Problem with the "other shop" in town

Flowermomma

Flowermomma

Well-Known Member
Oct 16, 2010
1,813
664
113
New Hamburg
www.allflowersandcharm.net
State / Prov
Ontario
I am a bit annoyed with the "other shop" in this small town.

and i just want to vent.

OK i think i need to take this down... but lets just say the other shop in town plays dirty pool.

Can I stick pins in a vodoo doll now?? please?
 
What exactly is it they have done?

You know, different offenses require didn't numbers of "pins"...LOL

Seriously though I feel for you. I'm in a small town also, and used to have a competitor with no scrupples.
You wouldn't believe what they did to us over time.
 
I would rather not go into it too much.
lets just say they don't seem to remember what work is THEIR DESIGN and what came from our shop.

Its just frustrating. There is enough work in this town to not play nasty games
 
So they have seen your designs, like them, and have copied them?

If that's it, consider it a compliment, and just go on. Nothing you can do.
 
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Gotcha,

Who did they claim this to?

Obviously the recepient knows it came from you right..

What good would it do for them to claim your work sorta in a vacumn of one or two people, you know what I mean?
Is it possible it was an honest error. Seems an odd thing.

True the internet is a big place, but FCers can't help without a few details (shop name withheld).
Unless you just want to vent, which is fine.

Off subject I did, after my first post in this thread look up who the other shops are in your town. In doing so, I found only one result for you under FSN result.
Your competitor came up and the top, you were at the bottom.
You really need to secure the domain for your town now, before someone else does. New Hamburg Flowers.com, New Hamburg Florist.com, ...Flowers and Gifts.com, etc. Then build your own site, or at least put up a page redirecting to your main FSN site. There are many options to build your own site and it's not that difficult.
 
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What...get a domain? Sure no problem.

Just noticed there are some very knowledgeable ladies following this thread,
Perhaps they have some input.
 
First see who owns the domains I mentioned, or the domains you wanat. Go to www.whois.net enter the domain you want like www.newhamburgflorist.com see if it is available.
Do this for www.newhamburgflowers.com, and www.newhamburgflowersandgifts.com and www.newhamburgfloristandgifts.com Those are the main ones. I personally have a long list of domain names I own or will soon. It's all about protecting your area. Sometimes the WS's will get these above to just hold on to, to keep florist from getting them.

It's cheap to do, you can secure a domain and not put a site up for a parking fee. If you put a site up, on the high side it's around 10.00 a month (120.00 year)
you could make that back in a couple of orders.

Domains (and WebHosting) are available from many sources, GoDaddy.com, Yahoo Webhosting, ATT Webhosting, BigCommerce.com and other smaller ones.
Beware that if you create a site with Yahoo Sitebuilder it can only be hosted on Yahoo Webhosting.
 
I have all my domains with godaddy.com. Buy all the ones in your town like mentioned before. like I have fanciesflowers.com, .net, .biz, fanciesflowershop.com etc also rapidcityflorist.com .net etc. You see what I mean. Then when you get a site up and running the webmaster (or yourself or a young person in school savy with the computer) can link these domains to your site for more exposure. I think one of the quickest & cheapest websites to get you started is www.locateaflowershop.com. From there go to the far right on florist info & on the drop down it has websites, click on that and view a funtioning website. Lots of info there & no contracts. It would get you up and running right away & from there you can take your time to get more info on what to do next. This is only 1 idea. Tons of other ideas here. Hope this helps alittle.
 
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Fancies right. Locate A Flower Shop would be a good way to get up quickly. Gary the owner can help you out. You will have some control over the functionality, and you can decide which pics you want up. There is no contract, home page designs are limited however and a bit dated looking.

I had a LAFS site for about 8 months till I got my domain problem squared away (it had been stolen by FSN, loooong story).
I also tried the FSN website it's ok but they tend to throw everything in the cooler into their designs (whether you have it or not)which could cause issues. Main thing with them, they are ok if you need to send a lot, but you don't get but a very few orders through them.

I just perfer my own site, it never fails to produce orders.

Keep on asking questions if you have them, someone here will reply and help you.
 
Just to add to your list of options:
- www.domainsbystrider.com - Usually cheaper than GoDaddy on most domains, but backed by the same company (both Strider and GoDaddy are resellers for the same wholesaler).
- www.demoflowershop.com - Contemporary web sites with support for a wide range of media, not just ecommerce. Great SEO, flat monthly rate with no per order fees.

Buying more domains can help with type-in traffic and marketing (if they are catchy or easy to remember), but just adding domains and forwarding them to your site don't help with search rankings.
 
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In addressing your immediate problem.......Gaining control of domains is certainly of utmost importance.....However, there are some things you CAN do immediately.

First of all......If you have pictures of your OWN designs on your website ( I have not looked to see ), then BEFORE you post them, use most any good photo-editing program ( ton's of free ones on download.com btw ) and apply a WATERMARK to each and every picture. This not only identifies your photos as yours, it also prevents usage by another company as a watermark is almost EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY impossible to remove from a photo. Not totally impossible, but the average person can't do it.

Secondly........use a camera and e-mail a photo of the completed design to the sender......just a snapshot.......show them your artistry and what you made for their order. Then follow up with the recipient......call a couple two or three days later and ask how the flowers are performing......are they lasting.......was the delivery service great......just little things that can make a difference.

Next......EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION........Attend floral events, shows, seminars, learn from others........your competiton may not do this.......but now if you have learned something new, that they DON'T know yet.........USE it to your advantage. TELL people about it. Let's say for the sake of illustration that you learned a new design style.......be excited about it and try to showcase iot and sell it to your customers.......Then add a small card or note to the recipient TELLING them about the new style.

Lastly, networking on a simple scale..........How many times do you go out to eat? How many business cards do you leave on the table.....or in the restroom. Do you leave business cards at your bank when you go? Let's say you have a delivery in a building with multiple floors.......Even though you may know where this place is.......go ahead and ASK people...start conversations....end with them getting your business card in their hand.

just small things you can use to fight your competion.....and not just win....but triumph......and as Mark ( BOSS ) says "Be the LAST florist standing"
 
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Flowermomma - Not only listen, but heed the great advice on this board.......It is precisely things like this that makes FlowerChat what it is....a GREAT network of REAL Florists, with REAL problems, who need other florists, who have faced those problems, to help us triump over thos same problems.

There is even more you can do on a grassroots level to 'beat' your local competition.

Look into radio or tv advertising......there are companies who specialize in cable and radio and have ways to make it affordable. Host some type of business to business event and send out press releases to all the newspapers, tv, and radio stations.....and invite them to come visit WITH cameras.

A good example of this is FTD's Good Neighbor Day campaign. I can tell you from personal experience.......for the cost of simply giving away roses......12 stems at a time......with the provision that the recipient keeps one and give the other 11 to 11 different people.....having lines of people outside your door......news media, TV, radio, newpapers, running article after article, announcement after announcement, news bit after news bit.......THE amount of PUBLICITY you can gain is VAST. Or, Host a business after hours meet and greet.....sort of a miniature open house.......just for your fellow business owners.....for an hour or two after work......Make it an event. Market that through your local chamber of commerce. In fact, JOIN your local chamber of commerce. Make yourself known in your town as the GO TO place.

If need be.........go ahead and give your store a makeover.....Exterior as well as interior. Move stuff around......inside and out. Keep things fresh and new.
 
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