I check my website stats from time to time and it helps me see not only how my visitors arrive to my website, but it also springs new ideas into my head about articles I should be writing. If enough people are looking for that information on the web, then obviously there is a need for that information on the web. Creating a blog post that is useful and informative helps you achieve that expert status with your clients when they do go through your blog digging for information about your products and/or services.

Below are the top 5 keywords used Yesterday to arrive on my website. If you notice, most of these keywords signify, to me, that the bride or potential client, is in the research stage of their planning (gathering information/research) process… the perfect spot for your name to enter their minds. You know what they say in marketing, the sooner your name enters your client’s mind, the better of a chance you have of winning that client over.

So here are the keywords used to arrive at my sites, organized by search engine, then in order of hits, from Higher to lower. For the Google.com results, I will add a link to the article that is ranking high on the search engine results… Or you could just go to Google.com and type the keyword or copy and paste it into the search bar and see for yourself how high I rank… All of these are on the first page of Google.com…

Site: FHPEntertainment.com

Google.com

1. responsibilities of a dj
2. houston bridal extravaganza 2010
3. list of cumbia songs
4. quinceanera songs
5. guidelines for master of ceremony
6. BONUS: architectural dj uplighting

Yahoo.com

1. quinceañera songs
2. marbella ballroom houston
3. popular spanish wedding songs
4. list of songs to dance for my quinceanera fun dance
5. GOBO’s wedding dancefloor

Bing.com

1. Quinceanera Speech
2. Bridal Extravaganza Houston
3. Dj Insurances
4. Popular DJ Songs
5. Cake Cutting Songs in Spanish

Site: HoustonPartyBooths.com

Google.com

1. photo booth template
2. photo booth rental houston
3. picture booth rentals and houston
4. photo booth
5. photo booth for bat mitzvah

Yahoo.com

1. houstonpartybooths.com
2. photobooth in houston to rent

Bing.com

1. rent a photo booth in houston

It may seem like my website, Houstonpartybooths.com does not rank high for Yahoo or Bing.com, but it is actually ranked number one for many keywords… So that leads me to the conclusion that most people still use and trust Google.com for their research.

I hope this helps you see what people are looking for on the net and how you can get inspired for new ides to write articles about  your line of work.

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

Did you know you can strategically use your website to track your Bridal Show success?

If you are interested in knowing how successful a bridal show is, then you must read on!

If you are like any other vendor out there, chances are that your current system for tracking how successful a bridal show is, is by asking the bride, when she calls you, how she heard about your services… right?

To which she responds either, I don’t know, from an online inquiry, a Google search, I’m on your website right now, a friend referred her, or from ‘one of the bridal shows you did.’

I got the last answer even when I did not attend any bridal shows, so how effective is asking the bride? Not so effective, and that’s probably the reason you don’t ask them anymore.

So what do I need to track bridal show success?

1. Set up a Landing page for your Bridal Show and send bridal show attendees there.
2. Next, you will need to set up an account on Google Analytics so that you can track how many people visit the landing page.
3. Finally, you will need a Constant Contact – Free Trial or you could use our Email Marketing Software but it’s only open to select customers that are interested in it.

The Process?

The Landing Page

So the first thing you need to do is create a Landing page on your website and DIRECT visitors of that Bridal Show directly to that page. Usually a postcard, price list, or coupon with a direct link to that page (Not your main page) does the trick. Have a special offer for visitors of the bridal show as an incentive for them. Brides love to feel like they saved money and they love to get stuff for free! Well, then again who doesn’t.

I have only attended the Bridal Extravaganza Show in Houston and the first time I attended, back in January 2006, I realized I need a way to track exactly how many brides I was able to book as a result of having a booth there. I created a simple page with the benefits my brides were going to receive from using my services. Experienced Master of Ceremonies, Elegant Entertainment, Bilingual Announcements, Great Dj with Great Music, etc… I place that page to where only those brides can access it and I place that web address on my price sheet or on my postcard. Then I told them to visit that website to sign up for the Discount, raffle, special offer, etc..

The website I used for my January 2008 Bridal Extravaganza show was http://www.fhpentertainment.com/be-offer. It does not have to be extravagant, but it does have to be well thought.

Next, I experimented with different offers. Free Bubble Machine, Free Basic Lighting, $100 Discount if they booked within a few weeks of visiting my website, a raffle, etc… They all worked almost the same. The discount worked almost to well.

Finally I asked them to Take Action. I put a form at the end of the page where I ask for their Name, Phone Number, Email Address, and Wedding/Event Date. This form submits their information into my Email Marketing Program; Ex. Your Constant Contact Account.

Tracking with Google’s Free Analytics Program

This is a Fantastic tool to use. It’s free, it does a great job of tracking where your visitors land and where your visitors exit your website, and you can set up campaigns to measure your website’s success. But campaigns will not be covered in this post. That would just make it too long to read. 

This is very powerful information because you will not only see how successful your bridal show presence was, but you will also see how well your website ranks, how many visitors you are getting a day, where are they coming from, where are they leaving, are they visiting your website and NOT CALLING your or EMAILING you, etc…

All successful online marketers use some form of analytics program. You should too!

Email Marketing Program

The great thing about using an email marketing program is that you can set it to automatically respond to your bride with a personalized email. So the instant she clicks on that submit button, she has a well thought out email sent to her directly letting her know how excited you are that she contacted you, how you look foreword to working with her and that you will be contacting her soon. And you will. Also by having your email in her inbox, she will easily remember you and know who you are: “The one who immediately replied to her inquiry.”

Another great thing about using an email marketing program such as Constant Contact is that you have a manageable list of brides in one location where you can keep track of and you will know that all those brides came from one source: A recent bridal show you attended.

Summary

That’s the 1-2-3 Punch I’ve used to great success tracking those brides that want your information first before they book you as well as those brides that in the process of choosing between two vendors. The only difference, as stated before, is that I do not use constant contact, I actually use my own email marketing program which I feel is a lot better and EASIER to use than Constant Contact.

Initially all this may seem like a lot of work to do, but it’s not. Once you go through the registration processes, all you have to do is update your Landing Page and if you’d like you can create a new list in the email marketing program you decide to use.

Using this system you will not only know how successful your bridal show was, but if you set it up correctly and use some great compelling words in your Landing page, you will even convert more Non-Bride Customers into clients.

Happy Bloggin!

–

DJ Francisco
Blogger at a Houston DJ Company: FHP Entertainment