Contest : The Best Wedding Photos of 2011

Posted on March 12, 2012 by niko

It’s that time of year again!

The 2011 BRIDE.ca Wedding Photo Awards will be announced in three weeks – March 30th. Hopefully everyone has had enough time to wrap up post-production on even the latest 2011 events, from Christmas etc because

the submission deadline is March 23rd, Friday, at midnight PST.

A Bit of Extra Publicity for Everyone too..

  • starting next Monday (March 19) we will be posting the finalists on the BRIDE.ca Facebook page
  • The Winners will be announced on BRIDE.ca on April 2nd 9th (Monday) – predictably, two of our editors are out of town on conference! Murphy’s law!
  • Our friends from Elegant Wedding magazine are also getting in the spirit of things, so they too will be posting the finalists on their facebook page as well as posting the winners on their official blog in April – THANKS !

Please notice: Unlike the seasonal “people’s choice” winners of the Engagement Photo Awards, we are not inviting people to vote for the favourite wedding photo on facebook. This is not a popularity contest; the winners will be selected by our panel.

Top Photo of the 2009 Contest, by John Archer Photography, Brentwood Bay, BC : Click it to see all the finalists

 

Continue reading →

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Don’t Forget: QR Codes for your Print Ads

Posted on March 7, 2012 by niko
QR Code : Wedding magazine ad

The easy way for a "smart", trackable magazine ad..

Are you running print ads this season? Do not forget your Bridal Network QR Codes! Make sure you have given your code to your graphic designer, to incorporate into the creative you are submitting to the magazine/publication &tc..

  1. The QR Code will track the performance of your ad; Bridal Network is logging how many times the ad is scanned and will report this to you.
  2. The QR Code will allow you to publish deals/specials/updates later, after your ad has gone to print and into the brides’ hands.
  3. The QR Code will make your ad “look smarter”! Seriously :-) An ad with a QR Tag, like those smart-chips on credit-cards, makes it clear that your business is current, modern, organised, sophisticated, up-to-date..

Confused? Read our QR Tags 101 article..

Still don’t have your tag? Just grab it from My Listings; you can even get the system to email it to you..

(*) The QR Code only works for active Network Members! Otherwise it simply says “Vendor Unavailable“

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Blogging to Brides: 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content ..

Posted on February 21, 2012 by niko

..When You Don’t Have a Clue!

22 Ways to Create Compelling Content - Infographic
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

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Top 5 Tips To Boost Your Local Google Ranking

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jason Bax

This is by no means an exhaustive list of tips that will boost your local wedding website Wedding rankingsrankings in Google but enough to give you more visitors and an edge on your competition.

1. Use Keywords People Search

Don’t guess at what keywords people type into Google to find local vendors. Use a keyword research tool like Google’s here to learn the exact keywords people are using and include them on Title tag.

Trust me, you’ll be very surprised the diversity and variations of keywords people search to find you.

2. Exact Vs Broad Keywords

You’ll boost your rankings quicker and easier by targeting exact, “long-tail” phrases than broad or general keywords. For example…

Hard : “Florist”

Easier : “Wedding Florist”

Easiest : “Wedding Floral Designers”

3. City In Title

Google is not always as smart as you think. Sometimes you have to help it by giving it little hints like being clear what city you’re located. Always include your city in the title of your pages. For example…

“Wedding Floral Designers Calgary”

4. Get Links From Local Business 

Getting people to link to your website from their website is 85% of the ranking game.  If you want to boost your local Google rank my advice is to get links from other local websites. For an even bigger boost, focus on getting links from other websites in the wedding industry and in your local area.

Google will think you’re a local hero and reward you with higher rankings and more traffic.

5. Include Links On Your Social Media Sites

Search engines are sending spiders into the ever more popular social media sites. Make sure you post links to your website on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc… profile pages.

Every little link helps your local Google rankings. These are quick and easy links…but often forgotten.

BONUS: Host Your Website In Canada

The computer your website lives on has a unique IP address like a postal code. To help Google understand you are a Canadian based website you’ll want to make sure that your website is hosted (lives, is located…) on a website server in Canada, not the US like most people’s. This will give you an advantage especially in competitive market.

For most local wedding businesses steps 1-5 are enough to boost your rankings, so do them first. Consult an internet marketing expert before tackling the bonus tip. It may be unnecessary in your market.

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