What is SEO, why is it important, and why should florists care?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO refers to the process used to improve a website’s position on search engine results pages (SERPs) on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Having an SEO strategy for your floral business can help draw customers to your website and grow sales and revenue.

Working on SEO can sound like a headache, and there are a lot of myths about SEO, but once you understand the basics you will be on your way to starting your own SEO strategy. Let’s take a minute to review the basics of SEO and understand how search engines like Google rank your business website.

What Are Search Engines?

Web search engines are the software systems we and our customers use to surf the Internet. The top search engines are Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Google commands the largest share among the three, with consistently over 90% market share globally in 2018.

The goal of a search engine is to provide the information you or your customers are looking for and ranking them in order of quality and relevance. There are hundreds of factors that are involved when search engines rank websites in an organic search.

Image via Shutterstock

SEO Components to use on my Floral Website

Here are some important components to use on your floral website that will help rank your website higher on search engines.

• H1 Tags: These are the larger headers that should contain your targeted keywords, ones that closely relate to the page title and are relevant to your content.
• H2 Tags: This is a subheading and should contain similar keywords as the H1 Tags.
• Keyword Density: This is the number of times that the keyword your customers are searching for that appear on your website.
• Meta Description: This is the description you provide search engines in your <meta> HTML tags. The meta description you use for your website should also include the keywords you want your target audience to search for.
• Backlinks: This is when other websites link back to your website by providing your website URL. The more backlinks you have, the better your opportunities are to be higher ranked in your keywords.
• Software Provider SEO Tools – Tools that can help increase SEO rankings like Local Pages, testimonial/review pages, partner pages, etc.

How Does My Floral Website Get Ranked

First off, as with all search engines like Google, they implement a web crawler/algorithm, that goes around the web. It “crawls” around the web, catching keywords to determine the topic and understanding the content of the page and seeks out links in the page, then checking if that linked page is a “reliable” one. 

It can be concluded that if a page links to a reliable page, it has a reliable source and is thus relatively reliable too. It gives a score to this page from that linking. The crawler then goes through all the links in that page and does that scoring until all links are exhausted. After that, the algorithm gives the page its PageRank in that specific keyword. The higher the PageRank, the more likely it is for the page to appear in the first parts of the search engine results pages.

on a side note, Google search results may show some variances depending on browsers and devices.

Image via Shutterstock

When Can My Floral Website be #1

Getting placed on the first page of a Google search doesn’t happen overnight or in a few days, but you can passively accrue traffic to your website by being present in the top 5 searches for your keywords. Your SEO strategy needs to be a continuous process by staying on top of your SEO strategy and make sure that it is up to date.

Your SEO strategy Not only needs to be focused on your current customer base, but potential Customers will be able to find you and your business easily when looking up relevant information that pertains to your business. A good rule of thumb to keep on top of your SEO strategy is to research the tactics used by your competitors.

Florists, Do you have a SEO strategy in place? What do you do to increase your SEO? Please share in the comments below!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

In this age of technology, florists need to step up their design game to stand out from the competition. Below are some design resources for florists to help you brand your business.

As a florist, you have a good idea of what makes a beautiful floral arrangement, and how to communicate with types of flowers and their placement.

The next step is to achieve awareness of your floral brand. You need to look different, striking, and eye-catching to rake in these customers just like your floral arrangements. The question now is, how?

There are many options for graphic design out there, and fortunately he great thing about them is that you can go about it in many different ways, from DIY (Doing It Yourself) to hiring professionals to design your shop’s look. Here is a guide – a set of design resources for florists.

image via pexels

DIY Design Options for Florists

You should understand that doing the design yourself means more than just thinking of the design. You also need to know the technical skills required in using the tools and software needed to make the design. Luckily, these tools are getting easier to learn and use. 

Florist Graphic Design Tools

Design and photo editing software Adobe Photoshop is powerful but the user interface of the program can be overwhelming to first-time or inexperienced users. Thankfully, the Internet is bustling with easy graphic design software:

• Canva
• Piktochart
• Snappa

Image via Shutterstock

The upside of these sites is that they provide templates from which you can start building upon. There’s a huge array of choices available from their catalog, each designed for specific purposes and with modifiable text and/or images. These websites also provide extra graphics assets readily at your disposal. With a theme as flowers, you are sure to have a template or two ready to be edited!

The downside of these is that you have limited control over the assets; most of these websites do not have the full breadth and robust tools that something like Photoshop has. With a badly done design, this can be a disaster. However, you can do most of the work that you want to be done on these sites. Also, free members and guests might need to attribute the design to the website, with some watermark that you don’t want to have. These websites are great for simple work that can be done with a template, and they do it really well.

These websites usually offer these services in memberships, likely in two tiers, a free one and a premium one. Needless to say, free members get limited access to templates and assets, while premium members can access their entire library and even ask for professional help in the website.

image via pexels

Graphic Design Templates for Florists

If you are confident with your editing skills, you probably wouldn’t be here. However, if you are willing to expand your skill set, you can take a swing at learning Photoshop or Illustrator (a similar program, used to open most assets from design sites). You can actually get decent work done after a few YouTube tutorials or so.

Of course, Starting from scratch is a monumental task. You can take a look at several graphic design sites like Freepik and Creative Market and see some templates that you can modify. Graphical assets like icons are also readily available in these sites. You can download these files and modify them in the program, making it into the design you want.

This can be the most taxing option available, because of the nature of these programs that are aimed at professionals. Plus, just like the maker websites, you will need a premium membership to access all their assets. This option is certainly not for quick jobs, but if you want to really do it yourself, then you can just make it yourself.

Image via Shutterstock

Hiring Design Professionals for Your Floral Design Needs

In all honesty, we don’t have the luxury of time to actually do the design ourselves. Plus, the design can easily go horribly wrong in the hands of inexperienced users. Hiring professionals for graphic design services can be quite the number in your financial account, but for the sake of exposure and gaining customers, this can be a worthy exchange.

image via Shutterstock

Contracting a Graphic Designer for your Flower Shop

The easiest way to hire professionals is to go to a freelance website and scroll from the long list of freelancers willing to do your bidding in a heartbeat’s notice.

Consider using a freelance platform like:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Behance
• Dribbble

Upwork and Fiverr have a healthy population of freelance graphic designers that would jump at your job posting. Behance and Dribbble also have designer portfolios, though are harder to navigate. The positive thing about hiring freelance graphic designers is that the price can be relatively cheap, and you can state that they do not hold any rights to the work done.

However, revisions with freelancers are usually also paid, unless stated otherwise beforehand. You need to talk with your freelancer before getting the job done.

The first thing to look for in a freelancer is their portfolio. Freelancers usually have them posted in their profile, and you can also ask for samples during the interview phase. This helps you identify the right freelance graphic designer whose style that you prefer, although most professional designers should be able to do what you want to be done.

Because freelancers work in contracts, hiring them is great for designing quick things like posters for an upcoming promo. Turnaround times are also good because the competition in the market is rather tight. 

Image via Shutterstock

Hiring an Graphic Design Agency or Team for your Flower Shop

This is as professional as professional design can get. These teams offer packaged deals in graphic design, like getting a logo, poster templates, and business cards done for one payment. These deals are also usually very flexible, like letting you order just a logo, or letterheads and business cards. They also allow revisions of the design, in case you didn’t like the first designs.

Out of all the options presented, this one is the one that you can get the most professional designs from. With design teams, one person may be doing the design, but then passed on to another for quality checking in order to maintain a standard set by the team internally.

Well-established teams also have great customer support, in order to create a positive reputation around themselves. Having a design team make your creative works also makes any design to be done, with little to no effort at your side. Of course, this convenience may come at a high price. 

Design teams usually have a dedicated website, and you can easily scroll their portfolio to see if they are a great fit to your job. They are great for having work done about your brand, and they can produce design materials like templates that you can use for the future. Plus, you hold all rights of the designs, so you need not to worry about copyright. 

How to Work with a Designer? Florist Design Requirements

What do you need to be designed? For a field as varied and subjectively beautiful as design, you need to clearly delineate your requirements and express what you want to see in your design.

If you have a particular design in mind, clearly communicate this with your graphic designer:

• Write down a design brief explaining your business and what look and feel you are aiming for
• Find inspiration from the design work of other places.
• You can also do a rough sketch and present it to them.

The idea here is that you explicitly told them of what you expect from them; this helps build a clear understanding of your end-goals.

image via pexels

Floral Design Resources Summary

We hope our how-to guide on floral design resources was useful – there are lots of tools now to design it yourself or hire a professional. But more than ever, for the floral industry branding and design are at the heart of a businesses’ success!

Florists, what are some ways you use graphic design in your business and what options do you use? Please post your comments below!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Halloween is one of the top holidays for business retailers, with sales outperforming every holiday other than Christmas.

An ever-increasing number of individuals share in this fun occasion by spending millions of dollars per year on sweets, home decor, costumes, and more. Couldn’t florists take advantage of Halloween?

Is it because of lack of inspiration or interest, or is Halloween outside the brand? Not everything needs to be in black and white…or purple and orange!

Instagram is a great source of inspiration for some frightening floral arrangements that can generate some interest with customers while helping you stay true to your brand and style.

Arrangement and Image by @houselarsbuilt

Arrangement and Image by @myglendaleflorist

Arrangement and image by @bernsflowersandgifts

Arrangement and image by @violetrosefloral

Arrangement and image by @itsallarranged

Arrangement and image by @sallyrosestudio

Arrangement and image by @bloomandwild_de

arrangement and image by @kendallsflorist

Arrangement and Image by @houselarsbuilt

Arrangement and image by @nwaifdchapter

Florists, are you selling Halloween arrangements at your flower shop? Are you seeing an influx in sales during this holiday? Share your comments below!

Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Florists, were you surprised by the results? How do you get your floral shop ready for the holidays? Please share your recommendations, feedback, or questions below in the comment section. 

Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

A florist POS system is a helpful tool in realizing the goals of a flower shop. With e-commerce now disrupting the floral industry, stores need to adapt. If you are quite uncertain if a florist POS system would improve your business of selling flowers, here are a few things you should know about to help you decide

We would like to say thank you to all the florists who participated in our “What do Florist Recommend?” survey. 

Florists, were you surprised by the results? What would you recommend to customers or other florists?

Please share your recommendations, feedback, or questions below in the comment section.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

In order to grow your business and flourish as a wedding florist, you need leads that can be converted into sales

While floral design is certainly an art, it’s also a business. This is particularly true for those in the wedding floristry industry. One of the most low-cost and effective ways to do that is to bring your wedding bouquets online.

According to The Wedding Report, 50% of brides use the internet to research bridal bouquets. Considering the fact that nearly everyone is connected these days, that should be no surprise. The problem is, your competitors are connected too. So how do you get your wedding bouquets noticed when the web is bloated with competing businesses? Here are a few tips…

Image via Shutterstock

Have a Website With Fully-Optimized SEO

Business cards and flyers can only get you so far. If you want your wedding business to take off, you’ll need an online storefront. A majority of potential clients will be looking for you, so you need to make sure your business is visible online where they can see it.

Once you’ve secured a domain name, make sure your website design is smooth and visually pleasing. Have all your information listed there, and provide your audience with high-quality photos of products or real weddings you’ve designed for. If possible, provide an e-commerce platform so clients can submit their orders online as well as a content plan, like an active blog, that promotes your business.

Your website should also have some sort of menu or guide specifically for weddings, so you can let potential clients know what kind of services they can expect from your business, as well as wedding consultation forms so you can coordinate discuss your terms one-on-one.

A whopping 78 percent of local mobile searches result in offline purchases—that’s right, offline purchases.

That means people who search for your store online will physically go to your store to make a purchase. While that’s not exactly a wedding lead, it’s certainly a testament to the amount of exposure and influence an effective website can have for your business.

Image via Shutterstock

Invest in online marketing

Are people finding your business through Google? Or are they finding you through online ads, like those on social media? Determine which of these gives you the most high-quality leads, or leads that end in conversion, and pad your efforts there. It’s a good idea to make use of google analytics too, which is a free service, to learn more about your customers and potential customers.

A cost-effective way to expand your business’ reach is to make yourself visible on social media, particularly Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The floral business is a very visual, and you can really capture the attention of grooms and brides-to-be with stunning photographs of your handiwork. It’s good to post content on your accounts regularly, like photos, albums, and videos of wedding’s you’ve covered to gain a following and advertise your work. With free tools like Facebook ads, which lets you target specific demographics, you can get quality leads.

You’d be surprised how many leads you can stack up with great content and a bit of social media savvy.

Image via Shutterstock

Put yourself in your potential client’s radar

The first 2 tips have been about establishing your online presence. This last tip is a more targeted approach that puts you in the way of the right audience. If you want to get acquainted with those to-be-wed, consider listing your business in websites like The Knot or Wedding Wire.

Websites like these were made for those planning their weddings. They collate different businesses or vendors who provide wedding services, like florists. If you sign up as a vendor, you can list your business online and make yourself known to these potential brides and grooms. You can create a profile, upload photos of your products, post your social media links, and create your own bio and personal message.

These websites usually have a free version and a paid version. Whether or not you want the paid version depends on you. Review your competition in your region as well as the potential Return on Investment (ROI), and consider if it’s worth it.

At the end of the day, bringing your business online is an affordable and effective way to get your florals on the map and on the radar of potential clients. All you need to do is establish your online presence through your website and social media accounts, fill them with concise info and great content and put them in places where your target audience can find them.

Do this and your business should be blooming online in no time.

Florists, do you have any tips on growing wedding leads? 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.

Would you consider floral designing with marijuana?

image via Instagram via budsandthornsla

It’s very rare that the floral industry makes controversial news, but with the legalization of marijuana in some parts of the world, florists have seen this as an opportunity to market to new customers by offering something a bit risqué and novel in their creative floral designs.

Some say this is their ticket to gain notoriety and bring in more traffic and book more events by offering mariflorals. Yes, that is correct, Marijuana in floral arrangements.

Floral design with marijuana is a fairly new concept in the flower industry—only a handful of floral professionals are taking this leap now, but who knows—this may become the norm in years to come.

Image via Instagram via budsandthornsla

For those who have dabbled in designing with cannabis/marijuana, the results have been positive with delicate flower arrangements incorporating a touch of marijuana, some even say the greens from the marijuana leaves actually create a balanced fusion in their designs. With more customers opting for marijuana in their florals mainly at weddings, the rise for birthday mariflorals is now picking up speed as well.

We grant that while some of you may think this is genius, others may find the idea downright inappropriate, but having awareness of the evolving flower industry is key to keeping us all current.

image via instagram via mother_indica

At this time, due to current State laws in regards to Marijuana, the customer/client will actually need to provide the florist with the marijuana plant itself and must be legal in your area. After your customer provides the marijuana plants it cannot be delivered, it must be picked up by the customer.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational purposes only, we are in no way telling you to incorporate or sell marijuana with your florals. Please check your local laws before designing with cannabis, and do so at your own risk.

image via Instagram via budsandthornsla

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, is your business ready for this busy floral holiday?

Having a decent plan in place to make the most revenue during Mother’s Day is fundamental in receiving every one of the rewards of this bustling blossoming occasion. In this blog, we will go over an agenda to help you during this Mother’s Day holiday.

1. Promote Your Floral Business!

Begin by using your Floral Website and Social Media sites to start marketing your floral arrangements and your business.

Images & Products

• • Post high-quality photos of your work or any specials you are offering during Mother’s Day on your website or Social Media platforms.
  • Don’t forget to link your social media posts to your website!
  • Mother’s Day products should be prominently displayed and easily accessible throughout your website.

Hours & Policies

• Clearly post your shop’s business hours on your website and social media.
• Having clear policies and return/substitution policy will alleviate any headaches for you and your customers.

Promotions & Discounts

• Increase traffic to your store by offering deals or discounts on pickups rather than deliveries.
• List special Promotions. This is a great way to encourage customers to shop early before Mother’s Day week.
• Don’t forget to update your product pricing to cover your costs.

Note: Promoting does not always have to mean discounts. Remind customers why they should order flowers through your business.

2. Staffing, Scheduling and Duties, Oh My!

Making sure you have enough coverage can be overwhelming during the holiday rush. Not to worry, take a deep breath and follow these great tips!

Hiring

• If hiring extra help, offer them a day to come in before Mother’s Day week to go over job responsibilities and training.
• If hiring extra drivers, discuss with them if you require them to use their own vehicle.
• If you can, keep a standby driver at the shop to handle new orders for delivery.

Employees

• Have an employee meeting and discuss what is expected of them during Mother’s Day
• Make sure to explain how important everyone shows up and does what is expected of them.
• Encourage and Praise your employees and floral designers. Its always better to be positive than negative.

Scheduling & Duties

• Have your Mother’s Day week schedule out two weeks in advance. That way there are no surprises to your staff and you have time to make adjustments.
• Go over job descriptions with employees as its always nice to have a reminder of what everyone’s responsibilities are.
• Assign sections for the delivery drivers in specific areas. Add finished flower arrangements to this area with the date of delivery that is bold and clear.

3. Don’t Forget your Flowers & Supplies

Making sure you have enough flowers and supplies to get through the holiday is important.

Supplies

• Start looking around for supplies, containers, baskets and vases weeks before Mother’s Day.
• Visit your local supplier. However, don’t forget to visit discount home stores and dollar stores. You can find some great unique items.
• Don’t settle! Shop around for the best deals on supplies and florals.

Flowers

• Start ordering your Mother’s Day flowers early to get the best value.
• Don’t forget to shop around if you buy from multiple wholesalers.
• If you are comfortable, get your flowers through a floral auction. A great opportunity to get some discounts when purchasing in large quantities.
• Make sure to order flowering plants, orchids, and dish gardens. These are big sellers and require very little work.

Note: if you are new to the floral industry, Mother’s Day spans for a week, not a day. So order enough flowers!

4. Start Prepping & Showcasing your Flowers!

Stay ahead of the game with these prepping and showcasing tips during the busy holiday rush.

Prepping

• Prep your flowers when they arrive.
• Teach your front of store staff how to wire flowers to help cut down the time.
• Cut any ribbon and make bows ahead of time
• Green any vases, baskets or containers.
• No wastefulness! With the abundant supplies and flowers in the shop, it is easy to get sidetracked and be super wasteful. Everything thrown on the floor that can be used should be. Wasting or throwing out even a good pin or wire is considered money out of your pocket. Please be sure to express this to your employees.

Showcasing

• Gather up all your add-ons and gift items and display them prominently in the store.
• Make sure you re-stock your impulse buys on your front counter to sell in addition to flower arrangements.
• Make sure your flower shop and displays are clean and have an inviting atmosphere.
• Remember if Employees have time to lean, they have time to clean!

Work Ahead

• Work a day ahead. Fill any orders for next day the day before. Working a day or two ahead will allow you flexibility just in case there are any last minute orders.
• Place pre-made orders in a cooler, well tagged with date of pick-up or delivery.
• Mark any time sensitive orders and bring those to the front of your cooler.

Note: It helps to have a system that works best for you. However, working on orders per day can feel overwhelming, so staying ahead of the game is always best.

5. Take Care of Yourself

It is important to take care of yourself during this busy Mother’s Day week.

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.It’s best not to wear open toe shoes as this can be an insurance liability in some areas.
• Make sure you eat! Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner are important—don’t skip meals!
• Get enough sleep. No one is at their best with lack of sleep.
• Take mandatory breaks.
• Do not sweat the small stuff. Regardless of how hard you try, there may be a complaint here or there. Do not let this get you down. It’s the nature of the business. The world can’t survive without florists!
• Try to enjoy Mother’s Day week by keeping a journal of all the funny things that happen or mishaps that take place to reflect on for next year.

Tip: Bring in extra shoes and store them in your cooler to remedy those aching feet. 

We would like to wish all florist a very successful Mother’s Day!

Florists, do you have any great Mother’s Days tips to share with our readers? Please post any of your Mother’s Day tips or feedback 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.