How to Guide for Farm Websites -- Improve Your Farm Web Design
The original home based business - the family farm - is experiencing a renaissance. And today, the internet is the new farmers' market for some of the emerging heirloom, artisan and organic new small and micro farms. Family farm consultants say a farm's web presence is as important today as a telephone was long ago. I work for a company that helps small farms succeed, and here are some major ways small and micro farms can improve their websites.
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Instructions
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Let the world know where "the lake" is. If you were from Wisconsin traveling to Maine, so searching for a Maine u-pick blueberry farm, and you came to a blueberry farm's website that said, "We're on Road 68, turn left on Garrett just past the lake," would that tell you if you'd found a Maine u-pick? What state? What country? What planet? Many farm websites make the mistake of reading as though everyone who goes online knows what "just past the lake" is. That potential customer will leave and find a u-pick blueberry farm that tells them what country, what state, and only then which county and road the farm is on.
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Your first main page (the landing page) should have beautiful images, and briefly summarize: who (your farm), what (what benefits await the customer), where (see above), why (what's special about your farm), and how (a "buy from us" link leading to longer pages with driving directions, product descriptions and prices, opening days, online ordering, calendar of events... however you sell, make it easy for them to find out how to buy from you directly from the landing page). This is very necessary for attracting new customers.
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Deeper in the website, offer a history and story of the farm, and your farmer's blog. These are especially important for retaining loyalty from customers you already have, and can sometimes also help win over the hearts of new customers.
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Also deeper in, give lists and descriptions of how your farm benefits the environment, local economy, community, and/or preserves heritage, regardless of organic certification. There is a strong trend for this. Organic certification became so paperwork-heavy and expensive for smaller diversified farms, that some small farms have opted out and instead are just listing what they do that's positive for the environment, and it's proving very popular with customers. (You can do this even if you're certified). One farmer lists the wild native birds that live on his eco-friendly farm. Other examples include listing positive soil amendment practices, your traditional methods for making apple butter, how you hire local senior citizens for your farmstand, etc.
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Keep up with 21st century eco-farm online marketing and other trends and eco-farm how-tos by visiting the online mini-magazine of the Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement at www.MicroEcoFarming.com
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If there are other non-competing farms in your area, consider a page that cross-links with them. If you sell heirloom vegetables, cross-link with a local organic apple orchard, a nearby goat dairy and a farm that sells free-range pastured eggs.
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If you offer any type of agritourism where customers come right onto the farm (on-farm store, u-pick, B&B, pony rides, community supported agriculture, harvest festivals and so on), get yourself listed for free at www.agritourismworld.com, and www.ruralbounty.com
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Possibly rewrite a few lines on your landing page so search engines can find you. It's fun, romantic, and good literary skill to call your fresh organic Maine blueberries, "juicy drops of blue sweetness," but when people are searching for organic Maine blueberries, they don't type in "juicy drops of blue sweetness," they type in "organic Maine blueberries." So make sure you use that term a number of times within your content without sounding ridiculous. And, it doesn't count to simply type "organic Maine blueberries" a hundred times on your landing page, it has to be within your content.
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Submit your site's url for free to these search engines as another way for it to be found easier: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl, and http://www.freewebsubmission.com/. For both, go to your own website and copy its url as it shows up in the browser. The first one is for Google only, but you're allowed to type in comments. Paste in the url, type in the weird squiggly letters they ask you to copy to make sure you're not SPAM, and under comments, type in words you think potential customers might type in if seeking a farm like yours. For the second (which also includes Google and many other search engines in one shot), you'll first have to type in an e-mail address (I suggest you use a secondary "junk" address rather than your main one) and verify it. This should just take minutes. Return and paste in the url, retype your e-mail, and check that you've read the terms of agreement. Close to 50 search engines will now have your site.
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Finally, consider turning your site itself into a legitimate home business that generates income on its own in a way that complements your farm. Consider doing with your website what farmers have done with their farms for centuries: carefully, thoughtfully, and gradually turn your farm website into an authentic, working home business that generates even more farm income while it earns income itself from your farm's blog, recipes, and stories. There are many get-rich-quick-without-working-at-all-with-your-website programs. So far I've found just one that's actually legitimate for those who are new to making websites, but not afraid to work and generate an actual authentic living over time. It's even used at colleges, universities and military schools. It's listed below under resources.
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Comments
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blondehound
Feb 19, 2009
good info on farm's web business, 5
