Gallop – Running horse clip art set in three different colors and two matching web background images. For an addition fee I can customize the graphic to whatever color, size, or add graphic to a marketing design — business card, letterhead, postcard, ad, etc.

Related articles

• Horse Clip Art of Appaloosa Mare and Foal (alove4horses.com)
• Horse Clip Art – Rearing Arabian Horse Graphics (alove4horses.com)

FREE – can this simple four letter word boost your horse business profits?

Some of the top Internet marketers use the magic of “FREE” to boost their bottom line by giving away some of their best Informational products to stir interest in their other products and services and gain lifetime customers. Some brick and mortar businesses have found free to be a super charger of their business growth. Would your horse business benefit from offering a product or service free too?

Free seems helps people feel they are safe and not taking a risk. Then once they have your free product and like it they are willing to spend money on another product or service you offer.

Here is an article that talks about the power of “FREE”…

“Free” Can Get Your Clients Going Wild! But What’s In It for You?

I think one of the main reasons free works is not just the cost savings you feel you are receiving, but because the word free helps you feel safe from risk. Most of us look to reduce risks and stay safe — even if it just on a subconscious level.

Have you ever considered offering anything for free from your business? Did you try it out? How did it work out for you? Have you checked your business competition are they trying out the power of free?

Is there a downside to offering products or services for free? Can your business afford to test it out — or maybe you should be asking if your business can afford not to test it out?

Related articles

• How Launching A Free Product Doubled My Income (entrepreneurs-journey.com)
• The problem with ‘free’ stuff (businessweek.com)

Horse Advertising Network – Reach 85,000 plus Horse Enthusiasts

Introducing the Horse Advertising Network (HADN) for the Horse Industry (Carson City, NV – July 7, 2009) The easiest, most effective Internet advertising solution dedicated solely to the Horse Industry.

HADN is an online match maker uniting horse related advertisers with multiple horse related website publishers. The Horse Advertising Network, provides the vehicle for banner type ads to be uploaded automatically to horse related websites directly by the HADN advertiser. The ads are then displayed by website owners –“HADN publishers”- who provide ad space to HADN in exchange for payment; realizing additional income at no additional cost.

The Horse Advertising Network

HADN simplifies the act of buying and selling for both advertisers and web publishers in the horse industry.

While HADN is the first of its kind ad server solution for the horse industry, the vertical ad market concept we use is well proven and promoted by top marketing professionals.

The HADN core technology currently serves over 150,000 websites and servers over 300 BILLION ad views per month. HADN technology is continually updated to keep it current with general ad serving capabilities.

Become a member of HADN today and start seeing results tomorrow.

YouTube video – The Horse Advertising Network http://snipurl.com/rqoc1

About HADN:

The Horse Advertising Network is a Biz Strategies, Inc. solution.

For More Information Contact:

Renae Dudley
renaedudley @ horseadvertisingnetwork . com (remove spaces)
Phone: 816-289-5555

About Renae Dudley:

Renae Dudley is a horse industry professional. She is a life long horse breeder, certified judge and equine appraiser. She has developed software products for horse farms. Renae has been a sales professional in the horse advertising business for over 12 years. renaedudley @ horseadvertisingnetwork . com (remove spaces)

The Horse Advertising Network (HADN) http://snipurl.com/nael2

Note from Joni: If you are using this service I would love to hear your option on it. Please leave a comment below. Thanks!

Enhance your horse’s stride with beads and bells.

Rhythm Beads — musical jewelry for horses

Many people are using Rhythm Beads to improve performance by enhancing their horse’s stride rhythm. At RhythmBeads.com we have gone an extra step by adding several sets of specialty Rhythm Beads that combine the light melody of the bells with color therapies to bring yet more benefits to both horse and rider. Rhythm Beads can be used while doing ground work as well as while riding.

Music smooths and comforts both horse and rider

Rhythm Beads are more than merely a fun, colorful necklace for your horse! A set of our Natural Horsemanship Rhythm Beads will quite often have a very calming effect for both horse and rider! The soft and rhythmic jingle of the bells helps to eliminate outside distractions that might startle and spook your horse, while at the same time providing a soft rhythm that frequently helps the horse to move into a more even and consistent gait! This same soft rhythm has been very beneficial to many riders that might be having a little difficulty keeping their own movements coordinated with those of their horse. What a terrific aid for someone practicing for the show ring!

What is old is new again…

Rhythm Beads are not new to the horse scene. The Native Americans would adorn their horses with beads, shells, feathers, etc. It was believed that these adornments held great powers that would keep a horse and his rider safe during times of danger as well as assisting them in moving as one. The various decorations placed on a horse during those early days would also show a tribe member’s rank in the tribe. The beads, shells, feathers, etc. did not come easy ~ they had to be earned! The beauty of these horse and rider teams is undeniable!

Jewelery necklace sure to charm…

[picasa width="400" height="400" autoplay="0" showcaption="1"]http://picasaweb.google.com/horselogos/RhythmBeads[/picasa]

In more modern times, the gaming horse has shown lots of benefits from wearing his Rhythm Beads. Besides the above listed calming effects, a lot of barrel racers have sworn that while wearing their Rhythm Beads their horse seems to be much more focused ~ and even pushes himself to a bit faster pace! Everyone who follows barrel racing knows the importance of getting that extra second knocked off of your time! Plus, you are sure to become the crowd favorite as all eyes are drawn to the horse with the beautiful “necklace”! Now, who wouldn’t love that kind of attention. I know my horse loves to ham it up ~ and I bet yours does too!

There is another tremendous benefit to using your Rhythm Beads if you are a trail rider. The soft jingle of the bells will provide just enough noise to announce your arrival to the local critters. No more surprises ~ And one less reason for your horse to be tense and on edge! Trail riding should be fun for both horse and rider ~ and Rhythm Beads help to ensure that everyone has a good time!

Rhythm Beads have become popular in the sport of Endurance Riding in the past few years. These horse & rider teams are traveling long distances and the calming & relaxing benefits of the Rhythm Beads are very welcomed! Another very appreciated bonus in the use of Rhythm Beads while Endurance Riding/Training is that the continued jingle of the bells has been very helpful in keeping both the horse and rider more focused on such a long ride.

Recently I have learned that there has been yet another group of equine enthusiasts that are discovering the many benefits of using Rhythm Beads with their horses! This group consists of those riders and trainers that work with the Gaited Horses. Those in the Gaited Horse Communities have been noticing that the addition of the bells has seemed to encourage their Gaited Horses to accentuate their gaits even more than usual! Many have commented that it is almost like their horse is enjoying the rhythm of the bells and really getting into the musical rhythm that they are producing!

Whether you choose to study the various colors and their assumed influences, or you just want to match up colors to some of your other horse tack ~ the important thing to remember is to have fun with your horse! Keep life interesting and enjoyable for both of you!

The feedback I continue to receive from people who are finding great benefits as well as having lots of fun with their new Rhythm Beads is amazing! Endurance Horses are finding a renewed joy in “going the distance”, Barrel Racers are shaving off a bit more time, Rescued Horses are learning to hold their heads high once again, Gaited Horses are stepping a bit higher in their gaits, etc., etc., etc. I never tire of hearing the stories of how a horse seems to be enjoying the ability to produce his own bit of melody in the world! Rhythm Beads have been riding in parades from one end of this country to the other! How awesome is that!

Let me share with you just a few of the wonderful photos sent to us by some of our customers. I hope you will visit us at RhythmBeads.com to see more great photos, lots of testimonials, and explore the many items in our “store”!

P.S. Here is a photo of my pony, Diablo, wearing his Rhythm Beads. Isn’t he cute?

Marketing note: Betty Osberg, the owner of RhythmBeads.com took the time and effort to write this article and email it to me. I liked it and posted it here with a link back to her business site. She gained expose (free advertisement) and a backlink to her site from another related horse site which Google likes. Meaning it can help get her site placed higher in their search engine listings. Are you writing articles to help your horse business?

If you have a press release or article that my horse blog readers would enjoy reading and learn from please contact me so I can consider posting it.

Consider reading this past post for more info on article marketing: Articles can help you market your horse business

Business Marketing Resources…

FeedBurner Sign up for FeedBurner (it is free) for your blog to help you analyze your site visitors. Learn the Top 10 Pages on Your Site and what article subjects are the most popular then write more like them.

How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines and Trade Journals A live 1-hour teleseminar featuring Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound (Audio for sale)

How to Submit Online Articles That Pull Traffic to Your Website Joan Stewart interviews Sharron Senter (Audio for sale)

Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles for Fee or for Free Joan Stewart interviews attorney Patricia Eyres (A live 1-hour teleseminar) (Audio for sale)

Articles can help you market your horse business

Business Article by Alyice Edrich

Articles increase sales

I am an avid believer in using articles to market one’s business. I’ve been doing it for years and I always notice an increase in sales when an article is published online via a website or blog. It’s like free advertising and all it takes is a little time and effort.

But online isn’t the only place articles work, print publications are always looking for quality articles on a variety of topics and your byline could become your free advertisement. It just depends on the publication’s policy for bylines. Some publications do not like bylines that sound like commercials while others don’t care as long as it stays under a certain word count.

Articles make great business handouts

Are you a freelance horse riding or horse training instructor? Do you travel to teach or train? Do you sell your products or services at horse expo fairs, workshops, or horse shows? Articles, as handouts works great. Save all those free articles you write and distribute online and print them out. Use them as free “take away” material that will help promote your business even after they’ve left the shows and fairs.

Have people advertise your business for free

I know a guy who distributes a CD to every workshop attendee with articles he has written pertaining to the subject he teaches-as a free gift for coming. He then gives the attendees permission to reprint the articles on their blogs and websites as long as they include his byline at the end of each article. (Read that again: giving aways articles helps you get people to promote your business for free!)

I know a gal who does the same thing for every Christian women’s function she teaches. She allows the churches to use her material in their church bulletins. It costs her less than 50 cents to package and distribute each CD, plus her time and the rewards really pay off.

Note from Joni: Marketing tip — You don’t want people to bring home the CD and then never open it, so… Make sure to print out a teaser sheet to go with the CD you hand out. On this sheet you give them a bullet list of what they will gain (their benefits) from digging into your CD and actually reading your articles. Answer the question: “What is in this for me?” or your CD will just gather dust or hit the trash.

What to write about

You put a lot of time and effort into your product or service. You know the ins and outs so use that knowledge to your advantage.

You know what would make it better, what would make it worse, and I bet you know ways to cut costs while still producing a quality product. You know what your customers like and what they don’t like. You know how to package your product so that it doesn’t break or get lost. And you’ve probably learned how to deal with bad customers and lost packages. Use every aspect of your business as an article idea. Just remember not to give specifics about your customers without permission and avoid giving away trade secrets.

Finding Article Ideas

As a writer, when we query a publication to write an article for that publication we first go to Writer’s Market and look up magazines that accept the types of ideas we have in mind. (Also a quick search online can do the job.) Then we check out a few back issues of the magazine at the library as well as what’s going on via their website and current issues. It gives us a good idea as to what has already been published (since they don’t like to repeat the same stories) and what they may be looking for in the future. Then we can tailor our query letters to the magazine appropriately. Another way to find out about what magazines want is by looking at their editorial calendar – which can often be found online. It can tell you a lot and even help you tailor a press release towards a future issue.

You could write up a how-to articles for horse magazines online and off. You do your research to make sure your idea hasn’t already been covered and then you submit your idea in the form of a query letter and wait. You wait for an acceptance to actually write the article.

Another way to find ideas for articles that could help promote your products, services, or blog/website is to pay attention to the way people find you in the search engines. Put a stat counter on your website or blog (statcounter.com is free) and look at how people are finding you on a weekly basis. What words are they typing into the search engines? Can any of those words or phrases spark an idea for writing an article or even a blog post?

Note from Joni: Use Google to help you! Sign up for the New Google Analytics.

Google Analytics has been re-designed to help you learn even more about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Discover. Share. Act. Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. Google Analytics is free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners.

Also check out Google’s Webmaster Tools to improve your site’s visibility in Google search results. It’s free. and it provides you with detailed reports about your pages’ visibility on Google.

What are people saying in the horse forums or what are they saying when they leave comments in your blogs? Can any of those posts spark an idea for an article?

If you don’t feel writing is your forte, hire a good freelance writer. If you feel you can write okay but need a second pair of eyes hire a proofreader, they run as low as $1 per page. The key is to “not sell yourself” but to “entertain, educate, and inform” your intended audience about something they’d actually care about. Always think, “What’s in it for them?”

— end —

About the author: Alyice Edrich is a freelance writer specializing in article marketing techniques. Visit her site at AalyiceEdrich.net to learn how she can help your business through viral article marketing techniques, too.

Quick summary by Joni: Posting articles on the Internet is like posting business ads in different places — but you get to post them for free. And your website address at the bottom of each article helps lead people back to your site. Want a higher spot in Google’s search engine listings? Then make regular article posting part of your business marketing strategy. Write the articles yourself or hire someone to help you, but do consider this for the sake of your business success.

I will be posting a few more helpful business articles by Alyice Edrich so please check back or sign up for the RSS feed or Subscribe to ALove4Horses by Email.

Resources

FeedBurner Sign up for FeedBurner (it is free) for your blog to help you analyze your site vistors. Learn the Top 10 Pages on Your Site and what article subjects are the most popular then write more like them.

How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines and Trade Journals A live 1-hour teleseminar featuring Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound (Audio for sale)

How to Submit Online Articles That Pull Traffic to Your Website Joan Stewart interviews Sharron Senter (Audio for sale)

Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles for Fee or for Free Joan Stewart interviews attorney Patricia Eyres (A live 1-hour teleseminar) (Audio for sale)

Horse for sale videos increase sales

I just did a search on YouTube for “Horse for Sale” and 6,300 horse videos pop up in the search results! That is a lot of ‘horses for sale’ videos on one site. One video received 72,447 views! Since YouTube now receives twice the page views as Google my guess is that many people are finding and buying horses because of these posted horse videos. People are successfully selling horses using video — Are you?

In fact I bet that if you are just using still photos and text on your site or posted to one of the horses for sale listing sites that you are not exposing your horse to as many potential buyers as you possibly can. Marketing tests prove that video does a much better job of showing off your product and motiving a person to purchase. Videos have increased conversions by nearly 50 percent! Isn’t it time you start marketing your horse business with videos?

Why Video to Sell Horses?

When selling your horse on the web, quality videos are essential to provide potential horse buyers a clear idea of your horse’s form, movement, manners, and personalty. Good video production takes time and work, but properly made videos help sell horses in a completive marketplace and help you receive the top price for your horse.

The time to make videos of your horse is not when someone requests to view one. You should plan ahead and make the videos a major part of your marketing plan. In fact videos should be the most important part of your horse marketing.

It takes time and money to make DVD copies of the final videos to mail out to prospective customers that request them and some people request videos just because they enjoy watching videos of horses. You could charge a refundable deposit fee that covers the cost of the DVD and shipping.

Web videos

Post your horse videos online — instantly viewable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer on earth with an Internet connection. If you post them on sites like youtube and the other free video posting sites you don’t even have to worry about bandwidth costs either.

Increase sales with online video ads 2008

Video Equipment and Knowhow

Top of the line video equipment is not required to begin creating video for web display. In fact some people shoot decent video footage with their cell phones and digital cameras that have video options.

If you are on a tight budget and like small, simple to use video cameras then you should consider one of the Flip Video Cameras.

Review: Pure Digital Technologies’ Flip Video Camera

Videotaped with the Flip Video Camera

Of course if you have top dollar horses for sale and have a decent marketing budget, then I highly recommend having professional video shot by someone that specializes in horse video productions. Make sure to check references and view past client videos before making your selection of which video company to hire. Some professional horse photographers are now shooting video too. Does your local photographer shoot video? Find out!

What to Video

Your video presentation should cover important points of interest to a horse buyer. Some areas to consider videotaping are…

• Under saddle or harnesses: dressage, jumping, cross country, reining, trail riding — whatever skills in whatever discipline your horse it trained for and good at.
• Horse Show; include footage of any past trophies or ribbons.
• In hand segments; include close-ups of the horse’s conformation without tack
• Free Lunging, to show the horse’s true movement
• Lunging: under your control with changes in gait and direction
• Free Jumping
• In hand Obedience: tacking up and untacking, leading
• Horse care Obedience: vet visit, farrier, worming, shots, bathing, clipping, trailer loading, etc…

You don’t have to put everything in one long video. In fact is better if you make a few short videos that cover different areas — one showing the horse under saddle, one showing the horse’s ground manners, and one demonstrating the horses movements when free lunging or jumping. You want to cover enough in the videos to give someone a good overview of your horse’s training and abilities. This will help them feel confident in making an appointment to meet your horse or to even decide to purchase online just from the videos and reading your horse’s description (your sales copy). Specially if you offer a good guarantee or trail period. Don’t forget to have a good sales contract made and signed.

Make a video blog of your horse for sale and embed the videos into your blog or website pages. Update your site with new video clips as your horse learns more.

Audio Sales copy: the video sound track

Words

Write out all that you want to say in your video to make sure you cover all the selling features of your horse. You can add the voice over to the video (recommend) or talk while videotaping. Also put this the horse’s info on text on the page too.

Here is the sales copy for a horse for sale on the internet. Read it for ideas of what you may want to include in your audio and text for your horse for sale listing:

White Gelding Cepillo, this gelding is good on the street, trails, ring, and wherever else you want to ride. He does not spook at any of the parks nearby, not even with gun shots. My son is only 7 and he rides him anywhere. He is safe enough for him to ride around our neighborhood and in parades. Walks, Trots, Canters on commands. Neck reins or direct reins. Loads, clips, bathes, saddles with no problems. Safe for kids. Used to dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and OK to work with cows. He is 9 years old. He is dead broke and kid safe. This versatile horse is great for anyone to ride. No bad habits. No vices. Pretty Mover.

Music

Music can deeply stir the emotions and you should take your time in its choice. You want the music in the video to add to the video, but not overpower the images. Uplifting and inspiring music that puts people in a good mood is best. Consider songs about horses to really heighten the emotional response of equestrians. If you are not ready to make videos yet you consider make photo slide shows with music. Check out sites like Slide.com that allow you to make photo slide shows for free that you can embed into your web pages.

Youtube Videos of Horse for Sale

Sporthorse / Dressage horse for sale : Southside Flyer

Note that they added a title clip at the begging and the end of the video that shows their website address (URL). You should always mark your videos with your URL for videos posted on video sites or that someone may download.

Reining horse for sale

Also consider posting videos or a video slide show of photos of the horse’s dam and sir, specially if a top breeding sir.

Argentinus the Legend

Video Resources and Tips

Shooting Video to SELL the Horse! Good step by step article with photos with the info you need to know to get good videos of your horse for sale. Print it out as a blue print or check list.

Traffic Secrets 2.0 Watch this video to learn what cutting edge video creation is. High quality video with some fantastic effects — and some great free tips on how to get more people to view your site’s content. A must see.

Making Money With Youtube Videos Video marketing tips

Make Money on Youtube by Uploading Your Video Tips on including your live clickable link back to your website from your youtube videos.

5 Ways to Make Money on YouTube NOW! Tips on posting videos to youtube and making some cash. Watch this with your horse business in mind and I bet you come up with some great ideas of your own.

How to get stinkin’ RICH on YouTube!!! Video posting tips – short videos, tag the videos right, allow video replies.

Best Way To Increase Website Conversions Again watch this video with your horse business in mind. What can you do to get people to want to return to your horse site again and again – maybe tell them you will be posting updated videos of the horses for sale as their training progresses.

How to learn to make video…

Stomper Vision – How web video will transform YOUR online business Watch the video case studies of how video improves sale conversations.

Make it easier for people to pay you

You can make it easier for people buying your horse to pay you by taking payments (or the purchase deposit) online through PayPal. You can add a buy-it-button under your video clip. I am seeing more off line businesses (like veterinarians) offering this payment option. I believe your horse buying clients would appreciate the convince too.

You can even set up payments over time with PayPal’s subscription payments.

When you make it easier for people to pay their bills you are more likely to see you money and faster too. PayPaloffers a fast, affordable and convenient online payment service for businesses of all sizes.

If you have had luck with selling horses with videos please leave a comment below and let us know about it. Thanks!

2008 UPDATE: NickerIt.com closed its site.

Announcing NickerIt.com an bookmarking site for horse people

Nicker: “Hello, good to see you.” ~The Horse.

NickerIt.com is a new, social bookmarking service for equestrians to share news, photos, videos, and website links with other equestrians.

The concept is fun and easy … submit your favorite link to NickerIt.com for other equestrians to see. A nicker — translated from the horse as “Hello, good to see you” — is someone saying they like the link. Once something has been nickered, other users can keep nickering it to show they like it, too.

NickerIt.com is a social bookmarking service that benefits equestrians twofold — popular links rise to the top and it’s easy to find new websites that are based on categories.

“Social bookmarking with NickerIt.com enables you to discover content that you might not have found with traditional search engines or link directories,” noted Scott Hanselman, creator of NickerIt.com. “Because the links are added and nickered [voted on] by users, informative content will naturally be popular and easy to find.”

As a registered user of NickerIt.com, equestrians can submit their favorite content links, add comments, and subscribe to web feeds (also known as RSS Feeds) from the “Popular Links”, “Upcoming Links”, and individual Categories.

For more information or to register for free, visit NickerIt.com

NickerIt.com is a great place for equestrians to discover and share favorite horse related content from the Internet. Like a virtual conversation between equestrians, links are voted on or Nickered as we affectionately refer to it. NickerIt.com operates as part of the EquinesUnlimited.com network.

EquinesUnlimited.com is an Internet publishing company that includes a network of full-featured equine websites.

Horse business social marketing tip:

Drag the Nickerit site link to your desktop to your quick links browser bar, then make a note in your to-do-list and business calendar to remind you to nicker your blog posts, articles, and press releases as your put them on the web. Let your friends and family know about your nickers and they may nicker your story too.

But don’t stop there. Nicker other horse stories your find that relates to your product or service. This will help you educate people to the benefits of what your are selling. Contact the people that your nickered and let them know that you nickered their article and they may do the same for your stories on NickerIt.

P.S. I designed the NickerIt logo. For more info on my custom logo packages visit my site Horse-Logos.com.

Social Networking Site Examples…

MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Metacafe, Yahoo groups, Hub Pages, Care2.com, Propeller, bebo, orkut, and on and on and on – there are thousands of sites!

Social Bookmarking Site Examples…

Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Wikipedia, Scribd, Twitter, Squidoo, Gather, NickerIt etc…

Learn more about Social Networking Sites and Social Marketing

• Social Marketing – There are NO Secrets Video
• List of social marketing videos on youtube.com
• Social marketing vs. social media marketing
• Facebook: More Popular Than Porn
• The Future of Facebook
• Top Ten Marketing Podcasts

Youtube video: 5 Reasons Why Social Marketing is a Must

Common horse Business promotion mistakes; are you making them?

Learn the bad news…

We all make business mistakes. It is to be expected and hopefully you learn from your boo-boos and improve. But the worst business blunders are the ones your aren’t even aware, because you can not correct a problem if you don’t know you have one.

Seven hidden boo-boos ready to drag your business down…

1. Forgetting to brand the whole herd!

Most businesses have items like business cards, letterheads, faxes, envelopes, receipts, and etc… But how many of these are you using to their full potential? Add a collar and make them into workhorses!

Lets take your business envelope, are you just putting your return address on them? Waste not, want not – put on your marketing cap on and do a little creative thinking – visualize them as mini billboards. Add your company logo with a promotional slogan and add your website address under that. Make people want to open that envelope – stir their curiously, give them a reason to take notice.

Start to view all your business correspondence in the same light. Post your latest promotion offering on your outgoing emails, faxes, receipts, and statements. Have a one sided business card? Print an ad or coupon on the other side. It is prime advertising space – don’t let that space go to waste.

And please don’t go another day without adding a business signature with all your contact info and latest ad to your emails. I cannot believe how many business owners don’t do this. Some don’t even sign their whole name.

Email signature setup suggestion:

Full Name
Company Name
Email Address
Website Address
Company Tagline

Company Address
Phone and Fax Numbers

——————–
List you our latest promotion ad or up coming event here
with a link to web page with more info! A thank you gift for
reading the email in the way of a free PDF e-report is also
a great idea!
——————–

Passing up Free Advertising Avenues

Come on people, your business cannot grow without promotion, you know that bad nine letter word – Marketing. You might have a new business and not much in the way of a marketing budget, which is to be expected, but don’t pass free business promotion opportunities through articles and press releases. Yea, I know, I just hit another nasty thought – Writing.

2. Skipping the promotional possibilities of Articles

You can write an article around something pertaining to your business service or product that people would like to know more about or learn how to do. For instance, if you run a horse stable you could write and article on ‘how to choose the best boarding for your horse’ or ‘horse bedding that saves you time and money’. If you train horses you could do an article on ‘horses learn by the release of pressure’ or ‘dealing with horses that spook’.

Articles can build positive word-of-mouth free advertising. If you have a website or blog you can post your articles there and seek out other Internet publications that draw your target audience – your future customers. Many Internet news sites and magazines are looking for suitable content and are happy to run your articles.

Contact the editor and pitch your article. You could even try getting your piece into the paper by sending it as a letter to the editor. Did you know that letters to the editor are always well read? Did you also know that more people now reading their news online?

And that more and more social networking and bookmarking sites are popping up all the time. Don’t have a clue what I am talking about? Then go view this video – it will wake you up and shake you up. Interactive online community sites are really hot and some are actively looking of people to post helpful articles; sites like, HubPages and Squidoo.

Learn more – Do a google search for: top social networking sites

3. Not sending out Press Releases

Are you guilty of this because you are afraid you will not do it right? Or because you think you have nothing news worthy to tell? Do you have any events planned for the year, what about contests, noted any changes in your industry for your area? Won any awards, wrote any books, added a new building, or expanded your services or product line? News, news, and more news! What are you waiting for? Use this news to gain some free publicity!

You can mail out your press releases or send them online. Don’t forget to make a page on your website where you post your press releases.

Don’t know how to write a Press Release?

I signed up for the Joan Stewart’s The Publicity Hound¬Æ Newsletter to learn more about business promotion. Horse business owners can get thousands of dollars in free publicity by following her tips, tricks and tools. Joan is a former newspaper editor, a small business owner, AND she was tapped by Entrepreneur.com as its public relations expert. Click here to read all the columns she wrote for Entrepreneur.com and check out her educational tools for business owners.

4. Not keeping in contact

Learn to keep records – oh no, more work. Yes, it is not sexy, it’s work, but can pay off in a big way. Make a note who runs your articles, press releases, and who posts what about your company on their websites and blogs.

First off, thank them! People never get tired of sincere thank yous and people seem to do it less and less, so when you thank someone you make an impression.

Next, make a note to send them more news again. They demonstrated that they are interested in your subject, that makes them more more likely to post another. If last year they ran a story about your charity horse show event then send them the info about this year’s show!

This is just plain common sense, but many people miss this, they keep looking for new people and forget about the importance of staying in touch with the connections they have already made.

People whine about not being able to afford advertising and then waste the avenues they already built by not staying in contact and resending updated info or new news. Don’t make is boo-boo – keep good records and be consistent with re-contacting (is that a word?).

5. Going it alone!

Don’t be riding off into the sunset by yourself. You don’t have to be alone in your business venture. Make friends with other business owners (doesn’t have to be in the same business) and start a MasterMind group.

When committed people get together new ideas and excitement happens. It can renew your business commitment and energy. Each person adding to the group mind – a synergy of challenging brainstorming that just doesn’t happen when you try to go it alone.

We all need support from business colleagues in an atmosphere of respect, honesty, and goodwill. Others can help you create and implement business goals.
Start a MasterMind group and participant in regular sessions – gain the power of a focused team.

Mastermind youtube videos


I found this first Mastermind video posted on this blog

Mastermind tip: short weekly meetings are more effective than longer monthly or bimonthly meetings.

GoodSearch results for: how to start a mastermind group

6. Not taking Action

I hear you, you saying, “most of these are not mysteries to me, I read about a lot of these before”. BUT are you taking ACTION! Are they in your business plan and are you working your plan?

“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.”

- Alfred Adler

“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.”

- Arnold Glasow

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.”

- Peter Marshall

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

- Author Unknown

7. Not taking Consistent Action – repeating the effective actions

“A path cannot be made with one pass, but is guaranteed to be made with repeat passes”

- Joni Solis

“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.”

- Ernest Newman

Horse Business Marketing Lessons

Selling 101 for Equestrians – How to Quickly and Safely Sell Your Horse

Covers advertising and marketing, about how to write advertisement, adding pictures, pricing, and other things to do to sell your horse, local and off line actions.

“The Law Of Attraction” For Equestrians Teleclass
Why You Get What You Get With Your Horse And In Your Life

PR for Equine Businesses Teleseminar with Sherry Busch, of RiskOutWest.com.

Horse Cents Infiltrate and Dominate Your Local Equine Market Using Pre-Equestrian Classes ‘Simple, No-Holds-Barred System For Filling Your Horse Business With New, Paying Clients – As Well As Taking Care Of Your Current Ones!’

Resource links…

Another blog posting of mine: 37 Power striding business tips on getting known, remembered, digital marketing, and presentation!

Free Press Release Tips

Social Marketing – There are NO Secrets (Video)

Free & Low Cost Advertising Tips For Freelancers, Home-Based Small Businesses (Great list of links to more articles at the bottom of this web page!)

MasterMind Manifesting Group Guidelines

MasterMind Self-Confidence Formula

Note from Joni: A few of the links on this page are to my affiliate sites. I only affiliate with sites that I feel give real value and will benefit my readers.

So many choices in the market place. How do you make your horse business be the one they think of FIRST – Top of Mind?

What does it take to gain this top of mind awareness? I have read about a study that stated that it took an average of twelve impressions before a sale took place. Impressions being anything from exposure to ads, signs, phone calls, emails, visiting, mailings, word of mouth, etc…

Quite often there is lag time involved too. Meaning that not everyone will purchase right after they have been heard from you the required number of times. They may not be in need of your product or service at that time, they may need more study time, or time to save for the purchase.

The more often a person sees or hears of your company the better, as this causes familiarity. Familiarity causes a person to gain confidence in a business and creates a positive view of the company name. We all want to feel positive and confident about the items we purchase.

Repetition is the key – design a consistent program of exposure

Recall and recognition needs repetition!

• Run ads often not just once in a blue moon.
• Put out a monthly newsletter – paper or digital.
• Plan on sending out monthly press releases.
• Post up signs and mark all your vehicles with them too.
• Post informational articles on your website or blog consistently.

What do most people put at the top of their Christmas tree? A star or an angel are the two most common adornments to grace the top of the tree? Why is that? The answer is simple – these two items are what they have seen the most and so that is what comes to their mind first and what feels right because of their repeat exposure to them. The star and angel now cause positive emotions.

It takes many exposures to your brand or marketing message before it starts to get etched into a person’s brain. Most companies fail to make this ‘program of exposure’ a top priority in their business plan. Yes, I am talking about working up a Marketing Plan. Marketing doesn’t have to be a dirty word. Think of it is helping people discover what you have to offer which will be of benefit to them.

Educate your customers

Many people today want to learn more about a product before they purchase it. This gives them a better chance at making an informed decision. They go online and do research. How much info are YOU posting about your product or service? How easy is it for people to find this info?

Help them gather facts
Consider doing some of the following…

• Case studies
• Product reviews
• Testimonial web page
• Video demonstrations (post on youtube and other top video sites)
• Videos of present customers using your product
• Free information eBooks or eReports
• Information articles or eCourses
• Hold Events or join with other businesses to put on an event
• Try to get e-magazines to quote you and publish your articles
• Try for radio and TV shows to feature you as a guest expert
• Let other people help spread the news about you – start an affiliates program.
• Hire someone to check over your website or blog and do some Search Engine Optimization so more people can find your site.

All of these activities cause your name to become better know and for more people to perceive you as a leader / expert. They build up recall, recognition, confidence, and positive feelings for your brand.

What makes you different / better – how do you stand out from the rest? Now go about designing a plan to repeat this info and expose it to as many people as possible.

The Fugly Horse of the Day blog has a posting about a a $58,000 sterile Gypsy Vanner stallion for sale.

This sterile stallion story has already received 191 comments! It seems to have drawn enough interest from horse people that most commented on the story.

Seems a man bought a breeding stallion that he feels is sterile and he blames the people that sold him the horse. Most of the people commenting think that, “buyer beware” is the name of the game and that the new stallion owner made a bad business mistake.

The stallion is, Arkan and you can read about him here: Arkan – A Sterile Gypsy Stallion – How to Sell A STERILE Gypsy Stallion (sorry that page is gone now).

Isn’t a shame that most people feel, especially when dealing with people selling horses, that they have to constantly watch their back or they will be taken advantage of. Do you always feel this way when you look for a horse to buy?

Make sure that this is in the contact, make sure that is included too. Have your lawyer look it over. Get a vet check. Have the horse tested for this and don’t forget that, and what about this other thing? Could the horse be drugged? What about dyed – is his really that color? Is her mane bleached? Is she really worth this much? I’m I a fool? What about future earnings? Am I doing this based on good business principles? Or have I just been enchanted and made googlly-eyed by some flashy show shine and a fast talking polished marketer? A good looking spotted pony with fuzzy feet gets my heart to beating fast.

Makes you want to go out an Adopt a rescued horse – or maybe not. I am sure you heard about the mess Ellen DeGeneres is in because she didn’t read the fine print of the adoption contact.

Ellen DeGeneres in Doghouse over Pet Adoption – The talk show host barked up the wrong tree by giving away a Brussels Griffon.

One positive thought: If there were more sterile stallions we wouldn’t have so many horses going to slaughter.

For more reading on integrity or the lack of in the horse industry you might like to check out this MiKael’s Mania – Arabian Horses blog: Integrity in the Horse Business

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
- Abraham Lincoln

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
- William Shakespeare

Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.
- J.C. Watts

If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.
- Alan Simpson

Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.
- Arthur Freed

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
- Will Rogers

Well, what are your thoughts about business integrity in the horse industry? Is it really worst than other industries? Have you been had any bad experiences when dealing with horse business people? Don’t be shy, leave a comment. Thanks!