The farming industry is one of the backbones of America.
For decades, farming has been a way for America’s to fulfill the American Dream.
Recently there is a push from consumers to have fresh, local food. Consumers want to know where their food is coming from and they want to support their local communities.
This demand is giving many farmers – big and small – an opportunity to grow.
One of the tools available today to make that business growth a reality is the Internet.
Maybe you have a website or are looking for a website to be the online hub for your farm. If this is the case it’s important to note that simply getting the site created is only the first step.
Just like your crops and livestock you need to continually tend to your website.
The way to accomplish this is with a farming blog.
Here are some ways to grow your farm using a blog.
10 Ways to Grow Your Farm Using a Blog
Sources of Traffic
Before we get started with the ten ways to grow your farm with a blog I think it’s important to talk about how people discover blog posts and blogs.
After all, the point of a blog is to grow your farm and that only happens when new people discover your blog, your website and your farm.
When businesses look to grow they look for groups of people that fit the profile of their target customer. These businesses look to places that have audiences or customers. Businesses can pay for the right to market to those people or they can provide something else.
Advertising is an example of paying for access to an audience. You can pay for a TV or radio commercial. You can pay to rent a list of names to mail to in your area.
To avoid paying, especially for bootstrapped new businesses, companies will do things like partner with established companies. They’ll do charity work to get exposure to people that support the charity. They’ll tell their story to media outlets to get access to the audience.
In the online world, business growth works the same way. You need access to audiences.
A blog accomplishes this in a few different ways.
First, a blog is something Google and other search engines love. Google needs content to provide to its search users. Blogs are a source of fresh content and Google loves ranking blog posts high for a variety of terms that your customers are searching for online.
Second, blog posts can be great items for people to share on social media. We’ll show you a few examples below.
Third, blogs can be resources that people share even in the offline world. If you create a great piece of content like a guide or recipe there’s a good chance people will share it with friends and family. It could be in social media, by email or even face-to-face.
So that’s how people discover your farm through blogging.
Now the next step is to create the right kind of blog posts.
1. Share Stories From The Farm
Photo: Powerhouse Museum
People buy products, but they buy from people. We are programmed to connect with others. When you share stories of your farm like how it was started and what it has gone through up to this point you’re letting people get to know you and that’s important for any business especially for a local farm looking to connect with customers.
2. Detail How It’s Made
People like stories about your farm, but they also like stories about how things are made. There is a lot of confusion in the food industry lately. It’s hard to really know where you food comes from and it scares a lot of people. Many would be willing to be a customer for life if you can show them how you grow your produce and how you treat your livestock.
3. Put Together Shopping Lists
Photo: urbanbohemian
People are looking for any convenience they can get in life. We generally want to make our lives easier and better. You have knowledge of working with food all the time so you probably have some good ideas for ways people can shop better to create healthy and delicious meals for their families. Create a suggested shopping list and make it easy for your customers to shop.
You’re providing value and when you do that you earn trust, which leads to purchases.
4. Create Recipes
Along with shopping lists you can also provide recipes. Farmers are known to be great cooks and people love a home cooked meal from the farm. Show your customers how to use the veggies and meats they purchase from you so they keep coming back for more.
5. Recap Events
Farms often have events like hosting a school field trip or having an annual pig roast. If you have events at your farm take plenty of photos and recap the event on your farm blog. It’s another way to let people see the people behind the brand.
6. Highlight Complementary People and Businesses
One way to get access to other audiences is to write about other people. You can write a post about the ten best food bloggers in your area. When you write about people they often will be thankful and will share the feature with their audience. It’s recognition for them and exposure to a new audience for you.
7. Answer Common Questions
Perhaps the best way to create a blog post is to answer common questions your customers have. SEO traffic often comes from answering common questions. Think about what your customers have asked you in person and turn your answer into a blog post. You can bet if one person is asking that others are searching for the answer online.
8. Provide Understanding of Current Farm-Related News
There is a lot of news out there, but what isn’t always available is a point of view about the news. People can get the news from their preferred sources, but they also want to know how they should react.
For example, if a news report comes out unpasteurized milk, people will look to an expert for an opinion. As a farmer, you can highlight the news story and provide that opinion.
9. Do Something A Little Crazy
Photo: Nick Knouse
Again, growing your website and your farm is about getting exposure to new audiences. That means you might have to do something worth talking about.
I remember as a kid going to town to see the donkey basketball tournament. A local farm sponsored the event and even though I don’t remember it now I remember the farm was very visible to everyone that attended.
Doing something like donkey basketball or having chickens play football in something like the Puppy Bowl can be fun and it makes people talk.
It’s exposure for your farm.
10. Provide How-To Guides for Customers
Most business owners don’t realize the knowledge they possess that other people want. We already talked about how you likely know a few great recipes, but there is likely even more you could share with your target audience.
You could create something like a how-to create your own backyard flower garden is something you could provide that would be valuable to your audience even though it might be basic knowledge to you.
Conclusion
People want fresh produce and fresh meats. They want to know the source and they want to support their local community.
The same demand occurs in the online world. People want fresh content from trusted sources.
With a farming blog on your website you can provide fresh content that keeps your website up-to-date and always a source of new customers.
