SEO For Wedding Services SEO For Wedding Planners, Photographers + Celebrants

Do you run a wedding service company?

Whether wedding photography, wedding planning, or wedding celebrants, your success as a business comes down to visibility.

With 93% of online experiences starting with a search engine, appearing on Google is the single most valuable pre-requisite for your success.

If you’re after a cost-effective, and at times free way, to get traffic to your website, understanding how to optimise your digital presence can help you rise above your competition and convince customers to say “I do” to your services.

Blind dates may lead to love.

But going blind into a digital strategy leads to disaster.

If you’re like most wedding creatives then you’ve looked into SEO before, but haven’t yet been convinced to invest.

Here’s why SEO for wedding services is the most effective way of maintaining and growing your business.

But first consider the following figures taken from Easy Wedding’s Annual Australian Wedding Survey 2018:

• The average wedding budget is $21,236.
• The average predicted wedding budget following planning is $25,540.
• The average final cost of a wedding in Australia is $31,368.

Let’s take this a step further and look at how many people are searching for wedding creatives online, measured in monthly searches throughout Australia.

With hundreds, and even thousands, of monthly searches for wedding creatives, and an average wedding spend of $31,368 per wedding, what financial impact would it have on your business to appear at the top of Google and tap into that desire for wedding services?

What would it mean to have red crosses signifying bookings on the calendar every weekend for the next 3 months?

How would it feel to know the business you’ve worked hard to create is getting the attention it deserves?

If you love your wedding business the way I know you do, you’ll want to do everything you can to get it the exposure, traffic and attention it deserves.

Here’s how you can make it all happen.

• SKIP TO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER SEO TIPS
• SKIP TO WEDDING PLANNER SEO TIPS
• SKIP TO WEDDING CELEBRANT SEO TIPS

 

SEO is Like a Relationship

SEO is a lot like a relationship.

• Both require a considerable investment of time and energy.
• Both require close attention and the ability to react quickly.
• Both have the potential to make you happier and happier as the years pass by.

If you tick these 3 boxes in a relationship you will be showered in love.

Tick these same 3 boxes across an SEO campaign and you’ll receive organic traffic that can bring you anywhere from hundreds to thousands of monthly visitors – depending on the search frequency of the keywords you target.

And this is targeted traffic too.

This means the people who are searching online are looking for the exact products and services you provide in your wedding business.

It gets better too.

Outside of your upfront SEO investment this increased website traffic is free and long-lasting, meaning you’ll have visitors coming in for months or even years to come once you’ve optimised your digital presence.

Now isn’t that worth raising a glass to?

 

What is SEO for Wedding Services?

For many wedding celebrants, word of mouth provides the vast number of referrals. The same applies to wedding photographers and planners.

You may even be the same.

When you provide an exceptional service and help celebrate the love of a couple, it’s only natural they’ll tell their friends about you.

That’s an easy source of referral traffic, just by doing what you love.

But word of mouth isn’t enough to safeguard your business against the lean times.

• What happens when it’s not wedding season and there’s no buzz to feed off?
• What happens when you have nothing booked for the next 3 months?
• What happens when you start to struggle to find the work you need?

SEO is the answer.

Many couples will use Google, and other major search engines, to compare wedding celebrants, photographers and planners.

Using wedding keywords for 2019 these people will trust the websites at the top of Google just like you trust the websites at the top of Google when you go searching online.

Did you know the page in the #1 position on Google receives on average 21.12% click through rate.

This means for every 100 people who see your website at the top of Google, 21 will visit your website.

Think of the financial impact those 21 people could have on your business if they went on to engage with your services.

• 21 more happy couples to help.
• 21 more weddings to officiate throughout the year.
• 21 more opportunities to grow your brand and increase word of mouth buzz.

If just a fraction of those website visitors became customers you’d still be growing your business and protecting your financial future.

SEO for wedding services is the process of optimising your website to appear when those couples go searching for a celebrant, a photographer, or a planner.

And it’s not just about being on Google.

Couples go searching for information online in all sorts of places, including:

• Yahoo
• Bing
• Quora
• YouTube
• Siri
• Alexa
• Google Home

On each occasion, people in need of your services types or asks a question hoping to find the most relevant and useful answer.

SEO for wedding professionals ensures it is your website, and not your competition, who are shown first.

Your goal as a wedding creative is to show Google that you are the most valuable, informative, helpful and relevant source of information.

Be honest, if someone searches for ‘wedding celebrant in Sydney’, or ‘affordable wedding photographers’, or ‘best value for money wedding planners’…

• Will they be satisfied by your website?
• Will it be clear what services you offer?
• Will your website load fast enough?
• Will they be able to use your website on their smartphone?
• Will there be enough information or articles to keep them on your website?
• Will your galleries be full of highly shareable images?

SEO can be technical and confusing. So here’s the SEO secret that’s going to transform your business and help you get to the top no matter what type of wedding service you provide.

FORGET ABOUT SEO.

At the heart of successful wedding SEO is a seamless user experience, relevant content, and a fast, mobile friendly website.

If you satisfy every demand a searcher will have as well as the necessary technical requirements, you will be satisfying Google’s needs too.

In short, build your website around the needs of your visitor, and your SEO will take care of itself.

 

How Much Does Wedding Service SEO cost?

Wedding SEO is totally free.

The changes you can make to your own website will only cost you time and effort.

This blog post will outline ways for wedding photographers, wedding planners, and wedding celebrants to optimise their own digital presence without spending a single dollar.

However, to implement SEO best practices that will move you to the top of Google in 2019 you will always benefit more from a professional team.

The benefits of a professional SEO team include:

• They provide qualified traffic from people actively looking for your service
• They work when you’re not so you’re always moving forward
• They measure results and make changes to drive even more success
• They establish a spot on Google which you keep even if your contract finishes
• It’s cost-effective with results compounding over time and your initial payment establishing you as an authority for years to come

The cost of professional wedding SEO will depend on the level of optimisation you are looking for.

Your wedding SEO costs will fall into one of the following categories.

• One-Time SEO: $1,000 – $10,000+
• SEO Site Audit: $500 – $10,000+
• Local SEO: $500 – $5,000+ (Monthly)
• National SEO: $1500 – $5,000+ (Monthly)
• Hourly SEO: $75 – $200 (Hourly)

With that said, there are SEO tweaks you can make today to get your business to the top of Google and start taking advantage of the increase in traffic that comes with it.

And I’ll tell you exactly how to do it.

 

SEO for Wedding Photographers

You’re a whiz behind the lens.

But even with a long list of happy couples who proudly stand your photography work on their bedside tables, if you don’t take advantage of the latest wedding SEO trends for 2019 you risk falling behind your competition.

Here are 4 simple SEO changes you can implement today to boost your rankings as a wedding snapper or videographer.

The best SEO for photographers are all changes that can be implemented by you. So let’s get straight into it.

One – Create Engaging Content

You know that feeling you get when you take the perfect picture?

Maybe it’s a candid shot of the smiling bride and groom, a bridal party group picture that perfectly captures the joy of the day, or the perfect lighting filtering through an open wedding ceremony venue.

Whatever the location, you know you’ve created a piece of magic when you see it.

You need to recreate that feeling for people who are reading your content.

Creating content that draws your reader in and makes them want to keep reading is your goal.

Doing so will help with three metrics important to SEO.

• a). You will reduce your bounce rate (the percentage of people who visit your website and leave after viewing one page.
• b). You will increase your dwell time (the amount of time people spend on the pages of your website).
• c). You will increase your likelihood of receiving backlinks to your website (as people find your content so valuable they just have to share it).

But your wedding content has to contain valuable information. It must give people what they want.

For example, as a wedding photographer, you could create blog posts with images you’ve taken and a brief description of how they were taken. Make sure you include anything related to your craft that your audience would find valuable or useful.

• The lens
• The camera
• The aperture
• The shutter speed

Now let’s come at your content strategy from another angle.

Someone that’s having a wedding might consider asking a friend to be the photographer, hand out cheap cameras to the guests, or even take some photos themselves. In which case they’ll search for information on how to take good wedding photos.

Your content could then provide some DIY photography tips, but also recommendations for additional tips that only a professional can help accomplish.

No one wants to end up with blurry wedding photos so it’s OK to offer free value and tips throughout your content.

Your readers will see how hard wedding photos are to take, not to mention time consuming, and may prefer to hire a professional.

Since you gave them the valuable (and free) information, you’ll be the first person that comes to mind when they’re ready to choose a professional wedding photographer.

Remember, your goal is to get readers to click your website and stay on your page.

Not glance through and think “this isn’t what I’m looking for”, or “this is boring” and click off.

These actions will increase your bounce rate and lower your dwell time – two user signals Google uses to help rank your website.

By making your content irresistible people will stay and read every word. And that’s great for your SEO.

 

Wedding SEO Keyword Tools

Creating stellar content isn’t useful if no one can find it.

By writing your content around the keywords that people are using to search online you will be able to boost your odds of ranking for those keywords.

For example, if a lot of people are searching for ‘wedding photographer prices’ you could create a blog post about current photography costs.

This could include:

• Ways to cut down on photo costs
• DIY photo tips (like disposable cameras on each table for fun, candid moments)
• Examples of photography price tiers to choose from
• What you get when you opt for a premium photographer
• Wedding photography red flags to watch out for

Here are some free SEO tools you can use to carry out your own keyword research and create content that people will love AND are actively searching for.

Google Keyword Planner – Search for low-competition keywords and compare search volume to see where your most realistic chance of ranking is.

Moz Keyword Explorer – Another strong keyword research tool that shows you a priority metric so you know where to start trying to rank. This tool is like your own free marketing manager.

Google Trends – Google Trends shows a fluctuating river of data so you can see what’s trending. Write for what’s hot and improve your rankings as a result.

 

Two – Optimise your Page Title and Meta Description

Your Page Title and Meta Description are two of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of on-page SEO (the broad term for the optimisation that occurs on your website, as opposed to that which occurs off your website).

These on-page optimisation opportunities make it more likely for you to appear on Google and increase the chances of people clicking through to your page and not your competition.

Page Title

Your page title, also known as your Title Tag, is the description of your webpage that appears on Google when people search online.

Your page title is one of the most important areas of on-page optimisation.

You should include your chosen keywords at the start of your Page Title to tell both Google and humans what the page is about.

Like this…

For example, if you were writing a Page Title for a webpage about wedding photography you might try something like ‘Wedding Photography | Your Brand Name’

You can take this a step further by adding similar keywords or locations to help boost your SEO.

For example, ‘Wedding Photography Sydney | Quality Affordable Photos | Your Brand Name’

Your Page Title must be 60 characters or under, otherwise Google will not display it in full.

You need to make your Page Title something your reader will truly want to click. This means it has to match your searcher’s intent and be intellectually pulling.

For example, if people are Googling “wedding photography inspiration”, they want ideas for a wedding.

If you are creating a blog you should title your page to reflect this. For example, “10 Wedding Photography Ideas For Spring”.

If you are creating a Page Title for a service that you provide then you will need to be more direct. For example, ‘Wedding Photography | Sydney Event Photographers | Your Brand Name’.

Meta description

Your Meta Description is what people will see underneath the title section.

You can be more descriptive here to help increase click through rates.

When someone Googles a specific term, it will be bolded in your description. This makes it stand out more.

Adding your keywords to your Meta Description will not impact your SEO, but by creating bold words that stand out you will help catch the eye of those searching your keywords and convince them to click on your website over your competition.

You can use between 50 and 300 characters in your meta description before Google will cut it off.

So get creative and show everyone why their wedding won’t be complete without you.

Use clear language, emotional words, and focus on what value your customer stands to receive.

For example, ‘We capture the moments that you never want to forget. Quality, affordable wedding photography that makes you the star. A picture says a thousand words, so let our pictures tell your love story forever. Free consultations available now’.

 

Three – Improve your Website Speed

Your website speed has a direct impact on your SEO.

A fast website makes it easy for people to browse your pages, while a slow website drives people away.

Each of these outcomes impacts your SEO.

With more browsers and longer dwell times, your SEO will be helped.

With more people leaving because your website wouldn’t load, your SEO will be hurt.

Think of it this way.

You’re Googling for wedding photography inspiration.

You see the Page Title “10 Spring Wedding Photographs That Will Blow You Away”.

You read the Meta Description and excitedly click on the link.

You wait…

And wait…

And wait…

Finally, you click back because the page took too long to load.

Even a few seconds can be enough to lose that customer and hurt your business.

Consider the following web speed statistics:

• 79% of consumers say website issues will keep them away from an online store.
• 39% of people will leave a site if the images don’t load
• 44% of people will tell their friends about a bad online experience
• 52% of customers cite page speed as important to their brand loyalty
• A 1 second drop in load time can lead to an 11% drop in page views.

Here are 2 quick and easy tips to decrease your loading speed:

#1 – Optimise your images

You run a photography business so you have a lot of high quality images on your website.

These are typically large file sizes that may slow down the loading speed of your website.

There are a range of free image optimisation tools online. Using these you can reduce your file sizes by 50-70% on average. You’ll have minimal image quality loss so your pictures will remain sharp without affecting your site speed..

Consider the following free resources to minimise the size of your files.

Compressor.io: Provides up to 90% file size reduction.

Tiny Panda: Smart lossy compression techniques online and instantly.

Reduce Images: Works across a range of images including JPEG, PNG, GIF & BMP.

#2 – Use the right platform

Some website builders are inherently slow.

Because of the way they handle certain website functions they are limited in their optimal speed.

If you want a website that is as fast as it is professional (and that’s exactly what you want to represent the digital face of your business) you need to choose the right platform.

In short, if you’re using Wix or Shopify, your website will typically load a little slower than a WordPress website.

These are also believed to be inferior when optimising for SEO purposes, with WordPress websites preferred.

WordPress currently powers around 30% of the world’s websites, so you’ll be in good company using WordPress.

 

Four – Optimise your Instagram Profile

If you want more clients and more photography packages sold, the most important thing you can do is showcase your wedding photography skills.

This doesn’t have to be costly or even time-consuming though.

With over 9,000,000 active Australian monthly users on Instagram, social media can be leveraged to spread your brand message far and wide.

As a simple and easy win you can reach out to some past clients and ask if they could tag you in their wedding photos on Instagram.

This will let everyone who sees their photo know that you took it.

When they’re looking for their own wedding photographer, they might go back to that post and check out your Instagram.

Or they could already be looking for a quality photographer and contact you instantly.

That’s easy traffic through social media.

Your Instagram bio should also have a link to your website. You’re only permitted one live link in your Instagram bio so make it clear and obvious.

When people who are interested in your services go to check out your profile, they’ll see your link and visit your website.

They might even share your website with others.

This will create organic backlinks and improve your search engine rankings as well.

Here are 2 simple ways to use Instagram to help grow your business.

#1 – Post your best work your own account

With the permission of the couples you photograph, post your fab photos on your own feed and tag everyone in the pictures.

This has the result of providing extra attention on their Instagram accounts, while you get to show off your photography skills.

This helps expose your work to new audiences, any number of which might be in the market for a wedding photo snapper, or know someone else who is.

#2 – Use wedding hashtags

You want to attract users that are interested in weddings.

This can be done by optimising the hashtags you use.

Instead of using photography hashtags, you can narrow your focus to wedding photography hashtags. In doing so you’ll be targeting a much more niche audience.

That means other people who are also searching for hashtags like #weddingphotography or #weddingphotos will see your work.

That’s another simple source of traffic you can get just by jumping on your phone.

If you’re struggling to come up with relevant hashtags consider using one of the following free social media hashtag tools.

All Hashtag: Generate the top 30 hashtags based on your chosen hashtag.

Hashtagify: Monitor the most popular and trending hashtags.

Keyhole: Free market research and broad hashtag data.

 

SEO for Wedding Planners

A wedding will provide you with a great opportunity to showcase your expertise and attract new clients.

But if you’re relying on word of mouth alone, what do you do when no one is talking about your business?

SEO for wedding planners is the process of optimising your planning website to attract targeted traffic when engaged couples go searching for wedding help online.

This ensures your website appears at the top of Google.

This is the ideal place to live when couples search online and need help, motivation or inspiration.

Keep in mind, the wedding industry is massive.

This means your potential clients could be searching for wedding planning for a variety of reasons.

Consider the following search.

What do you think a person using this search term is looking for?

It’s not enough to hope you’ll appear at the top of Google. You need to understand the intent of this search query and position yourself to solve every possible problem your potential clients have. This is done through the content you create, the Title Tags you optimise, and your ability to create blogs that people really care about.

Hoping for the best won’t fill your calendar for wedding season. Knowing how to turn a single search into a variety of ways to appear on Google will give you a better chance of converting more clients.

Wondering how to identify more ways to rank on Google?

You can use the suggestions provided to you by Google to help you understand intent better than your competition.

For example, Google’s ‘People Also Ask’ section…

As well as Google’s searches relating to ‘Wedding Planner’ which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of the search engine results page.

By understanding your potential client’s search intent and adhering to the four following SEO optimisation techniques you’ll create a fast, mobile friendly website that’s full of relevant content, and optimised to appear for a variety of search terms.

Best of all it will position you as a wedding authority that others will turn to, making you the wedding planner with a plan.

 

One – Create Engaging Content

You don’t want to be forcing your services on your readers

That’s not the purpose of content.

Just as a planning a wedding takes time and careful consideration, the content you create should give your audience valuable information that they’ll want to read and will actually help them.

For example, as a wedding planner you could create content around educational topics like a “2019 Wedding Planning To-Do List”.

Consider what information a person would be looking for if they searched for that article.

What answers would they be seeking from a wedding planner online?

You can use free market research tools to help shape your content and help answer this question, for example:

Answer The Public: See what questions peoples are asking about your chosen topic.

Quora: A social network hub offering actual questions asked by couples planning their wedding.

Once you’ve figured out what questions people are commonly asking, your ‘2019 Wedding Planning To-Do List’ content should answer those questions.

For example:

• Work out your budget
• Choose your wedding party
• Start building a guest list
• Hire a wedding planner
• Choose a date
• Reserve a venue
• Book a wedding celebrant
• Research and choose a florist, photographer, caterer and entertainment option
• Purchase a dress
• Send invitations
• Select and order a cake
• Schedule hair and makeup
• Organise a wedding rehearsal
• Get married!

Your goal is to fill each piece of content with value.

And you do this by understanding what your audience truly wants from your content.

Let’s try another example.

Let’s say you have created a piece of content around wedding planning prices.

It is not enough to put a list of your own prices in the article.

People want more than just a cheap wedding planner in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane.

Climb into the heads of your readers.

It is likely they will also want to know:

• Cost cutting wedding planning hacks
• A basic guide to wedding planning prices
• Wedding planning options
• DIY wedding planner ideas
• Luxury wedding planner ideas

You’ll be able to use Answer the Public and Quora to research and see what questions people are asking online.

People that are in the research phase for their wedding, and trying to plan their wedding out themselves, will see a comprehensive resource like this and open it.

It gives them everything they need.

You might think there’s no point in creating such rich content if you’re not selling your services.

But here’s the catch!

You’re always selling your services.

Your reader might look through the list, apply some of your tips, but realise they can’t provide all the services of a qualified wedding planner.

Their next logical step is to start the process of choosing a professional planner to help set up their wedding.

Since you gave them such rich value, all free of charge, they’ll trust you and view you as an expert to look to for guidance.

Now, turning a prospect into a sale becomes easy.

But don’t get too hung up on selling.

Your goal as a wedding planner is to create content that satisfies user demand.

The more value you provide, the more people that people will want to read it and share it, and the more you will be elevated as the logical option when they come calling for a planner.

This is known as Content Marketing and it is a secret used by the world’s most successful businesses.

In fact, when content marketing is compared to paid search (PPC, Google Ads, Facebooks Ads) it sees 3x the leads per dollar spent, making it well worth your time.

 

Two – Optimise your Title Tags & Meta Descriptions

On-page SEO optimisation can be scary.

But it doesn’t have to be.

There are some simple SEO changes you can implement on your own, today, that can help boost your rankings and move your website towards the top of Google.

Every website needs to optimise these things. Wedding planning is no different.

Your goal is to get more people clicking onto your website and once you’ve started creating relevant content that will keep an audience hooked, you’ll need to make your site accessible on Google.

Two simple ways to boost your SEO and improve your chances of appearing on Google include optimising your Title Tags and your Meta Description.

Title Tags

Title Tags are the HTML element that specify the title of your web page.

These are shown on search engine result pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline that appears for any given search term.

These are important for your wedding planning SEO for two reasons.

#1 – By placing your event planner keywords at the start of your Title Tag you will be telling Google what your page is about, which can help boost your chances of ranking for that keyword.

#2 – By creating a Title tag that is exciting and stimulates curiosity you can convince people to click through from the SERPs to your website.

When people leave Google to visit your website this is a positive user signal that tells Google your page has satisfied the search intent of a person.

When you send these positive user signals to Google you will be increasing your chances of higher rankings.

Your readers could be Googling “How to plan a wedding”.

You could optimise your Title Tags to read…

‘How To Plan A Wedding | Simple Planning Tips | Your Brand Name’

Do you think they’ll want to click this result?

Absolutely!

This Title Tag matches their search intent and gives them exactly what they’re looking for.

An accurate and engaging Title Tag Increases your chances of having someone click through to your website, stay on your page, and actually enjoy your content.

Remember, your Page Title must be 60 characters or under, otherwise Google will not display it in full. So get your quality in clearly and early.

Meta Description

Your Meta Description is an HTML element of up to 155 characters (though this has been expanded to 300 characters for certain results) which is used to provide a brief summary of the contents of your page.

When people search for a particular term on Google they will have a quick read over the Meta Description if the Title Tag doesn’t create enough curiosity to make them click instantly.

Optimising your Meta Description to include target keywords is considered best SEO practice for wedding planners.

While there is no direct correlation between Meta Description keywords used, each keyword you do include that matches the search query will be shown in bold, which can help you stand out amongst your wedding planner competitors.

In doing so, optimising your Meta Description is a way to stand out and boost your chance of a click through.

As Google considers your click through rate (CTR) when determining your rankings, this can make the difference between appearing at the top, and on the second page of Google where 75% of people never visit.

As a bonus tip, use your Meta Description to add reasons for people to click through.

You could do this by including your services.

Any discounts you are offering.

Any guarantees or risk-free processes.

As well as popular wedding words or emotional words that have been proven to increase your CTR.

Studies have shown the following words to drive higher click-through-rates:

• Easy
• Guarantee
• Inspire
• Secret
• Amazing
• Remarkable
• Explore

For example, if someone searches for ‘wedding planner’ you could consider optimising your Meta Description to read…

‘Are you looking for the secret to an unforgettable wedding? It all happens in the planning! Offering risk-free wedding planner consultations your dream day is closer than ever. Let’s get planning!’

 

Three – Optimise Website Speed

Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer.

They’re excited for their wedding and want to get everything sorted so they can start booking their photographer, venue, catering and so on.

They start googling “Wedding Planner Sydney” and they want to book one in ASAP.

Clicking through some websites and opening them in multiples tabs, they quickly fill up their tab bar.

Now it’s time to browse through and see which one seems right for them.

The first one loads quickly so they browse, the second one is still loading.

They wait a few seconds.

Then they close the tab.

They have many other pages to look through.

Why should they bother waiting?

That’s what your reader is going through every time your website fails to load quickly enough.

And if you were that website that took a little too long to load, you’ll never see that hot lead again.

They were ready to book you, but you just weren’t fast enough.

Speed counts, here’s why:

• 1 second delays can reduce page views by 11%
• 1 second delays can reduce customer satisfaction by 16%
• 1 second delays can cut 7% off your conversion rate

With a slick and speedy website a priority for all wedding planners, here are 2 simple ways to speed up your site and give your visitors a reason to stick around.

#1 – Optimise your images

You have a lot of nice images on your website. After all, you’ve planned countless weddings and the quality of your work speaks for itself.

But images can take up a lot of space and can add harmful seconds to your site load time.

The stats above show a few seconds is all it takes for your reader to click off.

You can use online tools to bulk compress your images and reduce file size in seconds.

This won’t compromise the quality of your images but can turn a slow website into a quicker, higher converting website.

Consider the following free resources to minimise the size of your files.

Compressor.io: Provides up to 90% file size reduction.

Tiny Panda: Smart lossy compression techniques online and instantly.

Reduce Images: Works across a range of images including JPEG, PNG, GIF & BMP.

#2 – Use the right platform

It might be tempting to build your website on Wix, SquareSpace, or any other user friendly website builder.

While you will have your site up and running quickly, you’ll be sacrificing valuable website optimisation that WordPress websites offer.

Invest the time to create a WordPress website for your planning business and you’ll be rewarded in the long run with higher rankings on Google and more organic visitors.

 

Four – Create In-depth Blog Posts

If someone’s planning their wedding, they’ll be wanting to do some in-depth reading.

So you’ll need to give them plenty of reading material to help them learn everything they need.

You could post things like “Avoid These 5 Wedding Planning Mistakes”.

These are the types of things that people can share with their friends who are getting married, while providing value driven tips on what not to do when planning a wedding.

Remember to include your keywords and related keywords in your blog post.

Remember when we learned about Google’s ‘Searches Relating to…’ section at the bottom of each Google search?

You can use these within your content – making sure you actually answer these questions and help people understand them, to increase your chances of ranking.

Write a long blog post that’s in-depth so your readers spend time going through all of it and leave feeling like you’ve really helped them.

Google takes into account valuable user signals to boost your SEO. By crafting content that has to be read from start to finish you will increase dwell time, decrease bounce rates, and increase their chances of people sharing your post.

These are all great for SEO.

Struggling to come up with ideas for your blog posts?

Try one of the following free online tools to help spark your creativity.

Ubersuggest: Hundreds of keyword ideas for free.

Title Generator: Generate eye-catching titles for blog posts.

Blog Post Ideas Generator: More easy and quick ideas for memorable blogs.

Content Strategy Discovery Tool: Find inspiration for your next wedding blog.

 

Bonus Paperclip Tip – Repurpose your blog posts for use on your social media profiles

While people may be finding your blog post through Google searches, you want to leverage your awesome material and get more eyes on it so others can see that you plan the most creative and cost-effective wedding around.

One way to do this is to use your existing social media accounts and share your blog posts.

This is known as social media cross promotion.

This means sharing it on Facebook. Facebook blog sharing tips include:

• The first 480 characters will be visible on people’s timelines so front load your value.
• Make sure you add images to increase engagement
• Add a personal comment and invite your audience to share an opinion

And sharing it on Instagram. Instagram blog sharing tips include:

• Remember to add relevant hashtags (you can add up to 30 with each post) and stay active on your accounts.
• If someone leaves a comment or asks a question you’ll need to be there to provide an answer or support.
• Instagram doesn’t display clickable links so add your blog link in your Instagram profile and tell your audience how to find it.

It’s important to note that each social media channel is different.What works on one channel won’t necessarily work on another.

This doesn’t mean you’ll need to apply massive changes.

But by tweaking your message for each social channel you’ll give yourself a better chance of success.

 

SEO for Wedding Celebrants

As a wedding celebrant you’ll be used to standing in front of large crowds and helping two people celebrate their love.

So standing at the top of Google with hundreds, or thousands, of people looking at your website shouldn’t phase you one bit.

But this lucrative and valuable position doesn’t come easy.

It requires an understanding of how Google’s algorithm ranks websites and the ability to optimise your website for both humans and Google.

If you love more traffic, more leads and more business then you’ll love these free and actionable tips to help put you in front of a digital crowd.

Just like love, websites come in all shapes and sizes.

Whether you’re a fun marriage celebrant or a cheap wedding celebrant, you’ll need to establish yourself as:

a). An authority

b). A valuable source of information

c). A professional digital presence

When you tick these boxes you’ll be positioning yourself for success.

Here’s how you get it done.

One – Create Engaging Content

Wedding SEO was previously centred around keyword stuffing.

This meant jamming your chosen keywords throughout your content like delicious entrees balancing on a wedding platter.

In 2019, wedding SEO has evolved beyond keyword matching.

Today, successful marriage celebrant websites must include intent matched content.

Intent matching is the process of finding out exactly what your audience wants to see and creating content around that contextual desire. As opposed to keyword matched content which used singular keywords and created content around those literal words.

You can research topics that your readers would be interested in using the following free online tools.

Answer The Public: See what questions peoples are asking about your chosen topic.

Quora: A social network hub offering actual questions asked by couples planning their wedding.

You can also browse popular wedding blogs to see what type of content is popular.

Or, ask your customers what topic they would enjoy and use that as your market research.

Once you have your chosen topic in mind your goal is to approach it from every possible angle.

For example, let’s say you find out that a lot of people are asking about same sex wedding celebrants.

You could create content called ‘How to Find a Same Sex Wedding Celebrant’

This is information that people searching for your keyword will find useful.

Your job is to add value upon value and turn this piece of content into an ultimate resource.

Topics to consider adding might include:

• Same-sex wedding celebrant prices
• General celebrant costs
• Same-sex wedding poems and vow inspirations
• Tips to find the perfect celebrant
• Celebrant red flags to watch out for
• Advice for anyone looking to attend a wedding celebrant course

Adding these topics to your content will ensure your readers find everything they were looking for and more.

This can have several positive results that contribute to your SEO.

a). People love your content and share it. This creates valuable backlinks.

Backlinks act as votes of confidence online that show Google your website is relevant and useful.

The more backlinks you have from high-quality and reputable websites, the better your rankings.

b). People spend time enjoying your content. This creates positive user signals.

User signals tell Google your content is valuable, which boosts your SEO.

Signals such as dwell time, bounce rate, page views and click through rate all contribute to better rankings.

And you can tick both those boxes off at once by crafting stellar content that shows off your wedding knowledge and skills.

With improvements in content having been shown to increase blog traffic by up to 2000%, your revenue can be directly impacted by the quality of your content.

 

Two – Optimise your Title Tags & Meta Descriptions

If you’re searching for a wedding celebrant and you’re greeted by multiple entries on the search engine result pages, what prompts you to choose one over another?

The Page Title and Meta Description can make all the difference between attracting a valuable click and losing it to your competition.

Your Page Title is the clickable link that people will see when your website displays on Google.

Optimising your Page Title to attract attention is key.

Here are some good rules of thumb to make sure your Page Title is working towards your conversion goals.

• Watch your Page Title length: Google will cut off characters, typically around the 60 character mark so get to the point quickly and simply.
• Avoid using all caps: NO ONE LIKES THIS TYPE OF WRITING. So don’t do it.
• Don’t put too many keywords in your Page Title: Your keywords will help you boost your chances of ranking when people search using those same terms. But keep your Page Title natural with keywords used only if relevant.

For example…Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Your Brand Name

This might end up something like…

Sydney Celebrant | Affordable Wedding Celebrants | Your Brand Name

People typing in ‘wedding celebrants’ and other related keywords likely have high purchase intent.

This means they want to know things like the location, the price, the main attractions and so on.

You can use this to your advantage in your Meta Description.

You have up to 300 characters to work with, though Google may cut this number short, so it’s best to front load your value.

For example, if you’re located in Sydney, make sure this is known in your Meta Description.

The same goes for any unique aspects of your service that would help you stand out above other wedding celebrants.

Make it easy for people to get the information they need through your Meta Description.

This will make them more likely to click through to your website to keep learning more.

Let’s say you’re a celebrant who officiates same-sex marriages and you’ve built up hundreds of happy clients.

Your Meta Description could look something like…

‘Sydney’s most trusted same-sex marriage celebrant. Are you looking for an affordable, experienced and fun loving celebrant to help complete your big day? I offer free consultations so reach out and get in touch today!’

Still struggling to craft the perfect meta description?

Keep these 4 tips in mind.

• Provide value to your user. They want to know what’s in it for them if they choose you so make it obvious.
• Write in a warm tone that guides people to your site and not an aggressive style that turns people away.
• Add a call to action (CTA) or offer. For example, ‘30% off for new customers’ or ‘Free Wedding Consultations’.
• Keep testing your Meta Descriptions. Try new versions and new language to see what works for you and your customers.

 

Three – Optimise Website Speed

You wouldn’t rush through the service of a wedding ceremony without giving enough time for everyone to get settled, grab a drink and say hello to grandma.

But when it comes to your website, speed makes a huge difference.

In fact, website speed is one of the most important factor for SEO.

If your website loads slowly, people are more likely to leave.

These important user signals tell Google your site is not relevant, as people are not finding what they are looking for.

As a result you search rankings will suffer.

Think of it this way, if you were looking for information regarding the latest changes to marriage equality, which website would you be more likely to click on.

a). A slow website that takes 10 seconds to load the home page and another 10 seconds to see what services they offer?

Or…

b). A website that flashed the relevant information onto the screen quicker than you can say “I do”.

The second option is far more appealing. It’s for that reason that Google uses website speed as a metric of your ranking.

After all, Google wants to provide the best possible user experience possible.

That means showing websites full of relevant, high-quality content that displays quickly.

Now that you know how important it is to have a fast website, here are 2 easy ways to decrease your site load time.

#1 – Optimise your images 

Of course you’ll want plenty of pictures of your previous work.

Recent research has shown content with images can average 94% more views than content without any form of multimedia.

As a local wedding celebrant you could use this to your advantage and include examples of the services you offer or some social proof with images of happy people.

But keep in mind the higher quality these photos are, the more pressure they will put on your website to load.

And that’s all you need for your reader to click off.

In fact, studies by Google have shown that, as page load time goes from 1 second to 5 seconds, the probability of someone bouncing goes up by 90%.

Don’t stress if your website has lots of images showing you in action.

You can use tools to bulk compress your images and get this done in seconds without compromising your image quality too much.

Consider the following free resources to minimise the size of your files.

Compressor.io: Provides up to 90% file size reduction.

Tiny Panda: Smart lossy compression techniques online and instantly.

Reduce Images: Works across a range of images including JPEG, PNG, GIF & BMP.

#2 – Use the right platform

It might be tempting to build your website on Wix, SquareSpace, or any other easy website builder.

But while your site may be up and running quicker, you won’t have the ease of optimisation on the backend that WordPress websites provide. Roughly 30% of the world’s websites operate on a WordPress platform, so you’ll be in good company with this choice.

Invest the time upfront to create a WordPress website and you’ll see the rewards in the long run. You’ll also learn some valuable optimisation skills that will allow you to manage aspects of your own SEO going forward, meaning less money spent on agency fees and more money staying in your back pocket.

This all means ranking higher on Google and getting more organic visitors.

 

Four – Start Embracing Video Content

Video content has exploded in popularity and will continue to be a valuable tool for wedding celebrants going forward.

As a form of social proof – after all, what shoes off your skills more than a video full of happy people enthralled by your officiating?

Here are a few video stats to fuel your marketing plans this year:

• 81% of people feature a video on their brand’s website
• Adding a video to your homepage can help to increase conversion rates by 20% or more
• 54% of people want to see more video content from a brand they support

And don’t feel like videos have to live on your website alone.

In fact, videos are a consumers favourite type of content to see on social media.

This means you can use your videos across your social media channels.

Instagram allows videos of up to 60 seconds, so you have time to really get creative.

Why not add a testimonial from a happy couple and let them create a buzz for you?

People who are interested in your celebrant services will definitely want to see what you do during a ceremony.

What’s better than having a high quality video, that goes through your entire routine, and shows them exactly what it’s like to have their wedding with you?

If people like what they see in your video, they’ll start Googling for your website, looking through it, and sharing it with their friends to see what they think.

This will all help increase your rankings.

Did you know that the average visitor spends 88% more time on a website with a video?

What more reason could you want to start getting your most magical celebrant moments on film?

Have a look at one of our satisfied Wedding Celebrant SEO partners to see how effective video can be.

 

Ready to say ‘I do’ to more organic traffic?

With these SEO tips you’ll be ready to take the next step in your relationship, no matter what your wedding niche is.

Your digital presence and your business have been flirting.

Getting closer and closer.

Now it’s time to take the plunge and make it official.

With an optimised digital presence you’ll be moving towards the top of Google and attracting the targeted, higher volume traffic that comes with first page rankings.

Through quality content that gives readers everything they wanted (and more) you’ll be improving your important SEO user signals.

While a faster and mobile friendly website will improve your UX and encourage others to check out your business, share it with friends, and invest in your services.

Whether you’re a wedding photographer, wedding planner, or wedding celebrant, if you love your business, it’s time to start loving SEO too.

 

Looking for more ways to optimise your website, that won’t cost you a single dollar?

We’re offering complimentary Wedding SEO training for photographers, planners and celebrants who are serious about growing their business.

Warning: This FREE TRAINING is not for everyone. This requires time on the phone or in our Paperclip office. If you don’t have the time to focus on your business please do not waste our time.