I Don't Have Time for Opportunities

The top two reasons I hear from companies on why they haven't started a blog are these:

1. I don't have time.
2. I'm not a good writer.

Both are excuses, plain and simple.

Saying that you don't have time to blog is the same as saying you don't have time for opportunities. Everyone has the same amount of time in a day, a week, a year.  Finding time to blog will never happen; it is something you have to prioritize and make time for.  Regardless of why you blog (to get clients, to build a platform for future book or television deals, for SEO, to protect your trademarks, etc), it is easier to be consistent when you include it in your workflow.

Everyone in business writes. If you can write well enough to send an email or a proposal, you can write well enough to blog. Plus, the more you write, the better you become at it, so blogging will actually help the way you approach other business correspondence.

Out of all the social media platforms available, blogging is the one that provides the most benefit in the long-run. The opportunities it can bring are countless, but those opportunities are only available to those who make the time to sit down and write.

Splendid Sundays Volume 35

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*Vera Wang partners with David's Bridal on a lower-priced line of wedding gowns.

*Future Luxury: More vs Less (thanks to Khris at DIY Bride for sharing this link)

*Twitter buys a text-messaging company.

*1 out of 5 higher-education textbooks will be digital by 2014.

*Quotable: "Opportunities are seldom labeled." - John A Shedd

Do you have any splendid finds or thoughts to share?

The State of the Professional Wedding Blog Industry

Attending bloggers of The B-List included: back row, from left to right: Harmony from Bridal Bar, Ami from Elizabeth Anne Designs, Maddy from Inspired Bride, Lara and Kelly from So You're Engayged, Lyla from Globetrotting Bride, Amanda from 100 Layer Cake, Courtney from Little White Book, Amanda from Ruffled, Dana from Broke-Ass Bride, Anne-Marie from Perfect Bound, Janice from Bridal Wishlist. Middle Row: Kelly from Santa Barbara Chic, Grace from The Cinderella Project, Jackie from Merci New York, Emily from Once Wed, Karol and Meredith from Dallas Wedding Planner, Cyd from The Sweetest Occasion, Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper, Jen from Green Wedding Shoes, Jessica from Budget Savvy Bride, Kelly and Maria from Ritzy Bee. Front Row: Vané from Brooklyn Bride, Anne from From I Will to I Do, Vanessa and Cortnie from Lolliblog, Liene from Think Splendid, Christy from Junebug Weddings, Justine from The Unbride, Jillian and Jennifer from 100 Layer Cake, Cathie from Weddingbee.

Professional wedding blogging, as an industry, is still relatively young, with the oldest wedding blog being just eight years old. The advent of social media in the wedding industry has brought with it its own set of pros and cons. Never before have brides been able to find so much inspiration as quickly as they can today. Never before have wedding professionals had to fight as strongly the glut of misinformation mixed in with the good.

Every niche in the industry tends to complain about the newbies flooding their specific area: photographers deal with hobbyists putting an expensive camera on a credit card and calling themselves a pro, planners know very well that anyone who "walks by a wedding" now considers themselves a professional consultant, anyone with Microsoft Publisher and a nice printer is an invitation designer, and at Catersource I heard several complaints that "anyone with a kitchen and who watches the Food Network" now fancies themselves an event caterer. The barrier to entry is low across the board (event industry veteran Howard Givner wrote a great post about this last week), but in no segment of the industry is it easier to start up than as a professional wedding blogger.

In 2009 alone, the professional wedding blog industry took in over $9.4 million in advertising revenue. It's no surprise then that professional wedding bloggers (which are different than wedding professionals who blog) are now facing the same issue that everyone else is: brides who just adored chronicling every detail, decision and argument with their dearly beloved in their own wedding planning process are now blogging for the masses from the position of an expert and trying to monetize it.

This past weekend, I attended The B-List's annual conference, an association of the most influential wedding bloggers worldwide. To be honest, I was a bit nervous going into this event. Several issues had cropped up in the industry in the year that had passed since the last conference and I knew that discussing them as a group could go one of two ways: it could be a giant sob-fest where everyone complains and no solutions are found, or it could be open, productive dialogue. Fortunately, it was the latter.

In my opinion, the state of the wedding blogging industry is strong. The blog editors are not naive about the difficulties, and realize that some business models will have to adapt as the level of influence shifts, competition increases, and some legal issues force changes in the way things have been done thus far.

Is the wedding blog market saturated? Not even close. Out of the thousands of wedding blogs available to brides, there are still less than 100 that can truly be considered mainstream or garner high amounts of traffic. Is there room for new blogs in the professional wedding blog industry? Absolutely, but to survive financially they should focus on the niches rather than try to be all things to all brides.

The new bloggers entering the market will find out quickly whether they have what it takes to survive in an increasingly competitive industry or they will close their doors when they see how difficult professional blogging really is. Writing a blog about the planning process as a bride is very different than soliciting advertisers, developing and publishing original content, getting brides to read rather than just vendors (perhaps the most difficult part), and then proving to the advertiser that the site was valuable in both the number of targeted readers and the number of clickthroughs and qualified leads delivered so that they renew.

While the professional wedding blog industry is still in its "wild west" stages, it has a long way to go before we even realize the potential it truly holds.



Photo by Kate Headley

Niches Have Deep Pockets and Smart Businesses Know It

"Person like me" is still the most trusted source for information about a company and therefore products.
- Edelman Trust Barometer

The "person like me" sphere of influence is one of the reasons the wedding blog Offbeat Bride is so successful. Ariel has thoughtfully created a blog (and spinoff products) that cater to a specific taste and lifestyle. Because she is loyal to that vision as she curates her blog features, her readers know that what she recommends is likely to be a fit for them.

It should come as no surprise then, that Offbeat Bride is also one of the highest-trafficked wedding blogs in the world. The beauty of what she has created is that her readership and traffic rarely overlaps with the other blogs that boast the same amount of readers, so her advertisers rarely have to compete for the same eyes. In an industry where everyone is fighting over the latest Anthropologie-inspired wedding, Ariel is minding her own niche and doing very well as a result. 

On the other end of the style spectrum are Nina of According to Nina and Erin of Blue-Eyed Bride. These ladies have a crazy amount of influence online because they both also stay true to who they are and don't try to appeal to the masses. Nina unapologetically mixes her Tory Burch shoes with Target dresses (found on sale, of course) and a cardigan from J. Crew. Many people who create their wardrobes the same way trust that what they read on her site will fit in with their lifestyle . . . whether she is writing about clothing or not.

As you're writing your blog, really focus on who your target reader is and know why they buy the way they do. It's trendy right now for wedding businesses to claim to be focused on the high-end bride. High-end is a tax bracket, not a target client.  One high-end bride could be "offbeat" while the other relates more to someone like Nina. It's dangerous to assume that every couple shops the same way and values the same thing simply because they earn the same amount of money.

Focusing on the masses is a losing game unless you have the infrastructure to push massive amounts of volume. Find your niche and build trust there. You'll be much more successful in the long-run.

Splendid Sundays Volume 34

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*Why copyright assignments can be critical for startups and special projects.

*Is the event planning industry over-saturated?

*New Editor-in-Chief named this past week for Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine.

*Quotable: "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain

Do you have any splendid finds to share?

Social Media and the Bridal Fashion Industry

Anne Chertoff updating AOL's new wedding website Aisle Dash 

at one of the bridal market shows, providing brides with immediate info.

I've been at bridal fashion market in New York this past weekend and while seeing the new looks and dress styles for the upcoming season has been fun, the most fascinating part for me has been seeing how the business of bridal fashion is currently doing.

A quick background for those of you who may not be familiar with how this particular industry works: There are two bridal markets each year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall in which the collections for the next season are shown (so the upcoming Fall is shown in Spring and upcoming Spring is shown in the Fall).  The press and media attend these shows of course, but the bread and butter for the designers comes from the different bridal boutique owners and buyers for the larger stores who attend in order to choose what they will carry for their own inventory to sell to brides in their own markets. The dresses are produced based on orders and then delivered to stores about five months later (so the Fall line presented in the Spring is arriving in stores in the Fall . . . right on time).  The designers then start creating the next season's line immediately following the show, without knowing what from the line they just released will actually sell the best to real brides.

With the immediacy of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, one of the issues many designers and bridal stores are now facing is that the brides coming into the stores in the Fall and Winter months think that the new dresses are outdated because they've been seeing them online for the previous five months. They also want to see the dresses that they saw from the most recent show in October because they think those are the newest ones, even though those won't be in stores until later in the Spring.

Because of this, a few designers have started creating one collection per year instead of two and adding two or three pieces for the show. Several designers have opted to skip presenting at the April market and focus on October instead while others have chosen to do mostly appointments at the April market and save their resources for a larger runway show at the October market.

Part of this is also due to the economy, unsurprisingly. Many store owners cannot afford to attend the shows twice per year so they choose one or the other to place their orders and purchases at. The upside of this is that it allows the stores to do more efficient budget forecasting and allows for both the designers and the stores to better determine which dresses brides are actually buying.

As expected, social media has helped extend the brand recognition of both the various designers and stores engaged in it, but even the companies not actively participating online are being affected by the shift social media has created in the brides' expectations of what is available to them. While only a few designers have switched to producing one line per year, it will be interesting to see how many others follow suit.

Splendid Sundays Volume 33

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*I'm covering Bridal Fashion Market for Destination I Do Magazine this week. You can follow those Twitter updates here.

*Spirit Airlines will charge up to $45 for carry-on bags beginning August 1st.

*The speaker list for Engage!10 :: The Breakers in October was released this week. If you work in the high-end wedding market, be sure to check out this conference

*A federal appeals court ruled against the FCC and net neutrality this past Tuesday, changing the Internet as we know it.

*"If you want to understand the future, don't pay attention to how technology is changing, pay attention to how childhood is changing."

*Quotable: “I've not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.” Richard Branson

Do you have any splendid finds to share?

Meet Your Favorite Wedding Bloggers

The B-List is an association of the most influential wedding bloggers worldwide and will be holding its annual conference in Washington, DC on April 16th-18th. While the conference is invitation-only in order to discuss off-the-record issues related to the wedding blogging industry, there is a cocktail reception on Friday, April 16th that is open to everyone.

If you are a wedding vendor, this event is a great opportunity to meet and chat with all your favorite wedding bloggers in one place. The cocktail reception will be at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia from 7 - 10 pm (and it is being planned by Maria Cooke at Ritzy Bee, so you know it will be fabulous). For more information on registering to attend please click here. We hope to see you in DC next Friday!

You can also follow The B List on Twitter here!

Splendid Sundays Volume 32

A handful of splendid finds and interesting tidbits from around the worldwide web:

*"If you’re a for-profit employer . . . there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law." The government is cracking down on unpaid internships. (PDF download: the 6 federal legal criteria for unpaid internships.)

*Saturday mail delivery soon to be a thing of the past.

*Is your blog hurting true creativity and growth?

*"Bottom line, if the sole reason you're doing your workshop is because you aren't really making it in your business, then get a job at Starbucks instead." On rockstars and workshops.

*Quotable: "Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem." - Henry Kissinger

Do you have any splendid finds to share?