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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.

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Beautiful design doesn’t make a bit of difference if the navigation is whack and the content is out of date.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

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How much wedding marketing and other quick tasks can you do in 10 minutes? Quite a bit, it turns out.

• Take a break from driving fatigue.
• Enter the names of 11 people you met at WIPA, last evening, inviting them to get LinkedIn.
• Write two ‘thank you emails.’
• Have a cup of decaf at Starbucks in Primm.
• Write one blog post.

You can either kill 10 minutes or use them. It’s your choice.

Gotta go… it’s Las Vegas NACE, tonight.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog

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My friends who work at wedding venues are losing jobs at an alarming rate. Their job tenure appears to have no relation to their departure.

In some cases the person with the most experience (and highest paycheck) is let go in a ‘cost-cutting move.’ In other situations, a job is eliminated, due lack of event activity, and one or more people absorb the work until ‘business picks up.’ In yet other cases, business close down altogether.

Here’s the thing: If you slave away as an event or catering manager for a wedding venue, it’s easy to never leave the premises. Bad idea.

It’s always important to attend industry networking events at other properties. There are two good reasons. First, see what cool things other venues are doing. Second, meet other industry people and develop personal relationships.

Today’s competitor may be your next employer, should you get laid off. Also, vendors do business in many places. They could be the source of your next job opening.

Vendors like to brag about their relationships with ‘big name businesses.’ They name drop an event at the Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton.

The fact is, too often, vendors don’t have a relationship with ‘the venue,’ they have a relationship with ‘one person at the venue.’

So the question becomes: If that venue contact is transferred or laid off, how solid is the relationship, in real terms?

Relationship building means more than attending industry organization meetings. It means becoming familiar with everyone in a department. It means having friendly relationships with competitors.

There is nothing more sad than seeing a member of organization who has been MIA for a year, suddenly show up after he or she has been laid off. It’s a little late, at that point.

Networking should not be situational or calendar-based. It should be part of everyone’s personal and business marketing plan.

The value of real interpersonal business relationships is priceless.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Network

Technorati Tags: AFWPI, laid off, layoffs, NACE, networking, Relationship Marketing, unemployed, wedding economy, wedding industry, WIPA

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: AFWPI, laid off, layoffs, NACE, networking, Relationship Marketing, unemployed, wedding economy, wedding industry, WIPA