Wedding.com has made a change.

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

I'm look to advertise on wedding.com next month. I'm going with their 3 month plan. It's less then $80.00. I decided on 3 months to see what it gets me if anything at all. I like that you can look through their site and find prospects that you can connect to. Now what I noticed is that they used to list the brides entire budget for their wedding. I see they stopped doing that any more. I wonder why? Anybody have a thought as to why they stopped doing this?

My guess is a lot of brides started to complain and that's why they stopped doing it.

 

[sonic-vision]

Hey MMMM, I thought you were giving up the D J biz??? I wouldn't spend another dime if you are quitting soon. By the way, save your money on wedding.com!!

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Hey MMMM, I thought you were giving up the D J biz??? I wouldn't spend another dime if you are quitting soon. By the way, save your money on wedding.com!!

Nwas just upset at the time and others have said they used it and it worked for them. Now since you said save my money on Wedding.com what would you suggest? What works for you?

 

[sonic-vision]

Internet . Good rankings make all the difference. WEDJ has done well for me over the years & they have been at top top of the page if not in the top three. Wedding sights can work if you spend the money for top rankings.

 

[Kirby Ball]

Why do you want to piss money away on paid advertising? Get your website polished up, get your rankings up. Do some "wedding gigs," and get some referrals. If you're going to be a wedding DJ, then start acting like it and stay away from the ****ing bars and lowlifes in the bars. It's not going to happen overnight (and you're not going to start at the top of the pay scale either, so get over yourself and quit listening to the guys who want you raise your prices above your "worth") and you need to quit chasing "pipe-dreams" and get to work on improving your image. If you keep holding out for the big money in the beginning, you'll never get started. Be ****ing realistic dude. No one is going to pay you top dollar for a wedding until you work your way up the ladder, no matter how good "you" think you are. Weddings are a whole different ballgame than playing at a bull**** bar, someone's cookout or paid birthday parties. You're like a ****ing fart in a hot skillet, with no clear idea of what you're doing.

 

[DJCC]

Why do you want to piss money away on paid advertising? Get your website polished up, get your rankings up. Do some "wedding gigs," and get some referrals. If you're going to be a wedding DJ, then start acting like it and stay away from the ****ing bars and lowlifes in the bars. It's not going to happen overnight (and you're not going to start at the top of the pay scale either, so get over yourself and quit listening to the guys who want you raise your prices above your "worth") and you need to quit chasing "pipe-dreams" and get to work on improving your image. If you keep holding out for the big money in the beginning, you'll never get started. Be ****ing realistic dude. No one is going to pay you top dollar for a wedding until you work your way up the ladder, no matter how good "you" think you are. Weddings are a whole different ballgame than playing at a bull**** bar, someone's cookout or paid birthday parties. You're like a ****ing fart in a hot skillet, with no clear idea of what you're doing.

Post of the year award!

 

[Kirby Ball]

Post of the year award!

****ing A! I'll take it!

 

[Jeff Romard]

X2 and If I could give a hundred thanks I would

 

[rickryan.com]

Why do you want to piss money away on paid advertising? Get your website polished up, get your rankings up. Do some "wedding gigs," and get some referrals. If you're going to be a wedding DJ, then start acting like it and stay away from the ****ing bars and lowlifes in the bars. It's not going to happen overnight (and you're not going to start at the top of the pay scale either, so get over yourself and quit listening to the guys who want you raise your prices above your "worth") and you need to quit chasing "pipe-dreams" and get to work on improving your image. If you keep holding out for the big money in the beginning, you'll never get started. Be ****ing realistic dude. No one is going to pay you top dollar for a wedding until you work your way up the ladder, no matter how good "you" think you are. Weddings are a whole different ballgame than playing at a bull**** bar, someone's cookout or paid birthday parties. You're like a ****ing fart in a hot skillet, with no clear idea of what you're doing.

Savage burn (but great advice). Bravo, Kirb.

Mix, kudos to what Kirby just said. Don't try to charge full wedding scale at first and, for heaven's sake, ditch the "partner" routine. Either do it yourself or don't do it at all. If you have to hire a roadie to haul your gear that's fine but please, stop with the partner talk. Also, forget the paid ad you're talking about. Waste of time and money in your case. You've got to get a decent-looking website and you've got to work on your image. On ads, I'd strongly recommend you start with craigslist, kijiji and frontpage and keep them updated every 2 days. That will put eyeballs on your site and the numbers will generate leads. Oh yea, and what Kirby says about the people you're hanging out with is true. You're not going to transition into the gigs you want if you're still hanging out with ghetto types. You're going to have to venture outside your comfort zone to get paid decent money.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

****ing A! I'll take it!

Let me please ask this question and don't take it as me attacking you. What is top dollar? I've heard others mention that. I just want to know what do you think that is? My reason for asking this is because over the years being on these forums ot6her DJ's have a difference of opinion as to what a DJ should charge to do certain events. There are those who say for example a DJ who charges $500.00 to do a wedding isn't charging enough and can't be a good DJ.

Now first I know there is a big difference in playing in a bar and going to do a brides wedding. There are things I can get away with on the mic in a bar that would never work for a wedding. Now my plan is not to rush to the top on the pay scale. I learned years ago from Bob Carpenter you have to build up to that. Now as for the website I'm trying to be patient with the guy that built it. He had a big tragedy. His house had 70k damage due to hurricane Sandy. So he's been trying to get things together. I'll call him some time later this week to see how he's doing. He mentioned he was looking to make changes to the site. Trust me I don't plan to jump off the roof. That's why I mentioned I was looking to pay for 3 months to see how things go. Just wanted to start there and build up our ranking online.

 

[Dj Jimmy D]

You are 55 years old. Breaking in to the Wedding market now and getting paid top dollar is never going to happen. At best for you to get the right weddings and build yourself up it will take 5 years and by that time brides will not want to hire a 60 year old man who only has 5 years of experience to do their weddings. Stick to what you are doing and be happy with it and forget weddings and high paying jobs. Just have fun going out and plsying the music you want to play.

 

[rickryan.com]

Now as for the website I'm trying to be patient with the guy that built it. He had a big tragedy. His house had 70k damage due to hurricane Sandy. So he's been trying to get things together. I'll call him some time later this week to see how he's doing. He mentioned he was looking to make changes to the site. Trust me I don't plan to jump off the roof. That's why I mentioned I was looking to pay for 3 months to see how things go. Just wanted to start there and build up our ranking online.

First off, you've been more than patient. If the website guy can't do the work, find someone else (or better still, learn it yourself). This guy is costing you money, period. As for buying the ad, let's say it works and drives traffic to your website. You don't have a sales pitch ready. What good will the leads do you? Check into Wordpress sites. I believe Randy builds them out for around $500.

As for "top money", rates vary by area. I think that's why there's so much disparity between DJs in online forums. You're going to have to check out your competition, find out what the average rate is, then subtract a couple of bills and start there.

 

[Jeff Romard]

Let me please ask this question and don't take it as me attacking you. What is top dollar? I've heard others mention that. I just want to know what do you think that is? My reason for asking this is because over the years being on these forums ot6her DJ's have a difference of opinion as to what a DJ should charge to do certain events. There are those who say for example a DJ who charges $500.00 to do a wedding isn't charging enough and can't be a good DJ.

What does your business plan say you should charge? How about a marketing survey?

 

[Ausumm]

If you haven't done weddings, you probably should not be wasting your money advertising on a wedding site.
You need some more experience before you advertise yourself as a wedding DJ.
It is a vicious circle...
you have to do weddings to GET weddings, but you can't do weddings if you don't get them. (huh? )
I was lucky enough to start out with a Multi-Op with a terrific reputation,
so I got plenty of weddings before I had really "earned" them.

 

[rickryan.com]

If you haven't done weddings, you probably should not be wasting your money advertising on a wedding site.
You need some more experience before you advertise yourself as a wedding DJ.
It is a vicious circle...
you have to do weddings to GET weddings, but you can't do weddings if you don't get them. (huh? )
I was lucky enough to start out with a Multi-Op with a terrific reputation,
so I got plenty of weddings before I had really "earned" them.

When I started switching over to DJ, I hadn't done weddings either. I advertised on craigslist and primarily in areas that were outside of Nashville. I did gigs in Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, etc. My first was a 350-guest wedding in St. Louis at the military base. I charged her $600 and thought I was making "big money". I was extra careful and put a lot of effort but I was taking them out of area so that if I messed up, it wouldn't be in my backyard. Once I got some under my belt, I started moving the ads to my local area and quit taking the drive gigs. I kept adding services and inching rates north until now I'm just a bit above the median and pushing towards the upper tier.

Nothing wrong with jumping into the pool with both feet, just make sure you do extra diligence on what gigs you do get. BTW, some shots from that first DJ wedding (although I did do some as a musician).



BTW, she did her own uplighting

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

If you haven't done weddings, you probably should not be wasting your money advertising on a wedding site.
You need some more experience before you advertise yourself as a wedding DJ.
It is a vicious circle...
you have to do weddings to GET weddings, but you can't do weddings if you don't get them. (huh? )
I was lucky enough to start out with a Multi-Op with a terrific reputation,
so I got plenty of weddings before I had really "earned" them.

Trust me I've done my share of weddings. Unfortunately I had a bad experience a while back. I got robbed at gun point and they got the camera I had at the time. The card in the camera had some nice pictures of us in action at a few weddings which one of them was my oldest nieces wedding. The sick thing some people said is that I should have asked for the card in the camera. That was very stupid of them to say. I was just glad they didn't shot.

 

[Dj Jimmy D]

Trust me I've done my share of weddings. Unfortunately I had a bad experience a while back. I got robbed at gun point and they got the camera I had at the time. The card in the camera had some nice pictures of us in action at a few weddings which one of them was my oldest nieces wedding. The sick thing some people said is that I should have asked for the card in the camera. That was very stupid of them to say. I was just glad they didn't shot.

So you have done your share of weddings but someone steals your camera and you have no other pictures except for what is on that. Sounds like you have done 2 weddings in the past 3 years and that is about it. Agian stick to the backyard parties and the bars. You will be much happier.

 

[redhotdj]

Mix you have to pay your dues, i started playing at a camp ground for a summer then i started playing schools and bars. Not until i had over a year of experience and i also worked with another DJ before i did my first wedding.
Mix one of the best ways to learn how to work and deal with people is playing at a bar

 

[rickryan.com]

Mix you have to pay your dues, i started playing at a camp ground for a summer then i started playing schools and bars. Not until i had over a year of experience and i also worked with another DJ before i did my first wedding.
Mix one of the best ways to learn how to work and deal with people is playing at a bar

I know I dish on Mix a lot but I really get the feeling that he probably has at least been involved in DJing (to some extent) for a number of years. It's also my impression that he's got a few huge hurdles to overcome:

1) Get into a decent, non-ghetto clientele
2) Get some decent promo shots
3) Get out of this "gotta have a partner" mentality

I suspect that hanging out in these forums has put him around a bit higher class of people than he normally runs with and I applaud him for seemingly making an effort to make a step up. Keep pushing Mix, it will happen if you won't give up AND if you'll actually heed the advice you're given instead of trying to argue it down.

 

[redhotdj]

I know I dish on Mix a lot but I really get the feeling that he probably has at least been involved in DJing (to some extent) for a number of years. It's also my impression that he's got a few huge hurdles to overcome:

1) Get into a decent, non-ghetto clientele
2) Get some decent promo shots
3) Get out of this "gotta have a partner" mentality

I suspect that hanging out in these forums has put him around a bit higher class of people than he normally runs with and I applaud him for seemingly making an effort to make a step up. Keep pushing Mix, it will happen if you won't give up AND if you'll actually heed the advice you're given instead of trying to argue it down.

I agree with you, but i think mix needs to make that next step and go on his own and do his own thing