Anyone else run an online business? I'm taking my farm from a farmers market and CSA based business to a members only virtual farmers market. I'm kind of new to e-commerce and was wondering what kind of tools you use to get your site noticed. Right now I have a mailing list, on sites like local harvest, agrilicious and do a lot of Facebook posting (FB drives me crazy though with who sees post).
Are you going to build your own website? We worked with a few different designers over the years on 2 separate businesses that relied heavily on the web. And, that's where I learned how valuable they are and how embarrassingly little I knew/know about the web. A good web designer, who knows exactly what your goals are, can answer your questions and build a site that can grow with you as you go. Can probably help you on how to stay sane working with FB too. Might find some good ideas with these folks. Nezinscot Farm - Cafe, Organic Food, Gluten Free Products Good luck...
Its similar to what a lot of super markets are doing with their home delivery options. You log into the store, pick what you want and they'll fill the order and deliver it. I'm working with other farmers and local producers and bringing their items to my online store. Its once a week delivery at specific drop off locations rather than door to door (I'm the only employee but I have a feeling I'll be hiring a few people this year if this takes off). I want to compete with the super markets and help the local family farmers. The website just launched, www.honestfoodclub.com but the online store doesn't open until Spring. I have items in the store to give people an idea of what will be available at different times during the year. There's still more vendors and products to be added but it's off to a great start. Once the season starts ill have pro photos taken of the crops and farm and have them uploaded to the website. We took the pics we're using now in October at the new farm location so there was nothing to photograph except the tractor, field and equipment.
I used 1&1 to build my own website. It's easy. At the time I was very "computer illiterate" and it turned out good. Have added and improved it over the years. One thing about it is you can log in at any time and make your own changes or additions without having to make a call to your designer and have to wait days for a fix/addition. You can also link all social media to your site using 1&1. It's cheap too. I've cut back on or eliminated most paper media advertising and saved a fortune. I also put a link to my web address on social media to get traffic to where there is more info .
