I have a new boarding and training business and I have posted cards at the feed stores and classified ads on websites but business is still slow. This is a poll to see where I should focus more marketing time. Thank you!
Please add in some details... like it had pretty pictures on it, it was closest to my house ect..
The owner of the barn we're currently at had been boarding at the same place we were before she got the place. She had quite a few friends (us included) who practically all migrated to her new facility when it opened because it had more pasture, was smaller, and our trainer was moving her horses there too. The trainer we initially had unfortuntely had a disagreement with the barn owner and left.
After that, we met our current instructor through our barn owner when she decided to board her horse there after semi-retiring from the big show world. She's fantastic.
Basically, it was all through word of mouth and various friendships. Us horse people form pretty tight-knit communities.
I found my current place on the web. I was looking for a different barn in a certain price range (under $450 for full board) that was also close by to where I live and work.
Do you have a website for your barn? Is it search engine optimized? (My fiance does this, thats how I know)
I searched the net. Ok, probably not the best way to find one, but it was just the first step. I looked at all the horse sites, scanned stable web sites, (very helpful for a first impression and if prices are listed it helps if you on a tight budget) and looked at tack shop bulletins.
I went online and searched for a while until I came up with about 3 barns that taught english riding, had a reasonable price, taught group lessons, and was within about 30 minutes of my house. Then I went and watched a lesson at each and picked the one I liked best!
I found my instructor/barn lady...etc though my camp. She was the head wrangler (we took care of the horses) when I was the assistant wrangler so we spent a lot of time together and then she decided that she liked me a bunch and offered to give me lessons for the summer and since she's an excellent teacher we kinda continued into the fall and we haven't stopped yet. =P
My mom found my instructor somehow magically a year ago, so I took a couple lessons with her. I just started up again with her, and I really like her. She's a lot nicer and more patient than the instructors I've had in the past.
I've been casually barn-shopping lately, and having an up-to-date website is a biggie for me. It's especially nice if they have current boarding/training/lesson rates listed. I hate making phone calls. On the flip side, outdated price information is worse than no information.
I also like to see photos (of course!) of the facility in all seasons. I like to see/read about what current riders at this barn are doing. Billy got 1st place at a schooling show? Suzzie passed her Level 1 Parelli test? Anne is rodeo queen? Joe is competing in the Olympics? Basically, "Are these people with similar interests who I want to be around with my horse?"
Craigslist is big right now too. I saw a local facility advertise a training special for new boarders on Craigslist. This barn was further away than I'd been searching, but after I saw their special (and link to their excellent website), I seriously considered moving my horse there (30 mins away!).
This probably won't help you or anything, but I found mine when he accidentally faxed my house instead of someone else's like he needed to. My dad looked it up, and ironically, we were looking for a new lesson barn at the time.
I found my first one in the phone book, and we would drive around and look at barns and go in at the point I was looking for another one.
You could post an ad on Craigslist seems to work well, too, like at least one other person on here has suggested. ^^
There are two stables nearby, and I have friends who learned to ride at both. I picked the one where I wanted to learn to ride based on their reputations and what I saw at the stables - one was great, one not great at all.
If you're looking to get customers, don't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. Perhaps give an introductory offer for the first lesson (who wouldn't pass up a discounted lesson?) to hook people in, or hold some sort of event that'll help make people aware your barn exists and is a possibility, e.g. if you've got a few horses and ponies available for lessons, hold a pony day where kids can come and have a little ride and learn something about the world of horses.
Look at your local advertising opportunities, and if you make a website, for goodness' sake make it a professional-looking one. As a consumer I am instantly turned off any product with a shoddily-made website.
Look at your local advertising opportunities, and if you make a website, for goodness' sake make it a professional-looking one. As a consumer I am instantly turned off any product with a shoddily-made website.
I couldn't agree more with that statement! I have passed over barns that I saw online just because of their website. I know getting a grand old website isn't cheap, but I would suggest at least exploring your options.
Things I like to see on websites are:
Pictures of the barn
Pictures of the turnout spaces
Pictures of other amenities (indoor arena, tack room, wash stall, outdoor arena(s), round pen, etc)
Prices of board/lessons/other services offered. (I don't like wasting my time if I see a really nice place online only to find out, through talking on the phone or going there, that they are out of my price range.
Pictures of horses (whether being ridden, out in the pasture, etc) That way I can see the conditions of the horses prior to going there.
If you wanted to, maybe even have a "Boarders" page. Where there are pictures of the horses and owners. Some people might feel more welcome if they see the names and faces of people already there (it kind of takes away from the "new kid on the block" type feel.
You could even put up upcoming events on their too.
Remember that the website is there to sell your services; it's not a blog for friends and family! For the style, go with clean lines and have a consistent layout, e.g. a side or topbar with links rather than each page being some FrontPage mashup. Keep grammar, spelling and punctuation good. Take decent photographs that show you know what you're doing and the good things customers can get for coming to you.
While I agree that it shouldn't be a blog for friends or family, its always nice to know what kind of environment you are going to be in. Strictly business vs. more family style.
I've been to both kind of barns and I much prefer the family feel than business. JMO though.
I agree that it should be easy to navigate both to and from pages.
My fiance does make websites for a competitive price too, in case you're interested (he also specializes in Search engine optimization if you're interested)
I found mine by word of mouth. My mother had a friend who was a judge, and she reccomended my instructor. I've been with this instructor ever since, she's great!
I have to agree that a professional looking website is a HUGE factor if you have a boarding barn. Basically you should look seriously into having it done professionally. Many businesses will offer solutions for you if you want to update it yourself etc. My parents run a web design business (Mum designs, Dad builds) and this is one of the things that they do. They made a website for my instructor with an updates box that she can do herself, profiles on each horse and other pages that suited the barn which was a VERY family/kid-oriented place. On other websites they are completely user-friendly and allow the client to update each page by themselves.
I found my trainer(instructor) at the county fair two years ago. I was having issues and he just came up and started giving me advice that worked pretty much instantly. xD He gave me lessons in the evenings during fair week and I started going to his house and getting regular lessons.
I'm currently boarding (sort of. Two horses in training with my trainer and he uses this barn's facilities during the winter. So, I heard about this place from him and I really like it. (Double K Farm for any of you Michigan people looking for places to board! In Blissfield lol)
My mom called the vets and asked for the numbers of the local barns, there were 3 and only 1 was looking to hire. I didnt want any thing to do with it cause I knew I would start to want a horse. But ofcourse I couldnt stay away then started to work there, lessons, and begun to wine "I waaaant a hoooorse" until I got Gypsy.
LKSDFLKJ *kills forum* It refreshed or something. D:
Anyways, retyping.
First I went to summer camp at a barn run by a state park. Probably found out through the newspaper or a brochure or something.
Then I went to a therapeutic riding barn for handicapped people, and volunteered there for two years. I was able to take lessons on the side at this barn. Found out about this through mom's ex-boyfriend.
Then I went back to the summer camp place and took actual lessons there for a while.
I then went to visit a barn associated with the therapy barn and really liked it there, so I rode there for a while too.
After that, I went to help train my mom's ex's friend's 3yo mare, and she wanted to take her to a trainer that she knew, so I went there with her. That's how I found Lynda. I stayed there for about a year, and that's also where I got my horse Beau.
I got sick of Lynda being ... grouchy all the time I gues, so I looked for other barns on the internet, and on a barn listings website linked from a tack store, found one I liked, went out to look at it, loved it, and moved my horse there. I haven't regretted moving there since, and my current trainer works VERY well with my horse, as Lynda worked on me more than my horse (who was very green when I got him)
I found my current barn by searching on the internet. There are only 2 I could find that did English riding at all. One of the 2 was almost 2 hours away. I am glad that I really like the one I ended up with since I did not really have much choice. Before the internet, I would look in the phone book and go by word of mouth.
A website is a must with current updates. Nothing says unprofessional to me as a website that is still talking about events scheduled to happen two years ago. Also ads at the local feed and tack stores in your area. Also, talk to the people at the tack stores. The lady at the tack store was who I would ask if I was looking for someone who did such and such.
The background made it hard to read some of the stuff. I personally dont like how much black is on the side of it.
There were a few times that the text was overlapping.
I clicked on the boarding and could barely read it. (because of all the overlapping)
On the boarding page I would rather see pictures of the barn than a horse grazing. Nevermind saw them on the facility page.
I would suggest taking pictures that didn't have Christmas decorations up. And maybe have a forward, reverse, or play/pause buttons, so someone could go through the pictures at the pace they wanted.
Overall its a nice site, with just a few things changed, i think it would look even better (but i'm a bit of a picky person)
I found my most recent coach at a show, she was riding a basket case of a stallion that was trying his best to not do anything but leap around and she was really quiet with him and just got him working without resorting to beating the crap out of him or getting mad.
My new coach I decided to ride with because of all the great things I had heard, and I went and watched a clinic of hers and really liked it. I also love the way she rides, and the fact that she has ridden at the Olympics. She's turned out to be fabulous and I've learned a lot! Again she is really sympathetic to the horses and never uses un-due force.
I looked at the site on a 19" wide screen at home. At the office, I have a 19" screen and the form page is not overlapping. I'm also using Google Chrome at the office and Firefox at home. I'm not sure how it works for IE
It could just be the different screen resolutions, and I believe with that you need to redo the whole thing. I'm not sure, only going off memory when my fiance had to fix a website.
There is a local recreation magazine that we get monthly, and in it, there was an ad for horse riding lessons. We found out that it was only five minutes away, and signed up! Now, I am proud to say that I have been riding there for about three years, and it is a lovely barn with fantastic people and horses! A year or two ago, they made a web page for the barn as well.
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Horse Forum
3.4M posts
92.6K members
Since 2006
A forum community dedicated to horse owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, grooming, reviews, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!