Each idea you’ll read here, each tidbit of direction, every explanation I’ll give is an actionable step that, when completed, will move you one step closer to dominating the “Flower Shop in (Your City Here)” niche!

How do I know?

I am Jeff Millett and I’ve been actively involved in internet marketing for over 10 years and have been a full-time SEO consultant for over 5 of those years.

I know what it takes to rank in today’s highly competitive internet playing field.

More importantly!

I personally ranked a flower shop in Phoenix, Arizona at the top of Google for “Flower Shop Phoenix”

That’s right!

I actually took a flower shop in Phoenix, Arizona straight to the top of Google for the highly searched key phrase “Flower Shop Phoenix” – along with a number of supporting phrases like “Flower Delivery Phoenix” and “Same Day Flower Delivery Phoenix”.

This won’t surprise you …

Once my client got to the #1 spot for “Flower Shop Phoenix” business was never the same! Her phone constantly rang off the hook!

In fact …

Business was sooooooo good that she moved to a bigger, newer location, bought a 400sf custom glass cooler, hired more employees and then (you’re going to love this) she up and left with her kids on a long trip to Alaska.

That is an absolutely true story!

What To Expect

Now, before we get too deep into the topic of SEO specifically I want you to remember this …

“Not all of the tasks I’m going to give you are easy.”

Be prepared to spend some valuable time going through each step.

It’s not easy to rank high in local search and it doesn’t always happen fast but this much is true – it’s totally worth it!

Once you start ranking high your phone will start ringing. Once your phone starts ringing you’ll start making more money and your business WILL grow.

Note: If you think that this article is going to be overwhelming – it’s not! If you think that you might need help or some more coaching in order to execute each of these steps you might check out Website Rocket’s tour page.

Alright, let’s get started!

Run-Of-The-Mill Marketing: The Truth About It’s Effectiveness

Flower Shops are pretty fortunate in this one thing – when it comes to marketing there is no shortness in opportunity.

Everyone is ready and willing to take your money.

From digital to printed advertisements here are just a few …

From Magazines, email, newspaper, radio..

SEO And Why It’s Important To Your Floral Business

Owning a piece of real estate in the top 3 of Google is a small business game changer!

Can you image the difference between owning a flower shop nestled in the middle of a Nebraska corn field compared to owning a flower shop smack in the middle of Time Square?

That is the difference between ranking high in Google and not ranking high in Google!

It’s estimated that between 60% and 80% of search traffic goes to the top 3 search results.

PICTURE: Upto 80% Of Search Traffic Goes To The Top 3 Results

So, what’s stopping most florist from hitting the top of the search engines?

By their very nature florists are rather creative people.

When a professional florist looks at a website they want to see something colorful, something that is welcoming and most importantly – something that has their personal touch (or signature style).

Yes, it’s true …

A website’s style, flow and presentation IS a very important aspect of online marketing although it’s all wasted unless you actually have traffic going to your website.

That’s why it is important for a flower shop owner recognize that there are many ‘technical aspects’ that absolutely MUST be touched on or else the website’s greater purpose will wither up and die.

Your #1 SEO Goal

First, let’s start with why are you are even interested in SEO.

It’s most likely that you run a small flower shop but you want more business.

or …

It’s possible that you’ve already grown to include a few local shops but you’re looking to grow even more.

Either way your goal is the same …

Are you paying attention? This is important!

Your #1 goal is that you need to focus 100% of your efforts on ranking your flower shop (or each of your flower shops) for the phrase “flower shop in (city where your shop is located)” before you do anything else!

That’s right – and there are a few reasons why.

The first reason you want to make ranking in your area your first goal is because it’s easiest to accomplish. Trying to rank for a city outside of your geographic location IS possible but it’s also slightly more difficult.

Which brings me to the second reason ranking in your area should be your first priority.

If your goal is in fact to rank outside of your area later (like a bigger metropolitan area) then ranking in your area first will put you on good terms with Google and other search engines which will then increase your chances of ranking elsewhere.

It’s true!

Website that already rank in Google for a singular term tend to rank more quickly when they begin to start targeting additional terms.

So, what’s your first goal?

That’s right! To rank #1 for the phrase “flower shop in (city where your shop is located)”

Now that you know WHAT you need to do let’s jump in and do it!

On Page SEO For Your Flower Shop Website

On Page SEO is a collection of elements found on your website. While some of these elements are actually visible on your website itself there are a number of On Page elements that you can’t see.

Why is On Page SEO important you ask?

On Page SEO factors tell search engines like Google “what business you’re in” and “what words or phrases you should rank for”.

Below I will explain a number of elements that contribute to your On Page SEO including Keywords, Domain Name, URLs, Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, Page Titles, Content and Website Design.

Keywords

Ok, so before we can actually begin working on your On Page SEO we first need to identify your keywords. Keyword that people search for on search engines like Google to find products or services.

The more focused (or targeted) your keywords the better the quality of your visitor.

Now typically this is where I’d ramble on and on about how to use keyword tools to do keyword research and confuse the heck out of you but I don’t have to …

Why?

Because you’re in the flower business and I’m an SEO guru…

I can just tell you what keywords and phrases you need to target!

Awesome, right?

I bet you didn’t think you’d be getting FREE SEO Services today?

Here are the key phrases you should be targeting!
(minus the name of the city and state you are in)

Key Phrases for Flower Shops

• Flower Shop (City, State)
• Flower Shop in (City, State)
• (City, State) Flower Shop
• Florist (City, State)
• Florist in (City, State)
• Flower Delivery (City, State)
• Flower Delivery in (City, State)
• Same Day Flower Delivery (City, State)
• Wedding Flowers (City, State)
• Funeral Flowers (City, State)
• Mothers Day Flowers (City, State)

Simply fill in the city and state blanks for the one’s that apply and you’re ready to go!

There you are … now let’s rock and roll!

Domain Name

Google use to rank exact match domains (emd’s) higher than other domains but they don’t anymore – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

For example:

It use to be true that if you owned CarpetCleaningServicesPhoenixAz.com you’d rank #1 in Google for “Carpet Cleaning Services Phoenix Az”.

This IS NOT the case anymore!

Don’t believe me? Go ahead, Google “Carpet Cleaning Services Phoenix Az” and see who comes up – I’ll tell you who won’t be there (CarpetCleaningServicesPhoenixAz.com).

Content

Ok, let’s suppose you’ve done everything right up to this point.

You’re at the top of Google and now people are clicking on your site.

Did you know that if people start to leave your site quickly for whatever reason that your websites rankings will start to drop?

This is called Bounce Rate.

How do you create great page content that engages users and keeps them on your site?

Here’s a quick list of things you can do.

How To Create Great Content

You know why your visitors are here, they want flowers!

But for what? And what kind?

Answer all their questions before they ask!

Tell them why you’re the best. Tell them how you’re different. Tell them what they’ll get if they choose you. Leave no room for doubt that they are getting a superior product and a great price from a professional in the industry.

Important: Current SEO professionals like Brian Dean are noticing a correlation between high rankings and pages with a significant amount of content (2,000+ words) calling it “strength in length”.

In other words – the longer the better!

Note: Avoid using the same content on every page. Write new descriptions of the same service if necessary. Just keep it fresh people.

Keyword Rich

When writing content for your flower shop website it’s important to use words like “flower shop” and “florist” within your content.

But don’t go overboard!

Keep your keyword use to 1 time every hundred words or so. When necessary use your geographic area as well.

Keyword rich content helps search engines to verify that your website is actually talking about what you say it’s talking about.

Sub Headings

Now, even though we’ve recommended that you write a significant amount of content the fact is that no-matter how valuable the content is most readers will turn away from a large bulky paragraph that looks like it will take 10 minutes to read.

But somehow …

An article with short sentences and sub headlines seem less threatening. So be sure to break up your content with sub titles for each new thought or topic.

Blog

All too often small business owners get caught up in the hype without really understanding the point or the ultimate objective.

This was, and is, the case in regard to blogs.

A blog IS NOT …

An account created at Blog.com, Blogger.com, or Tumblr.com

ie YourBlog.Tumblr.com, YourBlog.Blogspot.com

A blog IS …

Hosted on your own server in a folder connected to your website

ie www.YourWebsite.com/blog/

Optimize Your Pictures

Now, this section may not be what you think it’s going to be about.

What EXACTLY do I mean by “Optimize Your Pictures”?

Later on in this article you are going to read about ‘website load-times’. A website’s load time can greatly affect your businesses rankings and the size of your pictures can affect load times.

I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to hear this but those fantastic photos that you spent hours taking just to get the perfect shot of your floral arrangements. Well, you need to make sure those images aren’t too large.

Not large in the sense of size but large in the amount of memory required to hold them and the file type they are stored as.

Pictures saved as .png files tend to be quite large. I recommend .gif or .jpeg

A good file size to aim for is about 70kb, this will ensure your images show up fast and clean.

Internal Links

Internal links are just that. Links from within the content of your site that will take users to other product pages or service pages on your website.

Internal links help to keep users on-the-move and engaged, instead of bored. Bored users will leave your website quickly.

When users leave your website quickly you could start losing rankings because search engines will think that they are not finding what they are looking for.

The more pages you can get a user to touch, the longer you can keep them on your website, the better.

P.s. Images also includes graphics too. ie logos, banners, sliders, etc

Outbound Links

Don’t be a link snob. Meaning, don’t ONLY link to other pages of your own website.

Be consistent in linking out to other venues, local chapters and websites of happy customers if necessary. And be sure to let them know that you have.

Not only will linking to other websites help validate your location with Google it gives others a reason to link back to you.

SEO Friendly Website Design

You’re a florist and you like things to look pretty.

Having a pretty website adds only one benefit to your overall SEO campaign.

People will like it and they’ll stay longer.

But here’s the problem ….

Where are the people coming from? Because if your website is not optimized correctly, if your website does not show up high in the search results then where may I ask are the people coming from?

Let me offer you this advice since I’ve seen so many people make this mistake.

If you are just starting out or if your budget is limited, please, do whatever is necessary with your money to make your website and your online presence improve.

Better traffic to your site will yield new customers. New customers will bring in more revenue and more revenue will then allow you the opportunity to build the most beautiful website ever (that will include all of the necessary SEO requirements).

Responsive Design (a fancy word for mobile-friendly)

Significantly more users, especially local ones, are searching the web these days on phones and other mobile devices.

In 2015 Google got sick of waiting for everyone to ‘get with the times’ and added a factor to their search algorithm that penalizes websites for not being mobile-friendly.

Their data had already verified that users who could not see a mobile-friendly version of your website would leave almost immediately anyways so they opted to save them the headache and encourage you to step up.

Take away? Your site need to be mobile-friendly if you want your website to even stand a chance.

Website Load Speed

To most people this factor may seem insignificant but there are two things to consider when thinking about your sites load speed (which you can check here).

The first factor is a ranking factor.

Google ranks sites that load slowly lower than sites that rank quickly. It’s true.

I’ve seen a site that was moved from a slow server to a bigger faster server jump to page one in a week.

The second factor is retention based. A study done by MunchWeb showed that visitors were 75% less likely to return to a website that their subconscious told them ‘loaded kind of slow’.

If your website is loading slow there could be a couple reasons why, like a shared server or large images.

If you need help determining why your site is loading slow a report directly from Google could help you zero in on the issue.

Off Page SEO For Your Flower Shop Website

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing aim to provide users with up-to-date, relevant and popular information. The best way they can do this is by monitoring off-site factors.

All in all …

Off Page SEO consists of all off-site factors taking place online that affect a search engines perception of your website’s popularity and authority.

Examples of Off Page SEO factors are …

Being linked to by your local newspaper
Obtaining a listing on a popular business directory
Social Media Likes, Pins and Shares

What is a Backlink?

When someone in the SEO industry says “backlink” they are typically referring to a link from someone else’s website pointing towards your website. As seen below.

(picture of example)

Why Is A Backlink Important?

Today’s top search engines want to provide their users with the trendiest, most up-to-date and topic relevant results.

The more, quality backlinks your website has the more it’s trusted and the more likely it is to show up high in search results.

How Do I Get Backlinks?

Obviously, Website Rocket could help a bit here.

Backlinks should come from trusted websites. Additionally, backlinks should come from websites that would typically link to a site like yours.

To demonstrate this point let’s start by defining your business.

• You are a flower shop.
• You are a designer.
• You are a business.
• You serves weddings, funerals, parties, etc

So, where would a backlink to a website like this be found?

• On other flower sites.
• Design & decor blogs/magazine sites.
• In a business directory, a chamber of commerce site, etc
• On wedding sites, funeral sites, party sites, etc

Social Media

Social Media itself is a fantastic avenue for marketing a flower shop but we’re not going to talk about that here. What we are going to talk about is how more and more social media and social signals are beginning to play a role in search engine rankings.

As described above under the topic of backlinks we know that finding a link to your site from another website is a method search engines like Google use to determine a websites popularity.

Likewise …

A link to your website from Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest also helps validate your flower shops awesomeness.

It’s important to know this too!

Social Media actions is mainly spurred by the ability to quickly share something available on your website. In order to accomplish this your website needs prominent social icons and share features.

Local Search

Local Search is a marketing term used to describe the process of gaining recognition fron online sources that target local users.

Examples of these are …

• Google My Business
• Bing Places For Business
• Yahoo Local
• CitySearch
• Yellow Pages
• Better Business Bureau

Getting local visitors to your flower shop site is obviously more effective than getting visitors that are not.

Google My Business

Yes, Google My Business is going to get it’s own section in this article.

Why?

It’s a fact. Google My Business is one of today’s local business directories.

Everyone uses Google’s local search results to find products and services near them and YOU would be smart to focus a great deal of your marketing efforts on pleasing Google My Business so that your business ranks higher.

How To Rank Higher On Google My Business

First of all, you need an account.

Second, you need to set-up every feature possible within the account.

• Get Verified
• Add Your Phone Number
• Add A Lengthy Description
• Add Lots Of Pictures
• Link To Your Website
• Get Reviews (more on this later)

Ranking in the top 3 of Google My Business is a small business game changer.

How To BOOST Your Google My Business Rankings!

Ready for some inside juice on how to boost your Google My Business rankings?

I’ve been working in the SEO realm for a number of years now and still I see this one factor send mediocre business to the top of local search results which in turn leads to a boost in paying customers.

How do you do it?

Get reviews!

That’s it … although this might seem easy but it’s not very easy.

It takes time, persistence and this Google My Business Review Instruction Handout.

Online Marketing

Online marketing in general is utilizing all available web based resources to build your flower shops visibility, accessibility and brand.

Here are some of the resources that other florists have used to build their online presence or places where they typically might acquire backlinks.

• Local Chamber of Commerce
• Local Groups (Farmers Markets, Family
• General Business Directories (YP.com, Yelp, BBB)
• Niche Blogs (Guest Posts)
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest)
• Google (Adwords, Google My Business, Search)

FAQ’s

A lot of these questions can be answered by reading this article but if you’re interested in having just one concern resolved today hopefully you’ll find your answer here.

Q. Do I really need a website?
A. Yes. These days a website is just as important as the real estate your shop is sitting on.

Q. Is ok to have a blogspot/blogger site?
A. No. These sites aren’t actually yours and lack many necessary SEO attributes.

Q. Is content on my site important?
A. Yes! It is absolutely important. The more valuable content you can add to your website the better.

Q. Do pretty websites rank higher?
A. No. Well, they could help rank higher but at the end of the day if your website is missing most of the On Page SEO elements described above then it’s just not possible for you to rank.

Q. Where is the best place to focus my online efforts?
A. The trust is there is no ‘best’ place. Every vertical takes time and money to refine. If you’ve got more money than time you can speed things along with the almighty dollar. If you’ve got more time than money you can try Website Rocket (shameless plus).