2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

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1 Marketing Your Equine Business on the Internet Bits & Bytes Farm 2009 Copyright Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. Power to the PEOPLE! Take control of your marketing and advertising! I am here to help you think about using the Internet to market your business in new ways Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

2 The World is Changing When was the last time you......went to the classified ads in your local newspaper to find a product or service? The Internet is the classified ad choice for a new generation. Search engines like Google and Yahoo have replaced your local newspaper Craig s List has replaced the classified ads When was the last time you went to the phone book and looked up a business in the Yellow Pages? The Internet is the Yellow Pages for a new generation. The Internet is Everywhere on your desktop... on your laptop when you are mobile... on your iphone or PDA for anytime access 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

3 You Need to Learn New Ways to Market Your (Equine) Business You need to use the new electronic tools to market your business Your market is a lot bigger than it used to be A flyer at your local tack store is just not going to do it anymore Bits & Bytes Farm story New Marketing Tools Advertise on Equine Web sites Many are free or little cost Use Social Networking sites for free! Facebook Twitter Linkin Put videos on YouTube Have a blog/web site Have an on line photo gallery Three Options 1. FREE applications Easy to update design but limited to free designs 2. Low Cost site with wwwyourcompanycom Your own Web site Easy to update YOURCOMPANY.com Blogs (they can be REAL Web sites) Photo Galleries 3. Full Custom Site All the bells & whistles 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

4 Create a Blog Blog software is usually free with your Web hosting package B2evolution Nucleus Word Press is the Most Popular Blog Software Blog Example OTTB Success Stories Advantages of a Blog Blogs can be updated by people with little or no knowledge of Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) The language of the Internet Blogs archive information Blogs have Search capabilities Blogs can link to Photo Galleries Free! 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

5 Have an On-Line Photo Gallery Free Gallery software is available with many hosting packages Free software resizes and upload photos! Photo Gallery Example Online.com is an example of a photo gallery of horses for sale. Photo galleries can stand alone or be linked from a Web site or blog. Use Video to Sell Horses Traditional Method 1. Get the camera out and make a tape. 2. Make duplicates. 3. Send by snail mail. 4. Wait for response and return of tape. New Methods 1. Use a video camera with digital capture or copy the tape to your computer. 2. Duplicate on CD, mail and wait. 3. Upload to YouTube or your Web site. 4. Get instant response Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

6 Use the Internet to Show Video! Video files can be large and difficult to send by e mail Put them on your Web site You may need to purchase more bandwidth You can also store video on YouTube You can embed YouTube video on a page on your Web site Use video to sell your product! The cost has been dramatically reduced with the new technology and the Internet! How Do Potential Customers Find Your Business? A sign in front of your farm or business lets potential customers know you are there... BUT Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

7 Most Every Business Has a Sign All customers are not passer bys. All passer bys are not customers. That is why you need an Internet presence! Why Have a Web Site? What is a Web Site? A Web site is your traveling salesman who is out there selling your services 24/7. It is the receptionist who is a customer s first contact with your business Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

8 Why Do You Need a Web Site? Consumers use the Internet like earlier generations used the Yellow Pages in the phone book. It is a quick way to find vendors offering services you need. It is a lot less expensive than advertising. It can provide more information than an advertisement. It can be updated instantly for little or no cost Try and update a full color brochure and you will understand the value of a Web site. What Do You Need to Get Started? Find a Hosting Company & Buy a Domain Name Price may vary greatly!!! Avoid GoDaddy and Register.com Compare storage space and bandwidth numbers between hosting solutions Many hosting companies offer free domain names but read the fine print! You may not own your own name or have to put up with ads on your site. A Domain name - The most basic functionality of a domain name is to provide symbolic representations, i.e., recognizable names, to mostly numerically addressed Internet resources. Each Domain name has a DNS number 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

9 DNS Number? The Domain Name System (DNS) associates various sorts of information with so called domain names; most importantly, it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human readable computer hostnames, e.g. into the IP addresses, e.g , that networking equipment needs to deliver information. The Simple Technical Explanation of a Web site When a potential customer types in your Web site address () their computer finds your Web site by looking up its DNS number and following that address to the Hosting Company s server where the Web site s files are stored. Your Domain Name needs to have an IP address of a server. This means that when you purchase a domain name you need a place to park (store) your files. Domain Names are inexpensive. Buy any related Domain Names. Purchase Subscription to a Hosting Service This is where your site will be stored The hosting company offers many free or fee services Blogs Shopping Carts Photo Galleries Forums Support FTP File Transfer Protocol to upload your pages to the host Site builder tools and templates These are the products that vary from host to host Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

10 What is the Cost of a Web Site? It can be FREE! If you don t mind ADS on YOUR site If you are not wanting to customize your blog It can be very expensive Or it can be anywhere between these two options FREE Web Site? YES. It can be FREE! Try WordPress.com WordPress.com It s not just a blog WordPress.com has a feature called pages which allows you to easily create web pages. For example, you could add an about me page with your biography, and a link to that page would be automatically added to your sidebar. You can even create an entire web site using pages on WordPress.com, with a custom home page and your blog as one of the sub pages Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

11 Building a Web Site is Like Building a House Are you building a summer camp or a 30 room mansion? You can always add on as you have time or resources. Web Site Creation Options Get a Web Site Made for You Do It Yourself Use a Template Site Creators Use Blog software like WordPress A Few Guidelines to Making a Good (and Functional) Web Site WIFM Always remember to make your site interesting and useful to your potential customers. Make it easy to navigate What message do you want to convey? What resources do you have to tell your story? Photos Videos Testimonials What Content Is Available? 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

12 Announce Your Site Links from RELEVANT sites Use Social Networking Twitter Linkin Facebook Send out e Mail Build an address book of your contacts SEO Search Engine Optimization This is what makes it possible for your site to be found on the Internet This is usually an additional service that you purchase SEO There are simple things you can add to your site that will help the search engines find your site. Name your pages Have TEXT on your pages Do not build your entire site as a FLASH animation Add keywords and description META tags Use the H1, H2 tags properly when you create your site Use SEO Plug 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

13 Optimize For Search Engines Keep checking to see if your site is found by search engines using your key words Thoroughbred Horses For Sale Google reports that there are: 18,800,000 pages that match this search Optimize For Search Engines thoroughbred horses for sale Bits & Bytes Farm comes up at the top of page one of a search for Thoroughbred Horses For Sale out of 18 MILLION pages that match this search! UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!! Give the visitors a reason to revisit your site. New News New Products Results from Competitions New Photos Links 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved

14 Thank You! Promote your equine business on line today! 2009 Bits & Bytes Farm, Inc. All rights reserved