So recently, I’ve been getting some emails from fellow wedding vendors asking me about my experience about listing Esvy Photography on both The Knot, Wedding Wire and other wedding related websites.  So I thought I’d put together a little write up.

First, let me start off by saying that this is an account of my own experience and it may or may not coincide with the experience of other vendors.  Additionally, Esvy Photography has been listed on both The Knot and Wedding Wire for a few years, now, so while I have some experience with both, with the wedding “buying cycle”, it may not be a huge sample set.  And another thing to keep in mind is that I’m in the Greater NYC / Long Island area, so it’s a pretty saturated market and, again, may not be a good comparison to, say, a Mid-West market.

MARKETING PLAN & STRATEGY
So when developing your game plan to market your wedding business, it should be a multi-pronged approach, right?  So if you’re listing your wedding company with TheKnot or WeddingWire and hoping that they will be the silver bullet that gets you a ton of business, think again!  The Knot and Wedding Wire will definitely help create confidence in your brand, but may or may not be a huge game changer for you, but more on that later.  The Knot and Wedding Wire should be used in conjunction with any number of marketing and/or advertising outlets such as SEO, SEM, Wedding Shows, contributions to Wedding Blogs, listings on Wedding Blogs etc.

They say that a person has to see a brand at least 6 or 7 times before they really remember and recognize it.  Or at least that what I hear from marketing friends, so having your company/brand on multiple sites/locations will help to people to remember you, your company, and your brand.

FAQ #1 – What if I have limited budget to advertise and/or list my company in multiple places?
Answer – You have to determine which will be the bang bang for your buck.  And which best caters to your personality and/or company.  If you’re a personable person, your best bang for the buck might be a wedding show over a web listing, as your personality might become an asset to help win over some potential clients at the wedding show.

TARGET MARKET
Both The Knot and Wedding Wire throw out a very big net and target a wide range of brides.  You’ll get everything from budget brides to low/mid end luxury brides.  But you will not be getting true super high end brides.  Neither site really targets those brides.  They try to, but not really.  And if that’s your target, you’re probably not reading my blog/website or you already know how the game works.  So what’s your target market?  Who do you want as your clientele?  Does your work cater to a certain market?

Reality Check… You have to be honest with yourself, right now.  You may think that your work is the greatest and you should take pride in what you do, but where does your work fit within your local market.  It may be a harsh reality that you may not be as high end as you think.  Look at your competitors and see how your work compares.

FAQ #2 – Which site has a higher end market, in general?
Answer – If you want a slightly higher end clientele, go with The Knot.  If you’re pretty budget oriented, you can really go with either, but The Knot tends to be a little more expensive over Wedding Wire, so there may be more value there for you.

PLACEMENT ON THE SITE
This one is pretty easy, at least in my book.  When you search for something on Google, Yahoo, or Bing, how often do you go to the 2nd page of results.  I’d probably say maybe 1 out of 10 searches, right?  Same goes for The Knot and Wedding Wire.  Brides want what they want and they want it now.  They are not really going to go to the 2nd page.  So I would recommend shelling out the extra cash to be listed on the 1st page, at least for a year.   Yes, they can sort the listing, but that brings me to the next topic… Reviews.

REVIEWS
If you’re just starting out or started your business within the past couple years, you’ve got an uphill battle.  You’re competing with experienced vendors who have probably around 75-200 reviews and you have 0-15, if you’re lucky.  So the name of the game the first few years is to get as many reviews as possible.  If you do a small engagement shoot, ask them to write a review.  The more positive or 5-star reviews you have, the more confidence the bride will have when contacting you.  Plus, when a bride is visiting The Knot Or Wedding Wire, she may sort by the number of reviews, so you have to make an effort to get higher on that list.

FAQ #3 – What if I literally just started my business yesterday and don’t have any clients, yet?
Answer – Shoot a couple portraits, engagements or small events to get the ball rolling.  Start off with friends and family members. You may have to offer a small discounted rate to get things going, but at least you get the reviews and most likely those people will post the photos to social media, thus getting more traction. There’s always a friend of a friend looking to get great photos for something.

FAQ #4 – Is there a magic number of reviews that I should target?
Answer – You should always be collecting reviews, no matter what.  And generally speaking, you want more reviews than your next competitor.  If they have 15, you want 20.  But in general, it seems that if you have more than 30, particularly for weddings, you’re in an OK spot.   It shows that you have enough experience.  But in the more saturated markets, like NYC, LA, etc, I’d imagine that you want at least 50 reviews.

Side Note –  I believe, Wedding Wire has a low cost or free listing, where you can still collect reviews.  For The Knot, you still have to pay to get the starter or low end package for listing.

BANNER ADS OR SIDE BAR ADS
I’ve tried this once or twice, but never really found a quantifiable return on that investment.  So I can’t really say much about them.  Yes, they will increase visibility of your company/brand, but if you’re marketing budget is limited, you might be better served investing somewhere else.

NUMBER OF LEADS
In the years that I was listed on the 1st page of The Knot and Wedding Wire for either NYC or Long Island, I received more leads from The Knot.  In general, for every 7-8 leads from The Knot, I received only 1 from Wedding Wire.  And this is a result of me just asking them in the Contact Form on my website or when meet/speak with them.  But this also, so does not address the secondary sources.  So, for example, a bride might visit multiple sites before contacting you through either The Knot or Wedding Wire.  But they have seen you on the other site, so there still may be value there, but it’s tougher to quantify.

 
LISTING FEATURES
As far as the design and layout goes for the sites, I find The Knot to be more visually appealing, but I think Wedding Wire makes it easier to display photos.  Their interface is not as cumbersome.  Over the past few years, both sites have been making an effort to improve their design. so things will be constantly changing.

UPDATE: (December 2015) – I have been in consistent contact with the Knot regarding the design of their website.  I have expressed what I feel are shortcomings in the general design and they seem to be open to hearing my thoughts.  From what I understand, some of the suggestions that I have made have been received and will be implemented in an update in 2016.

BOTTOM LINE
So all in all, which one is better?  From my experience, if I had to pay/invest in one or the other,  I would say The Knot.  But I would still set up the free listing on Wedding Wire and collect reviews.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or feel free to ask me.