Breeders Websites

[Daisy1066]

Hi Guys,
I just wanted to let you all know how important it is to keep your websites up to date.

I was considering breeding my mare for the horse of my dreams, so I have been following along on this page. However, it might be that my mare might be sold, which would allow me to buy the horse of my dreams who is already on the ground.

Assuming that you breed babies to sell them, I think it is only right to hope for up to date information on your websites.

If you need an example of a great site, please see Mo Swanson’s site. Awesome. Prices and videos!

[Joanne]

One guess at why some breeders don’t update, or even have, a website is that this is a way to sort out the “tire kickers.” So you have to call them (if you can find their phone number) to find out what they have for sale. In one case, I think the breeder is so wealthy not to care if her horses sell or not.

[Tapperjockey]

[QUOTE=Joanne;6197781]
One guess at why some breeders don’t update, or even have, a website is that this is a way to sort out the “tire kickers.” So you have to call them (if you can find their phone number) to find out what they have for sale. In one case, I think the breeder is so wealthy not to care if her horses sell or not.[/QUOTE]

But it’s really not a way to sort out the tire kickers. Tire Kickers don’t mind if they waste your time… so they will call, and chat, and email, etc.

Most serious buyers are looking for x, y and z… and if you don’t have it, they go to the next website.

It is vital in this day and age to have at the very least, a simple website with some information. People are becoming much more reliant on the internet than on word of mouth.

[rodawn]

Agreed.

[Joanne]

[QUOTE=Tapperjockey;6197809]
It is vital in this day and age to have at the very least, a simple website with some information. People are becoming much more reliant on the internet than on word of mouth.[/QUOTE]

I agree.

[HyperionStudLLC]

Check out our website. Easy to get through, up to date and you can connect to us through Facebook as well. We have videos every year of our foals, jumping horses as we get them and news page updates all the time. I work very hard to keep people connected to us and it seems to be working. Maybe we have your dream foal or riding horse? I am always open to how we can improve so don’t hesitate to let me know!

Cheers

[Blume_Farm]

I too think it important to keep a professional updated website. This is my hobby, but I try to run it as a professional business. I think it important to put that image forward to show my dedication, commitment and seriousness about my “hobby”. There are a lot of tire kickers out there but really they take up not too much time and can be weeded out fairly quick.

[QUOTE In one case, I think the breeder is so wealthy not to care if her horses sell or not.[/QUOTE]

I don’t think this is fair. Yes, there are breeders out there that have the luxury of having a lot of money (I am sure from other business ventures!) but I am sure they care to breed the best and sell them to homes that make them proud and showcase their offspring. They make not have as much pressure to sell their offspring b/c of having financial security, but I still think they want a successful program.

The benefit of having that $$ is having available to them professional marketing tools (photographers, riders/trainers, videographers, showing, grooms, etc) and TIME! That is what is hard for me…getting marketing material together and keeping it updated takes gathering some volunteers to help photograph/ video and time. I do my best, but could do better!

[ahf]

Young horses are not like show horses - you can’t just pull it out of a stall, take off its blanket, and snap a picture. With most breeders, they live out and in-between the lovely three-month-old stage and two… go though stages where you can’t stand to look at them, and grow hair coats like yaks.

I advertise my produce when they are sucklings, then they go pretty much off the market and not updated until they are two. I will not post a picture of a yearling, nor advertise it. In the late spring of their 2yo year - when they have blown their coats and if they are past the gawky stage - at that time they can come up to the barn, get their manes pulled, bathed, faces trimmed…video and pictures taken. By the time they are three and under tack, they get monthly videos.

Why would I post a picture of a butt-high yak? Seriously. These days no one grew up on a farm and knows what young horses look like in winter. And people SAY they can see past it - but they can’t.

If I miss people like Daisy because she’s looking in March, I guess them’s the breaks. There will also be people looking in May. In my world no horse is for sale until it’s looking it’s best.

I also think it’s terribly one-sided to compare RSF, who puts upwards of 30 foals a year on the ground, employs staff and now has not just one, but TWO YH riders…to the small breeder who put one or two foals per year on the ground. That’s like comparing Pepperidge Farm to the corner bakery. Both work very hard - but it’s a completely different set of resources for each.

[Formosus]

I also think it’s terribly one-sided to compare RSF, who puts upwards of 30 foals a year on the ground, employs staff and now has not just one, but TWO YH riders…to the small breeder who put one or two foals per year on the ground. That’s like comparing Pepperidge Farm to the corner bakery. Both work very hard - but it’s a completely different set of resources for each.

THANK YOU: , For saying it so well!!

Totally agree…

I keep my website as up to date as possible but I do it myself , I just wish my clients would send me some “nice” pictures of the horses I sold them as weanlings so that I could add more :yes: But them are the breaks: no pictures better then bad pictures…

[clint]

ahf, I have to smile. We are in the middle of a rain storm where I live, and I just took pictures this afternoon of my almost yearling colt to send to an interested party. I know why you refuse to post pictures of a yearling, butt high foal in a yak coat. I’m quite confident that I will be keeping this fellow until he can take nice pictures somewhere around the age of two. I would never, ever, put those pictures on my website, and can only hope that the prospective buyer can look through that winter hair and ugly growth phase. And no, I don’t think it is fair to compare a small breeder to one who has a staff and puts 30 foals a year on the ground. I love your analogy.

[Tapperjockey]

No it’s probably not fair…

But that is who you are competing against for buyers. I’m sorry that you don’t have staff, etc. But that’s the reality. You’re in a pool with many other small breeders, some of them may have a lot more time, with medium breeders, with larger breeders.

If you don’t have a website, and keep it somewhat up to date (not saying you must include weekly videos here… but there has to be some point between 3 months old and 3 years old that the horse looked nice enough to get a photo taken), you are going to lose some buyers. If you are selling well anyways, that’s probably not a concern. If you aren’t… then that may be something you should look into for your program.

With twitter, facebook, etc… it’s become even easier to keep sections like “news” and “show results” and “new foals” up to date without having to pay (or take the time) to redo those pages. It’s fairly simple to link your Facebook Farm page to your website.

Not to pick on clint: but since your website is in your signature… Your news page is talking about foals from 2009. Your foals page is from 2010. So those are where most people check to see if a website is current and a lot of people may not make it past that. If someone does check the sales page first, they’ll see your colts and see that it is up to date mostly. One is almost a yearling (very nice btw) and the other you have is almost 2… but still his young inspection photos it looks like, but it appears fairly current. You do have dates on there.

A lot of people like to put instead of the year, say like “Weanling Donnerhall Colt” or “Yearling Bask Daughter” or “Five year old son of Man O War” (don’t want to pick on anyone so used “expired” stallions here). And you are wondering… ok. So is the Donnerhall daughter a 2010 model, or have they not updated the website since 2001?

Formosus: I think your website is up to date as well.

[Joanne]

You may have just the youngster that Daisy is looking for, if she can find it on your website. Otherwise, she could just go to the Hanoverian auction Verden in August where she is sure to find something really nice amongst the 300 to 400 foals offered.

[Spike]

Clint: You know, it’s hard to sell yearling, but it happens lol! Keep the faith.

I agree with Formosus and AHF and Clint. You can have pretty accurate websites in a modest package. We are all working pretty hard for our own breeding programs, small and big.

[Tapperjockey]

Your website is very nice too Spike.

So far, everyone who’s mentioned it being hard to keep up to date and have fancy websites, has a lovely website lol.

[Joanne]

[QUOTE=Tapperjockey;6197927]
Your website is very nice too Spike.

So far, everyone who’s mentioned it being hard to keep up to date and have fancy websites, has a lovely website lol.[/QUOTE]

Yes! I agree.

[MysticOakRanch]

@Tapperjockey;6197916

No it’s probably not fair…

But that is who you are competing against for buyers. I’m sorry that you don’t have staff, etc. But that’s the reality. You’re in a pool with many other small breeders, some of them may have a lot more time, with medium breeders, with larger breeders.

To a point, that is true. But many smaller breeders offer something different - perhaps lower prices, foals that are handled more, more flexible terms to buyers, etc. In general, I do see smaller breeders with lower prices - it is economic reality, buyers ARE paying for those full time staff, big glossy ads, fancier turn-out. They are really slightly different products - both are GOOD products, but there are differences, and as a result, some different buyers.

It is hard as a small breeder to do pictures and video - it takes a minimum of TWO people to do so, and many of us are operating on our own most of the time. I think conformation shots are the hardest to do - and good video is close behind.

I do my own website - it may not have all the bells and whistles of some big breeder sites, but it is up to date and functional. Like many here (hahaha Clint, we are dealing with the same storm - can you say MUD!?!?!), I don’t update video and pictures much in the Winter months, but try to keep things up to date regarding sales, available horses, etc.

I think this website topic comes up at least once monthly. And I think more and more people are using Facebook and other media versus websites because they are so much easier to update, and are interactive;)

[Joanne]

Now compare your web sites to these two breeders’ web sites, both of whom I THINK may have some well bred horses for sale, maybe even some Daisy might be interested in:

http://www.marefield.com/

http://www.marydellfarm.com/

[Tapperjockey]

or something like www.barvae.com Lovely ponies (I think)… but umm. is the 2yo colt a 2010 model or is he a 2004 model? (some of the pages appear to have 2006 stud fees, etc).

[alexandra]

I have a website for alomst ten years now. In the last 2 years I did neglegt it a bit as it was manually programed and is not too easy to maintain.
I started a new one and have the link on the old one. I need to migrate all the data from the old one. Again manually - but at least not in program code - “just” by copy and pasting the written bits. It is a lot of work to maintain a website if you do it yourself and riding/horses/Breeding is just a hobby and no prefession in regards of one spends ones life in an office for 8-9,5 hours a day ! And in addition - I have to maintain in two languages - means doubble updates. I have no special for sale part as there is also some legal consequneces with that over here.

Who is interested - please check out the new one (link in the homepge of the website www.hannoveranerzuechter.de) and let me know if you like the structure. The german part is getting along a bit faster… so for an impression check also the german part.

[Dan]

[QUOTE=alexandra;6198017]
I

Who is interested - please check out the new one (link in the homepge of the website www.hannoveranerzuechter.de) and let me know if you like the structure. The german part is getting along a bit faster… so for an impression check also the german part.[/QUOTE]

Alexandra,

I like the structure of the new website much better.

You should add a contact page so that people know which part of Germany you live. See an example on my website. If someone is looking for horses in Germany they want to target multiple breeders in a region. If the location is easy to find it makes it that much easier to get added to the list.

I purchased a software called Dreamweaver CS5. It makes writing/editing websites much easier.

Dan