Garden Center News

If you are planning on building a new website, I suggest you start out with two questions that will get you pointed in the right direction.

First, think specifically about what you want your site to look like. What are the words that people use to describe your store, your staff and your personal style?

We want to make sure that there is a consistency between the experience of being on your site and being in your store. For example, if customers love your store because it is a peaceful meditative experience to shop there, then you should avoid techie effects or fast animations. If your customers admire your inventory of native plants and xeriscape shrubbery, then we should let them see that front and center on your website. If your shop is ornate and full of garden art, then we should choose our fonts, and colors with that in mind.

We ask our customers for a list of sites they like. These sites don’t have to be garden center sites; we are looking for colors, navigation paths, and effects. Then we ask for some words to describe the experience you want customers to have at your store. In most cases we actually go to your nursery to shoot photos. Many times we will have a gallery of 100 images or more to work with. It’s great if someone at your nursery will continue to send us updated photos from events, new displays, or the town you’re in. This all goes into “the sauce” to make this a unique site.

The second question that drives your site design concerns the desired outcome of your site visits. We have to start with the end in mind and work backwards. There are three great outcomes.

• We can “e-tail” and sell something,
• We can create a store visit,
• We can create an e-newsletter sign-up.

With these ends in mind, we write content and work to move the customer toward that desired result. In my favorite result we can ask the customer to sign up for a gardening newsletter, and in return give them a coupon to get a store visit.