Month: June 2021

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The ultimate wedding planning guide

Planning a wedding can be stressful. You need to arrange for the venue, theme, catering, decor, legalities, flowers, transport, attire, etc. Couples want their wedding ceremony to be perfect and spend months sometimes years planning their special day. The process can be both intimidating and exhausting, especially if you don’t have a proper wedding plan in place. There are countless guides and checklists available online to help you plan, and you can even hire a professional wedding planner to handle the task for you if your wallet allows you.

No two weddings are exactly the same. Different couples have specific preferences for their special day. For example, a smaller backyard wedding has its own challenges when compared to large venue weddings. Before you start planning for your wedding ceremony, think about what kind of wedding you want to have. Here’s a guide on how to handle different types of ceremonies:

Wedding themes

Every wedding should have a special theme. A great theme will ensure your special day is more memorable and entertaining. The theme can be traditional and familiar or quirky and unique. For example, a spring or winter-themed wedding is more traditional while a gothic or Harry Potter-themed wedding is quirky and unique. Here are some tips that can help you decide a theme:

  • Decide whether you want a traditional or non-traditional (unique theme) wedding. A non-traditional wedding is just as challenging as a traditional one, and may even require a little more effort. – look to considerations list when looking at options. An idea is great, but delivering all aspects of this dream wedding idea can be hard conceptually and extremely expensive.
  • Browse through wedding magazines, blogs and Pinterest for unique wedding ideas. That might spark your creativity and give you an idea of what you want.
  • Make sure your theme is consistent throughout the event. For example, if you want a winter-themed wedding, you should choose white and pale blue colours, include winter-specific food and drinks, and make sure your wedding stationery has the same theme. Consistency will ensure your wedding is unique and magical.

Rural Wedding / Source: Little Glimpses

Destination weddings

There’s something very magical about having a wedding in an exotic and interesting location. If you have room in your budget, you can even have your wedding ceremony in another country like New Zealand, Thailand or Bali, which are all popular destinations for Australians. However, if you want to stay a little closer to home, there are several amazing places in Australia where you can have a wedding as well. They can be very difficult to plan and arrange but they’re worth the effort.

Tips to plan:

  • Choose a destination that will comfortably fit into your budget. While destination weddings are memorable, they can be a financial burden if you’re not careful.
  • Make sure people you want to be present at the wedding can travel to the destination.
  • Look at the legal requirements of travelling to a different country for a wedding if you intend to have your wedding outside Australia.
  • Arrange for travel and accommodations well in advance to avoid last minute problems and cancellations. Be sure to check the venue’s payment and cancellation policies and don’t hesitate to ask them questions if needed.

Civil ceremony

A civil ceremony is a wedding ceremony performed by an authorised Civil Celebrant who’s registered with the Federal Attorney General’s office. This is a great option for people who want to have a formal marriage ceremony without any kind of religious authority. In civil wedding ceremonies, the things you need to consider.

Tips to plan:

  • To apply for a civil ceremony in Australia, you need to be at least 18 years of age with a photo ID like a driver’s license or a passport. You might also have to make a statutory declaration to support your identity and evidence provided.
  • You need to file The Notice of Intended Marriage form, one month before you’re due to be married. There are exceptions like medical emergencies, errors, legal proceedings, etc, but it’s best to file the form in advance.
  • You’ll be married by the Civil Celebrant and asked to sign three different certificates to confirm your marriage.
  • The celebrant will register your marriage around 14 days after the ceremony is performed
Greek Wedding / Source: Iclickyou Photos

Cruise weddings

Cruise weddings can be a great deal of fun, especially if you love to travel and enjoy the sea. They’re also surprisingly easy to organise. Most cruise ships will offer a wedding package that includes everything from the ceremony and decor to the food and drinks. You won’t have to spend much time or effort to on the planning.

Tips to plan:

  • Find a cruise ship that fits into your budget and follows a route that’s most convenient for you. For example, if you and your loved ones can only spare two days for the wedding, choose a cruise that doesn’t venture far and can bring you back to your city within that time period.
  • Create a short guest list, especially if you intend to finance the entire trip. A lengthy guest list will be expensive and very difficult to manage. Prioritise your list and focus on people you want rather than the ones you feel obligated to call.
  • Arrange for a photographer instead of relying on the one provided by the cruise ship. You’ll want to document the entire trip instead of just the ceremony and a professional photographer can help with that.

Religious ceremony

Many people consider religion to be a vital aspect of their life and want to have a religious ceremony. Different religions have different customs and traditions. In fact, different factions of the same religion have different customs and traditions. For example, a Catholic marriage ceremony would be slightly different from a Protestant marriage ceremony.  Inter-religious marriages can be a challenge to plan as well. Here are some tips that can help.

Tips to plan:

  • Consider the requirements of your religious ceremony carefully. That will help you plan the wedding around the ceremony. You’ll know when you have your reception and what kind of food you can include in your wedding lunch or dinner.
  • Choose a church or temple according to your religious requirements. Most couples prefer to have their wedding at their local Church.
  • Your recessional and processional song options might be limited if you choose a religious wedding ceremony. This depends largely on the religious institution you have your wedding in. Some churches and temples are stricter than others.
  • You might also have to follow a dress code. This depends on how strict the church or temple is but some religious institutions will require that everyone who attends the wedding, follow a specific dress code.
Formal wedding / Source: Just B Photography

Formal wedding

Formal weddings are similar to “black tie” events. They’re luxurious, glamorous, and fashionable. If you love the allure of the red carpet, you’ll love the idea of a formal wedding. This wedding also has a dress code and men are usually required to wear black-tie and women need formal gowns and dresses. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you want a formal wedding.

Tips to plan:

  • Maintain the theme throughout the wedding day so everything from the wedding clothes to the catering is formal and elegant.
  • Make sure your wedding cards have a traditional and formal design. You’ll also need to mention that the wedding is a “black-tie” event to ensure your guests wear the right clothes and are prepared for the event.
  • Keep the music classic and refined. You can choose songs from the Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack era. That will help you maintain the formal wedding theme.
  • The decor should be soft and elegant with an almost monochromatic theme. Candle lights, chandeliers, white and pink roses, white satin decor, etc, will contribute to the formal and traditional theme of the wedding.

Contact local wedding planners

Military wedding

Military weddings have a special charm because people who serve their country deserve every bit of happiness they can find. Military weddings are different from traditional weddings because you need to follow some rules and formalities. Here are some things you should keep in mind.

Tips to plan:

  • Choose a military chapel or academy as your wedding venue. While other locations do work, military chapels or an academy will showcase your history and background. These venues will add a special touch to your wedding day.
  • Your next step is to arrange for an officiant who can formalise your marriage. If you get married in the military chapel, the chaplain will handle the ceremony. If you want to hire a civil chaplain or officiant, you should speak with them well in advance to discuss the ceremony and fees.
  • You need to respect the military rank during the wedding so all your guests should be seated accordingly. The highest ranking officers will be placed at the front and lower ranking offers at the back.
  • You will also need to follow the traditional military dress code. Grooms must wear their full-dress uniform. Brides have the option to choose between their full dress uniform or a wedding gown.

Wedding planning can be quite stressful but if you develop a strategy and know your limits, you can plan a beautiful and memorable day. You can also hire professional wedding planners to take the burden off your shoulders entirely and just enjoy your day. Wedding planners will still discuss the entire process with you to ensure the wedding theme and atmosphere suits your taste and preferences.

Categories
Design & technology

How SEO drives business growth

The 21st century has seen the world turn digital and thus so should your marketing efforts. Traditional print media is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Now, businesses can track the return of every dollar they spend through their marketing efforts through digital marketing.

Through digital marketing, businesses have access to a wide array of avenues to grow their online presence. Traditional-style online directories are a common starting point. However, more complex channels, including social media, pay per click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimisation (SEO) lead the way.

Through these marketing channels, businesses can drive targeted traffic to their websites. Thus, resources are spent as effectively as possible. Alongside PPC advertising, SEO is one of the most effective inbound marketing strategies that businesses utilise. In this article, you will learn what SEO is and how you can grow your business through this digital marketing strategy.

What is SEO?

The purpose of SEO is to be the first organic result on search engines. Thus, SEO is the set of practices that are employed to achieve that first place. Why is this important, though? Here are some facts:

  • Over 90% of all internet traffic starts from search engines – whether people are looking for information or buying a product
  • In terms of looking for products, over 81% of people turn to search engines as a starting point to perform their research
  • After conducting an online search for a local business, 72% of people will go ahead and visit the physical location

These are just some of the facts that outline why focusing on search engines is important. SEO is important, thanks to something known as the click-through rate (CTR). This is the percentage of people who visit your website after seeing your link.

On average, SEO has the highest CTR of any inbound digital marketing channel. Thus, you are driving targeted traffic to your website more efficiently than any other related channel, for example, Google Ads.

Website using SEO / Source: Nucleo Pty Ltd

How does SEO work?

There are three parties to think about when it comes to SEO ~ the user, the search engine and the website. We’ll explain how the relationship works between the three in the shortest way possible:

  1. The user enters a query into the search engine
  2. The search engine generates a list of relevant search results
  3. Websites at the top of those search results inherit traffic

For a site to show up at the top of search results, it must be correctly optimised, so that search engines can determine whether it’s the best fit for the query.

One of the easiest ways to make sure your website is correctly optimised is to engage in a marketing agency that performs SEO services. Otherwise, you can learn about SEO and go it alone.

How does SEO drive business growth?

Each month there could be tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of people searching for a product or information that you offer. For example, there could be 100 people who search for “lawyers in Sydney” on a monthly basis.

If your website is optimised to target the keyword and you’re the first to pop up in the search results, then you’re likely to inherit 30% of the traffic. That’s 30 people who are looking for lawyers coming to your website every month, and that’s just for one keyword.

Though in reality, websites compete for many variations of a keyword and many completely different keywords. Also, as the target visiting your website is targeted, it is much more likely that your visitors will become customers as well.

Contact local SEO & SEM experts

SEO FAQ’s

Those who are new to SEO – particularly if they’re looking to hire someone – often ask two main questions. We’ll cover them here for you.

What’s the difference between SEO and Google Ads?

Search engine optimisation focuses on ranking for organic search results and is thus commonly considered a long-term digital marketing strategy. Due to the nature of SEO, you would almost never run a three-month campaign. This is because things take longer to unfold in the SEO world.

By comparison, Google Ads is all about immediate results. Thus, you pay for clicks. In exchange, Google sends traffic to your website, and you hope to land a sale. With Google Ads, you can run a one-week or one-year (or longer) long campaign. It is both short- and long-term oriented.

There’s no one better strategy either if that’s your next question. If you can only have enough in your budget to engage in one of the two channels, then it’s entirely up to where you’re at as a business. If you have no existing source of income, then Google Ads may be the way to go for you. On the other hand, if your business already generates an income, you might prefer an exclusively long-term focus.

How long does it take to get to the first page?

Every case is different. It depends on your website and how competitive your market is. In general, though, it could take anywhere from six to twelve months to get to the first page of Google for a low- to mid-level competition keyword.

Categories
Design & technology

How to use WordPress for website design

WordPress is a popular CMS platform that is carefully designed to cater to all users. No matter if you’re designing your first website or your hundredth, the design of WordPress aims to offer a suitable platform for you.

A big part of why WordPress works so well for so many different skill levels is the availability of so many various features. For instance, according to CodeinWP, WordPress offers more than 11,000 different pre-made themes to users.

These themes offer a variety of different benefits:

  • They’re easy to use
  • They provide a quick route to designing a WordPress website for you or your company
  • Both individual developers and WordPress development services can use these themes during the development process

Benefits of WordPress themes

Pre-made themes are ready to go

One of the most significant advantages of using pre-made WordPress themes is that they’ve already set up and ready to use. With a few quick clicks, developers can use these to set the basis for their site design. This saves a lot of time compared to a developer or WordPress design agency, taking the time to build a custom base theme for the website.

Themes are user friendly

Not having to code a custom theme not only saves time for advanced developers, but it also makes WordPress very accessible to new website designers. After all, users don’t need to possess any programming skills to choose a theme and apply it to their site. However, working with a more experienced service can give even a website using a pre-made theme a unique edge.

Website Design / Source: Sombrilla Digital

Themes come with tech support

Another advantage of themes is something that WordPress does well – tech support. This is mostly thanks to the huge community that WordPress boasts. Since many users are using a similar theme, other users have experienced the issues you might run into. As such, it’s much easier and quicker to find answers than to try and go through and find problems that might come up when creating a completely custom website design.

Contact local web designers

Themes often feature demos

In the same vein as depending on reliable tech support, if you run into a problem, WordPress themes guide you through the process from the beginning and get you started right away. To ensure that developers understand their purpose, many have demos that they can watch to get an idea of how the theme runs and supports a website. These are also handy in determining if a theme fits the design that a developer has in mind for the site they’re building.

Easy to update themes

Much like developing a custom theme, updating a custom theme design is often a complicated process because developers have to build the updates themselves. WordPress themes, on the other hand, typically entail periodic update releases. From here, all individual website developers or services need to do is ensure that they periodically update their website.

These updates also often target important features about the site as well, such as added security and functionality. They may also generally improve upon flaws that existed in the previous version of the theme.

WordPress themes are handy and help developers create a quality website with less hassle and in a shorter time frame. Themes allow developers to get the groundwork for a website set up immediately without having to commit to any coding and even update them later in only minutes. If you’ve given it a go and you can’t seem to get your website right, speak to a professional web designer to find out how much their design and developing services can cost you.

Categories
Design & technology

How to maximize brand exposure for your start-up

Branding is a vital marketing strategy for any business. Branding can elevate you in a crowded market and help your company differentiate itself from your competitors and other brands as well. That’s why branding should be considered as early as possible, more precisely, during the startup stage of a company.

However, branding during the startup stage can often be a real challenge. The main reason is that startups usually lack the resources to commit to branding fully. Still, developing a brand is a long process, and you don’t have to do everything in one day.

Therefore, do what you can with the resources that you have and develop your brand further alongside your startup business. Once you begin the branding process, you can work towards maximizing your exposure and awareness one step at the time. With that in mind, here are a few simple tricks to help maximize brand exposure for your startup.

1. Get creative with your content

If anything can help with your brand exposure, it’s content marketing. Content is, indeed, the most effective form of marketing today. The main reason is that it provides true value to consumers.

  • Educate, inform and entertain your audience

Create content that is well-made and highly relevant to your audience.  No matter if you run a fashion blog, a cooking studio, a pastry shop, or a doggy daycare, you should know by now that your content can make or break your digital presence. To leave it all to chance would be the biggest mistake you could make for your reputation. Instead, take the reins and create a content strategy that will help you stand out in your local market, and if you run an international business, include your global image, too.

  • Consider various types of content

Stunning images and videos work well for audience engagement. Podcasts and presentations can bring your content closer to a broader audience. When you do your best to diversify through posting videos to your social media feeds, as well as YouTube channel, helpful tutorials, smart infographics, and not just stick to blogs and articles, you’ll have a much better chance to attract more attention and get more people to engage.

  • Location

Consider the best way to publish content that will boost your brand exposure as much as possible. For instance, social media contests and giveaways are an excellent way to promote your brand, your content and drive customer engagement with free samples of your products or services.

Consistent branding through web design / Source: Vibes Design

2. Utilize SEO

Whether your website is the core of your brand or merely its extension, your digital presence can completely transform your brand’s reputation and visibility alike. Depending on how well you approach your SEO needs, you’ll be able to get in front of the right people at the right time and establish yourself as a significant figure in your industry.

Some new business owners, however, might not have the skills or the resources to devote so much time and effort to crafting their SEO strategy. This may be the time that they turn to a white label SEO company, which enables them to focus on their core tasks while experts handle their digital presence. From continuously researching keywords, technical SEO, all the way to link-building, this is one of the essential parts of your strategy for better positions in the SERPs, and consequently more visibility in front of the right audience.

Contact local web designers

3. Leverage social media

Your first step towards establishing a strong online presence and brand exposure should be social media platforms. Social media is essential for brand awareness because you’re in direct contact with your target audience on various networks.

As you may already know, brands now have a more personal relationship with their customers, and social media can help you build such a relationship. However, to do so, you’ll have to be very social. Here are a few examples of what you should do to boost brand exposure on social media.

  • Identify your target audience and learn as much as you can about them
  • Determine the most relevant social media networks to build your presence
  • Consider your audience’s demographics to tailor your messages better
  • Incorporate your brand values, brand promise and a unique tone of voice into your messaging
  • Create a unique approach for every social channel you’re present on
  • Create top-quality and highly relevant content for your audience.
  • Engage with your audience frequently
  • Always remain consistent

Social media is a dynamic and unique environment. If you want to leverage its full potential, you’ll have to develop specific strategies and monitor your results. If things aren’t looking too good, you can always redesign your approach.

Device compatible web design / Source: VMA Web Design

4. Engage in word-of-mouth promotions

It’s no secret that startup businesses don’t have it easy when it comes to competing against well-established competitors in the market. However, you shouldn’t be discouraged just because you lack the resources to outrun someone.

Good brand exposure can work wonders when it comes to gaining a competitive advantage, and the key is word-of-mouth marketing. However, for your word-of-mouth to be successful, you must meet customer expectations, needs and demands. Here are a few ways you can do that.

  • Provide exceptional customer service and support
  • Ask for feedback and improve upon it
  • Keep your promises
  • Respond to negative feedback well and on time
  • Focus on customer value
  • Provide top-quality products and services

Once you gain the favour of your customers, you can ask for referrals and even reward customers for their recommendations. In addition, ensuring customer satisfaction will encourage them to become loyal. Loyal customers often become brand ambassadors, and they’ll further promote your brand to their friends and family.

5. Work with influencers

Influencer marketing might not be so new anymore as a concept, but it’s becoming more relevant than ever, especially for brands that have yet to establish themselves in their market. So, when you’re looking to increase brand awareness, finding an influencer that shares your values and has access to your target market can boost your visibility immeasurably.

Okay, yes, it’s measurable, and it’s amazing what you can do when you track the success of your social campaigns, but the point is that a single bond can make all the difference for your business.

Building brand exposure and maximizing it in the startup stage can be a real challenge. The main reason is that most of your efforts and time are focused on developing and growing your business. However, if you allocate enough resources to your branding strategy, you can start reaping the benefits early on.