Weddingbee PRO
A lot of businesses out there could use an updated website design. I wouldn’t want to feature or visit an unattractive or difficult to navigate website, and neither would today’s savvy bride and groom. I think it’s extremely important to have a website that represents you, your aesthetic, and your business, and creating a beautiful website on a budget may be easier than you think! 
Personally I’m not a fan of flash, but I know that it’s pretty standard in creative industries. I learned about flash website template companies BluDomain and Simplyblu from my friend Rebecca Grinnals. They offer easy to fill in templates specifically designed for creative professionals like wedding photographers, planners, bakers, etc., and cost between $100-$400!
The pictures on the site are by none other than our very own PRO, Amelia Lyon!
Rebecca used Bludomain to create the gorgeous Engage08 website. Who would have thought that this was DIY?!
Weddingbee blogger Mrs. Emerald used BluDomain to create a website for her new wedding planning business, and she said that it was super easy to use — all you do is fill in the text and photos into the template you selected.
Some vendors in the wedding industry, specifically hair stylists and makeup artists, often don’t have a website at all. That hurts me so much, it almost makes me want to create a website for them. They usually tell me that they don’t know any web designers, they don’t have the budget to create a website, and they’re just not tech savvy enough.
If a template style website like BluDomain is intimidating, I always suggest that wedding vendors start a blog and use it as their website. Wedding photographer superstar Jessica Claire uses her blog as her website, so why can’t you! Even if you’re not a good writer, pictures of your work provide plenty of blog fodder!
We use Wordpress to power Weddingbee and Weddingbee PRO — it’s easy to use, extremely customizable, and of course best of all, it’s completely freeeee! Check out all these free Wordpress themes created by users.
And blogging communities like xanga (check out Scott Robert’s blog) and blogger (check out Blue Orchid Designs’ blog) allow you to set up your blog in less than 5 minutes.
I’m definitely no expert when it comes to programming or web design, but I do believe that the design and layout of your website can dramatically impact your business. There is no reason why you shouldn’t have a nice website right now!
Does your website need a little sprucing up?
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I couldn’t agree with you more!
You know - I’ve always wondered why so many photographers had such similar flash built websites - I had no idea it was such a quick fix! I agree with you though - I’m not a big fan of flash based sites, and SEO and Google doesn’t like them too much either
I’m in the process of revamping my website, and moving it entirely over to Wordpress. It’s a bit of work now, but I think a better website design will be really beneficial in the long run!
I recently bought a Bludomain site for my jewelry…I’m currently working on it, but so far, it’s well worth the price!
I agree that Blu Domain sites are easy to use and a great solution for non-tech business owners. I personally do not recommend them for Search Engine Optimization purposes. Its nice to have a great looking site, but if no one can find your $400 site then it is worthless. It costs a lot more to have a site that isn’t search engine friendly because you have to pay to market it. That gets really expensive.
A flash site is better than nothing. I agree that a blog is a great way to get started. You are creating Google friendly content with every post. Use the keywords that will attract traffic the business you want and you will be off an rolling in no time for most industries.
PHONE NUMBER! Alan Berg (VP- The Knot.com Marketing) says it best when he says”you never know where on your site a bride will decide to commit”. A simple phone number on the upper portion of every page is a simple call to action. Tell the bride how you wish to be contacted- “Call me 616-485-6407 for more information”.
You will be surprised at how many more leads you will get just by telling the user what you want him/her to do.
Other simple easy to use Web tips- Email forms. It is better to have form on your page for someone to fill in than to have them open their email program. Keep the form simple and easy to use and you will get more leads. You will lose 80% of your traffic at every step in the process if you require them to do more than fill out a form.
TURN THE MUSIC OFF. Do you want to get a bride in trouble at work. Imagine her at her computer at work on break or between projects and she feels led to click on your link to get to your site only to be blasted with “HERE COMES THE BRIDE”. If you are a photographer why do you have music. She is going to back button as fast as possible to get away from the music, because she can’t find the mute button.
I agree with Mrs. Bee about the importance of a website, but in today’s age do it right. If a bride can tell you did it yourself. Then it is probably not good enough. I am not saying its not alright to do it yourself, but if the bride can tell, it matters.
Hi Bee! Thanks for the nice words!! The new engage!09 :: something blue website is also a template [$400 version - I upgraded this go around!] from bludomain. I collaborated with my graphic designer to help pull it together and then created all of the content myself. The best part of a template site is that you can update it in 2 seconds - all by yourself! And that, is priceless. For my clients, I often recommend that they at least use a bludomain or other template website as a interim branding solution until they are able to budget for a more custom-designed, SEO optimized version. I know that many in the photography industry have strong feelings against them but I agree with you in that often it is a dramatic improvement over not having a site or having a truly outdated site that is virtually impossible and costly to update.
Using a template based site in conjunction with a blog that does pull higher on SEO is a winning combo. We created both engage! websites in one week’s time. No one can argue with that.
OK - I did not mean for that to turn into such long response - but I guess I had something to say on the subject after all!
On another note - we are THRILLED to have you joining us in June in Grand Cayman as a speaker for engage!09…you are going to be a superstar once again!
As a bride, I find flash-based sites really off-putting. Some of the computers I use have older web browsers(that I can’t update for one reason or another), that choke on flash-heavy sites. If I can’t get the website to load properly, then I probably won’t look into the vendor much further than that.
Also, I agree with the above poster about not having music on your site, if I can’t find a way to turn it off quickly then I’ll usually close the site.
I do disagree on e-mail forms though, or at least having that and not having an e-mail address listed that doesn’t require you to use the form. I’d prefer to open my e-mail client so that I have a copy of the e-mail in my sent folder which I don’t get from those forms.
we also use wordpress for all of EAD - it’s so easily customizable if you know a bit of CSS and PHP. i also really don’t like flash websites; i don’t stay on them very long because content is so difficult to find and link to.
Thanks for the amazing post Bee! I am amidst a complete site re-design and have also chosen WordPress. I am somewhat familiar with site design but decided to enlist professional help to get my current site trasitioned. I am very much looking forward to the customizable nature of WordPress and having the ability to update my site daily if needed.
So many great comments on this post - very interesting insights!
I totally agree with you, Bee! I just recently switched my blog http://awaysoiree.com to Wordpress because like you said, it’s completely customizable and FREE!
Flash websites are nice, but when my clients see cool floral/decor photos from certain websites and want to copy the link and send it to me, they can’t do that so it’s a little frustrating.
As to the email forms, I think it’s nice to have both the form and the email address for clients to choose from. It’s good to give them the option.
Thanks for this post. It’s very helpful!
Flash websites are certainly beautiful for photo images. However, many times the fonts are difficult to read as they are images. You have about .2 seconds to capture a potential client’s attention. If I try to read copy on a website and have to squint, I leave it.
Just keep that in mind when you are creating flash sites.
My business website is based on a Wordpress blog platform and I know absolutely NOTHING about web design…which is such a testament to how great a program it is…still…I do wish it was easier…I spend my days worried I am going to royally screw the whole thing up
I recently purchased a BluDomain site and it has worked out perfect for me: ( http://www.jheanelltalee.com ) as a makeup artist, I just needed a simple and easy to use website to do the job - i actually purchased this site for only $50 - SO WORTH IT!
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Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
I love that you’re providing such great advice to vendors! Thanks! Also, would it be possible to ask the blogger photographers to provide some technical information about their photography? It would be so helpful.