The Value of One Website for Your Business

Creating a strong online presence is critical to the health and continued success of your business. Much of your ecommerce traffic relies on how your website ranks on search engines like Google so potential customers will find your shop when searching for flower delivery in your area. Creating an effective website with relevant content that promotes online visibility is key.  However, you could unknowingly be hindering your own online sales by making the mistake of using multiple websites for your single flower shop. Keep reading to find out why it’s so important that your flower shop only has one web domain that is responsible for all of your ecommerce business.

Google Ranking

You already know that utilizing strong SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing techniques is the number one way to ensure your business has prominent online visibility so potential customers can find your business. Google ranks websites based on how much “authority” they have in their given category. There are a number of factors that Google looks at to give a site authority, including relevant site content, titles, keywords, and photos, backlinks to industry related content, customers reviews, online interaction, and relevant location. The more your online business page and ecommerce site meets these criteria, the higher it will rank in the search engine as a trusted website Google wants to promote for consumers.

Won’t More Websites Mean More Hits on Google?

The short answer: No. You may think that by creating more than one website, you’re giving your customers more ways to find your business website when searching for flower sales online. However, Google ranks a website as having more online authority when the site uses relevant, unique content associated with the industry, as well as a high amount of website traffic, reviews, sales, etc. By using more than one website or domain name for your single business (ex. JennysFlowers.com AND JennysFlowersForYou.com both for the same business), you’re actually creating more competition against yourself when it comes to your online presence. Google sees multiple domain names as completely different or separate websites, and then gets confused as to which site is the “real” or more reliable business. You’re actually diluting your site traffic by allowing potential customers to land on different websites for the exact same business, and in turn, Google will rank all of them lower on the search engine. You also run the risk of confusing customers, as well as the search engine, if multiple sites are the same business or two completely separate shops and may discourage them from purchasing from you.

How Can I Get More Web Traffic on My eCommerce Site?

The most important thing to remember about building your web authority and a positive online presence is to have all of your online content linked back to your one and only business website. The first thing to do is create a Business Profile on Google to take charge of how your shop appears on Google Search and Maps. Social media accounts and blogs are also great ways to keep customers engaged and interacting with your site and generating more web traffic, so make sure that they are linked to your main business site. Customers that find your website should be able to access everything from social media, product descriptions, ecommerce, blogs, and related content all from your main business page. This not only makes it easier for customers to know more about your business and what it has to offer, but it makes it clear to Google that you are an authoritative business with positive visibility within the industry.

The Bottom Line

Streamlining your business by connecting everything to your one, main website will make it easier for you to keep track of all of your content, as well as make it easier for customers to find your shop and purchase products. The easier you are to find, the easier it will be to attract more ecommerce.  To ensure that all roads lead to your shop, remember to:

• Create a Business Profile on Google to manage how your shop appears in search and maps.
• Connect all blogs and social media to your business page.
• Use relevant titles and descriptions to make online shopping easy.
• Include your business name and location on your site page to pin on Google.
• Include linked industry sites to create more web traffic and authority.

FTD Mercury Online is the industry’s leading ecommerce solution for florists. Powered by Shopify, FTD has partnered with the most powerful platform and customized it for flower shop owners to have a best-in-class online shopping experience. You can request a demo here.