We all understand how Pinterest can be a big impact on Florists Business.

With over 150 million users and over 50 billion pins, getting your flower shop brand discovered is easily done on this image social media site.

Pinterest is a great way to create collections of your weddings and get found by brides looking or inspiration. Read more on keyword search terms on #4.

In this blog, we will list the Top 5 Florist Must Do’s for Pinterest to help you market for your floral business.

5. Link Your Pins

Make sure all your pins include a link to your floral website or your blog.

This will drive people to your floral website. We actually advise you to write a blog so you can pin on Pinterest and link back to your blog. This is great for your flower shop brand recognition.

Tip: Consider adding a watermark to your images – ones you have designed and posted. The watermark can be your logo or your shop name. This will keep your floral business/website visible and promote your brand. This helps keep others from using your image without your consent, as mentioned in last weeks blog.

4. Vital Pin Captions

Think about your Pin captions and make sure they are specific with searched keywords. Most Pinterest users use the search with specific keywords (example “bridal bouquet” “mother’s day flowers” ). Make sure to add captions to all your pins and think about the content you are writing, making sure it is relevant to your floral business.

image via Floranext / Pinterest.com

3. Pin On Many Subjects

Keep the interest going for Pinterest followers. Pin on many different subjects to appeal to a wide range of users. Consider making a few boards and sharing these. Besides flowers, this could be any gift or home decor items you may sell.

Tip: Follow users and personal boards that appeal to you. Following is a great way of engaging with Pinterest users to build your own dedicated followers.

image via pexels.com

2. Share Pinterest Buttons

Share Pinterest buttons on your other social media platforms, Google +, Facebook, Twitter or any social media platform you are a member of. Consider adding a call to action so that they can follow you on Pinterest. A call to action is a piece of content intended for the viewer or reader to take action to see or read something.

image via pexels.com

1. Add a Pin It/Save Button

By far the Pin It/ Save button is the best way to get recognized on Pinterest. Make sure to add the Pin It/ Save button on your floral website to make easy for visitors to pin your images and content to Pinterest. Contact your eCommerce website provider if you need assistance with adding a Pin It / Save Button.

Tip: Time your pins! 2 – 4 PM, evening hours and weekends are popular and get the most views.

Florists, we would love your feedback! How has Pinterest brought success to your floral business? Please add your feedback and questions in our comment section 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.

 Every business owner with a website (florists included) should be aware of Copyright Trolls!​

Understanding how Copyright Trolls work can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. If you have never heard of Copyright Trolls then you must read this blog. Many businesses/florists learn too late and are charged steep fees. In this blog, we will get down to the nitty-gritty on Copyright Trolls.

So what are Copyright Trolls? To explain this, let’s first explain what a copyright is.

image via pixabay.com

What Is A Copyright?

You may have seen the c with the circle around it (like this – ©). This is known as a copyright.  A copyright is a legal right to the owner of the original work. The original work copyright protects the artist in the following publications:

• Print
• Publish
• Perform
• Film
• Record
• Import & Export

Good to know: Some works may not have a copyright but a license. A license grants other people to use the artists work by strict agreements and a fee.

image via pexels.com & clipart

So what is a Copyright Troll?

Here it is – a Copyright Trolls owns © copyrights or licenses. But here is the catch, they have no intent to use the work they own.

• They search the web and find their copyright/licensed material.
• Threaten any user (such as a business) with fees for using their images without approval.
• They do not give up until they get some compensation as this is their main objective and how they make their money.

image via pixabay.com

How does this affect your Flower Shop?

Copyright Trolls are internet based so let’s focus on the pictures you are currently displaying on your floral website.

• Did you take these pictures yourself and post? If so, no need to worry about Copyright Trolls.
• Were the pictures provided by your website hosting company? If so, you are again clear of Copyright Trolls.
• Did you copy these pictures off an internet website, search engine or social media site? If YES, remove immediately, regardless of what kind of picture it is. This is exactly what Copyright Trolls are looking for.

We do understand that when pictures are saved and copied by owners to their websites it is not with malicious intent. Most people just do not understand that Copyright Trolls exist. However, for those who have been hassled by Copyright Trolls, this is a very costly and serious issue.

image via pixabay.com

What Images Should You Use? 

Before you copy a picture you like on to your website, make sure that it is not copyrighted and you are able to use it freely without repercussions.

• Use websites that offer free images or Creative Commons licenses.
• Pay for images using stock photos from a stock photo company.
•  If you are using the image for selling a product on your website make sure the license allows for that use.
• If you don’t know if an image is copyrighted, just ask! Many artists/companies would be happy to talk to you about the work in question.
• Best Option – take your own pictures of your work. With cameras everywhere now it is not so hard to take a quality picture.

Tip: We like to point out that some images you like may cost a bit but it is certainly worth to pay the small price tag to have the look and feel you are going for and save yourself the hassle of dealing with Copyright Trolls.

image via pexels.com

How To Fight Copyright Trolls

Once a Copyright Troll locates a picture on a website that is © (they have websites that locate these pictures on anyone’s website across the world), they will bombard you with threatening letters to pay a lump sum or else suffer litigation. If letters are not responded to, they will file claims for damages. This is such a hassle! Remember this is their daily job, they have nothing else to do but send you letters and make you pay.

The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act – known as OCILLA – has some great advice to follow:

Let’s say you post © images on your website, you can protect yourself from claims under   Digital Millennium Copyright Act ( DMCA).

• No actual knowledge of copyrighted content on your website.
• No money is received by posting the copyrighted image.
• Removing the copyrighted image quickly once notified.

Florists lets us know any feedback on Copyright Trolls you may have. Share in the comment section 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.

Bold floral blooms fill this 2017 spring season for florists!

Flowers are certainly trending in all aspects this spring. We are not just talking flower arrangements, think fashion, home decor, artwork and much more!  This week’s blog, we will focus on the “Must Do” floral trends for spring 2017.

Floral trends have now reached an ultimate high with florals in every aspect of life. Wedding trends for this year’s spring are so much more relaxed and less rigid, with an array of different techniques and some fun ways to showcase your floral designs and tricks.

Matching Floral Arrangements: 

Try matching your floral designs to the bridesmaid dresses. What? Yes, one of the most desired trends is matching flowers and patterns of the wedding dress wedding party attire to their actual floral bouquet.

This makes for a great social media post. With customers up with their social media and hashtags, they are making an impact with visually appealing images. This, of course, works in your favor for increasing your SEO, with great backlinks as well as a gallery of trending floral work for new customers.

image via pixabay.com

Cascading Floral Wedding Bouquet:

Cascading wedding bouquets are trending this season due to its lush and romantic feel.  You may opt for a smaller cascade.

Fact: Brides are gravitating to the classic elegance of these cascading floral bouquets.

Once trending was an overly large hand picked bouquet look. Now a slightly more tailored look and not so large, with an organic feel is making its way to the head of the line. The updated cascading bouquet design complements the bride in every way without steering the attention from the bride.

 Dainty Wedding  Floral Garlands:

Not just used as centerpieces, these little dainty floral garlands are used to adorn place settings.

image via Idalina Bertone

Blooming  Floral Plants:

Incorporating blooming plants is so hot right now! These are used mainly as centerpieces with added touches of nature, such as twigs and moss.

Note: Floral plants are an added touch with other florals throughout the wedding.

Click here to see spring 2017 wedding trends!

Modern floral arrangements are in the lead of the mainstream of floral design. Using beautiful textures and containers with a less is more approach.

image via pixabay.com

Blues & Copper Florals:

Two of the biggest colors for this season are shades of blues and coppers. Purchasing containers in these color hues and adding simple floral arrangements is a big hit.

What’s Old Is New:

Think baby breath, mums and carnations, we know, not usually a customer favorite. These reasonably priced classics are making a huge come back when incorporated with higher end flowers or beautiful greens.

Queens Annes Lace is also taking the floral market by storm, try Queen Annes Lace in brown hues.

Think of the super fashion floral trend, where they use mainly daisies, mums and roses to adorn prints. Stock these in your cooler in various colors.

image via pixabay.com

Floral Colors:

We can almost say that color is trending this up and coming warm season, however, it’s all about combinations. Trending now is bold and brights, muted color combinations, burgundies and reds and of course whites and grays.

• Go Bold – Go for the gusto with bright bold hues (bright pinks, oranges, and lime greens)
• Muted Colors –  Hues in a muted tones all in the same color family (rose, peach, soft browns )
• Bright Burgundy and Reds – These hues offer super visual impact. Do not forget to incorporate with dainty flowers in the pink tones.
• White & Gray – Always a classic is the white floral arrangement. This time try incorporating the ever so popular shade of gray with lush greens that come in this hue.

Click here to see spring 2017 floral trends!

Trends certainly come and go, however interesting enough, floral design allows for all trends to come together. The thing to remember with specific trends is that there are patrons that still like what they like, regardless of what is trending.

We are curious to see what, if any, trends leave your flower shop. What are your customers gravitating to a far as floral design? Please share in the comment section below your feedback and questions.

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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.

Snapchat is trending as one of the leading mobile apps for video and picture messaging.

So why aren’t florists taking advantage of the 158 million plus users daily on Snapchat to market their flower shop?

The reason is, Snapchat can be hard to understand. In this blog, we will explain the basics of Snapchat and how you can use it to benefit your floral business.

image mockup via Barin Doru Cristian “this looks great”

How Snapchat Works

Although the name indicates that Snapchat is a chat app for chatting, in actuality it is not a chat app, but rather a video and picture messaging app.

Snapchat gives you 10 seconds to sell your brand. Videos, pictures, and texts sent disappear after 1 to 10 seconds and the user can select the length of the message.

Snapchat has whats called “Snapchat Stories”, a story is when you post your video or picture to your own feed (or Story) this will be seen by you and all your friends within the Snapchat.

Within the Snapchat stories, you will have three main categories:

• Discover-  Media Companies 
• Live-  Administered by Snapchat
• Recent Updates-  Photos and videos and any brands published will list in recent updates

image via mockups & pixabay.com

Market Your Flower Shop With Snapchat

Business is gravitating to Snapchat as a valuable social media marketing tool. Why?  Snapchat is connected to your mobile device address book.  After creating an account it will be linked to your device, you can now find friends based on their phone numbers.

Remember Snapchat is geared towards increasing your brand with real-time marketing.  Anything you post will give your customers a sense of security and trust in your brand.

Snapchat posts to market your floral business:

• Events
• First Look at Exclusive products
• Give a behind-the-scenes look of your flower shop
• Offer promotional codes for your eCommerce
• Offer Contests- such as scavenger hunts

Geotag filtering is a great way to increase your floral brand, use these for an event or promotion. These geotags will be for a specific geographic region. There is a charge for this filter but well worth it, as your floral brand will be a part of someone else’s story. Great investment!

Snapchat Language Explained 

Snapchatter – Means Snapchat users. 

Snaps –Pictures or videos taken with Snapchat. Send these to another Snapchatter. Remember this can only be viewed by the Snapchatter up to 10 seconds then it disappears. 

Snapstreak – You and your friend have snapped each other for more than one day.

Snapback – Replying to a snap

Scores – A combination of Snaps you have sent, received and stories you posted.

Chat – Allows you to message other Snapchatters in a private chat box.

Filters – Makes your snaps stand out with fun overly filters.

Lenses – Add special effects and sounds to your snaps.

Florists, are you currently using Snapchat to market your floral business? If so please share your tips in the comment section with our readers.

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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.

 Are you one of many florists who does not understand the concept of blogging? Don’t worry, you are not alone!

The word “blog” actually was constructed of two words ” web and log” and called weblog. A few years later it was shortened by Peter Merholz who referred to weblog as blog.

Writing a florist blog is a more informal way of writing that should be updated regularly on a web page. It is up to the writer to blog about the content and topics that resonate most with them or their industry.

image via pixabay.com

 Why is florist industry specific blogging so important?

Because it is the most cost effective marketing tool for your floral business.

• Helps drive traffic to your floral websites.
• Increase the value of your floral website.
• Helps your flower shop create a following.
• Helps your flower shop become a leader in the floral industry.
• Increases your SEO (search engine optimization).

Tip: Google loves blogs, especially with specific industry keywords. Use florist, flower shop, floral, wedding bouquets, and birthday arrangements, you get the idea.

image via pexels.com

What Florists Should Blog About

Florists, you may actually blog about anything and everything. The most important thing here is that you’re blogging about the floral business or anything related to increase your brand value.

Think about blogs you have read lately, and what lured you to click on them. If you are still experiencing writer’s block, below are a few proven captivating titles to grabs readers attention.

“How To  Guides or A Way To Master…” – Any blog offering instructions or “how to” are very well received. These blogs offer readers a solution to what they are looking to accomplish.

“Tip And Tricks” – Another way to title a “how to guide “.

“Secrets Revealed ” – We all love secrets and these blogs get some of the most clicks.

“Trend Blog”-  Write about upcoming trends or wedding trends. These are also well received, make  sure to add captivating images to this one.

image via pexels.com

How To Write A Florist Blog

1. Your current florist website provider should have a platform for you to add a blog. We want to keep the blog on your actual floral website so that you can turn visits into potential sales.
2. Think of a topic (floral specific) that you are passionate or knowledgeable about.
3. Pick a gravitating title, remember this is what entice’s readers to click on your blog.
4. Make it personal if you can use “I” or “my” which is read well on social media sites.
5. Start your florist blog with an introduction.
6. List out the main key functions of your florist blog with readable titles and outlines.
7. Add a closing and do not forget to ask for readers participation and allowing for comments to be added to your blog.
8. Add images to your blog, images make blogs more user-friendly and interesting.
9. Link your blog on all social media platforms. Do not forget to pin to your board on Pinterest!
10. If you can, write a 1000 word blog at least, which gives you a better chance of improving your rankings on search engines.

Tip: Take a good look at this blog and notice how often the keywords florist, floral and flowers are used, this is not a coincidence but rather added strategically for SEO. 

Florists have you posted a blog that has had huge success or do you have a question on blogging? Post your comments and questions 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.

Prepping roses is the key ingredient in providing customers with a long lasting arrangement.

With a busy Valentine’s Day just around the corner, in this blog we will focus on prepping roses for maximum longevity.

image via pexels.com

Good To Know

• Roses are packed 25 stems in a bunch and come in these lengths of 40cm, 50cm, 60cm and 70cm. The longer the length of the rose stem, the bloom size is (typically).
• Crystal Clear flower food delivers ingredients to hydrate your roses and other flower stems.
• Quick Dip is an instant hydrating treatment.
• The 60 cm Freedom rose is most used by florists on Valentine’s Day.
• Guard petals are the outer petals that have a tear or damage with tiny blemishes.

image via shutterstock.com

Prepping Rose Buckets

Flower buckets need to be cleaned thoroughly. Poorly cleaning your buckets will wilt your roses. This is an important step in quickly hydrating your roses. Their first drink is most important!

1. Wash flower buckets thoroughly. Be sure to get in all the corners and remembering to remove all bacteria.
2. If you are using bleach, please be sure to rinse and rinse. Roses do not like bleach, so be sure to not add any roses to a bucket that may have some bleach residue.
3. After buckets are cleaned, fill buckets half way with cool water and add Crystal Clear.

Tip: Be sure to maintain a clean environment before the roses arrive.  Always keep your cooler clean and free of bacteria. 

image via shutterstock.com

Processing /Prepping Roses

1. Cut the bottom of your rose stems by one inch or so. Be sure to cut on a slight angle.
2. Be sure (if you remove them from their wrappings) to not leave any foliage below the water line as this will create rot.
3. Removing thorns can be simply done by pushing on the thorn. Do not remove the whole thorn as this will let air in the stem.
4. It’s highly recommended that all roses be dipped in Quick Dip. Hold roses in solution for a few seconds and then add to your rose bucket.
5. Let your roses sit in the water bucket for approximately 1-2 hours outside the cooler, then transferring them to cooler for 24 hours (if possible) before using.
6. Once ready to arrange, take the guard petals off the rose. This is a crucial step in a making a beautiful rose arrangement.

image via pexels.com

Arranging One Dozen Roses

Mastered by florists, one dozen rose arrangements are one of the biggest sellers in the floral industry. For those who are new to floral design, here are some simple steps in arranging one dozen roses.

1. Choose your vase. One dozen roses look beautiful in a variety of tall vases. Add cool water about 3/4 of the way to top and add flower food.
2. Select your roses. Look over your roses and be sure to remove guard petals that look brown and all foliage below the water line.
3. If you are adding greens to your one dozen rose arrangement, you may start by adding the greens first. This does vary by florist as some like to add them after the roses. Do what feels right to you, as long as the finished product looks balanced.
4. Add you long stem roses to a vase (one in each direction) and then add roses filling in all spaces. Remember your floral design basics of balance, harmony, proportion, movement and unity.
5. At this stage, you may add any filler you like by filling in any sparse areas or leaving it as is.

Florists, have any great tips on processing or arranging roses? We would love to hear about them, please share them below with our readers.

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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.

Florists now is the time to gear up and prepare – Valentine’s Day is approaching at lightning speed!

 It is important to be ahead of the Valentine’s Day flower rush! Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest and possibly the most profitable holiday of the year, compared to Mother’s Day.

 In this blog, we will create a step by step checklist to make it easier for you to maintain organization and increase profits in your flowers shop for a smooth, successful Valentine’s Day.

image via pexels.com

Flower Shop Appearance

(Best implemented early to mid-January)

Valentine’s Day Decor: Take a look around and make your flower shop ooze love! Customers respond to seasonal and holiday decor, so go ahead and add your special touches. Create a beautiful window display if feasible. The key here is to create an inviting atmosphere, all while reminding customers Valentine’s Day is approaching.

Image via pexels.com

 Flowers & Supplies

(Best implemented before mid-January)

Order Flowers: We encourage you to order your flowers early from your suppliers, ask for price breaks and be sure to order all you need but do not over order. Remember, Be Smart, Buy Smart!

Try A Flower Auction: Due to large quantities, you must buy in order to get a great deal, this may not be a good option for all year long but great for Valentine’s Day. Look into getting roses for a super value and again ordering early is key.

Order Supplies: Make sure you have good tools, and all the prep supplies you need (wire, tape, oasis, flower food, etc). Besides your tools and prep supplies, you will need vases and containers. Order your standard vases and shop around home decor stores for unique finds for great deals.

Order Add-Ons: Do not forget to order updated plush, candies, chocolate, balloons and candles. Anything is really up for grabs and can be an add-on. Cross-selling creates huge profits and these items generally last from year to year. If you can, invest in quality products and watch them sell.

Image via pexels.com

Floral Website Checklist

(Best implemented before February, 1)

Ideally, it is best to have your floral eCommerce all set and ready for Valentine’s Day before the first of February.  However, it is never too late to do a few website renovations that will attract customers. Remember to implement some Valentine’s Day keywords for your SEO.

Website Products: Start with your Valentine’s Day product images, these should be displayed throughout the website in various pages. You may certainly add Valentine’s Day products to your Best Sellers, Birthday and any other pages you like. The key here is to add a few products sporadically on different pages, all while keeping your Valentine’s Day page.

Call To Action: Great practice is to have a call to action on your floral eCommerce.  Add a “Shop Now – Valentine’s Day Flowers” which will direct customers where they need to go. Make sure  Valentine’s Day is clearly shown on your menu nav bar so customers have easy access to the page.

Clear Valentine’s Day Policy: If your policy is somewhat hidden on your website, now is the time to post it more clearly. It is a great idea to post a delivery policy as well as it is impossible to deliver everyone’s arrangement at a set time. Picking a time range is always best (Valentine’s Day Delivery – Guaranteeing between 9:00 am – 5:00 pm). This is also something that can be posted on your website top bar.

Promotions: We encourage adding an early bird special. Unlike other holidays, Valentine’s Day is one day which can get very busy. Having customers select a different delivery day spreads the holiday throughout the week. Offer a free delivery or percentage off for anyone who opts for delivery before February 14.

Pricing: If you are charging more for Valentine’s Day flowers, make sure your floral eCommerce has holiday pricing set.

Image via pexels.com

Valentine’s Day Employee Checklist

(Best implemented before February, 1)

Employee Scheduling: Discuss what is required from your employees as far as their scheduling goes. Most flower shop employees understand the importance of this holiday, have a clear understanding of days and times they must work.

Cross-Selling & UpGrades: Valentine’s Day is a such a busy holiday in a flower shop that sometimes cross-selling or upgrading is not even thought of. We encourage you to make upgrading and cross-selling mandatory in your flower shop. The difference is astronomical in profits, every employee should offer a customer more with every sale.

Extra Help: Hire any extra help you need this week, front counter help, designers, and delivery drivers. Make sure to go over all that is required including scheduling.

image via pexels.com

Valentine’s Day Prep Checklist

(Best implemented after February, 5)

Prep Your Flowers: When your flower supply arrives, be sure to quickly prep all your flowers, do not cut corners. Prepping is the key in selling beautiful long lasting flowers. How to flower prep.

Supplies: Cut your ribbon ahead time for quick access. Line up all your codified containers and make sure you have enough, same goes for pics, pins, plush, candies and so on.

Get To Greening: Practiced by many florists, green vases before the holiday. Greens are very long lasting, doing this ahead of time will save you some valuable time (be sure to keep in cooler all pre-greened containers and vases).

image via pexels.com

Valentine’s Day Week Checklist

Get Your Display On: Create bundle deals and display them throughout the shop. Add special offers for roses purchased with plush, candies, or any combination. Make sure these are visible for easy purchase for walk-in customers.

Single Roses: A big seller from many florists has been the single wrapped rose. Pre-make tons of these and place them at your front counter. These sell quickly and most customers will almost always purchase an add -on to go along with the single wrapped rose. Be sure to display them close together.

Tip: Wrap single colored roses as well. Customers love these, with the color pink trailing right behind red. 

Delivery Route: Look over the orders you currently have and make a set plan with your drivers on what areas they are delivering to. Remember more orders trickle in the day before Valentine’s Day and day of, so be as organized as possible, with the delivery routing for each driver.

Tip: If you can, we advise having a standby driver at the shop, this driver will handle all new orders that come in on Valentine’s Day.

Attire: Why a section on attire? We want you to be comfortable! Please wear proper shoes. Do Not allow employees to wear open toe shoes, this can be an insurance liability.  Be comfortable and wear closed toe shoes.

Do Not Be Wasteful: With the orders piling up it is so easy to be wasteful, make sure to use what you need. Amazing how many flowers and supplies are simply thrown on the floor and then thrown out. Discuss the importance with your employees on not wasting products, this all cuts into your bottom line profits.

Watch Your Finances: You are exhausted we get it, however, please be sure to check your daily sales for each day leading up to Valentine’s Day. Keep clear reports on all accounts payable and accounts receivable.

image via pexels.com

Valentine’s Day Checklist

All the preparations have paid off! Valentine’s Day is here!

Everything Will Be Great: Florists by nature tend to be perfectionists. Our advice is everything will come together. The day will fly by so enjoy it, focus on your task at hand rather than feel like you have to be doing everything.

Keep Up The Sense Of Humor: Do not sweat the small stuff. Things can happen and they are all part of the Valentine’s Day flower shop process.

Treat Employees To Lunch: This is great for the fellowship in the flower shop and also keeps employees from venturing out for lunch.

Delivery Confirmations: If you participate with a floral wire service, be sure to confirm all your delivered orders. Doing so will keep you from being charged high non-delivery confirmation fees. Most floral wire services have a time that they need to be confirmed by, so please do this accordingly.

Florists, have any great Valentine’s Day tip to share with our readers? Please post your feedback below, as it is so important to us! We would like to wish all florists a very lucrative and successful Valentine’s Day!

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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.

 An easy way to get the most out of your eCommerce sales.

No question that in this day and age every florist who offers everyday retail must have an eCommerce (commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet) website.

In this blog, let’s talk about floral websites best practices, ways of improving SEO (search engine optimization), content, user friendliness, and some other vital information on maximizing your eCommerce website.

image via pexels.com

Domain Name 

If you already have a domain name that has been on the internet or continues to be, please DO NOT change it! Domain names carry valuable SEO, so changing your domain name will have you starting from scratch in building up your SEO.

For those of you who do not yet have a domain name here are important tips on selecting the right domain.

• Use proper keywords in your domain, if you are a flower business, then without a doubt, you must use a keyword specific to your business. For example, flowers, floral, and florist.

• Once you have picked your domain name (flowershop.com) please make sure this is a vital domain name which was never linked to any unpromising business practices in the past. You may check this on domainhistory.net.
•  

Floral Website Appearance

We understand the sensitivity of this topic, however, it is a very important to go over your florist website appearance.  Regardless if your SEO is top ranking, if your floral website is not appealing to a multitude of customers you will lose valuable sales.

• Design: Be very careful when selecting colors and backgrounds, especially trendy backgrounds with patterns. These can turn off potential customers from shopping on your eCommerce.

• Products: Pay special attention to your product images, they should all look consistent, not overly large, or mismatched.

• Logo: Your logo should be big enough to read but not so big it takes half your home page. A clean simple logo always works best than a specific style that may not be appealing to a large demographic of visitors.

Best Practices for Floral Website Appearance

• Neutral background –  (white or black) Check out some other eCommerce websites and you will see a trend in white backgrounds with some black. These companies can spend millions on the appearance of their eCommerce websites and still choose to keep it simple with a neutral background.

• Fonts – All fonts should all be consistent and not overly mismatched. Fonts should also be large enough to read and understand.

• Mobile Friendly website –  A responsive website will allow customers who are on any other devices (tablet, iPad or mobile) a better shopping experience.  Besides this very important reason, Google search engines as of April 2015, is using websites who are mobile friendly as a ranking signal.

• Specific florist content – Having lots of specific content on your website allows for more keywords.  Keywords are high for indexing and ranking your florist website by increasing your SEO. Write a hefty “About Us” and wording for each page.

• Contact information – Your address should be clear and visible on the homepage, we like to see it listed on top (header) of the home page and also below (footer). You should still have a “Contact Us ” page with your address, business phone number, map, and email options.

• No rotating images or videos on your homepage – Reframe from using quick rotating banners, images or videos on your home page. This can be really confusing to your shopper and actually altogether make them click out of your floral website. While researching floral eCommerce, we found out that the websites who had no moving images, banners or videos on the home page had a tremendously better bounce rate and higher sales.
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Floral Website Content, SEO & Tags

If you are working with a floral website hosting company then most of these important functions should be already implemented on your eCommerce website.  In the chance that they are not, we want you to be super informed on these floral websites must haves for SEO.

• Add-Ons & Upgrades: All products should offer customers upgrading options and add-ons. Adding these two simple elements to your floral website can have a huge impact on your profits.

• Header Tags: Headers tags (H1 ) highest level of tags are valuable in SEO, as it sums up what your website is about. Writing a correct H1 tag is essential and should be done by your website provider.  H1 tags greatly improve your search engine rankings.

• Wedding /Event Gallery: If you do wedding and event flowers, it is a great idea to showcase your beautiful work in an image gallery on your website. These are very successful with customers, spending loads of time admiring your selections, which also increases your SEO.
  • Make sure customers can clearly see an option to contact you for a consolation.
  • Write a short bio on your Wedding/Event flowers page. It is perfectly OK to be conceded.(be sure to include specific keywords such as wedding, event, locations and so on)

• Website Footer: Your floral website footer is very important! The footer contains loads of information and valuable keywords which rank really well for your overall SEO. Make sure your floral eCommerce has a footer with a clear title descriptions and locations where services are provided.  Below are footer website must haves.
  • Terms of Service, Privacy Policy
  • Site Map
  • Contact Us
  • Business Address
  • Local Pages

• Local Pages: Offering great placement for SEO, local pages allows you to add multiple locations and businesses you provide services to on a designated page on your website. Rather than just placing high for your location, you may add various locations to also rank for those areas. You can also add hospitals, funeral homes, venues, schools, and many more to rank for these business keywords.
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Floral Website Marketing

There are countless ways of marketing for your florist website, below we will explore some options that have proven successful getting customers to purchase on your eCommerce site.

• Offer Promotions & Coupons:  Shoppers love deals, offer coupon codes periodically on your floral website for percentages off a total shopping cart. Set an amount that customers must spend in order to get the percentage off, free delivery is also a great selling option. Promotions are great to offer on specific items, for instances a percentage off on roses.

• Give It For Free: If you are new to the eCommerce website a great way to have customers buzzing about your floral website is to offer something for Free. We understand you cannot give it all for free, how about a raffle or the first customers who email you from your website can get a free arrangement.
  • This keeps customers clicking on your website, building your SEO.
  • You can post the winner on your social media, which creates conversations and likes, which also increases your visibility.

These are some easy ways to get the most out of your eCommerce site. Florists,  let’s hear your feedback! Do you have any important website design functions that have been successful? Please share all your feedback, tips or any floral website related questions you would like addressed 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.

Every season Floranext releases some new florist website designs. Take a look at our new Christmas and Winter florist website banner designs – just in time for the holidays!

Floranext e-commerce website customers can access these (without the watermark!) in their admin by going to Website > Design > Banners

Make sure to update your website today! 

Good luck with your flower shop ecommerce sales! Happy Holidays from the Floranext team to you and your families! 

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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.