Volunteering at the 2017 Sioux Empire Farm Show

For the third year in a row, I had the opportunity to help the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce by volunteering at the swine competition during the Sioux Empire Farm Show at the fairgrounds. Coming from a farm, I’m no stranger to livestock, but growing up, we did not raise or show them. The closest I ever got was in high school, earning a little spending money doing occasional chores for area farmers. Showing livestock competitively is a whole new world to me, and I enjoy seeing the hard work and dedication that the kids put into these competitions.

Despite the winter storm, we had a great turnout again this year. Congratulations to all those who participated in the event and thank you to those involved who make it all happen behind the scenes.

 

[caption id="attachment_2286" align="aligncenter" width="750"] After a very smooth swine show. We're wrapping up for the day with showmanship competitions.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2287" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Our judge stands at the end of the show rink during the senior showmanship competition to have participants drive their pigs towards him.[/caption]

 

Originally Published Here: Volunteering at the 2017 Sioux Empire Farm Show

Website Design: Does Your Site Pass These Three Critical Tests?

Your website is so much more than just an address and a placeholder on the web—or at least, it should be. For the online visitor, it’s your storefront, your image, your first impression.

How do you determine whether your site is “good” or not?

When looking at your existing website, or designing a new website, here are three quick questions to ask. Does it look professional and inviting? Does it load quickly? Can a first-timer find what they’re looking for fast?

Look sharp

Our average attention span is now eight seconds. That’s how long your site has to make that first impression. So…does your website immediately come across as credible, trustworthy, professional, approachable and solid—like a friendly, yet firm, handshake? Does it make your visitors feel welcome?

Making that favorable first impression is the responsibility of the web designer. But even an attractive design doesn’t guarantee your site will accomplish the goal of attracting and retaining visitors.

Website speed is no longer optional

A snazzy website design is worthless if it doesn’t load … and load quickly. The eight-second rule no longer applies here. Research by Doubleclick (Google) says that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load. In fact, with Google's new mobile-first index, sites with slower load times are penalized in organic search rankings.

The fact is, bells and whistles can be a distraction—especially in the world of agribusiness. Make sure that flashy animation and video are necessary to communicate key points about your ag products or services. If so, then run with it. Just be sure to employ development techniques that don’t harm the performance of your website.

Navigation is key

Think of website navigation as a street map. Your site visitor wants to know where to go next … and it should be obvious. There are some great tools out there today that allow you to gather data on how customers interact with your website navigation and content. This allows you to visually see what they are doing, and make changes to your site to optimize every page. Here are just a few things to keep in mind when looking at your site's navigation:

• Keep navigation simple. It should be very easy for the reader to go from the general content on your home page to the more specific content on the rest of your site.
• Include links within your page copy. And make it clear where those links go.
• Ensure contact information or next actions are easily visible on all pages. This is often the key piece of information sought by visitors to your site.
• Add internal links within the text of your web pages. This allows readers to “jump” to more detailed info on other parts of your website.

Does your website fall short on one or more of these criteria for success? We can help.

Source Here: Website Design: Does Your Site Pass These Three Critical Tests?

4 Steps to Turn Website Visitors into Customers

The next generation of producers are beginning to be more involved in the decisions made on the farm. From checking commodities, product research and more, studies show they are more likely to utilize ag website information during their decision process than the past generations. More than just your company’s face on the web, your website holds the potential to be one of your most powerful marketing assets. To fulfill its promise, your website needs to be part of an overall content marketing strategy. Such a strategy may consist of multiple tactics to attract customers to your site, engage them with quality content and make you their trusted resource for the information they seek. The key, however, is that the tactics you choose all work together through a well-thought-out plan.

Step 1 – Draw them in

Of course, the best content in the world does you no good if it’s not seen. That’s why the first step—attracting visitors—may also be the most important. To do this, you first have to identify the audience you want to attract. Who do you want your content to speak to? By providing valuable information on topics they’re interested in, you’ll build a loyal audience.

Now, how do you attract visitors to your site to view your excellent content? Employ these traffic drivers:

• Google Display – target customers with visual ads that appear across the web in their areas of interest.
• Native Ads – target potential customers with ads that blend into the website they appear on—positioning your agribusiness as a trusted resource.
• Social Media Marketing – attract customers from the social media channels they are active on using detailed audience profiles.
• Retargeting – bring visitors back to your site by targeting them after they’ve left your page.
• Search Engine Optimization – help prospects and customers find you by having a technically fit website and optimized content—ensuring higher visibility on search engine rankings.
• Google Adwords – determine what keywords and geography are crucial for your agribusiness, and then make sure you get found when customers search Google.

Step 2 – Convert them

So now you have visitors who trust your site for the information they find there. That’s a big first step. Now you need to meet them. Make sure your site has multiple ways to capture leads. Use forms, call-to-action buttons, links or landing pages to gather key information from your visitors.

Step 3 – Close the deal

The personal touch is the key to nurturing those leads into customers. Use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program and other marketing tools to keep track of potential customers and your interactions with them.

Step 4 – Create brand evangelists

Finally, delight customers by continuing to engage with them and providing great service, so they essentially become promoters of your brand through their purchase habits and interactions with your business—and with others. Word-of-mouth referrals are better advertising than you can ever purchase.

 

Post Source Here: 4 Steps to Turn Website Visitors into Customers

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Company’s Ag Newsletter Content and Gain Readers

Have you ever wondered what happens when your cooperative or agribusiness' newsletter hits farmers’ mailboxes? In the perfect world, they read it cover to cover. More likely, they thumb through it looking for articles that interest them.

So what can you do to beef up your newsletter so farmers take the time to sit down and read it?  Following are a few helpful tips to increase your newsletter readership.

1. Talk to farmers about something that is important to them.

Focus on information that’s different or newsworthy. Be specific. Make it worthwhile.

Instead of this …	Try this…
“It’s time to think about spring applications …”	Include a list of the three applications that are especially important this year.
“Count on us for all of your energy needs …”	Talk about the financial advantages of fuel contracts or discounts
“We’re ready for your grain this harvest …”	Spell out specific steps your co-op is taking to get farmers’ trucks dumped and back to the field faster.

You get the idea. Remember, printing a newsletter is more than just an obligation you have to fulfill every few months. Rather, it’s an opportunity to communicate something of value to co-op patrons. Here's a list of topics that you can get some ideas from.

2. Include photos … especially photos of people.

When you pick up a newspaper or magazine, your eyes go right to the photos. Same is true with your newsletter. By including new and interesting photos, you draw readers in—increasing the chances they will read the accompanying article. Here are a few ways to make sure your photos get noticed.

• Include people, and identify them in a caption.
• If possible, show people in action rather than staged photos.
• Avoid using mobile phone photos, as they don’t typically have enough data to reproduce well in a printed newsletter. A simple pocket camera retailing for less than $100 will give you far better quality.

3. Use strong headlines.

Like photos, a good headline will draw people in to your story. Use this little exercise to help zero in on the best headline:

Write at least five headlines for your story. Anything goes.

Try a “how to” approach. Use numbers if possible. Be clever if appropriate.

Then walk away … and come back in 30 minutes.

More often than not, the best headline will jump out at you. If not, go back to the keyboard.

4. Mix it up

In today’s world of smart phones and tablets, people are accustomed to short, succinct messages. So if your newsletter looks like a newspaper—with column after column of words—you run the risk of having your content come across as a bunch of gray matter on the page.
Solution? Break up your content with different sorts of information.

• Use bulleted lists like this one. Skimmers are drawn to lists.
• Add infographics, which are visual interpretations of facts or statistics.
• Include sidebars or small, boxed items that provide important bits of information about events, incentives or special offers.

5. Ask your reader to do something.

In marketing terms, this is your “call to action.” At the very least, this can mean ending articles with “call now,” “visit our c-store” or “check with your agronomist.” And when you suggest those actions, include phone numbers or email addresses. Make it easy for the reader to contact your co-op.

In a broader sense, think of your entire newsletter as one big “call to action” … asking farmers to do more business with your cooperative. Make sure each issue of your newsletter demonstrates how your co-op adds value to farmers’ operations.

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Looking for help making your newsletter even better? Check out our e-book, 6 Best Practices in Agri-Marketing & Communication. You’ll find great info on page 6, “NEWSLETTERS: Sharing Your News … in a Format That Gets Noticed.”

Source Here: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Company’s Ag Newsletter Content and Gain Readers