Here at EasyWeddingSearch we love feedback!

Danny from Minty Slippers Videography asked for the ability to add Vimeo as well as YouTube videos.

We delivered and more!

Starting from today, you can add unlimited videos to your ‘more information’ profile page from either Vimeo or YouTube.

Simply Log In, click on the ‘My Advert’ tab, click on the ‘My Videos’ sub heading and then start uploading by entering the Vimeo or YouTube URL where your videos are located.

Like Danny, have you got ideas for new features in the wedding directory or enhancements to existing features? Do let us know!

The Wedding Photography Blog is a place for inspiration both for Brides and wedding professionals alike. Drool over the latest UK wedding photography and even comment on posts as a guest or using your Twitter or Facebook account!

It would be great to get some feedback on this new feature of the site. If you notice any bugs or have a general comment or even want to ask a question, then please leave a comment below.

If you are a wedding photographer then you can submit your photos for inclusion in the blog by using this page

What Is Watermarking?

In this context, watermarks refer to the image, pattern or text that people place on their photos/images. Usually the watermark is a reference to the author e.g. it could be their logo or perhaps website URL.

In my opinion they serve 2 purposes:

1. If someone shares the photo amongst friends or on social sites such as Flickr or Facebook, people will know who the person that took the photo is.

This is a great way of advertising virally, i.e. your brand is spread to many people with little effort.

2. The second reason you may want to watermark your wedding photos is to prevent others from stealing your work and crediting themselves for it.

This is a common occurrence which watermarking helps to prevent (although some naughty people use image editing software to remove the watermark).

Watermarking Guidelines

It comes down to personal preference as to what kind of watermark you use in photos.

In my opinion watermarks should:

• Not distract from the original photo – a small watermark along the bottom of the photo is my preference
• Credit the author of the image – the name and/or website URL of the author should be visible
• Retain brand values – if possible it’s good to include your logo but this isn’t essential

Berkshire wedding photographer Paul Glavin is a great example of someone who uses watermarks well in his photos. They are subtle yet convey the name of the author and his logo.

Watermarking Tools

Here are some useful tools to help you create your watermarks.

Free Online Watermarking Tools

PicMarkr

Watermarktool

Photoshop

Photoshop is the standard tool for most professional photographers and graphic designers. Watermarking can be done efficiently using the batch processing tools available.

The following are some Photoshop tutorials to help you watermark images although some of the examples are pretty gastly in my opinion.

• ehow – How To add a Watermark Using Phoshop
• Photoshop 911 – Watermarking in Photoshop
• dpjounal – Adding Copyright With Photoshop
• Developer Tutorials – Making Your Own Watermark With Photoshop
• ephotozine – Watermarking Your Photos in Photoshop 7 and CS

Windows Software

For software that will work on most modern versions of Windows e.g. XP and Vista

WinWatermark

Visual Watermark

Mac Software

iWatermark – compatible with both Windows and Macs

Do you watermark the images on your site?
Which tools do you use?

Below you will find 18 examples of wedding fair stands from various UK wedding shows in the last couple of years. Hopefully you can get some ideas and inspiration for your stands at upcoming fairs.

Can’t see your stand? Please share it by linking to it in the comments section below.

stevegerrardphotography.com

hamptonmanor.eu

photographyburns.co.uk

www.sweetunique.co.uk

www.sarahvivienne.co.uk

www.floraldesign.co.uk

www.julannphotography.co.uk

www.themakeuplady.co.uk

www.beachcombertours.co.uk

savoirdesign.com

www.philbarber.co.uk

www.aberdeenweddingstationery.co.uk

www.nikkisbridaldesigns.com

www.headinguptheaisle.com

www.ybphotographic.com

www.sugarycrumbs.co.uk

www.occasionsuk.net

dirkvanderwerffphotography.blogspot.com

Street View allows users to zoom in to Google maps at street level. Many have been critical with concerns over privacy but personally I love this technology and forsee some great uses for it in the future.

I had a little fun and searched for some shop windows in London.

View Larger Map

If like me you manage more than one profile on Twitter (a personal profile and your business profile) you are going to love this free web app.

Hoot Suite is an online Twitter client allowing you to do everything you could normally do in Twitter but over multiple profiles and in my opinion with a cleaner interface.

One the best parts of Hoot Suite is the ability to track the URLs you post. This app will automatically shorten your urls and track them meaning you can easily tell how many people have clicked on your links.

Another great feature is the ability to post a status update to multiple Twitter profiles simultaneously!

Finally, you can choose to schedule your Tweet for later. You can set a time and date and Hoot Suite will send out the twitter post without you even being at a computer.

If you are a Twitter fan I would definitely recommend this free web app.

hootsuite.com

Wedding blogger Ian McGraw from VeilAndTrain.com has been blogging for over a year now and I asked him to share his thoughts on this exciting medium.

Hi Ian, could you please tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

Hello Christian, thank you for inviting me onto your blog it’s an honour to be here.

Well as you know I am a photographer working in the London area with an exciting general practice doing lots of varied jobs.

My wife and myself set up the current VeilAndTrain.com website and blog about a year ago. The plan being to take our wedding photography work away from the general practice business and start creating an vibrant new brand based on wedding photography, bridal hair, bridal make-up, and fitness. Quite simply Veil & Train is there to look after your total wedding day image.

Because VeilAndTrain.com is not a traditional wedding photographers website neither is our blog. The VeilAndTrain.com blog is an integral part of the website and is a rapidly growing wedding industry resource aimed a Brides and Wedding Planners alike. We write about interesting services and new products as well as posting examples of our own work. We hope that the blog will inspire and inform the bride-to-be.

You will currently find articles about wedding venues, wedding photography, food, shopping, fashion, and competitions (look out for the £200 pair shoes offer we have in association with thestylepa.com)

How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

The VeilAndTrain.com blog has been running about as long as the website it is a part of. So I would say about a year or so in the making if you add in the time it took to create the entire site.

From our own point of view we wanted to add value to our site. Whilst the main site is an advert for our business, the blog brings in visitors who may not be looking to buy our service but who want to read interesting and engaging wedding related information. We like to see our readers coming back for more and hopefully they will remember us in the future too.

What platform do you use to Blog and what do you like about it?

Our entire site is built around WordPress. All the pages you see as well as the blog itself are being served by a single instance of WordPress. We made a conscious decision to use WP not only as a blogging platform but as a Content Management System in order to keep the site content fresh and dynamic.

One big advantage of WordPress is that it is free and is very well supported.

Which other wedding blogs are currently on your daily reading list?

We like the blogs at weddingchaos.co.uk, faircake.co.uk, themakelounge.com and zoelingard.co.uk

And finally do you have any special advice for fellow bloggers in the wedding industry?

Well my advice would be to start blogging. Compared to the U.S wedding industry we have very few genuine U.K based wedding bloggers.

Thanks again for allowing me on easyweddingsearch.com and best wishes to all your readers for the new Wedding Season.

What is a blog?

A blog or “web log” is an online diary where you can quickly publish content such as  photos, videos and text  to the web.

The beauty of blogs is in the social interaction with your visitors. Visitors can comment on blogs and voice their opinions on your content. This creates an online conversation with you, allowing you to interact with your users.

Some Stats on Blogs

The medium of blogging has absolutely exploded over the last few years.

In April 2008, the Technorati blog search engine was tracking 112.8 million individual blogs.  

Technorati stated that 1.4 new blogs are created every second, with 1.5 million posts per day or 17 posts per second.

RSS and Subscriptions

Behind most blogs lies a technology called rss. This enables a user to subscribe to a blog using a feed reader. Rather like a magazine subscription users can stay up to date with your blog because they are notified every time you publish a new blog post.

Coming Up On EasyWeddingSearch PRO

I will soon be going into far more depth on the topic of blogging and how it can help your business.

Subscribe now to make sure you stay up to date with the latest blog posts.

twitter.com/ukweddings

If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, then you are already late to the party. If you haven’t heard of Twitter yet, then where have you been?

Twitter is a social networking site for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages (under 140 characters long).

Twitter is a great way of communicating and networking with potential customers, existing customers, colleagues and other professionals in the industry.

So what are you waiting for join Twitter now and start following EasyWeddingSearch!

Offers can increase your sales by enticing customers to buy from your wedding business. They can often be the deciding factor between buying from you and your nearest competitor.

Below are some of the different types of offers available, not all will suit your business so choose carefully.

Money Off (Discount)

A classic offer used in many different types of businesses. Simply offer money off a product or service e.g. £5 off. For maximum effectiveness, use a time limit. For example £5 off if you purchase before the end of the month. This adds a sense of urgency encouraging the customer to buy.

Example: Kirsty Johnston currently offers a discount of £50 off parent albums if booked before a specific date.

Sales

An example are the seasonal sales (Winter Sale, Boxing Day Sale, January Sales). Usually sales involve a percentage off the marked price e.g. 25% off.
Sales are a great way to attract customers and also reduce stock.

Example: Wedding Magazine are offering details on a wedding dress sale event in London where Brides can save up to 70% on designer dresses.

Introductory Price

If you recently started your wedding business then you could offer an introductory price. This offer involves reducing your prices for a limited time and is a good way of attracting new customers.

Example: This wedding umbrella is being offered at an introductory price

Quantity Discounts

Simply put, if you buy more you get a better deal.  This is a great way to get customers to buy more that they normally would.

Example: If you hire 4 or more wedding suits from Moss Bros the Groom gets his free.

Price Matching

If you are competitive on price then you could offer your customers a price match where if they find the same service you offer anywhere else for cheaper then you match that price. This re-assures customers that you offer the best prices.

Example: Elegant Steps have a great example of a price matching offer

Limited Edition

Offering a limited edition item makes its perceived value much higher. You can create a limited number or offer the product for a limited time. You can make a Bride feel extra special for example  if she knows her dress is one of a kind.

Example: Manolo Blahnik’s limited edition Chelsea Flower Show shoes

Price Increase Announcement

If you are planning to raise your prices in the near future then you could announce this beforehand so that customers are urged to buy at your current cheaper prices.

Example: Photo Louis has an announcement on his blog about price increases back in August and how customers could save money.

Free Delivery

Nothing is worse that finding a bargain online only to find out you have to pay over the odds for the delivery charge. Offering free delivery is a great incentive for customers to buy from you. Offering free next day delivery, even better, people love having their purchases come quickly.

Example: Angel’s Cakes offer free delivery as standard

Free Sample

An immediate use for this type of offer which comes to mind is for wedding invitation or stationary designers to send samples of their work to prospective customers. I know wedding photographers who also send copies of wedding albums and books to Brides for them to look at.
Free samples are similar to free trials but for physical products. They enable potential customers to look at the quality of your work.

Example: Here Comes The Bride display their free sample offer in big red letters to make it stand out.

Free Upgrade

You’ve heard of free upgrades on flights or hotel rooms, why not offer them for your products? Perhaps a free upgrade on a photography package? A bigger wedding cake? A larger bouquet of flowers?

Example: During February, photographer Dave Blackshaw is offering free dvd upgrades.

Paying in Installments

Instead of paying for something in one lump sum, a more attractive option or Brides is to pay in installments, monthly perhaps. This is often used for high priced items such as wedding dresses and jewellery. A downside to this method is keeping track of the payments and making sure they are in on time.

Example: The Beautiful Company offers interest free installments on all orders of their wedding rings over £100

Free Trial

Offering a free trial for a limited time period enables the customer to really see what a product or service is like. If you’ve done your job correctly and created a high quality valuable service then the customer will eventually buy from you.

Example: Top Table Planner offers a free trial demo for its table planning service.

Wedding photographers often have a pre wedding shoot when they meet with their client, another example of a free trial.

Free Gift

The trick here is to offer a freebie that holds value and the customer actually wants. Offering such a tangible benefit will increase the likelyhood of a Bride or Groom buying from you over a competitor.

Example: Bizzy Balloons offers a free box of chocolates with every order.

Remember these are only some of the offers you can create. Which offers do you use to entice your customers?

Note: Remember you can add your offers to your EasyWeddingSearch listing by clicking the ‘Advert Extras’ link in the Ad Management system