To Knot or not to Knot

I am currently reviewing my advertising dollars for next year. I have spent most of my money advertising on the The Knot for 2 years. I have currently canceled but not sure if I should start up again. In the beginning I received some calls, but last year I received three leads. Most of my leads are from referrals. I am asking if others have found TheKnot part of their advertising a success.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rt. Rev. Dr. Ronald Turcot on December 14, 2009 at 5:45pm

I just remembered that locating a good videographer and photographer to work with and refer brides to, can be a big help. Have them shoot photos of weddings where you also share the photos, and have at least one video of you performing your services. Having your video (with audio) on YouTube is a help too. Of course, that's for Officiants especially. Putting 12" X 24" magnetic signs on your vehicle works very well for me. Remember that you never should exceed 10 words including 1 phone no. on it. Other drivers cannot read more than that at 55 M.P.H. The colors should be only black & white because they are the wedding colors in advertising and the phone no. should be reversed to make it show better. If you can afford to advertise on a cable network and it's not expensive, have them show your ads after 11:00 p.m. Good Luck, folks and may God Bless you and yours.

Permalink Reply by Carolyn Burke on December 21, 2009 at 1:39pm

I agree to this statement the most.....Many cities have their own web page and some will let you advertise on it. That's local and it does work well.

My best leads are from local St Louis websites. stlwed.com to name one

Permalink Reply by Jordan Victoria on January 15, 2010 at 3:49am

Rev. Turcot, thank you for your advice, as I am not new to the wedding industry I am some what new to the whole "SEO" & keywords. My question to you is as a wedding planner what "keywords" would you suggest that we/I focus on to optimize our search engine presence? Thank you in advance for your professional suggestions!

Permalink Reply by Tina Currin White on December 14, 2009 at 4:25pm

I have just signed up and will give it a try. My thoughts have been mostly like everyone else.....expensive! I'm not locked into a particular time so I can cancel anytime. I'm still trying to find the right marketing tool. Bridal shows are also expensive and have not produced orders...Editorials in bridal magazines has been the best,

Permalink Reply by Curtis Copeland on December 14, 2009 at 7:23pm

I would say not to go with the Knot. Our market is in South Florida -Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach. Last year we signed up for a highlighted position with 1/4 page in print. In the last year we only received 1 solid lead! Here in South Florida brides are choosing referrals far more than any other source. The strongest and most consistent clients have come from vendor and previous client referrals. My two cents- save you money and partner with some vendors you can trust.

Have a merry Christmas!

Curtis

Permalink Reply by Sheila & Brian Idoby2celebrants on December 15, 2009 at 12:10am

This is a great discussion and although I am in Australia still relevant. We are celebrants (officiant) and find that here the celebrants are the last thing most couples organise (or are even interested in). We have tried all sorts of advertising and find our best value from word of mouth and a simple one line listing of just our name, phone number and area.

Permalink Reply by Fountain Street Designs on December 15, 2009 at 8:58am

Wow, I am so impressed with everyone's replies. I appreciate everyone discussion. I have also spoken to other small business owners in the wedding industry who had listings on TheKnot, and they are considering their options. Also found out listings (I paid $95.00 a month) were ranging from $50.00 for the same listing. I have been looking for a price sheet.

Permalink Reply by NeotericExpressions Invitations on December 15, 2009 at 2:27pm

I have been following this discussion too here and on other free wedding vendor sites, all with the same feedback about the Knot. I was contacted by them and was offered $175/month, but could take the special of $120/month if I signed up that week - one year contract, cancellation is possible after 6 months. I would love that kind of exposure but I would like a more targeted market than DIY only. Being in Atlanta, if they base their rates on area of country/state/town I imagine it makes sense that they wanted $175 since Atlanta is a metropolitan area. But I don't have metropolitan pockets.

Permalink Reply by Medina Photography, LLC on December 16, 2009 at 6:56am

We have gotten a few leads and bookings from the knot, which we have been advertising with for the past 2 years or so. Not enough to justify the cost though. We just canceled our ad. We get most of our referrals from previous brides, which we all know is the best advertising. Best of luck to you!

Permalink Reply by StellaView Studios on December 16, 2009 at 10:51am

I love " The Knot ". I am about to add additional markets to my budget. My advertising views are simple. Website clicks.
Once a prospect is on my site, " The Knot's job is complete. In concerns to getting prospects to my site, the job is well
done. Best of luck. Bill.

Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Falls-Williams on January 13, 2010 at 10:40pm

The knot is WAY to expensive. I am in Houston, Texas. I agree that it's best to have a web person who has a good understanding of SEO or go with a local advertiser.

Permalink Reply by Stylish Affair"s By Mickey Long on December 17, 2009 at 10:43pm

Fountain Street Designs,

I wanted to share this with you and perhaps you can make your decision on these facts.. I want to, but it's still a bit pricey for me..
Mickey,

Great speaking with you yesterday. I couldn’t figure out how to send the attached pdf in a word document, but I’ll give you the highlights below.

The Knot has 2,346,000 average monthly unique users

Get Married has 76,000 average monthly unique users

*please view the attached pdf

When you’re ready to invest in the #1 resource for local area brides, here are our rates and my contact information. I’ve attached a snapshot of the San Diego bride above and a new client sign-up sheet when you are ready to join The Knot! The time is now to get your business front and center on The Knot for 2010. We are entering peak engagement season and January is our busiest month for online traffic.

Our rate card rate for a basic internet listing (one image) is $120 per month or $1,440 for the year. However, through year-end if we have a promotion running which gives you two offers to choose from.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (includes The Knot, Wedding Channel and Party Spot):

The “Spring Into Success” Promo (allows you to choose from one of two following options):

OPTION 1: A 20% discount on a basic profile on The Knot/Wedding Channel/Party Spot - $96 Monthly/$1,152 Annually

OPTION 2: or Pay rate card rate of $120 monthly/$1,440 Annually for a basic online profile and receive nine additional photo’s for FREE (a $600 value).

*These rates expire on December 31st.

Here is some additional information on what’s included with being a Knot, Wedding Channel and Party Spot vendor:

· Largest aggregation of brides online

· 3.5x the unique visitors as our nearest competitor (Brides)

· 4 x the page views…

· Video profiles (new)

· Free listing on TK niche sites (local weddings keyword search) – http://sandiego.weddings.com

· Free listing on the largest wedding planning app on Facebook – Weddingbook (new) – 500,000 apps installed to date!

Our vendors will reach 80% of their local brides in surround-sound with all of these offerings and great added value! We currently have 17,700 brides in San Diego with an average of 1,700 NEW brides registering monthly.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will continue to keep in touch.

Have a fabulous afternoon!

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Carolyn Homestead

Account Executive, The Knot Inc.

619.794.0499 Tel, 877.476.4317 Toll Free

866.828.4819 Fax

chomestead@theknot.com

theknot.com | thenest.com | thebump.com
weddingchannel.com | weddings.com
partyspot.com | wedsnap.com

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Newsweek: "Other 'wed' sites aspire to be The Knot."
Vogue: "The chicest wed site in cyberspace."
Business Week: "Don't get hitched without The Knot."
Wall Street Journal: "The best-known wedding site on the Web."