Your Wedding Blog: Getting People to See it, Read it and Follow It

Wedding Professional:

The word on the street is that wedding vendors should each have their own wedding blog in order to attract and inspire brides, to display their work, and to express their talents within the wedding industry. Having a wedding blog on your wedding website is also a great way to increase your Google rankings because search engines love sites that have new and relevant content. So, having a wedding blog sounds like a brilliant idea but a big question still remains...

If you are going to spend all of that time putting together a wedding blog, then how can you ensure that people will see it, read it and follow it? Here are some tips to help…

Get Readers to See Your Wedding Blog:
1. Get your blog out there! We’ve all heard the expression, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" And if you spend hours writing a wedding blog and no one ever sees it, was it a waste of time? Well…let’s try to avoid that situation:). So, here’s how to drive traffic to your blog. Each time you create a new blog post, announce it on your Facebook fan page as well as on sites like Twitter, BridalTweet, BrideTide, etc. When announcing it, don't just provide a link to your blog. Instead, consider including the entire blog post or at a minimum, the first paragraph of your blog post. This will entice readers to visit your blog.

2. Comment on other blogs. Another way to drive traffic to your blog is to leave thought-provoking questions or comments on other popular wedding blogs.

3. Include 'share' buttons on your blog. Include buttons within each blog post to make your content shareable on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. I have a green 'Retweet' button at the top right corner of this blog post. This makes it easy for my readers to share my content with all of their friends. When it comes to your own blog, this equates to free marketing that you won't want to miss out on. For example, if I read your blog and shared it on Twitter, then a link to your blog post would go out to BridalTweet's 15,000+ followers.

Get Readers to Read and Follow Your Wedding Blog:
1. Consistently blog about one specific theme or niche. Having a theme will create a perception that you are an expert on that particular subject. More importantly, it will signal to readers as to what they can expect from your blog on a regular basis. If it is a theme that they are interested in, then they will likely visit your blog often. To choose a theme, think about what you are passionate about and what you are good at. For example, Manuela Stefan is a wedding photographer who uses her blog to showcase her beautiful wedding photos. Tracy DiNunzio of Recycled Bride always writes about green weddings. Emmaline of Emmaline Bride loves to write about creative brides and handmade weddings.

2. Decide how often you are going to publish new blog posts. For BridalTweet, I’ve chosen to blog on a weekly basis. Since I have made that decision, I make sure that I do stick to my weekly schedule. Sticking to a consistent schedule helps you to create a following for your blog. It shows a commitment and makes it clear to readers about what they should expect from you. I also try to write three to four blog posts ahead of time, so that I don’t find myself stressing out each week about what to write.

3. Sit down and write. For tips about this, you can refer to my recent blog called 7 Things Wedding Vendors Can Email, Blog, or Tweet About where I recommend that you ONLY write about things that help or add value to your audience. This can include wedding tips, trends and research, wedding ideas and inspiration, special wedding offers, new wedding products or services, interviews with trendsetters, and/or a backstage look at your business.

4. Remember that brides don’t read. Ok, yes they do but they also LOVE photos. Unless you are talking about wedding business topics, I would recommend that you include at least one wedding photo in each of your blog posts. This will make your blog posts more interesting and attractive to brides. If you are using wedding images or content from a third party, be sure to give credit to those sources.

5. Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Did I mention that you should proofread? This sounds obvious but I read so many blogs with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. We all make mistakes sometimes but try to remember that consistent mistakes can be distracting and have the potential to impact your credibility. I highly recommend that you have another person proofread your blog post before you publish it. In fact, my husband proofreads ALL of my posts before I publish them! (To my husband Bill: Thanks for being my unofficial, official editor-in-chief! :)

Do you have any tips to share about how to create a successful and popular wedding blog that readers will visit again and again? If so, please comment below.

About This Blog: Christine Dyer is the Creator and Founder of BridalTweet. Christine has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week,
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