Your Wedding Video Business Guide to Local SEO

For wedding videographers, most of your sales will probably come from local internet searches on Google. Therefore, it is key that when people Google “wedding videographer” for your region, your website comes up on the first page. It doesn’t matter how you rank in Google’s general listings. It’s the local search rankings that matter because most of your customer pool comes from your region. The process of getting your website to show up on the first page is referred to as local SEO or Search Engine Optimization. If you did a search for “New York wedding videography”, all the websites on the first page are there because they have optimized their site for those keywords.

One of the factors that Google uses to rank a website is keyword density, which means how often does a particular keyword phrase appear on each page of a website. If you are trying to rank for “New York wedding videography” you would want to place that keyword phrase and different variations of it on different pages throughout your website including your blog posts, your about us section, and etc. The guys over at Moz have a great tutorial on how to do on page optimization correctly. The problem is since a lot of people are trying to optimize for the same keyword phrases, it’s very difficult to get to the first page of Google. So, in this tutorial I am going to walk you through how to find other less competitive keywords that brides are searching for on Google.

 

Google Keyword Planner

Google has a tool called Keyword Planner.This tool will tell you how many people search a particular keyword phrase per month. On Google, search keyword planner and then click on the link that says Google AdWords: Keyword Planner. You will need to make an AdWords account to use this tool.

Local SEO - Keyword Planner

Once, you are logged on, click search volume. Type in your region along with the phrase “wedding videography”.

Local SEO - get search volume

Click the button on bottom called get search volume. The next page will give you results for that keyword.You can see that 30 people searched this keyword phrase and the competition is high.

Local SEO - results

The level of competition is determined by how many people are optimizing their site for the same keywords.  Google’s keyword planner does have a feature that gives you keyword ideas, but it doesn’t work as well as I would like. There are other free tools though that will provide us with a lot of similar keywords. In the next section, I am going to show you several tools on how find low competition keywords.

Google Chrome Incognito Mode

Over time, Google adjusts its results to fit your personality. So that we can get accurate results, let’s change Google Chrome to incognito mode. Search “New York wedding videography’ and scroll down. At the bottom are keyword suggestions.

Local SEO - related results

Let’s put them back into Keyword Planner and see what results we get.

Local SEO - keyword results

Unfortunately, all these keywords still have a high competition.  Let’s move on to the next tool.

Ubersuggest

After typing ‘New York wedding videography” we get the following results. Let’s take the relevant ones and put them into Keyword Planner.

Local SEO - UberSuggest

Local SEO - Cinematic weddingWe’ve struck gold! “Indian wedding videography New York” has a medium competition and “cinematic wedding video New York” has none at all. No competition means that none or close to zero people are optimizing their site for this keyword phrase. So if you used those keywords for your local SEO strategy, you would most likely show up on the first page. For some reason, Google didn’t show results for “New York wedding cinematographers”. I have a hunch that if we tried a different variation of that keyword, we would get results. Let’s try searching a different variation of it in our last tool.

Soovle

The last program we are going to use is Soovle. This tool starts creating longtail keywords as you type.

Local SEO - soovle

After trying different variations, I took my list and put it back into Google’s keyword planner. Below are the results:

Local SEO - Full List

So if I lived in New York I would first start with the low and medium competition keywords. Like I said before, “cinematic wedding video New York” is the best to rank for local search engine optimization because no one is ranking for it. I hope that this tutorial was helpful. I challenge you to not just replaced your city with these keywords, but research and try to find some keyword phrases that are being searched. I have compiled a list of 150 low competitive keyword phrases for wedding videography. Insert your region or city into them and throw them into Google’s keyword planner.

Even though keyword density plays into how Google determines which website goes on the first page, it will only take you so far. There are many other factors that Google takes into account. In future articles, I will discuss those other factors that will help improve your website’s local SEO and get ranked to the first page of Google. Post in the comments below any tips that have helped you get ranked higher on Google.

Wedding Video Questionnaire: 75 Questions to Include

A wedding video questionnaire is one of the most useful tools to have as a wedding videographer. This should be sent out to couples a month before the wedding. The more details you are aware of, the better prepared you’ll be to preserve it. Since you are prepared, you can focus more on being creative with your storytelling.

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – Bride

Where are you having your make-up and hair done? (Full address please)
What location are you getting your wedding dress put on? (If different location, please list full address)
At what time do your stylists arrive?
What are your stylists name(s) or business name?
About how many people will be at the your location? (Wedding Party and Family)
What time will start getting into your dress?
Who is your photographer? (Company name and photographer’s name)
What is your photographer’s phone number and email address?
How many photographers will be photographing at your location?
What time are your photographers arriving to the your location?
What time will you leave for the next location?
What are the your parent’s names?
Are you and the Groom exchanging gifts the morning of the wedding?
If so please explain the logistics?

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – Groom

Are you and friends doing an activity before getting dressed? (Sports, jogging
grooming parlor, etc.?)
If so, where at and what time? (Full address)
Where are you getting dressed? (Full address)
About how many people will be at your location? (Wedding Party and Family)
What time do you plan to begin getting dressed?
How many photographers will be shooting at your location?
What time is/are the photographer(s) arriving to your location?
What time will you leave for the next location?
What are your parent’s names?
Which individual will have possession of the wedding rings in the morning?
Please disclose the Groomsmen/Ring-Bearers FULL names: (Please specify the Best Man)
Please disclose the Bridesmaids/Flower-Girls FULL names: (Please specify the Maid/Matron
of Honor)

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – First Look

Are you planning on seeing each other before the ceremony?
If yes, where? (Full address)
What time are you planning on seeing each other for the first look?
What are the logistics of your arrival to the first-look location?
Will your photographer be snapping photos of you and your bridal party after the first
look?
What time do you plan to end the photo shoot to prepare for the ceremony?
Is the ceremony at a different location?
List venue of the ceremony and the full address?
How long will it take to travel from the first-look location to the ceremony?
How are you and your bridal party traveling from the first-look location to the ceremony?

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – Ceremony

Where will your wedding ceremony occur? (Full address)
On the invitation, what time does it say the wedding ceremony will BEGIN?
What time does the Bride anticipate arriving to the location of the ceremony?
What time does the Groom anticipate arriving to the location of the ceremony?
Who will be the officiant(s)?(Please provide phone #)
Has the officiant for the ceremony or  the venue issued you any special limitations or guidelines concerning and videography? (Be specific)
What kind of ceremony are you holding?
What the duration of the ceremony, approximately?
How many wedding guests are giving a special poem, the scripture, or a statement readings?
What day and time will the rehearsal be?
What time are you planning on having the ceremony end?
Are you planning on doing a receiving line after the ceremony?
Are you organizing a special walk-out after the ceremony takes place?
How are you traveling to the reception venue (if applicable)?
What’s the travel duration to the next location (if applicable)?

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – Photo Session

What location were you planning on having the photos be at? (Full address )
How much time did you plan for regarding the photo-taking plus travel time?
What time are you wrapping up photo-taking to head to cocktail hour?
Do you have any problems with us (the video crew) 10 minutes to work with you
towards the end of the photo shoot?

 

Wedding Video Questionnaire – Reception

What is the location of the wedding reception? (Full address please)
When does cocktail hour begin?
When does does cocktail hour end?
When does the reception begin?
When does the reception end?
Will there be a special dessert display present at the reception?
Who is provider of entertainment for the reception? (Individual and company’s name)
Who is going to be the emcee of the reception?
Will there be lighting from the ceiling at the reception?
Is the entertainment providing any services that contain photo like a photo booth?
Is the entertainment company providing any services that contain video like slow motion booth?
Will they be using any spotlights for areas other
than his/her own designated setup area?
Who is going to be the Maitre D’ of the event?
Will there be a wedding coordinator? If so, provide their name.
What time do you plan to cut your wedding cake?
Are you having a traditional tossing ceremony?
Please provide four emergency contact phone numbers here: (Please include your own)
Anything else we should know?

Take these questions and put them onto a google form and share it with your client. Make sure you don’t give them all the questions at one, but in small doses. Their details will help the day be less stressful and allow for you to focus more on your craft. For further resources check out Rob Adams Wedding Video Business Kit. If you enjoyed this extensive wedding video questionnaire, post a comment below.

Check out my other article on 5 wedding video tips and tricks to marketing your wedding videography business on Facebook.