which is the best wedding site to advertise with and is it worth it

<p>Hi everyone <br /> I'm getting approached on daily bases to advertise with these wedding sites, my question FOR THOSE WHO HAVE USED THEM<br /> is it really worth it? how much exposure did you actually get?<br /> right now all my traffic comes from google. i have created a wedding portfolio with all the sites above but haven't spent any money yet!<br /> are the knot, snap knot or weddings.com actually popular among wedding brides?<br /> how often do people look for wedding photographers on yelp? ps they charge TON but i feel like yelp is meant for local stores and such.<br /> i think weddingwire is the most popular site but their advertisement packages are almost useless unless you sign up for the highest advertisement deal which is not cheap. you pay $100 a month just to show up in their directory!!! is it worth it?</p>

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<p>No. Unless you've money to burn skip all of them IMHO.</p>

<p>I was listed on the Wedding Wire (top listing), Won "Brides Choice Award" year after year after year, had a zillion 10 Star client reviews … and never booked a single wedding except one super el-cheapo with a Bridzilla client.</p>

<p>I stupidly justified staying so long because it was then associated with Martha Steward, and I could tell prospects that I had a lot of satisfied clients on Wedding Wire/Martha Steward website. Prospects I got on my own, not from their website.</p>

<p>Not only was it a waste of money, it wasted a lot of my time keeping it current.</p>

<p>Word of mouth is the best advertising, followed by recos from other vendors (reciprocal) Also, using local relevant places like Church bulletins or postings etc.</p>

<p>All those wedding sites are pressure cooker sales oriented "say anything" to get you in. They always have a success story as bait in order to hook you … then they keep you hooked with "custom" stuff just for you and/or up selling you … which in the long run also doesn't work. </p>

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<p>The best wedding site is your own. There are heaps of templates etc. Marc is correct in that it won't drive new business. Its a place to show your work in addition to referrals etc. It helps prospective customers confirm that your work meets their expectations.<br>

90% of wedding photographer gigs come of recommendations.<br>

The easiest is Flikr. (along with the other 10,000 wedding photographers unfortunately)</p>

An entree into the clients you're after can be successful. How you get their attention, it's up to you. There are many

roads to take, some producing more successful results than others. For me, it's where the rubber hits the road as I ddn't

leave it to a web site to determine my success.

<p>Marc probably understands advertising better than the rest of us combined, so go with what he said.</p>