I think planning is probably one of the most complex and layered parts of the event industry. Years ago when I first started, I made the mistake of accepting a job as a planner in addition to doing the design, and I remember spending a whole afternoon making 20 phone calls just to set up one meeting. This was just one minuscule part of planning, but for me it was an eye opener.

I have had the pleasure (and pain) to work with many planners in my 30 years of business, and I can safely say that getting the wrong planner can be a huge pain in the ass. Not just for me, but also for the unsuspecting clients. Saying that you are a planner does not make you a good one. If you designed your own wedding or party and you enjoyed it, great, but that does not make you a planner.

Here, in my humble opinion, is what makes a great planner:

• Experience, experience, experience. I think one can safely call him or herself a good planner after working on at least 20 events. (Even then, it depends on what kind of events.)
• Knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired through practice or by taking a very informative course to give you a base. (The best course I know of is offered by the Wedding Planning Institute.)
• Great attention to detail and the ability to improvise. I think a good planner is one that can turn a bad or tense situation good without the client ever knowing. (In every event, something always goes differently than we planned.)
• Last but not least, leave the drama at home. Again, maybe it’s just me so forgive me, but I have encountered more than one planner who was a crazy maker.

I am completely in awe of the business of planning with all its layers and intricacies. I applaud everyone who wants to get into this exciting business, but please remember it takes time and effort. Yes, you can go ahead and call yourself a planner and start your journey, but it takes a bit longer to become a good one.

I’d love to know what you think determines a good versus bad planner. Please share in the comments.

Just like when I’m a designing a room and want to create something that makes a guest say, “Wow, I want to see more,” I try do the same with the headlines on my blog posts.

Headlines on the web are tricky, though, because they have to both be utilitarian (i.e. being SEO–search engine optimization–friendly) and convey some sort of personality.

I personally would like to try and infuse more humor into my headlines, but sometimes it’s hard to achieve that goal in such a small amount of words. That’s one thing I’m working on, and one thing that belongs on my list of what makes a good headline.

This list is ever expanding, but so far, this is what I have.

A good headline is…

• Funny! Or maybe I should say it exudes some kind of fun or humorous personality. Examples of my attempts at funny headlines are: To Do: Become a Cross Dresser and Frequently Asked Questions: What happened to your hair?
• Informative. It tells you what you’ll be getting right away. These types of headlines do best with your SEO. If you know that people have been searching for certain types of keywords relevant to your content, but they aren’t landing on your site, try using those keywords in headlines. Some examples of this are: Your Turn: The Best Local Wedding Planners In Your Area and What’s in or out? Design Style Trends
• Mysterious. Not to be totally contradictory, but sometimes you don’t want them to know exactly what you’re talking about right away. You want to add a little mystery into the equation to keep them reading. (Though, frankly, I must admit that I hate teases. I just want to KNOW right away!) Examples of this are: A Little Note About Today and ‘Til Death Do Us Part.
• Number friendly. People love lists. They love top 10 lists, top 5 lists, top 20 lists… If you incorporate a number into your headline, you’ll probably get them to click to read more. (Notice how I incorporated that trick into my headline for this post. Here are more examples too: 6 Tips For Creating A High-End Website and 7 Must-Do’s for Your To Do List.)
• Sometimes in the form of a question. Web content is all about engaging and interacting with the user. If you ask a question, they’ll automatically seek answers. Examples of this are: Sometimes I ask myself…why do I have to put up with bad service? and Is it better to go naked or covered?

Bottom line: spend a little extra time thinking about your headlines. Since they’re the gateway into your content, and sometimes the only thing people will see, it will be well worth the effort. Oh, and take note: in general I think a good headline only needs one of these things to be considered “good”, but if you can somehow incorporate more than one from this list, even better.

I’d love to hear your tips on what makes a good headline. If you have any examples, please share those too (especially if they’re from your own blog.)

(Photo via)

Last week, we began a series of posts where I answer the question, “What is the first question you would ask me if we had a one on one meeting together?” Here are answers to five more of those questions:

1. Da’Diva Jones asked: How can an unknown event planner market and attract his/her business? Da’Diva: I suggest you start with friends and family, then offer your services at church or any other social setting. I make this suggestion because nothing beats gaining actual experience when you start. Make sure you photograph and also get letters of recommendation from all of these occasions. Whenever you can, always ask for a small fee to cover your time and effort.

2. Keisha Siggers asked: Can I be your apprentice? Keisha: of course I’d love to say a big fat YES. Fortunately, I have a full staff of amazing folks already on staff, and this is one of the main reasons I am starting an online design course this summer. I have gotten many requests like yours, and I thought that if I developed this very comprehensive course on design and how to get clients, it might be a great way to have you learn from all of my mistakes and successes. For more information on the course, or to take a sneak peek tour, click here.

3. Kate Henry asked: Two part question…what makes you love to do what you do every day and where did it begin? Money of course! Just half kidding…Kate, I am one of the many folks who consider my work not to be work anymore, but all play. Can you imagine having a job where people pay you to make up ideas and design for a party? For me, this is the ultimate job.

Sanaw making magic.

4. Barbara Poe asked: Where did you find Sanaw? He is amazing!!!!!!! Barbara: Yes, he is more than amazing. Sanaw is my main floral designer and I consider him to be more than family. He is from Thailand and has been with me for over 15 years. He is one of the few people that can actually capture what’s in my head and make it better.

5. Deborah Griffin-Woodson asked: Your fee!!!! Deborah: VERY EXPENSIVE. Again, half joking. I think that is going to be my epitaph: “Here lies Preston Bailey, he was very expensive.” More than one client has mentioned that they resisted calling my office because they thought we were too expensive. I never try to defend my prices, however I can say one thing: my prices are not far from many other folks in the industry.

As I mentioned last week, I’d love to continue answering all of your questions. So, please ask away!

Because I love what I do so much, and I consider my work as play, I have been accused more than once of being a workaholic. The worse part of it, though, is that I like the title. However, I am always trying to establish the right balance for my life. For instance, I have no problem taking vacations and also forcing myself to take Sundays off (I consider them a “me” day).

So, please look at this list below. If at least three of these statements sound like you, congratulations! You’re officially a workaholic.

• You have a hard time taking at least a day off a week
• You work more than 60 hours a week
• You have not taken a vacation in over a year
• You bring work at home and you think it is justified.
• You spend less and less time with family and friends, and you also feel justified, because it is work.
• You are constantly late for social events because of work.

What tips do you have to help improve the balance of your life?

Last week we talked about the importance of comments and I loved hearing from the folks who read this blog all the time but rarely comment. It was great to see all your blogs and get a peek into what you do everyday. Thanks for sharing.

This week, I want to address Google Analytics. For those of you who don’t know what Google Analytics is, it’s a free tool created by Google to provide information about your website traffic, including the number of pageviews you get, the keywords that people searched to land on your site, and the number of people who visit your site. Now, keep in mind, I’m still new regarding this so I’m not going to get too technical. I just want to share some of the amazing capabilities/information you can get from this tool, and how it can help you plan your blog content.

Before we start, I must ask: Do you have Google Analytics tracking installed on your blog? I have to admit that I didn’t start tracking mine until last year and I wish I had done it when I first started my blog. If you don’t have Google Analytics tracking your site or blog, get it started today. (It’s fairly simple to integrate, but if you’re not technically savvy, reach out to a friend or colleague who has some experience. There are also many articles to help you get started online. If you Google, “Getting started with Google Analytics,” you’ll find a lot of information. I especially thought this tutorial was helpful.)

I also want to ask: how do you plan your blog posts now? Do you just write whatever comes to mind? This is not a bad strategy (it’s actually how I wrote my blog for the longest time), but it’s definitely one that can be refined and made better (just like everything else we learn through experience.)

Once you have your Analytics tracking in place, I’d recommend waiting for at least a month’s worth of data before you do the following steps. While you’re waiting, I suggest playing around with Analytics to explore the different types of information it gives you. It may be confusing/daunting at first, but if you force yourself to use it, you’ll become familiar with it in no time.

So, the first question I’ve always had about my blog is–what is my most popular content? I want to understand which blog posts are resonating with you and which ones are falling flat. This is important to me for two reasons:

1. I want to write about things I think will be interesting/engaging to you. If I’m writing things that only interest me and don’t spur on a conversation, I could just stick to writing in my journal.
2. This helps me understand what to write in the future. If the topic of “hot colors” or “flowers in season” is what gets everyone excited, I’ll probably continue on that track. If the topic of “summer reading” is boring to you, I probably won’t re-visit that topic.

I must warn you, though. This is not an exact science. Editorial planning is a mixture of analyzing your traffic numbers, and the intuition you have for what could possibly resonate with your audience. Just because something is not popular immediately, doesn’t mean that it’s not a valuable piece of information, and vice versa–just because something is popular doesn’t mean that it’s exactly quality. (I always joke that if I wanted to just post things that were guaranteed to be popular, that I’d start posting naked pictures…of myself.)

Here is how to find your top content:

• In your Google Analytics dashboard, you’ll see a section that says “Content Overview.”
• If you click “view report” you’ll see a more detailed look into that section, including a pageviews graph.
• If you click “view report” again (under the area titled “Top Content) you can see an expanded view of all the top content on your site. I like to focus on the top 10 to make my life easier.
• Keep in mind that you can view this report in any date range you want. At the top right, you’ll see a date range with a drop down menu. If you click that drop down menu, you can pick any beginning and end date you want. As I mentioned, I recommend looking at your numbers in a monthly fashion because it gives you a good overview. If you focus too much on the daily details, you may get bogged down with minutiae.

So now, here’s where the mixture of art and science comes in. I click each link within my top 10 (there’s a little icon that looks like a box with an arrow next to the left of the blue underlined link) and quickly review the post and its comments. From there, I approximate the reasons why I think this post landed in the top 10. (After several months of doing this practice, you’ll start noticing trends about what resonates with your audience.)

For example, whenever I talk about business practices and how to make money, it generally lands in my top 10. That’s not too surprising, right The key here is to figure out other ways to explore the same subject, but not just continually repeat yourself. Can I re-visit the topic of money making in a new way? Is there a different aspect of money making that I didn’t address or need to re-address to provide further detail?

By the time I’ve reviewed my entire top 10, I have a list of new ideas for blog posts. One of the most helpful aspects of this exercise is re-reading the comments associated with each top 10 post. You folks leave a lot of great feedback that always provokes further discussion, or you have questions I find myself wanting to answer.

This isn’t the ONLY way to plan new editorial content, but it is a good way to use the information you have to help you make informed decisions. I generally mix this list and information with a few other factors to help me determine what to write about. The factors can be as varied as how I’m feeling that day to what is going on in the news or other blogs.

For those of you very familiar with Google Analytics, I know this was just a basic overview for you, but I hope it helped. I’d love to hear about any tricks or tips you have for Google Analytics, or the process you use if it’s different from mine. Please share them with me in the comments below. Or, if you have any questions about Google Analytics and the editorial planning process, let me know.