Is an Alpaca Website Really Necessary for My Farm?

Find out just why a custom alpaca website is the greatest investment you can make in marketing your alpaca farm.

With 73% of the U.S. population using the Internet according to 2006 reports by Pew Internet & American Life Project, there is almost no business that can afford to forego a Web presence.

The Internet has become a favored source for information, news, advice, and communication for most people - including those in the alpaca industry. That includes alpaca rancher wannabes searching for information as well as established alpaca farmers looking for good livestock to invest in. A website for your alpaca farm can give you several significant advantages in reaching the growing alpaca market online.

Indeed, with the majority of alpaca ranchers already online, your alpaca farm could be placed at a disadvantage if it doesn’t have a website.

An alpaca website gives your farm more credibility

The alpaca industry is hands on. People visit each other's ranches and make the circuit of alpaca shows to evaluate alpacas and farm performance firsthand.

But before deciding which farms to visit and which shows to attend, most alpaca ranchers go online to conduct their research.

Alpaca ranchers are looking for information. When they come across your farm, they want to know the characteristics of your alpacas, how long your farm has been operating, where you’re located, what your alpaca ranch is like, and what you have to offer their alpaca business.

When that search for information about your farm can’t be satisfied online, your potential customers aren’t going to make a fuss or complain.

In fact, if you don’t have a website, you won’t even know when someone is searching online for the alpacas you offer – because those potential customers will simply turn to the ranches that DO provide the information they’re looking for.

Consider your website a dynamic online business card. And just like a businessperson without business cards, a farm without a website suffers loss of credibility. Lack of a website is perceived as lack of commitment to the needs of your customers.

Your alpaca website lets you reach more people with less effort

An alpaca website allows you to automate much of your marketing efforts, so you can save your time for enjoying life on your alpaca farm.

Here are just a few of the ways an alpaca website lets you streamline and multiply the effects of your marketing:

• Potential customers can find out more about your alpacas online before contacting you, requiring less effort to make a sale. (This is particularly helpful if you’re not sales oriented – when someone contacts you, they’re already interested in your alpaca services.)

• Your alpaca website serves as a place to refer people to for more information and to get in touch with you easily. And your contact information never gets lost like a business card, because it can be found online by simply searching in Google (if your alpaca site is properly optimized).

• You can often cut down on the number of individual emails you need to send if you update your website information regularly. Several easy-to-use applications like blogs and email newsletters will let your audiences know what you’re up to without manually writing to each person (and it looks more professional than forwarding your emails to a long list of names).

• Your website provides you with the means to start a dialog and communicate with the alpaca community by cultivating links to your website from important online directories such as the Ideal Alpaca Community, which requires farms have a website to participate.

Your alpaca website allows you to compete with farms of all sizes

Even a new farm can compete online side by side with established industry leaders with a well-designed website that is properly optimized for the search engines.

Your alpaca website lets you portray the image and convey the message that you wish. Even if you’re just starting out and only have two alpacas, you can demonstrate your commitment to quality in breeding, show complete information on each alpaca, convey your vision for your farm, and portray a unique experience and customer focus to those searching for what you offer.

Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you have to look small online. Provide the information your potential customers want and follow best practices for your alpaca website design, and your web presence can be as big as you want it to be, reaching as many people as you want it to. (You’ll find your alpaca website will go a long way in making your actual alpaca farm as big as you want it to be, too.)

It’s easier than ever to set up an alpaca website

No other medium allows you to reach more people as quickly and economically as your professionally designed and optimized alpaca website. And now your own alpaca website is easier than ever to set up and maintain.

With the growing number of alpaca farmers, you’ll find there are now companies providing specialized services for alpaca farms just like yours. SEO Alpaca is a website design and SEO service specifically created for the alpaca industry. You can easily access the guidance you need, from gathering information for your site to creating the design and setting up a hosting plan.

There’s no reason to wait any longer. Find out more about starting your alpaca website today at www.seoalpaca.com.