How To Sell Cattle Online
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With the vast changing landscape of livestock marketing, and bringing these traditions into the 21st Century, learning HOW TO SELL CATTLE ONLINE has never been more essential of a skill to have.
However, there is more to it than randomly posting on social media or setting up a website. It takes full attention to detail, if you want to be successful with it.
Through my blog you will find various tips and tricks covering the nuances of using the internet to buy and sell cattle online.
But today we are going to get into the nitty gritty of the actual HOW. By using the correct imagery, wording, and online spaces I know that you can do this, and do it well. There are social media, classified websites such as Steer Planet, and your own search optimized business website to use as your launching pad of digital success.
My biggest takeaway for you today, however, is to perfect one of these options at a time. Do not try to tackle them all at once, you will find yourself overwhelmed and exhausted with the feeling of chasing your own tail.
I am not bias or anything BUT, using social media and an optimized website are my FAVORITE techniques for getting higher payouts with less payins.
So without further introduction, let’s do this thing.
Optimizing Your Website To Sell Cattle Online
I am going to use a word (technically an acronym) that has been known to cause fits of anger and broken belongings:
SEO
Or
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
I know. I KNOW. That is such a confusing thing!
This person says not to worry about it.
That person says it needs to be in every inch of your planning and digital presence.
So who is right???
Trick question… they both are.
The proper implementation of SEO, while needs to be thought out and strategized, should also be natural and flow smoothly through your content.
DO NOT!
I repeat
DO NOT keyword stuff your website and content. Google can see this and will mark you as spam.
You need to FIRST do your market research and know exactly who you are talking to. Once you have completed this step of the process (thoroughly) you will naturally have the right inclination of what information should be included in your content but also how to create helpful information that will sky rocket your web page to the top of your specific niches google search.
You can choose to use awesome keyword research tools like SEMRush which allows you to dial in on amazing analytics and related keywords and phrases, practically taking any and all work out of the research for you or
do it the longhand way by simply typing in your keywords/phrases into the google search bar to see what returns.
Once you choose the right keywords to get focused in on, the rest is cake. Develop the content of your main website pages and then 25-30 posts around the top keywords on the blog section and within a few months you will be generating more organic traffic than you ever expected.
Using Classified Websites To Sell Cattle Online
There are so many classified websites out there for you to pick and choose from for the purchase or sales of cattle.
A lot of them are really great. But…
Like everything, which one you use depends completely on what your overall marketing and company goals are.
If you are selling show cattle, I would use one like
If you are selling commercial cattle, I would use one like
The trick to being successful on a classifieds website is
TAKE GOOD PICTURES and
BE AS DETAILED AS POSSIBLE
I don’t know about you, but vague and cryptic sales posts leave me with an eeby jeeby spam feeling. If you love what you do and you are proud of the product that you produce show it in your sales post.
Use good lighting and line up your shot. In the description, put every single piece of information that you can possible come up with in it. You do not want people to have to dig.
If they can find exactly what they are looking for without having to go any further, I can GUARANTEE you that you will sell more cattle, faster, at a higher price point.
Entering A Digital Auction To Sell Cattle Online
Now, every good cattleman knows a thing or two about auctions.
Generally speaking they have good hot chocolate and good grub.
But the beauty of digital auctions???
You can have both of those, while sitting in your recliner. With your pajamas on.
A thing of excellence my friends.
Online auction sites like www.superiorlivestock.com have been around as long as we have been able to connect to satellite power out here in the sticks.
They are handled two ways:
1. Cattle are brought to the sale barn then video streamed from the sale pen
2. You send in video footage of lot to be sold that they then stream over their network
It really cannot get easier. The trick though, like all auctions, is you can never guarantee that the right buyer will be in the right barn on the right day. And again, you have got to make sure that YOUR video is THE BEST video. Clients are way to accustomed to high quality images and video these days for you to play the crap shoot.
That’s why I am the biggest supporter of the first option, optimizing and activating your website with the right content and the next one:
Using Social Media To Sell Cattle Online
Now on to my favorite option.
Do you want to know the NUMBER ONE benefit of using social media to promote your business is????
In most cases, it is free to use.
FREE.
How many other advertising opportunities do you have that cost you nothing?
That’s what I thought.
So it is time that you got serious about how you are using your time online and the easy ways you can turn that “waste of time” into profit in less than an hour of work per day.
With a bit of sweat equity and the knowledge to run cost free programs, we can have you up and running in no time flat.
But like every other way of marketing, you must first know WHO you are talking to before you can distinguish HOW to talk to them. You must create a persona around your audience and deliver to them exactly what they want, without being salesy.
Think of it this way, if you were super excited about a new accessory or tool and you wanted to tell your friend all about it because you just absolutely knew it was something they would love….
Would you:
a. Lay it on think like a car salesman
b. Talk to them in a REAL conversation about why you love “such n’ such” SO MUCH
The same is true for your social media channels. While there is a time and a place for a “pitch” most of the time you should be just talking to your friends, sharing your day, and detailing the exciting things going on…
Even the ones that don’t feel to exciting to you.
So, now that we have covered the top crust of each of those options, do you know what I do each and everyday????
SELL CATTLE ONLINE
Shocker, I know.
I have spent years upon years learning the ins and outs of marketing online, I know exactly what you need to know.
I’ve also spent years in the trenches of commodity risk management for a CoOp and one of the largest beef feedlots IN THE WORLD. I’ve been around the block, I know a thing or two that you should to…
Want to learn more?? Check this out….
Drop me some questions and comments below. I would LOVE to answer more for you!
