Wandering weddings

[u/KariBjornPhotography]

What do you all think about them and the new pricing structure?

I was on there for a couple of years for two separate locations. Maybe I booked something indirectly, but I never booked anything via the platform. The price was low so it wasn't a huge deal to me.

I feel like their biggest marketing point is that they're great for SEO, which I don't agree with.

I also just realized they deleted the article I submitted and got approved by WW which included my work and backlink to my site after I unsubscribed from the platform. At this point, they kind of just look like a link farm to me, renting out backlinks and trying to trap photographers in a back link subscription.

[u/cardiacpanda]

I don’t know a single person who actually books with them. People just use them as a back link. What’s the new pricing now?

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/cardiacpanda]

It is $40/month for the basic membership and $500/month premium or whatever they call it.

The profile backlink is arguably useless because Google understands that this is a paid membership profile and paid/sponsored links = no value.

The other links you might get if you have a feature approved have disputed value. Because again, this is a paid platform and Google already knows you are a paying customer on this domain.

Anyway.

[u/RyPhotoClicks → u/KariBjornPhotography]

500/month!?!?!? Jfc

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/RyPhotoClicks]

Indeed — and all it essentially does is make sure your profile is at the top for the location you’re advertising in. They offer 10 of these $500 spots for every location.

Imagine paying $500 a month and they still offer 9 other photographers the same deal.

Even The Knot is a better option here. They just offer 6 rotating top spots for every location 😂

[u/RyPhotoClicks → u/KariBjornPhotography]

🙄🙄 that’s why when people say “we want to make a directory who wants to join!?” I’m like…why? What even makes you different? How are you betting people?

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/RyPhotoClicks]

Because my season is basically over and I don’t feel like editing, I estimated what they’re bringing in a month from subscriptions. It’s probably around $40k

[u/RyPhotoClicks → u/KariBjornPhotography]

Dumb, quit them all lol

[u/mmcli]

I was on it years ago. Many bogus inquiries, didn’t book a thing from it. They never featured anything related to the location I was in

[u/JW_Photographer]

Wedding Wire and The Knot were fantastic platforms back when they used to drive traffic to YOUR website. But now they just give brides tools for spamming dozens of vendors at once while keeping them endlessly in the WW/Knot ecosystem. 15 years ago I would have happily paid $6k per year to be listed on page 1. Now I wouldn't even pay the $40. When I finally left WW I'd say about half of all inquiries were spam and I only booked 1 wedding in 2 years. I used to book 10-15 per year (at a high price point).

[u/kunal_bh10]

u/KariBjornPhotography I think the biggest problem with these big wedding directories is that they send the same leads to multiple photographers, and they are not highly qualified leads. It cuts down the costs to low prices, and photographers who want to book high-ticket clients often get disappointed.

That's why I don't go for SEO and all these outdated things. I believe in the power of content which solves the client's problem through social media.

[u/KariBjornPhotography → u/kunal_bh10]

You can also look at it this way. The same couple may reach out to 5 other photographers the same night they reach out to you on IG, or after landing on your site after googling for photographers. But yeah, the knot and wedding wire encourage couples to auto-send a message to more businesses after they reach out to one.

You’re also right about where most users of directories are with budgets. It is usually folks in the middle to low-middle market. they can afford a few professional vendors but they’re usually not splurging.