The Power of the Platform

NOW ON SALE: The Power of the Platform - Speakers on Success. The Power of the Platform is now shipping to all corners of the United States and Canada. Other select countries will be added shortly.

Published by the Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau, The Power of the Platform features Andy Ebon (Blogging Your Way To Success) and 20 other A-list Authors-Speakers.

Speaking luminaries such as, Les Brown, Jack Canfield, Amanda Gore, Dr. Tony Alessandra, and many more, share their success and motivational secrets.

Book release - Holiday Special: The retail price for one book is $19.95 (USD). Through the end of 2008, Priority Shipping and Handling (2-3 business days) is included at no extra charge.

Canadian Pricing is $24.95 (Canadian Dollars); also free shipping. In plain English, SHIPPING IS FREE, until further notice.

No minimum or maximum copies of the book need to be purchased to qualify for FREE SHIPPING. ==========

United States Customers - $19.95 United States Dollars per copy - Free Priority Shipping

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Canadian Customers - $24.95 Canadian Dollars per copy - Free First Class International Shipping

Technorati Tags: Amanda Gore, Andy Ebon, blogging your way to success, Dr. Tony Alessandra, Jack Canfield, Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau, Les Brown, Speakers On Success, the power of the platform

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Shoulder injury

‘Injured reserve’ is a sports terminology for ‘out with an injury.’

This morning I’m having shoulder surgery, as I described in a post, three weeks ago. It’s a 3-pronged repair.

1. Rotator Cuff tear
2. SLAP tear of the Labrum
3. Bone spur

This afternoon, I will be in a lot of pain, which will be mitigated by some painkillers (hopefully). I’m told, by people who have gone through this, that the first two weeks are the toughest, from a pain standpoint.

The severity of the injury/repair will determine the rehab and healing period. The standard projection is 6-8 weeks.

The hassle is not so much the pain, as it is that my right arm will be in a sling 24/7. Since I’m right handed, it’s going to be no picnic. Hopefully, I will have remembered to buy some new loafers by the time you read this.

So, if my posts are not quite as frequent or there are a few typos, you’ll know why.

On the positive side, I have my Easy Button close at hand.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blogger

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, rotator cuff, Wedding Marketing Blogger

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My entrepreneurial instinct is to turn any problem into a business opportunity. Obviously, I thought, people everywhere are probably experiencing a similar state of being overwhelmed.

The next two thoughts were:

• Master or conquer the state of overwhelm
• Write a book about it

OK, that sounded good. I need a book title, and a domain to go with it. My brain is geared to work in headlines, domain names, and titles. That skill is derived from being enamored with the creative style of billboards which fuse copy and images better than almost any other medium. The copy guideline: 7 words or less was the norm. For domains and book titles, one things in even fewer words, preferable no more than 2 or 3.

Magically, it hit me: “I’ll call it Dot Calm!” It’s a play on the phrase dot-com. “Simply brilliant,” I thought.

Then, in a moment of humility, I thought I’d better search Amazon.com
, in the unlikely possibility that someone had the same thought, had written a book with that same title.

Well, whaddya know. There it was… dotcalm: The search for sanity in a wired world.

I wasn’t terribly disappointed. I simply bought the book. It was brilliant. And it stands up very well, today. So, if you’re touched by the occasional or constant problem of TMI (too much information), buy yourself a copy, new or used, from Amazon.com.

I reread it periodically. It’s that good.

Technorati Tags: amazon.com, dot-calm, overwhelmed, TMI, too much information

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Aisle Walk

I look for inspiration all over the internet. I mean that from a geographical and creative standpoint. If one spends some casual time surfing, you will find some very interesting wedding websites. Some good. Some bad. Some both.

I came upon a striking website in Vancouver, Canada. Aisle Walk - Wedding Style In Motion. It shows a stylish image, with the date, 2008. The date at the bottom of the screen says, 2007. Huh?

The site has some great photos, but some very conflicted navigation. Tiles (buttons) at the bottom of the screen take you to entirely different screens and layouts. If you click on the Media link, it takes you to a screen that begins with the following verbiage:

We are simply giddy with excitement that the Vancouver 2006 Edition of aislewalk has won Gold at the International Gallery of Superb Printing in New York.

OK, so now the site is straddling three different years.

AisleWalk editor's diary

Then, there’s a navigation item, on the top strip, titled editor’s diary. That link brings you to a blog (imagine that…) and its latest post… from April 2008.

Here’s an idea! When it comes to navigation, speak plain English. Call it a blog!!! Then people might actually discover it.

Oh, another thing. If it’s almost December 2008, and you haven’t made a new post since April, do you really have a blog?

Then there is the ‘About Page’ on the blog editor’s diary. Here’s how it reads.

This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.

That’s the boilerplate text that is a placeholder when you set up a WordPress page. It could have been deleted. However, it’s been posted for two years, with no actual content.

I was so excited when I first saw this site. Then, disappointed. It would take so little to bring this current and make it really rock.

Beautiful design doesn’t make a bit of difference if the navigation is whack and the content is out of date.

Please write that down.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: aislewalk, Andy Ebon, out of date, stale content, vancouver, website design, wedding marketing blog, whistle

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Hello Andy, You may remember me from the Wedding MBA in AZ, I just wanted to send you a note letting you know that the first thing we did when we got home was change our website name thanks to your advice !! Then a few weeks later I started our blog, visit it when you have a minute. www.theguestlistinvitations.blogspot.com

Also I am always reading your blog now and so many others. I wanted to let you know that we have done some many new things because of the Wedding MBA Show and are already better and more profitable for it !!!

Nichole Winter

Thanks Nicole! Very exciting… and, as I’ve promised other Wedding MBA attendees, when you tell me you’ve launched your plug, I’ll make an announcement about it… like this one. Hopefully, some of our readers will stop by and check it ou.

The Guest List blog

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: wedding blog, wedding marketing, wedding mba, wedding website

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I couldn’t help but remember tucking away this cartoon for future reference. The future is now.

Is the subject of this cartoon you? If you need a professional website and search engine optimization evaluation, don’t hesitate to inquire.

Is this you?

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, search engine optimization, wedding marketing blog

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The good news is the asuring message to their existing customers, who are still waiting on dresses. Instructions were given on how those orders were going to be fulfilled. They made it abundantly clear that they were not simply ‘closing their doors’ and stranding brides. They would follow through on all orders. Unfortunately, reports of these sort of closures crop up, in good times and bad. Usually, they are not handled in such a professional way.

AAYBG was a bridal salon selling dresses, accessories, and providing wedding planning services.

The letter outlined a number of reasons for closing, including:

• the economy
• ‘appalling’ online competition
• long time employees ‘running off and getting married, and having babies’
• compatibility of the business with the ownership’s personal lives

Through all this sentimentality, there is a major omission. From a website standpoint, this small business couldn’t market its way out of paper bag.

Harsh? You’re damn right!!

I see and critique a lot of websites. I use both my experience and technical tools to analyze sites. It’s hard to do worse than this.

One excellent free tools to evaluate Search Engine Optimization is called Website Grader. The provider of this tool offers many paid services, but this one is free. Just put in your company domain name (and those of a couple of competitors, if you’d like), and its evaluation system rockets into action. In about 30 seconds, you have been given a grade, on a 1 to 100 scale, with specific explanations of what you are doing well, and what needs correction, as it relates to Search Engine Optimization.

I’ve concluded, after running these evaluations via Website Grader on many sites, including my own, that if you make the recommended changes, you see immediate improvement in your score.

For the sake of comparison, I think a score of 70-79 is good. 80-84 is very good. 85-89 is excellent. 90 or more is outstanding.

After running the All About You Bridal Galleria website address through Website Grader system, it came up with a score of 2. That’s not a typo. It’s two, 2 TWO!!!

It would be hard to score that low, if one was trying. Just visit the final score, and see what the report says.

Besides what the report outlines, there are other major league flaws.

Here’s just one: Not only does the site play music, automatically. It plays LOUD music. Even if you mute it, when you navigate to another screen, the music BLASTS you again. You can’t hide from the music unless you entirely mute your computer. It is common knowledge that brides often do some of their wedding research from work (under the radar). And, therefore, the idea of putting auto-loading music, particularly loud music, is NEVER recommended for a wedding site. You will lose many prospective customers, immediately, because you have busted them to everyone within earshot of their computer.

I’m sure the AAYBG owners are wonderful people. It’s clear that their ethics and heart are in the right place. I wish them the best in serving their customers, and making their closing their doors in the smooth and orderly way they’ve planned.

There are many lessons one can learn here. Pick a couple.

Here’s mine: “We’re all ignorant, just in different things.” If you’re a 4-star chef, that doesn’t mean you’re qualified to run a restaurant. You must complement your weaknesses with a partner who has the appropriate strengths and/or seek outside professional advice.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: all about you bridal galleria, Andy Ebon, bridal gowns, bridal salon, business closing, closing our doors, Las Vegas, search engine optimization, SEO, website, wedding dresses, wedding marketing blog

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It’s also a day when many service business are not open at all, or not open regular hours. One often does find the workaholic business owner at the office on Black Friday, working on long overdue paperwork. Is that you?

It occurred to me, today, that you might want to have your own Black Friday Promotion for wedding or holiday business. I’m suggesting that you, specifically, target this promotion to open leads that have not yet converted to sales.

Pick a dollar number you’re comfortable with, perhaps $25, $50 or $100, depending on the nature of your business. Or, tie the dollar amount to the size of the quote/sale.

Then, send an email or electronic postcard to your prospect, offering that discount or added-value, only if they call you on Black Friday, during specific hours.

This is a soft business day, and you might just turn it into promotion that closes hundred or thousands of dollars worth of sales.

Stand out from the crowd. Do something cool.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: black Friday, Christmas, company parties, holiday shopping, retail biz, sales promotion, wedding

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GATLINBURG (AP) — The marriage business in the Sevier County vacation region has dropped 29.5 percent during the last seven years, and with the state of the economy, even the month of October isn’t as strong as it has been.

Chapel owners said they have been looking forward to October, usually the best month of the year for the county that issues the most marriage licenses in Tennessee.

Creekside Wedding Chapel

Wedding chapels live from tourists drawn to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg during the fall, when leaves are changing to warm autumn colors.

But Lee Bennett, president of the Gatlinburg Wedding Chapel Association, told The Knoxville News Sentinel fuel and travel prices are deterring the mostly out-of-state couples. He also cited a Georgia law that shortens the waiting period for marriage licenses for the decline in Tennessee’s business.

At the height of the county’s wedding boom in 2000, the clerk’s office issued 21,136 marriage licenses. That number has decreased year for year to 14,896 in 2007.

The county has about 30 wedding chapels and packages range from $100 to more than $10,000.

Couples also are becoming more cautious when they shop, scheduling weddings just a few months ahead of time and choosing cheaper packages, said Dan Tilley, vice president of the association and owner of Creekside Wedding Chapel.

Now business owners are looking to the county for help promoting the industry. In February, the Smoky Mountain Wedding Business Alliance made its case to the Sevier County Commission asking for promotional funding. The alliance said the county’s wedding industry brought $146 million to the economy in 2006.

Although the commission did not give the industry any money, the alliance was allowed a representative on a new seven-member committee that will allocate the county’s lodging tax for marketing businesses.

PLEASE NOTE: The website for the Gaitlinburg Wedding Chapel Association was a dead link, at the time of this post. That is never for good for wedding marketing, or a good sign, generally.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, business slowdown, dead website link, South Carolina, wedding chapel, wedding chapels, wedding marketing, wedding marketing blog, wedding recession

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Oh you have that… great!

Perhaps you have a field asking: How did you hear about us?

If you do, that’s pretty good, but not good enough.

With all the communication options, these days, chance are that someone has heard about you from two or more sources. If you just give them a fill-in-the-blank field, they’ll usually give you the source of the last place they heard about your company, and no more.

That kind of incomplete information will give you misleading data on how your advertising is working. Your print advertising, for example, may drive people to your website, but you may not hear about.

In Part 2 of this topic, I’ll share the ideal way to structure customer response to give you better information about how they found you.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: advertising ROI, Andy Ebon, database, lead sourcing, website, wedding marketing

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