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

Read More Comments (0) Getting Started

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

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

Read More Comments (0) traffic

How POWERFUL can your Blog be?

DJ Francisco on June 24th, 2008

Every Post I write has specific objective, whether it’s to inform, to teach, or to prove something to work, I write to create something useful for my readers.

Most people still don’t trust blogs as a form of marketing, or think it’s not worth the time and effort, or whatever excuse they’ve made up in order not to jump into bloggin’. So this post is for those of you…

In my Houston DJ website, I recently published an article promoting the upcoming Houston Bridal Extravaganza Show, the main objective is, of course, to inform my readers and to make them aware of the show and how successful it can be to attend. I think all brides will find it useful, so I promoted it because I believe in it. The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) objective is, of course to rank high for the words Houston Bridal Extravaganza Show, on the search engines and have the brides click on my link and get some free publicity that way.

This can be referred to as white hat SEO, since I am not doing anything illegal or anything that goes against any ethics. I am simply using the power of my blog to put my website in front of where I think the brides will go, by providing valuable information to them… as a result Google.com awards me with a very high ranking for my website.

Want Proof?

Google (without quotes): “Houston Bridal Extravagazna Show”, “Bridal Extravaganza Show”, or “Houston Bridal Extravaganza” and see the results for yourselves. Also notice how you will get different results for each set of keywords.

If you notice, my DJ in Houston Website, FHPEntertainment.com shows up in the top of the search results (in cases over huge corporate websites like the Houston Chronicle: See Picture above), and that’s only because of the length of time that I’ve been bloggin’ consistently. Again, the hardest part is getting started.

So, this is just one of the perks of consistent bloggin’, building up great content for both the search engines and the readers.

Oh, and of course the end results is, more visiting my website, seeing my name and face, and of course getting to trust me because I’m everywhere.

Happy Bloggin!

–
DJ Francisco
Bloggin DJ in Houston

Read More Comments (3) Bloggin Case Study, Search Engine Optimization

Landing Pages What are they and how can they be used effectively

DJ Francisco on May 9th, 2008

So what exactly are Landing Pages?

You learn something new everyday, that’s the great thing about life, just when you think you’ve got the hang of something, you find out there is a better, faster, more effective way to do it.

Today I am truly inspired by one small change I made to my website that literally, overnight, improved my responses… I am still in shock of happiness for this discovery…

What did I do ???

Well, first let me give you a background story…

I subscribe to a lot of blogs, newsletters, and websites which have great information that helps me on many things; my website, my personal life, my search engine marketing, etc.. Now I don’t read them all everyday, but I do read the headlines and if there is something appealing or eye-catching, I will read the rest of the article. Realize that your customers do the exact same thing.

A few days ago I received an email that Stompernet Going Natural 3.0 was about to be released. Now I’m sure a lot of you have no clue what Stompernet is. Let me give a small explanation.

Stompernet, according to their website is…

It’s a shortcut to making money online. It’s a business-building library of cutting-edge content. And it’s a network of like-minded entrepreneurs who constantly compare notes on how to run a successful online business.

It’s an unfair advantage over your competition.

StomperNet is many things, but it boils down to this. It’s THE program that teaches you everything need to know to start, grow, and explode your online business.

No matter how you make your money online.

And to prove their success, they released a video that will really make you question your website’s design and usability structure.

It made me question mine and I thought I had a pretty successful online presence.

Watch their video and find out for yourself, just a small warning, the video is over 50 minutes long of really good information, stats, specific examples, specific adwords tricks, eye tracking tests, etc.. you can use to improve income.

Watch the videos here: Stompernet Going Natural 3.0

I watched it and did JUST ONE THING as a result of watching the videos and overnight I had 4 inquiries for future business. To put that into perspective, my last method averaged 4-6 inquiries a week, last night I received 4 in just a few hours of implementation. I’m filled with joy!

What did you do?

I improved my landing page…

What is a Landing Page?

Ok, that’s too much info, what the heck is a landing page anyways?

A landing page… are you ready for this… is where people land on your website…

BUT… It’s critical for your online success. WHY?

Because most of your website visitors will NOT visit any other page, so you get just one try… EVER… to convert them into cash…. err customers.

So, again, are landing pages important?

no…

THEY ARE CRITICAL!

What are some different Landing Page Examples?

For starters, your home page is naturally a landing page, it’s probably your most important landing page.

If you have no technique for capturing your visitors, then you are missing out on A LOT of extra income. People who come to your site as a result of your business cards, your search results, your magazine ads, your newspaper ads, your mail outs, they all visit your home page as a default.

Remember, you just have one chance to capture them…

Here are other ideas for landing pages, however they do take a lot more work and brain power, but the results are worth it.

I created a few different landing pages on my website for different occasions, and here they are.

• For Email Marketing
• Trade Show Marketing (Ex. Bridal Extravaganza)
• Adwords Campaigns
• Magazine Ads (Ex. Premier Bride)
• Weddings and Quinceañeras (My Specialties)
• Business Cards (Started it but dropped it)
• Preferred Vendors

The idea behind all this is that I wanted to have a way to track all my marketing dollars and to see what was working the best so that I could spend the bulk of my marketing budget on. As opposed to blindly spending thousands of dollars and not knowing if it worked or not.

How does it work and why?

Now, to make it easier for me, I used the main basic idea for all my landing pages, and in most part the same information…

I Gave them an offer, an incentive, a discount, or any other motive for them to either call me or give me their information so that I could contact them.

That’s it! That’s the magic behind it… well I also added the benefits of selecting my service over my competition… But everyone does that…

Hmm… come to think of it… many people also think of giving away a discount or an incentive… so what’s so different and specail about mine?

THE placement (architecture) of it!!!!

It’s accessible, it’s visible, it’s THE ONLY ACTION they can take at that time…

To be exact here is what I did.

I added a form, right after all the benefits I offer

And at that time, once they get all the great information they want, that is the only action they can take, so they DO!!!

Visit the website so you can see for yourself: DJ in Houston.

Well, this turned out to be a long post, longer than I expected, but I was motivated, what can I say. I just found out something that created a lot of joy in my life.

Happy Bloggin

–
DJ Francisco
Blogger at http://www.FHPEntertainment.com

Read More Comments (1) Landing Pages, traffic

Where Bloggers Get Their Biggest Levels of Traffic

DJ Francisco on May 5th, 2008

A recent poll on Problogger.net, What is the Biggest Source of Traffic to Your Blog?, reveals the current method most bloggers are getting their traffic. It’s no surprise that 46% of the bloggers who participated on this poll get most of their traffic through Google.

See the results to find other ideas to generating traffic to your blog. Social Media (Myspaces, Facebook, Stumbleupon, Digg, etc…) is in second place and those are the easiest ways for beginning bloggers to get traffic to their webstie. The name of the article is Where Bloggers Get Their Biggest Levels of Traffic, and you can find i Here.

Happy Bloggin!

–
DJ Francisco, Houston
Wedding Vendor Blogger

Read More Comments (0) Bloggin Case Study, Getting Started, traffic

10 Ways Blogs will Increase Traffic to your Wedding Vendor Website

DJ Francisco on April 30th, 2008

Many people who live in the offline world have a hard time understanding how a blog can drive traffic to their website. Some see blogs as a waste of time and others think it’s hard to keep up with a blog. They lose motivation so they stop posting to their blogs and as a result start to say that blogs don’t work.

The mentality is different from running your business offline and running your blog and business online. And changing your mentality from what you have worked so hard to do over so many years to incorporate new technology is hard, extremely hard as John Chow states in his Blog.

So understanding that Blogs are the Holy Grail to online marketing may be a bit hard to swallow. Well they can be if you work them correctly and understand how they can increase your current traffic.

Here are 10 Ways Blogs will increase Traffic to your Wedding Website!

1. Host your Blog on Your own Domain
   Your blog is going to bring in a lot of traffic, there is absolutely no doubt about that. However if you start a blog away from your domain name, guess where all that traffic will go to? You guessed it, it’s going to your blog, where ever it is. It’s not going to magically transfer that traffic over to your website. Additionally, it looks less professional to have a blog in one place and a business website in another place. It feels like there’s two of you and it could potentially lead to distrust.
2. Participate in Related Forums or Blogs
   Remember you are trying to establish an online presence and provide us with a little bit of your experience. Don’t worry, nobody is going to steal your ides, besides most ideas are not new nor are they original, they are all borrowed, so why not share them back. What it will do is establish yourself in the minds of your readers, whether they are brides or other vendors / bloggers, as an expert in your field. And if your participation is of high quality, then you will gain followers, who want to know what you are all about, back to your blog. Since most bloggin platforms and forums allow you to place a link in your comment, the more you participate in forums or blogs, the more links to your website you will create, and back links to your website are very important in building traffic to your website.
3. Cover topics that need attention NOW
   If you have strong beliefs about a particular topic in your industry or a current event. This is the place to vent it out, express your beliefs on the topic, and share your thoughts with others might (or might not) agree with you. For example, I believe that a DJ’s is very important in the outcome of a wedding, so I would hope and expect that other DJ’s do a lot to prepare for a wedding both professionally and personally. A lot of problems come because of personal misunderstandings, so I believe that wedding vendors should invest A LOT in their personal development. Depending on your topic, you too can voice your opinion on things like that and additionally on current events.
4. Quality Content (Can’t stress that enough)
   Quality content is key. If people can read your blog, understand your view, and feel like you are providing them with a value, an answer to their problems, then they will want to come back for more.
5. Create Some Buzz
   Attending a bridal show? Do you have a current discount this month? Did you make the cover of a local newspaper? Are you launching a new product line? Are you expanding your services? THEN Blog about it!!! People want what’s new and on the cutting edge.
6. Build and use and Email List
   Email Lists… all blogs and online businesses should have one. They are a great source of traffic to your website and for some businesses they are the bloodline to their success.
7. Do an interview with someone well known
   This serves as two purposes. One, you feed the person’s ego, which will motivate him to talk about you and your interview as well as where they can find it (Hint: Your Blog). Additionally, it connects you and puts you on the same level as that person’s perceived image. This is called social proof. Most people feel they can trust you easier if they have proof that others trust you.
8. Be the first in your field to build a quality blog
   Don’t just be the first in your field to have a blog, be the first to have a quality blog. A blog that updates it’s content often and provides answers to problems or helpful advice. Your audience will be brides that NEEEED good advice and help on something they have never done in their entire life. Be the go to person in your field. In turn, they will tell their friends and family about your website and your blog. Again, if your blog is in your website this applies if it’s off site, then chances are they will be directed to wherever your blog is.
9. Join the Social Networking Medias
   Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, etc… these are all terms you must familiarize yourself with and join these services. There are many more and they all can and will drive a lot of traffic if help them, help you. I got 6 Weddings of Myspace alone, in 2007.
10. Be Patient
    Patience (lack of), the #1 killer of success. If you stop watering your seed just before it breaks through the ground, you will never be able to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. Bloggin Works, I know first hand, and there were many, many, many times where I asked myself; “Am I wasting my time? DJ in Houston: Google #1 Ranking (on 04/29/2008). I’ve had not only online success but also offline success. I’ve gotten calls from newspapers asking me for advice on something related to the wedding industry, which drive more traffic to my website.

These Ten Techniques for driving traffic to your Wedding Vendor Blog are a compilation of what I use to drive traffic and from advice I’ve gotten from other, more established bloggers. One article I read was 5 Ways to Increase your Blog Traffic by Darren Rowse:ProBlogger.com and the other, post is by Seth Godin’s 54 56 Ways to Get Traffic to your Blog, which is also linked to from Darren Rowse’s Blog. Since they helped me out just by reading their articles, I link to them as a thank you and so other readers, like yourself can visit their blogs.

Happy Bloggin!

DJ Francisco, Houston
Wedding Vendor Blogger

Read More Comments (0) Getting Started, traffic

Track Traffic = More Visitors = More Money

DJ Francisco on April 10th, 2008

Tracking your visitors is essential to your website’s success. Not only do you want to know how many visitors your website is getting, you also want to know where they are going, or how they are leaving your website.

As a wedding vendor, you have only a small amount of time to capture your bride’s attention, offer them something they want or need, and get them to take some sort of action.

Once they are gone from your website, there is a good chance they are never coming back. If there is nothing compelling them to call you or email you, you’ve lost that bride or potential client for good.

If you know nothing about copy writing, now is the time to find out about it and use some copy writing techniques to compel your visitors to take action.

What is Copy Writing:

Copywriting is the process of writing the words that promote a person, business, opinion, or idea. It may be used as plain text, as a radio or television advertisement, or in a variety of other media. The main purpose of writing this marketing copy, or promotional text, is to persuade the listener or reader to act — to buy a product or subscribe to a certain viewpoint, for instance. Alternatively, copy might also be intended to dissuade a reader from a particular belief or action. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copywriting

In short, copywriting is a technique, or techniques, where by you, the website owner, arrange the words on your site to instill trust, inform about your product or service, and get your reader to want your product or service over your competition.

Quite simply put, if your visitors are leaving your website without taking action, it’s not because your website is ugly (well not entirely), or because you have bad information, or because you don’t differentiate yourself from the competition…

It’s because you don’t use a copywriting technique that does all that and then compels your reader to take an action; to call you, to email you, to subscribe to your newsletter, to subscribe to your blog, etc.

But you can’t know that if you don’t track your visitors and what pages they visit, what pages they exit your website from, what pages they land on, what search engine terms they use to arrive at your website etc…

By knowing all this, you can find out exactly where your website need improvement and thus you are able to maximize your time and efforts on improving only that portion of your site.

OK, already I’m convinced, but what are my options?

It’s a good thing you asked.

Visitor Tracking Options

I use a free software that I installed on my website. It’s called Trace Watch, and you can download it from their website at www.tracewatch.com. Installing it may be a job for someone more technically inclined, like your web guy.

Your other option is to use, Google.com’s analytic program. This one may be more convenient because all you have to do is add a few lines of code to your pages and they do all the tracking. There is no additional software to install. It’s free, it’s good, and it will do just about everything you need. The only thing it won’t do that Trace Watch does is that it will not give you every page that your visitor visits. Read more about it at Google Analytics.

In conclusion, if you are able to find the leaks, so to speak, of your website, then you will be able to plug them by filling them up with the content that your visitors are looking for or will compel them to take any form of action. By capturing those confused website visitors, you will in turn get more money from your website.

Happy Bloggin!

–
Francisco H. Perez
Wedding Blogger!

Read More Comments (0) Search Engine Optimization

Related Search Engine Terms

DJ Francisco on April 8th, 2008

As I mentioned before, blogging is a great way to get in front of the bride that is looking for information related to your topic, niche, or business.

In my previous Post, How to Blog, I mentioned I am trying to attract the brides that are looking for a Wedding DJ in Houston, Houston Wedding DJ, Houston Bilingual DJ, Houston DJ, DJ in Houston, etc… and those are the terms that are booking my DJ services, however, there are terms that are less popular and may even be searched once a year but they still bring in Customers and there is really no way to know about them. Since the website, www.fhpentertainment.com, has a lot of content built up, it gets traffic for keywords that I have never imagined it would get traffic for. Here is a short list of keywords that people used just Yesterday, April 7th, 2008.

Google.com Search Terms

1. houston april 6 bridal show featured photographers
2. Houston Quinceanera photography
3. costs to rent ballrooms in Houston
4. dress sweet xv
5. good DJs in Houston
6. master of ceremonies duties
7. houston bridal extravaganza show January pictures
8. top requested songs of 2007
9. party halls in houston
10. Bridal Show At reliant

Yahoo.com Search Terms

1. weddings halls in houston
2. happymoments wedding website
3. top 2007 wedding songs
4. wedding exit songs
5. mascorro photography
6. latino bridal show and quinceanera in houston
7. latin songs weddings
8. father daughter quinceanera songs
9. quince dj in houston
10. Galveston yachts for affordable parties and Houston, TX

Some are related to my topic and some are related to the entire industry. They only reason they are arriving at my website is that I have a lot of content related to the search terms above. Also, one thing most people don’t realize is that the term, “DJ in Houston,” will get different results than “good DJs in Houston.”

Also, this is just for ONE DAY, a day which I received 142 unique visits, 162 sessions (some visitors came back to my website), 543 hits/page views, 42 Google.com visitors, and 22 Yahoo.com Visitors.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a lot of visitors. Of course not all of them book or request my information. Yesterday I received 3 NEW email inquiries and 2 NEW PHONE inquiries. Not bad for one source of Marketing. A month I am getting anywhere from 5-20 email inquiries. That is 20 people that liked what they read and wanted me to contact them via email.

I could go on, but you get the idea, bloggin’ is a great tool that very few wedding vendors tap into. The ones who do, do not understand the power or how to properly utilize a blog.

How to find your search engine terms

Here is a quick tip on how to find your search engine terms. Replace your business niche, category, or profession with the terms I am aiming for in my own blog. Example:Change “DJ in Houston” for “Photographer in Houston” and see where your website ranks in Google.com, Yahoo.com, or MSN.com. If you don’t see it anywhere, we’ve got some work to do.

Next, go to Google.com and use their free keyword tool. Type the keywords you think brides might use to find your website, and see how popular they are and how much money advertisers are spending on those keywords.

It may be a bit complicated for some people, but try it anyways, it’s free and you will gain a lot of knowledge just by typing in one word… Go Try it now… Click Here

^Here’s to Bloggin’

–

Francisco Perez
Owner of the Wedding DJ Blog at www.fhpentertainment.com

Read More Comments (3) Search Engine Optimization

Premier Bride 04-01-2008 Meeting Bullet Points

DJ Francisco on April 3rd, 2008

Here is a summary of some of the stuff covered at the meeting. Some we did not get to because of a lack of time.

1. Online Traffic
2. Web Usability
3. Email Marketing

Online Traffic

• Need a Website
• Identify Targeted Keywords
• SEO For Targeted Keywords
• Search Engines Love Content
• Best Way to do this W/ a Blog
• Most Major Business Have a Blog
• Blogs are nothing but content
• Content can be used to targe to your search terms

Website Usability

• Do Not Confuse Visitors with Links
• Website Should Direct Traffic
• Sales Copy
• Customer Should Call or Email you
• Why? - They take an Action
• Tracking Visitors Google Analytics

Email Marketing?

• What email marketing is not
• Spam, Send same email continuously, insult customer
• Send Information Strategically
• Personal
• Build Relationship
• Keep In contact with customer until he sings your contract
• Surveys, Reviews, Thank yous

Summary / Conclusion

• Go over everything in summary
• More Traffic = More Calls / Emails = More $$$
• Once Traffic gets to your website direct them and get them to take an action
• Once they take that action, keep in contact with them at least until they book

–

Francisco

Read More Comments (1) Getting Started