Internet Marketer Spotlight – Local Traffic Builder

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Wedding Professionals: Quite a few of you have emailed me asking for recommendations for web designers and internet marketers.  Well last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the wedding industry’s marketing experts, Brian Lawrence.  I’m thrilled to be able to share this interview with you – not only because I’m so impressed with Brian’s background but also because of the great wedding marketing tips that he shared. 

Here’s the scoop on Brian: Brian Lawrence has been in the wedding industry his entire career since 1981 - first as one of the pioneers in providing one-stop-shopping with a multi-store wedding chain, and then as VP of sales and marketing for 14 years for a leading invitation brand, Encore Studios.  And for the last three years, Brian has owned Local Traffic Builder, one of the leading internet marketing and web design firms for the wedding industry. 

Here’s a recap of my interview with Brian:

Christine (Question): Why are the aesthetics of wedding professional’s website so important?

Brian (Answer): You have to realize that your website now acts in the same capacity that a store’s front lobby used to.  Brides look at your site and often will give you just a few seconds to impress them.  If they aren’t impressed then they’ll move on.  So, your homepage needs to clearly define your specialization, strongest benefits, and in some cases, your geographic location.  It needs to be written with eye-appealing, concise, and engaging text along with easy-to-find contact information and stunning imagery.  If your website is not up to par then you cannot blame the wedding magazines and wedding websites where you advertise for their inability to bring you business.  Advertising can drive traffic to your site but your site must finish the job and drive the customers to you.  Think of your site as a facilitator of your intentions.  If your intentions are to get brides to pick up the phone, visit you or order online – then your site should support those intentions. 

Christine (Question): If a wedding pro already has a strong, visually appealing and optimized website, then what other website enhancements could help their business?

Brian (Answer): Here are just a few ideas…

1. Turn your "Contact Us" page into an appointment generator.  Rather than just having contact information or a form, give the bride an option to make an appointment 24/7. View one of our examples. 
2. Create a more simplified web page for on-the-go mobile users.  A technology exists where you can install a detector on your site that can determine whether a visitor is using a computer or mobile device.  This allows you to deliver a simpler, easy-to-load page to mobile users, which provides more digestible information.  This can include basic information about your business, contact information, hours of operation, directions, etc. Build specific landing pages to correspond with your advertisements.  You can perpetuate the connection that you make with a bride in an advertisement by mentioning that advertising website (i.e. The Knot or Wedding Wire, etc.) on your landing page.  You can even present exclusive offers to those brides.  With a specific landing page, you can track (and very likely increase) your response.
3. Create a company Facebook page that has design elements, which match your website’s branding and include a call to action (or possibly a coupon if relevant).

Christine (Question): At The 21st Century Bride Event, you talked about the importance of having one or more, highly relevant domains (urls) as landing pages.  Can you please elaborate on that for BridalTweet's readers?

Brian (Answer): Most businesses have a domain name that relates to the name of their business. Securing domain names that have the formula ‘what you do + where you are located’ or ‘where you are located + what you do’ in essence match how a customer might search for you on Google. So if you own a domain name like BrooklynWeddingPlanners.com and develop a site or even a landing page with titles and content including that search term, you will vastly increase your chances of ranking higher for queries related to ‘Brooklyn Wedding Planners’ on search engines.  In addition, descriptive domain names get clicked on more frequently.  They are noticed more in print ads and they enhance your credibility as a leader in your local market.  Even better - this type of domain name is easily transferable and highly marketable if you ever want to sell your business or retire.

Christine (Question): Why might a wedding professional consider using Local Traffic Builder’s services?

Brian (Answer): With our industry expertise, we are not just designing and marketing for you but we are also helping you with your business in many other meaningful ways.  Several days ago, I met with a venue that was producing a bridal show. I asked them if they knew which attending brides still needed a venue for their wedding.  If they knew that information, they could target those brides specifically at and after the bridal show. They never thought of that. I also recently met with a videographer who had sixty videos on his blog. I asked him if he considered categorizing and indexing them based on the ceremony or venue name, so a bride could easily find the video that she could relate to.  This would create an immediate connection and it would increase response.  The bottom line is that a marketing generalist does not have this type of understanding of the wedding industry.  Having been in the industry for 14 years enables us to provide the expert advice that wedding pros are looking for.

It really was great chatting with Brian.  I’ve known him for two years now and it’s clear that he really is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable people in our industry.  If you are looking for a web designer or internet marketing expert, then check out Local Traffic Builder.  Or…

Email Brian your internet marketing or website design questions.

Do you have any website design tips to share with our community?  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, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.