And you just feel like it’s a war of price – ‘the get it at a bargain attitude’ – the ‘price starter’ person.

When you fight on price there’s little else to do – so how do you get over it?
How do you stop this from happening?

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When there's little else (in the clients eyes) to separate you from your competitors, then the only tool left to bargain with is price.

And if price is all your left with, that's pretty much the only way to secure the business - if you want it!

I read another wedding marketing's website and it 'pissed' me off about this - because their advice was to give people the 'How To' techniques in dealing with price rejections.

Why'd it piss me off? - because you'll only ever be haggling with clients who want nothing better than a 'bargain'.

And do you want clients who just want a bargain?

And do you think that what you do comes from the bargain bin?

Sure we all like bargains, but above a bargain we want to have something special, something of value and bargains don't fall into that category do they.

And neither should what you do.

You see what really pissed me off about the advice the other wedding marketer was giving to the people - was all about 'tactics'

meaning -

- things  you can do to 'delay' the bargain hunter until you've 'explained' the benefits.

But this type of thinking and 'technique tactic' cures the problem with that person, but doesn't prevent it from happening again.

So you get caught in this endless cycle of having to use a tactic to delay the pricing answer, explain the benefits, show the value blah blah blah.

Wasted time!

Prevention is better than a cure!

Now I'm not gonna' give you tell you what the prevention is, I want you to think about it and think real deep because when you get it - it'll change the way you do business and start attracting the kind of people you want - (not the bargain hunters!)

K' - when you go to your supermarket and buy fruit - what are you buying?

Fruit? - NO - you're buying 'health'

When you buy 'Chocolate' what are you buying - Nice taste? NO your buying - ''Comfort'

When you buy a fashion item what are you buying - A jacket? NO your buying  'A statement'[/box]
Now these are all values - and they'll be different enough for each person but I want you to think of this -

Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon Cosmetics was asked whether he sold Make-up and he replied

"I don't sell make-up I sell Hope!"

What is it your selling?

You see when you know what it is your selling at this level, people stop buying products (which is where bargain hunters come in) your selling 'values'

Values are how we organize everything we do in our lives!

I mean everything, they're like the 'Master Key' to our beliefs, behaviours, capabilities and everything.

Values precede any kind of tactic -

You see when you stop selling a product and start selling values, in fact you stop 'selling' all together! People begin BUYING! And you don't have to sell anything, they WANT IT!

This is 'Tribal Influence (tm)'

And when you know what you're 'Selling' - all your communication (website copy, brochures, conversations) all revolve around the 'values' your client has.

This is why I'll not teach or show you lots of tactics rather change the way you think about 'how you communicate' to your clients - this is by far, far more influential than any cheap tactic, hint or tip you can use.

Real world example

I want to show you an example of what I mean, and it's on Alice in Weddingland the wedding blog

When you go on the site, you won't find a menagerie of different items, products, services that have wildly different 'values' attached to them - ie

It has a style, brand, writing and products (posts) that all match - the message is the same. It's congruent with what it is - you know what you get when you get there, when you see it. It doesn't deviate or try to be something it's not.

It doesn't 'sell' a product - it sells an 'ideal' - 'A way of Being' and this is marked out by all that's in it.

Apple doesn't sell computers it sells a 'Lifestyle' - and that consists of ....

So if you want tactics on how to stop 'price haggling' - I can help you but I won't! Because I'll be back again giving you another tactic for a slightly different situation - ad infinitum.

I suggest you go out with your friends and do some brainstorming about what it is your really selling.

When you've got it, start adding in the words and phrases and images that match it to everything you do.

Your Brand

It isn't just about -

Your website colours, logo, layout and print.

It's mainly about your VALUES and all of this is reflected in the above.

Your Not Selling This!

Your not selling wedding photography, a wedding dress, invitations, garters, flowers -

Your selling your brand and your brand is what you stand for and what you want people to stand with you for and everything you convey needs to match this.

If your product is wedding invitations and its from a period in history or theme, then your text and webcopy (words) want to reflect this too. So if it's say Steampunk or Victorian style then go and read some victorian books and write some of your webcopy using that same language - "I'm sure ye sees what we been thinkin' ma'lord" - "aye that you scallywag!"

Or if your business is Art Deco - reflect that in everything you do on your site - and you don't just have to post stuff by you. Go and find other images and stuff from that period. Find the top influencers in that day and write about them, their inspirations, their history... make your site a living experience!!!!! of what you do. Post the same stuff on FB, Twitter - link youtube videos to your account with similar stuff - join other FB groups with the same interests - post from them! It's NOT and NEVER just about you - it's about your TRIBE.

Be the Leader

That's Tribal Influence.

Rob

P.S. what do you think you're customers are 'buying'? let me know below.

There are so many different things you can do and are told about that are ‘the best way’, the right way’ the single method that’ll explode your income in seconds – that it can just get out of control.

You then end up spending 70% of your day just trying to ‘get your message out there’ rather than doing what you love doing. The reason why you started your business in the first place.

I therefore ask you  –

“What is your message?”

Story –

A young man, from his people, during difficult times runs through the crowd to Gandhi and says “The people, the people, they want to know what your message is” – “Tell me so I can go back to them with it”

Gandhi looks at the young man and replies “Go to them and say – I am my message”

The rest is history.

Why is it so important to know what your message is?

Once Upon A Time

We’re social beings, mammals with a reptilian almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe that’s called the ‘amygdala’ (the amygdala plays a key role in the processing of emotions and forms part of the limbic system – a collective name for structures in the human brain involved in emotion, motivation, and emotional association with memory).

K’ so we’ve evolved pretty well over about 5 million years – we can build computers, watch 3D movies, and just about make a Jamie Oliver dinner!

However, this reptilian, part of our brain, the amygdala hasn’t evolved along with our ‘rational side of the brain’. It’s the thing in you that says to you “I’m now gonna’ get angry and there’s nothing you can do about it, even with your fancy toothbrush” or “I’m gonna cry, just try and stop me” in front of your friends in the middle of the high-street.

Who Drives the Bus?

The amygdala is your emotional central processing unit and only has two directives – respond to fear – respond to pleasure. Which if you translate this up a tad, means – looks after your survival. It has your best interest at heart.

Though sometimes, it kinda’ goes out of whack and doesn’t really respond well to our more well developed ‘rational’ part of the brain. This is why people that have phobias (like mice, spiders, snakes, bananas (I kid you not) can’t change them.

They know rationally there’s nothing to fear from a tiny whiny incy wincy liddly widdly spider, yet they jump 10 feet in the air as soon as they catch sight of a furry leg and it doesn’t matter how much, or many times they spend telling themselves – “it’s only a liddly widdly spider”- it just doesn’t change.

You see this reptilian part of your brain is there for your survival and we survive through socialization. We need other people to survive and I don’t mean to live; I mean to survive.

The Nature of Things

Our survival as a species is no different to that of any other mammal. We belong to herds, families, groups, tribes. These are all designed by intention and nature to ensure the survival of the group. Not individuals, the group. And as part of these groups there’s a hierarchy, the Alphas at the top and others each with their own ‘part to play’ for this survival.

The Alphas function is to provide leadership and strength against threat from outsiders. The alphas are the ‘top’ gene in the group because they represent ‘the survival’ of the group. And the group is organised around this principle, both to move away from pain and towards pleasure.

Microsoft or Apple?

Now here’s the thing, we align ourselves to certain groups or tribes, if you like. In music it’s your favourite ‘genre’ – rock, classic, punk, rap. Your style, fashion and language is modified by the values the group/tribe espouses.

In groups, there’s a structural order, a hierarchy . The alpha male and female are there to combat predators (competition) and oversee the well being of the group (providers) as well as continue the gene line (fans) for further survival and evolution. (interested look at the Cambrian Explosion)

Made to Measure

The alphas in our species aren’t just the ones with the beefy muscles and curvy hips. We’ve adapted to recognise other traits that measure our survival  – expertise, social, problem solving etc..

What all of this means is – as humans we are emotionally responsive in needs and desires above all else to ensure both the survival of ourselves as well as the tribe and family we are a part of.

Instinctive Motive

We seek out other tribes, groups and herds that we align to in our values with which to continue the existence of our own group or further add value, nourish and enrich it.

We align ourselves to these values because they intrinsically match ours and our needs.

We seek them out to belong and become a part of something greater than ourselves.

We learn and use this learning to enrich our lives and those of others around us that are important (our family, friends, and socially extended circle)

We seek a message that is also our message or that we wish to belong to, because it makes sense at a baser lower personal instinctive level.

We choose not through rational motive, rather through emotional directive who or what to belong to. We seek those that can help us and raise us in the social pack.

We seek those that make us want to be a part of, that fulfil our desires and help us achieve our aims.

We want…

…to belong.

Your clients don’t want a product, they don’t want a service, they want something from you, something that will help them belong.

And when they have that – then they then join your tribe and become your ambassadors.

Who’s Your Tribe

If you don’t have a message you don’t have an audience and if you don’t have an audience you don’t have a tribe.

Because all of the different tactics, strategies, social media outlets, ninja-selling tactics – all of these things and more are just a means to an end. They have little or no worth on their own if people don’t ‘get you’.

So if you don’t know what your end is, then it doesn’t really matter what you use to get there.

Your end is your message, what you stand for and what people will connect to you with.

This is your vision –  this is your message.

And so finally I ask you again.

What is your message?

Rob

Leave your ‘message’ below

Using a right brained approach it helps you to get out of being stuck in trying to ‘think’ what might work

So I offer you a process…

Step 1 Get The Flowers

Make a two column list with one side ‘positive words’ the other ‘negative words’ (don’t use phrases) for example the first could be made up of words such as, Love, Inspire, Beauty, Unique, Wonder, Timeless etc. the other Broken, Lost, Dispelled, Tragedy, Cheap, Cost effective.

Ask your audience what troubles them when they search for what it is you do, what is it they’re trying to avoid – you may not want to use their words in your ‘copy’ though the words they use will have an opposite – for example they may say when searching for Invitations or what they don’t want are things like:

“I don’t want them to be common‘
“I don’t want a business/person that’s deaf to what I want”
“Cheap tatty card that costs a lot”

So examples of the opposite in how you may use the phrases after you’ve done the exercise could be:

“Uncommon Designs Exclusively for You”
“Designs that listen to you”
“Style that doesn’t cost the earth but looks just as beautiful”

Draw on words from your product and the language of your audience i.e. things they talk about when they’re looking for what you do.

Make a list of about 10-15 TOP words that come to mind and that you have a connection/affinity with (they motivate/inspire you in some way i.e. the word has some visceral sense and meaning to it.)

Make a third column that has what it is your talking about, i.e. the context and put a list of words in there too. things like, Photography, Clasps, Rings, Gold, Silver, Headpieces, Imagery, Invitations etc

Now put all of these words in front of you on yellow stickies or write them on a large sheet of paper. If using paper, write them at different angles, jumble them up into a cacophony of words! upside down, sideways etc. (If you’re using stickies, then you can just arrange them in odd and strange ways :-))

Step 2 – Walk In The Field

Once you’ve done this…walk away for a while 5-10 minutes, meditate, deep breath, whatever it is you need to do to relax and calm your mind.

Step 3 – Picking The Flowers

Come back to the jumble and stare through the words. Make your focal point about 10-12 inches beyond the words so you have ‘soft eyes’ on the paper. As you do this, allow yourself to notice which words jump out at you, which words connect to ‘you’.

You may find yourself gravitating towards certain words, they may appear larger or darker on the paper with your soft-eye focus.

You may need to stare at the paper for about 10-15 minutes.

Keep your attention in soft focus during this time and allow yourself to make a mental note of the words you keep coming back to. Once you have a sense (feeling) that you’ve finished/completed, come back to the room and note the words down on another piece of paper.

Step 4 – Flower Power

These will form the basis of the next phase which is repeating the same process (jumble them up again) and going into soft eyes, now go with the intention of allowing a phrase to appear in your mind. (you may just end up sleeping on it… You could have one or more phrases/titles that come up that you’re connected to. –

Step 5 – Words That Kick Flowers

Test them with an audience (preferably intended audience) and see/hear what reaction you get from the people. You’re wanting a strong reaction ‘kind of like a’ wow (it may be positive or negative, but you want a reaction that’s strong enough to elicit..a response of ‘let me have a look at it, what do you mean’

I remember a book called ‘Your Parents F$%cked You Up” – it elicits a reaction that makes you want to go ‘really prove it’ – or ‘Yeah they sure did – and how?’

What you don’t want is ‘Ah that’s nice’, get something stronger something that has ooomph!

Because words can kick flowers.

Happy Hunting

Rob

Many moons ago I worked for one of the UK’s biggest SEO companies and what I want to do today is share with you some quick simple strategies you can put into place on every post and every page you create on your website to increase your standing in the search engines.

The 3 things your website must do:

1. Attract potential clients
2. Interest potential clients to contact you
3. Convert potential clients into paying clients

If either of these three points are missing, building a successful wedding business is going to be difficult.

This post specifically focuses on the first point – Attracting potential clients.

Google is still the Number 1. search engine

90% of all searches are performed through the Google search engine. Source

Being found through Google is still the number 1 way for people to locate you and your business. The competition is fierce with every man, lady and their dog competing for the most sought after keywords, the words people use to find you.

Many businesses still fail to capitalise on the keywords in their posts. While Google will tell you ‘content’ is king, just writing content and not creating a post with well positioned keywords will leave you for dust when your competitor is sure to optimise their posts.

Everyone wants your SEO keywords!

Most businesses try to be found under the main ‘keyword’ or ‘keyword phrase’. The problem with this is, so is everybody else. Those with deep pockets will use professional SEO companies. Initial starting prices for SEO companies to run a 12 month campaign can run from £3000 upwards.

Elevate Your Search Engine Results

As I mentioned earlier your competitors and those with large pockets will dominate the main keyword or keyword phrases. While keywords are not the only strategy or tool to being found in Google, simple adjustments can be used to maximise each of your blog posts or pages on your site to elevate your standings in the search engines.

I’ll show you a simple plugin you can use if you use WordPress ( I highly recommend) as your website platform, to help simplify the task for you. If you don’t use wordpress and use another platform like Joomla or you’ve one created for you, ask your webhost, webdesigner or visit your ‘platforms’ site and see if you can find a similar plugin.

Your Keyword Phrase for your SEO Wedding Marketing

When you write your post – you want to think about the Keyword or Keyword phrase that you desire your post to be found under.

For this post I’ve focused on the keyword phrase SEO Wedding Marketing

Ideally I want to be found under this phrase, though I have a second phrase that’s also to be SEO’d and that is SEO Wedding Blog Post. So I’ll use these two keyword phrases for the building of the page.

I suggest you write your ‘content’ first – you’ll maybe have an idea of the phrase or keywords you want to be found under, though don’t add them into the content of your page while your writing as it may sacrifice your writing style and content just for the keywords.

By writing your content first you’ll engage your readers with what you’re writing better than a page that doesn’t make sense!

So for this page I’ve focused on two main keyword phrases

• SEO Wedding Marketing

• SEO Wedding Blog Post

Therefore I want to write my content first, then come back in and edit the content to make sure I’ve filled in the ‘relevant parts’ for the SEO.

The Relevent SEO Parts for your Wedding Blog Post

There are 5 Main areas you want to concentrate on after you’ve written your post/page

1. Title
2. Description
3. Keywords
4. Headings H1, H2, H3, H4
5. Content
6. Images (ALT Tag)

The How To of SEO Wedding Marketing for your blog posts

Each of these are important in how the search engines recognises what is of ‘value’ to the page.

• Title: is the title of your post or page. For this post the Title is – How to: SEO Wedding Marketing for Blog Post and Pages. So think about how your keywords can be used in the title of your post
  

So I’ve included the two Keyword phrases I wish to be found under in this title.

• ‘Description: is how you describe in a short sentence what is to be found in the body of the post. ie. the post itself. This is a summary of your post/page. Summarise it with the keyword/phrase in at the beginning.

For this post the Description is “How to SEO your wedding marketing website so your Wedding blog posts and pages can be found more easily in this step by step SEO Wedding Blog Post

• Keywords: section of the post is – what keywords do you wish to be found under. Focus on just 1 or 2 keywords/phrases for your post page. Don’t over do it!

For this post I’ve used SEO Wedding Marketing & SEO Wedding Blog Post with SEO Wedding Marketing as the Focus Keyword/phrase

• Headings: in your post/page you want to use headings. They break up the post and make it easier to read. Long paragraphs or many sentences without headings makes it hard for your readers to know what you’re posting about.

You naturally ‘scan’ a post before you read it. You look for ‘headlines’ and sub-headlines first to see if it’s something that will match what you’re searching for. If it is you’ll continue reading. So headings are not only important for your readers, they’re also important for search engines because they give weight and meaning to your SEO Wedding Marketing Post.

With your Headings you want to have H1, H2 and at least H3 with your Keywords/phrases in them. Not all of them – just the ones that make your post make sense. Too many of the same keyword throughout will make your post both unreadable and incomprehensible.

For this post you’ll see that I’ve used the different Keyword/Phrases throughout, though sparingly.

• Content: This is ‘how many time’ do you use your keywords/keyword phrases throughout the content/body of your post. As I mentioned earlier write your content first then put in your keyword/phrases later. You’re looking to have your keyword/phrase feature about 9-12 times throughout your post.

Some people ‘stuff’ their content full of keywords and it just becomes incomprehensible, so while the post may have been found, the person will click away from the site just as quickly.

• Images: You want to have at least 1 image with it’s ‘Alternative Text’ with your Keyword Phrase in it. For this post I used SEO Wedding Marketing on the image. This helps Google and the other search engines make your photo searchable under that keyword. The reason why it’s important to have this is some people turn off ‘images’ in their display. All they’ll see is a blank box with a link to an image. If the image has no ‘alternative text’ a reader won’t know what the image is about, neither will search engines. This is why it’s important to use in your SEO Wedding Marketing.

You can find the ‘Alternative Text’ in wordpress if you edit the image. It’s just under the Title, this is what you want to fill in.

The Final Piece to your SEO Wedding Marketing

Once you’ve written your post you’ll want to see how to add in all the elements above .

A simple and well executed plugin for WordPress is WordPress SEO by Yoast this nifty little plugin will help guide you through your SEO Wedding Marketing on your Blog Posts and Pages. It will help you to see all the necessary points that I’ve outlined above and give you a rating on how well your SEO Wedding Blog Post fairs.

SEO Wedding Marketing is just the beginning

SEO Wedding Marketing is the beginning to attracting clients. There’s a lot more to it than this, though if done well you’ll soon find your blog posts rising up the ranks.

Enjoy

Rob

I wanted to follow up on Andy Pickard’s comment and rather than hit ‘reply’ to the comment from the previous post How to Get Into  A Wedding Magazine – I felt it deserved a post on it

Here’s the comment –

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[quote type="small" align="center"] For those of us who deal in pictures it sometimes seems an insurmountable obstacle to be accepted in magazines when so many “name” photographers are favoured. Unique photography is a new category being touted by many including myself but is it unique or just the latest trend I bring my eye to what many would call conventional weddings and produce unique images for my couples but many magazines would not accept them because they have elements of the conventional. [/quote]

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Reading this two points stand out -

1. Only 'named' photographers get into magazines
2. It's a new trend 'magazines' won't accept new trends

So let’s take each part at a time

'Named' photographers..

We're always going to battle against the 'names' the 'celebs' of any industry, they sell the magazines, they help bring in the numbers. So it's always going to be an uphill struggle unless you come at it from a sideways angle (more about that in a minute).

New/Emerging Trends

New trends, revolutions or even evolutions require momentum before they're picked up by the masses - then they're common place, industry standard and commodities.

Magazines, news sites, publications etc. will pick up new trends once there is sufficient 'momentum', a sizeable crowd who's voice starts to be heard above the masses.

Though to be fair the bigger magazines will tend to rise later to the party because they're serving a larger market share that isn't '''yet''' interested in the new trend.

So the places to look are specialist sites, magz, publications that are smaller and more interested in emerging trends that suit their audience.

They're 'nicheness' (if you like) draws from bringing the latest and the fashionable. (fashionable - generally does not fall into commodity, rather smaller crowds of forward thinking, wave breaking people - once something has become commodity and used by the masses it's no longer in-vogue - it's out of fashion)

The Arc of Change

Trends go through an Arc of change

• Concept
• Embryonic
• Development
• Local Adoption
• Maturation
• Wider Adoption
• Commodity
• Stabilisation (think Light Bulb) / Split sub-genre (think LED) / End of life cycle (think ‘element’ type light bulbs)

Larger publications will adopt the Mature and Commodity phases of products/services etc. Even what appears to be ‘NEW’ will come from businesses that are already in the Mature/Commodity phase – so the readers (general public) are seeing products/services/ideas/concepts that are coming from big name brands that already have a market place, where their market is already mature or has a large following.

The new is generally a sub-genre or enhancement of previous products etc. that have been through their life-cycle. Where market feedback and data has provided ‘enhancements’ – add-ons – bolt-ons.

And this is why the ‘named’ photographers, bigger brands etc. get head-space in the larger publications because they’re already mature, commodities and recognisable brands.

The newer, unique, trending and up-and-coming products/ideas/services generally won’t get a look in because of  - uncertainty.

Uncertainty isn’t a money spinner

Selling Certainty = Money

High St. Magz, sell on certainty. Smaller niche publications sell on opportunity/possibility. They reach a readership that’s looking to get first wind of ‘the next big thing’. A readership that looks for the specialism, the niche, the un-commodity, the “I don’t want to have what everyone else has”.

There are exceptions to the rule with the High St. Magz and publications, however these tend to be ‘some big celeb’ has found little mama’s long lost secret and now parades around in it.

UGG not another one!

Do you remember the UGG boots? Today you can’t go shopping without seeing half a dozen people parading around in them.

The UGG boots hit the shelves when big celeb, Kate Moss was seen parading around in them and then they went ballistic in sales and you couldn’t buy a high st mag without seeing someone in a pair. And yet UGG was a local Australian brand with few sales outside of Aus.

Whew!!!!!

SO

Where does this leave you?

Well it’s about creating that ‘wave’ starting with the ripple/concept/idea and moving it through the different ARCS of change.

If there are a ‘few’ people that are adopting this style of photography, then you want to start by building a following – getting more and more photographers to join ‘your crowd’.

But to me it sounds like you need to ‘define’ the word ‘unique photography’ more.

Defining this will help people understand what specifically the ‘unique’ is and what sets it apart and why people should want to get interested.

A Way

Firstly – Get a group of you – 4-6 who are doing this style of ‘unique photography’.

This doesn't just apply to wedding photographers either. Find people who're doing the same thing as you in your niche, or people who're connected to your niche. For example who else is in your 'wedding-sphere' - stationers, bridal designers, headwear, milliners etc.

Set up a group website (maybe something like – uniqueweddingphotography.com) where you each showcase the BEST of your photos.

Create a unity of photos where it becomes easily recognisable by a layperson that what they’re seeing is similar in style. Such that if I were to visit I could go ”Ah ha that photography is X, it looks like…it has a style that’s …”

Look at some of the popular artists like Peter Smith who paints the Impossimals, or Rebecca Lardner, Darren Baker etc – they each have a distinctive style and theme that runs through their work (check out http://www.thelemongrovegallery.co.uk/artists) to see more. They’re work is easily recognisable and they don’t deviate into different genres or styles, they keep the same theme running throughout.

Sorry if it may come across as ‘teaching you to suck eggs’. But this happens in ANYTHING that’s to attract the attention of the larger masses. People like…no they have to ‘pigeon hole’ make sense of…

This is a natural function of our brain – it’s how we make a complex world, simple and navigable.

Once you have your site set up, start driving traffic to it with each of your Twitter, Facebook, emails etc.

Get people to comment. Educate them both in writing and in photos.

Because there are 4-6 of you, getting a crowd shouldn’t be hard.

Once you’ve started to attract a following, you’ll probably also attract other Photographers who want to be ‘part’ of the unique wedding photography phase.

Do the sideways step…

GO TO Photography magazines – Get them interested – show them through demonstration of a following and evidence from your site how this new wave of photography is starting to make headwaves against the ‘traditional’ style.

Get some editorial in there and use their badges on your site.

Remember Brides and Grooms also read photography magz.

Then armed with this you can start approaching some of the larger independent magazines with evidence and a following.

Crowd = Money

THIS WILL BE ATTRACTIVE to them, 'cause they want your crowd too!!!

There’s the whole psychology, belief system and background to this ‘ARC’ that forms the basis of how to strategize, position your business and where to market without wasting time, effort, resources and money in chasing Golden Eggs that aren’t.

Rob.

P.S. This applies to any other type of business too – so if you’re reading this as a different wedding vendor – think about how it applies to your business and your market.

thumbnail image  - You and Your Wedding

I wrote for a magazine called Choice Health & Well Being some years ago. They had a readership of about 10,000 when I approached them and ended up writing for them for about 18 months, went onto a panel of experts for them at a conference in the Excel stadium in London and saw my writing in the lights.

Today I’d do it differently.

Zarn – from Alice in Weddingland also writes as a feature writer for Ultimate Wedding Magazine, so I wanna’ share with you some things you can do to help you get into a Wedding Magazine.

I came across the magazine (Choice Health & Well Being) from Zarn. At the time she was doing a complementary therapy called The Bowen Technique. When I flicked through the mag, I noticed they didn’t have a section on my speciality (NLP) and it buzzed around my head for a short while that –

‘wouldn’t it be cool if they have a section that helps teach the complementary therapists ‘how to use practical psychology’ in their practice.

So with this, I approached the owner of the magazine (Angela) and said, “Hey, I think your readers would really benefit from this”. This is what I’ve done, this is what I do and this is how it can help your readers“.

And that’s how I became a feature writer for one of the up&coming Health & Well Being magz in the UK.

High Street Wedding Magazines – a tad different

However, high-street magazines are a wee’ bit different. It’s not that they’re necessarily different in genre, more they’re different in the reach of readership. They have a bit more ‘celebrityness’ about them than bespoke magz ’cause of the readership levels they have….BUT…

…Just ’cause they have a huge readership doesn’t always play into your hands as being the best place to get featured and here’s why.

I was asked by News of the World to feature in an article they were running on ‘Neuro Linguistic Programming’ – to give my opinion in NLP and the workplace. I’d just had a contract to train into the RAF, so I thought this would be a good ‘expose’ of how it’s transitioning more and more into the work environment. They asked if I’d like to run an Ad’ by the side of the article –

“Sure” I said, (they boasted 8 million readers!!!!) coooooool that’s some exposure

I had one enquiry, and about 10 hits to the website

It was a good article – I didn’t write it, it was written by one of their freelance journalists – and the Ad was well positioned in the top right hand corner of the paper – (that’s the sweet spot for advertising and commands one hell of a premium price) I paid £400 for it!! ouch – but hey, you have to speculate to accumulate – at least that’s what I thought at the time

So readership – I’d say isn’t necessarily the deciding factor for how well you’re going to benefit from featuring in a magazine.

So what is?

Well there are three main factors:

1. Longevity – How long you write for in a magazine
2. Relevance – How relevant your feature article for the ‘one off publication’ is
3. Call to Action – How to transfer the readers to your business  – ie website, telephone number etc.

With no. 3 being the most important.

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So let's look at them in a bit more detail: -

Longevity in a wedding magazine

Longevity is if you become a feature writer or you have 'your spot' in the mag.

Longevity is about 'constancy', being in the eyes of the reader consistently so they come to recognise you as an authority/expert in your domain.

Longevity is about Branding - building you or your business as a brand that's recognisable. However to do this you need to understand what it is you're conveying to the readers and which readers specifically you want to attract.

The best feature writers are the ones that connect with their audience. They understand what they want, why they want it and deliver it.

Generalist writers, i.e. those that just 'write' about their topic or genre won't fair so well because they're not connecting with the needs of an audience. It's therefore important to understand 'who your audience & your crowd really are' and write just for them.

It's easy to confuse 'role' with niche ie I'm a wedding photographer so I'll write about wedding photography, the ins and outs the do's and dont's etc -

This is too broad - and just ends up with some 'nice' articles that don't really connect with people.

You gotta' know who you're audience is, what their needs, frustrations, wants and desires are and write to that - you must connect with them!

This is where I went wrong, when I wrote for the magazine - I just wrote about what I knew and what I 'thought' would be of use...

Sure they were well written articles packed full of great stuff - but they didn't motivate, they didn't stir the 'cockles of spirit' and get people to want to find out more.

Relevance in a wedding magazine

If you're writing a single article , you want your stuff (the technical term) featured in a magazine - then you want it to be relevant to the 'sign of the times'  - The best feature articles are the ones that both connect with your crowd and offer a new perspective - perhaps an insight into a developing trend. Perhaps it's something you've noticed over the years or are seeing more of.

Check out Google Trends to get an idea of what's happening or has happened in your market area - you need to play around with it a few times to understand how can use it.

Falling into the category relevance is the relevance of your wedding product/service to the magazine you want to feature in

Which Wedding Magazines?

Horses for courses and swings and roundabouts, which magazine is going to be of value to you and your business?

Think of it this way, currently we have the 2012 Olympics in London. If I just turn up, speak to the organisers and say I'm the fastest 100m sprint runner..I'm gonna' get kicked out of the stadium by the security guards.

Now I may very well be the fastest person in the world, but to get into the Olympics I have to qualify. I'd have to have 'seeded' well in local, national and international championships etc etc.

Big High St. Wedding Magz are similar -

If you're new and just out of the starting blocks and unless you have something really amazing to offer with evidence to prove it (or your dating the editor!) you're going to find it a little hard, ok.. alot harder to even get a look in.

This is where PR companies come in, but even they won't take a look at you unless you fill certain criteria (and they'll each have their own criteria for it too - so check them out and ask what they look for, for you to be represented in a magazine -

Remember, they're representing you, so they have their reputation to think of!

Here's some things you want to think about before approaching a Wedding PR agent.

• Your website has to be 'up to scratch' - it's gotta look cool and be well presented

• Your 'copy' article has to be well written (they can help you with this)

• Your 'image' - personal and brand - might need a shape up (that doesn't necessarily mean having a manicure) rather, do you represent yourself well

• Any images/photos you supply must be of high quality - don't let Uncle Tom take some happy snaps of your product - get them done by a Pro. Unless you're already a photographer

Think audience appropriate

Think about 'who your crowd, your audience' really is. It's easy to say 'well everyone who wants to get married' - No not really, too general, way to general and this is where many people get it wrong.

You gotta know with clarity who your audience is - who you want to write for.

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Remember your writing for them first - the magazine second - your business third.

Even if you go - well I'm alternative, unique and different, there's a magazine out there that fulfils this space - that's a start - BUTTTTtttttttt who's the audience? and then who's your audience within that space?

Pick up a few copies of the magazine and read the articles from head to toe - which ones really stand out for you and why? What are they saying that the others aren't? What do they look like? What's the message?

Therefore, does your article or want to be a feature writer fulfil these same/similar messages? If it does - then you're onto a good start.

And then there's the last bit -

Surely you don't just want to write for a mag or get featured in it for a bit of exposure - or 'cause it's cool. That's like throwing a pebble into the middle of the ocean and hoping to see  the ripples hit the shore.

You want to drive the readers to your site - you want to engage with them. You want the readers to become part of your circle.

Not the Home Page link - Please!!!

Most people just have a main website link, like the homepage for people to go to - to 'visit our website' and then ......hope.....there's something pretty enough or attracting enough for them to go to the contact form or dial that phone number that's hidden away in the 'contact us' page!

You wanna' have a page that's specifically set up where the readers can go and get something of value that drove them to your site in the first place. Also a specific page lets you measure the effectiveness of your articles. This way you can  work out, which articles are drawing in your crowd and which aren't so you can adjust future articles.

If it just goes to the home page, then you won't know who's coming from where amongst the normal traffic you have.

You have no way of measuring the effectiveness of your article/s. That's a waste of an amazing opportunity!!

So you want the readers to TAKE some ACTION -

At the end of the articles or in the 'about me' space of you as the author have a link that goes to a specific page where they can in exchange give you some contact details and they get some super cool freebie that will help them further.

Now you can start a conversation

So lets wrap it up:

• Know your audience wants and needs and who you want to write for and to.
• Pick up as many different Wedding Magazines that you can and work out which ones most fit your 'niche' and uniqueness
• Find something that's different, a new perspective in your market that hasn't been spoken about before, or at least in a certain way.
• Look at featuring in smaller magazines or local ones to start with. Get your 'writing muscle' working.
• Build up coverage in the smaller, niche magz first. Get some good reviews from them.
• Contact the owners of the smaller magz you want to feature in or write for  - show them a couple of sample articles or demonstrate you know their market and why you can help their readers.
• Have a call to action at the end of your article or in your author profile that sends them back to your website (specific page) i.e.: Get our 'unique bouquet colour chooser guide for your wedding here...((website link))

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Have fun

Rob

Thumbnail Image - Ultimate Wedding Magazine

Have you featured in a wedding magazine? Or are you a regular writer for one? What did you do to get in? Did you have any success? What advice would you give to people?

The persons photography is outstanding – but this type of SEO Spam tactic will do him more harm than good and this is why I wanted to post this to you today; so you don’t get caught in that same trap and in fact have an awesome cool way of getting noticed the right way!!

The Blog Comment

I received this in my in-box for a comment on the Unique Wedding Directory –

Author: NAME@wedding photographer XXXX (Where X is the City – changed to protect the identity)

Comment: “Great amazing things here. I am very glad to look your article. Thank you a lot and i am having a look forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?”

Initially looking at the author and the website link (that’s the link that goes back to their site – thus attracting some Google Juice and hopefully prospective people) that came attached to it (missing from here to protect their identity!) it was well written –

They’d used an author name and the keyword/phrase they wished to be found under as a link back to their site in the author name so it would look like this in a comment box:

Name : rob@CoolWeddingMarketing  –

Where CoolWeddingMarketing is the ‘Anchor’ text/keyword/phrase that I wish to be found under. This would then link back to my site. So hopefully if I have 10,000 blog comments in hundreds of different blogs etc with the phrase ‘Cool Wedding Marketing’ in; then Google may say: –

 “Hey gee, we’re seeing lots of sites with the phrase Cool Wedding Marketing on – that means your site is important for the term Cool Wedding Marketing. If this is so, we’ll give you a higher position in Google for when someone types in ‘Cool Wedding Marketing‘ .”

Comprehende?

Well at least that’s the theory.

But this is where the poor guy went horribly wrong.

The BLOG COMMENT

Let me write it out here again so we can analyse it a bit.

 “Great amazing things here. I am very glad to look your article. Thank you a lot and i am having a look forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?”

The first line “Great amazing things here.” – OK Cool, so they like the site . Off to a great first start, we all like a compliment and especially because of all the hard work we put. We can therefore post it and then the blog comment acts as a bit of a testimonial to other readers.  Little Green Tick for first effort.

The second line. “I am very glad to look your article.” Ok…slipping here a bit. It wasn’t posted on an article rather one of our photographers listings on the Unique Wedding Directory. OK, maybe we’ll give them a bit slack they could have just been confused :-0 And the English is….well not so hot….But hey, who’s a word-smith here? So Half a Green little tick for this one.

But then comes the BIG BANG NO NO, ready?

The third line “Thank you a lot and i am having a look forward to touch you” Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh my… What kind of site do they think they’ve landed on???!!! What kind of  ‘photography’ are they taking…it all seems a little too dodgy for me – So a BIG FAT RED X for this line.

And the last line “Will you please drop me a mail?” – Errr shouldn’t that have read ‘Male’ re the previous line? Only kidding. Why oh why would I drop them an email, what for? What do I get from it? What do they want or need???? So another BIG FAT RED X for this line.

It’s all a tad silly really as none of the sentences were produced by a real human…well maybe initially.

This is what is known as  ‘Blog Comment Spamming’

Some SEO companies will say they’ll get you 1000’s of back links to your site with your chosen keyword/phrase and then use what is called a ‘SPINNER’ to change some text randomly for every blog comment that is posted. They use an automated (what’s called a Blackhat) linking piece of software that will find hundreds of blogs and article directories etc. ‘spin’ the text to produce randomly, seemingly well written comments that will fool maybe the search engines and sadly some people too into thinking its a ‘real’ comment.

However if the blog comment were to be the same as every other blog comment posted on the blog/article sites, Google would get wind of this very quickly and scream “SPAAAAAMMMMM – DEMOTE the photographers site because they’re trying to trick us!!! and unfairly take advantage of our search algorithms.” So they want to create hundreds if not thousands of variations of the comment.

Alas even if this does work to help them get higher in the rankings –  this is where they’ll fall down quickly!

The Blog Comment Text

It’s bad, no it’s awful, no it’s distasteful, no it’s just pure rubbish and a shame that it’s being employed.

I’ve used ‘spinners’ before they’re not easy and take a heck of a lot of work to make them appear ‘half human’. In all fairness, they can he quite good, though I’ve found it’s best to DIY because the words you choose for your profession will be ones that come from your own personal lexicon. Whereas SEO blackhatters, unless they’re really smart and research your market will use words that just don’t add up and so a vast majority of ‘blog comments’ will end up in the trash, or later demoted as spam or the website is so poor in ‘link-juice’ it was a waste of money sending it there in the first place

…any self respecting bride or prospective client who sees this is going to a) have a laugh b) tell their friends c) out of curiosity have a look at the photographers site d) Blacklist it immediately because they can’t even be bothered to write a comment that makes sense. After all – would you want to do business with a person that says they’re “looking forward to touch you???”

What to do instead.

If you’re going to use an SEO company and they say they’re going to use a back linking strategy – Check –

SEO Outsource

• Ask HOW and do they automate it? Do they use SPINNING? or Spin Words?
• Ask to look at examples of their work, what they’ve done for other people and check the Language!
• Ask which sites they’ll promote your site on through back-links – You want authority sites that are industry specific like Alice in Weddingland.

Google changes it’s algorithms (how it decides who to put at the top of the search page) about 3-4 times a year. The last update was called Penguin and they’re getting a bit meaner and heavier to all of this SPAM commenting. BUT….

They do want you to be more social. So social commenting is one of the ‘in-things’ to do to help your site up the ranks.

However don’t do it at the expense of your potential readers. So Do:

DIY Blog Commenting

• Comment naturally on blog sites (like this one) it builds community and brings back-links to your site
• Read the post first before commenting – you can add your ‘keywords’ into the comments if you like too (little tip there) Google will love you for your comments.
• Change your Anchor text (keyword?phrases) every so often i.e. don’t always use ‘Cool Wedding Marketing’ you could change it a bit and do ‘Marketing your wedding business in a cool way’
• Make it simple quick and think more about what you’re commenting about rather than your keywords!

If you have a Blog –

• Check the Comments for authenticity
• Don’t let every comment through because it looks like you have a comment (it just makes your site look spammy and devalues your content – Google doesn’t like it either!)
• Check for comments that are too vague and ambiguous that they could apply to any site other than yours

Have fun

Rob