Online advertising, online promotions, and online visibility are all musts to stay relevant with your target audience.

Facebook has had the biggest user base among all social media networks, boasting 2 billion users globally. However, the story is dim for Facebook’s younger user base in the United States.

For the past two years, Facebook has lost 15 million users, and the majority of them are teenagers and young adults. Instagram, a social media network also owned by Facebook, is experiencing the reverse of that trend: in the same span of time, its user base composition of teens rose from 64% to 66%.

Snapchat, another social media network with a similar form as Instagram, is also experiencing the same trend.

Still, Facebook remains relevant as a platform for businesses, given its user count and expansive set of tools for advertising. However, Instagram and Snapchat become new pastures to be ventured or focused on, and the motivation to put out visual content is ever so higher.

Prioritizing these platforms is critical for businesses whose audience are the tweens, and we florists hit that criteria. So get your cameras and flowers out and start taking photos!

Pricing in Floral Advertising

Since Instagram is slowly entering as one of our main platforms to focus on, we’ll be dealing with its pricing strategies for advertising. However, spoiler alert: there are no clear-cut prices for it. Reasonable estimates round off to be $0.20-$2 per click or $5 per 1,000 visitors, depending on the advertising model that you want to do.

There are many factors that affect the price on Instagram. If you are familiar with Facebook’s advertising tools, then you’ll also know how Instagram advertising works, since Facebook, as the owner of Instagram, uses the same set of tools. 

Facebook’s advertising system works like an auction, and thus the pricing varies depending on a lot of factors. Instagram demographics are usually feminine, with a youth bias, and targeting this demographic will increase the price.

The factors that affect the pricing are the amount you are willing to bid for your campaign, your ads’ Relevance Score (determined by the quality of your ad, among other things), and your estimated action rates (how likely your audience will do your desired outcome, i.e. interact with it).

In this auction system, they subsidize relevant ads. To quote Facebook, “an ad that’s relevant to a person could win an auction against ads with higher bids.” The important part here is to note that ad quality and relevance matter in their pricing. 

Florists and Search Engines

In the world of the search engine, Yelp has partnered with Bing for better local Bing search results.

For example, Yelp reviews of local businesses will now show up on Bing’s search results page. Much like in the form of Google My Business and their Google reviews, you can also sort these reviews into Recent, Critical, and Favorable.

For businesses with multiple locations, it gives users the option to go through each location’s reviews. Information about businesses is also now available in Bing’s knowledge panel, courtesy of Yelp.

Yelp has always been a people’s favorite for assessing the quality of business places, and thus you should always maintain a good standing there. However, with this partnership with Bing, Yelp data are now more visible and thus you should be more mindful of them now.

Remind yourself to reply to reviews in Yelp; express gratitude and encourage people who left good reviews to come back, dropping possible offers or promos, and inquire and attempt to resolve issues addressed in the reviews, replying back if it has been done.

The world is not living in two versions of reality as you might think; the digital reality is interacting with our reality in very close-knit ways. Taking advantage of this will not give your business an even edge but rather a requirement in today’s fast-paced world.

Florists must be up to date with these business practices to stay relevant. Keeping yourself updated with changes in social media, search engines, and more can help make your business grow.

 

Florists, are you using Instagram, Snapchat, or Yelp to promote your Floral business? Any suggestions, comments, or ideas that could help other florists? Please share 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.

 

Customers search online about the things they want to buy, even if it’s a simple local purchase.

 

Google is not only helpful for consumers, but it’s also good for businesses. As long as you can use that to your advantage by strengthening your business’s online presence, your floral e-commerce website can succeed. 

Florist Quick Guide to Google My Business

Google My Business is Google’s one-stop shop for all things online for your business. It is an online platform that contains tools where you can manage how your business will look like in Google and Google Search.

Google My Business (GMB) improves your local SEO by:

* Giving you the options to add your business and the relevant details to Search and Maps

* Viewing and replying to customer reviews

* Adding photos

What are Google My Business local Guides?

Google My Business’s Local guides allow people to contribute to the following:

*Adding information to Maps

*Adding photos

*Updating information on businesses they are familiar with or local to them

*Adding new places to the platform.

The program differentiates individuals into tiers, depending on how much they have contributed to Maps. The goal for them is to keep Maps updated and help other people be fully informed about the businesses and places around them. 

Aside from adding data, Local Guides can also add reviews to business listings. However, they are considered to be more reliable users, thus their reviews appear more frequently and on top of the reviews list. 

How Can I Improve My Local Pages?

Customers who come across your business, those who make a purchase or require service can be a Local Guide. It can be hard to tell Local Guides apart from normal customers. Local Guides reviews are trusted more by people just with the sheer fact that their reviews are given priority when displaying reviews on your listing.

You cannot just pick out Local Guides from your customers and give them the best service you can. The key here is to treat all your customers the same and give the best service as much as you can to everyone. 

Encourage customers to leave reviews for your business listing in Google Maps.

When receiving Positive Reviews:

*Reply to reviews in your listing

*Make sure to thank the reviewer

*Offer them to return 

*Try out a new service that you might have started on your business.

 

When receiving Negative Reviews:

*Be polite and courteous

*State the status of the concern or issue the review was having problems with.

*Apologize for the issue or concern

*Offer to replace or fix the issue

 

Doing this will give people the impression that you are very mindful of the concerns that your business has and responsive to your customer base.

 

The tools that GMB provides are beneficial in boosting your online presence, and most especially in the local setting. Taking advantage of these tools is thus invaluable in helping out your business grow.

Florists, have you been using Google my Business: Local Guides? Please share your thoughts and comments 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.

 

Using Google My Business is one of the best ways to improve your floral business website’s visibility.

 

Google My Business (formerly called Google Places) is the number one platform for listing your flower shop on Google searches, and Google Maps! Google My Business allows you to improve your business’s credibility and visibility, by showing you are verified on one of the most trusted platforms on the Internet.

 

 

Signing Up for Google for Business

If you are just starting your floral business, whether or not you have a floral website set up or not, start your application here.

Click Manage Now and enter your Business Name.

 

Next, you will be asked if you want to add a location that customers can visit, such as a store or an office.

If Yes – Enter Store Address. This will be displayed on Google Search and Google Maps

If No (you do NOT have a physical location that customers can visit you at), just click No.

 

Regardless of your answer, you will next be prompted to add areas that your business may service. Say Yes to this, and be sure to use the search bar provided to type in ALL applicable Delivery Areas for your Business.

 

Next, you will need to choose a business category. Just start typing and you will see many suggestions pop up that could be applicable. You can only add one at this screen, however, it is easy to add more after you have completed signing up.

 

Once you choose your category, you will be asked which contact details you’d like to show to customers. If you already have a website, go ahead and enter your Website Domain URL in the provided space. If you have a phone number for your business, go ahead and enter that as well.  If you don’t have a website yet, simply select “I don’t need a Website” (you definitely need one, but not for the purposes of signing up here). You can add in a website later at any time by using the Info Section.

 

Once you have completed the application process, you will likely be prompted to Verify your new listing. This is almost always done by sending a Verification Code by Post to your Business’s mailing address. Once you receive the Code in the Post, you can then enter that code onto your Google Business Verification page, to confirm the verification. This can take between a week, or sometimes two weeks for the code to arrive via post, so it is important to begin this process with Google My Business ASAP.

You’re done! You now have a Verified Listing on Google Business, that will show up for customers who are searching for your type of business in your local search area!

Now that we are signed in and verified on Google Business, let’s take a look at the various sections of the GMB Dashboard that will require our attention.

 

The Home Page

This will be your Main Hub for your Google Business dashboard. Here you can do a little bit of everything, such as: quickly see how your Business is displayed on Search and Maps, respond to reviews directly, answer questions, manage customer submitted photos, and create posts to share with your customers who view your business on Google Search.

Google Business is constantly adding new features, and many businesses, small and large, fail to take advantage of them! The next section is going to examine some of the important features you can access on your Google Business Dashboard.

 

POSTS

Business Owners can now create Posts that show directly with your Business Listing when customers view it on Search or Maps. These posts can be used to advertise special Products (including a URL to directly buy from your site), or to notify your customers about Events coming up, or special offers you may have (such as coupons or discounts). There are lots of possibilities with this new function. Keep in mind, a post made here will only last for 7 days maximum, and can only be 1500 characters MAX. So it is important to be concise, and to have good timing with your posts! Consider this, if you have a promotion that coincides with a major holiday, such as this upcoming Mother’s Day!

 

INFO

This is one of the most important pages for your Business Listing. Everything that is in the main column, under the Business Name, should be filled out ASAP. This includes: Business Name, Categories, Business Location, Service Areas, Hours and Special Hours, Phone Number, Website URL, Payment Methods Accepted, Short Description, Opening Date, and Photos.

As a Business Owner, it’s in your best interest to make sure all of this is filled out. All of this information can be shown with your Google Listing.

I’d like to quickly highlight a few newer functions from this page that are not utilized as much we think they should be:

Service Areas: Previously Google prompted Businesses to choose a Radius on their map to indicate how wide their service area could be. Now GMB seems to prompt you to choose from Delivery Areas such as Cities and Zip Codes. It is advantageous to type in as many as are applicable to your business. Be honest, of course. But don’t short sell your business’s reach by only including your primary area.

Opening Date: This one is applicable to up and coming businesses, that are still getting their ducks in a row. Our advice to you, start this as soon as you are able! Your Local SEO Ranking can be influenced by how much people engage with your Google Listing. If you start building this momentum before your business is even open, you may find that people in your area become aware of your business and ask you questions before it is even open!

 

INSIGHTS

From this page you can quickly get a view into how people engage with your Business Listing on Google Search, and also Google Maps. When people see your listing from Search or Maps, do they call you directly? Do they click on your Website button? Do they ask for directions? Having this information can be helpful while you are getting to know your customers, and learning how people find your business.

 

 

REVIEWS

It is important to engage with the people that offer you reviews. Make sure to respond to both positive as well as negative reviews. Believe it or not, people take notice when they see that a business owner has responded personally to a negative review. Don’t just leave them there to rot, take the time to write a personal response, to show that you care about the quality of your business, and its reputation!

Thank customers for their positive reviews, and encourage them to come back!

MESSAGING

Customers can now send messages to your Business directly from the Search page. This is a legitimate way to directly communicate with potential customers! You may find that people reach out to you directly through this Messaging function, make sure to pay attention to your Homepage, to see when you get new messages directly from customers searching online.

 

PHOTOS

Upload your Photos! This is extremely important. Businesses that don’t have many, or ANY photos will find that they have a harder time ranking highly in the Local Search Results. You should have the following photos that you upload yourself:

Logo – Your Business Logo

Cover Image – This is the grand feature photo and should correspond to the services you offer.

Product – Upload photos of your arrangements that you yourself have created for customers. You can also upload photos of the products as seen in your store.

 

Why is Google My Business Important?

There are so many reasons why all business owners absolutely must be on Google My Business, especially if your business is location specific. The biggest reason of all is the impact it has in increasing your search engine ranking, but below are some further reasons.

Improved Search Visibility: Try any of these keywords in a Google search: city, state, florist, flower shop, zip code/postal code. Notice who comes firsts under the map. These results are Local Search Results, courtesy of Google My Business. You cannot pay to place in these results, but having a Google My Business profile will enable you to.

Maps Your Floral Business Location: This allows the customer to find and navigate to your brick-and-mortar store and website more easily.

Allows for Customer Interaction: Google My Business allows for customers to interact with your business by leaving reviews and uploading their own photos. Every review counts, and every photo upload counts! How does it count? By improving your SEO, remember you want to list in the top 3 records on Google Local Search.

 

Florists, how has Google My Business helped your floral business in the past years? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

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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.

Top 8 Social Media Sites For Florists

 

In this blog, we want to narrow it down to the top 8 social media sites for florists and explain the Ins and Outs of their operations and why they are crucial and matter in the floral industry.

Check out our infographic for quick and easy reference to the Top 8 Social Media Sites For Florists!

#8 – LinkedIn

It’s the leading social networking site for professionals, with about 467 million members, it’s a solid venue for connecting with other local businesses.

Why LinkedIn Matters to Florists

• Easy to stay in touch with other local businesses
• Provides a valuable backlink for your SEO
• Customers can recommend your services on Linkedin

How to get started

• Connect with local businesses in your area
• Use the Facebook-like feed to post articles, remind local partners of your brand
• Write a compelling summary of your flower shop business. (be conceded about your beautiful work and experience)
• Have a gravitating cover image.
• Add your products and services.
• Ask for reviews.

#7 – YouTube 

Creating polished YouTube videos is harder than on many other networks.  Upload videos of your floral wedding work or even how-to videos.  Most folks won’t discover you via YouTube, but you can host your video there and embed in your florist website.

Why YouTube Matters to Florists

• Show off wedding videos, link off of your website
• Great way to increase wedding sales, providing ways to promote on other social platforms by posting your video.
• Valuable backlink for SEO.

How to get started

• Make sure to have a Google account when signing up for Youtube.
• Use your business name as your username on YouTube.
• A clear description on what your video is about – “industry-specific”.
• Make video headline compelling.
• Make sure your video is public.

#6 – Twitter

Twitter is less a way to get new customers and more a way to build your brand value overall and catch the attention of search engines. Tweet about newsworthy floral related items during holiday times and you may find yourself re-tweeted by media.

Why Twitter Matters to Florists

• Participating with this social media real-time giant and show your customers you’re “With The Times”.
• Keep in touch with customers – instantly alert your shoppers of specials, news, and events.
• Engage with your shoppers, Twitter allows you to find out their likes and dislikes and have them give you feedback on your business.
• Twitter can boost your Google ranking back to good old SEO.

How to get started

• Use your business username.
• Profile image is a must.
• Descriptive industry-specific About Us.
• Keep an important Tweet at the top of your timeline by pinning it there. Use this feature to make sure visitors to your profile can’t miss your latest news, products, offerings, or events.
• Don’t forget your hashtags, like florist, flowers, flower design, etc (a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic)

#5 – Instagram

More than any other social platform, Instagram is a great way to keep in touch with your existing customers through beautiful, artful photographs. Buyers of wedding/event work will often check out Instagram to see examples of your work.

Why Instagram  Matters to Florists

• Keep in touch with existing customers
• Easy to maintain
• Adds credibility for wedding/event purchases
• Great for SEO

How to get started

• Determine your goals for signing up for Instagram, increasing customer traffic, selling more products, creating awareness of your flower business
• Link your eCommerce website to your bio in order to direct shoppers to your page

#4 – Pinterest 

Pinterest is a great way to showcase image galleries of your wedding/event work – collections of images at local event halls, churches, and other venues will rank highly on Google – and new brides and event managers can find you that way.

Why Pinterest Matters to Florists

• Pinterest readers use Pinterest to decide to buy and most of all book wedding floral services
• Collections rank highly on Google – local content can help floral event/wedding buyers find your business
• Pins last a lifetime – creating high quality, relevant pins that don’t disappear overnight
• Great way to provide a catalog of your work – you can even embed Pinterest boards on your florist website
• Great backlink for images and organic searches on search engines

How to get started

• Complete your business profile (not personal account) and take your time with adding beautiful images of your work
• Add content to your bio and include keywords for the floral industry
• Add your location and your business website to your Pinterest profile

#3 – Yelp

Yelp’s business ratings are some of the most used by consumers to evaluate your business. Bing and Google use Yelp ratings in their search results, so it can drive lots of business if you have great ratings and reviews.

Why Yelp Matters to Florists

• The website used most often by consumers who are looking to purchase floral products and services.
• Provides spectacular SEO for your floral business! (We cannot express enough, this is vital for your ranking on search engines)
• Leading customer review social platform which is proven to drive traffic to your business resulting in increased sales.
• Integrated with Apple Maps so users could locate businesses. Making it most valuable in bringing customers to you.
• Bing local pages showcase Yelp reviews, they have formed a relationship, these reviews are super important for your SEO.
• Google shows Yelp reviews as organic search results.

How to get started

• Fill out your business profile completely
• Confirm your business through a phone call to get listed immediately (may not be necessary for all shops)
• Respond to reviews
• Offer (nominal) discount to customers to post reviews while they are in your store

#2 – Google My Business

Formally known as Google Places, Google My Business will increase traffic to both your eCommerce online store and your physical location. This is a close #1 for Top Social media platforms – Google My Business is a must for any business owner.

Why Google My Business Matters to Florists

• Google My Business offers a variety of benefits to a business, especially if people are searching in your specific location for your flower shop.
• Allowing shoppers quick and easy access to your phone number, address or hours of operation.
• Google My Business integrates directly with Google Maps.
• Google My Business showcases your customer reviews in Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and Google map. High star reviews help you stand apart from your competitors.
• One of the best backlinks for maximizing your SEO.

How to get started

• First thing is to claim your page, if you have no page,  sign up with your google account at google.com/business . Your account must be verified before it will start to show on google local pages.

#1 – Facebook 

With 2.23 billion users worldwide, no surprise why Facebook wins the number one spot in our blog. Facebook is vital in helping business owners manage their communications and retain their customers.

Why Facebook Matters to Florists

• Increased exposure to your business.
• Shows off your business portfolio and personality.
• You can reach your targeted audience.
• Search Engines love, love, love – did we say, love? Facebook Business pages URL’s are public, making these instantly rank on search engines.
• Get likes to increase your ranking on search engines. The more likes you receive, the higher you can rank. It’s all about popularity Florists!
• Allows for customer reviews.
• Increases website traffic with link posts.

How to get started

• Haven’t you signed up with Facebook? What are you waiting for? We suggest you read this while you are signing up for Facebook!
• You must have a personal Facebook page in order to start a Facebook business page.
• Your Facebook personal page and the business page will share the same login. (Top right corner of your personal page  select to Create Page)

 

There you have it our fellow florists, Top 8 Social Media Sites that matter to florists. Whether you agree or not, we highly recommend signing up with these social media sites today! Please use our infographic for quick and easy reference. Please feel free to post any questions or comments on these Top 8 Social Media Sites 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.

Using Google My Business is one of the best ways to improve your floral business website’s visibility.

Google My Business (formerly called Google Places) is the number one platform for listing your flower shop on Google searches, Google Maps, and Google+ all in one place. Google My Business allows you to improve your business’s credibility and visibility.

 

Signing Up for Google for Business

If you are just starting your floral business, whether or not you have a floral website set up or not, start your application here.

1. Click Start Now and enter your floral business address.
2. If you receive walk-in traffic in your shop, by “I deliver goods and service to my customers at their location,” set Yes. Otherwise, leave this set to No and click continue.
3. On the next page you will see a list of possible address matches for your business. Select from among them and continue.
4. If you selected Yes, you will see an information request on the services you offer. Enter your delivery area, and include delivery radius. If you do not select the box below where you serve customers at your location, your address will be hidden, but your city and state will still show.
5. Verify the information you’ve entered, especially your business address. Google My Business is generally very user-friendly, but correcting errors can be cumbersome, so take the time now to verify all information is accurate. Agree to the terms of service and continue.
6. On the last page, you will be asked how you would like to receive the verification code. It’s likely you will choose to get a postcard mailed to you, very few get phone calls.

Within a couple weeks, you’ll receive a verification code for your business. Log back into Google My Business, add your code, and violà, you’re done!

 

Adding Photos to Google My Business

The more images you add to Google My Business, the better your ranking will be in Google local searches. Add as many images as you can to your Google My Business account. That said, there are many different categories of photos, it’s worth making sure they correspond correctly.

• Profile Image: This will allow customers to recognize your business. The profile image will be displayed next to your business name on Google+ and must be different from your Logo image.
• Logo: Use a square image file for your logo as these look the best on Google.
• Cover Image: This is the grand feature photo and should correspond to the services you offer.
• Additional Images: Add as many photos as you like here, the more the merrier. These are viewed by customers who are looking at your listing. It is good to include your own designs of everyday arrangements, wedding and store front image if possible.

To add your photos simply sign into Google My Business, click Photos from the menu, and select the photo category you would like to showcase. You can now upload your photo from your computer.

The best image formats are JPG and PNG. Use high quality images, you don’t want customers looking at fuzzy images.

 

Why is Google My Business Important?

There are so many reasons why all business owners absolutely must be on Google My Business, especially if your business is location specific. The biggest reason of all is the impact it has in increasing your search engine ranking, but below are some further reasons.

Improved Search Visibility: Try any of these keywords in a Google search: city, state, florist, flower shop, zip code/postal code. Notice who comes firsts under the map. These results are Local Search Results, courtesy of Google My Business. You cannot pay to place in these results, but having a Google My Business profile will enable you to.

Maps Your Floral Business Location: This allows the customer to find and navigate to your brick-and-mortar store and website more easily.

Allows for Customer Interaction: Google My Business allows for customers to interact with your business by leaving reviews and uploading their own photos. Every review counts, and every photo upload counts! How does it count? By improving your SEO, remember you want to list in the top 3 records on Google Local Search.

 

Florists, how has Google My Business helped your floral business in the past years? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

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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.

 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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

“Rake” In Flower Sales With Fall Florist Marketing Tips

 

As a owner of a flower shop business it can be frustrating when you hit a summer slump when floral sales are down, though don’t fret, autumn is just around the corner and it’s not too late to generate sales. Following some simple marketing strategies will help you on your way to increasing customers and sales for your flower shop business.

 

Florist Customer Appreciation

Did you know customers return due to their experience while purchasing a product from a store? So why not “fall” for your customers and entice them by giving them a memorable experience.

• Offer discounts or start a loyalty program.

• Cater exclusive events in your store.

• Carry “trendy” or this season’s top product in stores.

• Carry items that cater to all demographics.

Tip: September 22nd is the first day of Fall,  Have a Fall open house with drawings and prizes to attract potential customers. 

 

Florists & Social Media

Did you know that 2/3 of the world’s population uses social media. Be- “Leaf” it or not, using social media is a great outreach for potential customers and it’s Free! Use these tips to “rake” in current and new followers.

• Share – Gain followers  by posting or tweeting interesting content for you customers and fans. Users who like your page will see your posts on their main Facebook news feed.

• New Fans – New customers are more than likely to shop at your business if their friends do.

• Keep Content Fresh – Post quality content regularly (at least once or twice a week). Create a dialogue with followers, this will encourage them to engage in your posts or tweets.

• Promote –  Promote your floral business by offering discount and incentives for customers who like, re-post, or recommend your social media site.

Tip: Create a Facebook ad using specific keywords and criteria that will attract customers to your page or eCommerce site.

 

Flower Shop Blog

“Harvest” those thoughts, A blog is a great opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, passions, etc to your customers. Blogs help drive traffic into your eCommerce website and increase sales.

• Search engines love new content, and blogging is a great SEO tool.

• Keep your customers up-to-date on what’s going on, let them know about new deals, tips, and inspirations.

• Blogs allow you to build trust and rapport with your customers, not only can you show off what you know, but you are also building your expertise and credibility.

• Let customers comment on your blog posts, in return you can interact with them further.

Tip: Utilize Google Adwords Keyword Tools this is a great way to find keywords and phrases people are using to search for your services.

 

eCommerce SEO

Don’t let your SEO “Fall”, updating your content on your eCommerce website is a sure way to increase your rankings, SEO, on search engines like google.  SEO is important to your floral website because customers will visibility see you on search engines therefore clicking on you first.

• Your floral website should have at least 1100 words throughout.

• Write descriptive articles on pages like About Us, Weddings, Sympathy, Events and Testimonials on your eCommerce website.

• Create a page with links to your partners/ vendors.

• Add Keywords, search terms, and backlinks, which are important in building your search engines rankings.

Tip: Encourage your partners to link your url on their website as you do the same for them to help you in our SEO rankings. 

 

Using creative marketing is a great way to attract current and potential customers, don’t be afraid to step outside the box.  Florists, are there other marketing tactics you use not listed here? Please share below for 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.

 

 

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

 Floranext Mother’s Day 2016 Survey Results

Thank you to all the Flower Shops that participated – your feedback is valuable in helping other florists and new upcoming florists.

 

 

Overall the results were good – an up year for many florist! But many were closed on Mother’s Day and didn’t advertise?! Hope your flower shop was one of the many that had a booming Mother’s Day. 

Areas Surveyed

 

 

Compared to Mother’s Day 2015, were your sales higher or lower?

[table],Higher,Same,Lower 
All Shops,59%,17%,24%[/table]

What category of Mother’s Day 2016 orders was most successful for you?

[table],Phone,Walk-In,Website
All Shops,47%,22%,29%[/table]

Which category of Mother’s Day 2016 orders was the least successful

[table]
,Walk-In,Phone,Website
All Shops,49%,34%,17%[/table]

Did you rent/use extra vehicles this Mother’s Day?

[table]
,Yes,No,
All Shops,55%,45%[/table]

How many unsatisfied customers did you have this Mother’s Day (if any)?

[table],1-3,None,3-5,5+
All Shops,52%,39%,6%,2%[/table]

How many extra employees did you hire for this Mother’s Day?

[table]
,None,3-4,1-2,5+
All Shops,52%,17%,16%,15%[/table]

Were you open on Mother’s Day Sunday?

[table]
,Yes,No,
All Shops,62%,38%[/table]

What were your main advertising methods for Mother’s Day?

[table]
,Online,Email,None,Other,Local News,Coupons
All Shops,29%,22%,21%,17%,13%,1%[/table]

Was the weather a factor in Sales this Mother’s Day?

[table]
,No ,Yes - it Helped,Yes - it Hurt
All Shops,63%,26%,9%[/table]

If you could give ONE Mother’s Day tip to another florist what would it be?

(Write in choice – Top 7)

1. “Plan ahead work ahead.”

2. “Narrow selections- make it easier for customers to choose.”

3. “Make sure you have enough staff to handle all the orders & deliveries.”

4. “Create Mother’s Day Specials add-ons.”

5. “Be friendly.”

6. “Advertise and promote for Mother’s Day.”

7. “Train your staff – everyone should know their job.”

 

We hope you have enjoyed these results – If you see a tip we have left out that is important, please share it 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.

 

Your florist website is a big part of your flower business. WHERE are people coming from, HOW did they find you and WHAT they are looking at.  It’s easy to see when you use Google’s free tool, Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is the free resource from Google that lets you analyze who, what and where potential customers are coming from to your florist website and how you can better market to them by using this information.

WHERE are the people coming from to your florist website?

Acquisition is the section to find out WHERE are the people coming from and HOW they found your florist website.

Here are the different sections under that tab…

The Overview section is a great place to get a birds-eye view of where the potential customer is finding your floral website.  You will find different sections that will let you see how you are being found.

• Organic search is how many potential customers type in a search word in one of the search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo and find you.

• Direct is when the customer types in your website directly.

• Referral is how many times a different site referred you to the customer.  This is why building links with other sites like other businesses are important.

• Social is how many people arrive via social media.

• Email is a direct link from your email campaigns so you can see how many click-thru to your site

Next go under Acquisition to the Channel tab. Here is where you can see a bit more information into each of the groupings in the Overview. You will be able to see the percentage of new visits to the site and how many pages were visited for each of the different sections. You will also be able to see the bounce rate which is the percentage of people who only looked at the page they landed on and didn’t click further.  Which section is higher for any of these columns?  Which one needs works?  If you get a large bounce rate, do you need a better landing page so viewers want to look further?  How many pages did visitors look at?  Which section looked at the most or the least?

An example of your Channel report might look like this…

As you click on more of the tabs under Acquisition you will be able to find out which social media avenues worked the best under the Social Media tab. Have you been promoting on Facebook heavily? It should show. How is the new Pinterest page doing for click-thru to your florist website?  They will all show.

Check under the keywords tab to see what keywords your visitors are finding you by.  Are those what you thought  your potential customers are using to search with.  Also where is your traffic originating…is it with Google? Bing? Facebook?  If you are advertising on Google or Facebook, are you getting your money’s worth in traffic?  Are these people staying on your site and clicking on more than one page or are they leaving quickly?

The Acquisition tab is an excellent resource for pinpointing where and how your customers have gotten to your floral website.  It will help you see where your marketing is working in bringing in visitors and where you need additional help.

WHAT pages are your customers looking at on your flower shop’s website?

The Behavior tab or WHAT did your flower customers look at is next.  Here is where you get the low-down on what pages were viewed the most, which pages were the landing page – or the first page the visitor came to from their search.  It is an excellent section to see which of your florist website pages are working and which ones aren’t.

Here is a list of what sections are under the tab…

One tab that I just love is the In-Page Analytics. This shows you how your visitors interact with the content on your florist website. With Google In-Page Analytics, Google will add the percentage to each link on your page and display how many visitors are clicking through. It will help answer the questions…Is one menu item more popular than others? Does anyone actually scroll down and read below the fold? Which designs do more people click on? Are they interested in my wedding tab or seasonal designs? You will be able to find out a lot of pertinent information here and it is really interesting to see what potential customers are clicking on.

After looking at the Acquisition and Behavior tabs, if you do not have Google Analytics, you know you have to sign up now!  It is the best, free informative way to find out the WHO, WHAT, WHERE  and HOW of the relationship of your visitors and your florist website. And THIS is just the tip of the iceberg on what you can find on Google Analytics!

Get started today, start earning more from your flower shop website!

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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!

Sometimes it seems like you need a crystal ball to see who is visiting your Floral Website.  Who are these people?  Do they visit often?  Do they stay long?  All excellent questions that go unanswered unless you add Google Analytics to your Floral Website.  It is a free, easy to use and an incredible tool that is a MUST for your Florist Website!

Google Analytics is a free marketing tool from Google that provides you detailed statistics on your florist website traffic and traffic sources. It can track visitors from all sites including search engines and social networks, direct visits and referring sites.  It is the perfect step to begin learning about your visitors and marketing to them.

Add Google Analytics to your Florist Website

First thing you need to do is create a Google Analytics account and set up your tracking code. Once you have created a new account you will receive a block of code that is your web tracking code. You will need to add this JavaScript Code to all the pages that you want to track on your floral website. It is an easy addition and helpful tips can be found on the Google Analytics site.  If you have an IT person take care of your site, they should be able to help you with this step.  You should be able to see results in about 24 hours.

Start at the Opening Dashboard

The Opening Dashboard on your Google Analytics page is a good start for a quick overview of what you will find in the analytics. Here you will see graphs on how many New Visits and Unique Visits you had for the month or the browser most people used to view your site and lots more.

Change the reporting date

A few helpful hints while you go through analytics. By default, Google shows that last 30 days of activity for your site. If you would like to look at a different timeline or even to compare against last month or last year, you can do this by clicking on the date range box in the upper right corner. Notice in the example below,  we are comparing the same month but for two different years. You can tell the different years by the two different colors. Google will now carry this time information throughout the entire search unless you change the dates back. (Note: Google Analytics can only collect data from the date you added their code to your website therefore you will not be able to retrieve any information before that date.)

Another interesting and helpful note is that you can hover over any dot on the graph – these dots represent individual days or time periods. A box will appear next to the dot and show the numbers of new visits for that date and since we added the comparison, it also shows last year’s number and the percentage change. Are you running a different ad this year than last year or doing more social media? This comparison will help show if it is working or not.

Now it is time to dig deeper into who is looking at your site…
Today we are going to look into the information you can find under the Audience tab. Go to the left tab and under Audience click on Overview. This is what you will see

As you can tell, 665 unique people visited this site during this time period and by the graph you can see the days that they visited the site.  What days are most visited?  Is that when you are advertising, emailing or posting on social media?  What can you do now on the slower days to get more visitors?

What do each of the numbers mean?

Visits – the number of times someone comes to your site.  Each visit is counted.
Unique Visits – the number of times new people visit your site.
Pageviews – the number of times people view pages on your site.
Pages / Visit  – the number of pages the visitor is viewing on your site. The larger the amount, the more pages are being viewed. For example, if your site has 2,000 visits and 4,000 page views, then an average person would have looked at two pages while on your site.
Avg. Visit Duration – the average time each visit to your site lasted in minutes.
Bounce Rate – this is the percentage of people who only visit one page on your site and do not go any further.
% of New Visits – the percentage of new visitors who have never visited your site before compared to the visits total.

What else under the Audience tab can help your Florist Website and Marketing Plan?

Lots of interesting things! 

Next go to Demographics and you can see the percentage of female and male visitors your floral website gets. Are you attracting brides or men looking to purchase arrangements for their spouses?

What about the age group of your visitors.  Are they baby boomers, millenniums or generation X?   You can find the age group by clicking on the age tab.  Does this age group look like your clientele?  Is that the age group you are targeting in your marketing? Or do you want a different age group so you need to rethink your marketing plan.

 

Going Mobile?

While still under the Audience Tab, click on Mobile and then Overview. Here you can see what device your customers are using to find your florist website. Is it mainly on a desktop or mobile or on a tablet? If there is a large amount of mobile and tablet views, you must check how your florist website looks on these different devices. In 2014, it is predicted that mobile phone users will overtake desktops for internet usage.  50% of mobile phone users use mobile as their primary Internet source.  This is how most people are looking at your florist website.

Want to see which mobile devices your customers use the most?  While under Mobile click on Devices and here you will find out more specific information about which mobile device your visitors are using to browse your site.

With Google Analytics and going under the Audience tag, you can find out a lot of great information about your present visitors.  You now know who your visitors are and are they the ones you want?  If not, you will need to change your marketing to fit with the demographics you want.  Are you getting the visits to your florist website you thought or wanted?  How can you increase these visits?  Wonder if you change your website or add new pages?  Will you see an increase in pages viewed?  All these questions and more can be found when looking under the Audience tab in Google Analytics.

Now that we have reviewed the Audience tab, look to our next few blog posts when we will be discussing the Acquisition, Behavior and Goal Setting through Google Analytics.

It is better than a crystal ball and will help make 2014 a Great Year for your Florist Shop!!!

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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!