Anaheim CA Flowers by Avante Gardens Florist
10 December 2006

UK Florist Spams the Wrong Blog

Here's a lesson on how to exact wickedly funny revenge on blog comment spam.

Seems author Peter McNaked of Naked Blog got fed up with deleting off-topic comment spam placed by a UK flower delivery company.  After both emailing and calling the florist to request they stop the spamming, on November 24 Peter decided to fight back.

He placed a brief 'review' of Serenata Flowers on his blog and requested his fellow bloggers link into the post. Since Peter is widely read in the UK, the post has quickly risen in search engine results and is now #3 when surfers query Google for the florist's name. The Google snippet reads "Rubbish florist. Serenata Flowers. Don't go there. Their flowers are late, ridiculously overpriced and completely wilted - so said my good friend Kirsty in ..."

Follow-up posts cleverly talk about the horror of spotting Serenata's ads in his AdSense display. "You could have knocked me down with a bridal bouquet when who should I see advertising at the top of my page on Sunday but Sere*nata Flowers." Peter banned their ad.

Serenata Flowers has hit my blog with their comment spam, too. They've also 'contributed' useless comments to the wonderful flower blog of Julie Ardery, Human Flower Project.  The sole purpose of "Hello Julie! Follow my URL and you will find many pictures with flowers and bouquets for all occasions" being to create an inbound link from a respected site. Pure promotion and zero substance.

From what I've seen of Serenata's site, they offer beautiful products in a very user-friendly presentation. The floral designs are original and not the same old Interflora, Teleflorist or FlowerGram fare seen on most UK florist sites. Too bad they have to resort to spam to try to sell them. 

According to e-consultancy.com, Serenata is owned by former Goldman Sachs trader and hedge fund manager Peter Ahl. His SEO team obviously knows the value of inbound links but maybe this lesson from Naked Blog will be enough for him to call off the comment spam team and put them to work actually selling flowers.

Looks like Serenata owes Naked Blog a sincere apology and a gorgeous arrangement... just for starters. 

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# admin said:

Our wedding blog gets spammed like crazy by these guys.  They outsource to a group in Romania to do the spamming.  I usually delete their worthless comments.

10 December 06 at 8:32 PM
# avantegardens said:

Outsourcing. Now why didn't I think of that?  Good catch on the Romanian origin.

Let's face it, on the spam continuum there's far worse being done by companies trying to sell flowers. Mirrors, doorways, fake map locations, useless 'florist directories' like I discussed here: http://floristblogs.com/blogs/avant_gardens/archive/2006/11/24/Exploitation-of-Consumers-and-Florists-by-Wesley-Berry-Flowers.aspx , fake paid blog 'reviews', Made-for-AdSense splogs....

11 December 06 at 6:13 AM
# PB Curtis said:

Nice to see this story being picked up outside of what, you might be surprised to hear, is a fairly small circle. The rise to #3 on the Google "charts" was down to the post being linked to by fewer than <b>ten</b> fellow bloggers. (List of inbound links to the post <a href="http://www.technorati.com/search/www.nakedblog.com%2F2006_11_01_archive.php%23116430135119425698?start=0">here</a>(

The more the merrier!

11 December 06 at 9:49 AM
# Peter said:

Hi. I am the author of Naked Blog as featured in your article. Can I mention first that Peter McNaked is a joking nome-de-net? My real name is somewhat different.

Thank you for a balanced, thoughtful and well-researched piece on the Serenata Flowers saga. My  reason for coming here is point out that I gave the company ample warning of what could be done via Google if they didn't stop.

I contacted them both by email and phone, but these they ignored and continued to abuse my busy site. It was only after deleting six, yes six of their free-loading messages that I took what can only be called a last resort.

I'm hoping this incident will get the widest publicity, not for me or Serenata, but to warn online businesses in general not to abuse others' work.

12 December 06 at 5:53 AM
# Julie said:

Thanks for enlightening me (also for the kind compliment).

I had been around and around with this "commenter," sending back  messages saying that we were erasing the backlinks in comments and asking that submissions not be used for advertising. "Brenda" became "Agnes," then slowed down a bit, and then suddenly stopped. Now I know why!

It's interesting to hear you write so positively about this outfit that's taken the low road  on marketing.

I only wish there were more comments on Human Flower Project. We've been getting some really substantive ones here recently, and I hope things will pick up in the coming year. There's so much wisdom and insight out there. We hope to be an archive for all sorts of floral experience: practical, historical, regional, artistic, scientific, religious.... Your support is a big incentive to keep on.

Wishing you happy holidays and joy in 2007!

Julie

12 December 06 at 9:05 AM
# avantegardens said:

Peter -

Thanks for dropping by. Can't remember how I ran across your posts but I love the story of wittily fending off commercial spam.

You may get a kick out of the text from Serenata's "Flowers To Say I'm Sorry" page: http://www.serenataflowers.com/category-wizard.asp?catID=113   "Saying sorry is one of the hardest things - and the longer you wait, the harder it becomes. If your thoughtless actions or hurtful words have upset someone, make amends with an honest confession accompanied by a sophisticated bouquet."

Good advice, n'est pas?

12 December 06 at 1:54 PM
# avantegardens said:

Julie -

In a perfect world, consumers would get your blog when they queried Google for 'Flowers' instead of pages of 'cookie cutter' bouquets sold through affiliate marketers.  

Your writing celebrates the wonder and spirit of the experience with flowers and is truly a reminder why they hold such a powerful sway on humanity. It's a 'must read' for anyone interested in floral history, traditions and trends.  

I'll stop by with a comment as I do have a thing or two to say about the latest post in your 'Florist' topic.

12 December 06 at 2:12 PM
# Avante Gardens - florals unique, Anaheim, CA - Orange County Florist Since 1984 said:

I just read on Guardian Unlimited that Serenata Flowers' Peter Ahl has apologized to Naked Blog and other

14 December 06 at 6:50 AM

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