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There are hundreds of things you can do to improve your business, but it can seem so daunting when you are looking up that mountain of work. For right now, stop looking at the “big picture” and pick out one or two of these right now. You will be amazed at how accomplished you will feel. Complete them all and that mountain might start looking a little smaller and more manageable….
10 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Wedding Business TODAY
1). Update your copyright line on your site – nothing says “out of business” more than a 2 or 3 year old copyright date…
2). Make sure your site works & looks good on mobile devices. The overwhelming majority of couples are using tablets & smartphones for some, if not all of their planning. Don’t know where to begin? Here is a great article with tips from Entrepreneur.com: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226575
3). Endorse at least one other wedding professional. Whether it’s on your site, Facebook or LinkedIn, a little goodwill can sometimes go a long way.
4). Find an accountability partner. For most wedding pros, this is a solo-prenuer sort of thing. Reach out to a professional in another region or in a different part of the industry and set up daily, weekly or monthly calls to track each other’s progress and bounce new ideas.
5). If you haven’t already, secure your name on as many social media platforms as you can. Even if you don’t plan to engage right away, you might be happy later that you made the effort now.
6). Get more Pinteresting. Pinterest is a juggernaut of wedding planning. Use their analytics to find your most pinned images. Look into promoted pins to see if they are a good fit for your business.
7). Break out of your network. Networking events are a huge part of the wedding industry, but if you are seeing the same professionals every single time, that isn’t really expanding your network. Look into groups like Femfessionals, National Guys Night Out, or try a BNI group or your local chamber of commerce. Most groups will allow you to attend once or twice to see if you are good fit before joining.
8). Sit down with someone who has never been on your website before and simply watch. Don’t help them or tell where to look or what to click – just observe, and then ask for feedback. You will likely find some valuable insights on how to improve your navigation or content. (Bonus too: Have them take a look on mobile too!).
9). Join a private Facebook group, or create one of your own with professional you trust. Let’s face it, we all need a place to vent sometimes, and doing it publicly on Facebook is NEVER a good idea. And even in a “closed” group, there is always the possibility someone could screenshot and make your words public, so chose your words, and vague details, wisely. This also might be a place to find your accountability parter (see #4).
10). Clean up your social media. Inappropriate jokes, politics, and radical opinions might make for lively interaction, but aren’t necessarily a good idea for your business. You might be offending or annoying a potential client before they even have a chance to contact you.
11). Work on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Just one or two updates a week can help you move up in Google results. I’ve written an article on how simple this can be: http://wedologie.com/wedologie-resources-3-simple-things-you-can-do-to-boost-your-seo-as-a-wedding-professional/
– Feel like you need more help? I offer in person SEO training in Philadelphia, or you can join an online webinar: Wedologie.com/SEO
12). Update your website, contacts and promotional materials to accommodate same-sex weddings. Referring to a just the bridge, or having contracts that list “bride and groom” may turn off some couples. You can refer to clients at simply “clients,” “spouse to be” or “couple.”
