When Wendy Symes read that Connecting Somerset was offering grants to businesses in west Somerset wishing to create their own websites, she couldn’t believe it. “I thought there had to be something tied to it,” she says. “I never imagined that someone would just give you money!”

But just a few months after the launch of www.flowersbywendy.co.uk, the site promoting her wide-ranging floristry and floral design business based in Stogumber near Crowcombe, she’s more than just a believer – she’s also the owner of a successful business with a powerful new online dimension.

It was in 2003 that she took over the business from its founder – her mother, Ann Bryant. By this stage, Wendy was already steeped in all things floral: she had studied botany and horticulture at Cannington College before working with Ann for over 20 years, all the time refining the understanding of colours and textures that’s at the heart of her creative approach.

When she took on the business, she had some clear ideas about the direction she wanted to take it. As she says, “I was keen to grow parts of it that had never been pushed before,” she says. “It was already well-known locally for weddings, and brides would ring us thanks to our reputation. But there were other opportunities, particularly funerals, gifts and flowers by post, that I wanted to make more of.”

She started to think seriously about a website last year, realising that it could be at least part of the answer for her plans. Despite her initial doubts, she successfully applied for a Connecting Somerset grant and her new website was ready in time for Mothering Sunday this year.

As she says, “We’re in very early days, but the signs are good. I’ve already got bookings for next year, and the site’s appearing on the search engines well ahead of schedule.”

Thanks to this, Flowers by Wendy is receiving orders from people who’ve only come across it online and would not have known about it otherwise. This is important for Wendy – “It’s very competitive out there,” she says. “Not just with other private businesses, but giants like Marks & Spencer and Boots too provide floral services.”

She’s also delighted by the opportunities the site is giving her to explain other facets of the business. “For example, I’m learning that there’s a need to explain what I do in detail,” she says. “If someone wants, I can do a single buttonhole or a bouquet – I don’t only do entire weddings, and the site’s the place to get this across.”

The web work isn’t over for Wendy or her designers, PC Webshop in Minehead. “I want to improve the gifts page, with new photographs,” she says. “And I’ll be constantly updating the whole site, with pictures of designs and events I’m particularly pleased with.”

According to Connecting Somerset’s Neil Saunders, “A business like Wendy’s is really made for the Internet. It’s great to see how adding this new dimension to it is helping with her sales and her communications, and I’m very pleased we were able to give her a helping hand on the way.”

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Note to Editor
Connecting Somerset is funded by Somerset County Council, the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), Mendip, Sedgemoor, Taunton Deane and West Somerset District Councils, South Somerset Together, the European Social Fund and Business Link Somerset.

For further information, please contact :
David Wilford tel 01373 303004 mob 07790 774284
or Ron Dyson tel 01308 485707