Breeder Website Pet Peeves

[Daventry]

I'm hoping I don't get flamed for this, but...

I cannot stand going to a website to look at foals for sale and being bombarded by religious quotes from the bible throughout the owners website. If I want to read the bible, I will do it in the comfort of my own home! What if I was Jewish or Athiest or Buddist? When I venture to a breeder website like that, no matter how much I like the foal...or whatever sales horse I'm looking at, I leave! Maybe that breeder would not have been interested in selling to me anyways, but really, what's the deal? :confused: I don't feel the need to push my religious believes on someone else and wish others would respect "To each their own". :mad:

I'm getting off of my soap box now with my flame retardant suit ready to go! :D

[hansiska]

I have to agree.

While we're on the subject, can people share what they like to see (or more of what they don't want to see!) on a breeder's website? I'm in the process of revamping mine, so this is a timely subject for me.

[TouchstoneAcres]

I fond it a bit of a distraction and prefer to focus on the horses. Such quotes do nothing to persuade me of the horses' quality. In fact, I wonder if it's a cover for dishonesty, playing in good people's beliefs. So overall I think it's detrimental.

[RedMare01]

I would agree with the religion thing too.

Also do not like finding a foal/horse for sale on one of the listing sites like Dreamhorse and in the description it says, "See our website!" and then when you go to the website it hasn't been updated in forever and that foal/horse isn't there. I've found a few like that recently.

As far as what I like in a website: easily navigated, lots of info (not just on the foal but also on the parents...if you own the dam, link her info to the page), (good!) pictures, preferably videos. If there are videos on You Tube, link to them from your site, don't say, "Search for such-and-such farm on You Tube for a video!" It's sometimes a pain in the butt finding exact videos on You Tube...much easier to just have the link there.

Caitlin

[Daventry]

In fact, I wonder if it's a cover for dishonesty, playing in good people's beliefs. So overall I think it's detrimental.

I never thought of it that way. From my perspective, I just always assumed the people were likely hard to deal with...meaning, if they were that super religious, I assume I would have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to purchase their horse or have to be the "perfect" owner, so have always steered clear.




If there are videos on You Tube, link to them from your site, don't say, "Search for such-and-such farm on You Tube for a video!" It



Oh, I hate that too! :yes:

[acottongim]

I have a question for you... How much written info? In other words, would you rather a more photo intensive site or more written info with photos and video to accompany it all? There are times I feel too wordy, and other times I wonder if I'm not wordy enough?

[RedMare01]

I don't think there is such a thing as too much info...if you have it, put it on the page! JMO, of course, but I love reading about siblings or relatives or anything else related to a foal I'm interested in.

Caitlin

[Sugarbrook]

I agree, but along those lines comes the websites with that terrible distracting MUSIC. I turn the music off first and then try to look at the site.

[CBoylen]

Endless pictures of horses running in the field with their heads and their tails up. Hideous, and tells you nothing about the horses.

[horsetales]

I hope more chime in with likes and dislikes. Mr HT always teases me as I am often "tweaking" our site. I am anal about keeping it current and try to make it professional and well received. I have tried to avoid all of those things that annoyed me on other sites.

[acottongim]

I agree, but along those lines comes the websites with that terrible distracting MUSIC. I turn the music off first and then try to look at the site.

Not to mention how much it slows a page downloading... I have been known to just move on.

The other BIG pet peeve for me is the pop up ads. Go Daddy is $47 for a YEAR people... and no pop ups. If you are selling what you breed IMO it behooves you to spring for a hosting site instead of a free site that bombards the viewer with ads/pop ups etc. They are another one that I just pass over.

[paintjumper]

I SO hate that. In this day, with prices all over the place and scenarios all over the place........who knows what the price is unless it is on the website. If there is no prices, I look no further. That is like going shopping for clothes and there being no prices on the clothes.....what, we are supposed to guess??? I also hate it when you speak to someone and instead of pricing the horse outright, they play this game of what do you think she is worth and how much do you want to spend.....if it's your horse, put a price on it if it is for sale.

I'm getting down now:)

[Reiter]

Would you guys mind looking at my site and telling me if you can find my 2 year olds (2007 foals)?
I do the website myself and am no pro at it. I've had several people tell me they had problems, so I wonder if I need to change the way I have things set up? TIA

http://www.posemucklfarm.com/index.html

[Albion]

Would you guys mind looking at my site and telling me if you can find my 2 year olds (2007 foals)?
I do the website myself and am no pro at it. I've had several people tell me they had problems, so I wonder if I need to change the way I have things set up? TIA

http://www.posemucklfarm.com/index.html

I had no problem finding 2007 foals, but FYI it appears your photos are covering up text (for me - I'm on a Mac, checked with Safari & Firefox). There are also text/photo overlap problems under your 'training' page.

Two pet peeves: lack of proofreading & wonky photographs. A lot of websites have pictures of what I assume are at least somewhat attractive horses, but the photographs are so distorted it's impossible to tell. And proofreading doesn't take that long, takes very little expertise and goes a long way to making a website look more professional!

[Reiter]

Thank you! No one has mentioned the photo problems before and it doesn't show up for me, so I guess I will have a pro look at it after all! Thanks for pointing it out! Maybe someone not with a Mac can tell me if they see the same problem?

Was the "wonky picture"/proof reading comment also for me or general?

[Jumper Breeder]

I use a MAC as well and I've noticed that a lot of the "do it yourself" websites have the formating issues. Everyone that does their own websites should be checking it in different browsers for compatibility.

I am one that does NOT like music either. I have seen some websites with music tastefully done, but it can be distracting!

[f4leggin]

My biggest peeve is out of date information - and I suffer greatly from that. My website is so out of date. But then I don't sell off my website these days and don't expect anyone to look at it unless I give them a specific link to information.

Can't stand site where you have to scroll down pages for something - would much prefer links to seperate horses.

As for religious comments - not sure what to say. I don't happen to have any, but I have a strong faith and my friends might even describe me as super religious. And, I can promise you that my faith and strong moral fiber makes me a better business woman. But that's just my opinion.

Jill

[Tamara in TN]

I don't feel the need to push my religious believes on someone else and wish others would respect "To each their own". :mad:

I'm getting off of my soap box now with my flame retardant suit ready to go! :D

what annoys me far worse is endless quotes from long dead "masters" and looking at the horses you are certain that the people don't "practice what they preach" as they are totally skillless

ie : "I have time " and you are jumping 3 yo over 5 foot fences ;)

add stupid music
add dancing graphics
add 2,000 pics of dead equine relatives
add breed standards you don't follow
add 10,000 words about the horse that has NEVER done anything but stand in a field
and top it off with "great prospect but we have no time for him"

Tamara in TN

[bluehof]

The religious thing would definitely get to me too. Also on my pet peeves is people that name there place "such and such FARMS". Do you have multiple farms? It is not plural...just "such and such FARM". Where did that come from?

Other things I don't like are bad pictures, no prices, poorly written text/ grammar errors, music (it is always terrible), no contact information, no links to sites that are referenced, too much background graphics (like stars, stipes, twinkling things, etc) that are distracting, and bad video. What do I care to see a herd of 2 year olds running around in a field, shakey video, or a horse tearing around in an arena? Oh, I forgot showing a photo of horse standing as if to be a conformation shot but it has on tack and/or leg wraps. If you want to add cute pictures (I like to look at those too) then have a page titled "around the farm" or "just for fun".

I really like when people describe lineages, have multiple good photos, good video, nice simple layout with easy to read menus.

Here are some links to sites I really like:
http://www.rollingstonefarm.com/about.shtml

http://www.leatherdalefarms.com/about.shtml

http://www.homeagainfarm.com/pages/latest.html

[Daventry]

Also on my pet peeves is people that name there place "such and such FARMS". Do you have multiple farms? It is not plural...just "such and such FARM". Where did that come from?



Ours is called Daventry Farms. We did it for two reasons. One, Daventry Farms Limited sounds better than Daventry Farm Limited. Also, we used to raise and show llamas for many years...so, in essence, had two separate sides to the business...hence using the plural.

"Farms" is normally the correct term for a vineyard or orchard...as it means a piece of land used for cultivating crops. Normally "Farm" is used if the land is for livestock. But, some of us use it because it happens to just sound better than the alternative. I can live with people having that pet peeve. :lol:

[Kaluna]

I am with the OP. I would find that distracting. I also find music and endless pictures of horses running in fields very distracting. A few pictures are nice but even a mule can look majestic running through a field of flowers. I also find conformation pictures presented with a huge tilt or posed on a hill to make the horse look uphill, or overgrown front feet to make the horse look uphill distracting and dishonest. I figure that these people have something to hide and I think twice about them.

I want to see real conformation pictures on level ground. I want to see pedigree information, stallion breed approvals and scores. I want to see pictures and information on youngsters. I do not knock down a stallion who has offspring that have not gone to major breed shows because not everyone can afford that. A quality foal is a quality foal, and not all great mares are owned by wealthy people who show. I DO NOT want to see clearly photoshopped pictures. I saw a picture once of a stallion's offspring where the dog chasing the foal was badly photoshopped out. Show me that hind end without a dog nipping at their feet. I want to see links to videos. I'd rather see long stretches of an unedited video of the horse than a highly edited video where it is clear that the owner picked and chose the parts they want to present.

Those are my preferences and the ones I like to adhere to.

[Daventry]

Two pet peeves: lack of proofreading & wonky photographs. A lot of websites have pictures of what I assume are at least somewhat attractive horses, but the photographs are so distorted it's impossible to tell.


That's what happens when you use an HTML Page Editor to create a website...and why it can be so important to hire a professional web designer to create your website. Sometimes, it can make or break your business! There are many of us out there who don't charge through the nose or make you take out a small bank loan to help pay for the site! ;)

Daventry Web Productions
www.daventrywebproductions.com (http://www.daventrywebproductions.com)

[Brutust]

...While we're on the subject, can people share what they like to see (or more of what they don't want to see!) on a breeder's website?...

I'd like to get basic information on the horses that are bred and raised (price range, month and year of birth, current height or expected at maturity, breed, whether it is registered and branded, three-generation pedigree (essays on ancestors are not required since most clients will do their own research), whether the dam has produced performance horses, scores earned by the dam and youngster at inspection if available). Updated pictures are a must: conformation, at trot and free jumping (only if the horse is old enough: two-year-old and up should do). Conformation pictures of the dam as well as those of the concerned youngster's full or half siblings would be informative. You can usually get thorough information on the sire by other means. Videos are nice too if affordable: hand-walked and trotted by hand (side, front and rear view like they do with racehorses), canter and jumping at liberty or ridden. If the person is still interested he/she will contact the owner and get answers to other queries. This is only my suggestion. I really prefer sites that are short and precise, easy to read.

[EqTrainer]

Endless pictures of horses running in the field with their heads and their tails up. Hideous, and tells you nothing about the horses.

:lol::yes:

I would add that I don't want to hear music and I want links to any videos, don't send me on a wild goose chase.. and put the price right there where I can see it.

[Movin Artfully]

MUSIC!!!! :o

[Chaila]

Include the price. I would NEVER "Call for price" regardless of how much $$ I had to spend, or how much I liked the horse. I just assume the horse is overpriced if they don't want to list it.

If the horse is under saddle include pics of him being ridden.

No grainy cellphone videos. If you're going to have a video up make sure it's of decent quality and that the link works.

[dressagetraks]

Agree on endless quotes, but not just religious. I've seen lengthy quotes from other things, too. I am religious myself and have always liked the little fish emblem in a corner. It's not stand up and slap in the face offensive, just there if you care to notice it, and if not, ignore it, and that's fine, too. But yes, a horse farm site should primarily be about horses. I really think the only lengthy quotes I've ever appreciated on an equine farm site are the comments by inspectors at the stallion's inspection. THOSE are relevant.

Other pet peeves:

1. Not updated in years. Or site updated but not pictures. If the horse is now 4 years old, and you say he's going well under saddle, don't have the most recent pictures being from his yearling year.
2. LONG videos. Due to the download speeds, I'd rather have ten 1-minute videos than one 10-minute video. I like the ones on Sempatico's site which are broken into walk, trot, in-hand trot, etc. You can get a snippet of everything. If you want extended footage after seeing the mini clips, you can order that, but the preview mini clips give you an idea if you want to look further. I've also seen people offer different lengths of video clearly stating the length and size of download up front. That's fine; variety for those of different internet speed connections.
3. No prices or hidden prices. Not just for sales horses but for stud fees. I'm amazed how many stallion sites make you go fishing to find the stud fee.
4. Bad grammar and spelling errors.
5. Pages that are more than one monitor-width long, so you have to scroll back and forth at each line to read. This might be one of the mentioned things that is different on some browsers than others.
6. Music. I'll pick my own; our tastes often don't match.
7. Agree on many organized and sublinked pages being better than one page that extends forever.
8. I also love the cutsie farm shots, but yes, use them on their own "informal" page.

[ne1]

when a seller works within a network of trainers and other horse professionals the issue of commissions arises. that is a whole separate conversation and i'm sure there are threads on it. but it is not infrequent that several professionals will work to identify the correct animal for a client, and when that client is happy and the vetting done and the horse is purchased, then those professionals (typically anywhere between 1-3 individuals) need to be paid.

personally, coming fom the uk where the entire premise of being a trainer is different than it is here - trainers buy, sell, own and show their own horses for profit much more than taking commisions - i am not a fan of this american system of commissions. (it is not dissimilar to the tipping system in this country being different to other places.... taxis, restaurants etc). that being said, i am here and i am a part of it, and so whatever i choose to publish on a website - mine is dreadfully out of date and the new, reworked one is stalled because i can't find time to get to the web designer guy - must avoid causing problems in these areas.

so all you bleating about pricing please feel free to pass over my site along with the hundreds of others which offer quality animals but within the idiosyncratic pricing system that exists here. there are plenty of folks who do understand how it works here, and who call nonetheless.

it is stunning; the bold, uninformed opinions that get spouted on here sometimes.

[siegi b.]

I kind of agree with ne1 as far as pricing goes.... My youngsters will be on my website and most likely on the For Sale page, too, but I haven't really had any problems selling them without listing prices. :)

Prices on youngsters are never firm - they fluctuate as the horse matures and depending on how (s)he grows up. So no, I will not give you prices on foals/yearlings unless you contact me. And i make that easy enough...

Just my opinion...

[Joie]

Too funny on the religious thing! And I have to say, the very worst ever horse deal gone bad, terror from hell of a client I have ever had EVER has "May GOD bless you, and" blah blah blah on her website. It's also written on her business cards. I have never met a more dishonest, disgusting person in my life.

She has told some doozies in the past few months, ranging from bad car accident, brain tumor, esophogeal cancer, pregnancy and miscarriage, husband lost job, husband is crippled, and the newest....house burned to the ground.

And those are just the "health related" lies. Needless to say, I don't trust anyone who feels the needs to convince you they should be trusted by playing the God card.

[Kaluna]

so all you bleating about pricing please feel free to pass over my site along with the hundreds of others which offer quality animals but within the idiosyncratic pricing system that exists here. there are plenty of folks who do understand how it works here, and who call nonetheless.

it is stunning; the bold, uninformed opinions that get spouted on here sometimes.

I love you nick. Oh, and I have deleted all of your condescending private emails without reading. Don't send anymore. I'm not opening them.

"Bleating" infers sheep, or witless and stupid followers when sheep characteristics apply to humans. So people who prefer to see current prices are witless and stupid followers and are likened to sheep? Yea, I will refer clients to you because of your wonderful customer service and attitude towards people who are not you.

Many big, medium and small breeders put prices or price ranges on their websites. They don't seem to have a problem. What's your problem?

It is also stunning, the bold and uninformed breeders who feel that potential clients are unimportant because they prefer to see a price on potential horses. i like your horses, Nick, btw. I like Seigi's, too. Good to know you have clients who don't care if a price is not publically available.

Someone asked what buyers prefer to see on a website. Only an arrogant A$$ would put people down for responding truthfully. Just don't post if you have nothing but negative and condescending things to say to people. People aren't responding to what YOU want, they are responding to a larger question.:rolleyes:

[ahf]

it is stunning; the bold, uninformed opinions that get spouted on here sometimes.

Assuming you are talking about the folks that have stated they want prices.....

The only thing that is "stunning" is your offensive opinion that you know it all.

THey are PLENTY of informed people that have a thing for posted prices. I'm one of them. I'm not going to be held up by two trainers that each want a check for $2500 each for making a phone call.

I post my prices and I make it clear to anyone that inquires that there is one commission that will be paid. Stacking commissions may be "the way that it's done" but it doesn't mean I'm going to be party to that. It's unethical and unless it's disclosed in the Commonwealth of Virginia it's also illegal.

And what do you know - in my "bold and uninformed" world, my horses sell without stacking.

[ne1]

kaluna, i have no idea who you are nor what's in the emails you refer to, and evidently nor do you.

the put-down has consistently been against those without prices. my point is that there seems extemsive ignorance as to exactly why, in this great coutry's horse market, that may be the case. i am aware of some folks who publish prices, and i am also aware of sales which have not happened as a result.

it isn't about responding to what i want. it is about how the market here functions. and yes, a lack of that knowledge, leading to the repeated putting down of sellers who do not publish prices, is ignorance.

go dig out those emails. perhaps they'll have something useful in them to help you, who knows.

[Daventry]

but it is not infrequent that several professionals will work to identify the correct animal for a client, and when that client is happy and the vetting done and the horse is purchased, then those professionals (typically anywhere between 1-3 individuals) need to be paid.



It's called double dipping and it's illegal!


it is stunning; the bold, uninformed opinions that get spouted on here sometimes.

People are simply posting their website pet peeves...not trying to tar and feather anyone. Oy vei! Chillax! ;)

[Taybee]

I looked at a lot of breeder's websites while shopping over the summer and my top pet peeves were:

1. Music - It's unnecessary and is unlikely to match many peoples tastes, plus it slows down the loading times.
2. Spelling/Grammar Errors - A lack of proofreading doesn't jibe with a high quality breeding program. One typo can be overlooked but when there are multiple mistakes it really reflects poorly on the professionalism of the breeder.
3. Out of Date Pictures - When the horse is over two years old, there's no reason that there are only pictures of it as a weanling. Pictures don't have to be updated constantly, but I do like to see some taken within the last couple of months.
4. Bad Quality Videos/Pictures - Pictures should be good of quality, taken in good lighting and match what the text describes. A nicely set-up confo shot is a requirement and shots showing the horse's form under saddle or jumping (if appropriate) but I have no use for endless shots of the horse in the pasture. The same goes for videos...make sure the background is clear and uncluttered and that the camera work is steady so that you see clearly what is being demonstrated. Also, as others have said, I like to see them linked directly.
5. Price - I understand that prices of young horses are constantly changing due to advances in training but I appreciate it if the site has at least a price range (i.e. under $10k, $10-$20k, etc.) so that I know whether I'm completely out of my league.

[Kaluna]

kaluna, i have no idea who you are nor what's in the emails you refer to, and evidently nor do you.

go dig out those emails. perhaps they'll have something useful in them to help you, who knows.


Evidently, I am aware of the content of these emails which is why I brought them up. If you are not aware of what you sent then maybe you should save your emails or consider them more before you send them.

There wasn't anything useful in them, just the condescending sort of information you are posting here. I sense a trend. A shame, because you have a good breeding program but you seem like a difficult person to do business with.

[Chaila]

I have been kind of put off by the religious stuff on some farm sites. I'm a big lefty Jewish Agnostic, married to a lapsed catholic with a very multi-culti approach to religion.

I've known some amazing and wonderful people who are born again who wouldn't think anything of putting religious stuff on any website they had whether they were selling doilies or horses. My former nanny was a pretty hardcore Christian and she took amazing loving care of my kids and house. If she sold horses, I'd buy one from her even if she had some bible versus on her site.

Keep an open mind.

[ne1]

It's called double dipping and it's illegal!


Nonsense, multiple parties earning a commission on a transaction has nothing to do with double dipping. Again, I'm not a fan of the system, I just live here.

[ne1]

...you have a good breeding program but you seem like a difficult person to do business with.

feel free to pm me for current & previous boarding, training and sales customer references. :)

[CBoylen]

I think you can, for the most part, display prices without worrying about the effect on the commissions. As the seller, if you anticipate having to pay someone, or someone and a middleman, you need to factor that into your price up front, and list the total as the price of the horse. That way you are covered. The buyer should be able to figure out if they need to factor in commissions on their side to add to your price. If you're dealing with the buyer's trainer they will give the price to their client as your price plus their price anyway. On a very special horse where you might want to leave yourself some room for negotiations, but I think in most cases you can go ahead and list a price without being fearful of killing a deal.

[RedMare01]

I also agree with the spelling and grammar annoyances...I understand leaving out a letter every now and then or missing a period, but I also see names misspelled in pedigrees all the time! Specifically, Quaterback is QuaTERback NOT QuaRTERback. I've not bred to him, and I know that. If you have a foal by him please spell it the correct way.

Caitlin

[Melyni]

so all you bleating about pricing please feel free to pass over my site along with the hundreds of others which offer quality animals but within the idiosyncratic pricing system that exists here. there are plenty of folks who do understand how it works here, and who call nonetheless.

Okay, we will!
MW

[rcloisonne]

1. Numerous pics of the stallion (sire) and a single (maybe) token shot of the horse for sale. Gets confusing regarding exactly what they're selling.

2. Name of the horse for sale misspelled so it can't be looked up in the Datasource. Or when looked up, the color, DOB, or markings don't match the ad because it's the wrong horse!

3. Lack of a single good confo shot of the horse for sale, the sire or the dam. Too many artsy type pics. I looked at one site yesterday that was standing 3-4 stallions and every shot was of a stallion rearing! Oh yeah, that makes me want to buy a breeding or purchase one of his offspring. NOT!

4. Advertising the foals have all been Parelli-ized. Just another form of religious zealotry, IMO. As soon as I see something like that I close the page. Blech!

5. Assurances the horse for sale has great conFIRMation. The way I look at it is if you can't spell conFORmation correctly, you probably don't know what it is.

6. Same for describing the horse for sale as "out of" such and such stallion. One would hope a breeder would know foals don't come out of stallions. Apparently, some don't! :eek:

[vita_impavida]

****Donts****

Music - very distracting, and usually really annoying

Background graphics - again distracting! You want them to look at your horses, NOT the website background.

Moving pieces (dancing graphics) - they are just plain annoying, distracting, and slows everything down

****DO****
Pictures - as many of the horse as possible, family pictures (parents/ dam side siblings/ grandparents max) we dont give a hoot about his 6th gen sire blah blah.

Info - tell me about the horse, about siblings, everything you can think of even if people say it, there is no such thing as too much information :)

Post a price! - There is that saying, "if the price is not listed its more than I can afford." Haha, and more people know it than you think.



I would recommend individual pages. Have a page with a sales list, a very brief summery and photo of each horse. If someone is looking, theyll go to the individuals page. This cuts down on the loading time, and maximizes your ability to add info for each horse.

[tempichange]

I have to agree.

While we're on the subject, can people share what they like to see (or more of what they don't want to see!) on a breeder's website? I'm in the process of revamping mine, so this is a timely subject for me.\

Aside from the above mentioned:

When I went through registration through USEF, PHR and AHA I had to email the stallion owner for the registration numbers on the stallion. Include all important numbers and licenses in one place. I don't want to resort to google.

Downloadable contracts.

Current email address and phone number.

Include current video and results.

Include foals, what mares they're out of and what they're doing.

Easy to load, updated frequently.

[vita_impavida]

3. Lack of a single good confo shot of the horse for sale, the sire or the dam. Too many artsy type pics. I looked at one site yesterday that was standing 3-4 stallions and every shot was of a stallion rearing! Oh yeah, that makes me want to buy a breeding or purchase one of his offspring. NOT!


LOL!!!!!! :lol: So true! Thank you for the laugh!

[cmdrcltr]

Just because someone posts religious quotes on their website does not mean that they are pushing their religion on you or that they will be hard to deal with. Perhaps they are simply confident in standing behind their own beliefs. And I can't help but respect someone who is confident in their faith, regardless of what faith it is, so long as they aren't trying to push it on me.

I guess if I saw a nice prospect to buy or stallion to breed to a few quotes wouldn't stop me.

[IfWishesWereHorses]

I hate hate hate slow motion videos. And music. And religious slogans. And anything that makes my slow internet connection even slower!

[mlcoursin]

If there are videos on You Tube, link to them from your site, don't say, "Search for such-and-such farm on You Tube for a video!" It's sometimes a pain in the butt finding exact videos on You Tube...much easier to just have the link there.

Caitlin

Speaking for past experience on the youtube links, I have attached links to the ads and sent the link to numerous people and for some reason the link didn't work:confused:!!! Soooo with that said I will put in my account name or the key word to find the video if I'm having issues with the link.:yes:

[Equilibrium]

OK a little off topic, but having a hard time getting around the 3 people that are going to take money off of a horse YOU own. I can see a trainer that you are paying to get said horse doing something to make him/her saleable, but anyone else need get their comission from person who is buying the darn horse. Is that really the way it works? Remind me if I ever have a website to list my horses for sale with the prices in bold print so everyone knows they won't be getting comission off of me. And I though TB bloodstock agents were scum of the earth.

Sorry delt with that this summer with a bloodstock agent and a horse that belonged to a client and long time friend. At the end of the day the owner was getting next to nothing while bloodstock agent was going to get most of the money. He of course was going to line our pockets and that of the trainer and then said " and you can still get your bit from the owner." Not that honesty and integrity get you anywhere, but hubby told owner and he was happy to keep horse and still race. I will say to you though it's a slippery slope as when people don't get what they want, they start lying. Still, it's one of the reasons the game is in the toliet and maybe just maybe a little honesty might fix some of what's wrong.

Terri

[BohemianRN]

****Donts****

Music - very distracting, and usually really annoying

Background graphics - again distracting! You want them to look at your horses, NOT the website background.

Moving pieces (dancing graphics) - they are just plain annoying, distracting, and slows everything down

****DO****
Pictures - as many of the horse as possible, family pictures (parents/ dam side siblings/ grandparents max) we dont give a hoot about his 6th gen sire blah blah.

Info - tell me about the horse, about siblings, everything you can think of even if people say it, there is no such thing as too much information :)

Post a price! - There is that saying, "if the price is not listed its more than I can afford." Haha, and more people know it than you think.



I would recommend individual pages. Have a page with a sales list, a very brief summery and photo of each horse. If someone is looking, theyll go to the individuals page. This cuts down on the loading time, and maximizes your ability to add info for each horse.

I agree. As I am in the market for a horse, I have seen mostly horrible sites with a couple great ones. It is really discouraging when people are trying to sell horses 30,000 and above and cannot even display some decent pics of the horses performing. There are many performance horse breeders and I do not want to drive all over North and central cal if I can help it. Please show the horse doing what s/he does best. It helps if you put up what shows/trials they have been to and placings. This matters more to me that what registries they are approved for, et al. Also, I am tired of horses that are not suitable for anything other than eq or trail riding being listed as "sport horse prospect". Not fair to the horse or buyer.

[lauriep]

TBBuJust because someone posts religious quotes on their website does not mean that they are pushing their religion on you or that they will be hard to deal with. Perhaps they are simply confident in standing behind their own beliefs. And I can't help but respect someone who is confident in their faith, regardless of what faith it is, so long as they aren't trying to push it on me.

I guess if I saw a nice prospect to buy or stallion to breed to a few quotes wouldn't stop me.

It is totally a turn-o ff and I would not look at the site if it included this. I don 't care if they are confident in their faith. It doesn't belong, and I do see it as pushy.

[EquusMagnificus]

TBBu

It is totally a turn-o ff and I would not look at the site if it included this. I don 't care if they are confident in their faith. It doesn't belong, and I do see it as pushy.

To add...

I am an atheist, what would you think if I wrote quotes AGAINST religion on my website? Probably not a good idea, hum?

Not mentioning it remains the best way to mitigate feather ruffling.

[tidy rabbit]

I don't think there is such a thing as too much info...if you have it, put it on the page! JMO, of course, but I love reading about siblings or relatives or anything else related to a foal I'm interested in.

Caitlin

I like very moderate info on the horse. I don't want to have to sort through 2000 words of personal opinions about what a fantastic baby JR is. I want to know the stats of the foal and if I have more questions I'll ask. If I come across an add that has more than say a 200 character description, I typically don't bother to read it.

[camohn]

On the religion thing: a little fishy or other symbol is not really pertinent to a business site......but if that is all then I don't care either. I have not seen ones with a lot of religious overtones.....but if I did I would think it "unprofessional" (you never knowwhom you are going to make uncomfortable) so probably not a wise business move.
Music: soft background music is pretty safe, many sites do have lound and distracting tunes though. At worst though............turn off the volume.
Lack of prices: while not offensive, it probably won't HELP sales either. I am one of the many that move on if there is no price. It does not have to be specific...it can be a range........but I do want to know if I have a 10K budget that I am not looking at a 40K horse.
My real pet peeves are same as the others: outdated pics that have not been updated in 2 years, tons of pics at odd angles and cute head shots and playing in the field with buddies..........but not one decent confo shot. Long winded prose stating how much potential the horse has (though not about what the parents have done as show records......and when you go digging you find it was nada) which translates to "he has done nothing".
You CAN have too much video.Long clips take forever to upload, and it is then 90% of that is then playing in the field....especially if it is a mature horse or a stallion and not a baby. And I only want to see him going in circles in the roundpen for a short amount of time. I have gotten tons of videos where Horsie is shown going around a pen or ring endlessly. I WOULD prefer edited stuff there for the sake of downloading time. If I really like the horse send me a longer DVD. For online purposes.......I really do only want the highlights.

[camohn]

One not mentioned yet that I HAVE actually run across quite a bit: there is a website or an online ad for the horse, and the seller or stallion owner (in the case of stud services) will not answer emails. Some post it right on the ad or site you must call/they don't answer emails. Worse are the folks that hate computers/don't check their emails very often and don't even inform you of that fact. Or in a similar vein: have their SPAM settings so high that your messages get filtered out. Yeah, ads are annoying.....but not as annoying as PO'd customers whom you never return inquiries to.........
In this day and age: if you bother to have a website or list your horse for sale on line.... you should bother to answer emails.

[TouchstoneAcres]

Would you guys mind looking at my site and telling me if you can find my 2 year olds (2007 foals)?
I do the website myself and am no pro at it. I've had several people tell me they had problems, so I wonder if I need to change the way I have things set up? TIA

http://www.posemucklfarm.com/index.html

Reiter i think I understand. I found them by scrolling down the Foals page, but many wouldn't look on that page or scroll down so far. 2007 horses are not foals anymore. When I went to the sales page they weren't there. So I suggest that you put them on the for sale page too.

[can't re-]

Admittedly my website is a work in progress and I am debating switching hosting services, I do try to keep it updated. But since you asked:

-Music makes me crazy.
-The two most dishonest horse people I ever dealt with had on their home page how important honesty was to them. So that is a red flag to me now, can't help it.
-It makes me crazy when the dam is a TB, and no pedigree info is given but tons of info on the sire. It really makes me feel like the breeder doesn't value the mare, so why would I.
-And is it proper to add farm initials to a horse not bred by that farm???
-Pricing youngsters is tough, like Siegi said - the price is always changing as the babies grow up. I had one buyer angry when the price for a suckling wasn't the same as when she got back to me and he was a yearling....
-And finally, I have seen incredibly embellished show records.

[ljshorses]

This is a very good thread. I have had to do my own website and being a biologist as well as a farrier, well lets just say I have had a steep learning curve. And not only with the website but with trying to do as much of my own videography and photography myself as to save on expenses. In fact, I do many things to save on expenses such as my own vaccinations, worming farrier care and breeding (except frozen which I just don't feel confident enough yet). I also shop studfees meaning, stallions that I feel would cross well with my mares I approach the stallion owner and ask for discounts. I ask for a discount for Premium mares, performance mares etc.. and also early booking or paid in full discounts. You would be surprised how many stallion owners will work with you if you have a quality mare, show the offspring and include a bio of their stallion on your website. Now you may be asking, what does any of this have to do with the op question? Well it comes down to the price issue listed on websites. I feel if I can get that quality foal on the ground for less money than usual then I want to pass that savings onto my buyers so therefore I want to have that reduced price listed on my website. As long as I can make even a small profit in this economy to me a small one is better than none or worse losing money. So to me it is very important to list that price on my website as well as ads. At the very least, I feel there should be a range for a group of horses, i.e. all below horses are priced between $5,000 and $9,000 or such. I know personally I don't call about a horse to purchase or breed to if there isn't a price listed.

There are times when I do not list a price and that is usually ones I have that are for sale but are in training and depending on how they are doing the price can fluctuate. But these are ones that I really don't care if they sell at that time because they are in the middle of a training segment etc... Once they are consistent and are not going to change much in a year then at that point I will list a price on my website. This doesn't mean I won't sell that individual, but his price could change in just as little as a month so it's useless to try to list that because I may have to edit website so often and I think that changing a price that frequently might look worse than no price.

Due to doing my own website now, please feel free to critique mine. I would appreciate the good and the bad because I am the only one responsible. Getting a critique from fellow horse people is much more valuable than one from a non horsey person, lol. So please tear mine apart so that I may be able to make it better. www.lazyjsporthorses.com

[jdeboer01]

I can think of two things that I see all to often that are like "nails on a chalkboard".

1. 'Horse has great conFIRmation!'

:rolleyes: So, the horse has been admitted to full communion in the church? Or has the horse demonstrated a talent for establishing truth, accuracy, and validity?

2. 'This beautiful (colt,filly,mare, etc.) is OUT OF top stallion (insert name of stallion)!

I sure HOPE that baby didn't come out of the stallion.....

[Movin Artfully]

Two things I really like:

1. Conformation photos
2. Offspring photos of broodmares (how far does the apple fall?)

One thing that I would LOOOOVE to see...would be broodmare videos. How does the mare herself actually move?

[NJRider]

In addition to the other pet peeves I would like to add- LOSE the stupid photos of stuff like feeding your stallion a carrot from your mouth; artsy photos of barefoot women with long hair in sundresses hugging the horse's neck, etc....

[gasrgoose]

I looked at a lot of breeder's websites while shopping over the summer and my top pet peeves were:

Price - I understand that prices of young horses are constantly changing due to advances in training but I appreciate it if the site has at least a price range (i.e. under $10k, $10-$20k, etc.) so that I know whether I'm completely out of my league.

This is my number one dislike! List a price or at least a price range. If the horse is young and in training and the price changes UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE!!

I can currently view sites that have 5 year old large ponies listed with no price. I know that one is @ 15k and the other is a firm 60K. Neither site shows a video, a price or a date when the website was updated. both are very well known breeders. So how would someone shopping know this info, they have to call or email and the only thing they'll ask is for the price. This happens over & over, and I can list more examples. And then we regularly have breeders complain about phone calls and emails that waste their time. Or people just wanting a price.

List the price range and update your website regularly.

In my opinion the best Breeder/Farm sales page is Bill Schaub's at Over the Hill Farm. Though recently they have not been including price ranges, which I don't understand. But when they did have price ranges listed it was very easy to navigate and quickly decide if they had a pony we wanted. Of course everything he has is really expensive for the quality, but his website is very nice.

[hntrjmprpro45]

I think its important to make a distinction between how to advertise young horse vs. undersaddle horses. With foals/young horses (not yet ridden or shown), I like to see conformation photos of stallion, mare, and young horse. Video clips of AT LEAST the young horse, preferably both parents as well (these need to be as short as possible but still long enough to give a clear idea of how the animal moves).

However, for horses already going undersaddle and showing, I don't really care about seeing 5 million foal pictures, or reading a hundred lines about its pedigree. Once it is going undersaddle and showing, its performance should speak for itself. I would expect ACCURATE info on its show records, registration info, and good pics/video of performances. It cracks me up when I see a paragraph about how a horse is related to every olympic horse in history but the horse itself is an experienced short stirrup horse.

The only time I would want to see lots of pedigree info in a full grown, trained horse, is for breeding stock.

[Live2Jump]

If you're selling horses fine without posting prices, good for you - but it won't be to me. It is a total pet peeve. The same horse can be worth something quite different depending on the seller, and I don't feel like playing that game. There are plenty of very nice horses out there right now, and it is easier to just move on. If you have commissions to pay, fine, factor that in and post a price; if the horse is young or in training, at least give a range.

My other pet peeve is seeing a 2yo for sale with only foal pictures. I know they aren't always pretty during that time :lol: (so I don't expect a bunch), but it is nice to see something more current, how they are developing, etc.

My final one (that I see all the time, even on what look to be really nice sites) is showing 800 pictures of the sire, but having only one brief sentence about the dam coupled with one picture of her grazing, or a close-up headshot of her walking towards the camera. This is 50% of what has contributed to the foal, isn't that important too?

[BitterAJ]

My pet hates are music/sound effects, an obvious lack of updates, too many "candid" photos and not enough confo/performance shots, and loads of spelling/grammar errors. Also, writing in all caps, and too much text all piled together which both make things tough to read.

[ahf]

The only time I would want to see lots of pedigree info in a full grown, trained horse, is for breeding stock.

I understand where you are coming from - but when a breeder is marketing a 3 or 4yo mare that's in work and has also been to her studbook grading - you are going to have to wade through pedigree and inspection info in addition to information and video under saddle.

Because.... I don't know if the visitor to my site is only looking for a performance horse, or is looking for a broodmare, or is looking for a performance horse with a back-up broodmare career. So I need to provide information for all markets.

[LauraKY]

It's called double dipping and it's illegal!

I do believe that, legally, it's only double dipping when both the seller's agent (or seller) and the buyer's agent receive a commission and the agent is the same person or entity. In other words, the buyer's agent receives a commission from both seller and buyer. Can't represent the buyer adequately, if you are also representing the seller. Although it does happen frequently in real estate (have to sign a disclaimer that you are aware, as buyer, though).

[LauraKY]

OK a little off topic, but having a hard time getting around the 3 people that are going to take money off of a horse YOU own. I can see a trainer that you are paying to get said horse doing something to make him/her saleable, but anyone else need get their comission from person who is buying the darn horse. Is that really the way it works? Remind me if I ever have a website to list my horses for sale with the prices in bold print so everyone knows they won't be getting comission off of me. And I though TB bloodstock agents were scum of the earth.

Sorry delt with that this summer with a bloodstock agent and a horse that belonged to a client and long time friend. At the end of the day the owner was getting next to nothing while bloodstock agent was going to get most of the money. He of course was going to line our pockets and that of the trainer and then said " and you can still get your bit from the owner." Not that honesty and integrity get you anywhere, but hubby told owner and he was happy to keep horse and still race. I will say to you though it's a slippery slope as when people don't get what they want, they start lying. Still, it's one of the reasons the game is in the toliet and maybe just maybe a little honesty might fix some of what's wrong.

Terri

Sounds like you've had a very bad experience. We act as both buyer's agent and seller's agent. Commission is charged to person we are representing (never represent both at the same time, which is illegal, by the way). So for example, we might have a horse here on consignment board. Owner pays us for show prep, photos, web listings and video shoot, as well as paying for consignment board (regular board plus fitness work and extensive grooming). We charge 15% commission when horse sells. We do have an exclusive contract.

On the other hand, acting as buyer's agent, we locate, evaluate and negotiate for the buyer for 10% commission plus travel (if more than 50 miles) and per diem expenses if over night).

I believe that's the way most reputable agents work.

[pintopiaffe]

I haven't read past the first page of replies.

All I can say is that if you posted this about someone with quotes from the Torah, or the Koran or such, you'd be flamed for saying such things... :uhoh:

To claim that someone is going to be difficult to work with because of a religious preference... how is that difference than claiming they will be difficult to work with because of a culture or race?

Wow.

I have lost quite a bit of respect for some I formerly held as consummate professionals... :cry:

[Grataan]

Arrg! I hate it when you go to the website, click on stallions and it says something like "2006 stud fee $$$$$"

Um, HELLO?

[tidy rabbit]

....
and top it off with "great prospect but we have no time for him"

Tamara in TN
To quote a former trainer of mine who is VERY successful with the babies and young horses "If you don't have time you're in the wrong business."

Words to live by I say.

[RiddleMeThis]

I Hate It When On Websites Every Single Word Is Capitalized.

I hate music, and religious quotes, as I DO feel that is pushing your website on me. If I wanted to read the Koran, or the Bible, or anything else, I would do it on my own time. Incredibly unprofessional in my opinion.

I also hate when they don't list pedigrees on their websites, or when they list the sires name, but not the dams name.

I think my BIGGEST pet peeve is poor quality photos. It does NOT help me to see still photos taken from a video that are so blurred I can't tell where the ground stops, and the horses leg starts.

Things I love
-Pedigree listed AND put on AllBreedPediree, or at least just a link to AllBreed with their pedigree
-Good quality photos of their conformation, movement, and undersaddle photos if applicable
-Brief information about what the horse has done or if he hasn't done anything yet brief information about relatives

[ClassAction]

Poorly photoshopped pictures! If you can't cleanly crop out a horse from the background then either don't do it or have a professional do it. When I could do a better job in Adobe then something's wrong.

[cajunbelle]

Nothing worse than Enya music, while your watching sale horses on video..gag me.

I never could understand, why some sellers will price the same horse differently on various sale sites. One horse, one price, if you choose to lower or raise the price, change it on every site.....We are a savvy bunch/we notice.

For those of you.. who do not wish to list a price, don't be insulted when people waste your time.

I'm off my soapbox now...

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I want to see some indication of price. Not even a narrow range, necessarily. Just
$10,000 or less
$25,000 or less
and so on

I always assume that if I have to ask I can't afford it! Seriously. I really hate to waste my time and your time.

[Sonesta]

I do believe that, legally, it's only double dipping when both the seller's agent (or seller) and the buyer's agent receive a commission and the agent is the same person or entity. In other words, the buyer's agent receives a commission from both seller and buyer. Can't represent the buyer adequately, if you are also representing the seller. Although it does happen frequently in real estate (have to sign a disclaimer that you are aware, as buyer, though).

You are correct on the description of double-dipping, but there is an equally pervasive (and illegal) practice in the horse world known to us lawyers as a breach of fiduciary duty.

And it is THIS type trainer/agent that is being protected by folks who won't post prices.

In these instances, the offender contacts the seller, determines that the seller wants $x for the horse. The offender then contacts his principal (the buyer) and tells them the horse is priced at $x+ . If the buyer buys the horse at $x+, the offender then pockets the difference and usually ALSO gets a commission from buyer of a percentage based on the price of $x+

This is also known as "self-dealing" or making an undisclosed profit or making a deal not in the best interest of your principal. It is illegal. And it is very true that such agents/trainers will NOT buy from someone who lists prices on their website, because there is a real risk that the buyer might discover the truth.

It is also the reason that so many times when a buyer finds a horse themselves (instead of the trainer finding it for them) and then brings out their trainer to try the horse, the trainer almost invariably finds some reason that they should not buy this horse. After all, they didn't get to make enough money on the deal.

.

[Melyni]

You are correct on the description of double-dipping, but there is an equally pervasive (and illegal) practice in the horse world known to us lawyers as a breach of fiduciary duty.

And it is THIS type trainer/agent that is being protected by folks who won't post prices.

In these instances, the offender contacts the seller, determines that the seller wants $x for the horse. The offender then contacts his principal (the buyer) and tells them the horse is priced at $x+ . If the buyer buys the horse at $x+, the offender then pockets the difference and usually ALSO gets a commission from buyer of a percentage based on the price of $x+

This is also known as "self-dealing" or making an undisclosed profit or making a deal not in the best interest of your principal. It is illegal. And it is very true that such agents/trainers will NOT buy from someone who lists prices on their website, because there is a real risk that the buyer might discover the truth.

It is also the reason that so many times when a buyer finds a horse themselves (instead of the trainer finding it for them) and then brings out their trainer to try the horse, the trainer almost invariably finds some reason that they should not buy this horse. After all, they didn't get to make enough money on the deal.

.

on the same sale? Is that "stacking commissions". And sadly it is common, at least in the H/J world. I don't think it is as common in the dressage or event worlds, but maybe I am just naieve (sp?).

MW

[Reiter]

Reiter i think I understand. I found them by scrolling down the Foals page, but many wouldn't look on that page or scroll down so far. 2007 horses are not foals anymore. When I went to the sales page they weren't there. So I suggest that you put them on the for sale page too.

Thank you! Yes, that's exactly what I was wondering. I initially only had the link on the top of the page and added the one at the bottom after the second person mentioned to me they couldn't find it. I think what is happening is once the page opens the view is immediately drawn to the pictures and so the link is missed. Time to go back to the drawing board! ;)

Update: I gave the 2007 foals their own button for now, easier than moving everything to a different page. That should take care of that problem at least! :)

[misita]

OMGosh, I'm going back to the drawing board too. So much more to add, delete, crop, tweak, and edit. Web-sites are not for the faint of heart. :)

[RiverOaksFarm]

I've scanned thru all 5 pages, and I don't think anyone yet has mentioned one of my pet peeves: fancy slide show type intros or graphics, and/or photos that haven't been resized, because both things can be soooooo slooooooow to load even with a good connection. (A 3MB photo really isn't necessary on a website, lol, 300KB might work alot better..... <grin>.)

Other peeves are along the same lines as everyone else said: music, bad spelling/grammar, no pedigree information (esp for foals and breeding stock), not listing breed registries and approvals (primarily applies to breeding stock), no useful photos, claiming a stallion is FEI when at best it may have schooled an FEI-movement, saying all foals/stallions/whatever are 10+ movers, world-class and so forth. I also like websites where I can find everything easily, not have to go searching for information.

I prefer websites with prices or price-ranges. (Personally I use price-ranges.)

As for commissions, I'm not sure about other states, but I believe in Florida commissions must be disclosed to the buyer if they ask -- maybe someone else knows for certain?

[bluehof]

This thread got me thinking that maybe I need to spruce up my website. I use a template design through network solutions that I think is pretty easy to navigate for visitors and is super easy as the "web designer" (and I use that term loosely!).

If you have time please take a look and give me any feedback. Thanks!

www.blumefarm.com

[EqTrainer]

This thread got me thinking that maybe I need to spruce up my website. I use a template design through network solutions that I think is pretty easy to navigate for visitors and is super easy as the "web designer" (and I use that term loosely!).

If you have time please take a look and give me any feedback. Thanks!

www.blumefarm.com (http://www.blumefarm.com)

No comments about your website but welcome to NC!

[Molly Malone]

Do you object to in utero prices not being displayed?

[TKR]

I've noticed that so many websites and large ads lack "location" -- that's important for many reasons -- just because you list a phone # doesn't give me a clue. A city and state should be part of an ad or website.
JMHO
PennyG

[Edgewood]

I've noticed that so many websites and large ads lack "location" -- that's important for many reasons -- just because you list a phone # doesn't give me a clue. A city and state should be part of an ad or website.
JMHO
PennyG

Oh yeah, that is so right. I don't know how many times I have looked around and could not find out where a farm was located on their website.

[shawneeAcres]

Didnt read all the responses, but my two pet peeves are price "ranges" instead of actual prices (makes me think you will "adjust "price based on buyer), if you are negotiable jsut say so and if price could change with training, age etc, state that as well but give a PRICE> Second is slow motion videos. I HATE THAT! I want to see the horse moving as it NATURALLY does, and also a TRUE trot and canter, not one with tail flung up over the back!

[dilligaff2]

My biggest Peeve???

SPARKLES!!!!

Sparkles and all the crap that goes with them--bad Midi music, cartoon horses pooping graphics, unicorns and rainbows.

I see a sparkle and I am out of there. Those websites look like they are designed by an 8 yr old.

I agree with a lot of the other comments.
--I want to see prices or at least a range.
--updated information and pictures
--A friends and family page is good but please--no 'cutesy' pictures on the other pages
If I am looking at a Stallion
--PERFORMANCE Records and photos.
--His feet (this seems silly but how many pictures are taken so that you can't see hooves?)
--updated information (as is possible) on his offspring. Showing, approvals etc

[Wayside]

I have to admit that the over-the-top Bible verses on some sites drive me nuts, too. A single discrete verse at the footer, or something like that I can live with (even though I'm not Christian myself). But I really don't want to wade through tons of it. It does feel like some websites are more concerned with trying to convert me than they are conveying information about their horses, and I'm really not interested in hearing it.

Also agree that a "family" or "about us" section is fine, but I really don't need a picture of little Poopsie kissing every single sales horse on the nose. Poopsie's "sadly outgrown" pony, fine, I can handle one or two of thse, but I don't want to see your barefoot child cuddling with the foals or anything else.

Music, or other sound effects, will make me run for the hills, especially if there isn't a obvious way to turn it off. Very rarely have I found something that was intruiging enough for me to actually mute all the sound on my computer in order to read it.

Distracting graphics, loud colors, things that are hard to read, bad and/or out of date photos. Especially hate seeing only foal pictures up when the horse is listed as 3 or 4 and started under saddle.

I'm another that is highly unlikely to call if there's no price listed. Price ranges are okay as long as they're not huge. I understand that sometimes prices are not hard and fast, and you might be willing to give a better price to someone who is likely to be a great home AND move the youngsters you've bred up the levels.

Agree with slow motion vidoes, they annoy me too. Ditto videos of your horse snorting and bucking about the round pen as you chase him with a plastic bag, or whatever.

And when I was stallion shopping, I was very frustrated with how difficult it as to find footage of stallions trotting straight away from the camera. This was true both on websites, and the videos I had mailed to me by stallions owners.

Also agree with PennyG that I like to see location on a website. Even if you're not comfortable putting up your address, which is understandable, I'd like to know what general region you're in. Driving to N. IL to look at a horse is doable for me, driving to California, not so much. It can be your township, or say something like X miles/minutes west of major metropolitan area.

[JWB]

To me, a good website has
*High quality CONFORMATION type pictures - Stood up nicely, front and side views. It's hard to tell anything from a 3/4 view fuzzy foal in a field of clover picture....
*Information on sire, dam and siblings if available with photos (again good quality conf. shots)
*a hyperlink to a video if available. I'd much rather click on a youtube link than have to download a video file

Tips on photos - A bad photo may be more harmful than lack of a photo entirely.
*Use the clippers! I'm not saying to body clip your brood mares but get the fly-aways under the chin.
*Use a snaffle bridle for photos of horses over 2, a good leather halter and clean lead rope for the babies
*Have a simple, non-distracting background.
*Spend some time on your pictures. Recruit help and spend a day washing, clipping and standing up horses. If a pro is not in the budget get a friend and take good close up pictures.
*For heavens sake - No boots, wraps, bandages!!! I was shopping for a 2 year old and I almost didn't go see a REALLY nice filly because her photo was taken in standing bandages. I wondered what they were trying to hide.

That said, keep the page SIMPLE! No music, no extraneous and memory intensive graphics, if you have LOTS for sale, use a thumbnails to link to individual horse pages rather than creating a monster of a page that will take a year to load.

Also, and I know people are of differing oppinions on this, I really like a price. I want to see an actual number rather than a "call for price" or a $, $$, $$$ type system. If it's out of my price range, I'm not going to waste my time.

As for the religious stuff, I think it is tacky to shove beliefs down other people's throats BUT I defend the right to do it. Sellers should just realize that it really turns a lot of buyers off and will probably cost you business. If you feel strongly that you must witness to your beliefs on a business site, why not make a "mission statement" type page that you have links to. There you can publish your philosophy in a more appropriate, less distracting forum.

[spotsinabox]

This is a good thread . . . I'm constantly trying to keep our website updated . . .and sometimes I wonder if I have 'too much info' . . .

I include information about our 'on farm protocols', our goals as a breeder, as well as references and responses I get back from buyers. Right now, it's in my 'newsletter' section -- but I am thinking I need to move it. My newsletter, I'm not very happy with --just not sure how to clean it up.

Our website also has a 'photo album' page where I just post pictures -- even some bad ones (long hair woolie burgers). . hoping it shows that the 'kids do clean up good' ...

My goal this year is to get better conformation pictures and better videos -- being the one person camera crew is frustrating but I figure it's time to recruit help.

It's a database format . . .which is nice because I can update it myself -- but sometimes I feel like I'm being redundant.

I'd appreciate any ideas you think I need to change or update:
www.mcfarlandfarms-kansas.com

[avadog]

I hate pictures of mares grazing in a field. If you can't get good pictures of your broodmares why would I believe that you have nice mares. Conformation pictures with wraps and or boots. Jumping pictures with bad form. I actually saw an ad of mare jumping with her knees pointing straight to the ground, scary. Pictures of horses in a field, dirty, unclipped, loud nylon halters. All turnoffs.

I see stallions pictures that are unclipped and dirty that makes me crazy. I don't like websites with flowers, music, sparkles, etc.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

While I personally, would rather see an exact price, I can totally understand the ranges (and appreciate the guideline). For example, I'm toying with putting my TB hunter back into work this spring (after basically a year off from any competition, etc.). If I list him now, winter shaggy, just going into work, etc. the price would be different than what I would want in even as little as 3 mos under saddle in steady work (4-6x a week) and going to some early shows/clinics (i.e. demonstrating he's still "got it" so to speak). Because in 3 mos he will be ready to show for anyone, but right now there is a bit of a project (getting him in shape, brushing up the changes, etc.). Plus, frankly, he looks a lot better in the summer. I'd like to say people can see past it, but they can't!

I imagine it is the same with a youngster. The more money you put in for training and show expeirience (esp. if they do well) the more the price goes up. As you show and clinic you are going to get more feedback and exposure to different professionals too. Word of mouth will make getting a better price easier, imo.

My fear with just putting a flat price is that some searches seem to bring up the old versions. Well how would you feel if my (non-existent) website said horse is for sale for __,000 and then you google his name and find a version that's only three to six months old showing the horse for significantly less?

[Kareen]

This is by far the most interesting thread I've read in a long time! Thank you to all who have offered opinions.

I am all for posting prices. Helps not only save your clients' (or future client...) time but also your own. I mean chances have it you'll have to disappoint most interested parties because if your horse is out of their range and the normal reaction of a disappointed human is to walk away.

If any of my listed horses is out of the person's pricerange I still want them to stay and look at what else we have available. Every so often the right horse might be not so far away yet they wouldn't have found had the 'out of range' price not been posted right?

If nothing else posting prices saves both the sellers and the prospective buyers time as it's a big timewaste to respond to inquiries not leading anywhere. That being said I sometimes don't have a choice e.g. when I don't own the horse but only represent it for sale. If the owner prefers not to have pricing on line (which they may chose for a variety of reasons and not all of them are unethical) I will have to comply as their sales agent.

As far as commissions go I have often considered switching to a non-commission model but the entire horseworld seems so used to dealing with commissions that it seems hard to change the system.
No matter by whom a commission is paid, the problem I see persists: If the agent is supposed to act in the buyers best interest then the profit must not be positively corelated to the amount being spent on the horse. Much the opposite I think there should be a bigger profit for the agent if the horse is priced lower.
It is also not always in the buyers interest to buy (much like it is often not in the buyer's interest to take the advice of a trainer who discourages them from a horse only because the clients found it on their own and trainer feels they won't make enough $$ on a sale.

Some food for thought: Within Europe buyer, seller and agent are free to agree on the seller and the agent both splitting the commission for the agent (e.g. if 10% are agreed upon, the seller pays 5% and the buyer as well). After reading all these 5 pages it seems this would be illegal in most US states? I wonder why because it would seem a fair solution as long as both parties cover their responsibility and everybody is in the loop about what goes on.
I like a pay-per-time model better than the commission system (if it is a system - to me it is more or less a nuissance as there seems to be no clear rules to it but more or less custom often with buyers being completely unaware of who gets what). For once I don't believe someone should be paid for merely the information that horse xyz is for sale. To me agenting is much more than that. I am putting my name behind a horse I represent. That requires a lot of time and effort. I therefor want to be paid for my time and expertise and I think anybody who is a qualified professional deserves the same and there will probably be little argument over that.

The point where things turn shady is when a client doesn't even know who is involved. If I hire someone to do my work I will pay them out of my own pocket (meaning I will split them a share of my own commission). It never takes more than 2 agents to really get the work done let's face it. All that's required is for one of them to drive out and see the horse, maybe the other party has to provide some material, pictures, videoclips or whatnot. But how commissions can ethically pile up to 50 or more percent of what the horse's purchase price is really is beyond my understanding and I know it happens all the time. How can one justify paying 4 or more people who are not the owner and mostly never touched the horse, sometimes haven't even seen it? Whole different story. But one reason I like posting prices. If a trainer contacts me about any of the horses and they ask me to remove the price I don't even want to know anything else. As a breeder I am the last person not to pay someone a deserved commission (deserved means they actually did something to make the sale happen) but I don't want to be part of a system that is founded on not disclosing one's part in the equation. I make no secret of my intentions to make a profit. Why should I unless I believe my advice isn't worth it or I knowingly charge more than I would be willing to pay myself for the same service...

Another personal pet peeve of mine: FEI prospect. To me an FEI prospect is at least 5-6yo and actively competing in FEI young horse tests or beyond. Anything that isn't competing there yet isn't an FEI prospect but just shows good promise at best.

Unfortunately the saying of preaching water and drinking wine holds true for both sellers and buyers. For once: Timely training plan. Of course nobody wants those 2yo's freejumped 5' but many people will buy these horses.
Nobody wants to see a manufactured 3yo doing extensions in a frame he shouldn't be in for at least another 2yrs yet the horses that sell best are the ones presented in just this very fashion.
Also agree on good pictures being a necessity but it is often very difficult to get them especially when you don't overstaff and overequip your facility in order to price your horses competitively ;) For instance an brightly lit indoor with great all-season footing and state of the art photo and video setup is obviously a big plus and very convenient. But who do you think is paying for all that setup? It's the buyer and in order to be a sustainable business the person running this show will have to charge more per horse than the breeder who tries to keep their overhead, staff and building costs low.
Consequently if a buyer wants to shop reasonably I'd say better be prepared to cope with some substandard video setup and don't expect breeders to produce updated pictures or videoclips of yearlings in the middle of winter. Not possible in many climates.

Putting up advertisements and then never responding to emails or even phonecalls is a major pet peeve. You wouldn't believe how much time I have spend inquiring to ads which never led anywhere. The famous 'top horse' that has just been sold is just one really cheap trick some parties will try on people who call. Also love when people use stallion pictures on the front page in an attempt to make buyers believe this is what the offspring looks like. Big nogo for me.

[f4leggin]

Man you guys are paranoid. It's one thing to say - this is what I like, but some of these responses have some strong strong feelings of judgement and negativity.

Here's a thought for those of you who make harsh judgements... Maybe the breeder/farmer in question cares more about the quality of their horses than being a saleman. They spend more time outside of the house than in front of a computer. And, if they can't spell or say out of instead of by - chances are they still know who the Dad is and who the Mom is.

However, I am so glad to see the ideas on how to improve web sites. If and when I ever get around to updating mine, I'll be sure to look this thread up.

Jill

[Wayside]

Conformation pictures with wraps and or boots.

Oh, I wrote a novel and forgot that one :lol: Can't stand conformation shots with wraps/boots.

[Albion]

Man you guys are paranoid. It's one thing to say - this is what I like, but some of these responses have some strong strong feelings of judgement and negativity.

Here's a thought for those of you who make harsh judgements... Maybe the breeder/farmer in question cares more about the quality of their horses than being a saleman. They spend more time outside of the house than in front of a computer. And, if they can't spell or say out of instead of by - chances are they still know who the Dad is and who the Mom is.

Honestly, it doesn't - shouldn't - take much time or effort to have a basic website. As many of these responses indicate, people don't want fancy flash - they want easy to navigate, easy to load, etc. A lot of the basic website builders can do a fine job of building basic.

Proofreading also doesn't take a lot of time & goes a long way to making a nice first impression. As one of my professors in college said, one of the easiest things you can do for yourself is present a professional first impression (in this case re: properly formatted papers), which does NOT take an exorbitant amount of time OR money. Quite frankly, there's no reason not to put your best foot forward if you're presenting a supposedly "professional" website that potential clients are looking at. If you're going to go to the trouble of having a website advertising your business, why wouldn't you want to put your best foot forward? :confused:

[hitchinmygetalong]

Personal pet peeve:

Please make your location evident. I can't tell you how many websites and print ads I have seen where there is no clue as to the location of the farm. If there is a phone number, you can google it and if lucky get a location. But some people just use an email address or a "contact us" button on the website.

Maybe I'm the only one, but it makes me crazy.

[GGStables]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!. A bit belatedly...:)

I've been off COTH for ages but can't believe this thread. I spent all Christmas time making my own, very first website and really could have done with this, beforehand!:lol::no:

Anyhow, I *think* I have most of what's been mentioned here although I declare that technologically I am sorely challenged, I nit-pick myself to death on copy, and am way too broke to pay anyone for great pics...

Here's my site. I swear, my heart's pounding. You're a tough crowd but I would very much appreciate your opinions.

http://ggstables.webs.com/

TIA

[rideagoldenpony]

I've been off COTH for ages but can't believe this thread. I spent all Christmas time making my own, very first website and really could have done with this, beforehand!:lol::no:

http://ggstables.webs.com/

TIA

For a first time? You did great! MY first web site didn't look half that good! (I don't think my second one did either, LOL)Nice job!

[selah]

What if I was Jewish or Athiest or Buddist? When I venture to a breeder website like that, no matter how much I like the foal...or whatever sales horse I'm looking at, I leave!

I have often seen the adage, "A good horse is never a bad color" on these forums. Are we now to say that a good horse can be the wrong religion?:D:winkgrin:

[Grataan]

My biggest Peeve???

SPARKLES!!!!

Sparkles and all the crap that goes with them--bad Midi music, cartoon horses pooping graphics, unicorns and rainbows.

I see a sparkle and I am out of there. Those websites look like they are designed by an 8 yr old.

I agree with a lot of the other comments.
--I want to see prices or at least a range.
--updated information and pictures
--A friends and family page is good but please--no 'cutesy' pictures on the other pages
If I am looking at a Stallion
--PERFORMANCE Records and photos.
--His feet (this seems silly but how many pictures are taken so that you can't see hooves?)
--updated information (as is possible) on his offspring. Showing, approvals etc

OMG. Remember Zips Chocolate Chip? When he first started out his lovely (and VERY NICE) owners had a terrible website-the 'buttons' were all cookies, the background was chocolate chips, just this overwhelming chocolate sparkly cutesy chip theme. I think they even had music. TOTALLY turned me off of breeding to him for a HA Pinto. Now his website still has a chocolate chip theme but it is considerably toned down and WAY more professional.

[Coppers mom]

I have often seen the adage, "A good horse is never a bad color" on these forums. Are we now to say that a good horse can be the wrong religion?:D:winkgrin:
No, but if I constantly shoved how wonderful and majikal whatever breed you aren't in to down your throat, you'd get a bit tired of it, don't you think?

[Daventry]

OMG. Remember Zips Chocolate Chip? Now his website still has a chocolate chip theme but it is considerably toned down and WAY more professional.

Holy! Just went to their website...and I don't know what to say. And you're saying it's considerably toned down now. I cannot imagine what it looked like before!! :eek::eek::rolleyes::dead: I also can't believe his stud fee is $4,000. Never knew Quarter Horse stallions could get that high. I guess you can learn something new every day! ;)

[Albion]

I also can't believe his stud fee is $4,000. Never knew Quarter Horse stallions could get that high. I guess you can learn something new every day! ;)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there are much higher stud fees than that in the QH world - with all the futurities & such, there's a better chance of reasonably quick ROI.

[Daventry]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there are much higher stud fees than that in the QH world - with all the futurities & such, there's a better chance of reasonably quick ROI.

I knew the Reiner and Cutter stallions' stud fees got quite high. I just never thought of a Western Pleasure stallion as commanding a big stud fee. But I suppose the AQHA World Circuit is quite a lucrative one.

[Coreene]

Daventry, I was sent a link today to in-utero QHs that were $100k+ because of who ma and pa were. And they're getting it.

[f4leggin]

back to the original question.. I was trying to figure out how much was too much and what shoveling religion down your throat was vs a statement on a website..

So, for those of you offended by bible verses if you are willing, look at this website:

http://www.johnlyons.com

and tell me if that verse on that website is offensive... It may not be just because it's Christmas - but imagine it was some other verse some other time.

I ask because I have not run into a horse breeder or horse industry website with bible verses that I found offensive, so I'm trying to figure out how much is too much. I honestly want to know. I am a christian, and I don't want want to offend anyone by shoving my faith down their throat inappropriately.....

Jill

[GGStables]

For a first time? You did great! MY first web site didn't look half that good! (I don't think my second one did either, LOL)Nice job!

Thanks very much!

GreenGate Stables
http://ggstables.webs.com/

[selah]

No, but if I constantly shoved how wonderful and majikal whatever breed you aren't in to down your throat, you'd get a bit tired of it, don't you think?



I THINK that the person visiting the site is the visitor. And if the visitor finds the site offensive, a mere click of the mouse should take care of the problem.
I also think that the fact that folks are free to tell just how majikal they think their breed is...is a beautiful thing, be they Hanoverian, Welsh, TB, Saddlebred, dressage, jumper, hunter, Arabian, Hungarian, Icelandic, grey, polka-dotted, butterfly-farting, etc.
I THINK that if I thought someone was shoving something unwanted down my throat, I shouldn't remain standing there with my mouth open:p

[Tamara in TN]

I also can't believe his stud fee is $4,000. Never knew Quarter Horse stallions could get that high. I guess you can learn something new every day! ;)

my favorite is this one:

http://www.carolrose.com/ShiningSpark.html

Fee: Booked Closed to Public
For the 2010 Breeding Season Only 10 outside
breedings are available at $25,000 each
Cooled Shipped Semen Unavailable


Tamara in TN

[Daventry]

I give quite a few seminars on website design to various horse clubs, etc. and here's my list of do's and don't's:

Reduce Photo Size. Refrain from using photos larger than 100 KB and learn to make use of thumbnails. It also doesn't mean reducing photos of horses to looked like squished Dachshunds!
Design For Easy Reading. Whenever possible, make your background as light as possible.
Don't Use More Than Three Fonts Throughout Your Site. Using more than 3 fonts will give the site a cluttered, inconsistent, unprofessional look.
Don’t Force Your Viewers To Think. When a visitor can reach their destination on your website with little or no thought process they are more apt to become a return visitor. Four common questions by visitors that you should seek to eliminate are: What website is this? Where do I go to find ____? Where am I? What does this do?
Do Not Make Your Website Inconsistent. Consistency is one of the most abused factors on the Internet. Varying your navigational structure from page to page is about the worst thing you can do on your website. When visitors are browsing the various pages of your website, the layout should maintain consistency, preferably it should remain identical. Changes, such as color variations, are risky and should be avoided if possible.
Don’t Make Your Visitors Wait.
Slow-loading pages, over 50KB in size, need immediate lipo-suction. The 50KB size limit includes all the images and text. Divide the pages, downsize graphics and do whatever else it takes to make your pages serve in less than 20 seconds with a 28.8K modem.
Don’t Use Clipart And Distracting Graphics On Your Website.
Blinking text, moving images, galloping animals tend to be distracting and irritating. They might look cool the first time you see them, but once is enough.
Don’t Use Music On Your Website. Don’t forget, many visitors surf the internet at work, where being discreet is of the utmost importance. Nobody over the age of 9 thinks a whinnying or galloping horse is cool! :no:
Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find!!!!!
Keep Your Website Fresh. Be prepared to update your site, at least once a month, adding new information, discarding anything out-of-date. Repeat visitors are always desired, so give them something to come back for.
Proofread Your Website.
Nothing screams unprofessional like a web site full of phillies, engish style riding, a stallion who has his legion of marit and has superior confirmation.
Don’t Use Frames To Design Your Website. Many browsers cannot read frames. Frames can also cause search engines major problems.
Take Photos Until You Have Good PhotosA user decides their impression of a website in very little time; on average under five seconds.

Daventry Web Productions
www.daventrywebproductions.com (http://www.daventrywebproductions.com)

[hansiska]

GREAT list, Daventry!!! :D

[Home Again Farm]

I give quite a few seminars on website design to various horse clubs, etc. and here's my list of do's and don't's:
Reduce Photo Size. Refrain from using photos larger than 100 KB and learn to make use of thumbnails. It also doesn't mean reducing photos of horses to looked like squished Dachshunds!
Design For Easy Reading. Whenever possible, make your background as light as possible.
Don't Use More Than Three Fonts Throughout Your Site. Using more than 3 fonts will give the site a cluttered, inconsistent, unprofessional look.
Don’t Force Your Viewers To Think. When a visitor can reach their destination on your website with little or no thought process they are more apt to become a return visitor. Four common questions by visitors that you should seek to eliminate are: What website is this? Where do I go to find ____? Where am I? What does this do?
Do Not Make Your Website Inconsistent. Consistency is one of the most abused factors on the Internet. Varying your navigational structure from page to page is about the worst thing you can do on your website. When visitors are browsing the various pages of your website, the layout should maintain consistency, preferably it should remain identical. Changes, such as color variations, are risky and should be avoided if possible.
Don’t Make Your Visitors Wait.
Slow-loading pages, over 50KB in size, need immediate lipo-suction. The 50KB size limit includes all the images and text. Divide the pages, downsize graphics and do whatever else it takes to make your pages serve in less than 20 seconds with a 28.8K modem.
Don’t Use Clipart And Distracting Graphics On Your Website.
Blinking text, moving images, galloping animals tend to be distracting and irritating. They might look cool the first time you see them, but once is enough.
Don’t Use Music On Your Website. Don’t forget, many visitors surf the internet at work, where being discreet is of the utmost importance. Nobody over the age of 9 thinks a whinnying or galloping horse is cool! :no:
Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find!!!!!
Keep Your Website Fresh. Be prepared to update your site, at least once a month, adding new information, discarding anything out-of-date. Repeat visitors are always desired, so give them something to come back for.
Proofread Your Website.
Nothing screams unprofessional like a web site full of phillies, engish style riding, a stallion who has his legion of marit and has superior confirmation.
Don’t Use Frames To Design Your Website. Many browsers cannot read frames. Frames can also cause search engines major problems.
Take Photos Until You Have Good PhotosA user decides their impression of a website in very little time; on average under five seconds.

Daventry Web Productions
www.daventrywebproductions.com (http://www.daventrywebproductions.com)


Excellent points, daventry.

[Bent Hickory]

I THINK that the person visiting the site is the visitor. And if the visitor finds the site offensive, a mere click of the mouse should take care of the problem.

Can I have an AMEN!!?

[selah]

Don’t Use Frames To Design Your Website[/B]. Many browsers cannot read frames. Frames can also cause search engines major problems.[/URL]

What are these? Are they the borders around pictures, or something else?

[Grataan]

my favorite is this one:

http://www.carolrose.com/ShiningSpark.html

Fee: Booked Closed to Public
For the 2010 Breeding Season Only 10 outside
breedings are available at $25,000 each
Cooled Shipped Semen Unavailable


Tamara in TNWHAAAT? She opened his book? GOI_(!&!(*&!)(*^A#it!

Why am I always the last to know!

Hubby has a mare I'd have shipped to Shining Spark if I'd have had to ride her there.


Another peeve I have is websites that say "follow us on twitter, facebook, myspace, comh, " etc but when you go there....they haven't updated THOSE places in months either!

[Lkramer]

I am somewhat shocked by the close-mindedness by so many people here. Refusing to look at horses from such people based on their religion? Really? I take no more offense to a Christian quote than I would a Jewish, Buddhist, or Agnostic one. Websites are a glimpse of how that business owner conducts business. I instantly highly respect anyone who is brave enough to put it out there and risk being judged by such discrimination, REGARDLESS of beliefs. In the equine trade, I have many friends that prefer different sexual orientations and religions than me. I am happy for all of them that are open and honest. I don't feel like they are "jamming it down my throat" when they represent who they are. That is all I am going to say.

Next, I'd like to address the horses running through fields. MANY show/sport horse facilities do not have turn out. They may have paddocks that have long since been over grazed and are now sand/dirt lots. Several of my horses need turn out. If I were looking for a new facility, that would be a huge plus in my book.

Lastly, prices are not displayed on show horses because that is the way horse business has been done forever on high dollar horses. I've had trainers buy my horses and sell them to their clients for double what I was asking. If they can do that, I say all the power to them, because I got the full asking price that I wanted, the buyer was very happy with the horse and was willing to pay that for him, and the trainer was able to make a living! It does seem unfair at times for the seemingly small amount of work put in by a trainer or agent, but I would like to reiterate that trainers have to make a living. That is their job. Leaving their farms for several days to look at a horse means losing money that day at the farm for not teaching, getting work done, prepping horses, etc. You wouldn't expect a real estate agent to sell your house for free, right? They are entitled to it, whether they showed the house to 1 or 500 of THEIR clients.
Also, It isn't impossible to pick up a phone and make a call to ask me the price of a horse. I actually use it as an aid to weed out the tire kickers. If the buyer is seriously interested in the horse, I can answer all their questions with CURRENT information and find out if they will be a good match. I often have other horses I can recommend to them at that time as well, depending on their goals.

[Tamara in TN]

[QUOTE=Grataan;4601457]WHAAAT? She opened his book? GOI_(!&!(*&!)(*^A#it!

Why am I always the last to know!

Hubby has a mare I'd have shipped to Shining Spark if I'd have had to ride her there.

yep...my greatest equestrian
mistake was not breeding to him when it was just $2K


Another peeve I have is websites that say "follow us on twitter, facebook, myspace, comh, " etc but when you go there....they haven't updated THOSE places in months either!


honestly, to me,if they got time for all those other things I wonder how much time they actually do "horses";) not just writing about them:lol:

Tamara in TN
still 16F with no end in sight

[poltroon]

The number one reason not to put any music or sounds (no whinnying horses either!) on a web page is that an awful lot of people browse from work or another situation where a sudden noise coming from the computer is not appropriate. It may be OK with the employer to browse the web while you're waiting for a process to finish, but the employee and the boss probably doesn't want it announced. ;)

[Oakstable]

I post my For Sale horses on sale sites with prices.

I cannot update my web site myself. One of these threads insisting prices motivated me to put a price on one of my guys, and it got posted with someone's help. The price is so dated, it looks ridiculous and is very confusing to someone who sees an ad on dreamhorse and looks at my web site.

I am going to get my web site updated this year by hook or by crook, but it really gives more of a background on some of my horses and my breeding operation.

If someone wants to see the dam and the granddam of a gelding, it will be on my web site, but not in his sale ad on dreamhorse or equinenow.

I think buyers go to sales sites.

One of my breeder friends does not have a web site and she uses the sales sites when she is ready to sell, and she sells them.

I think a SO MUST have a web site with current information. Mare owners screen for stallions by web sites.

[Hunter_Lady]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!. A bit belatedly...:)

I've been off COTH for ages but can't believe this thread. I spent all Christmas time making my own, very first website and really could have done with this, beforehand!:lol::no:

Anyhow, I *think* I have most of what's been mentioned here although I declare that technologically I am sorely challenged, I nit-pick myself to death on copy, and am way too broke to pay anyone for great pics...

Here's my site. I swear, my heart's pounding. You're a tough crowd but I would very much appreciate your opinions.

http://ggstables.webs.com/

TIA

Great Website!

[poltroon]

As far as updates go, obviously it can get expensive or time consuming to keep a website up to date. But, frequently I find websites that are years out of date. Is the horse still for sale? Who knows?

Make a pledge to yourself to update the site at least once a year. January is probably a good time. And, if you can't edit your webpages yourself easily with updates during the year, consider linking to a service where you can update easily, like a blog page that you keep exclusively for farm news. It's not quite as nice as having it all on the page, but at least people will see that you're still active, and it can be a fun way to put in those extra pictures that don't fit on the website.

[vtwmbld]

This is a really informative thread and is one of the reasons I so appreciate the COTH forums. I’m now going to comb through our web site to see what needs to be changed. There are two things, though, that I find really difficult – updating videos and pricing. As a small breeding operation with no indoor arena, getting an adequate video is tough. Vermont winters are gorgeous, but not for videotaping fuzzy horses with unpulled manes. Having a full time job off the farm means that trying to shoot any footage requires getting 2 or 3 people (on a weekend) to help prepare the horses and foals and then praying for a good day. Sometimes, it seems, weeks will go by before I can manage this. It then takes days to edit the video in order to condense it enough to keep it short and sweet and website friendly. You have to multiply this by the number of horses for sale. I also think that video impressions can be really misleading. On a hot day a youngster can look lazy whereas on a cold day that same one might curl his tail over his back and look jazzed. I’ve read both of those comments in this forum. A really nice moving youngster who is calm and sensible and might appear a tad lazy, can turn into a tail-flagging floaty mover if you get out there with a lunge whip. This could merely mean that it's going to be a sensitive and forward thinking horse, but not explosive. I would consider this to be a good dressage type. Pricing is also tough. If you have a super quality youngster and a top level rider is interested, you might adjust the price to make that combo work - much as a stallion owner will offer quality mare discounts. It just makes sense. The best quality youngster in the world will only go as far as the rider is capable. I would hate to think that someone would “go no further”, simply because the prices are not listed. Having read this string, I’ll re-think this. I always thought that a quality horse was worth a phone call or a quick e-mail. Often, if the price is not right, the conversation can lead to another more suitably priced horse that was not offered or noticed on the sale site. This has successfully happened in our case. We always try to keep in mind the horses that colleagues have available. Anyhow, this has been a great string and given me a lot to think about – in my spare time.:lol:

[grayfox]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!. A bit belatedly...:)

I've been off COTH for ages but can't believe this thread. I spent all Christmas time making my own, very first website and really could have done with this, beforehand!:lol::no:

Anyhow, I *think* I have most of what's been mentioned here although I declare that technologically I am sorely challenged, I nit-pick myself to death on copy, and am way too broke to pay anyone for great pics...

Here's my site. I swear, my heart's pounding. You're a tough crowd but I would very much appreciate your opinions.

http://ggstables.webs.com/



TIA

This is the 3rd time I've tried to post this and the COTH keeps eating it. Hopefully this goes through. I think you did a good job. I like the story about how you got started, it's cute and interesting. I would add a broodmare page. I would move the future plans to it's own page and then when the babies are born add those pictures. I would think about making the colors more eye catching. I hope that's not too much information, I think it's fun to do marketing.

I try to keep my site updated but I'm never satisfied with it. I'm always trying to do better. It's interesting to read what everyone thinks.

[tempichange]

One more thing now that I think about it:

Breeders, if you have people come in and take photos of your horses. I don't care if they're professional or are just friends. CREDIT THE PHOTOGRAPHER.

[ljshorses]

I know I already asked but really want an honest critique since I do my own site edits and such now. If anyone has a few minutes and can give my site a look I'd appreciate it, good or bad criticism can help, thanks.

[grayfox]

I know I already asked but really want an honest critique since I do my own site edits and such now. If anyone has a few minutes and can give my site a look I'd appreciate it, good or bad criticism can help, thanks.
I think it's really good. I couldn't find anything to change. Good job.

[ljshorses]

I think it's really good. I couldn't find anything to change. Good job.

Well coming from you that is a wonderful compliment, thank you! I wish I had more internet skills, what a learning curve for me, lol.

p.s. Love how you market your stallions and love the contests etc... you make it fun to come and check what's new at your place.

[risingstarfarm]

Such a timely thread :-)

I've been working with Pam Norton and she is going to launch a completely new, updated and professionally designed website for Rising Star Farm.

Yay, my homemade website really left much to be desired and I'm so glad that I finally bit the bullet and hired a pro. This thread is very helpful and I'll be sure to ask for feedback once we're online!

[Oakstable]

LazyJ,
I like the organization of your web site very much.

[ljshorses]

LazyJ,
I like the organization of your web site very much.

Thank you Oakstable, this is a great thread and really has me thinking. Rising Star Farm, I can't wait to see your new site. I know I am going to take another poster's advice and try to do more updating this month. Our show page is out of date and needs some tweeking.

ggstables, I like your site and gives me more ideas for mine too. Again, good thread for us all to rethink what we have out there on the web.

I do not like music either on the sites but don't mind on short youtubes. Oh and whoever said they hate it when someone says so and so is out of such and such stallion...boy does that drive me nuts. Its BY a stallion and OUT OF a mare.

[jodyb]

This is a great thread. Daventry I appreciate the list of do's and don'ts.

My website got quite outdated as it was originally done by my daughter, who did a good job, but hard coded it and made it difficult for me to make changes on it. When she moved out of the country it was hard to get the changes made. Just before Christmas I went to a "drag and drop" design offered by my hosting site. The site is simplified compared to the last one but I can make all the changes myself in about two minutes:) I'm hoping that keeping the content fresh will make up for it being so basic. Any suggestions would be appreciated, here it is...

www.baumgartnersporthorses.com


Getting good pictures is a problem. I have fuzzy horses in the winter and they don't look as good as I like so I try and avoid pictures during those monthes. I do try and keep the camara handy when the weather is good :yes:

[Indy-lou]

I also found posting prices directly on my website to be challenging to keep up with, especially with regard to babies. So, I have included links on my site to the sale site I use most often, wbs4sale.com, with a note that current prices are listed there. I like that site, because they allow a seller to update photos and make as many other updates as a seller would like, without additional cost and no time frame until the horse is sold, all for the same initial price. And the link takes the interested party directly to all horses I have for sale on that site.I also decided to try a Facebook "box" on my "news" page, as I can update that myself, upload photos to my heart's content, and keep current, etc. I was one who also was critical of others for not keeping their sites up-to-the minute- current, but now I see how difficult it is to do that, unless you are your own web designer. So, these are the changes I have implemented to keep things current and in my control for the most part. Things like the broodmare band and their stats don't change much.

[barnbum81]

I have to agree about prices. Mostly because I don't want to waste your time emailing you about horses that are out of my price range. And also because I might like 3 different animals, and I feel like a jerk sending an email contains," How much is he? and he? and she?" It's a waste of everyone's time. Even a price range would be better. JMHO

[Coppers mom]

I did this website for the farm I work at on their Mac. Any tips or comments? I'm unfortunately the only one who can work even the super simple templates, and the BO and trainer really could care less, so I'm kind of on my own when it comes to the website decisions.

I've been thinking about changing the template, I don't know if I like how dark it is. I also am not sure I like the sales page. We had it the same as the "sold" page before, but sometimes it looks like a wall of ponies. But the way it is now, you don't know what the horse is until you click on it's picture. I was also thinking about adding a broodmare page.

www.abbeymoorfarm.com (http://www.abbeymoorfarm.com)

[NorthHillFarm]

Not sure I dare ask but I'm going to be updating my site again soon...any suggestions for improvements?
www.NorthHillFarmNY.com
Thanks!!

[Edgewood]

Okay, I thought of another few things that I wish breeders would do on their websites.

First, not only put the address or at least general location (eg, SE Pennasylvania) on the website, but also put a contact name. I really dislike having to call a number and not having a name to ask for when the person answers. And I am always surprised by how many sites just list a number but no where can I find what the farm owner's name is.

Second, I prefer that if you provide links on you website that they open in a "new" browser window vs changing to the new webpage in the same browser window. If you do the latter, I have to hit the back button till I get back to your website. If you do the former (ie, opens in a new browser window), I never actually leave your website.

[Allyn M]

Having read this whole thread ... I thank everyone for their really good suggestions . I now have to decide what is best to do about the pricing issue . I don't sell our horses on sales sites but mostly through trainers or word of mouth and try to send people who inquire ,a sales list with prices, in a timely manner . However having read all of this information I now think I can post a price range without any conflicts.
My biggest problem is the lack of time to really complete all of the drop downs and fill in all of the information . I am not great on the computer ( learned too late in life ) so I have to have help to teach me how to do things . I really want to finish or at least keep things up to date and I enjoy taking pictures now and videos as well.
When I first started breeding I did not take any of either and I had to work to support Sim's show career so I did not get to see him go . Didn't even realize that I might someday need a video of him so I am trying to go back to the shows and see if they keep their old videos .
Would appreciate any suggestions .

[ElegantExpressionsFarm]

Ok...after reading most of the posts I would have to say I agree with pretty much everything! There have been some very helpful comments!!

...I do have a question about a page on my site...

Here is a link to a colt I had for sale...it it too much on the page? I wanted to show him in lots of different situations...for the people who couldn't travel to see him. Any "helpful" comments would be greatly appreciated!! http://www.elegantexpressionsfarm.com/GoldenSunrise2008Foal.html

[Edgewood]

...I do have a question about a page on my site...

Here is a link to a colt I had for sale...it it too much on the page? I wanted to show him in lots of different situations...for the people who couldn't travel to see him. Any "helpful" comments would be greatly appreciated!! http://www.elegantexpressionsfarm.com/GoldenSunrise2008Foal.html

IMHO, I like more information, so I like your web page for this boy. I much prefer more information, more videos, etc about the one for sale, the parents, etc. And you have good pictures too of different activities.

[Brutust]

...
...I do have a question about a page on my site...

Here is a link to a colt I had for sale...it it too much on the page? I wanted to show him in lots of different situations...for the people who couldn't travel to see him...

I have not had a chance to look at the websites of everybody that posted on this thread but I have to compliment you on yours. I have perused it and I must say that it is to the point, very informative. We have a sense of what your business is about and the horses that are offered for sale at a quick glance.

[creseida]

1. Clear, unobstructed conformation shots. Do not stand your horse in tall grass, hiding that potentially puffy ankle or club foot. Do not photoshop a tail to cover a hock... or photoshop ANYTHING about the picture for that matter. Do not tilt your photos to make your horse appear to be uphill. A clean, uncluttered background, with the horse standing on a hard, level surface, please.

It should go without saying that the horse should be spotless. Depending on the photo, braiding isn't absolutely necessary, but in those cases, a neatly pulled mane and trimmed tail are mandatory. If you're asking 4 or more figures for a horse, I should be seeing more than a fuzzy, dirty horse standing in a muddy paddock. A little pride in what you're selling, please!

The photo should also be a CURRENT picture of your horse. If your horse is 6, why would you only have photos of a 2 year old?

2. An under saddle picture, of the horse performing at the level you are advertising. I "love" ads where the text claims the horse is showing at 3' yet the only photo shows it hopping over an 18" vertical. I want to see a quality photograph of a horse showing at 3'.

3. People in your Photography: Anyone in your photograph should be neatly attired. If you have someone riding your horse, they should be, at the very least, in breeches and boots. If you have someone handling your horse in the photo, they should be wearing something along the lines of a neat polo shirt, clean khakis and clean paddock boots at a bare minimum.

It's a total turnoff to me to see a kid riding a horse in shorts, half-chaps and sneakers and no hard hat. Ok, this is an extreme example but I've seen a few pictures where it looks like one of the barn rats was told to hop up on a horse for some pics. That's a distraction from what you're trying to show off: the horse. It also comes across as unprofessional and "back-yardish" in the negative sense of the word.

It is also distracting to have someone who looks like they've just finished mucking 50 stalls standing on the end of a leadrope. Your photos should not be a rush job; they should look as neat and professional as possible. Seriously, it doesn't cost any more to have someone dress nice for a photo. You're trying to convey a professional image here.

It's an even bigger turn off to see a horse photoshopped doing something he really doesn't do. I recall seeing on one website a stallion with a dressage rider photoshopped on the horse's back as he misbehaved in the warm-up ring.

4. Religion has NO place on a sales ad. This is about selling a horse or a stud fee, not about your personal beliefs. Personally, my dealings with those who toss down the doG card have been less than satisfactory. This would be no different than putting your political views on your web page. Why even go there and risk offending anyone?

5. Performance records:

Sales Horse: If your horse has competed, list 3-5 show highlights. If you have some comments by judges, include a few brief blurbs. Do not state YOUR opinions as to why the horse placed the way he did.

If you're advertising a stallion, I definitely want to know what he's done to make him stallion material. I've seen plenty of "pretty" horses who were horrible in the show ring, be it due to lack of talent, can't deal with the environment mentally, etc. Your stallion needs to show he's earned the right to keep his balls. This goes double for any stallion that has any unusual colouring. You can't ride colour and too many people breed for this one irrelevent characteristic, and sacrifice temperament, conformation or ability.

6. Web design:
Graphics: Avoid excessive graphics. Lots of different coloured texts, flashing graphics, music, etc. It slows down how fast your pages load. You want to make your website look clean and professional; you don't want it looking like the Strip in Las Vegas. The graphics should be limited to photos of the horses and facilities. Lose the flowery borders around photos.

Music: Lose the music. It's annoying. It also rats those of us out who are shopping for horses at work and have to have our speakers on for other elements of work. ;)

Photos: On your main page, lower the resolution of the photos so they load quickly. Not to the point where the image is degraded, but if you're image size is 3x5, it really doesn't need to be a 2MB image. On the page for the individual horse, up the resolution a bit, but again not so much that it takes the image forever to load. 1600 x 1200 is more than sufficient because you don't want your image to exceed the screen width. The higher resolutions are for when you're printing out photos in poster size; lowering the resolution really doesn't affect how the image looks online until you get down around 640 x 480.

Text: Make sure your sentences are grammatically correct and that you've spell-checked everything. After you do that, have a human being review what you've written since spell check cannot differentiate which spelling of there/their/they're is correct. Or whether you're discussing conformation vs. confirmation.

7. Prices. Post your price on your site. You can delude yourself into thinking that you don't need to post a price. You're missing out on a lot of potential clients. You can use the "commission" excuse all you want; it's BS. If you, as a seller, are paying a commission to someone on a horse, that comes out of your bottom line so price the horse with that in mind. It's part of the cost of doing business. If the buyer is paying someone to find a horse for them, well that's something they've negotiated ahead of time and they can pay that commission out of their own pocket and is irrelevent to your price.

Quite frankly, I am of the opinion that if you're unwilling to post your price, then you're merchandise is not priced fairly and that you're embarrased to let others know what you're selling your goods for because others will think you're smoking crack.

And to address the issue of pricing younger horses? Well, that's why you update your website on a regular basis and keep it fresh and current.

8. Horses that are already sold. Personally, I'd rather not see endless lists of "sold" horses. I'm looking for your current inventory, not what is no longer available to me. But if you do want to keep horses that you've sold in the past, put them at the bottom of your sales list, and only keep 2 or 3 of the best examples on there. Again, another turnoff is having to wade through 20 listings of horses that are already sold to find the 2-3 that haven't yet sold.

[horsetales]

I did this website for the farm I work at on their Mac. Any tips or comments? I'm unfortunately the only one who can work even the super simple templates, and the BO and trainer really could care less, so I'm kind of on my own when it comes to the website decisions.

I've been thinking about changing the template, I don't know if I like how dark it is. I also am not sure I like the sales page. We had it the same as the "sold" page before, but sometimes it looks like a wall of ponies. But the way it is now, you don't know what the horse is until you click on it's picture. I was also thinking about adding a broodmare page.

www.abbeymoorfarm.com (http://www.abbeymoorfarm.com)

Since I LOFF Image, I have frequented your/Franks site. I've not had a problem with it. I just switched to your FB site and I would recommend putting a link to that as it seems very current and maybe easier to keep current. Video and a pure comformation shot of Image is what I would like to see on the site (or I missed it if its there).

[ljshorses]

I looked at NorthHillFarm and Allyn M's sites and I liked both.

NorthHill, I think your horses are very nice but I would be afraid to call about them in case they were way out of my price range so unless I couldn't find anything comparable with a price listed I would move on, but love the HomePage and water that is pretty cool.

Allyn M, I really can't fault it. It seems pretty easy to navigate and love the in-utero picture too cute. It's a little different layout than I'm use to seeing but I found it nice and easy to read.

[NorthHillFarm]

LJS- thank-you for the feedback.
I think you got my site mixed up with Allyn M in your review since I don't have water on my homepage and I do make sure to list prices...but that's neither here nor there, thank-you for taking the time to take a look and give me your opinion.
I'm hoping to update and make a few changes in the next day or so.

[ljshorses]

LJS- thank-you for the feedback.
I think you got my site mixed up with Allyn M in your review since I don't have water on my homepage and I do make sure to list prices...but that's neither here nor there, thank-you for taking the time to take a look and give me your opinion.
I'm hoping to update and make a few changes in the next day or so.

Sorry, I did. Yes I liked your website did you do it all yourself? Actually liked layout of both sites even thoough they were different. I just do prefer to see the prices as you have on your site. I have called when there isn't a price but rarely.

[Coppers mom]

Since I LOFF Image, I have frequented your/Franks site. I've not had a problem with it. I just switched to your FB site and I would recommend putting a link to that as it seems very current and maybe easier to keep current. Video and a pure comformation shot of Image is what I would like to see on the site (or I missed it if its there).
Thank you! I was thinking about doing a links page too, since I can't update the site from school, but I can with the facebook page.

Is the format of Image's page ok? Since he's the one the site was designed for anyways. I'd like to have a separate offspring page, but he doesn't seem to have enough to warrant it...

[siegi b.]

Creseida stated....

"7. Prices. Post your price on your site. You can delude yourself into thinking that you don't need to post a price. You're missing out on a lot of potential clients. You can use the "commission" excuse all you want; it's BS. If you, as a seller, are paying a commission to someone on a horse, that comes out of your bottom line so price the horse with that in mind. It's part of the cost of doing business. If the buyer is paying someone to find a horse for them, well that's something they've negotiated ahead of time and they can pay that commission out of their own pocket and is irrelevent to your price.

Quite frankly, I am of the opinion that if you're unwilling to post your price, then you're merchandise is not priced fairly and that you're embarrased to let others know what you're selling your goods for because others will think you're smoking crack.

And to address the issue of pricing younger horses? Well, that's why you update your website on a regular basis and keep it fresh and current."

Guess that makes me one of those "crack smoking, embarrassed by my products, deluded, and unable to update my website" idiots you obviously referred to. :D

It's a good thing I have great clients!:)

[PineTreeFarm]

What I want to see:
Prices. Why waste your time and mine if the price isn't in the ballpark.

Accurate performance results for your stallion,mares or offspring.

Brief pedigree information.

At least one good confo shot of your stallion.

What I don't want to see or hear:
Religion

Agree with CBoylen. No horses running with tails up. It scares me and convinces me that you aren't marketing to the hunter crowd.

Music

Foal scores

Anything that is distracting - the aforementioned 'sparkles' for example.

Slow loading pages

Bad photos

[horsetales]

Thank you! I was thinking about doing a links page too, since I can't update the site from school, but I can with the facebook page.

Is the format of Image's page ok? Since he's the one the site was designed for anyways. I'd like to have a separate offspring page, but he doesn't seem to have enough to warrant it...

The format is fine. It would be great to have an offspring page. Maybe you can help "fill" it with now and then pics. I know the 1 gelding son was approved this past fall - maybe foal pics through current. I would love to see more mature pics of his offspring. I hope to add to that page in a couple of years (hes on the short list for my 1 mare) :) You could do a FB link without doing a whole links page, maybe a become a fan or join us on FB . As a MO, if (when) I had offspring of his it is a nice value added feature if the SO links to their site and/or posts if it is for sale

[Coppers mom]

The format is fine. It would be great to have an offspring page. Maybe you can help "fill" it with now and then pics. I know the 1 gelding son was approved this past fall - maybe foal pics through current. I would love to see more mature pics of his offspring. I hope to add to that page in a couple of years (hes on the short list for my 1 mare) :) You could do a FB link without doing a whole links page, maybe a become a fan or join us on FB . As a MO, if (when) I had offspring of his it is a nice value added feature if the SO links to their site and/or posts if it is for sale

That was what I was thinking. For example, Ironhorse Farm has two Image babies and a website, and so do the Robbins's. Since we're thinking about sponsoring some NCDCTA stuff, I thought it may also be cool to link to that.

Which gelding just got approved? Harley, right? Or was there another? It's so frustrating, some MO's have been great getting back to me, while others I've had to e-mail three or four times to no avail :(

I think I'm going to create an offspring page. The only problem is that I'm still fiddlng with the template. The only way I can figure out how to link to more pictures is to create an album, like on the sales page, which I'm not totally in love with.

Thank you for all the comments!

[horsetales]

Which gelding just got approved? Harley, right? Or was there another? It's so frustrating, some MO's have been great getting back to me, while others I've had to e-mail three or four times to no avail :(

Yes, Harley. Thats a shame others don't get back with you. When I get my Image baby you'll have the opposite problem - I'll flood you with pics to choose from :lol:

[Mardi]

... can people share what they like to see (or more of what they don't want to see!) on a breeder's website?

For me, the stallion's pedigree and a conformation photo are a must.
His accomplishments, too.

After that, photos of offspring, if available, are appreciated.

And lastly, if possible, a brief video of the stallion under saddle.

What I don't like: "My stallion's 2009 filly was a premium filly at her inspection
and scored the highest". What inspection ?? Which registry ??? Peruvian Pintos ? :) Amazing how many people leave out the registry.

[horsechick]

this has been a great thread! I just got my website up and the one comment I received from a few people was that it was too wide for their browser. It fits fine on mine---does anyone care to check it out and let me know? We can make it narrower if it really is a problem.

The site is a work in progress, as far as getting up really great pictures and such, but I love the design my web designer came up with.

Thanks for any input.....


www.cornerstonefarmpa.com

[dressagetraks]

It is a bit wide for my browser, although I've definitely encountered wider ones. I had to scroll over some but not to infinity. Otherwise looks good.

I'm using Firefox.

[Coppers mom]

Yes, Harley. Thats a shame others don't get back with you. When I get my Image baby you'll have the opposite problem - I'll flood you with pics to choose from :lol:

Trust me, I won't mind! I love that little man, and would look at pictures of his babies all day. I mean, I just had a huge conversation about how they all make the same squishy face with one of the mare owners, and couldn't be happier :lol:

But, I've just done a complete overhaul on the site. There are baby pictures galore! :D

[ElegantExpressionsFarm]

IMHO, I like more information, so I like your web page for this boy. I much prefer more information, more videos, etc about the one for sale, the parents, etc. And you have good pictures too of different activities.

I have not had a chance to look at the websites of everybody that posted on this thread but I have to compliment you on yours. I have perused it and I must say that it is to the point, very informative. We have a sense of what your business is about and the horses that are offered for sale at a quick glance.

Thank you for your kind words!! Good to know I am on the right track! :)

[NorthHillFarm]

Horsechick- Your site worked fine for me, not too wide at all. I use Internet Explorer on my laptop. I do think that my laptop has a pretty wide screen though. Hope that helps. I like the layout of your site too.
BTW your boy is really cute. I'm thinking about something with Voltaire blood for my Rio Grande mare sometime in the future (I already have breedings for the next 2 years for her)...I'll be keeping my eye on him. Can't wait to see how he progresses.

[horsechick]

Thanks for the input-I will keep working with my designer to tweak it so it works just right for everyone!

NHF-thanks for the compliments on my guy! I have seen your mare and she is lovely...it would be a really nice match.

[Fastjofast]

As a hunter rider, I want to see pictures of stallions jumping (either free jumping or ridden). This is a MUST! I find that a lot of pony stallions don't have any pictures on their website of them jumping. This is a very important factor in my choice!

When jumping pics are omitted from a website, I assume that the stallion jumps like crap.

Same goes for videos. If you have tons of videos showing movement, and no jumping, I start to wonder why.

I recently visited a pony stallion's website and they only had pictures and video of the stallion free jumping....makes me wonder, is he a crappy mover?

[foxhavenfarm]

Quite frankly, I am of the opinion that if you're unwilling to post your price, then you're merchandise is not priced fairly and that you're embarrased to let others know what you're selling your goods for because others will think you're smoking crack.


LOL! Thanks for the laugh!

Since we're submitting sites for review, please feel free to pick ours apart. :winkgrin: I do it myself and try to update it at least once a month.

[Allyn M]

ljshorses ; I am going to correct the pricing issue next week although it will be by a range of prices connected to age of prospects and finally to amount of training and showing.
That will cover trainers adding their costs as well.
It has been really informative to see what attracts potential buyers to websites.
Does anyone use Google analytics to monitor their web sites ?

[Blacktree]

Google Analytics is great (and free!), I definitely recommend it to watch your site's traffic. You do have to be able to add a small tracking script into each page's code though.

I think having price ranges, then a link to a facebook page, dreamhorse/w-f-s horse list, or a blog (with a current, more detailed price list) is a great idea if you aren't able to update your website yourself.

If you have your site designed by a pro, you can also ask them if they can make it so you can update your sales page yourself, either with a content manager or with a program like Contribute. :)

[MCarverS]

www.Statcounter.com is also free and the information it allows you to track is incredible. You can see where your visitors came from, how long they spent on each page, what your most useful search keywords are, etc. etc. It's a little stalker-ish and very addicting, but a very useful tool for advertising, to see what sites are getting you a lot of traffic.

Their customer service is also excellent, I was having trouble adding it to our site, and emailed them and they did it for me!

I try to keep our page as up to date as possible, and granted, I can't mess with the design that much, but a critique of the content would be most welcome. I recently have tried my best to consolidate the vast amount of information on the site, while keeping with the design, but any other suggestions would be more than welcome.

[GGStables]

Phew! Thanks for the comments earlier, but in the last few days I changed formats twice, as the first one insisted on loading to the left. The second round, some folks said the page was too big and they had to scroll left & right to read & see pics. I find that annoying personally, so, that meant change, and change meant redoing everything again, i.e. reducing pics, reshuffling layout to fit a different template. Yikes. More aggravating when something mysteriously changes on your format between its development, and publishing.

I loved doing this on the whole and despite using a template I seriously didn't imagine it'd be quite such a job: Making sure every link works, the site is intuitive, spacing is accurate, layout is good, content is useful/interesting and easy to read, fonts match, spelling & grammar checks, photo's download properly, pages are sequential, consistency everywhere...etc. Phew again.

I hope I have managed to achieve all that, now? Please let me know~ and a big THANK YOU, COTHers, as always.

GreenGate Stables
http://ggstables.webs.com/

[J-Lu]

Regarding pricing issues for the more expensive horses... I think it is Iron Spring Farm that now posts price ranges for youngsters. They assign a certain price range to a letter (A-D or something) and the pricing is something like below $15,000, $15-25,000, 25-40,000, 40-65,000, above $65,000...something like that. Perhaps putting a price range system like this on your website can leave the pricing flexible while giving people a ballpark idea.

[J-Lu]

I know I already asked but really want an honest critique since I do my own site edits and such now. If anyone has a few minutes and can give my site a look I'd appreciate it, good or bad criticism can help, thanks.

OK, I'll bite!

What I don't like so much:
** I don't think you need an intro line at the top of each page, such as "For ease of navigation we have divided our sale horses into four separate groups:
Broodmares, Youngsters, Under Saddle and In Utero.
Simply click on the appropriate link below to view group." I think it clutters the page up a bit.

** I would really like to see the full pedigree of the stallions on the stallion page.

What I do like alot:
** VERY easy to navigate and find the info I need with the fewest clicks.
**Great quality pictures of your very nice horses. They really show your horses off!
** I like the softer, ivory-colored background with softer-colored font. The important parts that are in black font really stand out, so it is easy to scan the pages for information.
** I like the amount of information you give on your horses. I wouldn't have to call you for basic information. I also like the links to the foals on the stallion page.
**love the "success stories" link and your "registries" page
**love how you link to each of your horses when you describe them.
** I like that you have video links.
**Very easy to find the contact information.

Great site!

[J-Lu]

I try to keep my site updated but I'm never satisfied with it. I'm always trying to do better. It's interesting to read what everyone thinks.

Hi! I hope you don't mind but I love checking out websites.

What I really like:
**I like that the headers (home, broodmares, for sale, etc.) remain the same no matter what page you are on. It helps the potential client feel very oriented whatever page they are on.
** Stallion pages: I love all of the information, the pedigree links, and the links to youngsters. I have enough information so I can make a "first screening" decision without having to contact you. The pictures are also very nice and show performance and conformation very clearly. Lastly, I do like how you show all of the discount options, even the ones that don't apply any more and are crossed out. It tells me that hey-maybe next year I can get a great deal if I book with you early.
*** I like the reference stallion page - very useful.
*** The for sale page: I like that you have incentives and you put them on the first page. As a potential breeder, I'd want to know this. I also very much like that you have YOUR horses and your clients' sales horses on your page. As a potential breeder, I'd like to know how your stallions cross to other mares, and I'd like to know that I could potentially list a youngster for sale on your site.
** love the very nice broodmare pictures on the broodmare page. Very easy to see conformation, pedigree, and other info.
** This is a very very VERY well put together and visually appealing site. It oozes professionalism. It is very easy to find whatever information I need on your site.

What I don't like about your site:

** (crickets chirping in background) - I can't think of anything.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Regarding pricing issues for the more expensive horses... I think it is Iron Spring Farm that now posts price ranges for youngsters. They assign a certain price range to a letter (A-D or something) and the pricing is something like below $15,000, $15-25,000, 25-40,000, 40-65,000, above $65,000...something like that. Perhaps putting a price range system like this on your website can leave the pricing flexible while giving people a ballpark idea.

I have no problem with this. I like to have a ballpark idea of the price

[J-Lu]

I'm hoping that keeping the content fresh will make up for it being so basic. Any suggestions would be appreciated, here it is...

www.baumgartnersporthorses.com (http://www.baumgartnersporthorses.com)


Getting good pictures is a problem. I have fuzzy horses in the winter and they don't look as good as I like so I try and avoid pictures during those monthes. I do try and keep the camara handy when the weather is good :yes:

It is saturday afternoon and I'm feeling like I don't want to do any work. So here goes - I hope you don't mind!

WHat I like about your site:

** Very easy to navigate. No matter what page you are on, you know "were you are" on the site.
**I like your "breeding goals" statement. It tells me right off the bat what you are aiming for.
**I like how you link to the various horses in your own horse's pedigree.
**It is simple, and has the information that I need, including multiple ways to contact you.
** You mentioned that you don't like some of your pictures, but I like that you *have* pictures - I have a decent idea about the horse you're describing. I think they look fine!
** Love your newsletter page - it gives me the impression that you really care about your clients, so I would want to do business with you.

What I might change:
** I would like to see full pedigree info on your breeding stock and sales horses. Or a link to a pedigree page like Gray Fox Farms does.

[J-Lu]

I did this website for the farm I work at on their Mac. Any tips or comments? I'm unfortunately the only one who can work even the super simple templates, and the BO and trainer really could care less, so I'm kind of on my own when it comes to the website decisions.

I've been thinking about changing the template, I don't know if I like how dark it is. I also am not sure I like the sales page. We had it the same as the "sold" page before, but sometimes it looks like a wall of ponies. But the way it is now, you don't know what the horse is until you click on it's picture. I was also thinking about adding a broodmare page.

www.abbeymoorfarm.com (http://www.abbeymoorfarm.com)

Sorry, I'm on a roll and as I said, I love checking out websites.

Things I like:
*** I don't think the site is too dark. The white type provides a nice contrast. I would try to remove the lighter color spot of haze on the background, though. i like the white and green font. It looks very nice, very clean, and professional.
** plenty of pictures and very clear pedigree information.
** easy to navigate and find information
** Good job!!!

Things I might change:
** On your training page, etc, I might make the font of the lime-colored text bigger. It is a little hard to read. It looks smaller than the white font on each page. I might even make all of the font a size bigger - I'd try it and see if I liked it. I think the font would be easier to see if the light grey "haze" can be removed from the background.
** Stallion page: there is no good picture of this horse's head or a nice conformation shot. THe under-saddle pic looks nice but the horse blends into the dark background - it is difficult to see this stallion in any of the pics.
** The header font is very small and difficult to read. I would probably make the font a bit bigger and experiment with bolding it and maybe shadowing it to make it stand out.
** I agree, I would make the sales page more like the "sold" page. I have to click on every single horse just to get basic information on them and as a potential buyer, I don't like that format. I want it to be easier because I'm looking at lots of sites. I like the format of the "sold" page.

[J-Lu]

...I do have a question about a page on my site...

Here is a link to a colt I had for sale...it it too much on the page? I wanted to show him in lots of different situations...for the people who couldn't travel to see him. Any "helpful" comments would be greatly appreciated!! http://www.elegantexpressionsfarm.com/GoldenSunrise2008Foal.html

In terms of *design*, yes, it is cluttered. It might be worth putting some of this information on a separate page and linking to it in order to clean up the page. But the whole point, in my opinion, is to give alot of information on a sales horse. And if you have a horse who is calm, well, conformed, etc., show it off! i would much rather see too much information, pics, videos, show results, etc., than not enough.

if you are looking to sell this horse (and you were) and I was looking to buy him, I would love this page.

[Coppers mom]

Sorry, I'm on a roll and as I said, I love checking out websites.

Things I like:
*** I don't think the site is too dark. The white type provides a nice contrast. I would try to remove the lighter color spot of haze on the background, though. i like the white and green font. It looks very nice, very clean, and professional.
** plenty of pictures and very clear pedigree information.
** easy to navigate and find information
** Good job!!!

Things I might change:
** On your training page, etc, I might make the font of the lime-colored text bigger. It is a little hard to read. It looks smaller than the white font on each page. I might even make all of the font a size bigger - I'd try it and see if I liked it. I think the font would be easier to see if the light grey "haze" can be removed from the background.
** Stallion page: there is no good picture of this horse's head or a nice conformation shot. THe under-saddle pic looks nice but the horse blends into the dark background - it is difficult to see this stallion in any of the pics.
** The header font is very small and difficult to read. I would probably make the font a bit bigger and experiment with bolding it and maybe shadowing it to make it stand out.
** I agree, I would make the sales page more like the "sold" page. I have to click on every single horse just to get basic information on them and as a potential buyer, I don't like that format. I want it to be easier because I'm looking at lots of sites. I like the format of the "sold" page.
Thank you so much! There's nothing I can do about the lighter bit in the background since it's a template, but I'll fiddle around with your other suggestions! I'm glad you've kind of confirmed what I thought about the sales page, I'll definitely see what I can do, or call Mac about it.

[dmalbone]

Here's my ginormous list. I'm not a jerk, just in the information field and have a lot of experience with web page analysis. Plus I've been looking at horses to buy for a while and many pages are disheartening (and disgusting).

Pet peeves:

Religious quotes. I'm a Buddhist and do not honestly feel comfortable looking at your professional site and having your religion preached to me. That's fine and dandy if you want to do it, but realize that you are alienating all of those who do NOT share your beliefs. I also have a problem with Hobby Lobby being closed on Sundays for this reason, but whatever... :D

Large pictures that are not compressed for the internet (and therefore take up tons of bandwidth and max out my data card quicker)

Songs. They're just really not necessary usually. It's rare to find sites that have classy and tasteful music that have it formatted at an appropriate level.

Check your format in IE, Firefox, on Macs, PCs, different size screens, etc. You'd probably be shocked at how different it appears. On the same not, use standard fonts and not specialized ones that others will not have.

Contrary to what MANY people seem to think, it is better to have NO web page than a bad one. It makes your business look unprofessional and childish.

Usually, it's not necessary to use flash (if you don't know how to properly do it), animated GIFs, trailing cursors, flashing lights, glitter, running horse clipart, neon colors, a million colors on your site (pick a few/theme and stick with it).

Don't use funky colored type. It's impossible to read... I can't believe how many sites I see that have a white background with neon green writing on them!

Put prices or at least a price range. It saves you and buyers time. Truly. Why not? Do you really want Joe Schmo emailing you when they're looking for a 10k horse and your cheapest is 30k? Joe Schmo wouldn't have taken up that time and space in your inbox if you had a price.

Likes:

HAVE a webpage. Even if you don't know how to create your own, pay for a professional to create one and maintain. You'd probably be surprised how cheap you can get one and look really professional.

Put pictures of all of your horses. "Coming soon" is fine, but put one up or email if asked. Videos are fantastic. I have no problem buying a horse from across the country if I can get adequate video, etc. If you don't provide enough pics or videos then it's obvious you want to sell your horse locally. No problem at all with that, but just realize many people can't travel back and forth all over the country just looking.

Well organized. I don't like when there's a "for sale" page and a "foals" page and it's confusing which ones are for sale and which aren't. Why are some horses on the for sale page and then other 2 year olds are on the 08 foals page listed for sale? Just confusing on a lot of pages.

I love a simple and clean home page with a nice image of the farm or tasteful graphic with contact info front and center (with names) links to the other pages.

Put information about those horses on there! I don't want to see a gorgeous pic with the info next to it "Petey is a 2008 model for sale. He's a loving horse." Awesome... that tells me one thing out of about a million that I'd want to know. Well, not a million, but you get the gist. If they have show records, put that. If they are youngsters, go ahead and make a disclaimer on the page if it applies to all of them "All yearlings stand for the farrier, grooming, trailer well, and are trained to lead." It's common knowledge for many, but it never hurts to include it.

etc. etc. :lol: I couldn't probably go on forever.

[AdAblurr02]

Boy, what a lot of good info and food for thought you have all expressed! Since I do want to remake a lot of our website(s) this year, this is giving my something to digest and use.

Pricing youngstock is really hard... especially when Mr AdAblurr does not want to stick an arbitrary hard price on youngsters and babies, as he prefers to see how they take to training, aptitude under saddle for various disciplines, etc before he prices them.

After discussing at length with him, I have convinced him that we NEED to put prices on the site, at least for those he *has* priced. The babies and not-yet-started horses will be case by case - right home really counts here. We want them to go to people who will develop them, not just get on and run-jump-whatever the legs off them!

OK, comments welcomed on my home-built site :)
(ducking and running!)

[Dalriada]

When advertising horses for stud or sale on your websites - can you please post heights?

I have a large end large pony mare and need to cross her with smaller stallions but when looking I find many stallion owners forget to post heights on their stallions and upon further looking even their ponies for sale. I'm sure the same works for those breeding horses wanting to get taller individuals.

[genevieveg17]

So much wonderful information listed here. I am going to have to go over my site and make a list of changes for my designer.
Thank you for all of the great tips.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

8. Horses that are already sold. Personally, I'd rather not see endless lists of "sold" horses. I'm looking for your current inventory, not what is no longer available to me. But if you do want to keep horses that you've sold in the past, put them at the bottom of your sales list, and only keep 2 or 3 of the best examples on there. Again, another turnoff is having to wade through 20 listings of horses that are already sold to find the 2-3 that haven't yet sold.

Thank you! Have a 'sold page' or put them all on the bottom of the page, not jumbled up with the ones for sale

[back in the saddle]

Pricing youngstock is really hard... especially when Mr AdAblurr does not want to stick an arbitrary hard price on youngsters and babies, as he prefers to see how they take to training, aptitude under saddle for various disciplines, etc before he prices them.

After discussing at length with him, I have convinced him that we NEED to put prices on the site, at least for those he *has* priced. The babies and not-yet-started horses will be case by case - right home really counts here. We want them to go to people who will develop them, not just get on and run-jump-whatever the legs off them!

Just my .02

IMO.. if you haven't yet figured out how to price your horse/baby you're not ready to sell it. Why even offer it for sale if you don't know what it's worth? ;)

As a potential buyer not having prices listed is VERY VERY frustrating. Sellers complain about people who contact them about the asking price and then never hear anything back after receiving the price. Well....this is one of those reasons. I bugged you once, I don't want to bug you again. I really would prefer not to ask about the price in the first place. List a price, at the very least a price range. I've learned that if a price isn't listed, the folks really don't want to sell the horse.

If a horse sells for less than what you think it was "worth" later, you still probably made money in that you didn't hang onto a horse and feed it for months longer while advertised for 2-4x's the price, especially in today's economy. A bird in the hand...........

[grayfox]

Hi! I hope you don't mind but I love checking out websites.

What I really like:
**I like that the headers (home, broodmares, for sale, etc.) remain the same no matter what page you are on. It helps the potential client feel very oriented whatever page they are on.
** Stallion pages: I love all of the information, the pedigree links, and the links to youngsters. I have enough information so I can make a "first screening" decision without having to contact you. The pictures are also very nice and show performance and conformation very clearly. Lastly, I do like how you show all of the discount options, even the ones that don't apply any more and are crossed out. It tells me that hey-maybe next year I can get a great deal if I book with you early.
*** I like the reference stallion page - very useful.
*** The for sale page: I like that you have incentives and you put them on the first page. As a potential breeder, I'd want to know this. I also very much like that you have YOUR horses and your clients' sales horses on your page. As a potential breeder, I'd like to know how your stallions cross to other mares, and I'd like to know that I could potentially list a youngster for sale on your site.
** love the very nice broodmare pictures on the broodmare page. Very easy to see conformation, pedigree, and other info.
** This is a very very VERY well put together and visually appealing site. It oozes professionalism. It is very easy to find whatever information I need on your site.

What I don't like about your site:

** (crickets chirping in background) - I can't think of anything.

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my site and for the nice compliments.

[Neighland]

I've only skimmed info (at work at the moment) but what fantastic information here, I too am with Genevieve and going over my website now!!

[NorthHillFarm]

I finished revamping my site this morning. There were some great suggestions for improvements to be made from everyone. Thanks everyone for taking the time to tell us what your likes and dislikes are! I do think it helps! Hopefully my changes are improvements!

[AdAblurr02]

www.Statcounter.com is also free and the information it allows you to track is incredible. You can see where your visitors came from, how long they spent on each page, what your most useful search keywords are, etc. etc. It's a little stalker-ish and very addicting, but a very useful tool for advertising, to see what sites are getting you a lot of traffic.
<SNIP>

OMG, what a cool tool! I have just signed on for this service, and am already learning a lot. Kind of working through the learning curve on deciding what the various datasets mean, but that's coming.

THANK YOU!!! for posting this useful info!

Oh, yeah - your site for Sakura Hill is quite lovely, very quick to load (big bonus points) and easy to navigate. I hope to get mine a bit more streamlined in the very near future!

[GGStables]

Me too, please!

Would you guys give mine a try and let me know if the pics are a pain to download and so forth? And anything else that's nice or horrible would be great, thanks a ton.

I'm off to check out North Hill Farm and Grayfox's sites. J-Lu!! You made me all anxious b/c you stopped all the commentry just short of mine. Was/is it that terrible?:lol:

[J-Lu]

Me too, please!

Would you guys give mine a try and let me know if the pics are a pain to download and so forth? And anything else that's nice or horrible would be great, thanks a ton.

I'm off to check out North Hill Farm and Grayfox's sites. J-Lu!! You made me all anxious b/c you stopped all the commentry just short of mine. Was/is it that terrible?:lol:

:) I thought that people were getting sick of me so I stopped. I'm a site-phile, so encourage me at your own risk... :lol: The following are my impressions as I go through your site. It is really different from the others but I think that is advantageous for you and for small breeders.

What I like about your site:

** I am at home on a dsl line and your site/pictures loaded just fine.
** I really like the layout of your site. the greyish wood trim looks very nice/traditional against the black and green background. I REALLY like the buff colored text box - it goes nicely with the forest green background. I also REALLY like the sarif-font on your site - and the use of black and forest green font. So few sites use serif font. It gives it an old-style and classy feel. Scott Hassler's site also has serif font on a buff background and I think it looks good with their particular color combination and site "feel". Their site also is all about conveying a feel and they do it very well, in my opinon.
** the pictures on the front pages look serene, lawn-like, pleasant...very nice.
**About us page: unconventional! But it sets the stage for the very friendly, very homey feel that your whole site has. Some converstational sites seem amateur-ish. i do not get that feel from your site at all. I feel "small operation" but attention to detail and attention to clients...which ultimately is what any client wants. That is what the site conveys to me as I browse through the conversational pages.
** Mare's page: Really like the pictures of your mares, the pedigree information, the breeding AND the registry (thank you!) information, and the links to the other pages they or their foals are listed on. I think it is really smart that you link to their adds on the sales page, so someone who says "hey, that's a nice mare" also knows she's for sale. I also like that you list the factual stats, such as height, etc. You probably don't have to list gender, though.:winkgrin:
** Sales page: I do like that you can click to each horse from links at the top of the page without having to scroll down. I like the pedigree, the stats, the blurb on each horse and the pictures of the sire and dam. I also appreciate the very "homey" paragraph talking about the quality of the photos. Let me add an extra point here:
** I like the homey feel of your site. It is much MUCH more conversational that most professional sites but it also gives the feel of homey-ness and a sense that you are just people like everyone else. Does that make sense? I would feel comfortable calling you for information and chatting with you about the breeding. And yet, the site feels professional, not amateur-ish. Thumbs up. I think you accomplished the feel you are trying to convey...and with professionalism...very well.
** I love the future plans page. It states your goals, and shows the stallions that you're breeding to your mares. it is very consistent with the small, homey feel that your website conveys.
** Stallions page: I always like a reference stallion page or at least refs to the pictures of the stallions. The unique thing about this page is that you AGAIN list the mare cross and show pictures of the resulting babies. Very smart strategy for a smaller farm. If I didn't get to see the babies on another page, I see them here right next to the stallion. I haven't seen this on any other site and I think it works very well for a smaller breeder.
** Photo page: great idea. If I am inerested in your horses there are LOTS of pictures I could look at. LOVE the "around the farm" album, which is very consistent with the "welcome to our home" feel that this whole site has.
** Very easy to find physical, phone and email contact information.
** I really like the layout. You present the mission statement of your operation right under the name of your farm. As a potential client, this tells me right away what you are interested in breeding for. It appeals to amateurs and pros alike. The horse picture at the top of the page is gorgeous. it sounds silly, but the image of the topline of a braided horse in a bridle suggests on-the-line showing and a professional operation. That may or may not be true but that is what the picture suggests. It is a beautiful picture and conveys exactly what you want, I suspect. i also like that the site headers are listed in the same place no matter where you are on the site. It is very easy to navigate and find the information that you need.
** This is a very nice, very appealing small-breeder site, that is promoting the fact that your're a small, customer-oriented breeder. I feel like you'd serve me pie and coffee if I came to see your horses, but I also feel that you are simultaneously very serious/professional about your breeding. The site looks home-made, but it looks professional-to-look-like-homemade. That is what this site conveys to me - and I think it works extremely well, personally. I think you have some extremely smart strategies in the layout. Honestly, I know absolutely nothing about you or your horses or your business but this is the feel I get from your site. I am an amateur owner, though. A professional might be put off by the homey-ness. But it depends on who your target market is.

** Great job!

What I might change:
** I might update/improve some of the pictures of your horses so that they all have nice conformation pictures in addition to the other pictures. THAT SAID, you already address this in your text. And since your site has such a homey feel, I automatically think "well, she didn't have such a great picture of that horse and I don't mind so I think I'll call for more info or a video". I would not hesitate to call you if I had a question. However, as I mentioned, I'm an amateur so the site is appealing. It might be too homey for professionals but it depends on who your target market is.

My two cents! Thanks for letting me indulge! :)

[GGStables]

Gosh....J-Lu, I sent you a pm...

I am stunned at how thorough the response is, but worried in case we seem like the floaty frocked/dungareed-straw hatted-home baked goods-kind of homey people.

Sophistication! Sophistication is what I wanted! :D:lol:

[J-Lu]

:D Gosh....J-Lu, I sent you a pm...

I am stunned at how thorough the response is, but worried in case we seem like the floaty focked/dungareed-straw hatted-home baked goods-kind of homey people.

Sophistication! Sophistication is what I wanted! :D:lol:

Ha! I'll read the PM in a second but homey does not equal amateurish, as I'm hoping I came across. Dungaree-homebaked goods-kind-o'-site is amateurish. Your site isn't amateurish at all - it is quite polished in terms of style. It is a classy design with a comfortable feel. Now, your text IS homey, you must admit. It is conversational - in that, you are having a conversation with the people who visit. You *are*! But it also sets you apart from the sea of other websites. THATS the important part. You could cut down on the conversational aspect if you wanted to, but it all depends on the image you want to portray.

The site design itself is very well designed. Go check out the Hassler site. Theirs is *very* sophisticated, in my opinon, and your style reminds me of that. :)

[GGStables]

:)
Thank you very much - you say such nice things! C'mon over for that pie and coffee!!:D

[MCarverS]

OMG, what a cool tool! I have just signed on for this service, and am already learning a lot. Kind of working through the learning curve on deciding what the various datasets mean, but that's coming.

THANK YOU!!! for posting this useful info!

Oh, yeah - your site for Sakura Hill is quite lovely, very quick to load (big bonus points) and easy to navigate. I hope to get mine a bit more streamlined in the very near future!

Thank! That means a lot! I know there are still some consolidation problems and picture formatting issues, but after paying hundreds of dollars to update the website about 1x a year, I decided to learn how to HTML code for myself and now it's become "my baby" even when I'm across the pond in England!

I'm so glad you liked the statcounter, it's terribly addicting, I find I use the "visitors path" more than anything! Enjoy, you'll find yourself pressing refresh an unhealthy number of times :-)

[railmom]

I would love to hear suggestions for my website! After reading this thread I did add pedigrees for the in utero foals ;) I do need to make a page for each mare or update somehow....I was trying not to be too wordy, but I can see now I need more info. It is very educational to see other sites and the reviews. Thanks!

[Tasker]

I've been somewhat intimidated to ask for feedback on our site since it moved to the new address but would love to have some input. There are some pages that still need retooling from the initial 'must have _something_ up NOW' stage...but it has been tough to condense 40 years of breeding into a simple layout/scheme and learn to use Dreamweaver at the same time. Oh and keep riding!

TIA - www.watermark-farm.net

[GGStables]

I would love to hear suggestions for my website! After reading this thread I did add pedigrees for the in utero foals ;) I do need to make a page for each mare or update somehow....I was trying not to be too wordy, but I can see now I need more info. It is very educational to see other sites and the reviews. Thanks!

OK, I'll give it a shot for you, but you have to keep in mind that I'm a rookie too, so anything I say cannot be held against me and will not hold up in court!:) Just my opinions...

*
Your photo's are beautiful, your horses are so beautiful and I sighed with pleasure looking at them.
*
I felt a little "at sea" with respect to your pages - they float in the middle of the screen rather than contained, so the text looks like it accidentally stayed centred. Know what I mean? (Gosh, I'm SO technical:no:) I guess I'm trying to say a contained/defined/bordered space in which the text appears, looks neater and more precise.
*
Yep, I would add more "meat" to the info so that as a site visitor or prospective buyer I can sense your involvement as it were, in the information.

Oi vey, maybe I should just keep quiet and let the more experienced webber-people speak up.
:)

[railmom]

Your photo's are beautiful, your horses are so beautiful and I sighed with pleasure looking at them.
*
I felt a little "at sea" with respect to your pages - they float in the middle of the screen rather than contained, so the text looks like it accidentally stayed centred. Know what I mean? (Gosh, I'm SO technical:no:) I guess I'm trying to say a contained/defined/bordered space in which the text appears, looks neater and more precise.

Thanks :)

I know what you mean, they need some kind of margin. I didn't want to make the pages too wide and get that wrap around thing, but I think they may be too narrow!

[Allyn M]

Having listened to everyone's main pet peeve about lack of prices for horses,I finally listed a range of prices for our horses which will also protect the trainers interest as well .
Changes in prices take place whenever horses receive additional training or start
showing.
I am also trying to add pictures and will put text in later.

[AdAblurr02]

I know I already asked but really want an honest critique since I do my own site edits and such now. If anyone has a few minutes and can give my site a look I'd appreciate it, good or bad criticism can help, thanks.

looked at your very nicely laid out site, and drooled over your lovely mares - obviously we have style preference differences, but it's a good, clean, efficient easy-to-navigate site - WELL DONE!

Now back to madly trying to incorporate all those wonderful ideas... eerrrr,,,,,,,,

Oh yea, pedigree links.... back to the For Sale page!

My God, I think I spent all of the past WEEK working on web updates!

sigh... Hey, at least I finally got new pics of Crackin' Good - even if trainer DID have him dressed to go to work (ie, polos on fronts, but I DON'T CARE!) He is clean and lovely and turnign into a horse at last!

[AdAblurr02]

this has been a great thread! I just got my website up and the one comment I received from a few people was that it was too wide for their browser. It fits fine on mine---does anyone care to check it out and let me know? We can make it narrower if it really is a problem.

The site is a work in progress, as far as getting up really great pictures and such, but I love the design my web designer came up with.

Thanks for any input.....


www.cornerstonefarmpa.com

Looks like a page width issue, not browser - I opened it in Firefox (my usual) and in IE, and it had to be scrolled sideways in both.
FWIW, and I am NOT a pro, I try to keep my page widths (tables, etc all of it) under 800 - I think that's pixels. It seems to work out well.

[horsechick]

Thanks! I just talked to my web designer and she is working on making it narrower.

[spotsinabox]

I've been swamped at work, so I'm just getting back to this thread . . . J-Lu what a great job you're doing!! I'd really love it if you could give me some ideas . . .

www.mcfarlandfarms-kansas.com

I know we're not really geared up for the COTH crowd . . . but I'm hoping we might get to dip our toes in the pond someday. :)

[AdAblurr02]

I've been swamped at work, so I'm just getting back to this thread . . . J-Lu what a great job you're doing!! I'd really love it if you could give me some ideas . . .

www.mcfarlandfarms-kansas.com

I know we're not really geared up for the COTH crowd . . . but I'm hoping we might get to dip our toes in the pond someday. :)

Hey, that pull-out site menu is pretty cool - I have NO idea how it was done, and I almost missed it, though. Maybe a little brighter color on that pull-out bar?

I am in love with Talladega Tivio.... my ol' Pokey stud would love to meet that gal!

The little blue Dodge truck is cute too - 1951??

[spotsinabox]

Thanks for looking! Yep, the sidebar menu kind of throws people . . .

Good guess on the truck . . . it's a 1948 Dodge. Was an old farm truck we had repainted. It was my oldest son's until he decided he needed something that would go a little faster and get a little better gas mileage.

Yep, we focus on all-around APHA/PtHA horses, so I do have a little variety. Talladega Tiger is a sweetheart . . . I need to breed her to a reining stallion but right now we're going to breed everything to the new junior stallion.

I just wondered if the website is too busy or if I rambled too much . . . . I know I need to get better videos and conformation pictures --that's my goal for this summer.

And I've been battling with the 'newsletter' section -- it's Word Press and I haven't quite figured it out. I've noticed a lot of people starting to use Facebook for news type pages, but I didn't really like Facebook . . .

Anyone ever do anything with World Press?