Ok, so a few days ago, I posted an update on my Facebook profile stating that I need help. I have so many online inquiries that I cannot keep track of. As a matter of fact, yesterday I spent some time going through my history of emails and fond 10 (TEN) emails from the past 2 months that I had lost track of, and what I mean lost track of is not that I did not reply to them, but that I did not follow up with a reason why they had not responded to my last email. Most had already hired another DJ and 2 were still interested but would get back with me (more following up, IS THERE AN EASIER WAY TO DO THIS?)

Now, that’s not that bad compared to how many inquires I get from my online forms.

1. January 2009           31
2. February 2009        27
3. March 2009              31
4. April 2009                 39

So this year I’ve had a total 128 leads as a result of having an online form as I suggested in a previous article about converting bridal show leads into online clients using the power of the net. Now, since I have not done any bridal shows in over a year, and I only advertise in one magazine, Premiere Bride, and I have only one online ad that I pay for, The Knot, and since keep track of where all my web visitors come from, I know a few things for fact.

1. 90% of those 128 leads come to my website from the search engines.
2. 5% of the leads come from The Knot
3. 5% of the leads come from other thing such as My magazine ad, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, referals, etc…

Now 128 leads may not sound like a lot to you, but take into consideration many limitations on my website…

1. I don’t have my prices online… Major turn off to some people as they feel I may be hiding something or I am too expensive.
2. I proudly am a Bilingual DJ and Master of Ceremonies…. Major turn off to some people as they feel that I may not be able to represent them correctly or I may not know the music.
3. I don’t have the most beautiful DJ website out there… some people may be turned off by how simple it looks.
4. My website is too wordy… Some people are turned off by not enough pictures and having to read my stuff and find out there is no price anywhere to be found.
5. I don’t have the details about my DJ equipment that I use… this is mainly something other dj’s have suggested.
6. I have ads on my website.
7. I am marketing online… Vendors automatically assume that online brides are cheap, they are if yo u consider paying a DJ 1,200+ for a wedding reception cheap.
8. Worrying what people will say about telling their friends and relatives that they ‘found their DJ online.“
9. They never have heard me play before and I don’t allow outsiders to my events… EVER!
10. People worry about giving out their personal information online… This is a huge one, well they are all big
11. Many other limitations, or mental blocks that people place on their heads about putting an online form on the FRONT PAGE OF YOUR WEB SITE.

Keep in mind, these are all leads that used my online form, mainly because when they arrived at my website, they did not want to call me.

Here is something that you may not realize…

When people are online, having to reach for the phone and call you is an extra action that they have to initiate! They really don’t want to call you unless they really have to and they are extremely motivated to do so.  Think about it when you are online doing research, don’t you want to keep researching, whatever you may be researching? Don’t you want to continue without any interruptions? (unless of course they are friends or family members calling to distract you, lol.) Aren’t most of us procrastinators? Don’t we say, ahhh, I’ll get to this later (I’ll call them later)… and how often does later never come?

What I’m getting at, is make it sooo easy for your bride to contact you that the 11 (Eleven) objectives above are not even thought about, or are easily outweighed.

I even go as far as putting on my form, give me your phone number ONLY if you want us to contact you by phone, what that means to me is that they are interested but are too lazy to look for the phone to call me so they would really love you if you called them… So they don’t have to.

I hope you understand that I’m not trying to brag about how many leads I get; but I am just merely giving you a report on how you can INCREASE the number monthly leads. It’s so simple, place a contact form on your website. I have it on all of mine where they can easily fill it out. See for your self, I have it on my Houston DJ Website and My Photo Booth Rental Website.

Happy Bloggin!

–
|o| Simply Frank |o|

Very few is done to educate wedding vendors how to properly run their blogs. It’s exciting news to hear that there will be an upcoming bloggin Bootcamp here in Houston. If you want to learn the correct way to run a blog, this might be an event worth checking out. $150 is not a lot compared the the benefits you WILL receive once you properly run your blog. As stated in my previous Post, My blog currently brings in over $100 a month by doing NOTHING, just sitting there and hosting Links for other advertisers. And that’s beside the amount of business that is brought to my website as a result of a properly run Blog!  Most, I would say over 80%, of the people who already have a blog are doing it incorrectly, losing out on a huge opportunity that is the internet, and missing out on a lot of money and business because their blog is not run correctly.

So, there could be nothing but great benefits from attending any form of training on how to properly Blog!

You already know why you should blog.  We’ll show you how.

Blogging Bootcamp :: Houston
presented by Liene Stevens of Blue Orchid Designs and The Smart Planner™

Who: Any wedding professional who wants to effectively leverage online media to grow their business
When: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Time: 9 am – 4 pm
Where: For Your Memories at the Lofts of Post Oak
Cost: $150 per person

Since the launch of the Blue Orchid Blog in 2006, it has grown to include over 3000 unique daily visitors and is partially to credit for the launch of two new Blue Orchid Designs offices on the East Coast.  In the Blogging Bootcamp, Liene will share specific strategies and techniques she has personally used to grow the Blue Orchid Designs blog to where it is today.

This workshop is open to all wedding professionals, not just wedding planners.  Space is limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis so reserve your spot now!  Laptops are optional and lunch will be provided.

Topics covered will include:
*How to discover and leverage your blogging voice
*How to maximize your blogging ROI
*How to develop killer content – consistently
*How to set short term and long term goals for your blog
*How to effectively analyze your stats and blog traffic
*How to increase your readership and keep them coming back for more
*Specific strategies and techniques to use your blog to improve your main website’s SEO or “findability” on Google
*How to promote your brand through your blog’s design and content
*Maintaining professional boundaries while still being personable
*And more!

The Blogging Bootcamp will not be a class on blogging philosophy.  You already know that blogging is a good idea.  We’ll be showing you how to do it so that it is worth your time. No topic will be off the table, and any questions you may have will be fair game.

This event would not be possible without the generous support of Beginnings Wedding and Event Planning and For Your Memories Wedding Consulting.

Questions? Please send an email to workshops{at}thesmartplanner.com.

The fine print: Payment must be made in full prior to the event and is non-refundable.  Payment may be made via credit card or PayPal at the Eventbrite website.  Lunch will be provided and is included in the cost of the event.  Space is limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. In the event that the workshop is cancelled due to not meeting minimum registration requirements, a full refund will be issued to each registrant via PayPal.  Prices and terms are subject to change.

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

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

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