For years, I've heard floral business owners discuss how to get better visibility online. Everyone and their mother seem more focused on how to get more followers and likes on Instagram. Letting go of that worry, I started focusing on other things.
I try to think how my customers might think. The scenario is simple. I need to send flowers to a friend for her birthday in Redmond, WA. I might Google: "florist in Redmond, WA." or "flower delivery Redmond, WA." It's here where the backlink becomes important.
What is a backlink? It's basically another website that links to your site, validating your sites' credibility with search engines. The more backlinks your website has from other sites, the higher Google will rank your site depending on the user's search. Here's a fantastic article I found, which does a great job of explaining the importance of backlinks and potential factors when using backlinks in your floral business.
What Are Backlinks in SEO? & Why You Need Them (backlinko.com)
A couple of takeaways:
- Backlinks should come from trusted, authoritative websites.
- Backlinks should contain target keywords, but don't overdo it.
- Backlinking websites should be relatable to your website.
- The link should be a "dofollow" link.
- It's better to have links from multiple relevant websites than one relevant website with multiple links.
I've used backlinks on both my websites for years. Being featured on blogs, articles, mentions and more has always been important. If a lifestyle influencer wants to feature you on their blog, DO IT! If a magazine publisher wants to write a story on your business, LET THEM! Push through feeling nervous, shy, or thinking your business isn't big enough to talk about. It's all about the backlinks and the content creator knows that too!
Here's a great example of a unique but relevant online backlink opportunity Lora Bloom just had.
Last week, I received an email from a content marketing writer at ApartmentGuide. (You see, I just included a backlink in this blog!) I have received lots of similar emails in the past, but her email came from Redfin. (You see, I just did it again.) I looked her up on LinkedIn, and she checked out. So, I responded to her request. Writing an article on "How to make your home smell good naturally," I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to create a blog post about backlinks on a topic I know a lot about - flowers!
Sharing a few sentences on how to make a home smell good naturally, she said she would feature my quote in her article. In exchange, I just had to add the article to my website with a "dofollow" link, linking back to her blog post. Best of all, it was free of charge. This was an amazing opportunity for a unique and relevant backlink!
Here's Lora Bloom's mention on ApartmentGuide.com.
Coming in hot at #11, this is such a great example of a backlink that's trusted, targeted, relatable, a dofollow link, and a new website link for Lora Bloom. I also made sure to mention Missy Palacol as the photographer. Annnnndddd.... I show my loyal love to local flowers!
Going back to my original scenario of Googling a "florist in Redmond, WA," this backlink will help Google to identify my website as a credible source for finding a florist in Redmond if that were my intention. It's known as Domain Authority.
Florists need to spend time building up a bank of relevant backlinks on their websites and less time worrying about social media presence. This is one of the main reasons major online floral retailers rank at the top of search results. They invest in backlinks.
* I want to mention social media can play a key driver of backlinks on search engines. However, it shouldn't be used as the exclusive strategy, especially with a competitive search result.
** A big thank you to Jasica Usman of ApartmentGuide.com for randomly reaching out to me. This turned out to be great content for Lora Bloom, and I hope it was for her too!
