So you're planning your wedding and a thousand decisions must be made! It can be an exciting, but tiring experience to pull off the wedding of your dreams, especially within your budget.
The best way to evaluate how and where to allocate your wedding budget is to determine exactly what your priorities are. What do you deem important for your Big Day? What specific areas or elements of the wedding ceremony and reception do you value the most?
Remember: there are no right or wrong answers! The priorities you and your fianc�½ place on various aspects of your wedding simply reflect who you are as individuals and who you are together as a couple. Price, however, is an important factor in determining your priorities in many instances. You may choose some elements of your wedding to be practical and affordable, thereby allowing you to indulge in certain items or areas that are your "favorites".
When you decide to sit down and pinpoint definitive priorities, you've won half the battle. It's easy to delegate money and tasks when you understand what is the most important to you, as well as what is the least important.
Task: (Note: You'll probably want to set aside 30 minutes to an hour for this.)
1. Grab two pieces of paper so you and your fianc�½ can each create a separate list (no peeking!) of the top 20 places to which you would like to assign money. As well, include a rough estimate of what amount may be spent for every item on your list. When you are finished, add up the total of your estimates to ensure that it does not exceed your budget's allowance.
2. If you are having trouble coming up with dollar amounts, try using percentages instead. Set aside 10% of your wedding budget for miscellaneous expenses, and using the remaining 90%, allocate a percentage to each item on your list. This will put your priorities in order.
3. Compare lists and discuss.
You may find that you value some things less than you initially thought...good! This means that you're closer to deciding what parts will or will not play a big role in your wedding. If you and your fianc�½ have conflicting top choices...even better! Talk about where you can compromise or meet in the middle. This is the perfect opportunity to amalgamate your ideas and expectations to create a wedding that suits both of you perfectly.
When you fully understand what your priorities are as a couple, you'll be better prepared to make honest decisions that will get you closer to the wedding of your dreams. By properly identifying and understanding your priorities, you'll be more satisfied with your choices and will more readily stay within your wedding budget.
About the Author
Jennifer Benson is Vice President and cofounder of WedQuarters.com Wedding Websites, a leading online wedding service provider. WedQuarters offers complete personal wedding websites, enhanced with online and toll free wedding RSVP services.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
Most web sites are more like stage sets than real buildings; they make a good impression and they look substantial at first, but when you open a door, you end up back stage in the dark. They don't generate large numbers of leads, help build relationships with prospects or generate the desired volume of sales.
Is your web site helping you get attention for your business?
Does it prompt prospects to contact you?
Is it helping you build long-term relationships?
Does it generate the volume of sales you want?
Building a web site that works should be more like building your dream home than constructing a stage set. You want to build a solid structure to support the growth of your business, not a flashy facade. First, you'd talk with your partner about what kind of house you want and how it fits into your long-term plans. You'd discuss your budget and the location, style and size of the house, as well as the functions of the rooms and the flow between them. When you were in agreement, you'd seek out an architect to help you plan your home.
The architect would consider your ideas and objectives, create a coherent plan to meet your objectives. You'd review these and then she'd produce drawings and blueprints to guide the construction. You'd need a contractor to build your house, and the contractor would hire specialists to complete the job; carpenters, electricians, masons, roofers, etc. Once your home was completed, you'd need to maintain it; even a brand new house needs periodic attention.
Building or Renovating Your Dream Web Site
Can you imagine building your dream home without careful planning, or a clear sense of how the rooms would work together, or a blueprint?
Before you build your web site, did you define how it would function, how it would get attention, and how it would generate leads and build profitable relationships?
Did you have a web marketing blueprint?
A web designer is like your building contractor. They will assemble your web site, but they can't tell you what the site is supposed to accomplish or how it fits into your overall marketing plan. Before you use a web designer you first need to understand what you want your site to do and how to structure it to convert prospects to clients.
Diane Varner, a successful web designer in El Granada, California, asks prospective clients a series of questions about their marketing before she starts work for them. She wants to find out what their overall marketing strategy is and how their web site fits into it. Her expertise is web design; if a prospect needs help defining their web-marketing plan, she refers them to me.
> 4 Steps to A Web Site that Sells
1. Create Your Web Plan and Marketing Content
Before building or renovating your web site, you, too, should identify how your web site fits into your marketing strategy. Clarify and delineate the actions you want visitors to take and how to structure your site to get prospects to contact you and buy your products and services.
Organize site content and pages to mirror prospects' decision-making process, moving them step-by-step towards a sale. Write content that motivates prospects to continue reading and browsing your site and includes appropriate use of keywords to help boost your search engine rankings.
2. Hire a Web Designer/ General Contractor
Once you have a plan and the supporting marketing copy ready, find a web designer who can put these elements together to create an easy-to-navigate site whose overall look and feel supports your positioning objectives. Many web designers function as general contractors and will sub-contract the programming required to create forms, manage databases, email or online shopping cart systems.
3. Market Your Web Site
Most people make the mistake of waiting until their site is built to think about marketing it. If you started with the previously defined web plan, you will have avoided this mOney-losing blunder. But don't assume that people will find your web site on their own.
Use free promotional activities such as distributing your articles to get attention. Consider advertising in newsletters and/or using pay-per-click advertising.
4. Maintain Your Web Site
Just like that dream house, a web site needs regular upkeep and updating. Allocate the time and money to see that the site is well maintained, whether you learn to update text yourself, have someone in your company do it, or give the job to an outside professional.
The beautiful home you carefully planned and built creates the physical context for you to eat, sleep, relax and enjoy family and friends. Your web site should create the marketing context to help you get prospects' attention, build relationships, and generate leads and s.ales.
Use the four steps
above to build or renovate your web site and you'll have a site that is more than a flimsy stage set; you'll have a web site that will help grow your business.2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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