You’ve heard me say it many times before: your website is the single most important marketing and sales tool in your flower business. And as a consequence, that makes SEO for florists just as important.
Every day that passes, your online presence becomes more important than ever. It’s where most customers are buying flowers and searching for floral designers in 2021.
Of course, I know you’re keen to get your website sorted and making it work for your business. And now you’re going to ask me, Kathleen, how the shiz do I get my website found by the right customers?
Yeah, I will tell you that investing in a handful of paid advertising opportunities is 100% worth it. Of course. But when it comes to organic (i.e. not paid) marketing options, SEO is always a hot topic for most business owners and savvy floral designers.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for florists, or any business, is the process of improving your website to increase its visibility for relevant searches (think being listed on page #1 of a Google search, not page #5 where nobody goes).
The better visibility, or “ranking”, that your pages have in search results, the more visitors you’ll attract to your website. More visitors will turn into more customers.
You know how when you’re trying to find information on something (for example, “How to start a flower shop” – be sure to check out this article here), you jump on the Googles and type in a kind of nonsensical series of words?
In most cases, it’s not even a full sentence but it’s just enough info to give Google an idea of the problem you’re trying to solve.
Well, our customers do exactly the same thing when they’re looking for floral designers.
And that’s true regardless of whether you’re focused on subscriptions or daily deliveries, wedding or elopements.
92% of all searches happen on Google. Your customers looking for a florist are no different which is why SEO for florists is so important.
Yes, SEO is confusing
When you jump on the Google and search “SEO Tips” millions of results are found. 269 million to be precise. That’s a lot.
Which is actually part of the problem. There’s too much information.
And when there is this much information floating around the interwebs, it’s nearly impossible to know where to start.
When you’re not shown a clear path or a specific starting point, you’re left confused and overwhelmed. And you don’t do anything.
My friend, you’re in the right place.
If you’re wondering where to even begin when it comes to the wonderful world of SEO, I’m here to help.
SEO for florists can be simple
No, SEO isn’t straightforward, but it can be super simple.
I know you probably don’t believe me, but it is.
How?
By focusing on your customer.
Truly, that IS the secret. SEO requires us to think like our customer.
Google and its fancy-pants algorithm are focused entirely on providing the most relevant and helpful content to the people searching.
So, when your customer jump on the Googles and types in “Dallas Florist”, Google wants to provide that person with the most relevant and helpful search results.
That means, to get on Google’s radar, you need to think like your customer.
#1 Thing Florists Need to Know About SEO
The way the Google algorithm works is that it “crawls” the content on your website and, based on what it finds, offers it up in response to a customer’s search term.
There are two things to emphasise in this process:
- The content Google crawls is (a) the words on your website and (b) the descriptions, or tags, you use on your images, page descriptions, and secondary content. Remember Google cannot “look” at your photos, it’s searching a pile of 0’s and 1’s to find a match to the specific search phrase the customer is using
- The results Google presents are based on the term the customer uses in their search
However, many floral designers are trapped in their own bubble. They’re focused on keeping up with the competition, chasing after Instagram followers or stressing about investing in a shop front.
I absolutely used to be like that too.
These days, I spend a hundred times more energy thinking about my customers than I do dwelling on my own self doubt.
It’s paid off. Significantly.
What I love about SEO in floristry is that it forces us to stop focusing on our own shortcomings and put all our energy into understanding our customer.
It IS so simple.
It IS marketing.
And when it comes to building a bigger flower business, marketing is the ONLY thing that matters.
More SEO help for florists
And finally, learning about business and marketing doesn’t mean you need a university degree or fancy-pants corporate experience. I do have these things and am happy to share everything you need to know.
If you want to learn more about my Flower Boss Bootcamp and see if it’s right for you, sign-up for a free 20 minute Mini-Session with me.
💖
Kathleen
P.S. I’ve done a podcast on this topic which you may like. Find it on Spotify here or listen on the player below.