Tuesday - July 5, 2005

Thanks for subscribing to my Internet Marketing for Wedding Professionals newsletter. You either subscribed at my Sell More Weddings (.com) web site or when you made an inquiry at Wedding Planning Links (.com) If you wish to unsubscribe use the one-step link at the end of this newsletter. If you didn't subscribe or someone else subscribed you, please don't report this newsletter as S*P*A*M. Instead, call me at toll free (877) 274-7885 so I can figure out how you got subscribed. Thanks.

My goal is to help wedding professionals nationwide sell more of their products and services using the Internet. I've helped thousands get better results from their web sites. Tell me how I can help you.

I'd also like to draw your attention to my Inner Circle program. I haven't really pushed this in the past but I'm really getting some good results and I know more and more people are ready to take their online marketing to the next level (or get it off the ground!). The Inner Circle is a cost effective way to do just that. If you're looking for a competitive advantage that keeps your online marketing in top-notch form, consider joining today. It's a small investment with big returns.

+ + 50 Things Your Webmaster Forgot To Tell You

I personally talk with 30 to 40 wedding professionals each week on the phone. Mostly it starts with a call for help and then recounting hundreds or thousands of dollars spent and nothing to show for it. I hate to hear it, I really do. So I thought I'd take the next several issues of this newsletter and share my insight into webmasters, specifically what they too often forget to discuss with their clients. If they'd just talk about this stuff... it would save everyone a lot of time, money and aggravation.

1) Cheap Hosting Is A Big Mistake

I always get a chuckle, well, at least at first, when I hear about someone paying $10/month for website hosting. In the hosting world you get what you pay for. Putting your website on a server with 10,000 other websites is no way to run your business online. You think you're saving a few dollars, but you're not. The chances are very high that you'll run into performance issues, security issues, script/form processing slowness or failure, the list goes on and on. Oh yes, you'll probably never experience this yourself, but trust me, when a bride does she'll just go for her back button and start looking for someone else. Your website won't even be a memory and you just lost a sales opportunity. TINSTAFL.

Sidebar: Speaking Of Hosting

Here are two places I recommend staying away from: Yahoo! (their customer service and billing is horrible, which I've experienced first-hand) and Readyhosting (they have incredible security problems, performance problems, and problems with email, again, which I've experienced first-hand).

2) Get Great Stats

Let's say you took the time to design and build a great website. You have an attractive layout, you've avoided all of the design flaws (Flash, frames, animated graphics, using an "Enter here" page, etc.), and you have marketing copy with keywords and keyword phrases optimized for the search engines. You're not done yet, no way! What about monitoring the activity? This is where you need great stats. Lousy stats give you lousy information about what's going on "under-the-hood" at your website. The two best stats packages on the net, in my opinion, are Urchin and Webtrends. Why? Because they're easy to use, easy to read, and easy to understand. You need great stats. Make sure you have them and...

3) Review Your Stats Regularly (YES... you have to do it!)

Most webmasters forget to tell their clients how important it is that they review their website statistics regularly. I've said it here before, and I'm saying it again: you should review your stats at least monthly, you need to track visitor sessions, time on site, most popular pages, how many people are viewing one page and leaving, how many people are viewing two or more pages, referrers (who is sending you traffic, is that site you're paying for advertising actually sending you traffic?), search engine referrers (which search engines are sending you traffic), and search engine keyword referrers (what search terms were typed in by people found your site).

4) Calculate Your Conversion Ratio Monthly

Conversion ratio? Conversion is when a bride/groom who actually visits your website takes a specific action, in most cases, fills in your inquiry form (or calls you on the phone). If you had 1000 visitor sessions last month and 100 inquiries, that would be a 10% conversion rate. If you're conversion ratio is below 5% something is probably wrong with your website or traffic sources.

5) Take Your Visitor Sessions and Cut The Number in Half

Half of your "visitor session" traffic (#3) is bogus. In other words, it's not really a bride/groom or someone qualified to buy your products and services. It could be a competitor, it could be somebody doing research, it could be someone doing search engine optimization research. I have no real scientific basis for making this statement, but you heard it here first: "1/2 of your visitor session traffic is useless - so forget about it". Take your total visitor sessions and cut it in half. Now you have a number to start working with.

6) Start A PPC Campaign at Google

Using Pay-Per-Click advertising to build traffic is smart online marketing. Sorry, but if you have a problem "paying" for traffic to your website you're living in the dark ages. For as little as $50/month you can drive some very t*argeted t*raffic to your website. On top of that, the information you get from your reports (keywords, impressions or the actual requests for those keywords) will really help you fine tune your search engine optimization strategy.

7) Great Keywords/Phrases Are Critical To Your Success

You can have a great looking website but if you don't have the right keywords and keyword phrases in your content, page title tags, and other meta-tags, your website is in trouble. There are a couple different ways to determine the keywords/phrases you should use. One is to look at your website statistics (i.e. keyword referrers). Another would be to look at your PPC reports (i.e. what searches are people really performing and how many per month). There are a couple free online sources that can help you too - Google's Sandbox and Overture Keyword Tool. Another favorite of many search engine optimization specialists is Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/). Developing your keywords and keyword phrases shouldn't be approached casually. Given the competitive nature of search engines, it's probably a good idea to get professional help.

43 more things your Webmaster forgot to tell you are still ahead...

+ + Are You A Member of My "Inner Circle" ??

Speaking of keywords and keyword phrases, members of my Inner Circle can just login to the members bulletin board and "cut-and-paste" the keywords and keyword phrases they should be using. Caterers, DJs, Photographers... more categories and keywords are being added this week. You'll also find the full suite of meta-tags I'm using that help me get and keep top positioning at Yahoo!, Google, and MSN.

Now Online (Inner Circle Member Access Required)

Keywords Forum: http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=5
Full Meta-Tag Suite: http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=21
Need Great Website Stats (for free!): http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=10
Glossary of Internet Terms (that you have to know!): http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=24
How To Add Your Website to the new MSN Search Engine: http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=27
Keyword Tools: http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=28
More Tips, Techniques, and Great Information are in Toolbox area: http://www.jimedia.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=4

For more information about membership visit: http://www.sellmoreweddings.com/innercircle/

 + + More Traffic, More Inquiries

You can have a great web site but if brides can't find it what good is it? Advertise and link your website with WEDDINGPLANNINGLINKS.COM and I'll send you great traffic for a full year. On average we'll send more than 500 brides/grooms to your site and unlike Google, MSN, or Yahoo! I can guarantee you top positioning. 95% of my advertisers renew because WEDDINGPLANNINGLINKS.COM works. More information is here: http://www.weddingplanninglinks.com/inquiry.html 

Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter. If you like it please share it with a friend and forward them a copy.

Best wishes,

Chris Jaeger
Sell More Weddings Inc.
195 East Main Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
(978) 283-8295