First, we need to remember that running a flower shop is not like any other retail business, it can be a tad bit harder. In a flower shop, you are also the manufacturer of your retail products which means you will be wearing many hats. By no means am I trying to discourage you from opening your very own flower shop, much the opposite. My goal is to offer crucial advice I wish I got before jumping in headfirst into my floral brick and mortar business.
#1 LESSON: FLOWER SHOP LOCATION
Your flower shop location is key to your success. The visible location of your floral business will help you in attracting customers and also create a memorable brand image. I had an amazing location offered to me however the cost was about 2x times the cost of the flower shop location I opted for. In retrospect, I should have gone with the busier traffic-wise location and paid more. Cost played big of a role in my decision when choosing the most important aspect of my flower shop business which was the location. An Antique store ended up going into the location I should have grabbed. Every time I drive by the Antique shop I think of how insignificant 2x the cost really was- considering the place is always buzzing with customers. I can’t even say that it is their amazing merchandise- their success is mainly due because of the heavy foot trafficked location. Before opening your flower shop take the location into consideration. A busy location with ample parking is always ideal even it at first it doesn’t seem to fit your budget.
#2 LESSON: PURCHASE YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME
Purchasing your own domain name in today’s world is much like purchasing a brick and mortar for the internet. Your domain will house your SEO (search engine optimization) and is a valuable address for potential customers to find you online with your direct flower shop name brand. Whomever you choose for hosting your floral website please do not allow them to also purchase your floral website domain. Some website hosting companies will not release your domain if you decided to switch to a different website hosting provider. Even worse some web hosts may charge you lots of money to release your domain to you while other web hosting companies may not charge you for the release of your domain name but have you at their mercy waiting for when they may decide to give it back to you. Once your domain becomes valuable in search engines, starts ranking on the first page or better yet top 3 of the first page the last thing you want to do is have a web hosting company control your domain name. Keep all your options open at all times when running a flower shop business. This will save you so much aggravation in the future I promise. Any web hosting company will host your floral website without having to manage your domain name its absolutely unnecessary for them to purchase your domain. Owning your domain name is simply a must-do this will allow full control to point it to whatever new web hosting you like without having to wait for a release or worst of all starting all over again with a new domain. Godaddy is a great choice for domains and super affordable around $14.00 USD per year, no excuses why anyone but you should manage your domain name.
