Marketing for Wedding Suppliers

I've always talked about what brides and grooms could do for their weddings here in my blog and thought of making a post specifically for wedding suppliers after hearing my dear friend, Ria, share her experience during the Mindanao Bloggers Summit about how she promotes her wedding coordination business.

Promoting your business online is a very important activity especially since searches for wedding related keywords is an important segment online (check it out at Google Trends). Here are some things wedding suppliers can do:

1. Create your content - create our own website or blog. I got a chance to chat with top wedding organizer, Loi Villarama, during a friend's wedding and he mentioned that he gets a lot of leads from his website since he comes out #1 in search results when you search for wedding coordinator. My friend Ria has the same experience and she said that despite being new in the business she gets a lot of customers because her blog serves as testimonials to her work.

2. Promote your website/blog - the easist way to get traffic to your site is to do search engine marketing. It's the most cost efficient way to promote your website/blog. Try Google Adwords for as low as a dollar a day (you can also pay in peso) and I assure you you'd get traffic for your services. It's a D-I-Y way of marketing, here's a tutorial on how to do it.

3. Personalize your email - add credibility to your business by personalizing your email. You can do this for free by getting a domain and registering it on Google Apps for Your Domain. It's easy! Just register it at Google Apps (I also have a tutorial here).

Got any questions? Email me at aileen at twistedweddingplanner.blogspot.com.

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Internet Tools for Engaged Couples

The twisted wedding planner is back from her Cebu and Davao trips! So sorry! I have been swamped with work and I was quite shocked with the traffic I've been getting from Kasal.com! And speaking of the internet and weddings (bad segueway I know, heh), here are some tips for engaged couples on how you can utilize the internet to make planning your wedding easier.

I know, I am definitely addicted to blogging, but hey, it's my job to spread the word and here's my top 5 internet tools for you:

1. Gmail - we cannot always be with sweetie the whole day can we? And we do see stuff that we want to share with him/her. Send that link of the fab gown you saw online, or perhaps a photo of that brilliant diamond solitaire would give the hint that you do want an engagement ring? Or maybe just send over a one-liner love note over email. That'll make your sweetie's day I'm sure. And, of course, use Google Calendar for all those appointments you'll be having.

2. Gtalk - I'm doing 2 weddings now wherein the spouses-to-be are apart! They're like 5 hours apart by plane! And being the harassed wedding coordinator/friend, the only way we could scrimp on phone bills is through IM or calling each other through Gtalk! Did you know you can actually leave a voicemail on Gtalk for your sweetie? Imagine how kilig I was when I got a voicemail from, ahem, a friend from the US. Download the console today!

3. Google Docs & Spreadsheets - I know how crazy the guest list gets as THE day draws near. How do you actually merge your lists? Google has answered our prayers through the Google Docs & Spreadsheets! Just open up your Gmail account and click on the "documents" link found on the upper left corner. You can also import or just copy/paste from your current excel file. Now you and sweetie can access and edit the document easily! And you can share this document as well with your wedding planner.

4. Google Notebook - this is my all-time favorite! I do a lot of searches in a day and it's just next to impossible to keep track of all the websites I visit! Looking for that perfect honeymoon spot? Clip the links in your Google Notebook and you can easily leave little notes on it as well. And you can create several notebooks which basically allows you to segregate honeymoon spots from gowns, flowers and all those wedding stuff that's buzzing in your mind.

5. Blogger - a must for all you engaged people! Blogging will be your online wedding journal which you could share to your family and friends. Capture everything online, from preparations like choosing that caterer, the church, the reception venue. And don't forget those photos? Think it's hard? Nah, it's so easy! Just watch this video which shows you the basics of blogging. Don't forget to use Picasa to upload your photos and Youtube for videos! Oh, and check out my friend's blog which has captured all their wedding preparations.

And the ultimate internet tool you could use?

Google Apps for Your Domain - this allows you to give out email addresses using the Gmail platform with your own domain (i.e. delacruzfamily.com), put up your own website using Google Page Creator and a lot of other things that allows you to communicate, collaborate and organize stuff easily. Just get your own domain name and sign-up, you'll be ready in just a few minutes. Check out this video to find out more!

Whew! That seems like a mouthful, but I assure you, when you got it in your system it's going to be like second-nature. Get going sweeties, there's so much preparations you have to do.