A couple snippets from Website Magazine worth noting (and understanding).

"The Department of Commerce estimated total e-commerce sales for 2005 at $86.3 billion, an increase of 24.6 percent over 2004. Total retail sales in 2005 increased 7.2 percent over 2004, with e-commerce sales accounting for 2.3 percent of total sales. "

That means that 97.7 percent of retail sales in 2005 happened in stores or catalog's.

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"Most people don’t buy right away; they like to shop and compare. The study found that over half of online holiday buying activity occurred in subsequent Internet sessions. This shows a strong trend known as latent buying and the importance of search marketing."

This really tells the story of how people use the web to do research online and then go to the store to buy.

If you think about the perishable products of our green industry, I would estimate that MOST of the green products are sold in store because the buyer wants to physically touch what they are buying.

They'll ask: "Does it have any flower buds on it? Any broken branches? What kind of container is it in? Is it a bio-degradable container? Is it rootbound? What kinda bugs does it get?"

We need to serve the web audience the information they are looking for so that they WILL come to the store.

Otherwise, we'll lose out to those descretionary dollars to another category.

For the full article from Website Magazine, click here .

Steve

So what in the world does Brand Search is Category Driven mean?

It means that consumers don't normally start their search on a search engine with a brand name, they usually start it with a generic category-like term. Here is an example using the travel industry.

Search 1: Vacation

Search 2: Caribbean (search completed some time after search 1)

Search 3: Carribbean Cruise (search completed some time after search 2)

Search 4: Carnival Cruise (the brand)(search completed some time after search 3)

Here are some real examples using categories and keywords from our green industry using a popular search engine.

Plants - is a top tier "generic" category keyword

Searches done in January 2007
Count	Search Term
126007	plant
40227	robert plant
26073	house plant
23194	plant nursery
21887	power plant
15913	plant cell
11455	medicinal plant
9511	tropical plant
8760	bamboo plant
7813	indoor plant

"Plant" got 126,007 searches and "Plant Nursery" got 23,194 searches. "Plant" wins.

Shrubs - Another category keyword, but would expect to fall under "Plants" in the scheme of things

Searches done in January 2007
Count	Search Term
10972	shrub service
10789	shrub
2508	tree and shrub
1414	flowering shrub
973	garden shrub
871	evergreen shrub
719	shrub roses
695	tree and shrub field guide
473	real estate shrub oak ny
369	plant and shrub

"Shrub(s)" got 10,789 searches. The numbers are getting smaller. "Flowering Shrub" even smaller.

KnockOut Roses - Here is the brand. Currently the most popular rose in the marketplace.

Searches done in January 2007
Count	Search Term
2203	knockout rose
287	double knockout rose
148	knockout roses pruning
94	knockout roses care
49	knockout rose bush
40	knockout shrub rose
36	knockout rainbow rose
31	knockout roses wholesale
29	pink knockout rose
26	companion knockout planting rose

"KnockOut Rose" scored a total of 2,203 searches at the same time "Plants" did 126,000

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Just for information purposes, here is the data on "Roses".

Searches done in January 2007
Count	Search Term
302248	roses
190639	gun n roses
53987	rose bowl
41410	rose parade
40435	red rose
22122	sativa rose
19256	black rose
17718	rose mcgowan
16285	picture of roses
16230	rose tattoo
15337	rose flower

Man there are a lot of "Lover's" out there searching for a handful of roses. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE for a local garden center or nursery to buy the keyword "Roses" in the search engines. WAY too expense a keyword.

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So here's my point.

If you are a brand, and you have a store locator. That is great. Keep doing it. There are those who will drill down far enough to find you. When they do, make sure your store locator is really good.

However.....

Don't rely soley on your store locator thinking it is THE answer. Invest in other web publications that move traffic through top tier keywords. They can drive traffic to the points at which your brand is sold, and in some instances, can introduce your brand.

Steve

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BTW, I understand this concept because our Lawn and Garden Search dot com site introduces brands at top tier category levels. We will be serving brands into the local businesses with the keyword "garden center" over 500,000 times this year. Not to blow my own horn here, but show me another web site that does that and I'll buy you a rose.

One of my favorite resources is the Search Engine Land blog. Greg Sterling's recent contribution titled "Local Search Is About Products Too, Not Just Restaurants And Plumbers" has eye opening impications for our green industry.

We have a fragmented industry. We have breeders that don't know where their plants are being sold. We have brands that utilize a growers network, but each grower in the nextwork won't share information with the brand as to where the plants are being sold.

Ultimately, the consumer loses, as does the green industry as a whole. We are fighting for the attention of the consumer and their descretionary dollars. When they can't find us for the information they need, they take their dollars elsewhere to a place where they understand what they are getting and where they can get it.

So Greg has this to say about product related searches:

"ShopLocal found that "65 percent made an in-store purchase within a week after visiting a site and another 23 percent within three weeks." As more data like this is compiled tactical implications for online marketers will become apparent."

He - llo ! He just said 88% make a purchase in less than a month after doing online research.

Bottom line? You need to have your web site in places that people are searching. When found, they will meet you at your cash register.

Steve

Saturday morning. 6:30 am. Hot bagel and a cup of coffee.

Thumbing through the Sept/Oct issue of Green Profit Magazine. There's a lot of information about the OFA Short Course and Trade Show in this issue, and rightfully so. It was a great show and learning experience.

My friend Bill Calkins gives his farewell salute to us as he is moving up the chain of command at Ball Horticulture. Bill is taking on the position of Manager of Independent Garden Centers. If you are an independent garden center, keep an eye on Bill. He gets around and is very observant of things that can really work for garden centers. . . and he doesn't necessarily get his ideas from garden centers.

The Consumer Buzz Live event is covered pretty well. Kerry Herndon, a grower of Bromeliads and Orchids in Florida, wrote a column about the event and how the Internet was the underlying theme of the CBL event (p. 42). The panelists of 40 year olds said they wanted the garden centers to help them, get to know them, and maintain a relationship. They want to hear from the garden center every month about what they should be doing, whether it is with new things for gardening, or whether is has to do with the things they bought there.

These panelists also reenforced the data that says consumers go to the web to do research first, then go to the store to buy.

My friend Pete Bottomley wrote an article about how garden centers can succeed with customer seminars.

Bottom line take away this morning: We (consumer focused green industry businesses) need to do a better job of developing relationships with our customers, and find ways to establish the relationship that find them where they are.

Sun's up. Time to get moving.

Steve

I have had the pleasure recently of speaking to green industry folk about Search Engine Marketing, better known as SEO.

One lady sent me a note later, "I wish I could have picked your brain for another couple hours."  I was really glad to hear that.

I struggle with the reality that our green industry is not getting the information necessary to keep up with the SEO opportunity. There is so much going on with the web, but we are still taking a "wait and see" attitude. So to hear someone say they want more, more, more information, I say "finally", people are starting to get it.

And get it they should:

~ The majority of homes in the US are connected to the Internet with a broadband connection. Yep, the Internet is always on in their house, and possibly at mutliple locations. Just belly-up to the 'puter and start surfing.

~ US households now watch more hours of Internet than they do of television.

~ 2 out of 3 consumers do reasearch on the web before making a purchase.

If you are in business,  you need to be on the web. Period.

Steve C