Have you dreamed of starting your own floral business, but can’t quit your day job?

To casual flower enthusiast, the notion to go into business with flowers can be quite compelling. But how do you manage a floral start-up when you have bills to pay? How do you turn your dream of running a floral business into a successful part-time gig?

The objective is to be a successful part-time floral designer so that one you day you can quit your day job and focus on florals full-time. With work and dedication anything can be accomplished, but what can you do to make sure that your passion for flowers stabilizes you and allows for a creative outlet regardless if you still need to work your part-time job to make ends meet?

Image via Instagram by @lucytheflower

 How Is Your Flower Designing?

The most important job criteria for establishing a successful flower business is floral designing. Do you know how to design flowers? Of course, every florist has their own technique or signature style, but there is an art to designing flowers. It always looks easier than it actually is. If you are not knowledgeable in the 5 main principles below, see our Flower Design 101 article.

1. Balance
2. Harmony
3. Proportion
4. Movement
5. Unity

Remember that designing flowers is more than just arranging them, you must also understand proper prepping for longevity.

If you feel you may not be a professional-level floral designer, please take classes or find a mentor at a local flower shop. This is the first, most basic key to your success as a floral designer.

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 What Are Your Floral Business Goals?

Since we’ve established you would like to have a floral business part-time, what type of floral services do you plan to offer? There is a difference between running a successful flower event business than one for everyday flowers.

Establishing a part-time floral event company is a lot easier than doing a full-service everyday flower business on a part-time schedule.

Sketch out your goals on paper for your floral business and decide which model you’d like to pursue.

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 Have You Marketed For Flowers?

Ah, marketing! It may seem like a subject you need a degree in. Marketing means promoting and selling your products and services which includes market research, public relations, and customer support. So essentially think of it as beefed-up advertising.

Prior to launching your business, make sure that you have the basis for full-fledged marketing of your floral brand by signing up with social media sites.

Another thing to consider is running a Google Ad.

• Domain name
• Website 
• Facebook 
• Twitter 
• Google Bussines
• Yelp 
• Instagram 
• Pinterest 
• Snapchat 

This is the beginning of your marketing journey—remember, marketing your business does not end and needs to be done consistently.

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 Florals as a Past-time?

In order for your floral business to work, you should not think of it as a hobby. We all enjoy our own special hobbies like crafting, gardening, hiking and so on, but in order to turn your floral business into a profitable successful business, it needs to be more than just a hobby.

You need to invest your time and energy in promoting during your time, not at your day job.

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 Are You Ready to Be a Floral Professional? 

Running a part-time floral business is doable and if you have a talented creative floral designing skill, proper planning, marketing, tools, and space is needed. There have been many famous successful florists who started in their kitchen part-time and now have successful flower storefronts.

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Floranext understands that this can be a sensitive topic for florists who pour a lot of their personal time, energy, and money into their flower business brick and mortar. Our goal was simply to give amateur designers who may be interested in the florist industry a sense of the work and dedication it takes to become a successful full-time florist.

We know as well as you that floristry is not a trade one should enter into lightly, and we also understand that florists can be competitive. However, we do not like to discourage people with a dream who may not be in a financial position to achieve it yet, and we welcome all with a passion for floristry to help grow our industry.

Florists, do you have any important advice or feedback for florists who love flowers but can’t quit their day job just yet? Please share your feedback any related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

You’ve adjusted your branding to attract Millennials, but is your flower shop ready for the rising Generation Z?

According to Forbes, by 2020 Generation Z—people aged 22 or younger—will account for 40% of all consumers. If you start planning your Gen Z marketing strategy now, you’ll be ready when this generation starts entering the workforce and expanding their consuming habits.

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Engaging Gen Z

Gen Zers are known for their ability to multitask with their devices. It is important to take this into account when doing your floral marketing—a simple social media ad or promotional Youtube video may not be impactful enough to grab their attention. Ironically, this means Gen Zers have a higher tolerance for social media ads than previous generations.

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Getting To Know Gen Z

Knowing your consumers is the most important part of marketing to them.

As a generation, Gen Zers are diverse and culturally open-minded. They downplay traditional gender roles and want to make a difference. They also have goals—some call them “dreamers,” but often in a positive way—they will not let anyone stop them from following their passions.

So what can the floral industry do to grab their attention? You can start by brushing up on their preferred social media. Gen Z uses different social media platforms for different kinds of activity.

• Facebook: Used mostly for information
• Instagram: Displaying their ambitions—Instagram is the most popular platform for building a personal brand and for brand discovery
• Snapchat:  Sharing snapshots of daily life
• Twitter: News source
• Youtube: Entertainment and instructional/tutorial videos
• Pinterest: Inspiration

Instagram and Snapchat are sometimes called “intimacy builders,” making these platforms the best way to showcase your floral ads, with Facebook close behind.

Knowing the ways in which these social media platforms work for the Gen Zers is a way of tailoring your marketing to work for them. Remember to always be authentic as well!

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An Open-Minded Generation

Gen Z is one of the most open-minded and diverse generations, with a famously nonjudgmental mindset and a spirit of tolerance. Floral professionals should take note and create captivating social media ads that are socially diverse.

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Mobile-Friendly Floral Websites  

If your floral website is not responsive or otherwise mobile friendly, get it optimized as soon as possible. Gen Zers spend lots of time on their mobile devices, and other devices (including computers!) are secondary. Make sure your floral website is mobile responsive.

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Gen Z Do-Gooders

Gen Z is all about making a difference, from helping the environment or buying for a cause. Gen Z likes doing good for the economy, the environment, and their community.

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Let’s face it, branding flowers is not always easy. However, with social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest the floral industry is making huge waves, and in the last few years the growth has been tremendous.

Gen Zers are taking notice of the beautiful floral designs on tablescapes, events, and birthdays.  Gen Zers appreciate flowers and inspiring designs, it’s up to the floral professionals to update their marketing and flower shop for this tech-savvy generation. Lacking social media will certainly affect your floral business in years to come. Online floral branding is key for the survival of your flower business.

Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

We all know how significant reviews are for our floral businesses—over 85% of customers base their purchases on reviews they see online.

Unfortunately, many satisfied customers will not leave a review, but you’ll always hear from the naysayers. This is why florists pull their hair out over negative reviews. Our goal is to encourage you to proactively seek customer reviews, not wait for them.

Online reviews are here to stay, and good or bad reviews are overwhelmingly important for the success of your flower business, the only way to grow your flower business is with reviews, and the best way to combat negative online reviews is with positive reviews.

With some florists now entering their slower months of the year, now is a great time to start building a strategy for garnering more online customers reviews.

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1. Offer Discounts for Floral Reviews

The power of a discount, don’t believe me, try it for your self. The task can be as simple as adding a notice on your counter or florist website. The sign can say something along the lines of, “Google & Yelp On-the-Spot Reviews get $5 off.” If you really need the reviews, offer a $10 discount. Remember, this is all part of marketing and can be written off.

Good to Know: While at a big box home store, at the end of the sale I was invited to leave my cashier an online review for a chance to win $500 gift card. Although the chances I would win this gift card were slim, it did encourage me to leave a review and the store only foots the bill for a single gift card.

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2. Be Direct—Request a Review!

While we’re thankful for the customers that give us positive online reviews without asking, let’s face it—most of the time customers are not privy to online reviews or aware of the impact they have, therefore we must be direct and simply ask.

• Ask customers after a sale, either by phone or in person
• Be sure to ask customers on your floral website
• Email customers with a link to review your flower shop with website order confirmation
• Be blunt and post links on social media to your review pages asking for reviews

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3. Make Leaving a Floral Review Easy and Accessible

We all think customers know how to leave reviews online, the fact is that some do and most don’t or rather not take so much effort. Make the process for reviewing your floral business easy and we mean as easy as ultimately possible.

• Have a direct link on your website to your review page; the home page is great, however using this link on multiple pages improves visibility
• Have an iPad or another device at your counter with your review page open and ready for action
• Send monthly or quarterly emails to your customers to review you with a direct link to your review page
• Add your social media address to your business cards—make sure your social media has all the appropriate links to your review pages

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4. Be Responsive When You Get a Floral Review

When getting reviews—good or bad—you must respond either with a grateful “thank you,” or with your version of the story. Nothing entices customers to leave a review more than when they see the business is acknowledging your interactions. Feeling they got the owner’s attention and feedback can be very gratifying to customers.

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Some Ways Reviews Help Your Floral Business Thrive

• High SEO impact, making your brand stand out from competitors on search engines
• Reviews can show on online search engines lists raising your placement
• Influences consumers into making a purchase
• Offers business credibility

Getting a Bad Review

This all said, we don’t want you to dwell on the occasional negative review. Yes, they can be annoying and even flat-out untrue, however having a good balance actually ranks your brand best. The key is a few poor reviews, with appropriate non-defensive response with good reviews, makes your business look legitimate, and also shows you care enough to respond and ultimately that is what customers want to see. Click here to learn more about the ways bad reviews can be helpful.

 

For florists who would never think of asking for reviews, it good to start building reviews into your everyday business tactics, just like asking a customer if they would like an add-on or upgrade. We cannot emphasize enough how important these are in building your online reputation and brand.

Florists, do you have any advice or questions regarding online customer reviews? Please share your feedback, tips, or questions in the comment section below.

Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

The Results Are In!
Floranext Valentine’s Day 2018 Survey Results

Thank you all for participating in our Valentines Day 2018 Survey. We had an overwhelming number of responses, and your feedback is very valuable in determining the floral industry’s success and helping other florists as well as new and upcoming florists.

We surveyed over 10,000 florists. Approximately 90% of participants were located in the US and Canada.

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Q1. When did you start receiving orders for Valentine’s Day?

Week of Jan 28-Feb 3

#1 Answer with 40.5%

#2 Answer, Week of Feb 4 – Feb 10 (28.4%)
#3 Answers (virtual tie), Week of Jan 7- Jan 13 and Week of Feb 11- Feb 14 (8.1%)

Q2. What was your top-selling product this Valentine’s holiday?

Red Roses (dozen)

#1 Answer with 47.3%

#2 Answer, Mixed flowers in vase (32.4%)
#3 Answer, Wrapped bouquet (6.8%)

Q3. Would you say the 2018 Valentine’s holiday was better than last year for sales?

Yes 

#1 Answer with 66.2%

#2 Answer, No (25.7%)
#3 Answer, Don’t Know (8.1%)

Q4. How many more orders did you receive this year?

26-50 

#1 Answer with 18.9%

#2 Answer, 51-100 (16.2%)
#3 Answer Tied, Don’t know and 101-200 (8.1%)

Results were very close!

Q5. How many new employees did you hire this Valentine’s season?

2 Drivers – 1 Front of Store & 2 Floral Designers 

#1 Answer with 64.8%

#2 Answer, 3 drivers – 2 runner – 1 front of store -4 floral designers (24.3%)

#3 Answer, 5 + drivers (8.6%)

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Q6. Did you receive more website Valentine’s Day orders this year than last year?

Yes

#1 Answer with 56.8%

#2 Answer, No (23%)
#3 Answer, Don’t know (20.3%)

Q7. How many more website orders did you receive this Valentine’s holiday?

50-100

#1 Answer with 48.8%

#2 Answer, 25-45 (18.9%)
#3 Answer, 100-200 (17.3%)

Q8. About how much did you spend on wholesale flowers this Valentine’s holiday?

Tied, $2501-$3500 & $7001 – $10,000

#1 Answer with 24.3%

#2 Answer, $5001 -$7000 (18.9%)
#3 Answer, $3501-$5000 (14.9%)

Q9. Did you rent an extra delivery vehicle/truck this Valentine’s holiday?

No

#1 Answer with 82.4%

#2 Answer, Yes (17.6%)

Q10. Did Valentine’s Day falling on a Wednesday this year make a difference?

Yes 

#1 Answer with 52.8%

#2 Answer, Not sure (26.8%)

#3 Answer, No difference (20.5%)

Some write-in responses:

“I think it worked out well for us. Instead of going out to dinner or going away for the weekend, we sent more flowers.”

“Pros – we had two business days during the week to take orders and crank arrangements. Con – it was REALLY hard to talk customers into allowing for early deliveries on Tuesday.”

“Yes. Best day ever!”

“Not that I can tell.”

“Yes – always busiest on a Wednesday.”

“No difference from Tuesday.”

“Much better this year but ALL the deliveries were on the 14th whereas in previous years they were spread out a little more. The day gave guys more time to order on Monday & Tuesday so we saw an increase in sales there. They tend not to order as much over the weekend.”

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Q11. If your floral business is in the US, what region of the country do you serve?

Midwest

#1 Answer with 28.8%

#2 Answer, Northeast/New England (26%)

#3 Answer, South (16.4%)

#4 Answer, West (9.6%)

Q12. If your floral business is in Canada, where is it located?

Ontario

#1 Answer with 63.6%

#2 Answer, British Columbia (18.2%)

#3 Answers (tie), Alberta and Manitoba (9.1%)

Q13. If you are not located in Canada or the US, where is your floral business located?

Australia

#1 Answer with 8.1%

#2 Answers, Kuwait and Singapore (2.7%)

We hope these 2018 Valentine’s results helped you in gauging your sales this holiday against the wider industry! Although the answers varied it is wonderful to see that most florists were successful with more sales this holiday and more website orders.

Florists, do you have any important feedback on how your 2018 Valentine’s Day faired? Florists would love to hear about it -Please share in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

You are a creative and passionate florist, but have you ever considered specializing?

More and more, floral professionals are opting to focus their love of flower design into only catering to wedding/events flower arrangements. Specializing as an event florist can be very advantageous as it allows you to fully build your brand and perfect your craft. If you are currently a full-service florist then perhaps you may want to consider maximizing your wedding/event profits. In the US alone there is an average of 2.3 million weddings, and approximately $72 billion is spent on weddings each year.

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Know How to Design Blooms

If you are reading this blog, then chances are you are already know how to arrange flowers. If becoming an event florist is something new you’d like to explore, the most important thing to do before jumping into floral arranging for events is to learn your craft. Although an exciting career, floral event design can be very demanding. We recommend finding a mentor or working with a local florist or wedding/event floral professional. As easy as floral designing can look, there are principles and techniques that are necessary to follow. Know your basics, know your flowers and develop your skills.

• Find your special design style
• Know your flowers and how to prep them
• Get comfortable with floral tools, knives, wire, tape, etc.

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Establish Your Floral Brand

Marketing is the #1 criteria for your success, so think long and hard about your floral event company name, domain name, and logo. You will need a website—remember, websites are not for just selling products, they build your brand and make your wedding/event company relevant on search engines. Opt for a non-eCommerce floral website to use as a portfolio.

Must-Haves

• Company name
• Logo
• Domain name (be sure to purchase your own domain name) 
• Website
• Blog
• Social media accounts such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter
• Sign up for Google business
• Business cards/marketing materials (t-shirts, totes, pamphlets)
• Clearly consider what type of events you are going to cater to and emphasize all individually on your floral portfolio website (weddings, showers, anniversaries, birthdays, sweet 16, quinceañera, corporate events, weekly hotel or business floral arrangements)

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Keep Your Floral Event Company Organized

Whether working out of a studio or storefront it is important to have organization! Your floral event company starts with supplies, you will not need flowers until the day you are ready to design your booked events, however, you will need basic flower tools, flower cutters, tape, glue, wire, and a floral wedding/event management software to help keep you professionally organized and allow you to estimate and understand your profits.

Make sure your wedding/event proposals include the following:

• Date
• Location(s)
• Color scheme
• Descriptive flower information
• Payment terms
• Cancellation policy
• “Act of God” policy
• Customer signature(s)

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Create an Event Network of Professionals

There is no marketing campaign that compares to word of month, but in order to acquire word of mouth you do need to book some floral events. You can start by creating a network which will recommend your services, perhaps for a discount. Professionals working in conjunction is very convenient for potential customers, and profitable for you with establishing a new floral event company it is a must do. Grab your pamphlets, you professional sassiness and go out and get your self a network of professional business owners which will recommend your services and vice versa.

Consider these Businesses as Network Partners

• Photographers
• DJs/musicians
• Bridal and tuxedo shops
• Hair, makeup, nail salons
• Venues
• Hotels

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Invest in Affordable Paid Marketing

The cost of starting a floral event company is minimal compared to other businesses, however, do set aside some cash for paid marketing. Unless you have potential customers waiting for you to open so they can flood you with bookings, you must invest in some paid marketing campaigns to keep your brand visible and profitable. Results may be immediate depending on location and competition, or may take some time.

The process of marketing is about connecting the dots. No one marketing tool is going to maximize your floral business, however multiple marketing strategies such as social media, word of mouth, brand awareness, professional networking, your personal website, and blogging and paid marketing is sure to result in a successful floral event business (or any business, for that matter).

Consider these low-cost paid options:

• Google AdWords (consider running these during peak times, and keep a budget)
• Join The Knot or Wedding Wire
• If you cant write a blog, hire someone who can (prices range from $100 to $250 per blog, but these are your blogs which can be posted on your website to generate potential customers)
• Facebook ads (Facebook allows you to target a specific demographic)
• Participate in Wedding/Bridal shows
• Post an online video

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Did You Know…

• Most weddings take place in June, with May, September, and October trailing close behind
• Holiday parties take the #1 spot for corporate events
• There are more birthdays in September than any other month
• Most popular wedding flower is the rose

Florists, do you have any important advice or feedback on starting a floral event design company? Please share your feedback, tips or any floral event related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

“Help, someone left me a bad review online!”

So what do you do? First, remember that any business on Yelp, Facebook, or Google may get an occasional bad review. It’s unreasonable for a florist to expect a perfect 5-star review every time. And sometimes a less-than-perfect review can actually be helpful to your floral business!

But even so, there are a few important steps you should take whenever you receive a poor review online.

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Bad Reviews Can Be Helpful!

Let’s touch on this briefly—unless all your business reviews are bad, a couple bad reviews can actually make your good reviews stand out and look better. It also shows customers that your reviews are real and creates a sense of authenticity.

And of course, a few poor reviews next to many positive ones are not going to deter customers—many shoppers are perfectly comfortable viewing a couple negative reviews as outliers.

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How Should You Respond if Your Flower Shop Gets a Bad Review?

No one is perfect or can be perfect all the time, especially in business when sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. There may have been miscommunication with the customer, late delivery, etc.

One course of action you should avoid is reaching out to the site itself (Google, Yelp, etc.) to ask that they remove a bad review. The ethics of this are questionable and it is almost always unsuccessful. Unless you know the review to be fraudulent or meant for another shop, we do not recommend this approach.

1. Respond to the Review

Regardless if the bad review is authentic you need to respond ASAP. Customers and readers (potential customers) want to see that a negative review did not go unaddressed.

2. Weigh Your Response

It is important to formulate your responses appropriately. You don’t need to offer a full refund in the poor review response, but be sure to read the review and determine the reason for the bad review—is the customer incorrect? Was there miscommunication between you? Was it simply an error on your part?

When communicating with the reviewing customer, consider the points below:

• Don’t be defensive
• Acknowledge the issue
• Protect your brand
• Highlight the positive aspects of your business in your response

If there was poor communication before, this could be an opportunity to make things right.

3. Offer a Resolution Offline

Always offer a resolution offline. There are many possible resolutions to a customer’s issue that can win them back for the long term. In your response, be sure to list contact information to continue the discussion privately. Below is a quick example:

Hi-

I’m the manager/owner of XYZ Flower Shop. We pride ourselves on maintaining the highest quality standards for our customers. We hope you will give us an opportunity to discuss this further. You can reach us at (235)867-5309 or email us at info@xyzflowershop. We hope to resolve this to your benefit and earn you back as a customer.

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4. Don’t Beat Yourself Up

No business owner is invulnerable to bad reviews. The most important thing is to learn something from a bad review and move forward. Florists often take a bad review very personally and should not. Use a bad review to improve your business.

And remember that the online review game isn’t just about waiting for good reviews and fending off bad ones: always encourage satisfied customers to review you. For better or for worse, reviews are often read by online shoppers, so they aren’t going away.

Florists, how have bad reviews affected your floral business? How have you resolved a bad review? Please share your feedback and questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Vanity emails go a long way in branding your floral business.

But are they necessary? If you are still using AOL, Gmail or Yahoo as your business email you are missing out on opportunities to present your brand—as many opportunities as there are emails you send, in fact.

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What is a Vanity Email?

Simply put, a vanity email is an email that includes your floral business/domain name. Generally, if you have a website domain name, you want to use your domain name in your vanity email, for example [email protected] instead of [email protected]. The typical structure is [email protected].

You can set up a vanity email through your domain registrar.

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Why Vanity Emails are a Crucial Addition to Your Flower Business

All your shop’s public personality feeds into your brand, and using a vanity email can help connect the dots from your website to your business communications. Your logo and website are important, but so is the way you project your brand with every communication.

1. Vanity emails help make your business memorable!

A vanity/business email helps to ingrain your business name with these recipients. Creating your email identity making you recognizable. Compare [email protected] with [email protected]: which is more engaging, which is easier to remember? Every impression counts, even through email.

2. Vanity emails create assurance and trust!

Anyone can create a free email account, which can leave email recipients feeling vulnerable. Having a business vanity email helps in solidifying you as a professional business owner giving you/your flower business credibility. As a customer, you can be sure that the [email protected] address was created by the same people who control the flowershop.com website, and all messages you receive from that address are coming from a shop employee.

3. Vanity emails keeps emails organized!

The beauty of vanity emails is that you can create emails for different departments, such as [email protected] and [email protected]. This will help give a clear direction to your customers on who handles specific email content. You will still have access to all these departments, but it will establish an organized response system.

4. Vanity emails are reasonably priced!

Besides these other important benefits, the cost of setting up a vanity email is almost negligible. Marketing/branding for your floral business comes in a lot of shapes and some options are very costly, but having a vanity email is worth every penny you spend. It is also easy to set up through your current domain provider.

Florists, do you have a vanity email? How have vanity emails changed your floral business? Please share your feedback and questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Ever wonder how we came to celebrate Valentine’s Day with roses?

Valentine’s Day is observed all across the world, and many consider this one of their favorite holidays. Celebrating romantic love, friendship, kindness and sweetness with flowers as the #2 most gifted, candy-chocolate #3 and greeting cards being #1.

Image via Google

How Valentine’s Day Began

Saint Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14, but why? The story goes that in Rome around 269 AD, Saint Valentine was performing weddings for soldiers. Saint Valentine was arrested and imprisoned. While imprisoned he fell in love with a jailer’s daughter. Before his execution on February 14, 269 AD, he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a final farewell, and the saying has stuck ever since.

Although a grim story, the association with undying romantic love captured the hearts of hopeless romantics, philosophers, and poets. Around the 14th century, Saint Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day became a tradition in what’s called courtly love. Knights would show their love for the ladies by performing services of nobility and chivalry with handwritten love notes, now better known as greeting cards.

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How Roses Gained a Part in Valentine’s Day

We all know roses—especially red roses—are a quintessential symbol of Valentine’s Day, much like poinsettias represent the Christmas season. But why roses? Florists aren’t complaining, as roses are very hardy and feature a long-lasting bloom. Besides any other flower, roses have historical relevance. It’s amazing how flowers, and roses especially, have resonated with all kinds of people throughout the centuries.

Roses are said to have become linked to Valentine’s Day during the 17th century, with tales of the rose being a symbol of Venus, the classical goddess of love.

Floriography exploded in the Victorian era, making a gift of Valentine’s Day roses a form of communication. In floriography, each rose color represents the giver’s feelings toward the recipient.

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Roses and Their Meanings By Color

Thanks to the conservative, emotionally-reserved nature of Victorian society, one would avoid speaking words of feeling, so the “talking bouquets” of floriography grew tremendously popular.

Below are some meanings of common rose colors:

• Red rose: Romantic love, desire (can be expressed with a single red rose)
• White rose: Innocence and charm
• Mixed red and white roses: Unity
• Light pink rose: Grace
• Dark pink rose: Thankfulness
• Medium pink rose: Happiness
• Lavender rose: Enchantment, love at first sight
• Burgundy rose: Beauty
• Coral rose: Desire
• Orange rose: Fascination
• Peach rose: Modesty, immortality
• Yellow rose: Friendship, joy, gladness
• Mixed colored roses: You’re everything to me

Florists, do you have any Valentine’s Day history or trivia to share? Feel free to leave a comment below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Search History/Google Accounts

Google will harvest as much information as it can. Any content you view in-browser will be cached and may inform your first results, which means sites you visit frequently will show up on top of your SERP.

Any Google accounts you’re logged into—Gmail, Google+, Youtube, etc.—may also affect your SERPs as Google will use this data to bring up search results.

Geographic Location

Did you know all websites you visit can tell where you are located, thanks to your IP address? Search results consistent with your location will most likely be given top priority. Your location information is stored in a cookie in your browser, and this information will factor into all your Google searches. (Cookies are little files stored on your computer that hold information specific to you, like saved passwords.)

Keyword Search

When searching on Google it is important to be consistent with your keywords, however there can still be some slight variation considering the number of search options on Google from content, video, and images. Any minor change in search terms could change your SERP completely.

Google Ads

We all have seen the Google Ads in SERPs, these are pay-per-click ads that can appear on the upper, side or lower page of Google search page. As the position of these ads changes on different devices, it could also affect your SERP results.

Google Data Centers

Every time users do a search on Google, there are data centers across the nation working to process the search result. Google search will gather results from the Google data center that is nearest to the user’s location. Although Google data centers do not affect your floral website search results that often, there may at times be differences in SERP depending on location in between updates.

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So What Are We to Make of All This?

With so many moving pieces, is it even possible to get accurate search engines results? The answer is mostly yes, but sometimes no. Your floral website results should not vary that much from device to device, though fluctuating between a few stops is perfectly normal.

Checking your search engine results daily is not recommended for the many reasons explained above. Google will rank you according to the quality of your website, so make sure you update regularly and work on getting your results organically high on SERPs regardless of the minor fluctuations.

• Engage with social media
• Use backlinks
• Encourage your customers to leave reviews
• Consistently write blog posts
• Update products and content on your website

Image via Shutterstock

How do I see Accurate Results?

The word accurate is used loosely here—remember, the goal is to have a website rich with quality keywords, links, and content. Although search results can be the same for most, they will be slightly different for some. If you want to check your floral website results you can do the following:

• Use a different browser besides the one you use daily
• Go “incognito” on Google Chrome (hold Ctrl + Shift + N)
  • Note: Incognito mode may still draw on location information
• Log out of all your Google accounts, clear your browser cache, cookies, and history
  • Note: This will delete any stored passwords you may have!

In conclusion, there is no magic wand to prevent Googles algorithms from affecting your floral website results, but the most important thing is to be vigilant and give Google what it wants to see. There is no way any of us can control what cookies and history are stored on other users’ devices, however keeping a quality website is more important to raise your organic rankings.