Michigan is filled with great local farms that offer everything from fresh produce and honey to baked goods and rustic home décor. Finding these local gems sometimes requires simply stumbling upon them though because farms are notoriously bad at marketing themselves. Typically, family-owned farms rely on word of mouth, roadside signs, and advertising in local flyers to draw visitors in, but this isn’t the most effective way to market your local farm. Having a well-optimized website is the best way to make sure people can find your farm and entice them to come visit.
So how can you use your website to market your farm? These 4 tips are sure to increase visitors all summer long!
So how can you use your website to market your farm? These 4 tips are sure to increase visitors all summer long!
Include your Address & Directions
Simply having your address in text on your website allows searchers to find your site when looking for a farm in your local area. (Adding your farm to Google Maps is another key component to making sure that your farm appears for local searchers, but that’s another topic for another day.)
If your farm is kind of in the middle of nowhere, as farms typically can be, including the nearest metropolitan area can get extra traffic to your site when people search for that location as well. For example, if your farm is located in Rockford, MI you might want to consider putting text on your site that says something like: “Come visit us at 123 Farm Road Rockford, MI 49341 – We’re just a short 20 minute drive from downtown Grand Rapids!”
List the Items You Sell & Update It Regularly
Telling people what’s in season and currently being offered at your farm or farm stand is a great way to draw in visitors that are looking for a particular item like sweet corn or apples. This makes your website more likely to appear when someone searches for something like “apples 49341” or “local farms with apples.”
If your farm has any additional offerings like pick your own fruit, hay rides, a petting zoo, corn mazes, etc. be sure to include those as well for the same reason. You want to make sure that people searching for these other items that you sell will find your farm when they’re looking for something to do with their families.
Include Pictures
People love pictures! Pictures help first time visitors find your location better and give them an idea what to expect when visiting. They also get returning visitors excited about their trip to your farm. For these reasons pictures are an excellent, low-cost marketing tool that are a must-have for any farm.
As a bonus, when groups (schools, churches, kids camps, etc.) plan activities, they often try to find pictures to include in their correspondence about the event. By including pictures on your website you make their job easier, which can translate into more visitors participating in group outings and more groups visiting in general.
Suggest Fun Ideas to Draw in Visitors
You know your farm better than anyone else, which means that you also know the best ways to utilize it! If something that you offer is great for families or couples, tell them on your website so that they don’t have to use their imaginations. Suggest that high school seniors come take their senior photos in your orchards, let lovebirds know that your pond is the perfect setting for a marriage proposal, tell brides-to-be that your barn is great for wedding receptions, and remind parents of the fun that they can have watching their kids pick fresh fruit. Suggesting these ideas helps people realize how much fun they can have at your location without having to use their own imaginations!
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
Simply having your address in text on your website allows searchers to find your site when looking for a farm in your local area. (Adding your farm to Google Maps is another key component to making sure that your farm appears for local searchers, but that’s another topic for another day.)
If your farm is kind of in the middle of nowhere, as farms typically can be, including the nearest metropolitan area can get extra traffic to your site when people search for that location as well. For example, if your farm is located in Rockford, MI you might want to consider putting text on your site that says something like: “Come visit us at 123 Farm Road Rockford, MI 49341 – We’re just a short 20 minute drive from downtown Grand Rapids!”
List the Items You Sell & Update It Regularly
Telling people what’s in season and currently being offered at your farm or farm stand is a great way to draw in visitors that are looking for a particular item like sweet corn or apples. This makes your website more likely to appear when someone searches for something like “apples 49341” or “local farms with apples.”
If your farm has any additional offerings like pick your own fruit, hay rides, a petting zoo, corn mazes, etc. be sure to include those as well for the same reason. You want to make sure that people searching for these other items that you sell will find your farm when they’re looking for something to do with their families.
Include Pictures
People love pictures! Pictures help first time visitors find your location better and give them an idea what to expect when visiting. They also get returning visitors excited about their trip to your farm. For these reasons pictures are an excellent, low-cost marketing tool that are a must-have for any farm.
As a bonus, when groups (schools, churches, kids camps, etc.) plan activities, they often try to find pictures to include in their correspondence about the event. By including pictures on your website you make their job easier, which can translate into more visitors participating in group outings and more groups visiting in general.
Suggest Fun Ideas to Draw in Visitors
You know your farm better than anyone else, which means that you also know the best ways to utilize it! If something that you offer is great for families or couples, tell them on your website so that they don’t have to use their imaginations. Suggest that high school seniors come take their senior photos in your orchards, let lovebirds know that your pond is the perfect setting for a marriage proposal, tell brides-to-be that your barn is great for wedding receptions, and remind parents of the fun that they can have watching their kids pick fresh fruit. Suggesting these ideas helps people realize how much fun they can have at your location without having to use their own imaginations!
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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