Maybe you have lots of traffic coming through your website and yet, you aren’t receiving many inquiries for booking tours or wedding dates.

Is this something you have noticed with your website?

This could be a sign that it’s difficult for clients to book with you.

One of the main actions we prioritize at Studio53 Weddings is making websites as intuitive as possible for visitors.

Perhaps you have had this experience: you go on google and search for a service or product you need. You find a business that initially seems perfect for what you are looking for, but when you arrive on their website, you’re lost. It’s difficult to read, let alone look at, and you aren’t sure how to find what you are looking for. 

The business is making it difficult for you to book their services or purchase their products, so you navigate away and look for someone else who makes it easier (even if they may not do as good of a job).

This is happening to wedding venues all the time.

It may seem obvious – make your website easy to navigate and clients will book, but I see businesses miss the mark all the time.

Here’s the truth:

• You don’t need to put EVERY piece of information on your website (this may overwhelm clients)
• Less is more
• Design is extremely important to the functionality of your website
• Avoiding addressing the problem is leaving bookings on the table and sending them off to the competition

How do you make your website intuitive to your ideal clients? You know, the ones that are a dream to work with and are ready to pay their deposit because they are so in love with what you do?

Make it EASY for clients to book with you with these tips:

Navigation

Here we prioritize sharing the right information for your ideal clients. Your website should have no more than 2-3 goals. The number one goal for a wedding venue is often to inspire visitors to book a tour to check out the venue. To do this, we need to tap into our second website goal: instill trust by speaking directly to your ideal clients and giving them what they want to see. The navigation should reflect these goals, with no more than 5-6 links at the top of the page. Here’s our recommendation for a wedding venue website:

1. The [Venue Name] Experience
2. Gallery
3. About Us
4. Investment + Availability
5. Book Your Tour / Visit [Venue Name] (Highlighted with a button in the top right corner)

NOTE: Goals and navigation will vary depending on your ideal client – For example, your ideal clients may want to see the investment and available dates upfront before coming on a tour. This is important to include on the website. 

Copywriting

Copy is the written content that goes on your site. But truth be told, it’s a lot more important than it sounds. You’ve heard us talk a lot about ideal clients, and this is your chance to connect with them on a deeper level. To let them know, “hey, we know how it feels planning one of the most important days of your life, and we are going to take care of you”.

We dive deep into who your ideal clients are with our branding process. It’s an exploration into what they care about, your mission, your values, your brand promise, as well as your brand voice. Creating cohesion of all of these elements with your ideal client in mind will elevate your website performance tenfold. 

Images

When booking their wedding, couples want to see one essential element. What your venue looks like! 

Will your venue give them the experience they have been dreaming about? 

Will it give them those Pinterest-worthy and Instagrammable vibes? 

What about a day that feels like they are transported to another world?

I have explored so many wedding venue websites, and sometimes it’s near impossible to find a gallery of venue images.

Doing this gives your clients an idea of what it will feel like to have you host their wedding. We want to create a vision so that they can picture working with you in vivid detail before it even happens. As you can imagine, this makes it more likely for them to book with you.

Make booking EASY

Clients can assume it is easy to work with you when it is also easy to book a tour. In other words, this is the first impression of what their experience will be.

We recommend having your tour booking button displayed several times throughout your website.

I also love to use automated systems! When a client schedules a tour with you, it is meaningful for them to receive a thank you confirmation email and helpful for them to have automated reminders sent straight to their inbox.

Show that you care about their wedding and provide great service from start to finish.

Remember to follow up

You can go a long way simply by letting your prospective clients know that you care. Checking in after they leave your space can leave an impression – especially if you send a personalized email. While it may seem apparent that following up converts prospects into paying clients, many businesses aren’t doing it and it’s leading to a lot of missed opportunities.

Do you have questions about this post?

Reach out to us!