A GUIDE TO YOUR REFERRAL SOURCES
HOW TO USE PHOTOS TO TELL YOUR STORY
A FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
LOOM – A TOOL TO CUT THROUGH THE NOISE
USING YOUR VENUE SUPERPOWERS TO NAVIGATE THE NEW NORMAL
DOWNLOAD THE TOOLS
REFER TO THE SHOW NOTES
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
This seems way too obvious, but every single day we see venues making huge mistakes and, more importantly, missing out on sales because of things they are doing (or not doing) on their websites. In this module, we go over what your website must include – and what it must be able to do – to become a conversion machine and a truly useful sales tool.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN WHEN YOU DIVE INTO THIS MODULE:
WHY YOUR WEBSITE IS YOUR MOST POWERFUL SALES TOOL AND HOW TO MAKE SURE IT'S WORKING FOR YOU
WHY YOUR WEBSITE IS YOUR MOST POWERFUL SALES TOOL AND HOW TO MAKE SURE IT'S WORKING FOR YOU
2020 VBBC • MODULE 7
Refer to the time-stamped show notes below when you want to revisit any particular portions of the episode.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
SHOW NOTES:
3:22 The five things your website needs to include.
3:41 Crucial Website Piece #1: clear navigation to get people to information about weddings at your venue.
13:10 Crucial Website Piece #2: the superpowers of your venue.
15:15 Crucial Website Piece #3 Great wedding photography of your venue.
15:45 When Meredith tells people NOT to spend money on Here Comes The Guide
20:06 Crucial Website Piece #4: pricing information about weddings.
26:36 Crucial Website Piece #5: a call to action.
33:37 A few more things you may want to include in your website.
You have mere seconds to communicate to couples that land on your website. You literally have 1–3 seconds to hook them in, so you MUST make it easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for – from what you do to where you're located – and you must make an incredible visual first impression.
7 SIMPLE STEPS TO IMPROVE SEO WORKSHEET
This little nugget of gold helps to simplify this complex topic down into just the most important things you need to do for findability on Google.
WORKSHEET
This checklist will help you make sure that your website has all the content and functionality it needs to help you fill your wedding calendar.
10-STEP WEBSITE AUDIT CHECKLIST
CHECKLIST
YOUR TOOLS FOR THIS MODULE
Are you looking for a new website, or an upgrade
to your existing one?
We strongly suggest reaching out to our favorite designer: Absolute JEM. Jenna Miller is the Creative Director of Here Comes The Guide and a fabulous designer. The biggest benefit is that Jenna knows wedding marketing backward and forward and can help you make sure your website is helping you make sales. You heard Jenna in this episode - she is FILLED with knowledge and passion on this topic.
1. Lay the groundwork at the event. Be sure to greet the photographer and mention to them and the wedding couple that you'd love some images from the shoot. Compliments go far!
2. Offer the photographer photo credit. Let them know you will prominently credit them whenever and wherever you use their photos. And then do that!!!
3. Follow up with the photographer. Put a reminder for yourself on your calendar to email the photographer after the event. Continue to "float" that reminder until you get those images.
4. Rinse and repeat until you have images from several of your most beautiful weddings.
HOW TO GET PHOTOS FROM PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO SHOOT EVENTS AT YOUR VENUE:
Jenna Miller was the Vendor Sales Director at Here Comes The Guide for 7 years before diving headfirst into her passion for all things branding and design. Back in 2015, she covertly rebranded + redesigned the entire HCTG website and surprise-presented it to Meredith. From then on, she was dubbed Creative Director. Jenna also has a side hustle Absolute JEM, where she designs bold brands and websites for female-owned small businesses.
JENNA MILLER
Jennifer Ahearn started at Here Comes The Guide in 1998, before we had a website and before anyone had even heard of Google, let alone Adwords or Google Analytics. She's worn many hats over the years, from visiting venues and writing about them for our book, to overseeing the development of our website. Currently, she is all about that data.
JENNIFER AHEARN
Meredith Monday Schwartz started at Here Comes The Guide in 1997 (we didn't even have a website back then—there might also have been dinosaurs running around!) and was a wedding venue specialist for 10 years before taking over as Chief Bossypants in 2007. In the years since she joined HCTG, she's learned a lot about wedding couples, wedding venues, and running a company profitably—and well.
MEREDITH MONDAY SCHWARTZ
