Advertising on The Knot

<p>Does anyone have any experience of adversing their wedding photography services on The Knot? I'm an experienced Wedding Photographer but haven't ever used the service before.<br>

My areas are SF Bay area, so want to do some targeted advertising just for potential clients in that area, the site seems very confusing and I can't even identify the correct category to start with!<br>

Thanks in advance,</p>

<p>Carl</p>

 

<p>I looked at them once upon a time and decided they were not a good fit for my market and pricing. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

I advertised and booked 2 weddings. It was a waste of money for me.

<p>Thanks for the feedback guys, would you recommend traditional print media or local online wedding directories?</p>

<p>I've had 3 bookings from them over the past year. I got nothing when I wasn't in the featured spots. Things picked up a little once I purchased a featured slot on the first page. In my area they have over 100 photographers listed. At almost 4K for the year, I would say it hasn't really done a TON for me. But plenty of my brides list that they just found me on the internet. So I can't be sure if they came from the knot or not. So now on my contact form I made it a drop down menu that includes the the knot and wedding wire and google search etc so I know more specifically where they are coming from. I figure I'll hold on to the listing until engagement season is over around February and then reconsider re-upping. My 2nd shooter who also has his own business has seen some success with a paid wedding wire listing. <br>

Where it makes sense to put your money advertising wise was discussed a ton on the bridal bootcamp class Sal Cincotta is doing on creativeLIVE right now. I think he'll be talking a bit more about it during the week long class. And if not, they often replay the class right after for free or you can buy the class. http://www.creativelive.com/courses/wedding-photography-business-boot-camp-sal-cincotta</p>

<p>I've been on the fence about them for a while-I've had a $100 a month listing there for a couple years now, and I've only booked a couple weddings directly from the listing, but I discovered that a lot of my brides viewed my profile on The Knot even if they heard about me from another source (referral, vendor, FaceBook, etc.) So I think it does serve a reinforcing role-couples hear about me, then see me on the Knot, and it shows that I'm a legit photographer.</p>

<p>It's been a while since anyone posted here, but I was wondering if there are any updates from people. I advertise with The Knot and I think they are average. A year ago they were sending more traffic that was relevant. This year (starting around April) it just started to get worse. Right now I'm playing around with Facebook and Google AdWords. Surprising Google refers prospect who are on the budget. Facebook appears to be doing a better job at that.</p>

<p>I know this is an old topic, but I just wanted to throw in my two cents. The Knot completely screwed me over. They totally take advantage of vendors eager for lots of clicks. I've been advertising with them online for six months now and have had terrible results. It was definitely a big mistake on my part. I have spent countless hours emailing back and fourth with my "strategy specialist" working on ways to supposedly improve my storefront. I followed their advice to the tea and it actually decreased my clicks even more. I'm currently averaging 1 VIEW every two weeks.<br /> <br /> I got in contact with my rep after I hit six months kindly asking to cancel my advertising because I had been getting such low results. She emailed back with a list of all the brides that had viewed my page over the past six months and told me I could not cancel until I fulfilled one year of advertising. She also (somewhat rudely) told me that my storefront was not good enough and I should add more pictures. This advice completely contradicted what my strategy specialist told me to do.</p>

<p><br /> All in all, it's a horrible waste of money and their support and advice for vendors is really awful. There's so many vendor listings it's just a mess and you're not likely to be found in most areas.</p>