Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series focused on optimizing SEO and websites to help floral businesses get more sales. Check out this collection of resources on the Floral Education Hub for more digital strategy guidance. Find the full article in the May/June 2024 issue.
For years, Mitchell’s Orland Park Florist & Flower Delivery could manage the shop, its website, and its search engine optimization all on their own.
“As the internet has become more sophisticated … it’s kind of gotten out of hand and it’s just become more difficult for someone whose background is not computers,” says Dave Mitchell, AAF, president of the Orland Park, Illinois, company.
As SEO became more complex, with search engines such as Google frequently changing algorithms, Mitchell’s outsourced its SEO management to professionals. Mitchell says it made sense for his business, as about 80% of its daily customers find his shop online.
“It’s not cheap, but when so much of your business is based on people finding you online, you have to do everything possible to put yourself out there to be found,” he says.
Every business is different, so owners must carefully consider how to handle the ever-evolving world of SEO management.
If you choose to outsource your SEO, make sure you know what results you want and budget accordingly, says Dan McManus, founder and president of TeamFloral, a floral marketing consultancy. You get what you pay for, he says, comparing the price of a good SEO management program to the price of a floral bouquet; the more a customer spends, the more impactful it is.
“Think of it as you’re sending an arrangement to your most important client, which is Google,” McManus says.
But money isn’t the end-all. There are disreputable companies that charge outrageous rates, make impossible promises, or charge by the keyword. McManus’s advice: Do your homework and ask trusted peers for recommendations.
Cameron Pappas, AAF, president and owner of Norton’s Florist in Birmingham, Alabama, says he hired a company that specifically works with the floral industry. The company understands the business so it can provide more targeted assistance than a generic SEO company.
“Using a third party to manage the SEO frees me up to work on the things that I’m good at in the company,” Pappas says. “As an owner, I am juggling so many hats every day that I don’t have time to keep up with changing rules and trends in SEO. Our third-party provider knows it better than we do, so it’s worth it for us to pay them to handle the management of the SEO.”
For some small business owners, paying to outsource SEO is out of the question. In those instances, Renato Cruz Sogueco, AAF, PFCI, vice president of digital strategy and education at BloomNet, cautions owners and managers against assigning this task to whichever employee has down time.
Someone without the skills needed could accidentally damage a business’s ranking by using outdated techniques. Instead, he recommends small business owners take time to learn current SEO strategies and do it themselves.
“I know owners are busy, but here’s what owners can do: They can delegate repetitive tasks so they can focus on strategic stuff like this,” Sogueco says. “This is not rocket science … There are a lot of things in the floral business that are harder than this stuff.”