这个公司中文名叫爱结（ ijie.com ），翻译成英文就是knot of love的意思，根据他们网站的介绍于2010 年 1 月成立于北京，是全球婚庆资讯品牌 The Knot, Inc. ( www.theknot.com ) 的中国分部。简单介绍一下The Knot, Inc：
The Knot是一家在纳斯达克上市的媒体公司（股票代码KNOT），总部于1996年成立于纽约，主要为准备结婚、同居或计划要小孩的情侣、夫妻提供多媒体内容。公司主要收入来源于在线广告，商品销售，注册服务以及出版物。The Knot目前为美国婚庆第一品牌，并被美国版《Vogue 》票选为“信息服务类最时尚网站”。
search engine optimization for the wedding industry
Seo for the wedding industry can be very complex. With many search engines changing their algorithms on a constant basis its hard to know what trends to stay on top of. Although your website might have great page rankings (PR) today, those ranks tomorrow can drop drastically. So how can we, as wedding professionals make sure that we’re doing the right things to obtain better rankings? or, how can we make sure we aren’t doing the wrong things that will get us penalized or banned from certain directories? The only people that could give you that exact information, are those who work developing the algorithms (and they will not divulge that information). So, if we remember to stick with the basics, in the long run, your wedding site will gain better (PR) rankings and could potentially outrank those who are ranked on page one for any key word or phrase dealing with the wedding industry.
Lets face it, we all want to dominate search engines for key words such as “wedding” or “wedding dresses” (or whatever your area is within the wedding industry), and if we looked closely at the few wedding websites on those search terms we can note one thing – SOME DO NOT DEAL WITH THE EXACT SEARCH TERM – If you actually sold wedding dresses, or in fact owned a venue wouldn’t you feel more confident knowing you can be ranked for your actual key word terms, more so then companies that only offer a website that offer other websites? Wouldn’t it be nice to find those types of sites only when you search for terms like “many wedding websites” or “wedding website directory” or “best wedding website for one stop shopping” or something along those lines? This way if someone typed in the term “wedding dress” they would find a list of designers, or manufacturers, or individuals who are selling bridal gowns. Well according to some, that’s exactly what’s going to start happening.
We are in a unique position as many of those larger companies implemented tactics that are starting to be recognized as “black hat” techniques. In their defense, most website owners and technical staff did what they could to climb the ranks by finding weaknesses and shortcuts not knowing that it would set a trend that would keep directories forever changing how they seek out relevant information. Not only do algorithms change constantly to help the directories find relevant information, but they are able to find the weaknesses other tech-savvy individuals like to exploit – and once found, those “top ranked” sites, wind up paying a penalty in the long run, either by loosing page rank, or getting dropped from a directory (like google, or yahoo). How is this beneficial to you? this means if you start working on your seo and do it the right way by sticking to the basics, your website could start gaining more visibility for key words or phrases in the wedding industry. You will begin to notice the companies that dominated key words or phrases that did not directly relate to them will start to loose credibility and therefore page rank. These ever changing algorithms are trying to find YOU!
So, what can be done, and what should you do to capitalize on this now?
lets go over …
Wedding seo basics
Wedding seo
Make sure each page in your website is optimized for search engines. For example, if you own a website that deals with wedding shoes and only have a one page website, then that first page title, meta tags and data should reflect exactly what can be found on that first page. If that is done properly then its optimized. If your website has multiple pages you must use the above system to optimize each page, making sure all pages have the right (title, meta, and data) pertaining to the content of each individual page.
Directory submissions for wedding websites
Once you have completed your wedding Optimization, focus your attention on submitting your link to directories. First target the larger well known directories like Google, Yahoo, and Dmoz. After submitting to those, you can focus on directories in other countries, or specify your search criteria for directories just within your niche. You will begin to notice there are many directories you can add your link to. Some directories are free, and others charge a fee or ask you to endorse them by giving them a link within your site. Research the best direction for you and your website and submit your link.
Wedding links and linking with wedding related sites
In this next step there are a few ways you can go about getting links to your website. The above method not only helps you obtain links, but it places your website within directories. Also you can speak with other website owners within your niche and ask them if they would like to share links – or – you can ask if they have a wedding links page, and if they do ask them if they would be willing to add your site. Once you’ve completed that step, you can move onto submitting comments on blog posts that also pertains to your niche. Make sure when you seek blogs to comment on, that they are DOFOLLOW blogs so that when you post your comment you can also attach your websites url. This tells the spiders/crawlers that your site is within the same industry/topic and over a period of time will start to help your rankings. (example: finding a blog post about wedding dresses, and reading the post and making a comment within the line/scope of the topic with your wedding dress company web site attached – gives your site credibility) Building links the right way, will not only encourage others to be active with you and your brand – but it will help your website climb in rankings.
New wedding content developed regularly
In order to keep your page rank moving upwards you need new content. The best way to not only help your self but others is to create a DoFollow blog so that each time you write new content others will be able to comment on your site. This actually helps your website much more then it can hurt – not only will you be building fresh new content for the spiders to find, it will also help you develop key words and phrases that will attract the attention of individuals searching for those key terms.
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Following the basics of “wedding industry search engine optimization” will help you increase your page rank, and help those who are searching for you be able to locate you amongst the crowd of unrelated websites. Try not to fall for the “next” big shortcut, or “tech-savvy” way of getting around the basics, because that could hurt your rankings at some-point in the near future.
The Muslim wedding, or Nikah, is a ceremony celebrated over the course of a few days and could last up to a week. Prior to the wedding, the bride-to-be and groom along with the religious head take part in Istikhara. This ritual asks the Almighty for guidance and direction to make sure the soon to be bride and groom are headed down the right path. It will also serve the as the confirmation the religious head needs in order to proceed with the act of marriage (or not).
Planning Elegance along with AAcreation Photography: Wajiha & Ali wedding
Once the ceremony is granted the grooms’ mother visits the brides’ house barring gifts of sweets along with an Imam-Zamin (Gold or Silver coin wrapped in a silk cloth for good luck). Once this aspect of the ceremony has taken place, the grooms’ entire family meets the brides’ family to exchange gifts of fruits & sweets (this is called the Magni).
The bride-to-be has yet a few more ceremonies she needs to partake in before the actual wedding. A day or two before the big day, the Manjha ceremony will begin. Dressed in yellow the bride will be anointed with a paste made from turmeric. Unmarried women can only apply this paste to her. It is thought that this paste will create a natural glow of the skin to make her more presentable on her wedding day. Mehndi is the last aspect to this pre-marriage ritual. Unmarried women apply the henna to the bride, or a professional henna designer will be asked to do so. Within the intricate details of the design the grooms’ name is hidden for him to find. Once this is applied to the woman she cannot leave her home until the wedding day.
Photo courtesy of Anisha Arora
On the day of the wedding the groom comes in a Baraat, this is like his personal parade. Upon approaching the brides’ home or banquette venue the baraati (grooms family and friends) start to play traditional music and dance.
As the initial stages of the baraat come to an end, the Nikaah begins. This aspect of the ceremony is where the two individuals unite as one. The father of the bride and groom are addressed as Walis. The Maulvi performs the ceremony as he reads passages from the Quran. The groom asks when the Maulvi is finished reading from the Quran the formal proposal. He sends over to the bride and her family his proposal and awaits her decision, this is known as Ijab-e-Qubul. There is much importance made on the mutual consent of both bride and groom.
Wajiha & Ali: courtesy of Planning Elegance & AAcreation
During the course of this day, the elders from both sides come together and speak about the Mehar that will be given to the bride. This nuptial gift will be presented from the grooms’ family and must be paid to the bride.
As the Nikaah comes to an end the Nikaahnama must be signed by the Walis, the Maulvi, and the bride and husband to be a legal contract of their wedding.
The last three ceremonies to take place happen over the course of 4 days past the Nikaah. The first is when the mother in-law welcomes the new bride when she enters her new home. She places her hands up high holding the Quran to bless her as she walks through the front door. The second is the Chauthl, on the fourth day the bride visits her parental home. And lastly the reception made to welcome the new bride into the grooms’ family. This festivity helps both sides become more interwoven with each other and its purpose is to help facilitate intimate relationships between both families, better known as the Vallmah ceremony.
In the pursuit of creating a positive memory that will last the test of time and help build a relationship that will never falter, many people have jumped on board wedding day traditions submersed in mysticism. If you had a magic wand and wanted to make sure your future destiny was wrapped tight in positive energy to ensure a life long happy marriage, then I am sure you have heard the saying
Do you know where it came from? or are you just partaking in the tradition that was either pass down to you from family, or told to you through friendship?
Although some might say the last portion is the one they have not heard of, I will explain the tradition in depth to give you a greater insight to both its history and hidden meanings.
Wedding History
Back in the middle ages it was customary to offer a talisman (good luck charm) to those individuals or couples entering a right of passage. It was thought that during those times the evil spirits were hard at play trying to wreak havoc on them. In order to help those people on their journey through their passage these good luck charms would ward off anything that was negative to keep them and their families out from harms way.
A wedding was a right of passage that was believed to hold the most energy as two lives where being united and with those two lives came the history and generations from both sides. Opening the door to the possibilities of things going wrong, the first custom was put into play to combat the evil spirits that wanted to curse your new happy union. By giving a bride “Something old” she is thought to be inline with family traditions and that will help protect her since she will not be open to let evil in by following the wrong path. Having “Something new“, was just an addition to something old ensuring the future ahead was filled with prosperity. It was also believed that obtaining “Something Borrowed” from a family member whose marriage was filled with happiness, those outcomes would be bestowed upon you. With “Something Blue“, its been thought to be the barer of purity, love, and fidelity as the Virgin Mary has been dressed with it. The last portion of this wedding phrase is “a sixpence in her shoe“, here is what a sixpence looks like-
Sixpence coin front side
Sixpence back side
It was customary for the father of the bride to offer her a piece of silver as his token of good luck to ensure his daughters safe passage and to give her continued protection against all that is evil.
In the early 1200’s Norway tried to invade Scotland, but its believed that one of their soldiers who was walking barefoot stepped on an area covered with thistle. Shouting in pain the soldier gave away the sneaky attack and therefore the plot to take control of Scotland was derailed. The thistle became the symbol of faith and the defender of it, so in 1470 they started to place them on the backs of the coins.
These coins over a period of time became items that were also given in the dowry from the brides family to the groom. Today some of these coins can be found making their way down from generation to generation in keeping with tradition. These coins served as two forms of protection, the silver was thought to be the most effective item to ward off evil spirits and with the thistle foiling the plans of a major attack the two combined create a powerful and effective means to keep anyone safe from the harms of evil.
As you all know on July 20th 2009 our wedding site MyWeddingIsOver was featured on the live broadcast show Better Connecticut. Recently we were asked to be part of the national syndication for that show Better TV. On Thursday September 17th I arrived back at the studio located at News Channel 3 Connecticut WFSB, where I was very pleased to see a very familiar face. Unfortunately Bryan King was unable to attend this filming, so I had to go at it alone. I am not sure how it will come out after they edit, but I will post the video to this once the reel is sent to me.
One down fall for Bryan and I, we will not be able to see the show since it doesn’t air in our area. So I am looking for friends and family to help spread the word so we can get great feed back on how it came out. Like most things that come and go, on the way home I thought of so many other things that I should have mentioned in the filming. You know what they say though, you live and you learn…so I can only hope for more appearances to make up for the ones we have already done. The more media we obtain the better our content will be when we try to relay all the intricacies of our website.
I am sure there will always be things we forget to say though, I mean lets face it… We are trying to change an entire industry Globally.
Below is a listing of the cities, stations, and times when it will air on September 29th 2009. If you are in an area it will show please tune in, if not send this list to everyone you know and ask for them to tune in.
Wedding websites have helped many brides to-be plan the day they have always dreamed of. The ease and availability of information at the click of a button has many vendors reaching brides globally. Although this new found global reach has an extremely positive impact on the wedding industry, it can lead to stress and confusion; So much in fact that brides to-be limit the planning process to just the wedding day, instead of expanding their scope post-marriage.
My Wedding Is Over was created to expand on that notion. To help engaged brides, newlyweds and the unfortunate bride that didn’t make it to the final step, the altar. This wedding website, was also created to help vendors reach the cultural wedding community to help expand their reach into new or existing markets.
Creating such a diverse site with global appeal was the best way we knew how to stream line the wedding industry. The bridal party along with every consumer and vendor now has a way to address the post planning belly flop of the past. Brides now have a channel to help them recoup money spent, while vendors have a place to offer great deals on packages or be able to unload inventory.
Our wedding site has now created a new aspect of the global wedding industry. The global wedding aftermarket will now offer so many people the opportunity to follow through on its planning process. Cultural wedding vendors along with consumers will now have a place to embark on trade between each other no matter the continent.
Have you lost your job? Do you need to create a passive revenue stream? My Wedding Is Over offers the “everyday” man/woman the chance to create a new way of making income. Find great bargains on wedding items for the American weddings, Jewish weddings, Indian weddings, or Chinese weddings. Try to sell them for profit while helping a bride to be, locate those same items at great discounts.
