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Category: florist-blog

New Epic Office / Florist Backroom

Sunday, 15 January 2012 19:56 Written by admin 0 Comments

So we outgrew our 350 square foot upstairs florist office at the shop and moved into our florist's side storage room. Epic is growing fast and every morning when I wake up I'm excited to see what's new and how we can push the limits when it comes to the the norm.

 

Wide angle view of our scrappy tech start up. :)   We'll look back on this pic and remember where it all started.... the side storage room of a florist.
In the background, Cody, David and Warren discuss our next big announcement, Go Big! (Epic site integrated with Google Calendar).

 

Warren chillaxing while Zarith works.

 

Amelie, my (Brandon) daughter, up on the cabinet sneaking a peek of all the geeks making a funny face. :)

 Lauren, Katy and Zarith striking a pose, nerd style! :) Look close, you'll see a skeleton hand (the florist's Halloween decoration) reaching out of it's box about to grab Zarith's hair.

Pioneer Wholesale Co. – Helping Florists Help Their Communities – Guest Blogger

Friday, 06 January 2012 06:07 Written by epicflowers 0 Comments

Our guest blogger is Sarah at Pioneer Wholesale Co. - 500 West Bagley Road in Berea, OH 44017.  


 Pioneer Wholesale Co. announces The Princess and the Posy Charity Prom Dress Drive Held at Florist Shops Nationwide

The Princess and the Posy
Helping Florists Help Their Communities

Florists: Receive $2 in Pioneer Prom Perks for each dress you collect for your local charity prom.*
The florist that collects the most dresses will receive a Grand Prize – $250 Prom Package with corsage bracelets, ribbon and bling.

HELP THE RECIPIENTS – Thousands of terminally ill or economically disadvantaged teenage girls who would otherwise be unable to attend a prom get to have one evening of a “normal” childhood and fulfill their dreams.


HELP THE DONORS
– The girls who donate their dresses will learn a valuable lesson in giving that will stay with them.

HELP THE CHARITY – The charity coodinators depend on the participation of local businesses for their charity proms to succeed.

And in the end… you help YOUR BUSINESS as well. When the donor brings in her dress, she gets to know you and your shop as well as see your prom selection and will (hopefully!) purchase her prom flowers from you. Today’s prom girls are tomorrow’s brides and customers for life. It also provides publicity for your shop, within the community and the local media.

For Complete Participation Details, visit: www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/promdressdrive.htm

Any questions? Contact Sarah at Pioneer Wholesale Co.: srbot@pioneerwholesaleco.com

www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/promdressdrive.htm

*Maximum $100. Value of prom hardgoods order must be at least double the value of the Prom Perks

Pioneer Wholesale Co. is a wholesale distributor of corsage bracelets, ribbon and supplies. We are a Dazzling Distributor of the Fitz Design line.
See our complete selection at www.pioneerwholesaleco.com.

You must be an established business in order to purchase from us. WE DO NOT SELL RETAIL.

EXTREME WEBSITE MAKEOVER CONTEST!

Sunday, 01 January 2012 06:02 Written by admin 0 Comments

One lucky person will be picked to receive a free website and services up to $2900!
Even if you have a website, you can enter to win only at epicFlowers.com!
The contest will run Jan1 - Jan 15th.

 

sign ups are now closed


 

 

Funny Big Commerce SEO Video

Saturday, 24 December 2011 07:47 Written by admin 0 Comments

I just found out that one of our favorite new people at Big Commerce,  Laura Hinson, wrote and stared in her own youtube video about SEO and the Big Commerce platform. Enjoy and great job Laura! You need a raise. *nudge nudge Mitch* :)

 

YouTube Preview Image

 

 

Updated: This just in - Laura's holiday video! Fun fact: The plant in the background is a Bromeliad (Bro-me-lee-ad)  and it's related to the pineapple. It like bright light and doesn't like to be over water, like an orchid plant.

YouTube Preview Image

 

 

Sign Up With Our Latest News

Friday, 23 December 2011 15:49 Written by admin 0 Comments

Dragonfly Flowers

Sunday, 20 November 2011 05:24 Written by admin 0 Comments

http://www.dragonflyflowers.com/

Dragonfly Flowers on McPhillips

3-2230 McPhillips Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Local: 204-633-5200 Toll Free: 866-347-7573

 

Ivy Green’s Florist Website

Sunday, 20 November 2011 05:19 Written by admin 0 Comments

http://theivygreen.com/

The Ivy Green Florist
143 1/2 S Main St.Washington, PA 15301
Phone: (724)222-4894

 

Website eCommerce Conversion Rates: I’m becoming obsessed and learn more and more all the time.

Friday, 04 November 2011 04:19 Written by admin 1 Comment

conversion-rate-for-e-commerceThe conversion rate isn't only about the user experience on the page. The price is also a factor as well as page load times, email marketing as well how well the consumer trusts and likes your brand.

So when people come to your site organically looking for a site to service them and collect their order via Google you might get a an order. Across the board retail on the internet is around 2.5% conversion rate. Meaning 2.5 people, out of 100 who came to your site bought something. BUT when it comes to an email marketing, your conversion SHOULD be higher. If it's not, you're doing something wrong.

So I wanted to point you two an online floral services you might know called..... proflowers and FTD. :) These guys, I bet, not only send emails out, but targeted one, all florists should be doing this too.

Look what PF and FTD was converting at almost 3 years ago:
[url]http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/02/20/top-10-online-retailers-by-conversion-rate-january-2009/[/url]

I remember discussing with some on florists about Proflowers a few years back. They said Proflowers would slowly go out of business, I said no, pay attention because they're going to get bigger.

Speaking of conversion rates.... what is your store conversion? How many people buy that come into your store? I bet it's A LOT higher than your online business.  I still believe if florists want to get serious online you HAVE to think of your online site as a second business model that is a service that collects orders that funnels them to your B&M retail shop.

 

 

 

Lindskoog’s Great Fresh New Florist Website! Before & After

Friday, 28 October 2011 07:04 Written by admin 0 Comments

Working with Dick Lindskoog was a pleasure. It was an honor to create a florist website that has been in business for over 100 years. We took on this project with the honor to Dick's family in mind who worked very hard to pave the path of success.

920 2nd Ave S, Suite 210 Minneapolis, MN 55402
Local: 612-333-5357 | Free: 800-708-3729
http://www.lindskoogflorist.com/

"I looked at all the floral websites I could find and then chose Epic. I feel that it is the best looking, most progressive and was the best value of all sites I looked at. Brandon and his team lived up to everything he said and even more. I am excited to see how well his SEO program will work!"
- Dick Lindskoog, Owner

 

See the fresh lindskoog site now and down at the bottom, before.

AFTER

Lindskoog Florist

 

BEFORE

 

Kids Need Cool Things, Too! – Guest Blogger

Wednesday, 26 October 2011 15:42 Written by admin 1 Comment

Our Guest Blogger is Cheryl Bakin from Parkway Florist - 600 Greentree Road in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220. Cheryl is a veteran of the floral industry and one of the most savvy florists I'm proud to know.

parkway-florist-teddyOne of the challenges in planning a wedding is how to occupy the energy and the minds of the little flower girls and ring bearers. After all, they are just little so sometimes the dress is scratchy, the tux is hot, and the new shoes hurt! Did I mention that they might be a little shy also?

We have found that sometimes the kids just need something familiar and “cool.” So nows the time when we would like to introduce to our teddy bear.

Teddy is a soft and cuddly stuffed teddy bear. His necklace is made from braided ribbons, while enhanced with artificial flowers in the colors of the wedding. Last Saturday’s wedding at Heinz Chapel allowed us to use hot fuchsia and purple colors against a white bear for a stunning contrast. So, Teddy wears the flowers,and the flower girl holds teddy. She smiles really nice, is as cute as a button and has a take home forever gift to keep!

We think you will agree that our teddy, who was given the name ”Sammy,” went very well with our wedding colors. Enjoy!

To read more about Parkway Florist, check out Cheryl's Blog HERE.

Things to do when it’s slow around the shop. – Guest Blogger

Thursday, 06 October 2011 16:24 Written by admin 0 Comments

Our guest blogger is Connie Chandler of The Treehouse Florist, 22 W. Main St - New Freedom, PA 17349 717-235-6540

As florists, we all have "down times" when we need to keep ourselves busy with things we won't be able to do when we're really busy. So here are a few things we call "Busy Work", or things we do when we're not really busy at The Treehouse Florist.

 

Bow boardHere's a picture of things we do with ribbon in the shop. We call these "speed bows" - satin bows wired with an extra length of ribbon attached to wrap around a cello-wrapped bouquet. We keep them handy, hanging on a styro wreath on the side of the cooler. And curly ribbon blips, picked, taped, and ready to use in baby arrangements, birthday arrangements, etc.

 These slow times are perfect for giving those tired baskets a fresh coat of paint, sprucing up your shop displays, creating silk arrangements for any occasion or season and planning out some new marketing ideas.

 

 

 

ribbonsOf course, there are always things we do seasonally to fill in time not spent designing or on other important tasks. Tracey from Twigs in Yerington, NV - tells us that they wire pine cones brought in by friends or from a tree in their yard. Also for the holidays, you can make ahead velvet bows for wreaths, green-up centerpiece trays with holiday greens, and put together "kits" of lights, garland, mm balls etc for decorating those boxwood trees.

 

 

 

See other blog articles from The Treehouse Florist.

Shop With Flair – Rathbone’s Professional New Site

Thursday, 29 September 2011 18:37 Written by admin 0 Comments

Working with the Rathbones was great! It's a family owned florist in Jenks Oklahoma.  Matt Rathbone asked for a clean lined professional look and was very happy with our work and will soon be signing up for us to create his weddings and events blog.

622 E Main St. Jenks OK 74037
Free: 800-433-5247 Local: 918-249-3432

http://www.shopwithflair.com

 

Richardson’s Flowers Fabulous New Site

Thursday, 29 September 2011 17:58 Written by admin 1 Comment

Below is a testimonial that was written about us:

 
Dear Brandon,
 
Thank you for creating my extraordinary new website. Not just another pretty florist's website...the site is beautiful, functional and very user friendly. My website has generated a new image of my flower shop that has significantly increased our e-commerce sales. With it's fresh look, elegant banners, exquisite images, easy to navigate and use ordering pages, customers find ordering online to be a breeze on our secure site.
 
You truly care about your client's business and you offer concrete advice and support when needed. You differentiate yourself not only technically, but in your ability to communicate practical, useful and inspiring advice. Thank you for being so generous with your time in explaining all aspects of creating my website and at the same time, being so intent on creating the site I envisioned.
 
Without reservation, I would highly recommend you to florists large and small because your service truly does deliver much more than just a pretty website. Your attention to detail has resulted in an outstanding and very professional, affordable website. You combine your good eye for detail with initiative and a unique flair for design. You have exceeded all of my expectations with exceptional customer service and a top notch final product. You were able to capture the essence of my shop's individuality and "paint" Richardson's Flowers image online. You truly are a "floral tech visionary!"
 
Best regards,
Dianne Richardson-Conda
President
Richardson's Flowers, Inc.
Medford NJ

www.richardsonsflowers.com  

Introducing Centralsquareflorist.com

Monday, 08 August 2011 17:49 Written by admin 0 Comments
We're excited to introduce our latest floral website:  http://www.centralsquareflorist.com. The site is fully integrated with the Mercury POS and customized by epicflowers.com and roosites.com. We excited to say that this site is one of the most advanced floral websites in the world! David Levine, the owner,  was professional and it was our pleasure working with him because we learned a lot about best practices when it comes to floral eCommerce. It was tough sometimes, but we at epicFlowers are VERY thankful David was rigorous in his pursuit. David's help made us a better company and in turn, will make other florist's sites better. We thank you David!  
central sqaure florist

central sqaure florist

epicMarketplace Coming Soon

Wednesday, 03 August 2011 22:05 Written by admin 0 Comments
The epicMarketplace, coming late August is a concept that I have had for almost a decade now. I've always dreamed of one online store where dozens of wholesalers could meet to sell their products to those in the floral industry. Soon, this marketplace will be up and running. We only have 1 merchant, but that is only because we haven't been aggressive in acquiring new merchants. We want to start slow, and only invite the best.

Google+ Circles Explained Floral Style

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 18:48 Written by admin 0 Comments

I want to thanks my awesome tech geek friend Josh for helping me with G+.

Here's what I love about Google+ and is also why I like G+ over FB.

Instead of saying, "I'm going to write a blog post now," or "I'm going to send an e-mail" or "I think I'll tweet something" you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you're going to say it to.

If you address it to "Public," it's a blog post to everyone you're friends with.

If you address it to "Your Circles" the message goes to those in that circle.
For example:
If you address it to your "My Customers" Circle it's a business newsletter. (assuming you created a circle called My Customers  and placed them in this circle)

If you address it to a single person, it can be a private message.

Since I have created a circle and put all of you in it, when I post something and point it towards you, only you see it. On FB when you post something, everyone sees it.

Another example: I created a Circle called epicFlorists. Any time I want to communicate with them, I simply make a post. Before I had to open Outlook and add the email list and then write the email and send. This is a keen example of how email will POSSIBLY be bye bye in the future.

We at EpicFlowers have started testing the SEO possibilities, but so far haven't found any. The reason for Google now indexing the G+ pages yet is it's still in the early stages. There was an announcement about Business G+ pages coming this fall, maybe that's when they'll start indexing pages. I did notice the +1 buttons with links get pasted onto your G+ page, which is a link back to your page. So my recommendation is to get the +1 button on your site.  Facebook doesn't put a link on your page when you "Like" something, which doesn't help your SEO at all if someone clicks the "Like" button on your website.

 

 

 

Why it’s important to know about your website’s conversion rate

Monday, 11 July 2011 17:44 Written by admin 0 Comments
First let's define conversion rates:  The percentage of how many people visited your site versus how many of them bought something. For example, 100 people came to your site today, 10 people bought something, your conversion today was 10%. There are some important factors your site must have to help with conversion rates such as a one page check out, guest log-in, accept Paypal, the over all look and feel of your site. It basically boils down to, how easy is it for your potential customer to shop and buy. Do they feel confident buying from your website? Does it look inviting? Does it look up to date? Is it easy to navigate? Are you giving them what they need? These are questions you should be asking about your website. One of the awesome unique features our BigCommerce Software  allows us to do for our clients is a quarterly audit report with suggested changes to help your conversion rate. For example, we notice that your site visitors are search a lot for Gerbers and shop directions, but your shop doesn't have either of these, we know we need to add these two pages. Here's a question for you, a florist website ranks first in Google your area and you rank fifth. Who makes more money? Well you can't answer that. Most would assume the florist ranking first, but what is there conversion rate? If they convert 1 out of every 500 hits, their conversion rate is pretty darn sad. So what do you think your conversion rate is? 20%? 40%? 50%? - If you're doing REALLY good it's 5%. That's right 5% and that's doing REALLY well. Just imagine if you could double your conversion rate. Look over your website and make some changes that I mentioned above and try to push your conversion rate up to make more money and happier customers.  

My talk with the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers

Sunday, 03 July 2011 23:19 Written by admin 0 Comments
Flower farmers are the coolest farmers in the world. I spent some time with the good people of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers last week at a Northwest regional meet-up. I got to talk to them about an idea I had linking these small/medium sized farms direct to florists. The response I got wasn't what I wanted to hear, but am so glad I heard it.Most small farmers do not have the quantity to ship because they're local florists/markets keep them busy enough. I urge all florists to buy local for five reasons: 1. The cost is better 2. The flowers direct from the farm are fresher and will last longer 3. You have more control/flexibility 4. You know they weren't sprayed with DDT or other harmful chemicals and 5. When you spend local, the money stays local building a more thriving local economy. But needless to say, I had a blast talking to small floral farmers and was asked to talk at next years national conference in Seattle on technology specific to the floral industry. Woooohoooo! it's going to be so cool! I'm so excited to let you know epicFlowers was mentioned in the CapitalPress, you can see the article HERE.  

Why Set up a Business PayPal Account?

Monday, 20 June 2011 05:48 Written by admin 0 Comments
Why set up a Business PayPal Account? It's free and the amount of sales you'll receive online because you have PayPal will surprise you. If you like money, we HIGHLY suggest you sign up for PayPal.
How much does PayPal take from the money I receive? 2.9% plus 30 cents.  Is PayPal safe? Absolutely. -It's the number one electronic payment processor and money transfer service worldwide for years. In the U.S. -PayPal is the 2nd most preferred online payment method, right after Visa. -PayPal has now more than 150 million user accounts all over the world. -According to the results of Paypal's 2008 Holiday Survey, conducted by market research company Ipsos, a third of internet shoppers use Paypal for their online purchases.
Things You'll Need to Sign up for PayPal:
  • Your business banking account and routing numbers (so money can be put in your bank)
  • Business Email address (this will become your PayPal ID How to Set up a PayPal FREE Business Account:
  1. Click HERE to visit PayPal's website and click the "Sign Up" link at the top of the page. Select your country, language and then the 'Business' account button GET STARTED. (If you already have a personal account you want to upgrade to your business account, log in and click the upgrade link. Upgrade your account to business, it's free)
  2. In the drop, on the Select Payment Solution, choose Website Payments Standard and go on to the next page.
  3. Fill out the form, read/agree to the terms and press continue.
  4. Watch your email for a confirmation message from PayPal. When you receive it, click on the provided confirmation link which should bring you to the PayPal homepage. Enter your password on this page and click the "Confirm" button.
  5. Once you're in, ignore the two boxes that say "Pay with my bank account" and "Pay with my credit card". Click on the link below that says: "Go to my Account". Once in, under "Profile" up top, click on "Add or edit a bank account". Follow those steps and you're done!
  6. You're now set up. Once someone pays your business with their PayPal account, it'll set in PayPal till you withdraw it to your account, it's not automatic, The way you do this is, log in, under the "Withdraw" link, click the "Transfer to bank account" link. - Here you can see how much money you have in PayPal and you can easily transfer that to your bank account by filling in the amount and clicking the bottom. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, click the "Feedback" tab on the left side of this page or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

BelvedereFlowers.com released!

Monday, 20 June 2011 04:59 Written by admin 0 Comments
Our second premium series has been released. Check it out over at www.belvedereflowers.com. Adam, owner of Belvedere and our newest epicFlorist, is probably known best as the floral king of youtube. Known by 100s of florists around the world, Adam has made dozens of youtube videos. Welcome to the epicFlorist team Adam!  

A Note From the Founder

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 05:31 Written by admin 0 Comments

Bamaflowers.com Released

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 04:32 Written by admin 0 Comments
Our first of our premium series has been released. Check it out over at www.bamaflowers.com. Steve was easy to work with and it was an honor to have him choose epicFlowers. Welcome to the epicFlorist team Steve! Nice words from Steve, owner of  the House of Flowers: "Brandon and Epic Flowers, together with Big Commerce, is a great team that has provided me with the absolute best e-commerce site available.  From beginning to end, the building of my new site was effortless on my part.  Every single thing that I wished for in my site was implemented and the site looks great!  I couldn't be any happier!  And talk about results...before the site had fully propagated across the web, I was already receiving orders!  Now THAT is a site that works for me!  

Google Brings Street View Inside Businesses

Thursday, 05 May 2011 18:57 Written by admin 0 Comments
Why should retail florists care about this? Because online there is a war going on between retail florists and online florists (OGs). The number one weapon retail florists have over online florists is service. BUT what makes retail florists more credible is they have a real brick and mortar shop. Retail florists need all the help they can get online and building credibility is something they have control over. Google's new to Business Photos is a feature in which florists can use to '1 up' the online florists. I urge all retail florists to take advantage of this feature. YouTube Preview Image

Photo Editor for epicFlorists

Thursday, 05 May 2011 14:57 Written by admin 1 Comment

I'm excited to announce an in house photo editing software right here on www.epicflowers.com thanks to www.pixlr.com ! If you need to crop an image, brighten it up a little or add text try the basic editor. If you need something more powerful like Photoshop, try the advanced editor.

     

Slider Animations, a talk with David.

Tuesday, 03 May 2011 02:01 Written by admin 0 Comments
Which is Your Favorite Animation? YouTube Preview Image
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