Marketing....

[Travis Heberling]

Hello!

I recently got a call from a company wanting to help build my brand and get me on the front page of google for my general area.

I know a little bit about SEO, keywords, social media, etc....but would it be wise for me to go with a marketing team to help get my brand out there more?

My company is still fairly new but already growing pretty quickly on its own from the wedding wire and referrals....if I needed to expand though I think I could.

Who here uses a marketing specialist for their company?

[Gary Huff]

Anyone offering anything of this nature is going to be a waste of money. No one can really manipulate your page ranking in Google outside of a natural rise, and certain tricks have gotten page delisted as well. eBay just got nailed hard with an upgrade to the engine that powers Google search.

Log out of your Google account and try googling "SEO" "page ranking" "marketing" etc. for the area they operate in and see if that company who calls you comes up at all in the first page of the results. If they can't do it for themselves, why would that inspire confidence that they can do it for you?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Travis

Gary is 100% ...it's a bit of a scam so they can make money ... as they are so many of these opportunists around you are very unlikely to get to page one on Google if a bride types in "wedding video" and it will cost you big too!! Sure they might get to onto page one but it will cost a bomb to keep you there as thousands of "SEO's" around the world are promising to get you onto page 1.

What I do is just advertise on a big online wedding directory ...it costs a lot less for you and then you or at least your category will appear on the first page simply because the wedding directory works their butts off to keep themselves high up in the rankings which helps you as well.

Brides will also tend to jump on a site that has a bunch of wedding vendors so she can compare so she can make a choice.

Look at this example : If I do a search for "wedding video perth western Australia" (which is what a bride will search for) The top of the page is Videography Perth | Wedding Videographers and voila, my ad is right there for the bride to find and I don't have to worry about paying SEO companies to keep me on page one of google!!

To me that makes sense.

[Jeff Harper]

There are many legitimate ways to affect your search engine results on search engines, but knowing how the search engine algorityms work is complicated. Furthermore, executing strategies for raising your SE profile can be extremely time consuming.

There are companies, some good, some bad, that offer SEO services. These companies typically charge hundreds or thousands a month to impletment SEO strategies.

Many very large companies spend tens of thousands a dollars a month on SEO services.

An SEO company's rank for a given area is going to be irrelevant, Gary. This is because SEO companies do not service geographical areas the same way most local businesses do. A friend of mine owns an SEO company and his clients are worldwide, very few local.

Travis, normally, many of the smallest businesses, such as yours and mine, cannot afford SEO services. However, if you have found a good company, and if you have the money, yes it can work but it may not be as cost effective as advertising in wedding directories. You can learn what you need on your own for SEO if you take the time to learn how.

I have received many calls over the years from companies as you have Travis. You should not hire someone unless you know for certain they are trustworthy. I think there are a whole lot of SEO companies that cannot be trusted, so be careful.

[Chip Thome]

I just did a google for "wedding videos Chicago" and Wedding Wire was #4 on the list after the three paid ads. So "you" are already on the front page of google, depending on your placement in Wedding Wire.

IMO, your time would be better spent finding out how to climb the Wedding Wire list to get toward the top of that.

[Chris Harding]

Greeting Chip

Yep paid ads will always be on the very top so the first listing under the paid ads (in IE11 they are actually now flagged with a little yellow icon with the word AD inside it)
I have a "premium" listing on Easy Weddings here which rotates me with the other 6 videographers that also have premium listings. That cost is $134.00 a year which is only just over $100 a month. I doubt whether one could get a consistent top of Goggle from an SEO company for much less than that ..plus you have the added advantage that brides often register on these directories so they can look for vendors other than videographers so for them it's a "one stop shop"

It's actually better to bite the bullet and advertise with the big boys rather than put yourself on smaller "fly-by-night" directories and the multiple costs of these would probably add up to more than just one major site.

I had 353 referrals to my website between June 2013 and June 2014 (my contract period) and in my opinion even if you got one or two weddings from the site it's worth the money as the first wedding would normally pay for the advertising outright so anything more is a bonus. Plus the ad costs are also tax deductable too!

It's certainly the sensible and cost effective way to market yourself.

Chris

[Robert Benda]

Yes, the person calling you is a scam.

You should still have a marketing plan. Whether you choose to hire someone for it... you should NOT hire anyone who is cold calling you.

If you do it yourself, you should may be spend about 30 minutes a week on SEO for your website.

The easiest technique is, usually, to figure out which portal your clients are most likely to use: Google ads, Facebook ads, WeddingWire, or TheKnot.com are usually the top 4 choices here in the U.S.

IF you want to start advertising, one of those is usually the place.

Reasons to advertise? 1) if you want MORE bookings; 2) if you want more chances to book

#2 is not the same as #1. For instance, if you want to raise your rates, you might want more chances to book the same number of bookings you are now.

[Darren Levine]

someone trying to sell you something is just that.

just hang up

[Travis Heberling]

Thanks for all the feedback,

All of you gave some good knowledge and I am going to continue to go the route I am right now...social media, wedding wire, and word of mouth.

I do video work for a company that does SEO things so I am going to look into their packages or work for work deal once my company is ready.

Thanks again!

[Danny O'Neill]

We're always getting calls from someone saying "I'm calling from page one of Google..."

I then put the phone on the side and go make myself a sandwich.

[Darren Levine]

the cruelest i've been to one of those calls was when the lady jumped right into talking about a survey and skipped the part about asking if i'd even like to take and off with the first question. It was a long line at the post office so i entertained myself/punished her by repeating "why" in response to anything she asked. and it took her well over a minute of constantly trying to figure out my "why"s to finally hang up.

Another ridiculous one was a call from someone asking to speak to who manages the phone bill. i asked if it was regarding an existing account, lady dodges the question and pushes again, and i repeat my unanswered question until she gets noticeably frustrated and hangs up.

I also have jotted down many of the times i've been called by the daily news, and every single time me telling them to remove me from their list, so now every time they call, i immediately ask their name, write down the date/time and kindly inform them i've already told X number of their coworkers to remove me from the list, and i'm recording the call information for when i plan to sue the daily news for harrassment. It's actually been some time since they've called. Guess they got the hint i don't want their damn paper

i can respect when someone has a crappy job, but i cannot and shall not put up with jobs which exist only to pester people. it's like religion, it's totally fine whatever you want to do so long as you keep it to your damn self.