The Best for 2009

While it is still January, LocalFlowerShop.com wants to wish all of our member shops the best in 2009 and we also want to thank you for your support of LocalFlowerShop.com’s many programs and services. 
 
One of the benefits of having your shop listed on LocalFlowerShop.com is the increase to your web rankings and visibility. Most of our members know the importance of web rankings and visibility and how vital exposure can be to their SEO. For those that do not  – Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic”) search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks,” the more searchers will visit that site.
 
A top-ranked SEO blog Seomoz.org[40] has reported, “Search marketers, in a twist of irony, receive a very small share of their traffic from search engines.” Instead, their main sources of traffic are links from other websites.[41] Which is where your membership with LocalFlowerShop.com will benefit you.

Your shop can be listed in all the cities that you deliver to and your website can also be linked so that customers looking to send flowers in your delivery area can find you and call you directly.
 
This is a giant step away from the traditional form of floral industry standard practice of turning on the Dove or Mercury and waiting for the orders to come in. Floral directories are nothing new, they have been around for over 8 years and getting your shop listed on some of them will prove to be an asset.

Be Profitable in the New Year!

LocalFlowerShop.com wishes all it’s members the very best in 2009. If you are starting the year off with a resolution to be more profitable and  more successful in 2009, this article from the Sarasota Gulfcoast Business Review, is for you.  It is from the Dec. 26th 2008 issue and was the cover story about Art Conforti, the President of Beneva Flowers and LocalFlowerShop.com . It does a fabulous job of capturing his passion and determination. In addition, it offers some very practical tips for florists all over the country. 

 

Three reason why this article may be important to you are  1) If you don’t know who our President is, this article will provide insight on a personal and professional level  2) If you are looking for ideas and direction that will help make your business stronger in 2009 practical tools are offered that you can put into place immediately and 3) If you need living and breathing proof that a flower shop can thrive even in this sluggish economy reading this article will inspire you to know that it can be done.  

 

My favorite two excerpts from the editorial are: “Conforti’s entrepreneurial musings are more than just business survival fodder, too. Over the past few years, Conforti has become something of an Oprah-like presence in the nationwide independent florist community, traveling all over the country as an in-house consultant for other florists, some much bigger than Beneva.”

And

“Art Conforti’s ideas for running a business in tough times can be boiled down to one thought: Be smart. That’s how he says Beneva Flowers, the Sarasota-based florist he’s owned since 1992, thrived during the good times and is surviving the bad times.”