I get asked this question ALL THE TIME. “What’s your opinion on Wedding Wire vs The Knot?” “Should I pay into Wedding Wire or The Knot or Wedding.com?” “Where should I advertise online outside of _______?”

Wedding Wire or The Knot?

My answer:

It’s regional, it’s different depending on your price point, it depends on how well you use it, and it depends on your booking volume goals. It also depends on how well you’re marketing yourself in different areas.

Yesterday alone I got leads valued at $9,000 from Wedding Wire. That’s just yesterday. (at the time of writing this post in November 2017).  Did I take them/book any of them? No, because I’m already booked on those dates, and one just wasn’t a good fit. But that doesn’t mean the source doesn’t work for me.

Many of the people who ask this question to me also first ask in some sort of Closed Facebook group. And the answers are ALL over the place, and none of them really seem to be accurate. Why? Because they aren’t asking you any questions about YOUR unique business, your price point, your goals, your market, and what you’re doing inside of your client funnel to make sure those clicks turn into inquiries.

What metric you’re also not getting from any of the threads you see on FB groups you post in is the number of clicks to a website they’re currently receiving on their subscription (or how many they were having when they bailed on it.)

Let’s run through a hypothetical example.

Maybe they were getting 15-20 unique clicks a month.

Now let’s say hypothetically each of those clicks is a lead with a $3,000 budget (assuming they are all quality prospects/leads and not just random viewers).

20 x $3,000 = $60,000 worth of leads/traffic worth every month through 1 source. All for your $150-400/month ad spend.

What matters is your conversion rate on that traffic.

Now let’s say your website sucks. You’ll get $0 in conversion.

Or your work is poor quality. $0 conversion.

Marketing message is boring. $0 conversion.

Images aren’t optimized for web and everything takes too long to load. $0 conversion.

Or let’s say you have your starting rate on your investment page at $3,500+ (slightly out of their budget). You might convert 1-2 a month in peak season after getting rid of some price shoppers.

Does Making More Money Matter?

Make sure to read my blog post on how making money DOES make more happiness (to an extent).

Wedding Wire propelled my business when I was just getting started in the wedding industry. The Knot supplemented it until referrals and SEO kicked in.

Now my average booking rate is $4,000-5,000 in the PNW and my conversion rates are lower using these sites because (in my experience) many of the people who use these sites to find vendors are price shoppers. Not all, but many.

So, the higher my rate goes, the lower the conversions using these sites.

If I can make a 4X or greater ROI, I still do whatever that is that makes me that kind of return on my money.

The Knot & Wedding Wire both make me well over 4X ROI.

But it might not always be that way.

It’s not always as simple as yes it works or no it doesn’t work. It’s complex and there are multiple levels to it. You need to optimize your storefronts and your website client funnel (and communication process) to convert more traffic.

Don’t take the easy way out.

Don’t just take the easy way out of your confusion by simply saying “it doesn’t work” if you didn’t have success with it. Maybe it could’ve worked if you worked it differently.

So, Wedding Wire vs The Knot?

That said, you don’t NEED either of them if you perform other tasks in your business well enough that drive in enough leads through those other sources.  I personally just like doing both of them to have an abundance of leads and make money off of the extra that I can’t handle when I am already booked or they are a lower budget than my rate through associates working those extra jobs. Or I simply just say no when they aren’t a great fit. Having options is a powerful thing when you are a solopreneur in the wedding industry.

So to the question “Wedding Wire vs The Knot, I say both. But, it totally depends on your personal goals, number of desired bookings, your price point, your market, and your ideal client.

Where is your ideal client searching for professional wedding vendors with your level of experience and style? It differs in every market. There is no “one size answer fits all” here with this question regarding Wedding Wire, The Knot, or any of the other places you can advertise online. They switch back-and-forth all the time.

Where is your ideal client looking? Wedding Wire vs The Knot?

Are you ready for a growth mindset? Check out that blog post HERE.