My mom was googling our name randomly the other night and found reviews from brides that I had no idea existed. We found them on wedding wire (and of course the 4 other sites that use the same info) and also on The Knot. I signed up for a free account on wedding wire and then got a call about becoming a paid member. I told her that right now we weren't in the position to market that way. I remember a thread from a few months ago asking about wedding wire and it seemed like mostly negative feedback from CC members. I was wondering if anyone was actually a paid member and what the ROI was. I know there are perhaps better avenues for marketing online but I would like to hear specifically from those that are paid members. Granted if no one is a paid member, that would be telling. 

Thanks, 

Ali 

AI've been a "free" customer for 2 years. That's really all I need.

Sorry I can't advise ROI. The vendors in my area didn't much care for it but I don't know soecifics.

AReturn on investment

Thank-you.

I'm pretty close to signing up with a check. I don't even come up with a search for my zip code.....so I'm frustrated. Help!!! Granted I don't have a lot of reviews.........but being a non-paying member has got me NOTHING, yet.

There's a photographer in my area who's always posting rave reviews from WW on her FB page so I did a zip code search on her at WW I wanted to see if what level she was. She didn't come up on my search, that didn't make sense to me! I would have guessed she was a paying member.

Back to return on investment...........the thing is, what is? I've done the bridal shows with someone I worked for and they didn't get any calls from it. I believe it cost more than WW and it's a one day shot at least a posting at WW lasts a year. The bridal shows in my area (Chicago) seem like a waste of time to me because 99% of the venues sell the wedding cake in their food packages.........so there's only a small percentage of brides using non-traditional venues where they'd bring in their own cake.

I just heard back from the photographer I know that is doing so well. She told me she hasn't gotten one customer yet from WW. She said she's just lucky that all of her customers are willing to post reviews for her. Also, she is a non-paying member.

Back to the drawing board...........maybe I won't spend my money there after all...

Anyone been contacted by:Wedding & Party Network?

https://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=wedding+and+party+network&oq=wedding+and+p&gs_l=hp.1.0.35i39j0l3.2733.6829.0.8880.13.13.0.0.0.1.1005.4359.2-7j4j0j1j0j1.13.0.cpsugrpqhmsignedin%2Chmss2%3Dfalse...0...1.1.22.psy-ab..1.12.3126.iceYMm2tTpg&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49784469,d.aWc&fp=ba907285efad2235&biw=1093&bih=520

I got a phone call from them yesterday, I'm glad I missed the call. I can't imagine paying for a listing with them. I don't see much business there and their site stinks.

AI recommend spending your ad budget on a more general SEO strategy and Google AdWords (tailored to your target market) before paying for membership to a site like WW.

ANOT worth the paid price! It is kinda like paying for a YELP also not worth it IMO. Most people on the wedding sites are "shoppers" just looking for the cheapest price i know a vendor who paid for Wedding Wire and for over a year has yet to get one client. Save your advertising dollars to spend somewhere else :grin:

I agree, I wouldn't do it. I lost about $1000 for 3 months of advertising on Yelp and it got me nothing. I turned down WW, simply because I didn't have the money, but I am glad now that it did not work out. I do custom catering out of rented kitchen space, (plus I work a "real job" full time) so for the time being, I am going to let word of mouth find me business. 

When I have more free time to look for additional work, I think I will focus on contacting event planners and venues and letting them know I exist. I am also going to work on building more of a portfolio before I contact them.

I wish you the best of luck, but I say, "beware of paying for advertising!"
 

AAdvertising on Yelp can work very well for businesses that rely on a lot of retail traffic like restaurants and storefront bakeries. It's not as well suited for custom cake businesses without a retail storefront. Your location is also a factor...in the SF Bay area Yelp is very popular, this might not be true in other areas.

You definitely need to be careful when paying for advertising to make sure you are reaching your target audience and the ROI makes sense, but the right paid advertising can be a huge boost to revenues and profits.

I'm sort of not liking wedding wire. The businesses that show up after the featured vendors (according to my sales rep. there are only 4 paying featured vendors in my area) are supposed to be randomly assorted Professional vendors. Of which, there are 90 in my area, but they ALWAYs come up in the same order when I google search their site.... WTF?

Is there something I'm missing here? What if you pay to be a 'professional' and you have no chance of ever landing in the beginning of the listings for professionals?

Has anyone ever checked into this?

When you all google enter their site do the listings order ever change in your area?

I got suckered into a paid WW account.  I had a free one but decided I'd try it out.  Yes, I'm higher on the searches and I have had a few prospective clients contact me for my once-per-month free consultations but, all in all, I don't see an ROI.  Not for what I'm paying.

When my contract is up in Nov, I'm outta there.

My hubby, who has owned his own business for over a decade now, gave me some good advice:  Basically, don't ever buy advertising from someone who contacts you. If you're really interested, you'll seek them out.

Wedding wire is there to make money for wedding wire, don't bother.

It's finally sunk into my head after doing some investigation. The top decorators in my area (Chicago) aren't on WW. They do advertise in the areas seasonal bridal magazines....which also gets you a professional photo shoot/feature. Looks like I'll save my penny's and choose that route.

Thanks everyone for your input! I don't think I'll be doing any paid accounts with them. I know she'll be calling me again in six months but I'll just have to keep telling her that we are doing perfectly fine without them. :D