Wedding Business SEO Unveiled with Nergis Yuksel

Are you a wedding pro (or other local) business looking to book more clients? Today my guest will be sharing all about that and more so stick around.

Transcript:

Jen Vazquez:  Are you a wedding pro or other local-based business looking to book more clients? If so, you are in the right place and my guest will be sharing all about that and more. Welcome back if you’re new here. I’m Jen Vasquez. I help hyper-busy female service providers use Pinterest to book more clients and increase their income and impact. On this podcast, I have the pleasure of hosting experts in the marketing industry, and it’s one of my favorite things to do each week. If marketing is something that you really wanna learn more about, for your business, we would love to invite you to subscribe to our YouTube channel or our podcast today I’m excited to be chatting with Nergis Yuksell. She is a wedding SEO consultant, mindful advocate, and digital nomad lover of Yorkshire Tea. We just had a full conversation before we went live, Esther and Eric Candies, and a good disco playlist. You and I. Are like best friends, because I love my tea and I love a good disco playlist.  My entire wedding was disco music.  If you didn’t guess it already, a former wedding planner with over five years in the UK’s luxury wedding planning scene. So she does know all things about weddings, but if you’re not a wedding pro, fear not. And listen further, ’cause you will get some really good information here Nergis brings to the table a refined blend of luxury event management and digital marketing experience. She specializes in aiding service-based small businesses with a particular emphasis on wedding SEO. Her passion is teaching Wedding business owners how to do SEO, demystifying the process, and showing them that it doesn’t need to be complicated in marrying her depth of understanding of the wedding industry.  With adept SEO expertise, Nergis provides a uniquely tailored approach to digital marketing because, let’s be honest, when it comes to the wedding industry or a local business, and SEO, there are some things we need to talk about today, that people often overlook or listen to, sort of general SEO advice. So this is gonna be the podcast for you. Welcome, Nergis thank you so much for being here.

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Nergis Yuksel: Well, thank you for having me. I’m excited for this.

Jen Vazquez: Me too. a large portion of our listeners are wedding pros and local service businesses, so I think we’re gonna be right up there ally. But again, if you’re not, take a listen ’cause There’s gonna be some good information for you here. We always start with this question, and I love how everyone takes this windy route in different jobs and education and all those things to become the business that you are today.  So tell us a little bit about your origins and how you got to where you are.

Nergis Yuksel: Sure. so yeah, mine was not a standard route. I’m originally from Istanbul, Turkey, , as you can guess from my name, so I studied psychology, and clinical psychology, and I thought I was going to be a therapist. and then I came to the UK to do my master’s. I fell in love. With the country. and I wanted to stay and it was just so, it was going to be tough to be, a therapist in the UK as a Turkish national. Um, ’cause you know, there are lots of like things around it. I was, okay, do I wanna do psychology or do I wanna stay in the UK? What’s, you know, what’s more dominant? I was like, you know what? I am going to stay in the UK ’cause I believe, that, you know, there’s no one patch for anyone, right? We can find lots of different passions. then I was like, okay, what can I do? Um, I always [00:04:00] loved weddings. Um, I always loved organizing, so I found myself in the, um, events and wedding industry. I did that for five years. I loved it. Um, as you mentioned, so I did work with, a company called Liz Linkletter Events, uh, doing like luxury events, just not in the uk but also Europe. amazing. I loved it. But then Covid happened, and that was really dark times, especially, I mean, for everyone, but especially for weddings and events.

Nergis Yuksel: Industries was like I mean, I don’t even wanna remember those days. what we were doing was just like postponing wedding off the wedding. Um, and nothing else. And I’m a high achiever, I have to say. I, I just, I can’t just sit at home and not do anything. I like finding projects for myself.

Nergis Yuksel: So I was like, okay. I have too much time on my hand, what do I do? I was always interested in SEO. Like I, I knew about SEO like every business owner, but I just never really [00:05:00] understood what it was. The only thing, like I knew was like, okay, something to do with blogging. I, I never actually really know what it was, and it’s always sounded also a bit technical.

Nergis Yuksel: So, when I was basically at lockdown sitting at home, I decided to, um, learn more about SEO. Um, I started a blog for myself, an interview, design blog. I tested my knowledge, and I, I, I just loved it as I read and learned more about it and tested it. I just find it interesting. Also, I have no technical background, like whatsoever. I don’t know if coding, but just like minimal. I’m like your usual girl. So yeah, I was like really curious. I was like, okay, so what it means to be an SEO person? I started looking for jobs, and I found I was bored and I loved doing projects.

Nergis Yuksel: I also started like taking up on SubHub hobbies, like, embroidery and knitting. And I was ordering my supplies online from this e-commerce company, called love crafts. Uh, when I was just like looking for SEO jobs to see what it means. I just miraculously, so an entry-level SEO job for Love Crafts.

Nergis Yuksel: And I was like, wait a minute. I am buying from this company. I love them. And I was like, this is surely like something is going on here. The universe is trying to tell me

Jen Vazquez: Totally. The universe. I always say it’s like a love shove, right? It’s the universe is getting you, pushing you forward.

Nergis Yuksel: I, exactly. So I was like, okay, I need to apply. I applied and I got the job. and then obviously I was like, okay, this is happening. so I decided to quit weddings. and I started as an SEOI did it for, about two years in-house for this e-commerce company. I could safely say that I was thrown into the deep end ’cause I think big e-commerce, SEO is, that’s where things could get complicated and confusing. And I think that’s why Mostly the information out there is all about these huge websites, and that’s what confuses people. But we will, we could talk [00:07:00] about that, Oh, we will

Nergis Yuksel: and, yeah. And then I just really missed the wedding industry. You know, I just missed being with the creative people, the wedding suppliers. That was one of the things I loved about my job. Like, I was spending my days talking to different suppliers, right? I need to find a way to merge these two things that I love now. and I decided to offer my services for, mainly for local businesses, local service-based businesses, but with, you know, the main focus on the wedding industry. ’cause I just, love wedding businesses and weddings in general.

Jen Vazquez: Yeah, what the wedding businesses are a different animal. ,

Nergis Yuksel: Yes. Yeah.

Jen Vazquez: SEO, and the fact that you have such good experience in the wedding industry and SEO makes, that’s like a perfect niche for you, for sure, for wedding businesses navigating through. let’s be honest, every industry says we’ve got a crowded industry, really, but the wedding industry is very crowded. Like you could throw a rock and, and [00:08:00] hit a wedding photographer or a wedding planner these days. why should SEO be a sort of non-negotiable investment? And how does it strategically fit into an overall marketing plan?

Nergis Yuksel: So let’s start with this. Now, recently I got engaged and now I’m. Also

Jen Vazquez: So now you’re seeing it from the other

Nergis Yuksel: exactly. exactly. Um, but you’re right. I mean, there are tons of wording suppliers out there that’s, it’s, it’s very competitive, it’s a very crowded industry and it’s getting more competitive every day. you need to have good, solid marketing to just, you know, to be in front of the couples who are looking for you.  Right. first of all, for any business, This is a long-term investment, right? I mean, we, SEOs keep saying that, but that’s true. ’cause initially, yes, maybe you need to put in the time or the, you know, money if you wanna work with someone or if you wanna do it on your own, which per perfectly possible, anyone can [00:09:00] do it by the way. yeah, it requires a bit of time in the beginning, but everything you do today brings you results for years to come. And then I think that’s valuable. ’cause nowadays, like it’s very similar to Pinterest. ’cause Pinterest

Jen Vazquez: was gonna say, they’re

Nergis Yuksel: engine. ,yeah,

Jen Vazquez: It’s search engine Marketing is only SEO Google and YouTube, right? Everything else o oftentimes is social media and a lot of people. Are on social media ’cause that’s what they like, know and use personally a lot. But honestly, the biggest bang for your time or even your investment dollar on search marketing platforms gives you years, and years of love back. So it’s like a really good return on your time investment as well as your monetary.

Nergis Yuksel: exactly. And like with others like less like Instagram and all the other social, which by the way, I love Instagram. I [00:10:00] personally love it as a platform. But like what you do is you put out content, right? And it’s there for maybe 48 hours. If you’re lucky, then, that content is gone. So you need to constantly produce content and. If we be honest, especially with the end wedding industry, it’s first of all, everyone is so busy, right? Like your day-to-day is already busy anyway. And most of the time, even the very high-end luxury suppliers who do this amazing weather, most of the time it’s just one person, maybe with an assistant or one full-time employee. But mostly in the wedding industry you work with freelancers, so you don’t have time to put out content there every day or even maybe two, twice a week, right? This is what we had when I was a wedding industry supplier and also with my clients is no one has that time and it stresses people out, right? and if you’re only focusing on social media, then what do you do when you are so busy [00:11:00] you can’t put out the post,

Jen Vazquez: And disappear from the social during the busy season. It’s not, it’s not even a, a possible sometimes. Yeah.

Nergis Yuksel: No, no, but like when you have SEO, so like search Google, Pinterest, what it gives you is it gives you that luxury to have those quiet moments on social media. Because even if you’re not posting, people will still find you on Google they will book a call with you. They will get in touch with you even if you’re not doing anything. Like I’m a digital nomad. Right. And I also, I’m like. There are times when I’m really busy, so I don’t always post on Instagram. There are times that I just wanna step away, even just to have time with my family, right? My family lives in Istanbul When I go, I don’t wanna work, I don’t wanna think about posting, I just wanna be there. with my family, whenever I’m, I have two weeks breaks, uh, Instagram, I still get like calendar bookings. People who find me on SEO, like on Google. so that’s like the biggest luxury item think any business can have. and that’s I think why SEO, I mean to me is like non-negotiable and it should be the one thing you need to do if you pick just one thing for your marketing. ‘ cause that’s just going to give you so much freedom.

Jen Vazquez: . I also feel like some people will invest in it and it’s kind of a one-and-done. And the problem with that is, as you pivot your business or as the keywords online change for new different generations, they’re gonna use different keywords. You do have to keep it up. So even if you invest and get someone to help you, you’re still gonna have to invest more time. it’s again, so minimal compared to social media that it’s . Like the positive thing to do, if I don’t have time to create a new blog post, I’ll just take an old blog post from years ago, and update it with all the current information in my current photos. Right. And instantly [00:13:00] I have another hit out there and feels easier.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. definitely. I always say, that think best way to do marketing is to focus on your website, like your long-form blog content, your service pages. Just make sure they’re optimized and make you, that your primary one, right? And then once you have that, you can just repurpose that content, right? You. Pinterest love Pinterest because it’s so easy, it’s so beautiful, so visual, and it’s incredible, especially for the wedding industry. ’cause everyone, all the couples are going to go there to get inspiration. That’s basically, I’m spending most of my time on Pinterest nowadays, uh, to do that. Um, then you can, yeah, when you have like one blog post or a gallery, or even your service page like it’s, you’re going to have already had so much nicer visuals on your website anyways. So it’s just pinning that on Pinterest and that’s so easy. and then, Instagram, again, like from one post, from one gallery, you can create tons of Instagram posts. Right,

Jen Vazquez: each blog post can be five to seven different Instagram and you can repeat those posts after each year, especially, especially if you’re in the wedding industry. Because you have a client usually once. I mean, I’ve had a couple of repeats over the 15 years I’ve been in the wedding industry, but in general, you have a whole new influx of people all the time,so you can just have those on repeat if you want.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah, exactly. And I think what also happened is, is like, I remember during my wedding planning days, we would like, yeah, we would like repurpose the same images. and especially, you know, you have some like this like really knockout images and people don’t mind them seeing them. They just love it. We used to put, and they, they would get so much love and people would come, oh my God, I forgot about this one. It’s so beautiful. And that’s the beauty of, I guess with uh, any creative business really, but especially for the wedding industry. ‘ cause you have

Jen Vazquez: You have thousands and thousands of images from each wedding. It’s like you [00:15:00] Yeah. We’re, you’re in a good situation, especially if you make friends with the wedding photographer that did the wedding that you are a part of. We love to share those photos with you guys because you’re getting ’em out there and tagging us like that. That’s the beauty of the wedding industry is you’ve got a lot of people to tag, so you get shared a whole lot more. can, you shed light on the interplay between SEO and other marketing efforts to create a cohesive but effective strategy for attracting those ideal clients that you want to book?

Nergis Yuksel: So first of all, I, I always say this to my clients as well, you need to be quite clear on what your brand is. Like what, how does your brand feel? Who are your target audience? Like who are you talking to? What’s your brand voice? ’cause like with SEO as well, you want to come across as who you are. You know, this is like authentic marketing and that’s what’s important.And some people think that, oh, if I’m going to do an SEO or it’s going to sound robotic, it’s going to be like this. No. Like if you’re doing that last, you’re not doing it. Right. Right. So, so I see you need to make sure that you have this coherent brand across all your channels, that you are like authentically yourself, and that resonate with whoever your ideal clients are. and then I always say like, I. search marketing and social goes hand in hand and they complemented each other so well because let’s be honest. Yeah, let’s be honest. Like if, if someone finds you on Google, they are going to want to check you out on Instagram, like pretty

Jen Vazquez: Yeah, that’s, that’s part of the client journey on Pinterest also, is that once they click on a pin and they go to your website. And they’re interested. The first thing they’re gonna do is look on Instagram to see all your current work, which of course it doesn’t have to be current, but that’s, that’s what is in their mind. And months later when they decide to potentially reach out to you and you ask them how they found you, they’re gonna say Instagram. So we use more clarifying questions because I did this in 2020. I, I, I say this a lot on my podcast, so I know I’m repeating myself. But in 2020 and 2021 and 2022, I reached out to former, clients and asked them like how they found me, that they had said Instagram and whether were they referred by someone or did they use a hashtag? ’cause I was really identifying my marketing process and which worked. And something like 70 ish percent of the people that said Instagram actually found me from a blog post or Pinterest. That’s huge because that’s like where you get new eyeballs and then Instagram and your email are that nurturing process.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah, exactly. It’s also like, so it may be that someone found you like on Instagram and they started following you. ’cause like this process also long, right? It’s not just someone who decided to get engaged or decided to invest in a service and they’re looking for it. Right? They will be following suppliers even before they get engaged. Or if it’s in another local business they will be. Instagram mar, well you don’t always see the people you are following. I sometimes I’m just suddenly realizing and I’m like, oh my God, I completely forgot about this person. Amazing.

Jen Vazquez: It’s like 3% of the people that follow you see your posts. That’s insane.

Nergis Yuksel: is, it is, it is insane. yeah, that’s the downside. but yeah. So let’s say someone is already following you, but they’ve forgotten about you because they’re not seeing you on Instagram. Right. And then when it’s time for them to invest in that service, went on Google or Pinterest and they search for your business came up. I mean, that’s just automatically they’re going to be like, oh, I know this supplier. You know, it’s just, it’s really valuable to be on all these platforms. cause like, it doesn’t matter where people start their journey from, it’s just they’re going, they are going to be checking you out on different places. And if you come across on [00:19:00] those different platforms, they’re automatically going to start trusting you more and more. So, yeah, I think it’s really important. I always say like, your website is like, your initial like shop front. They come and find you, they check you out, they browse, they like you, and then they come to your Instagram. Maybe the same with Pinterest. And then that’s where you have this like really getting to know each other. They start to get to know you, like you, and then yeah, if they resonate with you, they’re going to get in touch and, and book you.

Jen Vazquez: And so often people, who book me are not even following me, but they talk about something I posted. So it doesn’t mean that they’re even following you on Instagram, but they’re stalking you. They’re, they’re looking at your posts, they’re going to your page, specifically your Instagram site to see the new things that you’re putting on there, which is quite interesting. I just would assume people would follow, and that’s not the case. So good to note in, an industry as unique as [00:20:00] like weddings. But also for local businesses. What makes SEO different and distinct from general SEO practices and why might, general SEO advice not be helpful for the local type of service industry?

Nergis Yuksel: of all, even with the local businesses, right? Every business, every niche is different depending on what your services. So I always say like, take every SEO advice with a bit of pinch of salt. ’cause it may not be the right advice for your business. Um, and that’s why I think it’s really important.Like there is, the good thing with SEO and the industry is there’s so much free information out there, right? But that also makes it so confusing, so complicated. You don’t know which one is right for you. so it’s really good to be mindful of those things. For a local, local business, right? It’s like, it’s really important to use for keywords. So what people search for, they are probably going to be searching for certain locations, cities, and towns. So you automatically have those things to be mindful of and it actually opens up a lot and lot of opportunities, especially if you are a service business, that you’re not just based in one area, but like you can travel around, like for example, like wedding businesses. Wedding suppliers. Like you may be based in, let’s say because I’m from UK I’m gonna say London, but you, you’re probably offering your services around the UK, right? So there it opens up so many possibilities, um, and we can talk about that, how to do that strategically. and the other thing is, so this. It could sound a bit controversial so blogging is really important, right? But blogging is just one part of your SEO strategy. to be honest, especially in the wedding industry, and we can go deep in this, not everyone needs to blog traditionally and blog all the time. And that’s the beauty of the wedding industry because it’s so distinct. Um, and that’s where, for example, certain businesses, if it’s more in the area of, for example, while being held finances. It’s very different than the wedding industry because, with those businesses, you actually can hurt people’s life, right? So Google is much more strict. So you need to show Google that you have super authority. And the way to do that is to write lots of informative blog posts. Lots of, get lots of backlinks, and to show that you are an expert on that area, right? Otherwise, it’s so competitive to rank. Whereas when it comes to the wedding industry, you’re not going to risk anything in someone’s life. You’re, it’s just like a nice industry. You’re giving information, providing information, valuable information, inspiration. So it’s slightly different. You don’t need to push out blog posts that much. what you need to do is like. So we always talk about value, value, value, right? But what is value is also different in different businesses. So for the wedding industry for example, your value is first of all, yes, giving useful information. So if someone is wanna know more about wedding planning,  like the budgets, picking a venue, how to pick a photographer, just providing those tips, that’s value. But the other thing is inspiration, right?Inspiration is value. and how we do that is by providing specific galleries, portfolio pages, shoving out or like beautiful work out there. ’cause that is value that couples are going to wanna see the inspiration for their wedding. is slightly different. We need to look at it from a slightly different perspective. Understand that the main thing with SEO is really understanding what our ideal clients are looking for. Know what they wanna know what they’re looking for, what they want. Right. And then just provide that, that’s all Google wants. so yeah, it’s, it’s distinct. It’s really important to understand those differences and come up with your strategy. Right. And like I always say, like, people come to me always, they’re like, oh, and I guess I heard that I need to blog all the time. It’s like, I don’t love writing, or I don’t know, like how, how often should I write? [00:24:00] How should my, like what should I write about how long should my blog post? I don’t like saying set answers ’cause it’s different, right? It depends on your business goals. Like what’s your, oh, that’s other, what’s your business goals? What do you wanna get? And then after that you can come up with, okay, what content is going to be useful for me? Is it going to be galleries? Is it going to be, uh, blog posts? And how often do I need to have that? And it’s again, like looking at, let’s say, right, someone wants to get more winter bookings. ’cause winter is usually a very quiet time for the wedding industry, right? if they wanna increase their winter bookings, then okay, we’ll think about that. First of all, you need to think if it’s winter, you probably wanna start thinking about that content and publish it months before that. ’cause it takes time.uh,

Jen Vazquez: Same with Pinterest. For anyone listening,

Nergis Yuksel: then you need to think about, so what do I have, right? can write a blog post explaining Why it is amazing to have a winter [00:25:00] wedding. What makes winter wedding special tips on planning a winter wedding for photographers, for example? ’cause it’s different, like the light is different, like what to pay attention to for winter wedding  So that’s

Jen Vazquez: Or, or tips or tips to have at your winter wedding to make guests comfortable, right?

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah. Yes. and then also you can think about if you’ve already had a winter wedding before, right? If you already have beautiful images, then maybe you say, actually I’m just going to target certain keywords. Maybe it’s like, I don’t know, a chic winter wedding in London. It could also be a specific venue. And then you create a beautiful portfolio with your images. Optimizing your images and we can talk about that. Or I have a blog post people can check out in detail how you optimize. and then just a, just literally a good title that’s always important, a key word in. And then just a little bit like, it doesn’t have to be long, just a little bit of information, what the brief was, what that wedding is, and you [00:26:00] are done, right? That’s just out there and people are going to find it. They’re going to be inspired and they’re probably going to get in touch with you if they like your work. So, it’s always thinking about what do I, what do I wanna achieve, right? Which service I wanna sell, and which type of weddings or projects I wanna get? And then just going back from that.

Jen Vazquez: Beautiful. So let’s talk a little bit about, wedding businesses that are at various stages. So maybe some tips for wedding businesses that are very new. They are, have a new business or a new website. And then tips for businesses that have been in business for a while, and what those types of SEO strategies or tips you can share.

Nergis Yuksel: That’s a perfect question. so let’s start with the beginners. Uh, we’re just starting out. they probably not have a huge portfolio to showcase, right? And people usually stress about, especially when we talk about inspiration, like, oh, but I don’t have anything to show. That’s fine. You [00:27:00] have your expertise, you have your value in terms of like providing tips, right? So if you are a wedding business just starting out or you’re still new, you don’t have much work to show, then you should focus much more on like, I. Tips and advice type blog posts, right? To just really show people your expertise that you’re going to be helpful for them. So just think about, let’s say, um, if you’re a wedding planner or a photographer, just think about, okay, what people are going to wanna know and you want to make sure that it’s relevant to your services. Um, and then you put out blog posts around that. Um, you can use nice stock images as well. That doesn’t matter, you know? Um, it’s just all about the information you’re providing, how you come across it. So I would say for, first of all, every business, no matter what stage, focuses on your service pages, right? So this is your, mostly homepage. Make sure that your homepage, that’s your biggest asset. So your homepage should be fully optimized. And then after that, your about and your service pages. [00:28:00] So if you’re doing different types of like services, different events, then just make sure that you have specific pages for all of them and those are fully optimized’ ’cause that’s what we call in the search and that’s this just in general, actually buy your journey is different.Like some people know what they want. Let’s say, now I am, I’m going to give myself as an example, but let’s say I am, I’m engaged. I know that I wanna book a photographer. I know and I know what type of photographer for my book. So I’m going to search specifically to find photographers to book. ’cause I know I wanna book a photographer, right? So

Jen Vazquez: , and typically in the area you’re getting married, you’re going to that keyword. Yes. Because let’s be, and I, and I wanna be very mindful of those out there that are wanting to be travel photographers or travel, you know, like you’re willing to travel the world, which is great, but most couples. Those booking wedding pros want to book them in the area where their venue is because they don’t necessarily wanna pay for travel fees. So, I always say, like for my wedding photographers, go visit the area that you want to photograph in and take photos at wedding venues in the area. You can take tours like you’re getting married, you can take photos, you can do all those things.  And then sharing about that venue, even if you haven’t photographed a wedding there, just the photos that you have can get you seen. I have booked many clients at the venues that I want to, to photograph at just by doing that

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly. And that’s, that’s a great tip because you are right, and I always say this like think about like what. What venues you wanna get more bookings at, right? Or what, what towns and cities, because there is, that’s so true. Like certain venues, every venue is going to attract a certain type of clientele, right? So if you know what type of clients, what type of budgets you wanna attract, then you can decide on, okay, this [00:30:00] and this and this venue is going to bring me that type of client. So focus on, as you said, having blog posts or pages specifically for that venue. Right. Um, and then as you say, especially for photographers, I think that’s much easier in a sense. ’cause you can contact a venue, you can tell them, can I come and take a few photos? They will love it. ’cause then you can share that. They can share that

Jen Vazquez: It is marketing for them too. Yeah,

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly. Exactly. and then you can just, um, yeah, shock. You can talk about the venue, and what makes that venue special. Add your beautiful photos and that job is done and you’ll probably rank. Right. Um, it’s the same like, um, someone is like, as you said, a travel photographer or like doing destination weddings. Um, I would still, again, wherever, as you said, wherever you are based, you need to have your homepage on your footer everywhere to ta Like that’s, ’cause that’s going to be your main area, like that’s going to be your main visibilities coming from your area. But then you can create other pages to target specific towns, even, areas or countries. Like, I always do that with my clients. Like if it’s, if I do, I have a destination wedding photographer who’s based in London. We optimize a whole website mostly for London, but then we have a separate page for destination weddings and on the destination weddings. If they wanna get more weddings in Italy and especially Tuscany. Then we have a Tuscany wedding photographer. Um, and you just talk about your unique selling point Maybe if you’re not local, you can talk about why they should pick you over a local photographer who should pick you over a local photographer. Right. Just creating all those different pages. so when we say local SEO. Yes. Again, you need to first focus on the area that you’re based in, but then you can do other pages to target different locations and areas. And that could be as wide as a country and as small as a specific venue. that’s super important.

Jen Vazquez: and every blog that you post [00:32:00] for a wedding. So each wedding that you have is a microcosm like it’s treated like your homepage, like that blog post,

Nergis Yuksel: yes.

Jen Vazquez: whatever city it’s in. If there are multiple different names for it, like there’s a city and area and like San Jose, bay Area, and California, right? Like it’s got multiple names.So you can use those throughout each blog post that you’ve done a wedding at to rank and it that way it sounds human versus keyword stuffing and keywords everywhere, which is Google’s smarter than that. Let’s just put that

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It’s that. I’m really glad you said. Google, especially nowadays, is super smart. In certain cases, even if you’re not using a keyword, Google can understand from the context. So the most important thing is that you are writing with your own voice. You’re not forcing anything, and you’re not repeating the same thing over and over again. Keyword variations are fine as well. Synonyms are fine. So just that, I always, actually, always tell everyone first, write your copy as you would talk to a client or, or someone. Like if someone ask you about that venue, let’s say a venue, just naturally write about it. If writing is hard, you can record yourself while talking about that, right? Um, and then put that in words. And only after that go back to it and add the keyword wherever it makes sense and wherever it’s natural. Yes, there are certain places we wanna use keywords. Uh, but that’s not like everywhere. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be creative or you can have your own brand voice. on that thing, what you said also, Jen, which is so valuable that every page is basically kind of your micro homepage. That’s so true because you don’t know from which page people are going to enter to your website. Right? If you are doing your SEO, well they can find you from any page. So you need to be super, super careful that whichever page they land on your website, it’s so clear [00:34:00] who you are, what you do what you offer, and there’s some kind of a link or call to action to either get in touch with, with you or check more about your services. That is one thing I see a lot in the wedding industry. People put out this amazing blog posts, amazing content, doesn’t mention

Jen Vazquez: But it’s not a standalone. Yes, yes.

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly. And like what? So what happens? People come in, they read it, there’s no call to action. Amazing. They get to value, they get inspired. And then the what they do, then they leave, right? ’cause you, you didn’t give them anything. They don’t know who, who it is. So always I say like, I, ideally, if you can on the first paragraph, mention who you are and why you are right, and what makes you expert on that topic. And you can add it in very, very casually, very nicely. And then add to bottom. Always have some calls to action, whether to get in touch with you, check other blog posts, check out your services, just to give people something to do. And always, like, even [00:35:00] if you mentioned like in blog posts, like let’s say you are a photographer. Always, always, always add a wedding photographer and your business, or the wedding planner and your business. And ideally from your business gate, give a link back to your homepage. those are really important. So I just Yeah, that was a great point you made. And I just wanted say, because uh, you don’t wanna waste those amazing content and blog posts you’re putting out there by not mentioning yourself.

Jen Vazquez: And then let’s wrap around now and come at it from an experienced wedding business.

Nergis Yuksel: yeah. Before that, sorry,  I just wanna also say people may be, like who are not photographers and they’re m meeting. Okay. It’s good for photographers. They can go to venues and take photos and can still showcase their work. Like, no, but also like, if, like, they’re like, well, how do I show, like for example, your wedding planner, what do I do? You can literally, it’s like you can create a little mood board. On your website, right? With to Pinterest images, you can talk about the venue, you can talk about what makes that venue great. Maybe the flow of today. You can say, oh, you [00:36:00] know, you can have your drinks reception at this beautiful gardens. And then you can have a mood board. Maybe you have a color palette for that venue. Um, maybe some imagery like design and just create this really beautiful inspirational blog post, right? same with, let’s say you’re a stationery designer, do the same thing and just come up with a brief that you think what will work really well for that specific venue and style. Put different like images from that type of maybe stationary you’ve done, and just tie it to that venue or to that location. Like, it’s like we can be really creative. You don’t need to have a project that you’ve done specifically for that venue or location. Um, yeah, there are ways around that for beginners. So don’t, please don’t feel anxious that you don’t have portfolio to showcase or anything like that. Um, as long as you’re providing value and inspiration. That’s

Jen Vazquez: Super smart.

Nergis Yuksel: , and then for experienced ones, okay. Yeah, so for experienced businesses is, bit different. I would say especially, , if, like, for example, most [00:37:00] of my clients were experienced. They come to me and they’re like, oh, I don’t know, I get to leads somehow ’cause like I have referrals, people already know me, know my brand now, but I wanna have like this specific type of clients. I wanna get weddings for this specific budget. That could be for anyone like interior designers, or other businesses. so what you then do is, again, you really do a deep dive into those clients, understand what they will be searching, and that takes us to, the user journey again. Right? So how, especially in the wedding industry, how people search is as well. They probably decide on the venue, right? They’re either looking at the venue, or different locations, and they probably decide on the venue and they’ll be searching that venue. That’s what I’m doing right now as well. They’ll be searching for venues to see previous weddings that happened there to get inspiration.

Jen Vazquez: Yes, yes, all the time.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah, exactly. So if you’re an experienced, wedding and the wedding professional, um, and then you know that you’ve done weddings at certain places, certain [00:38:00] venues and you wanna get, and you know that the clients that come from those venues are amazing. They’re exactly perfect clients and you wanna get more weddings from there just to make sure that you have blogs and portfolio galleries, really good portfolio galleries.  I think for experienced ones, you have amazing work that you can showcase. So showcase that work by having individual galleries. sorry, I don’t know much about the American like, uh, venues and stuff, but if we say for example in in London there is a venue called Q Gardens. It’s super high-end luxury.  Amazing. mostly high-end like wedding businesses. Would love to do more weddings there ’cause it brings a really good clientele. So if you’ve done a wedding there. Have a gallery, optimize it again with the keywords and then add all your beautiful images, optimize your images, and ’cause then if someone is searching for kindergarten wedding in London, also really important, like, think about this, it’s just when you, so if I’m, let’s say getting married in autumn, I’ll probably wanna see things around like autumn wedding, how an autumn wedding works at [00:39:00] that venue, what would be the

Jen Vazquez: Absolutely.

Nergis Yuksel: That would be completely different than a, like a summer wedding, right? people may, like, if you’re a forest, people may search for like, autumn wedding flowers or like even more specific things around that. So just think about it like that. And then used, it could be like a cozy autumn wedding at Q Gardens.  London, for example, could be the title. And just talk about that. And then if someone is searching for that, bam, your portfolio’s going to come up. They’re going to get inspiration. And if you’re the photographer and they love the photo, they’re probably going to wanna get in touch with you. Same with, um, stationary, florist, any, any business. So for experienced businesses, I much always advise focusing on specific locations and creating those beautiful galleries. And also then those galleries, you can just pin those beautiful images on Pinterest again. You know, talking with, adding the venue. ’cause that’s what I’m doing. Or I’m, I’m going to Google searching. I’m also going to Pinterest. I’m also searching on Pinterest. Uh, and you know what’s really [00:40:00] interesting, the things I’m finding on Google and Pinterest are usually quite similar. ’cause that’s what, you know,

Jen Vazquez: They’re both

Nergis Yuksel: pay attention Exactly. And people who pay attention to their SEO know that they need to do both So, that’s, yeah. So that’s important. I would say also, the other thing I wanna

Nergis Yuksel: highlight, from a personal experience too, and this goes back to how the wedding industry is so crowded, right? Sometimes I think experienced wedding professionals may feel like, oh, I don’t need any of marketing ’cause I’m already getting stuff. And you feel like you don’t have any competition that can change literally like that. When we were, when I first started, um, the wedding industry was still in the early stages and booming, and we were one of the best out there. We didn’t have much competition for years. We didn’t feel the need. But then suddenly, suddenly something happened and suddenly all, all these like no name wedding planners started to compete with us. Like we have just started losing [00:41:00] maybe some work or we started hearing more of them and we were like, who’s this person even, you know, and then when I started doing SEO. for the wedding industry and looking at this, and I realized, oh my god, those people. And, and just so that, you know, when those people started popping up, they were like a very new beginning, as I said, like not heard in the wedding industry. And literally within a year they became this like huge, huge  names doing all these huge like weddings.

Jen Vazquez: Yeah.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah. And we were like, who is this even and taking this huge wedding, you know, like, and now I’m realizing, and I’m looking, those people still have amazing SEO. They are the ones that are ranking, that’s what they, you know, they were beginners. They pay because they didn’t have any other thing that the experienced businesses were getting in terms of referrals and all that. So they had to do that, right? They had to do their SEO, which then put them on the map, literally, and they skyrocketed their businesses. So. I think experienced, [00:42:00] uh, established businesses also need to be aware of that. Like trends can change anytime, competition can change anytime. So you need to stay relevant. And the best thing to do is again, say search marketing is really important.

Jen Vazquez: Perfect. Okay, so let me ask you this. Um. You work with a lot of wedding professionals and give two pieces of actionable tips on things that you see that aren’t done well or that when a large amount of people come to you from the wedding industry, you kind of see this and this happening that is not being done well.  So some tips that people are gonna find valuable because it’s something that we all struggle with in the wedding industry.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah. First thing, and I personally, I tested it a few times and I see that it has a really quick positive effect on your SEO. um, is filling out your something we call meta title and meta description. It’s super simple  we say meta

Jen Vazquez: so much for saying [00:43:00] that because that’s the thing I see missing on the Pinterest side. When I’m doing Pinterest work for Wedding Pros, they have no metadata and I have to like. Pull that when it should just come automatically through the images.

Nergis Yuksel: yeah. So that’s important. And like when we say meta, I think maybe some people think it’s something technical, but it’s, it’s basically if we’re talking about your website, right? Um, that’s your unique page title and page description that people don’t necessarily see when they’re on your website, but it comes up when your website appears on Google search. it’s really important because it first of all tells Google what the page is about. and also when your page comes up. it is the thing that’s going to attract people, right? It’s not just about coming up on search results, but you also want people to click on your page. so it’s really important and I see that many, many businesses just leave it empty, or they have the same one repeated on every page depending on your platform, see them as a meta title, meta description.  Sometimes it’s called SEO title, or SEO description. But basically, usually [00:44:00] if you go to your page setting that unique page setting, there will always be an option to add these and you can add them manually. it’s just, it, it makes a huge difference. easier, you wanna use keywords there, but also you don’t need to have like fancy keyword tools to figure out the keywords. the best thing for Google, and I think for Pinterest is similar is just go to the platform. Start searching on the search bar first. Sit down and write anything that describes your business, right? Like us objectives first come up. I always say think about it, that you are on a plane. Sitting next to someone and you started talking and that person said, so what do you do?  But how do you answer it? Like, do you say I’m a wedding planner, I’m a photographer? And then they were like, oh, they were maybe like, oh great, like what type of weddings do you do? Or what type of photography do you do? And then what do you answer? Just write them, all of them down. That’s your keywords, right?  But then, just to double check, you can go to Google search and you can let’s say you said, um, I’m a wedding photographer, and maybe you define yourself as a documentary wedding photographer. Like go to Google search, start typing first, start typing wedding photographer, and then see what Google is giving you as recommendations. ’cause Google will like give you search ideas. Those are the things people are searching for quite a lot on Google. See what comes up. If anything is relevant to you, write that down. and then do more, go more specific. And also with the wedding industry especially and with this is a bit similar to all local businesses by the way. You will see that what Google gives suggestions are mainly going to be locations it’s going to be wedding photographer London and all that. that’s why, again, location is super important. Yeah. So then just figure out those keywords and then just use them very naturally on your meta titles and meta descriptions. Try to make them very specific for that specific, page. So that’s super important. It doesn’t take much time. It’s really not complicated. so that’s one thing I think everyone definitely should the other thing is a Google Business profile. [00:46:00] one

Jen Vazquez: Yes.

Nergis Yuksel: uses it that much.

Jen Vazquez: Uh, it, it is insanely effective and almost no one does it. So definitely dive in.

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah, so that’s a free tool. So I mean, why not use it? It’s incredible. It literally puts you on the map because you will see, like, um, for many businesses when people go and search on Google, one of the search results that will come will be the, actually the map listings. Um, you will usually get like three bid top businesses under a map. That’s the prime spot to rank. and it’s so easy, so you can easily sign up for it. It’s free if you have a Google account. I also have a blog post on that as well, like really detailed. So if anyone’s wondering, you can go and sing and then implement basically  what

Jen Vazquez: links will be down below, so just FYI on the show notes, we’ll have all the links.

Nergis Yuksel: , first of all, you wanna add a really nice business description, and I think that you have about, , hundred and seven to characters.

Jen Vazquez: somewhere

Nergis Yuksel: just make sure you use all the character limits, that’s your space. , use your keywords, explain, [00:47:00] ideally add their locations that you are adding. And then what many people don’t know is once you pick your business category, so you can pick a category. It could be like wedding ary, it could be photographer, depending on your industry. Uh, find the most relevant one, make it as your category. And then Google is going to show you already like inbuilt services for that category. So make sure you click on any that is relevant to you, but don’t stop there. You can add something called custom services. Which is incredible. And you can add, add literally anything. And you can use your keywords. So let’s say, destination wedding photography, right? That’s not an inbuilt service, but you can add that.  You can add destination wedding photography, you can add like contemporary wedding flowers, whatever. Just add them as your custom services. And then what happens is when someone searches for that specifically, and when you come up on Google Maps, Google actually highlights that saying provides, which immediately like takes people attention.[’cause let’s say I’m looking for contemporary wedding flowers, or I say destination wedding photography. And it highlights on that map listing saying, this supplier, this business provides destination winning photography. This is that super valuable. so definitely add custom services on your Google business profile. , also a great thing. Now you can add your social links, you can add your Pinterest link, you can add your Instagram link, also you can add something called updates. So any blog post you can basically go updates and then add a title, right? let’s say it was like kindergarten’s wedding. You add then one nice image and then you can add a button to say, learn more, and then give a link to that blog post. What happens is when your business comes up . It’ll have a slider with those beautiful images and titles and people can immediately see like a portfolio.  You can share your portfolio there with specific links, so you’re automatically showcasing your work, there’s lots you can do with Google business profile, but just make sure that you have it optimized. You have your , business description, .Have your business category contact [00:49:00] information, your address I would say those two are quite important. That’s super easy and quick to do, but not many people utilize.

Jen Vazquez: And I will add, I’m very big on marketing workflows that are, save you time, right? working smarter, not harder. And one thing that I always recommend to clients, who are using Google, I always call it Google My Business, but it’s now your Google Business profile. I always recommend whenever you post on social media, do an update with that photo and what you talk about in your Instagram right after you post to Instagram, because then you are in the habit of using it more because especially for local businesses like wedding businesses, when people go to Google and search, Google also will rank the people that are in and around where you are. On the top of that page, like the map area in particular, I, I just got booked for brand photography for Kaiser, huge, huge, hospital because they’re like four blocks from me, and that’s literally how they found me insane. So definitely add this to your sort of marketing workflow. And I always say to add it like after you post something on social media or after you do a blog post, because then you, you’re not having to put like separate time on your calendar to do this. And it’s more of a, a habit so that you do it more often. I’ve seen everyone’s ranking on Google just do incredibly well by having

Nergis Yuksel: Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It is So, it’s so, so important and as you said, like it’s really, it’s really good to be thinking about all those different things, what you can do. I mean, you gave me a really good tip that you, it was like as well, you were like, when you write your blog post, make sure as soon as you write your blog post creates like at least three, four pins for it and schedules like great. Yes. Uh, it makes it so much easier

Jen Vazquez: Exactly.

Nergis Yuksel: ready to go out there. so yeah,

Jen Vazquez: [00:51:00] Awesome. All right. What three things have helped you to grow your business? And this could be tools, advice, really anything. What are three things

Nergis Yuksel: Uh, I would say the first thing was working on my mon mindset. I had this huge thing about my, uh, about sales. I didn’t wanna come across salesy. I didn’t really wanna sell my services. I dunno, just had this like, issue around, mindset and asking money, I guess. it was really like just. Working on that. And I worked with a coach for that. it’s really helped me. I would say it was really interesting, like, you know, there were all these like inner work and stuff and it, it does work.  But for me, what worked was, coach basically told me, she was like, just talk to people. And she’s like, first of all, changing your mindset from selling to serving. ’cause we are, we are serving people, right? Like people need our services. That’s what came to, came to us and that’s why we are offering our services.  It helps people. It’s really valuable to them. So we just need to come from that perspective that we are serving people. And I think once I [00:52:00] had that mindset change, it really helped me. it changed the way I talk to people and like, just providing value. so yeah, working on my mindset was, was a huge thing.  And I think it’s really important. I always say, actually again, one of my coaches told me this is like being an entrepreneur, being in business owner is like, it’s not a rocket size. It’s all about your mindset. It’s a mindset game. So it’s super important connection to that. Working with coaches, I mean, I, I worked with lots of different coaches, I started my business and every time it’s scary. It’s a scary investments. Every time I’ve invested in a coach, I was like, oh, I don’t know if I can afford this. I don’t know if I wanna, like, is that the right thing? But every time, you will make your money back so quickly from that so valuable. Like it’s an investment in yourself and in your business. I always say like, why? To spend so much time and energy trying to figure out something on your own and fail and get frustrated, just go with someone who, who’s already done this. Who’s already gone through the steps and knows and can give you good guidance, is super valuable. So whether that’s like just again, like mindset coach, business coach done for you services, it’s, I think it’s just, it’s super valuable. It saved me so much time and headache and frustration and every time, uh, my business like literally took a step forward. So I always say just whatever you are struggling with, find a coach to help you with that. Obviously I’m going to say SEO, but that’s true. . Like my, my partner also has this business, it’s completely different area. Um, he’s a, he’s a coach for startup funders and it’s the same for him Yeah, people will contact you on Instagram as well, for example, or Facebook. That’s especially on Instagram. But what I personally find is it’s, it’s not intentional. Like people are scrolling through and they see you and they’re suddenly like, it’s just very, um, impulsive. They’re like, Ooh,

Jen Vazquez: is like an impulsive buy. Yes, yes,

Nergis Yuksel: Yeah. They’re like, they’re like, it sounds great. I [00:54:00] wonder what does it more, how much he charges. And they just get in touch, ask you questions, but they’re not really, it’s not an intentional, they’re just curious. Right. So I find that, for example, my, uh, conversion rate from that is way lower compared to inquiries I get through SEO because there is intention.People are intentionally searching for what you’re offering. And when they find you, if they resonate with you, they, they book their people. Like most of my clients who come from SEO, they just, they don’t even message me. They just book a call with me. I see it on my calendar. I’m like, oh, who’s this person? We jump on a call and they’re, they’re actually, by the time we jump on a call, they’re already like, made their mind, they’re already ready to buy. Just, they just wanna see that I’m, I’m a real person and I’m, I’m nice enough to work with. I would say so far my conversion rate from SEO is like near a hundred. Really, it’s, it’s so valuable and that really helps my business. And it really took, that, took that pressure away of like, oh, I need to be posting, like, because I’m, I’m going to be genuine [00:55:00] here, right. I’m a marketing person, but my marketing is not always perfect. Like I don’t always

Jen Vazquez: No. ’cause we do all this work for our clients, ,

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly.

Jen Vazquez: business suffers like.Yeah. My wedding, my wedding Pinterest is big and beefy because I’ve worked on it for all these years. But my Pinterest page is not as big and beefy because I’m not devoting time to it because I’m do using all my time on my client work.

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly, exactly. Like if you look at my Instagram, I’m like, for the last, even like catching two months, I’ve been really not very good about it, but my SEO is still doing the work. Right. So,, those three are the most important things. Mindset. Having coaches don’t be scared of making investment.That’s investment in yourself and you’re going to get that money back. and yeah. Doing, doing such engine marketing.

Jen Vazquez: Yes, search search marketing is really not talked about as much, like people will talk about YouTube or Pinterest or SEO, [00:56:00] but it’s, it’s the search marketing platform where people are intentionally looking for something. So it’s not stumble upon type of marketing, which is  social media marketing. It is people who are, they want to work with someone and they’re looking at who they’re gonna work with. So yes, the conversion rates are a hundred times better

Nergis Yuksel: . And I, um, I wanna say also like it’s, there is also a CEO for Instagram. It’s not massive, it’s like Pinterest and Google, but people can be intentional on Instagram as well ’cause they do search for specific things and there are things that you can be doing for that as well. Um,

Jen Vazquez: Which we’re gonna get to ’cause you’re

Nergis Yuksel: yes, we’re gonna, yeah, but like it’s again like it doesn’t mean that people are on Instagram and not intentional there as well. And actually, Instagram is also like, trying to incorporate more and more SEO into it as well. ’cause people are searching for anything that is a search bar. You should be doing SEO you should be thinking [00:57:00] about it.

Jen Vazquez: Yes. And before we get to the gift, hint, hint, um, that we’ll be helping you with that. Um, share, tell everyone about the services that you provide in case there are any wedding pros out there who are saying, you know what, I like Ners and I need her help. So tell us a little bit about your different services.

Nergis Yuksel: Sure. So, um, my main service is done for USEO. Um, it’s basically, it’s a full SEO makeover. I take your website, um, and I do everything for you. I give a full SEO makeover to it, which is then ready to rank. Um, and then at the end of it, I give you steps if you wanna continue doing it on your own. There is like, no, I say no strings attached. It’s a one-off package. And after that, if you wanna just continue doing it, you can do it yourself. I just give you the next steps of what you should be doing. Um, I am huge on teaching people how to do SER because I. I. I’m a firm believer that anyone can do SEO.  I know it sounds confusing and it’s like so much information out there and it sounds scary, but it’s not as super simple. So even if you wanna have a done for USEO, I always teach people, like I always explain why I do how I do. So at the end of it, you also have a good understanding of why we did certain things and you can do it on your own. Um, I also have, uh, something called done with you. Um, it’s, um, it’s like this, like an online course. You have access to video recordings to teach you, but also you have one-to-one calls with me. So you’ll watch the recordings basically, and then we’ll jump on a call. You’ll ask your questions. I will guide you with your strategy. Um, and then you will go and implement. You are doing the actual work, but I’m there to hold your hand. Um,

Jen Vazquez: And hold them accountable,

Nergis Yuksel: Exactly. That’s important. very important. Um, so those are my main two offerings. Um, I also have something, um, smaller, which is actually [00:59:00] worked out well. I was planning to do it just as a one-off offer, but, uh, people seem to be very happy with it, so I’m thinking maybe I’ll do it again. Um, it’s something all the visibility roadmap, it’s we jump on a call and I give you, I do your keyword research and I give you a very detailed roadmap of what you need to be doing with, um, very detailed examples specifically for your business. Again, I mostly talk about wedding businesses, but if there’s anyone out there who’s not a wedding business, it’s any service-based

Jen Vazquez: Yes.

Nergis Yuksel: feel free to get in touch with me. Um, I’ll be more than happy to help you. So a super easy process.

Jen Vazquez: Now, go out there and do something good for your business, like snagging the freebie and doing all the things so that you also get in the drawing for that free audit. take action. Put some time on your calendar, to implement these SEO tips so that your business can soar. Thank you so much. Bye.

Links Mentioned:

Pinterest Accounts:  NergisYuksel and Jen Vazquez Media and Jen Vazquez Photography

Google Business Profile Guide: ⁠https://www.nergisyuksel.com/mindful-seo-blog/google-business-profile-for-wedding-businesses

Nergis’ Gift + Where To Find Her:

GIFT:   ⁠https://www.nergisyuksel.com/instagram-seo-download⁠⁠

Where to Find Nergis:

• https://nergisyuksel.com
• ⁠hello@nergisyuksel.com⁠
• ⁠https://www.instagram.com/nergisyukseluk/⁠
• ⁠https://www.pinterest.co.uk/nergisseo/⁠ 

RANDOM DRAWING TIL DECEMBER 30, 2023:

Nergis is giving away an SEO Audit to one lucky winner.  To enter the drawing, do the following before December 30, 2023:

• Follow Nergis ⁠@nergisyukseluk ⁠
• Follow the podcast ⁠@marketingstrategyacademypod⁠
• Share the podcast episode on your Instagram story tagging both of us.

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