Florists, Does Your Floral Website Have These 5 Important Things?
Florists with the holidays approaching and Valentine’s Day right around the corner there is no time like now to revamp your floral website. The US Census Bureau showed eCommerce sales for the second quarter of 2019 totaled $139.7 billion, an increase of 8.3 percent (±0.9%) from the first quarter of 2019. With numbers growing this rapidly it is imperative that all florists take a step back and focus on their floral website.
Below is a list of 5 must-have florist website things that attract online shoppers and help maximize your SEO.
1. Floral Website Appearance & Products
Let’s start with the appearance here- if your floral website looks exactly like your competitor’s websites it is time for a change. Unfortunately for the floral industry at one time obtaining a floral website was limited, so what ends up happening? Florists end up with a website that looks exactly like all the other floral websites- same template, same look, and feel.
So why is this such a big deal? Your logo and name are displayed on the website so surely people know it is your floral website? Well, not necessarily, shoppers need a memorial experience to come back to your floral website plus this is not good for your brand recognition. If your website looks like all your competitor’s websites on local search what memorable experience are you really giving your shoppers? How will they remember to come back to your website or your brand?
Please be sure that your website Stands Out from your floral competitors in your local area on google search.
Products-Besides the same exact website appearance as your competitor’s are you also offering the same exact products? If so then now is the time to invest in your own creative work and showcase your floral masterpieces.
I always said, “What if Monet had a website filled with Vincent Van Gogh product images?”– OK maybe not the best analogy but you get the point. Florists, you are creative beings, masterful artists- invest in a photographer and showcase your floral designs work. You may still use other product images that are not your own just incorporate them with your designs.
Take Away: Have a beautiful floral website that stands out from your competitors- this is one of the most important key elements to having a floral eCommerce.
2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Page
Why would you need an FAQ page on your floral website? Well, they rank really well on search engines.
Giving answers to these floral buying types of questions can bring in people who may not even know about your floral business, but found an answer to their search query on your site and clicked through to learn more.
Clients also love reading simple user-friendly content that allows them to get quick answers to their questions and lastly having a floral FAQ page on your website shows customers you are interested in helping them find answers to their questions- giving them a sense of trust in your floral business.
You can add questions and answers about detailed delivery information, locations of delivery, substitutions, workshops, subscriptions, address how to care for the floral arrangements purchased, and much more. Create a floral retail FAQ page and also post one on your wedding service page as these questions and answers will be different.
For floral retail/wedding FAQ, sample questions CLICK HERE.
3. Schema Markup
Getting a bit more technical now, your floral website should have schema markup. For some, you may be wondering what in the world is schema markup? Schema markup usually referred to as just Schema is code ( semantic vocabulary of tags) that you put on your website to help search engines return better more significant results for users.
Schema also tells search engines what your data actually means. Adding Schema markup to your website improves the way your page shows up on search engines by brilliantly intensifying the rich snippets that are displayed under the page title.
4. Floral Website Security
I still see lots of florists with floral websites that are not HTTPS -secure. The reason why SSL is a must is to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the recipient can access it. Also, Google loves websites that are HTTPS- SSL secures giving them a better ranking besides all that you will build trust and increase your floral brand power.
How To Check if your floral website’s connection is secure
To check a website’s security, to the left of the web address, look at the security status:
- In Google Chrome, open the website page.
- To check a website’s security, to the left of the web address, look at the security status:
- Secure
- Info or Not secure
- Not secure or Dangerous
- To see the website’s details, click on the icon
- You’ll see a summary of how private Google Chrome thinks the connection is- the only icon every floral website should have is the lock.
5. Floral Subscription Page
If you are a frequent Facebook visitor then I am sure you have seen loads of businesses or celebrity spokespeople offering subscription gift options anything from beauty, tea, coffee, clothing, and even pet items. Yes I have been tempted and actually signed up myself for a few- the excitement comes when I receive my gifts monthly in the mail it is pure joy for me.
Floral subscriptions allow for recurring revenue. You can have a lower, medium and high price point and allow customers to choose their delivery schedule- weekly, biweekly, monthly or quarterly. You can offer subscriptions with flowers, plants, succulents, and treats. Be as creative as you like with your floral subscriptions and offer perks or incentives for sign-ups.
Now is the time to get your floral subscription page up before the holidays- if you can get this page up and running on your floral website asap!
Note: Not mentioned in this article is the importance of having a Responsive floral website, most floral websites are responsive if yours is not please change it today. A responsive website will change according to the device the user is on to conform to that screen for a better viewing and shopping experience…
Stephanie Willoughby says
Excellent tips.
Thank you
Moni Jonas says
Hi, Very informative blog about flowers, love the content writing and beautiful image. Very helpful , would love to recommend your content , keep up the good work.
Website- https://www.aprilflowers.ie/