How to attract happy couples to your wedding site

A well-designed website that's regularly updated and promoted in the right places can be a powerful tool for marketing your wedding planning business to brides and grooms.

Whether you're just starting out in the industry or you think your old website needs an upgrade, follow these 6 steps to create a winning wedding website.

1. Make it stand out

It's always good idea to check out the competition, which could give you ideas for things to do on your own website – and what not to do.

If you browse a few wedding planner websites in your area, you might start to get a feeling of deja vu as they tend to follow the same templates and use the same imagery (sometimes maybe even the same stock images!)

There are certainly things that work in a wedding website design, and you shouldn't break with convention just for the sake of it. But at the same time, you should aim to stand out from the crowd and grab people's interest when making that all-important first impression.

If your wedding business has a particular niche or USP, this should be clear in your photos and your site design so customers will instantly see what makes you different.

2. Keep it simple

Think about what you're looking for when you visit a company's website. You might want to know about their background and the people involved. You probably want to see examples of the services they offer. You definitely want to see their contact details.

Your website needs to give visitors everything they're looking for as quickly as possible, otherwise they might get impatient and look elsewhere. You can do this by making your navigation menus simple and making sure your About Us, Contact Us and service or portfolio pages are easy to access from every page on your site.

You should also put your contact number and other important details in the header or footer of every page so they'll always be on display when someone's ready to call.

3. Use targeted keywords

This is where things get technical, and you can hire a specialist to take care of SEO (search engine optimisation) for you if it sounds too complicated, or if you don't have time and want to concentrate on your core business.

Keywords are just one part of SEO, but they're important for helping people to find your website on search engines like Google. These are all the common terms people search for when they're looking for a business like yours, including your location, and they should be included naturally on every page of your website as well as in titles, links and even image file names.

This last one is especially important if you'll be uploading a lot of photos to your site. Naming your images along the lines of 'wedding-venue-april-2018' is more useful than 'DCM_0758.jpg.'

4. Update it regularly

A website is never truly finished. Prospective clients don't just want to know who you are, they want to see what you're doing now, and this means updating your portfolio with new photos as often as you can. If you're already taking the time to post them on Facebook and Instagram, don't leave your website behind.

If you get a lot of business, you can be selective about the photos you publish, highlighting the ones that show off your wedding service at its very best and not the ones you're less proud of. You can even be strategic and spread out your updates through the slower seasons so you always look busy!

5. Start a blog

One way to keep your website constantly updated with fresh content is to add a blog and post to it regularly. This might seem like a lot of work, but it can really pay off in helping your page rank on Google and other search engines, which favour active websites with a lot of content.

As well as blogging about your weddings and promotions, you can brainstorm other topics people will be interested in reading about. These will help to drive traffic to your website and could build your authority as an industry expert. This might include wedding tips or highlighting famous celebrity and royal weddings around the world along with your expert insights.

It can take some time for a business blog to gain momentum, but if you stick with it and write about topics you enjoy, the rewards can be great. You should aim to publish to your blog at least once a week, the more often the better.

6. Promote yourself

You might be the best wedding planner in the world, but people won't know that unless you promote yourself. Word of mouth can only go so far.

Taking out ads in bridal magazines can be expensive, but setting up social media accounts for your wedding business is free, and could be all you need. You don't need to sign up to every social network under the sun, only those that your target audience is using every day.

Facebook is the most popular social platform in Australia, which half the population checks every day. You should try to post at least once a day, making sure to link to your latest blog posts as soon as they're published.

Instagram is a favourite of brides-to-be, who'll love to see your beautiful photos. Make sure you include the right keyword tags to help them find you. You should aim to post a compelling image on Instagram every day to build and maintain a loyal audience, and don't forget to link to your website in every post.

You should also invite people to sign up to your email list so you can keep them informed about your latest news and offers.

Get started today

Even if you've never made a website before, it's easy to get started with Limecube themes. We'll guide you every step of the way and help you create a professional wedding website that reaches the people you want. Get in touch today to find out more.