While researching many of the industries noted in the last blog entry (planning checklists, venues, invitations, wedding apparel, jewelers, photographers, catering, florists, etc), I began to notice wedding-related advertisements as I was browsing on Facebook – everything from invitations to a chuppah for a Jewish wedding. Coincidentally, these were items I had recently searched for on the internet, via Google. I was curious to find out how Facebook could possibly “know” that I was planning a wedding – and try to influence by purchases by appearing on my computer screen.

It turns out that these ads are part of an innovative web-based advertising approach. According to the article Competing on Analytics with External Processes, there are a variety of web-based advertising approaches, including banners, pop-ups and search-based ads. As I experienced, search-based ads are becoming one of the most powerful forms of online advertising. As noted in the article, by having the industry-leading search engine, Google can serve ads that correspond to search terms used by people browsing the internet.

Google is successful with advertisers through its use of analytics. Competing on Analytics explains that Google “employs self-learning algorithms that analyze the efficacy of different keywords, etc” to be used in an optimization engine that develops suggestions for advertisers. Google’s philosophy is that analytics and metrics will make advertisers more successful in working with the company, so they try to provide this analytical information to advertisers. This advertising synergy has contributed to much of Google’s growth.

Google’s strategy is working…their optimization engine has suggested to various advertisers that they should target me for various wedding related products and services. Admittedly, I have clicked on a few of the ads that piqued my interest, but I have yet to purchase a product as a result of the search-based ads.

Technology can drive online business in other ways. As I mentioned last time, we chose to use www.wedding.channel.com for our wedding website. On this site, we listed critical information for our guests, including airline and hotel information. This information can be used to make transactions which can easily be made online. An additional section of the wedding website includes a link (or links) to the couple’s wedding registry. Perhaps one of the biggest money-makers in the wedding industry is related to the idea of the gift registry.

We registered at three stores, prior to selecting our wedding website. Interestingly, when we formatted the wedding website, the links to the registry at each store appeared on our page. As a result, our guests can review our wedding registry in the comfort of their own homes. With the ease of online shopping, people do not need to go to the same stores in person. Often, when one visits the stores in person, he or she might find that certain products are only available online! As an additional perk of shopping online, there are sometimes online codes, coupons or deals to entice the buyer to purchase online instead of in person.

In addition to making things easy for our guests, the wedding website and online registries have made things easier for us too. For example, in the midst of the snowstorms in February, we used the time to register online. We were productive during the storms, and we did not need to venture outside! We recently moved, and decided that we did not need some of the items for we had previously registered. It was very simple to go online, sign in and remove specific items from the list. I would certainly recommend www.weddingchannel.com as a host site for a wedding website as well as creating and maintaining wedding registries online!