Is a Rose Just a Rose? Yours Should be More!

Lately, it seems many florists claim to use a rose called the Freedom. I remember the first time I saw it, at Heroman's Florist in Baton Rouge and it was tremendous!

I went on to try it in my shop and failed miserably - it was very inconsistent. I soon learned of all the different ways it is being grown and the growers that grow them. This was VERY frustrating. I grew my personal retail floral shop on my unique red rose I brought in and it was a show stopper. To protect the name and grower, I called it the BLACK LABEL. You may want to consider that as well before saying you carry a Freedom. In case you are wondering why...

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Look at this image I took at the local supermarket. Yes, they are putting it in print - FREEDOM ROSES! This was awful to see. You don't want to have to explain to your customer why you charge such a premium for a rose someone else is selling for $14.99. Make yourself unique or you may risk losing business to competitors who can afford to undercut your prices.

-Art

Do you need help standing out in your local market? Bloomerang Solutions can help! From custom-built websites to social media and Google marketing, Bloomerang is your secret weapon when it comes to acquiring new customers and our results are guaranteed. Give me a call today at (941) 806-1911 and watch your business bloom!

Winning at Google Marketing Requires 4 Simple Steps

Google marketing is one of the most effective advertising platforms in the world. If you’re not utilizing it to help your business grow, now is the time to start! It may sound complicated, but you will be successful if you follow these four steps:

Step 1: Define your goals

Structure your campaign. By setting up your account according to what you are looking to achieve, you will be able to measure your success by the hour. By targeting geographic areas most important to your business, you won't waste your budget on irrelevant search terms. For example, we promote Sunset Cruises in the Sarasota area. Many people have asked "how in the world did we attract all this traffic?” We simply targeted exactly what we were looking for from the local area. Had we not defined our parameters, we could have lost a lot of ad budget to search looking for sunset cruises elsewhere.

If we build it, they will come. In the eyes of your customers, your website is the heart of your company. It should not only be functional and easy to use, but it should help you produce the results you desire. That’s why we build websites with results in mind and structure them to maximize SEM and SEO considerations. It's important that clients and potential clients find it easy to use and navigate with search marketing and optimization. You want pages written and indexed with search results in mind. This increases the likelihood of being found online and appearing when being searched - those are the two most important considerations.

Step 2: Determine what you need to achieve those goals

Create a benchmark. Setting benchmarks and understanding what you are looking to achieve is the first step toward measuring results. I have found a lot of success in law, retail, and health, and the one thing I’ve learned is that it's not as much about the cost as it is about the acquisition. Other than retail or online sales, you can only measure the success by what it is you wish to accomplish and for that it is important to use forms to capture leads and/or tracking phone numbers to ensure you received the calls you desire.

Know your online ads are working. With online sales, we set you up with and tracking URL from Google that is placed on the receipt page on your website. Since you can only reach this page by completing a sale, you can rest assured the results are accurate. Google knows where the transaction came from, the receipt page only appears when the transaction has been completed!

Step 3: Set yourself apart from your competition

We GUARANTEE results. Unlike other companies who over-promise and under-deliver, our focus is on our customers - if you don’t succeed, we don’t succeed. That’s why don’t like 12-month contracts or complicated language and prefer simple, concise directions and steps to help you achieve success. If we can't accomplish what you need, we will tell you in the beginning. If for any reason you are not happy with our results you can terminate the contract with a 30-day notice.

Step 4: A winning formula

Google Adwords + Google My Business + Bloomerang Solutions

It's our responsibility to monitor your position, ad spend and conversions by targeting devices that are specific to your customers. Our unique approach to the connectivity to Google My Business and your marketing strategy will get you a lower cost per order when you have a higher quality score and when you always add content according to your strategy. While your competition is just adding keywords and this and that trying to keep up with you, the discipline and plan created for you will be the difference when it comes to actual results.

Bloomerang Solutions is your one-stop-shop for all your online marketing needs. From custom websites to targeted marketing and reputation management, we will position you exactly where your customers are looking. I am available anytime, so go ahead, give me a call at (941) 809-5000. I can’t wait to speak with you and start building your strategy.

-Art

Quality Score: What is it & How Does it Affect PPC?

If you’re trying to master PPC, you need a solid understanding of Quality Score. That’s because your Quality Scores have enormous influence over the cost and effectiveness of your paid search campaigns. Just as your credit score can affect whether or not you qualify for a loan and how high your interest rate is, Google Quality Score affects how your PPC ads perform and how much you pay for each click.

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What is Quality Score? Quality Score is Google's rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads. It is used to determine your cost per click (CPC) and multiplied by your maximum bid to determine your ad rank in the ad auction process. Your Quality Score depends on multiple factors, including:

  • Your click-through rate (CTR).

  • The relevance of each keyword to its ad group.

  • Landing page quality and relevance.

  • The relevance of your ad text.

  • Your historical AdWords account performance.

No one outside of Google knows exactly how much each factor “weighs” in the Quality Score algorithm, but we do know that click-through rate is the most important component. When more people who see your ad click it, that’s a strong indication to Google that your ads are relevant and helpful to users. Accordingly, Google rewards you with:

  • Higher ad rankings

  • Lower costs

Benefits of Improving Google Quality Score

By analyzing thousands of PPC accounts, we know that Quality Score has a direct correlation on your PPC success. By optimizing your Quality Scores, you’ll be setting yourself up for higher return on investment (ROI). That’s because higher Quality Scores correlate with lower cost per conversion! Cost per conversion is different from cost per click. It’s not how much you pay for each click, but how much you pay when someone takes the action you want them to take, whether that’s signing up for a free trial or making a product purchase. Since not every click results in a conversion, cost per conversion is generally higher than cost per click.

Luckily, strong Quality Scores lower both your cost per click and your cost per conversion.

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Generally speaking, the higher your Quality Score, the lower your cost per conversion. Remember, a high Quality Score is Google's way of saying that your PPC ad meets your potential customers’ needs. The better you are at meeting the prospect’s needs, the less Google will charge you for the ad click.

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How Do You Increase Your Quality Score?

Since Quality Score determines where and how often your ads appear, it’s important to boost your ratings by working consistently on your account. This can be achieved by focusing your efforts on several key areas:

  • Keyword Research – Discover new, highly relevant keywords to add to your campaigns, including long-tail opportunities that can contribute to the bulk of your overall traffic.  

  • Keyword Organization – Split your keywords into tight, organized groups that can be more effectively tied to individual ad campaigns.

  • Refining Ad Text – Test out PPC ad copy that is more targeted to your individual ad groups. More effective ads get higher CTR, one of the best ways to improve Quality Score. 

  • Optimizing Landing Pages – Follow landing page best practices to create pages that connect directly with your ad groups and provide a cohesive experience for visitors, from keyword to conversion.

  • Adding Negative Keywords – Continuously research, identify, and exclude irrelevant search terms that are wasting your budget.

As you can see, Quality Score is primarily a measure of relevance, and improving keyword Quality Score is a matter of structuring your PPC campaigns into small, well-organized, tightly knit groups of keywords. Better keyword research and organization will also naturally improve the quality and specificity of your ads and website content, allowing you to target the exact audience most likely to be searching for your offerings.

Low AdWords Quality Scores are primarily the result of disconnect between keywords, ad groups, ad text, and landing page content. A high Quality Score comes naturally when an AdWords account contains organized keywords in appropriate keyword groups, ad text that corresponds with certain ad groups, and landing pages that connect with the ad text's offer. While there is no easy, foolproof answer to improving your Quality Score formula, paying careful attention to relevance will greatly improve your scores.

More Quality Score Resources

Want to learn more about how Quality Score works and how to increase your ratings? Check out the following resources:

  • Hacking AdWords: How to Get a (Near) Perfect Quality Score: Learn the characteristics of AdWords accounts with super-high Quality Scores (and how you can achieve them yourself).

  • Complete Guide to Super-High Click-Through Rates: Quality Score is largely determined by click-through rates, which is why it's so important to write powerful ads that grab people's attention. In this free guide, you'll learn what makes a good CTR and how to raise your own CTR's to create "unicorn" ads with awesome Quality Scores and low costs per click.

Source: wordstream.com

Join Us Tuesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. EDT for a Special Mother's Day Conference Call

Hello Friends,

Mother's Day is upon us, and there is still a lot of work to be done as we prepare for one of our busiest days of the year! Hopefully, your prep work is going well and you're busy training new employees, hiring extra drivers and making sure your inventory is well stocked for the big day which is just a weeks away - yikes!

Never fear - you have a friend in the business and we're here to help! That is why I will be hosting a free Mother's Day conference call on Tuesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

I will begin the call by giving some of my thoughts as well as some time-tested tips on making the most of your Mother's Day holiday - and then I will open things up for a roundtable discussion where you can pick the brains of fellow florists and find out what is working - and what's not - at other shops around the country. We hope this call will be a valuable service for you and we think you'll learn a lot from some of the leaders of the industry.

There is no cost associated with this call, but the information you can take away will be invaluable - be sure to have some good questions prepared, and be ready for an active discussion. All are welcome, and the more participants we have, the better!

For more details on this call, and access information, please click here and let us know you're interested. Then we will supply you with an access code and number so you can join.

I'm excited to talk to everyone on Tuesday! Have a great weekend!

-Art

When it Makes Sense to Accept a $39.95 Order

Too often we notice florists getting frustrated when they receive an incoming order for a total of $39.95. This could mean $25-$30 PLUS delivery (hopefully your delivery is no more than $14.95).

In many cases, there is not enough revenue left to create and deliver a bouquet that is profitable and perceives good value.

The answer? Put the margin into the artistic (finishing) touches. When I owned Beneva Flowers, I always used to ask when a designer created a bouquet, "what makes it look Beneva?" Finishing touches are what made a regular design look “Beneva.”

Below you will see an image created by Bloomerang for our florists featuring two Gerber daisies (which you can name whatever you like) next to Springtime Treasures which has the name secured so you cannot customize it and you ride the coat tails of 1-800-Flowers.

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We created a bouquet with just two inserts a bud vase, a few greens, and wire. Yet, I actually heard a florist say that they want $50 because that is their minimum and that's it. When I asked why, they answered, "I don't know, it just is."

The truth is, you can show an overstuffed $50 bouquet too. We need to focus on two elements - either a uniquely-designed bouquet, or a florist choice, this is where they can clear out the cooler. Now the shop can work with whatever they have the most available, and who wouldn't like that?

If we continue to argue and reject $39.95 orders, you can't fault FTD, Pro Flowers, and 1-800 for sending flowers in a box.

People who want the price point will not argue unless you over-promise because the filling florist ends up under-delivering trying to watch the $$$ on the order.

Assuming you paid $2 each for the Gerbers, (which is the highest wholesale price I’ve ever seen for Gerbers) you have $4 in product. When you add up the cost of the vase, wire, greens and minimal labor, it costs maybe $10 on top of that.

Professional Admin day is next Wednesday (April 24), you need to consider a lower priced option with a favorable margin. This secures the florist-to-florist order with hopes a customer doesn't have to select flowers in a box.

Retail Florists....we need to step it up and secure those transactions. Anyone can say no, how can you say yes? Please comment below, I would love to hear your feedback! -Art