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Executive Summary
The Maid of Honor Guide (MOH Guide) is an online publication designed to assist firsttime Maids of
Honor (MOHs) navigate wedding season with ease. We conceptualized this digital magazine earlier this
year after each having played the role of being a bride’s righthand woman. Taking on that daunting
task without a clue as to MOH protocol is extremely stressful, so we have created a onestop guide to
help other women find their way while having fun through the process of being their best friend’s best
woman. There is no other comprehensive MOHfocused site specifically targeted at the firsttime Maid
of Honor.
Our combined backgrounds in web development, content production and marketing — not to mention
the plethora of weddings we’ve been in — makes us the ideal team to produce and curate content
uniquely geared for that freshfaced MOH. Whether she’s trying to figure out how to throw a
bachelorette party, write a toast or pick out the perfect wedding gift, we can be her guide.
In this plan, you’ll find a detailed outline of our target audience, identified competition, sample content
and site design, as well as our SEO, social media, email marketing and advertising strategies.
1. Welcome to the MOHGuide.com
Ashley Adams, Gail Martineau and Nilam Patel are the founders of the MOHGuide.com. We met and
and began talking business while at Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public
Communications, where we each earned our master’s degree in Digital Communications. Poised with
the technical tools to enter the digital marketplace, we plan to launch the MOH Guide to fill a need we
know hasn’t been properly addressed.
1.1 Mission
The Maid of Honor Guide helps first time Maids of Honor navigate wedding season with ease from tips
on bachelorette party locations to wedding speeches to hosting bridal showers.
1.2 Target Demographic
The target audience for the MOH Guide is pretty simple she is a modern American millennial, who is
educated, has a good job with a disposable income that allows her to make quality purchases, travel
and have fun with friends. She’s never been a Maid of Honor before. According to the Pew Research
Center, millennials are now the largest generation in United States history, and the group continues to
grow as immigrants in this age bracket head to the U.S. CNN reports that the most common age last 1
year in America was 22. The MOH Guide is perfectly poised to capture one of the most coveted 2
segments of today’s market.
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http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2016/04/25/millennialsovertakebabyboomers/
2
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/diversitymillennialsboomers/
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1.3 Target Psychographics
Meet Erin…
Erin and her friends work hard and they like
to play hard. She gives her all to everything
she does and everyone she meets. That’s
part of the reason she’s such a valued
employee and friend. Erin is a great leader
and is seen that way by her coworkers,
friends and family members. She values the
quality of her relationships and has
remained great friends with her group of
girls from high school and her sorority sisters
from college. Thanks to her avid use of social
media, this has been pretty easy. She and
her friends constantly use Snapchat to share
their days with each other and update
Instagram and Facebook with pictures of
their fastpaced lives. Pinterest is a guilty
pleasure for Erin and it’s where she loves to
find inspiration for decorating her apartment
and putting together outfits. Erin’s
interested in staying up on the top trends so
she’s fashionable when she goes out and
chic & professional at work.
Erin is who we have in mind when designing, writing and curating content for the MOH Guide. Though
Erin herself is fictional, she’s a combination of the three of us and our best friends. Because we know
our target audience so well (since we are our target audience), we will be able to identify content that
is both relevant and informative for our firsttime MOHs. Erin will care about the content she finds on
the MOHGuide.com, because she knows it’s specifically designed for her and the life experience of
being a Maid of Honor. The blog posts she reads and the videos she views will remind her of herself
and her best friends. We’re informative but familiar. Our ability to identify with our audience will also
help guide us toward advertisers who are relevant for our readers and can provide them value in
products and other services. These insights will also help us maximize our value to our advertising
clients.
1.4 Competition Who?
According to business analysis site IBISWorld, the U.S. wedding industry is worth approximately $58
billion and is growing at a steady clip. More than 550,000 American businesses contribute to this
robust market. Despite these staggering statistics, there is not a onestopshop place for firsttime 3
Maids of Honor to consult regarding the howtos of the job.
Many sites, such as TheBach.com, TheKnot.com, the Wedding Party App and
UltimateBacheloretteParty.com, have elements helpful for bridal party members, but none focus
completely on the MOH and her duties. For example, Ultimate Bachelorette Party singularly focuses on
the party aspect, and much of that content is geared toward hiring exotic dancers and similar prurient
content. The site is not particularly geared toward the MOH, but rather any of the bride’s friends who
are planning to help with the modernday bachelorette party. The site acts as a wedding city guide for
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http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=2008
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specific U.S. cities like Chicago, Miami and New York City. Similarly, TheBach.com is locationbased for
select cities and helps planners select the venue and itinerary for the bachelorette party as well as send
customized invitations through the site. The site is extremely functional and is able to be personalized,
because users are required to login to access all of its features. Like the Ultimate Bachelorette Party,
the site is geared only toward a friend’s role of party planning.
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On the other hand, TheKnot.com does offer a onestopshop for wedding information — but the
information is particularly tailored for the bride, not the Maid of Honor. The Knot is a household name
in the wedding industry for brides and is a crucial resource for all things wedding planning. The MOH
Guide is this but for the Maid of Honor. Our content verticals are very similar in that the MOH Guide
features information about etiquette, clothing, parties and more. Though The Knot would be
considered competition in the wedding industry, we could see partnering with The Knot to expand our
site’s reach and cross promote services.
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We would be remiss if we did not mention Pinterest as a competitor. Brides and Maids of Honor alike
have taken to the social media platform to visually plan their weddings and associated events.
Pinterest, like The Knot, can be noted as a competitor but also a site with value to the MOH Guide. A
large part of our social media marketing strategy will involve Pinterest and making sure our content is
prevalent for wedding users.
2. Content
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http://www.ultimatebacheloretteparty.com/
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http://thebach.com/
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https://www.theknot.com/
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The MOH Guide will feature eight content verticals (listed below), each subdivided into more specific
categories. As the site will be run using the popular Wordpress platform, we will take advantage of the
cataloging system inherent to the platform and tag each of our posts with the appropriate keywords
which will allow our customers to find content easily both on the site and via search engines.
2.1 Verticals Explained
Timeline The Timeline vertical will provide the Maid of Honor comprehensive timelines of when she
needs to complete her duties, aiding in time management and stress relief. For example, two timelines
that we will feature will be the “Bachelorette Party” timeline as well as the “Bridal Shower” timeline.
These timelines will adjust to fit each user’s needs based on the date of the wedding and season.
● Headline 1: “May wedding? Start planning NOW!” published on January 20th [article]
● Headline 2: “How to manage your time between work, friends and planning a bridal shower”
[article]
Party The Party vertical will allow for us to publish all things related to the bachelorette party! We’ll
include information on games, locations, travel, themes and souvenirs! It will allow for the Maid of
Honor to easily plan a detailed bachelorette party without having to worry about forgetting key events.
● Headline 1: “Nashville quickly becoming top destination for bachelorette parties!” [listicle]
● Headline 2: “Top 10 items you must bring to the bachelorette party” [listicle]
Shower This vertical will allow the Maid of Honor to find planning guides on how to throw bridal
showers and wedding showers. We will have checklists, recipes, decoration DIY ideas and more.
● Headline 1: “Paper vs. Evites — which is better?” [article]
● Headline 2: “How to make big batch cocktails that a crowd will love” [video]
Wedding Day The Wedding Day vertical will be the Maid of Honor’s guide to making sure her best
friend is having her best day. We’ll have tips and tricks to making sure the bridesmaids’ dresses fit
perfectly from pinning back loose straps to getting rid of stains on chiffon in addition to making sure
the music is perfect, the mimosas are chilled and the bride is happy!
● Headline 1: “How to fix a zipper in a pinch” [video]
● Headline 2: “How to fix a ruined updo” [video]
Etiquette The Etiquette vertical will allow for the Maid of Honor to navigate this delicate time with
her best friend. Whether she needs to delegate duties, moderate tension within the wedding party or
deal with bridezillas and momzillas, we’ve got her covered!
● Headline 1: “How to convince the slacker bridesmaid to order her dress” [article]
● Headline 2: “Money’s a delicate topic, how to approach the cost of your duties with the bride”
[article]
Gifts Under the Gifts vertical, we will utilize Amazon wishlists and registries to aid our Maid of Honor
customers in their planning process. It’s important to find the perfect gift for each event, and we’ll help
make the selection for our customers. This vertical will also for us to utilize affiliate links and
sponsorships.
● Headline 1: “10 items every bride wishes she had on her registry” [listicle]
● Headline 2: “20 reasonably priced pieces of lingerie your bestie will love” [listicle]
City Guides It’s difficult to find city guides that are targeted to women, so we decided to make our
own to allow the Maid of Honor to choose a destination for the bachelorette party or weekend. We’ll
have sponsored content on the city guides that will provide us with a revenue stream and we will also
include hotels, restaurants, bars and other activities in those specific cities.
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● Headline 1: Nashville City Guide [listicle/article mashup]
● Headline 2: Miami City Guide [listicle/article mashup]
Blog The blog portion of our website will allow us to publish a lot of different types of content in
addition to allowing “guest bloggers” (past Maids of Honor who have used our website) to publish
posts. We will be able to post crowdsourced photos and articles. We’ll be able to post a variety of
content including tips from recent MOHs, celebrity weddings, fitness regimens and more!
● Headline 1: “How to get toned arms in 6 weeks” [video]
● Headline 2: “Lauren Conrad threw her best friend a dreamy, L.A. bridal shower” [article]
2.2 Spotify Playlists
The MOH Guide will feature custom Spotify playlists for our customers to enjoy and to use during their
weddingrelated events. We will have playlists for the bridal shower, bachelorette party and more. The
music will be appropriate for each event, creating the atmosphere and allowing for the Maid of Honor
to worry about one less detail during her duties. While we won’t be advertising on Spotify, the free
playlists will allow for other Spotify users to find us and for us to gain more exposure when the MOH
plays the music during the events — we think this word of mouth strategy will be beneficial to us and
our brand.
2.3 Video Strategy
Howto guides lend themselves best to a video format. The MOH Guide will focus on video as a main
aspect of our content. We will mainly utilize YouTube, as the platform is one of the most popular
search engines in the world. According to YouTube, the platform reaches more people ages 1834 on
desktop and mobile than any cable network in the U.S. Most of our videos will be between 6090 7
seconds long and will be set to music. If we do have speakers or narration, we will be sure to use closed
captioning so our viewers can watch without sound, a trend that is growing on social media. Closed
captioning will also make sure that all of our content is compliant to the accessibility standards set
forth for the web.
Below are some examples of the types of videos we will create:
● How to arrange flowers
● How to create centerpieces
● How to break in high heels
● How to ice a cake & other recipes — this video may be up to 3 minutes long
● How to create the perfect cocktail to impress
● How to make bigbatch cocktails
Though all videos will be placed on YouTube prior to being embedded on the MOHGuide.com, we will
upload and share that same video content to Facebook and Twitter, depending on where that
particular video best fits. We want to take advantage of YouTube’s robust advertising and analytic
capabilities — it’s also beneficial for us to keep all of the ad marketing through Google. As we are using
Google’s DFP (DoubleClick for Publishers) for our desktop and mobile display ads, we will also utilize
Google’s tools for preroll and video advertising. We will have 15second preroll ads in front of our
videos, and then we’ll use YouTube cards at the end of each video so our viewers can be directed to
other videos on our channel and/or be directed to our website for more relevant content.
We will also create sponsored video content. For example, we can partner with Hendrick’s Gin to
create a video about how to make bigbatch cocktails or we can partner with King Arthur Flour (a big
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https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html
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social advertiser) to create recipe videos. The possibilities are endless, and it will be beneficial to both
us and the advertiser as we can leverage each other’s internet presence and social media audiences.
3. Website Implementation
Our site will utilize Wordpress as its content management system (CMS). Wordpress is a simple and
effective platform that allows for a quick set up and a customization of thousands of themes. As a CMS,
it allows for easy and quick publishing, which is crucial to us as we will be updating content multiple
times each day. The blog can be updated and maintained by our various writers without having
previous experience or knowledge of the platform. Wordpress also affords us the ability to create
different profiles for content creators, in which they will have access to their own material to edit and
update without interference or interaction with other areas of the site.
Its detailed API system lets us integrate and manage the various APIs we will have active on our site as
well as manage the plugins and widgets needed to customize our functionality. As previously
mentioned, we will utilize HubSpot’s Leadin widget for Wordpress to build our email lists, analyze our
users and integrate various social media platform APIs.
We also feel we will be able to better optimize our SEO using Wordpress since all of its sites are
natively optimized for mobile and Google puts a focus mobile sites when serving search results. Other
CMS platforms, such as Drupal or Joomla!, would alter our mobile site to m.mohguide.com. With
Wordpress, our mobile site is nearly identical in content to our desktop version and will retain the
same URL, look and feel by being fully responsive. By not altering our site’s URL, our SEO will not split
and it will be easier to track.
3.1 Affiliate Program
Our site will not feature an ecommerce component. Instead, we will utilize affiliate links to generate
revenue from both our advertisers and brands we suggest independently. We will be utilizing
Skimlinks’ technology to operate our affiliate program for consumer products. Skimlinks offers a
lowhassle approach to affiliates that does not alter the way we publish our content nor the user’s
shopping experience once they click the link and leave our site. We have the option of uploading
Skimlinks’ JavaScript to our site, which will run independently from our page load and will not interfere
with any of our site’s software, or their API which will generate site specific links. The larger reservation
websites we will be working with like Expedia, Travelocity and OpenTable run their own individual
affiliate programs that we will enroll in as well. These programs also offer a low maintenance approach
by simply requiring link generation, or in OpenTable’s case, a small embedded button on our site to
bring the customer to the restaurant’s website.
3.2 Mobile Optimization
The major benefit of using Wordpress as our CMS is the ease of creating a mobile optimized site.
Wordpress has many plugins available that can customize our content to create the best mobile
version, and to do this, we will use WPtouch Mobile Plugin. This plugin instantly adapts our site to a
mobile friendly, responsive website that passes the Google mobile test, helping boost our SEO. The
widget would appear on our dashboard with an easytonavigate admin panel, allowing us to
customize the site’s appearance without altering any of our original source code. Our mobile
homepage will have similar features as our desktop site with a featured top story and top header
premium static ads. However, on mobile, our homepage will have an endless single column scroll and
an expandable hamburger menu located in the upper left hand corner. Our mobile vertical pages will
be a single column ending scroll with contentrelevant ads placed within the articles and recent and
sponsored posts located at the bottom of the page.
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4. Search Engine Marketing
Paid search is a crucial aspect of the MOH Guide’s marketing strategy. The average number of Google
searches per second is 2.3 million. With staggering statistics like this, any business looking to be 8
successful can’t ignore these numbers. Plus, as a business in the vast wedding industry, we have to
utilize search engine marketing (SEM) to cut through the noise of other, lesser content sources to make
sure our readers get the information they want in the fastest and most efficient way.
4.1 Keyword Targeting
The MOH Guide features a range of topics that will provide us with keywords to target each of our
content verticals. Our main keywords and phrases will be Maid of Honor, Bridal Shower, Bachelorette
Party, Wedding Etiquette, Wedding Speeches, City Guides and Wedding Timeline. We will also use
secondary keywords and phrases as well as Boolean searches to target people searching for more
specific categories or using alternate verbiage: “Maid of Honor” or “speeches”, Bachelorette Party
Trips, Destination Bachelorette Party, Bachelorette Party Games, Bachelorette Party Supplies, “Girls
Trip”, Girls Night Out, Bridal Shower Games, Wedding Gifts and Bridal Shower Gifts.
We want to base our SEM efforts around wedding season to maximize effect. Events like bachelorette
parties and bridal showers are planned months in advance, since peak wedding season starts in June
and ends around mid October, we want to go heavy on paid ads in results for keywords such as Bridal 9
Shower Ideas and Bachelorette Party Ideas beginning heavily in April and lightening up around the end
of September.
Keyword Monthly Traffic Keyword Monthly Traffic
Bachelorette Party 201,000 Maid of Honor Speech 27,100
City Guide 14,800 Bridal Shower Ideas 40,500
Maid of Honor 49,500 Wedding Timeline 9,900
Bridal Shower 110,000 Bachelorette 823,000
Wedding Speeches 22,200 Bridal Shower Gift 6,600
Wedding Etiquette 12,100 Wedding Gift 165,000
Girls Night Out 74,000 Bachelorette Party Games 27,100
4.2 Search Engine Sample Ads
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http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/bythenumbersagiganticlistofgooglestatsandfacts/
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http://www.brides.com/blogs/aislesay/2014/04/aretherecheapermonthstogetmarried.html
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4.3 Geographic Target Marketing through SEM
Initially, we want to target large urban areas in the United States. The bachelorette party market in the
U.S. is a large one that we are familiar with and want to focus on first. To start, we want to focus on
women in large cities such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Dallas,
Nashville, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Atlanta. These will be the first City Guides we create. According
to an article recently published through Bloomberg, a study through Priceline showed that 32 percent
of people who have recently been involved in a wedding have spent $850 or more on hotel or airfare
to attend a bachelorette or bachelor party. Many of these parties take place in these larger U.S. cities,
since millennials tend to move away from home and spread out across the country. 10
Based on current data, we know we can reach more women in our demographic in these metro areas.
The larger the reach, the more likely we are to engage advertisers. In addition, the median income for
millennials in these cities is higher, and we are looking to target women who have the disposable
income to plan bachelorette party trips or a more expensive “staycation.” After we begin to gain
footing in these areas, we hope to move into secondtier cities such as Minneapolis, Detroit and
Orlando. These cities garner smaller impressions and a lower median income. In these cities, we will
focus on advertising for discounted incity activities or the deals in the closest big city.
5. Social Media Strategy
Social media will be an important part of our marketing strategy and a key way to deliver our content
to existing and new customers. We will be releasing new post updates, links to travel guides and other
tips for Maids of Honor regularly across our social media channels. All posts will be relevant to our
customers, and they will link back to our website. We will tag sponsors in posts to foster strong
relationships; we also want our sponsorships and ads to be subtle yet transparent.
Building an audience on social media is a challenge for all new ventures. We will create ads on
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest. Creating ads and promoting content on these
social media platforms will allow us to build an audience where that audience already exists. We will
refrain from launching our website or social media channels until we have populated substantial
content on our pages — we’re certain that we’d have a high bounce rate if our customers were
directed to a sparsely populated page. We will need to keep our content and social media channels
updated with new and engaging content; it’s easier to engage with a brand on social and there’s a
lower chance of a customer “unliking” or “unfollowing” us on our social media channels than there is
of them “unsubscribing” to our emails.
We will be using Hootsuite as our social media management and listening tool. We’ll utilize the
#MOHGuide hashtag on both Twitter and Instagram as well as using Boolean searches in our social
listening strategy. We plan to use this Boolean search to monitor and listen for chatter regarding
bachelorette parties:
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20160601/itsmoreexpensivetothrowabachelorpartythanabachelor
etteparty
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(bachelorette OR "bachelorette party") AND (dancing OR fun OR drinking) AND (“New York
City” OR Nashville OR “Chicago” OR “Los Angeles” OR “San Francisco” OR Miami OR Dallas OR
“Las Vegas” OR “New Orleans” OR Atlanta)
5.1 Facebook
Our Facebook strategy will consist of using promoted posts, implementing Instant Articles and sharing
content that will lead our audiences back to our website and help us build our email marketing list. We
want the Facebook space to be a platform for conversation and sharing. We will publish relevant and
timely articles to our audience members. We will gauge success with Facebook through the number of
shares, comments (both positive and negative) and seeing audience growth and engagement. We’ll be
able to analyze engagement growth and audience behavior using the robust data that Facebook
Insights provides.
It’s also important for us to implement Instant Articles on Facebook as they will allow for our users to
click on a link and read the article without taking them away from the Facebook app. Our main goal is
to get users interested in our content so they sign up for emails and share our content via social media
platforms. Website views are important, but ideally, we want our users to read our content and stay
loyal to our brand as a whole. Below on the left, you’ll see an example of a MOH Guide rightside
Facebook advertisement. On the right, you’ll see a sponsored page Facebook newsfeed advertisement.
5.2 Instagram and Twitter
Our Instagram and Twitter strategies will be to post both original and usergenerated content. Our
main hashtag will be #MOHGuide, but we will create other hashtags on campaigns conducted with
sponsors and partners. For example, if we partnered with TheKnot.com to cross promote our wedding
content, we could post The Knot branded content on both platforms as part of the partnership. Down
the road, if we attend bridal fairs or conferences or even want to highlight a particular city, we would
use the hashtag #MOHGuideinLV if we were in Las Vegas or #MOHGuideinDallas — while the
possibilities for hashtags are endless, we want to stay on brand so that our followers and potential new
audience members aren’t confused.
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interstitial ads. The research also showed that nonTwitter users who saw a Twitter Audience Platform
ad expressed about 11 percent more positive sentiment towards the brand advertiser. 11
6. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most important aspects of customer engagement to the MOH Guide.
According to Ascend2, 82 percent of B2B and B2C businesses utilize email marketing as part of their
overall marketing strategy. As a B2C company, the MOH Guide uses email communication to allow 12
visitors to customize the content they receive. We want to make it as easy as possible for our readers
to receive the best Maid of Honorrelated content available on the internet.
6.1 The List
The first step to building a successful email marketing strategy is building the list. The MOH Guide will
do this in a number of ways. First, new visitors and those who are unregistered for the list will see a
popup subscription ad upon arriving on the homepage. The customer is prompted to enter her
information to be able to receive customized emails featuring exclusive content directed for her (see
image below). After entering her email address, the reader is taken to a signup page, where she is
asked for more information about herself, such as name, age, location and date of wedding events like
the bachelorette party and the wedding itself. She then is asked to choose between our content
verticals to select what information she would most like to receive in her inbox as well as how often
she would like to receive emails. She can select between daily, weekly and never/unsubscribe.
The MOH Guide’s desktop and mobile sites also feature prominent “Subscribe” buttons to build our
email list. The “Subscribe” prompts are at the bottom and top of the desktop site on all site pages.
Users also receive prompts at the bottom of each article to sign up to receive similar custom content.
The MOH Guide’s call to action on its Facebook page and through Facebook advertising is to build its
list and drive customers to the MOHGuide.com.
The MOH Guide will use Leadin to help manage customer relationships. Leadin is a specific product 13
developed by CRMleader HubSpot to “track and organize visitors to your website.” We will utilize
Leadin to create the email list subscription forms on our site as well as on our social media platforms.
Therefore, we’ll be able to track our subscribers across multiple platforms in one place. Leadin will
allow us to better understand who are readers are, where they are coming from and what content
they’re viewing before they come to our site.
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https://blog.twitter.com/2015/increaseyourreachonandofftwitterwiththetwitteraudienceplatform
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https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/emailmarketing/2016/01/70emailmarketingstatsyouneedtoknow/
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https://connect.mailchimp.com/integrations/leadinwordpressleadtracking
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6.2 Email Marketing Strategy
The MOH Guide will utilize MailChimp for its email marketing. MailChimp is one of the bestknown
email marketing automation platforms available, and it makes itself accessible to startups and growing
organizations like the MOH Guide. The MOH Guide initially will use MailChimp’s Growing Business
level, which allows businesses to send an unlimited number of emails each month for a starting cost of
$15 per month for 5001,000 subscribers. As we grow, we can easily increase our monthly rate with
MailChimp. Additionally, Leadin’s integration with MailChimp as well as its Wordpress plugin will allow
us to be efficient and direct in our email marketing strategy, only contacting customers about
information they want to receive and when they want to receive it.
6.3 Email Marketing Design
The MOH Guide’s email marketing content will exhibit our strong brand that can be seen across all of
our platforms, both owned and paid (see image below). Upon subscribing to the MOH Guide,
customers will receive a welcome email setting up the expectation for future content. Based on the
personal preferences selected at the time of subscription, subscribers will either receive daily or
weekly emails about the customized content they choose. Visitors will also receive content specifically
targeted around the date of the event they entered upon subscribing on our site. Thanks to Leadin and
MailChimp, we can make sure we’re targeting these customers at the right time.
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7. Advertising Strategy
The MOH Guide plays both the role of advertiser and publisher. Because of this, we will utilize Google’s
multiple Double Click products to help us sell, serve and manage ads on our site as well as purchase
display advertising on other relevant sites as part of our marketing strategy.
7.1 OnSite Advertising Examples
Our hope is to attain advertisers that complement our site’s content verticals. One of our main focuses
is bachelorette trips, so we want to have advertisers such as LasVegas.com, Expedia, Travelocity,
Hotels.com and other websites that offer travel deals and packages. Websites and apps like Yelp,
Citysearch, Foursquare and Uber are also advertisers we will approach for collaboration. Once our
users decide on a destination or plan a party in their city, they will need to find places to go and a way
to get there and back safely. We want to work with Uber to possibly have MOH Guide discount codes
to offer our users in larger cities. For customers utilizing our site to plan bridal showers, they’re the
perfect audience for advertisers such as Party City, David’s Bridal and Amazon’s Wishlist feature.
7.1.1 Desktop Ad Placement
As previously stated, display ad placement on the MOHGuide.com will be done through Google’s DFP.
The MOH Guide will utilize designated advertizing zones, limiting the amount of ad space on our site
thereby increasing the price of each ad. Premium placement will be top banner display ads on both or
desktop and mobile sites. Traditional display advertisements will be featured in the top headers of the
site’s pages as well as integrated within the boxlike design of our homepage content. Our banner ad
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will be static as the user scrolls, until she gets twothirds of the way down the page. Then the ad will
become scrollable along with the rest of the page. Since these ads are more likely to be seen by
readers because they will be viewed by the user longer, they will cost 15 percent more than our
nonpremium placed ads in the sidebars and the bottom of our content pages. DFP allows us to use our
inhouse sales team to reach out to the brands that make the most sense to advertise on the MOH
Guide. Unfilled containers will be served rement ads through Google’s platform.
Within the article pages, display advertising will be fed to banner and rightside boxes, as is traditional
on many publications’ sites. On the desktop version of our site, we will refrain from placing display ads
within article pages. While it ensures that the reader sees the advertisement, we don’t want to disrupt
the flow and readability of our content. We know we don’t like reading articles like this, and we don’t
want to force our readers to do so either. Under our content, we will display sponsored stories from
across the internet, fed by Outbrain, a company that both allows you to place your sponsored content
on other sites to help optimize and drive traffic to your website as well as places ads on your site to
help increase ad revenue on your owned platform. Articles displayed here will be pertinent to our 14
readers and will be from such advertisers as David’s Bridal and GlamSquad.
7.1.2 Native Advertising
The blog section of our publication is where we will host a majority of our native advertising content.
Our blog manager will work with the advertiser to develop an idea and ultimately create the native
content to coincide with our blog’s tone. Native content will generally take the form of a “listicle” or a
short, fun article that highlights the advertiser. Some of this content will be featured on our homepage
and will be marked with “sponsored content” branding. Below are a few examples of potential
sponsored articles:
● “Why Vegas Will Always Have a Special Place in Our Hearts” sponsored by LasVegas.com
● “10 Worst Bridal Shower Themes Ever” sponsored by Party City
● “The 10 90s Songs You Need on Your Bachelorette Party Pregame Playlist” sponsored by Spotify
7.1.3 Mobile Ad Placement
Our site is fully responsive, and therefore the mobile view will feature ads similar to our desktop
version but in a more compressed, stacked format. As mentioned previously, we will use the WPtouch
Mobile Plugin for Wordpress to customize the ad display on our responsive site. Display banner ads will
be placed below our site’s branding and above the first block of featured content (see section 9.2). We
want to refrain from having expanding ads, scrollalong ads and any other ads that will obstruct the
reader’s view of our content or cause them to leave our site. Native advertising and videopreroll will
also be fed to the mobile site.
7.2 MOH Guide Advertising on ThirdParty Platforms
In order to increase our reach, we want to place ads on other weddingrelated sites. For example,
Brides magazine, a competitor that, as expected, focuses primarily on the Bride, has an average of 1.2
million visitors each month, making it a perfect site to help us garner attention. Advertising on sites 15
like this gives us access to more than 1 million brides, who can suggest and share our content with
their Maids of Honor. We also want to look to other smaller wedding planning websites that service
the Bride, such as WeddingBee and A Practical Wedding, to capture a similar audience that may be
looking to less traditional sources.
It is important to us to reach as many women within our target market as possible, which means
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http://www.outbrain.com/amplify#whats_amplify
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http://www.trafficestimate.com/www.brides.com
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We would also integrate an API from Pinterest as that is a popular resource that we know our
customer uses in planning events and fulfilling MOH duties. We would integrate an API from Pinterest
to allow users to pin our articles to their boards — this will allow for the customer to reference our
content at a later date but also extend our influence to their circle of followers on Pinterest.
8.2 Location Interaction
We will use a combination of the Google Maps API and the Yelp API to host an interactive map feature
under our City Guides vertical. For example, our City Guide for Chicago will showcase different hotels,
bars, spas, restaurants, etc. And then we can use the Instagram API to curate photos from past
bachelorette or bridal shower events in that area.
By using Yelp’s API, we’re allowing users to see what's "hot" in the area they're looking to have their
event by reading user reviews or MOH Guide suggestions. The Twitter API will allow us to pull tweets
geolocated within 5 miles of a certain city that use the hashtag #MOHGuide or tag @MOHGuide to
showcase on each City Guide’s subpage. We would also utilize Foursquare’s API to pull photos from
specific checkin locations to display on our site as well as tips that are posted on the site for specific
locations listed on our City Guides. Similarly, APIs for travel and vacation are valuable to our website,
one of our major features is aiding the Maid of Honor in planning bachelorette trips so we would need
APIs from Kayak, Expedia and Travelocity.
Mock Interactive City Guide
8.3 Other Content Uses
We will also pull APIs from Amazon and other retailers for our Gifts vertical to allow us to showcase
products. We’d also have great photos to attach with our affiliate links so our customers are more
likely to purchase the product, as our goal is to become the No. 1 trusted source for Maids of Honor.
We want our customers to trust us in the content we publish but we also want them to trust us enough
to purchase the products we recommend.
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8.4 Advertising & RevenueGeneration Integration
We would also include the Google DoubleClick DFP API to be able to accurately serve the best ads on
our platform. Skimlinks, which we will be utilizing to serve our affiliate links program mentioned in
section 3.1. will be integrated into our site through its Wordpress plugin.
8.5 Analytics Integration
To measure our success, the MOH Guide must be able to track and analyze site usage. We will do this
in two ways: through integrating Google Analytics with a Wordpress plugin and by using HubSpot’s
Leadin, mentioned above in section 6.2 under Email Marketing. It may seem like overkill to use both of
these great analytics products, but Leadin’s CRM integration will help us immensely when it comes to
targeted email marketing campaigns. And it goes without saying that the data provided by Google
Analytics is invaluable to any growing business.
9. Site Design
Clean, pretty aesthetics is a huge draw for the MOH Guide reader, who appreciates the finer things.
Both our desktop and mobile site versions exhibit this style.
9.1 Desktop Homepage
The desktop version of the MOH Guide is imageheavy as to appeal to our readers’ aesthetics. The
main image is a threeimage rotator where we can feature our top content. Below, the page is
designed in box format, much like Pinterest and Mashable. This is to make our content readable and
easy to find. Additionally, we want to make sure our social media platforms are front and center, so
they are located on the top of all of the pages as well as in the footer. See the next page for a full
mockup.
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