The Definitive Guide to Advertising on Wedding Blogs Pt. I

There are very few resources available on wedding blog advertising. There is some information available on advertising in bridal magazines or on sites like The Knot  and Wedding Wire.

While I can’t offer you a ton of concrete statistics, I can offer you my insight after having advertised for years on a variety of wedding blogs ranging from Offbeat Bride to Wedding Chicks.

Why Advertise On Wedding Blogs?

So you can get those cool, “As Seen On {BLOG NAME}” badges for your website!

Seriously though, positive brand association  is a good thing for your business.

If you have requested media kits from 3 or 4 wedding blogs, you’ll start to see the same trend over and over again. (These media kits generally tell you about the demographics of their readership.)

Apparently, people who consume wedding blog content are more likely to be upper class, college-educated, and very dedicated to planning a wedding like the ones the blogs publish. About 95% of wedding blog consumers are women, but—shockingly—as many as 10-15% of them are not even engaged.

In other words, for most of us, our dream clients—the people we love to work with—are lurking on wedding blogs more than anywhere else.

Who Should Advertise On Wedding Blogs?

Photographers! Venues!

Wedding blogs are driven by visual content, so you are at an advantage if you sell something the brides can see beautiful images of. I am a DJ and have still managed to have some successful wedding blog ads…but we’ll get to that.

Wedding professionals in California, New York, Chicago, and other big metropolitan areas (or popular destination wedding spots) are also more likely to experience a good rate of return for their advertising dollar.

If you don’t have a lot of high-quality images of you or your product at real weddings, you’ll want to build that up first.

The 411 On Getting Into a Wedding Blog’s Vendor Guide

Some blogs will vet your wedding business before they approve you. They want to present a curated group of wedding pros to their readers. In other words, you must reflect well on the blog’s brand.

The extreme? Style Me Pretty.

I know multiple DJs who have earned the elusive title of “Wedding Entertainment Director” (there are fewer than 30 of these superstars worldwide) who have been turned down by Style Me Pretty, while I see DJs with attractive branding who are not industry leaders that are in their vendor guide.

A Few Considerations For Wedding Blog Advertising

The way wedding blogs structure their advertising varies greatly. For pricing, expect to pay $200-$700 for a one year vendor guide listing.

Some blogs work very hard to promote their vendors and create a really tight-knit community.  (A Practical Wedding and Offbeat Bride are great examples.) For example, they may rotate vendors to and from the front page of the blog for better exposure.

These types of blogs will generally give you preference over non-advertisers when you submit your weddings for publication. Wedding Chicks, for example, allows their vendors to upload images of their wedding work to the blog’s “Wedding Inspiration” area. Very cool!

Other wedding blogs are pretty hands-off and will simply give you your listing; you won’t hear from them again until it’s time to renew (Artfully Wed and Grey Likes Weddings, for example).

Also, some wedding blogs do not allow you to edit your profile when you see fit. Each new image may need to be approved. Offbeat Bride actually charges advertisers $50 each time they want to update their listing.

You should note that all the wedding blogs I’ve ever come across offer annual listings in their vendor guide. Month-to-month billing is not an option like it is on WeddingWire or The Knot.

In addition to vendor guide listings, wedding blogs also offer things like “sponsored posts” (where you pay them to write an article singing your business’ praises), social media promotion, and sidebar ads for one-time fees. It’s not uncommon for the blog to require you to be in their vendor guide before you purchase a one-time ad.

My Experience Advertising On Wedding Blogs

I have advertised on: 100 Layer Cake, Artfully Wed, Green Wedding Shoes, Grey Likes Weddings, Kiss My Tulle, Offbeat Bride, Rustic Wedding Chic, and Wedding Chicks. I have been rejected twice by Style Me Pretty.

The results?

To be continued…

Read Part II here.