3 quick ways having a website will help you to show up professionally in your wedding business so people actually take you seriously

I wanted to talk about today three ways that you can show up more professional in your business because whether you are doing this as a side hustle, or you’re doing this full-time, you’re no longer in a nine to five, and you are a wedding professional full-time, you need to make sure that you are being seen as a professional as someone who is taking the shit seriously because you want people to trust you and to invest in you, and in order for them to do that, they need to know that you’re the real fucking deal. You need to make sure you’re showing up professional AF so that you can gain their trust and really convert more leads into clients.

There’s three things that I want to address when it comes to looking more professional and I don’t mean professional in the sense of looking like you’ve got all of your shit figured out or that you’ve got all your ducks in a row or being super polished and that you never make mistakes. The kind of professionalism that I’m talking about is that you are showing up and you’re making them feel confident that you know what the heck you’re doing, that you’re taking this thing serious, and that you have the ability to provide the services and build that trust.

1. First thing you need to do to show up more professional in your wedding business is to actually be visible to your potential new clients.

What I mean by this is not that I want you to show up on social media every day and you know, create all this content and all of that, or that I need you to build SEO in order to rank number one on Google. All I mean by being visible is literally being able to show up when somebody is searching for you. There’s nothing worse than somebody seeking out your business or when someone hears about your business in some way, shape, or form. They came across you and then they don’t know where to go.

When somebody hears about a new business, the very first place they’re typically gonna go is Google and then their website.

Let’s say a new couple goes to tour a venue and they love the venue. It’s great, it’s perfect, and they book there and then they ask them – Hey, do you have any photographers that you would reference, do you have any planners that you guys would recommend and they will probably just start spewing out a bunch of different vendors or, you know, photographers and planners, and the first place that that couple is probably going to go to is Google. So you want to make sure your website pops up and is visible.

So, if a venue said, oh yeah, Rebel Dawn Media, she’s wonderful, you should totally check her out. Unless they specifically say, her Instagram is @RebelDawnMedia. Your potential clients are not going to immediately go to Instagram. They’re gonna go to Google, and you will want to make sure that you have a website there available. Because the hard truth is that people associate a “legit business” with if they have a website or not. You can like it, you can hate it, but it is the truth. And if you want people to spend money on you, you need to really look like legit business.

I am planning my own wedding right now and this exact thing happened to me.

My mother-in-law was trying to recommend or refer me to someone that she knew of. I think it was her daughter’s friend of a friend or something like that, and she wanted me to use them for our hair and makeup. And when I asked her if I could see her work or where I could read more about her. If she had any portfolio pieces or, if she had a website she was hesitant and instantly, before she could even say that this lady didn’t I was like eh, yeah, probably not. Because it’s hard to trust someone that you can’t see. I am not gonna invest a decent amount of money in someone that I couldn’t tell what kind of work they were going to provide. And you know what? She could have given amazing services, right? She could have done an amazing hair, an amazing makeup job, but because my mother-in-law wasn’t able to instantly direct me to her website. I mean even if she would’ve had a Instagram and a Facebook, but yet she didn’t have a website, I would still second guess if this person was a real business and if they were gonna give me the high quality experience that I was wanting. And you know, sure. People with Instagram and social media could definitely book brides that want their services but I will say seven times out of ten , your higher budget brides are not going to book someone if they don’t at least have a website. If you want to get into that higher price point, which is if you want to leave that nine to five, that’s what you’re gonna have to do. You’re gonna need a website. And like I mentioned in my story, I was like, oh, onto the next, I’ll keep looking, I’ll keep searching the Googles and the Instagrams because I need to know and trust before I invest and I, I have the money that I want to spend on the right person.

So I have a quick little statistic here about how important it is for you to make sure your online presence for your wedding business is top notch

According to a survey by Wedding wire, 80% of engaged couples search for wedding vendors online, which means that having a strong online presence is essential for reaching and booking potential clients. This means you need to have a website. If everything I said before didn’t convince you enough, I’m probably beating a dead horse by now. You need a fricking website. I don’t even care how hideous it is. I just want you to get something out there so that people can refer to it. I don’t care if it’s a template, a free template, or a paid template, whatever the case may be. Please, please, please have a website up there. This is going to allow people to view your business as an actual business and not a low budget service because reality is if you are only on socials, that means you don’t have the want or desire to invest in your business. So you’re probably going to attract low budget brides, and that’s just, that’s just how it is.

Now that you’ve got a website for your wedding business, you’re going to want to make sure it’s making the best first impression

After you’ve got the website and now you have somewhere that people can be directed to learn more about you. You want to make sure that you make the best first impression. Whether we mean to or not we do judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, we subconsciously make premeditated assumptions and especially when it comes to investments and what we’re going to be investing in and what we’re going to be reaching out to. So we wanna make sure that our cover to our book doesn’t make people want to put it back. We wanna make sure that it’s something that people actually wanna read through and comb through and view more information about, right?

We want to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward.

This means many things, but what I wanna focus on here is making sure that your website, which is typically your very first touchpoint of your brand your very first way someone interacts or sees your brand. And we wanna make people do a double take. We wanna make sure your website is enticing and engaging and well designed and actually speaks to your ideal audience because it will set you apart and people will instantly feel more confident. We wanna make sure people get the impression that even though we’re doing this as a side hustle, we are taking this shit serious and we do wanna show up for the people that we are working with and who is hiring us. So when we make sure that we have a brand and a website that sets ourselves apart. Something that people will be like, Damn.

You will want to make sure your website which is the storefront of your business is enticing to people who come across it.

So let’s think about it this way. If we were driving into town and you were on a mission to buy a new dress for a wedding coming up, let’s say you’re actually attending a wedding and not working one. And on your way into town, there are two boutiques that are right across the street from each other, right? On one side, the sign is very colorful, there’s an open display where you can see a few of their best dresses. On the sign above it says “beautiful wedding dresses perfect for springtime”. They have come on in and all sizes are welcome signs hanging up. Something that’s very enticing, and you say to that, wow, that’s me. I’m doing that right now. I’m looking for a wedding dress right now. I am also not typical sizes.

But then on the other side of the road, the outside display is plain. They have a very tiny window. They might only have like one dress in the window. They don’t have any signs. They just have The name of the boutique on top. Which boutique are you most likely going to go inside of If you are trying to find a new dress for this wedding? You’re probably gonna be going to the first one. Right? And this is because it was enticing. It was speaking to you and was showcasing exactly what you needed. You saw their work and you were like, oh my gosh, those dresses are very beautiful. Right? Whereas the other one would like, yeah, they might have had beautiful dresses in the window, but you could only see one and they didn’t really grab your attention because they didn’t have any color over there, or they didn’t have any wording that was very informative or enticing to you.

Your website is this boutique storefront. All of this translates on a website and showcases the importance of having a website that is intentional and strategic so that when people are first looking at your storefront they are thinking, oh yeah, this one’s definitely more enticing. I trust that this store over here is way more you know, selling way more. They have way more experience. I feel confident that I could find what I’m needing inside of that store A.

I don’t want you to think that this means that you need to have some huge investment into your website. I think it just means you need to invest something, whether that is investing time and DIYing your own website in order to make sure that it is beautiful and does the job well, not just does the job period. And there’s also a lot of budget conscious options like website templates, which you can find here. And then There’s also one day intensive options with professional designers that are a little bit more on the like, medium side of investment. If you maybe don’t have any time to invest in that it just tells people that you’re taking your business seriously. If you invest something you’re telling potential clients that you’re not cutting corners, you’re not Just doing the bare minimum to get by, because that’s gonna tell them that you are just doing the bare minimum to get by. Right. So we wanna make sure that we are giving them the best impression and that way when they reach out to us, we can take that a step further and, you know, greet them with enthusiasm and care about their special day. And then they’ll be so hooked on us, they have to book with us.

So the statistic for this portion is that according to wedding wire, 62% of engaged couples say that vendors websites play a significant role in their decision making process. This means that having a well designed website and accurately showcasing your brand’s work can be the difference between booking a client and losing to a competitor. So having this badass website and the best first impression is crucial for attracting and booking clients just like those two boutiques right. The one had the well designed showcasing at their best work, and the other one was subpar.

The last thing I want you to focus on to show up more professionally in your wedding business is to have confidence.

And the very last thing that I want you to focus on doing and having in order to show up more professionally in your business is to have confidence. You are a badass. And I want you to believe that seriously, from the bottom of my heart. Even having the thought and the desire to pursue a passion should be all of the confidence that you need. Because seriously it takes so much strength and courage to do that. So with that being said, there’s nothing more scary than hiring someone who is unsure of what they are doing. If they’re giving you off a vibe that they may or may not be able to provide the services that you are wanting from them correctly or you know, at the timeframe that they’re wanting, especially on an important day of their life, like their wedding, you have got to make sure that you don’t give them that scary, right? You don’t wanna give them that, that hint of, oh, I don’t know if they’re gonna be able to do it or not. You don’t wanna give them that vibe that you know you’re hesitant or that you may or may not be able to deliver on what they’re asking for. And I get it. Confidence certainly grows with time and experience. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

The best place you can start building that confidence is by knowing you are being seen as a legit business

So if you’re being portrayed as a legit business and you know, you can say you have your LLC and you can say that you’ve got this beautiful website and you can say that you’ve got this legit space and presence and Instagram, then people are going to see you that way, and then you are going to see yourself that way, right? Something I do when I am feeling not so confident or second guessing myself, this seems so silly, but I seriously go back and look at my website to remind myself of how badass I am. Because I know that, oh, this is what other people are seeing. People are seeing this amazing website and it gives off this certain vibe and I look so professional and I look like I’ve got my shit together, even though I know I may not actually and that’s okay. And even with time and experience, you’re still going to have those thoughts. So having something to rely on, like a badass brand experience and brand presence will really help you feel legit, right? Because kind of like the saying goes, I know it’s super cliche, but if you look good, you feel good and I truly, truly believe this in my business. If you allow yourself to look good and show up with confidence in your business, then you are going to take yourself seriously. I personally dress up sometimes when I’m working from home simply because I know that I’m having a down day and I need to dress up like a badass CEO to feel like a badass CEO. Fake it till you make it, I guess. But I really truly believe that if you do that, you will show up with more confidence.

Another place to find confidence is to invest in yourself.

Then the second thing that I think will really be a good foundation to help build confidence to kind of rely on, or being able to fall back on is knowing that you’ve invested in this thing. If you know that you have invested in the equipment or the website or training or time, you can be confident. Investment can mean time or money. You could invest time into honing in your skills. You could invest time into building a website, right? Like, you don’t have to buy a website, like I mentioned before. You could DIY it yourself. Just know that that’s your time being invested there rather than your money being invested. So you’re still investing something. You could also invest in education or the tools in order to more efficiently, you know, run your business. The more you invest, the more confident you feel. If you invest in an educator who you know is teaching you better skills, about how to reach new people, or how to photograph things better, or maybe the investment is time, and that means you are going in second shooting for other photographers. Or maybe you’re a planner, event planner, and you are investing time into helping design a super high-end wedding that you’ve never experienced before, right? Because you’re just starting out all of those investment things and honing in your skills and honing in your craft. Those will all really help you feel more confident in what you do and when you are confident in what you do, your presence tells people that you’re taking the shit serious, that you can confidently say, I can deliver this. I can make sure that you are doing this. I can deliver the things that I’ve promised. Right? And so when you’re serious about this, they see that. They feel that when you show up and you are telling them “I genuinely want to do this for you.” I am confident that I’ve put in the necessary investments in, in order to move forward. And sure, I’m not perfect and sure I’m not going to have everything together because no one does. But I am confident that I’m progressing forward, and I am committed to this business and I’m taking this seriously, and people will love and respect to that and respond to that well.

The statistic that goes a little bit into the confidence, but it also, again, ties back into the website is that 71% of couples are more likely to book a vendor that has a detailed and informative website compared to a vendor that does not. What this emphasizes is that it’s important to have a website that not only looks good, but also provides valuable information whether that’s about their service or their expertise maybe the things that they’re investing in.

So let’s do a quick little recap, shall we? Three items you are going to want to do in order to show up more professionally in your wedding business.

If you wanna show up professionally with authority and allow people to see your business as a “legit business”, you need to make sure that you are visible because there’s nothing more amateur looking than someone that does not have a website. It can look like you are just doing it for fun if you don’t have a website. So make sure you have a website, which if you want the vibe of just doing it for fun, you need to expect to charge that quote unquote just for fun price. And if you want that premium price, then you’re gonna need to show up more professionally.

Number two, make sure you give a good first impression. Now that you’ve got a website and you’re showing up, you can take it one step further by making sure that you have a professional, well designed, beautiful impression so potential clients know that you’re the real deal. If you have an engaging, beautiful website, they’re more likely to view you as a professional and be just more drawn to your business in the first place and feel more confident that you are going to give them a better experience because the website was a better experience. This will really help you stand out from all the other vendors in your niche, and it showcases that you’re not just getting by and this will allow you to either book more or will allow you to increase your prices a little bit.

And the last thing is having confidence my dude. You can find confidence in investing in your business, whether that is investing time or money or energy. Whether that is in education or honing your craft or your website, there’s a variety of things that you can invest in in order to feel confident in making sure that you’re putting your best foot forward and giving that impression that will overall increase your confidence, and then you’ll be able to deliver your absolute best work and do way more than you thought was possible.