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9 Reasons to Have a Website for Your Goat Business

I’m not into fear mongering.  I don’t feel like the proverbial sky is falling in the world of online livestock sales, but I do believe some things are changing and if you’re trying to make a business with your goats, you may need to be changing as well.

If you’re into social media, you probably have heard the murmurings of Facebook’s recent crackdown on livestock sales.  Major groups that focus on animals, even if they weren’t sale groups, have been taken down without a warning.  I’ve heard rumors of Facebook business pages being removed as well.  PETA’s recent venture into Facebook stockholder status is going to cause an increase in this activity or an outright ban on all things animal related.

Many folks have taken to other social media sites as an alternative, but from where I’m standing, that is as doomed to fail as Facebook.

Now, I’ve had this website for 7 or 8 years now.  It has always been my focal point for a variety of reasons.  Good marketing dictates that all other options should lead back to this, my main sales channel.  Let’s explore 9 reasons why you should have a website as well if you’re in the goat business.

9. Infinite Customization Options

With a website, you have complete control over every part of how your goats are displayed.  From the fonts and layout to the arrangement of pedigrees and what pages you want to include, you can make your website as unique as you and your goats are.  Most website builder software makes this as simple as the push of a button though, so if you don’t have any website building experience, you can still create a beautiful, fully customized website.

8. Ability to Best Showcase Each Animal

Something I’ve noticed on farm Facebook pages is how difficult it is to find specific information on a particular goat.  This is the case across every social media platform I’ve come across; showcasing your animals is greatly restricted due to the dynamic nature of social media websites.  On your own website, you can create a page for each animal and fill it in with everything you’d ever want buyers to know.  This not only cuts down on emailed questions but also helps prospective buyers gain confidence in your farm by seeing your transparency and organization.

7. No Competition

Dairy goat farmers are a friendly bunch, kind of like a big extended family, but the fact remains that if someone is buying from another farm, they’re not buying from you.  On your website, you control the animals listed for sale which means that you have a direct connection to your buyers without the distraction of other goats for sale.  With options like paid advertising and targeted marketing in various places across the web, you can ensure that your goats are the goats people see when they’re looking to buy.

6. Ability to Post, Sell and List Unlimited Animals

There is no limit to how many animals or other things you can list for sale on your website.  By contrast, on many livestock sale sites, you may be limited to how many listings you can have at a time without having to pay a premium fee.  I’ve found that the additional freedom my website allows has encouraged me to branch out into selling other things, such as eggs, homemade products and other items I probably wouldn’t have bothered with if I had to pay to list them.  It’s a good way to test out different animals and items as well.

5. A More Professional Impression

Given the inexpensive costs of websites these days, a website is a small price to pay to convey professionalism.  I know a lot of people use free sites for their business and it’s a great way to get started, but there are some drawbacks.  For one, your website has advertising on it; unless you pay, the name of your free website provider will be front and center on the pages of your site.  Second, some of those sites will hide your website from search engine results unless you pay them for a premium site.  Free does not mean better.

With your own website, bought and paid for, you can create a professional first impression for your goat business.

4. Shows Buyers You are Committed

An established online presence shows buyers you are committed to your business.  When I am looking at buying a goat from a breeder, I will look first for a website and then begin research elsewhere.  Nothing can convey the full scope of your goat business as well as a website and having one demonstrates staying power.

3. Inherent Data Backup/Photo Storage

Having lost several computers over the year, I can attest to how devastating it is to lose photos and files.  While most people use backups these days, it’s never a bad idea to have redundancy with your data.  Hosting plans almost always have very generous storage–mine offers 5GB of storage with their $5/month plan–so there is plenty of room to store the hundreds of photos of your goats you might take.  Or is that just me?

2. Central Location for Everything about You/Your Business

Your website allows you to create a cohesive image of your business.  You can include information about who you are, your sales policies, what sets you apart from other breeders and any other information that you need, all compiled in one organized location.  Compared to social media and livestock sale sites, where the info may be disjointed or not there at all, you can present a sleek, centralized source for all things Your Goat Business.

1. Control over Your Content and Your Business

Ask the Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Sale group that had over 50k members and a longstanding history lost in a flash whether or not they wish they’d been able to maintain full control over what they’d worked so hard and long to achieve and I bet you’d hear that they did.  Farm pages, carefully cultivated and marketed for years have been taken down in an instant.  The number one reason you should have a website for your goat business is that those kinds of stories are both becoming more common on social media and at the same time virtually nonexistent on self hosted websites.  And if your web host does decide to take offense at your goat business, there are hundreds more who will be willing to host you.  As a last ditch effort, you can also buy the hardware to host your own website.  When you have a website, it remains under your control.

Whether you have five goats or 50, having a business website for your goats just makes sense.  With domains costing around $13 per year and hosting at around $5 per month, it is one of the most cost effective marketing tools you can use.

Link time!  If you have a website, feel free to comment below and share it.

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