Question: How can I collect bride leads for my email list?
“Hi Stephanie,
I’m so excited about the AES [Automatic Expert System] and have so many ideas. Since I design cakes for all occasions, I want to be able to collect leads so I can promote special promotions, new cake flavors/products, etc. Clients often can also forward to family and friends of these promotions. Of course, I want to collect leads from brides. Could you share some insight on how I could approach?
Thank you!
Sweet Regards,”
Veronica
Answer:
Hi, Veronica.
It would be really helpful for you to brainstorm ideas for capturing leads and following up with them. I’m sure you’d be much better at this than me, since you know your business and market best. 
In order to capture the name and email of people who visit your website you need:
1. An email marketing service like Aweber that lets you send personalized mass emails and create forms for collecting these leads.
2. A compelling offer or cool free giveaway people get when signing up for your email list. This might be a free informational report, coupons, video tutorials, checklists, etc.
3. A webform displayed on your website to make your clear offer in a way that gets
attention and inspires action.
4. Website traffic. Don’t forget that people need to SEE your offer in order to sign up for it!
Here are some suggestions for getting high quality leads on your email list:
- Invite them to sign up for your email list for a chance to win a “cake of the month.” (You could do the same as a reward for liking your Facebook page.)
- Invite them to sign up for your text message list to get exclusive coupons and discounts. This works great for the restaurant industry to make and keep loyal customers.
- Use a wedding specific free giveaway and transition your customers to updates of your blog posts via blog broadcast, including special deals and promotions.
- Get your followers involved, once you have a good number of them, by asking for their suggestions on cakes to make for your “cake of the month” or even let them name a new flavor.
The key is to make sure whatever you offer is really valuable and desirable to your customers.
Ask your current/past customers for ideas about what you can give away to potential customers that would be really cool. They’ll be your best resource!
What do you think about collecting more leads this way?
If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.
It’s been mentioned before, but while the layout of your website or blog may not make a huge impact on your search engine rankings it definitely makes a difference on whether brides will spend time on your site. Not only do you need great content and pictures which show off your work, but you also need a killer layout. 
Getting your wedding business ranked on Google is sometimes as easy as adding a couple lines of html, especially when it comes to including Google +1 on your website and blog. So what is Google+1? You know there are a lot of ways to give people the option to click like on something and that it turns into an easy way for your information and website to be shared with other people. Well, Google +1 is Google’s response to that social platform.
How to Turn Commenting on Blogs into a Traffic Strategy
You need traffic on your site. After all, without traffic you might as well not have a website or blog. One of the ways that people are trying to get that traffic is through commenting on other blogs. Just like everything else however there are ways to make that strategy work for you and ways that make the whole thing pointless.
For instance, being the first response on a blog may seem like a good idea, but the reality is that your focus on commenting first can make you sound like a spammer rather than encourage clicks through to your site. Brian Clark recommends picking blogs that you actually like, and then use the comment area to build a relationship with the writer. Writing relevant remarks will encourage people to take you seriously and take an interest in your business.
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If you'd like to get more free information and strategies like this, join our Wedding Business Tips email list here.