blah blah blog

Last week I talked about how NOT to waste your time blogging and gave you 4 Bride Booking Blog Posts you can write to make money for your wedding business.

Well, all that talk about blogging made me reflect on the biggest mistakes wedding professionals make with their blogs.  And I’ve identified 7 blog categories that are pretty much a complete waste of time and energy.

Blogging alone doesn’t bring you business.  Only strategic blogging that gets your visitors to take the action you want will make money for your business.

These 7 Blog “Personalities” are a waste of time, energy and money.

The Diary Blog

This blog is like an online journal entry.  “Today I went shopping for shoes…came home and the cat vomited all over my keyboard…Taking the kids to the park…”

Honestly?  No one cares.

Write about what brides care about.  If you make a trip to a bridal shop to check out the newest fashions, now THAT might be worth writing about.  But don’t write about your day just because you can’t think of anything else to say.

The Generic Blog

This blog has no personality whatsoever.  No keywords and nothing specific.

Unfortunately, many wedding photographer blogs fall into this category because they rely on the photos to create the content.  While they may be pretty pictures, they don’t compel brides to take action.  They encourage window shopping.

The SEO Spew Blog

This blog is so crammed full of local wedding keywords that it becomes a laundry list phrases that isn’t even readable for humans.

Weddings CA, California Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Corporate Events, Anniversaries, Birthday Parties, School Proms, Graduations in California. Click on link to see California Locations and directions to each Wedding and Event Catering Hall, Reception site in CA. Also Sweet Sixteens, Sweet 16 Quinceanera, Quinceanos…

This blogger understands the importance of using local geographic keywords to attract targeted visitors, but they’ve forgotten the golden rule of website content: Write for the bride FIRST and then worry about the search engines.

Otherwise she’ll see your vomit of targeted keywords and leave the page before you can say, “SEO.”

The Schizophrenic Blog

This poor blog has no idea who it is.  One minute it’s a blog for brides…the next minute it’s a blog for wedding photographers…then it’s an online diary.

Write your blog for your ideal client, the ones you want to attract.  Don’t mix up your message.  If you want to write for more than one type of visitor, create a separate blog for each.

Otherwise, the brides you want will be turned off by all that info they have no interest in and they will split as soon as they find you.

The Abandoned Blog

This blog doesn’t even really need a description.  It has a couple of posts (the first of which is, “Wow, my first blog post!”) and it hasn’t been updated in months.

Ideally, your blog should be updated 2-3 times per week for maximum effectiveness.  Even once a week is enough to keep it fresh.

Remember: you want your bride to love your blog so much that she wants to come back.

The abandoned blog is not interesting for the search engines and it’s not interesting for the bride either.

The Disowned Blog

This type of blog is tricky because it can actually be very popular and generate tons of traffic.  But here’s the thing…this blog is hosted on WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

Why is this blog worthless?  Well, all that work you’re doing writing up blog posts and taking the time to post them is generating traffic and authority for the site it’s hosted on (WordPress or Blogger) instead of your website.

Think about it like this: you’re doing all the work and these free blogging sites are stealing all the credit!

Make sure your blog is hosted on your domain.  That means its web address should be www.YourWebsite.com/blog-name not www.YourWebsite.blogspot.com.

The Disconnected Blog

This blog might have great articles and images that brides love.  But there is one critical thing missing…your contact information.

Blogs are really good for getting found in the search engines and bringing targeted brides to your blog…but sometimes the bride lands on your blog page, not your home page.  On the Disconnected Blog, if they want more information about your services, they can’t find it.

I see this a lot on those Disowned Blogs hosted on WordPress.  The website owner forgets to put a link to their own website at the top of their blog.
Remember that not everyone finds your blog from your website home page.  Make sure you have prominent contact information and a link to your website that is easy to find.

How To Go from Worthless to Money Making

If you found your own blog on this list of Worthless Wedding Blogs, never fear.  The time for change is now!

What action do you want visitors to take when they come to your blog?

Before you write your next blog post, determine the action you want the reader to take.  Write your post with this in mind and put that “call to action” at the end.

What are YOU gonna write about?

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