The 5 Second Website Rule For Getting More Wedding Inquiries

In this episode we’ll cover:

• What the 5-Second Website Rule is and how it determines whether a couple stays or clicks away.
• The biggest mistakes wedding pros make that stop them from getting wedding inquiries.
• How to quickly evaluate if your website is actually booking clients or just looking pretty.
• Simple changes you can make to your wedding business website to convert more visitors into leads.
• Why clarity and connection matter more than fancy design when it comes to getting inquiries.
• How to make sure your homepage instantly communicates who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.
• Ways to use client feedback to refine your website messaging so it speaks directly to your ideal couples.

The 5 Second Website Rule For Getting More Wedding Inquiries

0:00:00 – Heidi Thompson
Does your website pass the five-second test?

0:00:17 – Intro
It makes or breaks whether you get great inquiries or price shoppers and ghosters, experts and actionable strategies to help you build the wedding business of your dreams. This is the Evolve your Wedding Business Podcast. Here is your host, Heidi Thompson.

0:00:43 – Heidi Thompson
Hey there and welcome to the podcast. I’m your host, Heidi Thompson, and I help wedding pros book more weddings with clients they love by making their marketing easier and helping them build a business that you know doesn’t make them work insane 80-hour weeks. A big part about how you book more weddings has so much to do with your website. So picture this a couple lands on your website and within seconds they are making a decision. They’re either leaning in, thinking, yes, oh, my God, this is exactly who we’ve been looking for, or they’re clicking away to the next tab, the next search result. Most wedding pros think of their website as a portfolio, a place to show off some photos and list their services and share a little bit about themselves. But the truth is your website is your biggest sales tool, or at least it should be. It is where couples decide if you are the right fit for them or if they should move on in their search, and if it doesn’t grab them right away, within five seconds or less, you are losing inquiries without even knowing it. So today I’m going to walk you through what I call the five-second test and how it can make the difference between couples ghosting you and couples filling out your contact form and excitedly booking you.

So first let’s talk about why those first five seconds matter so much. Couples are not spending hours reading every paragraph, every page of your website. They’re making some snap judgments, they’re doing some vibe checks. In about five seconds they need to know three things who you are, who you serve and why you’re different. And here’s the key In those first five seconds, those people reading this should either be a hell yes or a hell no. If they are not a hell yes on you, if they cannot quickly see that you are the absolute right fit for them, then they are going to click away. They’re just going to keep searching. If they’re a hell no, that’s totally fine, because you don’t want to waste time on couples who are not a good fit fit. What you can’t afford is to be a maybe, a maybe the horrible gray area of maybe means they shop around, they compare you on price and you are far more likely to get ghosted. So let’s talk about some mistakes. I see when I review wedding Pro websites, which I do all the time it’s something I do for members of the Wedding Business Collective. Once a month I review one member’s website in full and record my screen and give feedback on what I recommend changing, and this is one of the things that comes up a lot. By the way, a lot of people make the same mistakes, so the recordings of these are available for all members, so if you’re not yet a member of the Wedding Business Collective, you might want to check that out and I’ll be sure to link to it in the show notes.

I see not standing out, not clearly passing the five-second test, as one of the biggest mistakes, and it starts with generic headlines. So many websites start with vague-ass promises like creating dream weddings that are stress-free and whisk you away to your honeymoon destination. That headline could belong to any vendor. It doesn’t say anything about who you are and why someone should choose you, and if a couple can’t tell in five seconds who you’re for, why you’re different, they’re gonna move on. They’re gonna keep looking, they’re busy and they have a to move on. They’re going to keep looking, they’re busy and they have a million options to sift through.

Another mistake I see is making your website about you. And don’t get me wrong, you do need to infuse your website with personality, but there is a right and a wrong way to do this, and a lot of times I see wedding pros treat their home page, their about page, like a resume. So there’s stuff about like where they went to school, how they got into weddings, all the details of your career. That’s not what your website is actually for. Couples do not care about your whole backstory Sorry, it’s just the truth. They care about what you can do for them. They are searching for someone to solve a problem and you need to show them that you can solve that problem. So if you’re not making your website copy about their needs and their desires, you’re gonna lose them real fast.

Another mistake I see is no clear next step. If your contact button is hidden, if it’s all the way down at the bottom of the page or only in the footer, or your inquiry form is buried in a drop-down menu or it’s difficult to access on mobile, people are not going to hunt for it, they’re not going to work for it. Couples today are busy and distracted we all are. If it’s not super obvious how to reach you, they are not going to work to figure it out and really they shouldn’t have to. They’re just going to move on to the next vendor. Another website mistake I see come up is there’s too many distractions, there’s a lot of clutter. This could be too many menu items, too many competing calls to action, like there’s a call to action but there’s like four buttons you can click. We need to give people one singular call to action. It could be too many colors or fonts. If your site feels chaotic, couples are going to feel overwhelmed when they look at it. And an overwhelmed couple is not going to inquire. They’re going to click away.

All of these mistakes boil down to the same problem. They cannot quickly and easily figure out if you’re the right choice. That is really what they are looking for, the answer to. And if you don’t give them the answer to this, it costs you inquiries. So how do you do that? Well, you start with what I call the perfect fit statement. This is a clear, specific headline that tells couples in five seconds or less who you are, who you serve and why you’re different. It is the one or two sentences that makes the right people say yes. Finally, hell, yes, this is for me, and it filters out the wrong people. So you’re not wasting time on them. You’re not wasting time trying to convince them of anything if they don’t see themselves as a fit, and I see most wedding pros either skip this or use a lot of fluffy generic language. That could apply to anyone, and I’ll tell you the test I put this to when I’m reviewing member websites and the Wedding Business Collective to see you know, does this actually make you stand out or not? Is can I copy and paste this onto a competitor’s website and would anybody notice? Would it look super out of place on their website because it is so you? Or does it just kind of blend in? Most people play it very safe and they stay in that just kind of blending in space, but then they blend in with everyone else and it becomes an issue of price. So this is why you end up with price shoppers and it’s why you end up getting ghosted.

Inside day three of the upcoming Stand Out and Get Booked Challenge, I will take you through creating your perfect fit statement. I will walk you step by step through how to figure out what matters most to your best clients and I’m telling you it is not having a dream wedding, stress free and how to put it into words. That makes them feel seen, that stops them in their tracks, that gives them that, oh my god, this is the perfect fit for me feeling. And if you haven’t signed up yet, go grab your free ticket at evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/challenge. When you put your perfect fit statement front and center on your website, it changes everything. Suddenly you are no longer just another planner or just another photographer. You are the obvious choice for the couples you want most. So we are really going to dig in in this challenge to passing the five-second test. If you go through it and you take action and you bounce that idea back and forth with me and I will help you with it you are going to be able to get so many more hell yes clients who don’t want to work with just anybody. But you can start right now. Here’s how it works pull your homepage up and imagine you know absolutely nothing about what you do and you are a bride, a groom, a couple that’s landing there for the very first time, couple that’s landing there for the very first time, and then close it after five seconds and ask yourself who is this business?

What do they do? Why are they different? Do it to some of your competitors too. See if they’re standing out, because it gives you the edge if you do. When wedding pros do this inside the challenge. It is really eye-opening. People realize that their homepage is full of these beautiful images, but nowhere does it actually say what they specialize in or who they work with or how they’re different To an outsider. You could be any photographer or planner or florist. There’s nothing that really sets you apart. And when wedding pros clearly call out who they serve and how they’re different, their inquiries shift dramatically. Instead of couples just shopping around and comparing, they really start hearing from couples that already have their mind made up. They’re already excited about working with them. That’s the power of five seconds. That’s the power of the five second rule. It forces you to see your website the way a couple does Fast, distracted, overwhelmed and looking for a reason to stay or to go. So here’s a little bit of info on how to pass the five second test. I, like I said, I’m going to walk you through step by step during the challenge, but I’ll give you a couple things you can look at now. I want you to start with your perfect fit statement, that is, the above the fold headline on your website, before you have to scroll. In plain language what do you do, who do you do it for and what makes you different. It should either be a hell yes or a hell no in five seconds or less.

You also want to make sure that you’re using images that reflect your ideal clients. Couples should be able to see themselves in your portfolio. If you want to attract adventurous couples, you need to show adventurous weddings. If you want high end, big ballroom weddings, show those. Another place you can showcase and really just hold up a mirror to your ideal clients are in your testimonials, where you highlight problems that you solve. So many wedding pros have reviews and testimonials that say things like she was amazing, I loved working with her. Those don’t sell. Those aren’t sales tools. Testimonials that say things like my husband and I hate being photographed and we actually had a ton of fun and weren’t nervous at all those show value and they show differentiation. They show how the person is going to feel.

And then, please, you need to make the next step obvious. Don’t make people dig because they won’t. Your contact button should be front and center and your inquiry form should be easy to find and easy to fill out. If you don’t know if it is, I want you to go check this on both desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile. Mobile is super, super important.

If you are not getting enough inquiries, it’s not necessarily because people don’t want what you do. It’s because they can’t figure out quickly enough why you’re the right choice, and I find that most wedding pros are the right choice for some. I’ve actually never encountered anyone that isn’t People in this industry really care about what they do. I would be shocked if it was like oh no, you are not the right fit for anybody, but they just don’t know how to put that forward and make that super obvious and people aren’t going to work to figure out why you’re the right choice. They’re not going to spend a ton of time.

The good news is that a few small changes can make a really big difference.

A clear, perfect fit statement, the right photos, better testimonials and an obvious call to action can transform your website into an outdated digital brochure that, yes, is pretty into your biggest sales tool that is bringing in leads that are excited and ready to book.

So if that’s what you want and I’m pretty sure you do come join me in the Stand Out and Get Booked Challenge. It’s happening October 20th through the 24th. It’s free and across five days we are gonna walk through the exact steps to make your marketing so crystal clear about why you’re the perfect fit so that couples choose you over your competitors, even if your competitors are cheaper. So go grab your free ticket at evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/challenge. I’m so excited to work with you on this and I have seen the biggest shifts in people’s businesses when they finally stand out to the right person, when they finally plant their flag in the ground and say, if you’re looking for XYZ thing, I’m your girl, I’m your guy, come on over here. You are going to attract so many incredible people that you really want to work with and your marketing and sales is going to become so much easier because you’re not being compared to everybody else. So go get your free ticket at evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/challenge and I will see you there.

Links & Resources:

Get your free ticket to the Stand out & Get Booked Challenge!
The Wedding Business Collective – join for just $1
Website Mistakes That Cost You Bookings: Expert Advice from Designer & Bride Emily Foster

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