When Jelena Krzeszowski, (pronounced “Kra-ZOW-ski”), a rising young star on the Seattle wedding scene with a world-class portfolio, sought to update her Seattle wedding website for this summer’s prime-time Wedding season, she noticed that the landscape had changed since she and Google first got engaged.
Like a wedding procession itself, all the elements still needed to work together flawlessly. But the new, first step was to make Google a creative partner by adapting her business profile for Local search engine results. More surprises were in store. While Jelena was adapting her online information for Google’s new rules, the world’s biggest search company had also become a wedding services provider itself, offering free Google sites for wedding parties and guests to visit, a Google sponsored photo and card service from Seattle’s own Picnik, and other tools for planning the big day using Google planning docs.
Compared to one short year ago, anyone searching today for regional wedding services in Seattle, Bellevue, the North or the South Sound, from area catering to flowers to limousine services, to musicians, or resort and reception venues, right down to the icing on the wedding cake, needed to show up on Google’s Local Search results page. The new listings also featured local customer reviews gathered from across the Web and fed into a location-based Google Place Page, in this case JBK Weddings.
Since Jelena was undergoing a business name change, she turned to SearchWrite, a search marketing firm based in Bainbridge island, Wa, and found she could exercise the strategic option of reserving local-oriented domain names like “SeattleWeddingandEvent.com” and “PugetSoundWeddings.com” After all, the first part of introducing any future bride or groom to her award-winning design talents was being discovered. To do that, the local geographical terms were going to be vital for the young Edmonds-based company to simply show up online.
From Local to Social, The Perfect Wedding Plan Takes Shape
Jelena also recognized that few milestones in life are more social than a wedding. With SearchWrite’s help, she was able to link in her company’s social presence on Facebook, set-up and cross-post to a Twitter feed and tap into the power of a WordPress blog to attract subscribers with fresh updates. Recreating her site on the WordPress platform complete with an SEO-optimized Wedding Image Gallery, the wedding coordinator put together a virtual library of essential time and money-saving wedding tips in one blog category, and in another, a series of inspirational and famous wedding quotes. Now, twice a week, subscribers to Jelenas’s Essential Wedding Tips can receive the timely messages via email.
“Time is at a premium when the countdown begins to that special day,” said Jelena. “There are a thousand-and-one things to do and precious little time to do them. Instead of long-winded blog posts, our helpful tips are short and sweet.” Blog posts can be sampled like the truffled candy favors Jelena decorates for clients or the exquisite card boxes she designs that look like wedding cakes but serve as multi-tier, sculptured displays for gift envelopes and well-wisher messages.
A specialist in floral design, JBK also plans to teach floral arrangements for weddings this year at a local college. In the meantime, her online Wedding Gallery features several stunning floral masterpieces of Seattle wedding flowers in bloom..
While it was a bit of a surprise to see Google emerge as a wedding “crasher” this year, Jelena is used to the competition. Seattle is home to many wedding companies, but by remaining nimble and focusing on knowing local wedding resources like the back of her hand, Jelena loves every minute of her budding wedding design business. Google even helps her keep the overhead low with performance-based advertising. That means she can pass along the economy to her clients with more affordable and budgetable weddings.
Getting ready to tie the knot? Visit Jelena’s site today at http://www.seattleweddingandevent.com [24×7]
