Are you placing your horse business ads online?

I just read a news report stating that more people are posting their classified advertising on the Internet instead of in printed newspapers. So if you are still only posting your horses for sale in your local paper seriously reconsider the Internet as your top choice for horse ads.

News companies online revenue is going up each year and their print business is bringing in less money each year causing them to plan circulation cutting measures. This means less people reading your ads in the newspapers. Some newspapers will stop delivery to areas farther from the city’s heart.

You can read the whole news story here: Newspapers continue shift towards Internet as print business fades Wednesday, September 26, 2007 by: David Gutierrez

Old school newspapers — the kind printed on dead trees — are dinosaurs. Even TIME Magazine is slashing staff these days, and readers are abandoning printed newspapers in a steady march towards online information. — from another news story.

Some of the benefits of posting your horse business ads online are:

• More ad space for less money; use this room to post benefits and gain more sales
• Can post photos of your horses or your horse products
• Some sites let your post video clips! Show people how your product works or how your horse moves.
• You can find horse sites that let your post free classified ads; now that helps boost your ad budget.
• Some sites allow you to link to your horse’s breed pedigree
• You can lead people to your horse business website from the ad

I did a Google Internet search for “free horse ads” and received 8,140,000 results and 8,970,000 results for “Free Horse Classifieds”! Well it looks like you have a ton of sites to pick from. I would check out the top 10 or 20 sites and see what kind of traffic they receive each month and what they offer in free and paid ads.

“Trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are going.”
- John Naisbitt

“You must have mindshare before you can have marketshare.”
- Christopher M. Knight

“Customers buy for their reasons, not yours.”
- Orvel Ray Wilson

” People don’t want to be ‘marketed TO’; they want to be ‘communicated WITH.’”
- Flint McGlaughlin

“In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss — and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.”
- John Romero

Are you still reading paper newspapers or do you read your news and classified ads online? What are your favorite sites on the Internet to post your ads?

In the email they sent me it reads:

Tired of being nickel-and-dimed on other auction sites?
Then give Equine-Bay.com a try…

• No Listing Fees!
• Low Ad Enhancement Fees
• Fair Closing Fees
• Lots of Features Buyers and Sellers Demand!
• Sign up before May 31st and receive a $10 credit

Some of you have horses and horse products that you are marketing from your website. Auctions if done right can lead more people to your website and more traffic leads to more sales.

Many smart business people use auctions to help herd more people to their websites. But you do need to read and follow the auction site’s rules carefully and stay within them.

One of the ways that I have found myself lead from the auction site to the lister’s site is through their “about me” page on the auction site or from the listing sales copy itself. They listed their website address and the fact that I could find more info there about their products and how the product works. If the auction site doesn’t allow live links you can just leave off the beginning part of the link (http:// and www.) and put in a simple text address like this: horse-logos.com Of course you want it to flow with the listing sales copy like the following examples…

You can find more info about this product at horse-logos.com. There you will also find free articles and free e-reports to help you increase your knowledge on this product and how to achieve the best results with it.

or

For additional still photos and video clips visit: myhorseforsale.com/horse1.html You can also view his Registration papers and Pedigree.

I have also been lead to view the auction lister’s website through them posting their website address in their logo image and even in the product image. In your product image, near the bottom you can add the text: copyright by yoursite.com visit for free info sheets.

You can always try to get them to visit after the sale by posting your website address in your thank you for buying email with a good reason they should visit — free article, etc…

Some smart business people sell cheap information products (e-reports, ebooks, audio files) on the auctions site (some listings starting at only a penny) and then send an email to their customers with a link to their download page on their website that has info or a great offer about their other products.

With a little thought and work you can use auction sites to round up more traffic for your web site.

If you already are doing any of the tips and know any more I would love for you to leave a comment. Thanks!

P.S. Don’t forget to add a few live clickable links to your web site in any of your information products you sell/auction or give away. You want to keep driving people back to your website. And it never hurt to tempt them with a sweet offering — like $ off their next purchase.