website questions

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bloomz said:
Not for me - the point of my website is to sell flowers. And choosing the best selling flowers in America and possibly the world is what I do.

Not the point of my site at all. I don't need to reinvent the wheel - there are wonderful creative designs and wonderful professionally shot images available from a variety of sources to use, and use them I do.

Yup I love wire service image cookie cutters, they be what pay de rent, so we can do creative on the few occasions that demand it.

Consumers don't need to know if they're creative or not. Few care. They just want pretty, well crafted and long lasting. Proof of this is the staggering numbers of those cookie cutters sold daily.



Well, at least when I need flowers delivered to
Explosions In Yer BloomerzCity: Yer Mom's house
State / Prov: Tombouctou
Country: Mozambique
I will know exactly what I will be getting.
Click to expand...
 
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Lori,

I just took a quick look at the front page. The thing that sticks out to me at first is that it looks professional - photos great - but that your logo might need updating as well. Good luck with your project - I never seem to find enough time to fit it in and you are so right about it being soooo important - I believe that it is the way that many are shopping rather than picking up the phone or they still use it as a catalog and then call. Again good luck and continued success
 
marigold said:
Well, at least when I need flowers delivered to
Explosions In Yer BloomerzCity: Yer Mom's house
State / Prov: Tombouctou
Country: Mozambique
I will know exactly what I will be getting.
Click to expand...

Yup - the finest cookies in Mozambique. :headbang::bow_flowe

Now if you want cutting edge AIFD type cookies - be sure to mention that cuz we do those too.
 
I just look at your website - may i make a few suggestions and comments - I was confused by you listings on the left - i wanted to see your bouquets and wedding flowers so I went to bridal flowers but I saw more pretty pictures that were not close shots of the bridal bouquets. There is a beautiful cascade I really would like to "see" but all I'm seeing is a full length shot of the bride and two bridesmaids - can you crop these? Even if you still want to include the bride and bridemaids, we don't need to see their feet. I went to the shopping part listing bouwuets, but why are there two different galleries - one for bridal flowers and one for shopping bridal flowers?
 
Kalisue said:
I just look at your website - may i make a few suggestions and comments - I was confused by you listings on the left - i wanted to see your bouquets and wedding flowers so I went to bridal flowers but I saw more pretty pictures that were not close shots of the bridal bouquets. There is a beautiful cascade I really would like to "see" but all I'm seeing is a full length shot of the bride and two bridesmaids - can you crop these? Even if you still want to include the bride and bridemaids, we don't need to see their feet. I went to the shopping part listing bouwuets, but why are there two different galleries - one for bridal flowers and one for shopping bridal flowers?
Click to expand...


Thanks for your views...I am currently cleaning up my pictures and doing just what you had said cropping them...I did alot of that way back when i first opened my shop and didn't fully know what I was doing and had a hundred projects going on....The reason for the two galleries is because again I had no idea what the consumer would be looking for and was looking to showcase my own work on those first pages...I now have realized that the consumer just wants to buy flowers and wants to do it quickly...I will be cleaning up the wedding portion of my website and changing it to only be one page...I will also be eliminating lots of the TF arrangements that don't jive with the way I do flowers...I will be selectively paring down the arrangements that are hard to fill because I don't carry the container or the flowers on a normal basis..
 
Lori I challenge you to take one picture everyday of at least one arrangement. At the end of the week choose the best picture and put it up on your front page of your website.

Feature your own arrangement and see how many you sell the following week.
 
Eric S said:
Lori I challenge you to take one picture everyday of at least one arrangement. At the end of the week choose the best picture and put it up on your front page of your website.

Feature your own arrangement and see how many you sell the following week.
Click to expand...


Eric, I will try to accept that challenge...One picture a week..sounds easy enough..I keep the camera at the ready right behind me..
 
That is an excellent idea! It is easy not to take that photo before it goes out the door,
because we are rushed. If it is all set up, it makes us more apt to take more photos.
I set up a photo area so it is ready to go. It takes up space, but, we have taken more
photos because it is all ready to go.I use the ezcube with lights.
 
OK, I have been working on things for my website for 2-3 weks now. taking pictures, assessing my website, changeing things around working on rewording, etc, etc...there is so much to be done...I cannot believe how many arrangements are on my website...all those web bouquets.. I am dizzy just thinking about them all...

What I have accomplised is:

Got my logo added
got some good pictures of my own stuff with descriptions into TF to be
added
retouched some of my earlier items and writing descriptions will have into TF soon.
Took pictures of the shop to add to the about us page will have that into TF today.
started going through and selecting out arrangments I don't want on the website at all (daunting project in itself)


What I want to get accomplished

thinning out the catagories
customizing the marketing of my site instead of going with TF's marketing
bettering the wedding section


Thanks for your help and still if there are any suggestions put them here and I will be glad to take your crits into consideration when making my decisions..I appreciate any and all info..
 
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congratulations lori! you have accomplished a lot- I think improving your site will get easier for you as time goes by.

one thing i've done (learned from a photo taking thread here by CHR i think) is invest in an 8x4 piece of white laminate for a background. I have a small shop but I have it hung up against a wall and it can be rolled up and out of the way. for a quickie table i use my trash can with a board on top..Just the right height! and then put the bottom of the laminate on top ... no lines!
 
Lori, something I learned about TF template site's wedding & sympathy sections ..... they are not "searchable". TF webhosting's theory is that if a consumer searches in your site for "red roses", they won't be "subjected" to seeing an all red rose casket cover, or red rose spray. They also won't see a red rose wedding bouquet. Anything in the wedding section or sympathy section is not searchable.

The downside is that if your customer types in "red rose casket cover" or "red rose wedding bouquet" they also won't get that search result. To me, who uses the search function on websites allllll the time, this would indicate that you didn't carry the product I am searching. Bad.

There is a "workaround", but they were hesitant to offer. It requires re-building the section, and adding all the TF stuff as if it is a custom order product.

Just thought you should know ... I don't know how this would affect a site's being "found" ..... if the category isn't available to an interior search, my guess would be it's not available for an internet search.

TF.com is set up the same way ... I just don't "get it".
FTD.com is not.
800 is not.
 
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Good job Lori! It will work as well as the work you put into it. Too many florists just leave them on cruise control.
 
Well, I will tell you, Jon...

I can fully see why so many do...It is not easy to keep the focus on all the info...I am sure it will get easier with every photo that I put on there and with every change I make...

But as of right now, I am seeing double just trying to thin out the TF images that I no longer want on my site and I am kind of pulled away everytime I think that soon they will just be dumping 30 or so more bouquets in there for xmas and then valentines...aaargh..I guess I should call them and tell them not to adding anything more unless I say its ok...
 
That looks *so* much nicer than last time :)

Couple of quick comments -
- you've got all the nav on the left 'nofollowed' (this tells the search engines you don't want them to visit those pages) It probably doesn't matter, because what seems to be the same links down the bottom aren't nofollowed, but why risk the confusion?
- the url at the bottom of the page is for a different website?? don't confuse the poor customer :) (It seems to be a group you are supporting, so be clear on why the link is there. The link is currently in the spot where some people repeat their own url to reinforce the branding. )

But so much better already :)
 
Lori, Looking better! I don't know anything about the teleflora template, so I am looking at it as a consumer/florist.
On the wedding page, something to consider:
when I go to your current wedding page, the first thing I see is people's faces.Men and women...lots of them. I don't see flowers. The flowers are in the background, they are so far into the photo. I am a bride looking on a flower site for bouquets an
I see a bride a groom who are getting married and there is a blur of a bouquet.
Focus on what you are trying to sell.
I think you want to sell your designs...seeing all the faces clutters it up.
It is like when you are listing your house to sell, the realtor tells you to loose
the family photos...no one wants to see all that. They want to imagine the home
with their photos and their faces.
Same with brides...they want to imagine holding the bouquet themselves..not
the lady in the photo.
This is why so many bouquet photos are taken from the bust down...no heads..
keep it anonoymus...and it makes it theirs.
Hope this makes sense.
 
flowergrrl said:
- you've got all the nav on the left 'nofollowed' (this tells the search engines you don't want them to visit those pages) :)
Click to expand...

Did you ever get a decent answer on that Lori?
 
marigold said:
Lori, Looking better! I don't know anything about the teleflora template, so I am looking at it as a consumer/florist.
On the wedding page, something to consider:
when I go to your current wedding page, the first thing I see is people's faces.Men and women...lots of them. I don't see flowers. The flowers are in the background, they are so far into the photo. I am a bride looking on a flower site for bouquets an
I see a bride a groom who are getting married and there is a blur of a bouquet.
Focus on what you are trying to sell.
I think you want to sell your designs...seeing all the faces clutters it up.
It is like when you are listing your house to sell, the realtor tells you to loose
the family photos...no one wants to see all that. They want to imagine the home
with their photos and their faces.
Same with brides...they want to imagine holding the bouquet themselves..not
the lady in the photo.
This is why so many bouquet photos are taken from the bust down...no heads..
keep it anonoymus...and it makes it theirs.
Hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...


I am working on those, my wedding stuff is not my first priority...Thanks for you nsight...I have all the pictures cropped, I just need to get them to telelflora and have them replace them..
 
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