Selling Your Horse Effectively on Advertising Websites

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Alan_T_West-Robinson]Alan T West-Robinson
Why is it that so many sellers fail to take full advantage of the web advertising medium when selling their Horse or Pony and consequently limit the capability of prospective buyers to make informed decisions?
There is no doubt that the web represents a great opportunity to buy and sell horses. The benefits over and above traditional magazine advertising are significant to both buyer and seller.
Most of the professional equine advertising sites allow up to 4 photographs and a video clip to be included in their advert. The following statistics from a leading equestrian advertising site may surprise you.
Bear in mind this is one of the best laid out sites and it is currently free to advertise with up to 4 photos and a video clip with every advert. From all adverts placed:
� Around 8.5% had no photograph at all
� Around 51% had just one photograph included
� Around 8.5% had two photographs and
� 31% had four photographs
� Amazingly NO (zero) video clips have been uploaded
These websites can be likened to a High Street and individual adverts likened to shops in that street. The most successful shops have a great shop window - designed to spark interest in the potential shopper and encourage them to enter the shop.
Now consider the shop window scenario in the context of the website. Every advertisement placed has a summary advert (shop window). This should have the best photograph available and an excellent, summary paragraph designed to encourage the shopper to "click" for more details - in other words, to enter the shop.
Now imagine entering a shop and finding only one item there - the same item you have just seen in the shop window! It doesn't really work does it? At this point there should be more photographs - ideally as many as the website permits - and the all important video!
The video really is important. Unlike a High Street shop, on a website you cannot touch and feel the product. A video on a website is the next best thing. It allows a prospective buyer to see your horse doing what it has been trained to do. The video clip should correlate with rest of the advertisement for example: if the horse excels at jumping, there should be a video of it jumping and not one where it is being walked around a yard on a lead reign.
Now the words: With maybe a thousand words at your disposal the key here is to put yourself in the position of the buyer. You may love your horse and will want to wax lyrical about it's temperament for example. These are important components of your text but don't get carried away. Use the space to also imagine what a prospective buyer is looking for and convey this information truthfully and passionately.
Apart from basic acronyms avoid using them and instead present something that is well written and that will excite a prospective buyer to enquire further.
All simple, common sense stuff... and so I come back to my original question at the top of this page - "Why is it that so many sellers fail to take full advantage of the web advertising medium when selling their Horse or Pony and consequently limit the capability of prospective buyers to make informed decisions?"
I think the answer is all about perception and mind-set. Despite the fact that the internet it is now a huge part of most people's lives, when it comes to selling something we own privately, many of us still think of "the classifieds" in some form of printed matter as the first and natural choice.
In fact the "reach" with this form of advertising is becoming increasingly limited and is not therefore great value for money. Furthermore the opportunity to really showcase your Horse or Pony is limited to perhaps a few things like the use of colour and font types/densities.
I believe there is still a perception that placing an advertisement in a printed magazine is "easier" than placing it on the web. This is simply not the case - not only is the converse true but web advertising is far quicker to complete and the "ad" is usually "out there" in front of your target audience within 24 hours.
These two factors - perception and mind-set, mean many sellers take a half hearted approach to the exercise of placing their private advertisement on a website.
Instead they should prepare a small portfolio of good quality, meaningful landscaped orientated photographs and a short video of their horse, doing what it has been trained to do. Add to this some carefully written text with the buyer's perspective in mind and these simple preparatory steps will ensure the best possible chance of selling your horse in the best medium available and with the widest audience.
Alan West-Robinson - http://www.stabletraders.com
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Selling-Your-Horse-Effectively-on-Advertising-Websites&id=6613085] Selling Your Horse Effectively on Advertising Websites