.

Here is a bit of background on this subject.

Did you know that if Google.com does not find many relevant websites that contain the keyword phrase that a user is looking for, they will just start adding results that Google thinks may be relevant to the search results? Most of the time they really are not even close to what the user is searching for. If you EVER see anything like this, it’s clear that there are very little to no websites out there that are targeting those keywords.

Let me give you a live example, because I suck at explaining concepts…

A few days ago, and I do mean Days, I was not even close to being ranked for the keywords “Gobo Design Houston.”  In fact the top spots were for very non related websites. There was one gobo design company in Houston and the rest were either from California, Gobo Manufacturers (not designers), and well wedding DJ’s from other cities and states.

What that means is that there either were very little to none actual websites that Google could show to people looking for a GOBO Designer in Houston or some poorly optimized websites of gobo designers.

I wrote a short article entitled, “Gobo Designs in Houston” and Viola!!!  My Website is Ranked #3 & #4 for the keywords “Gobo Design Houston” Not only That, I received a couple of  unrequested links to my website with the same keywords, a Digg and they are ranked #1, #2 &#10 for those keywords.

So Where I was not even ranked before, I now  own 5 of the 10 positions on the front page of the search engine results. It took actually a few minutes to an Hour for my website to be ranked so high with those keywords…

WHY?

As stated before…

1. Lack of competition
2. lack of websites targeting those words
3. lack of knowledge from business owners who are targeting those keywords.

What’s in it for me?

More business! More income! More Clients! More people going through my sales funnel and not only needing gobo design, but possibly even a DJ or a Photo Booth!

This is a great example of bloggin for the sole purpose of increasing Traffic to your website.  Additionally, be sure to track your traffic to see where it comes from and how you can use this one idea to increase traffic by capturing related terms to this search keyword.

There you have it, now go out and try it for yourself, be sure to use the google keyword analytics tool as discussed on the post on how to “Grow Your Wedding Traffic, One Simple Technique to Try” to gather ideas for keywords you may want to target.

Give it a try!!

Happy Bloggin!

–
|o| Simply Frank |o|
Bloggin Wedding DJ