Wire Service Template Sites

[BOSS]

Dang... how many look-a-like sites are there out there?

I reviewed 40 sites today, 1 original and 39 wire service templates from members here at FC. Of the 39 templates I saw the same one 5-6 times, several more 2-3 times each...

I can not stress to you folks how important it is to get a stand alone web site and take control of your own destiny. Not to mention how much cheaper it is to do this than deal with the wire service's offerings.

You may be wondering how I selected the sites I looked at, a random sampling of the 100 newest members to our Community... no pointing fingers here, just a sincere wish to help you be in a better position down the road than you are today.

 

[avenuegardensflorist]

Dang... how many look-a-like sites are there out there?

I reviewed 40 sites today, 1 original and 39 wire service templates from members here at FC. Of the 39 templates I saw the same one 5-6 times, several more 2-3 times each...

I can not stress to you folks how important it is to get a stand alone web site and take control of your own destiny. Not to mention how much cheaper it is to do this than deal with the wire service's offerings.

You may be wondering how I selected the sites I looked at, a random sampling of the 100 newest members to our Community... no pointing fingers here, just a sincere wish to help you be in a better position down the road than you are today.

...i know, i know, i know...........:hammer: i see you winking my way.


...right now it is the complete package that is holding me back. Our sending is pretty good and the ftd merc helps
us get the orders out fast and efficiently. I have been considering adding a second web page offering(strider of course) to compete
w/ what I have now and let them duke it out to see what the outcome might be. But w/ the way the economy is right
now all my risk-oriented decision making is in the dumps! Another issue I would have is the maintenance of the pics and stuff.
The master j (awesome site) http://www.belvedereflowers.com/
site has proven to me it does not have to be perfect however. That is great w/ the family pics....or are they models?

 

[master J]

Thanks for the compliment

I will put my son through college with all the extra sales he brings me LOL! Watch the Future of Belvedere Flowers HERE

He's better than some of the designers Ive tried out over the years !LOL!

 

[avenuegardensflorist]

Thanks for the compliment

I will put my son through college with all the extra sales he brings me LOL! Watch the Future of Belvedere Flowers HERE

He's better than some of the designers Ive tried out over the years !LOL!

...and your site, master j, is a strider, correct?

 

[master J]

Absolutely!:musical:

 

[inferno63]

I agree with this. There are so many sites with the same layout and same pics that consumers must get bored and frustrated. I realize that my site has some bumps but it is different. I have my own pics. I have others tell me it was nice to be able to look at a different florist site and also that I was chosen over others because my website stood out from the rest. The hardest part is keeping up with updates on the site but I am working on that. I have a new, really fast computer that will cut down updating the website by hours!

 

[master J]

I agree, you cannot just set it & forget it, these sites require a lot more hard work than just relying on WS cookie cutters, so if you don't have the time to do it, maybe the WS sites are better for you.

I personally work on my site every day, however , I think you can also get away with doing it once a month too.

 

[goldfish]

I have a very crude formula for how these WS template site might perform: 5 random orders* per month per 10,000 pop.

* random orders - orders placed by new, random customers.

This is based on an estimate of how many web traffic a site can get through search engines - which is more or less proportional to the population - and the expected conversion rate (~5%).

So if you just open a new shop in a small town with pop = 10,000, you might be getting about one order per week. Since you are paying >$100 a month for these orders, order acquisition cost would be ~$20 per order. Not wise.

I belive that a small town florist should not put up a WS-template with cookie cutters. It won't generate enough revenues.

Disclaimer: Your actual mileage may vary, depending your age, smoking habits, and your view on wire services etc.

 

[avenuegardensflorist]

I agree with this. There are so many sites with the same layout and same pics that consumers must get bored and frustrated. I realize that my site has some bumps but it is different. I have my own pics. I have others tell me it was nice to be able to look at a different florist site and also that I was chosen over others because my website stood out from the rest. The hardest part is keeping up with updates on the site but I am working on that. I have a new, really fast computer that will cut down updating the website by hours!

...yes, very nice. You do have to have a fast connection to upgrade w/ your add-ons. Strider also?


or did you just want us all to sign in for the contest?

 

[inferno63]

It does require a bit of maintenance and I hope to stay on top of things now and foward. I have a new computer and high speed business class internet so that will help, I hope.

Well the contest requires that you pick up the free flowers but I would love to meet you all!

 

[Knife's Wife]

Funny, I have spent less time on my site since switching to Strider. Initially it took hours of work but now it is a few minutes here and there to add something new or create a special or tweak the key words.
Now my site with TF was heavily customized but most of the time was wasted, spending hours changing prices and removing the majority of the new pics that they add automatically that we did not want. There were times when I would spend half my day off removing pics and correcting prices and 2 days later the crap would be back on my site, they always tried to say that it was something I must have done wrong! WTF, It was right for 2 days now it is all screwed up again and it was me...I think not.

Did you ever have the problem of taking a pick and resizing 4 ways for the upload, because that is what it requires, sm, med, lg and thumbnail. It took forever to upload each one and sometimes the session would time out and you would have to start over. When I did not have the time to screw with it, I would send them to them and they would do it for me. I can not tell you how many times after they had done it that I would have to call and have them fix it because for some stupid reason the pics were skewed.
The monthy fee for Strider vs TF is the same.
How many orders do you recieve a month through you TF site? That # x $3.45 is what you will be saving, paying yourself, use in another area for promotion, make extra car payments to pay off early what ever! If your TF site is not generating at least 2 orders a day it needs to go! and if it generates a lot more than that like ours did then it needs to be gone yesterday as it is sucking hundreds of dollars each month.

Joan

 

[Joe Mioux]

I still doubt the general public is as aware as of WS sponsored templates and independent templates.

A couple weeks ago, a customer from STL called in an order. She was on my TF website.

Her comment was "your website is better than the ST Louis florists websites"

go figure?.

Website developer here in town also complimented me on my good looking website.

again go figure?.

The problem with these threads is that we (well you - not me) think and react from your florist perspective. You spend hours a day (well ah like me) checking in on FC and visiting other florists websites. You (not me) have a bias.

think like a customer.

joe

 

[master J]

I still doubt the general public is as aware as of WS sponsored templates and independent templates.

A couple weeks ago, a customer from STL called in an order. She was on my TF website.

Here comment was "your website is better than the ST Louis florists websites"

go figure?.

Website developer here in town also complimented me on my good looking website.

again go figure?.

The problem with these threads is that we (well you - not me) think and react from your florist perspective. You spend hours a day (well ah like me) checking in on FC and visiting other florists websites. You (not me) have a bias.

think like a customer.

joe

I agree with you to a certain extent that a lot of times we all think too much like florists here on FC....

"Most" people don't know the difference, however, frequent flower buyers can tell a difference, the ones that love sending flowers, and order all the time , can tell the difference between cookie cutter & unique.

 

[inferno63]

I can speak from the consumer side also. I have only been a florist for 4 years (in greenhouse business before). I noticed the same sites over and over before I was in the biz. If a person is looking on yahoo or google for a florist in XYZ town and in the list they start clicking on websites and they all look the same, they notice.

Even though I don't like to call out order on my credit card, I do for customers that still want this service. I use yahoo and google to locate florist all over the United States. I click on websites often to get a toll free number and to see what they have and pricing, etc. If there is a choice, I pick a florist with the original website.

I have had customers tell me that all the websites look the same as much as sympathy and wedding consultations say they are happy that I don't pull out the same WS selection books they just saw at the last florist shop. I was always afraid that with a WS website that the consumer would also assume pricing to be the same.

My disclaimer:

I am sure that there are consumers that don't notice or care. I am sure that many just want to check the flower order off their to-do list and will click on the first site they come to. I am absolutely sure from FC that many with WS websites are doing incredibly well with their websites.

I am simply offering an opinion, food for thought. My opinion is that we are increasingly become a techie society and the internet world has educated the consumer to the point that they do notice these things.

 

[Joe Mioux]

I agree with you to a certain extent that a lot of times we all think too much like florists here on FC....

"Most" people don't know the difference, however, frequent flower buyers can tell a difference, the ones that love sending flowers, and order all the time , can tell the difference between cookie cutter & unique.

however, there is a caveat to these two comments....

the first person probably buys a lot flowers. Otherwise, how would she know my TF website was any good? She was making a comparison based on her history of websurfing-flowerbuying.

Now the second, one did a lot of website development work for Dierbergs ( a large grocery chain in the StL area... part of his work was with Dierberg's flower website).

His comment to me holds a lot of weight with me. I know him and respect him.

joe

 

[Joe Mioux]

I can speak from the consumer side also. I have only been a florist for 4 years (in greenhouse business before). I noticed the same sites over and over before I was in the biz. If a person is looking on yahoo or google for a florist in XYZ town and in the list they start clicking on websites and they all look the same, they notice.

.

so what.

How often does that happen?

More importantly, How much of the total florist's business gets lost from those duplicated encounters?

What percent of business getts lost from a flower shop having a template website?

also, what happens when two competing flower shops buy the same template from the same independent website provider?

i will tell you. the difference becomes moot.

joe

 

[LOTAKIDS]

Guilty as charged!! websites are overwhelming to me, it was a quick fix. Starting to check into other options.

 

[Rhonda]

I think what perturbs me the most about template WS sites is the pricing. Most shops are NOT actually looking at the prices the WS techs are placing on their sites. They also are showing tropicals in an area that is as rural as I am and there is no disclaimer about time needed for order etc. Don't show the entire Selection Guide when you know you aren't capable of obtaining those flowers. And their "about us" pages are drivel...
When I go WS free next month, (and I've already been doing this), I'll be looking for "personal" things and if I can find them, that's a shop I'll probably give a call to.

 

[inferno63]

so what.

How often does that happen?

More importantly, How much of the total florist's business gets lost from those duplicated encounters?

What percent of business getts lost from a flower shop having a template website?

also, what happens when two competing flower shops buy the same template from the same independent website provider?

i will tell you. the difference becomes moot.

joe

Joe,
These are just the questions that we should be asking. Obtaining answers to these questions would be a gold mine in marketing a website. I would love to see some good stats and surveys on just these questions. But, really how many florists make decisions about anything based on what the answers are? Are we trying to please ourselves or the consumer? I want to please the consumer and am willing to drive around the block a few times to get in their heads. There has to be a way to get these kinds of questions answered in a rock solid way. And in that lies my frustration with marketing. I want to dance in the consumer's head. I am always trying to pick their brains and gear my decisions along their brainwaves without copying what is already out there. If anyone knows where we can actually find good consumer stats on this, I would love to know.

And, Joe, I think it is a GOOD thing that you are successful with the WS website. I just think that if someone of your status can be successful with the WS template, my goodness, what could you do with your own creative flair?

 

[RWK]

I've got to side with Joe here for a bit......A retail consumer might not view a WS template site in the same way that we florists would. However, it has been mentioned that the caveat with most WS template sites is they utilize the entire selection guide......and they use WS pricing guidelines.

It takes work to maintain and operate a WS template site........and the WS may decide to override your changes......This happened frequently when my old employer had an FTD template site......we would go in and make the necessary changes.....and then the 'powers that be' at FTD would go in and overide our changes.........particularly at holiday time.

Now, There are a lot of great websites out there......I consider RC's (Oberer's) one of the best.....for a simple reason......Most of his featured arrangements are seen in home style settings......on a dining table, coffee table or side table. you might see a table lamp, or a lace doily accenting.


Choosing an independent host.....like Strider/ Media99/local host......can make a big difference in how well you are able to manange your site.

I will say that a WS template site......that can be managed by calling site management on the phone.....may be the way to go for someone who is internet illiterate......whereas an independent host may be the best option for someone with more internet/ web savvy.