8 Wedding Vendor Tips for your Website

Your web presence is more than just some social media channels and a website URL… it's the face of your company! To many engaged couples, this is the first place they meet you and get to know your wedding business. To a large majority of those potential customers, your website could either make or break their decision to move forward with contacting you.

Implementing these tips on your website will help increase your chances of having engaged couples contact you.

1. Make a great first impression. Just as you would if you met someone for the first time in person, your website should establish trust with engaged couples as soon as they arrive. To achieve this, ensure that your website looks professional and that the wording is positive. Your wording should speak to visitors in an appropriate, professional voice. Keep things simple, so that you don't overwhelm visitors.  And have a friend proofread your website to make sure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors.  Also remember that small print, harsh backgrounds and long paragraphs of text can be turn-offs to the reader and are very outdated practices. Keep things simple & clear with fresh colors, clean backgrounds, simple lines, and short areas of text.  Doing all of this will encourage couples to stay on your website longer. 
   


2. Give clear and concise descriptions of the benefits that you offer.  Think about a couple's pain points (or needs) and make sure that the benefits that you outline clearly address those points. In an obvious way, make sure that you answer the question: What's in it for me? It is also a good idea to have a FAQ that addresses common questions that couples have about your service. By answering a couple's questions ahead of time, you are encouraging them to continue to interact with you.
   


3. Tell couples who you are.  As mentioned earlier, your website is the face of your company and your brand. Having an 'About' section is very helpful for couples who want to get to know you.  It makes couples feel like they can connect with you, and that you are open and transparent about your business.  And photos of you and your staff on your 'About Us' page will give your business a human face. I highly recommend that you use professional headshots to convey a look that is trustworthy and credible. 
   


4. Use real (beautiful) images of weddings.  Good imagery is one of the easiest ways to attract couples and highlight your product or services.  But if your photos are low-resolution, fuzzy, distorted, or in the worst case… don't load on the pages at all… then you have a bigger problem. When done well, they bring life to your site and pull your potential customers in.
   


5. Tell the engaged couple what you want them to do. When a couple arrives at one of your website pages, the wording should make it very clear as to what you want them to do. This is referred to as the call-to-action. Whether the call-to-action is "contact us for a free consultation," "learn more," or "tell a friend," couples should have no doubt what they are supposed to do next after visiting your website. Use the color, style, and position of the "call-to-action" to help make sure it is completely obvious to brides.
   


6. Make it easy for couples to contact you. It is extremely important to give couples multiple options for contacting you. This includes a phone number, email address, Facebook address, Instagram address, etc. Each couple will have their own preferred way of communicating with you.  Make this information available on each page of your site.  Couples should not have to search hard for a way to get in contact with you.
   


7. Respond to inquiries quickly. A quick response (ideally within one hour) builds confidence and trust. This is also the best way to capture a couple's full attention before they change their mind or find another wedding professional.
   


8. Review your site frequently.  While many of us routinely check our social media channels daily to make posts or check in on news, sometimes, our websites get placed on the back burner. Like any digital channel, your site should live and breathe your messaging and brand. Don't let it sit stagnant. Review it every few weeks to assure no dead links or pages have formed, your images are fresh & clear, & your content is up to date. There's nothing worse than catching typos or incorrect phone numbers on a business site!

Even if you are really good at what you do, it can be hard to get couples to contact you.  Make sure that your website is working for you. Take the time to evaluate whether it is building trust and motivating couples to take action. And it's always a good idea to ask other wedding professionals and even couples whether your website meets the criteria listed above.