Northernhorse.com Blog

We realize that lots of horse operations wouldn’t call 2009 a stellar year but we did get this very positive message from one of our clients.

Hi Lynn, Merry Xmas to Northernhorse! Really enjoying this new collaboration. Business has been booming in 2009!! Thankyou, Dale Dodd

We are so pleased that we can be of help especially during these tougher times. The number of people visiting Northernhorse.com has actually increased in the past year so we are getting you seen by even more prospective clients. We have added a Twitter feed and are posting interesting tidbits from or about our Northernhorse.com clients on the Northernhorse.com Facebook page too.We have noticed that this has increased not only our local traffic but also the international traffic. It also helps us get news that is relevant to our clients out to the world.

If you are one of the Ranches or Businesses on Northernhorse.com be sure to send us any interesting news and views and we will get you even more coverage. If you hear some news from the horse world that would be interesting to our readers or if you have some news that you would like to share from your own operation, be sure to let us know. We will give you credit for reporting the news and we will even include a link to your website to give you even better traffic flow from Northernhorse.com.

Merry Christmas to all our clients and visitors. Working with you brings us joy! Even we are amazed at how well this website continues to work to promote Canadian horse people and their horses.

We get calls from folks having trouble putting their photos on their classified ads because the images that come from their cameras are too big and get “timed out” by their email programs. Mark has tracked down a really good solution to this problem and we are posting it here to help you out. This will work not only if you want to upload to our classifeds (or your own website that has our “Easy Forms”) but also if you just want to email a photo to a friend. It makes them much more user friendly. Continue Reading »

I’m not quite sure why some folks who would like to get some extra exposure for their sale, event or whatever don’t grab up those premium ad spots on the left side of Northernhorse.com just under the “What’s New” section. With well over 25,000 different computers visiting Northernhorse.com every week, and almost all those visitors interested in horses, horse products and horse events, it is a tremendous opportunity to get some effective and cheap advertising. The cost is only $50/week if you provide the image. Don’t have a suitable banner? We can design an image for you at a reasonable cost  – you may even be able to reuse it in the future.

I’m thinking that most folks don’t even really realize that those excellent advertising opportunities are even available.  They are. Just email service@northernhorse.com if you would like more info or if you would like to get one of those highly visible spots working for you.

In our constant search of ways to give our clients an edge on the competition, Twitter has come to our attention. On a previous blog I offered to do a tutorial about Twitter. Well, it seems that I don’t need to as I have found an excellent tutorial is already available. Just check out http://business.twitter.com/twitter101 if you think you might want to try something new that doesn’t have a big, long learning curve. I know lots of horsepeople don’t want to spend time on computers but if you are running a business and you are finding times tougher than usual, maybe being one of the first users in your field (an “early adopter”) to a new technology may give you a little edge in your marketing. And, quite often these kind of things work best for the early adopters.

This is probably a great thing to plan for fall/winter. I certainly wouldn’t give up these warm days when you can be outside doing something with your horse. I’m just getting you used to the idea.

Looking for a way to get more advertising on Northernhorse.com? We like the uncluttered look and really limit the graphic ads to keep the focus on our clients’ listings so extra advertising opportunities on the site are likely to stand out and get you great value for the cost. Continue Reading »

Have you noticed the “Follow us on Twitter” link on the right side of Northernhorse.com? Are you thinking that you just don’t have time for that “social networking” stuff?

I wouldn’t want to say that I think Twitter is an essential tool for marketing your business or horse but it is free, it is being used by a lot of people and when you consider that you are limited to sending or having to read 140 characters it can be a fairly time effective way to get information and to send it. Continue Reading »

Yes we can provide even better value for our Classified Clients during the recession. For the price of a classified ad with one photo you can now have up to 4 photos with your ad. That’s right – A $30 Northernhorse.com Classified ad can now have up to 4 photos.  And it still runs for 3 months. And it still can be renewed for half price at the end of the three months. Yes, and each ad still has an individual counter so you can see how many folks took a look at your classified ad.

With the ability to change the text and all 4 photos any time you would like, you can use the tools we provide to present your horse or product in a professional manner to the many thousands of visitors we have searching the classifieds each week. Take the time to present them well which should be even easier now with 4 photos. With more and more people riding all winter and lots more planning summer rides and clinics and showing, there are still lots of horses and horse related services and products selling and a whole lot of the buyers and sellers are getting together on the Classifieds on Northernhorse.com.

TWO CANADIAN BREEDERS TOP CONSIGNORS AT 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SALE The prestigious 2008 World Championship Sale was managed by Professional Auction Service, Inc., and held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma from November 15-16, 2008. The Canadian Quarter Horse Association (CQHA) is proud to recognize and heartily congratulates the following Canadian breeders who consigned the overall high selling horse; and the overall second high selling horse. The auction service’s official results report the 2008 total sale prices at $1,331,300, averaging $4,755. on 280 lots sold. (All prices are quoted in US currency). Continue Reading »

This one is for the folks that use the Northernhorse.com Classifieds to sell their horses, tack, trailers, etc…

When placing an ad with us, be sure that you never list your email address within the writeup area. Doing so allows users to send you email directly, or even worse, it allows them to harvest your email address and pass it along to other individuals and organizations.

Remember that users can always send you a message with the contact form found below your ad.

The contact form will automatically block the majority of fraudulent and unsolicited messages that would otherwise have no trouble reaching you. We block individuals based on location, message content, and their relationship to our own personal black list.

If you are one of the few unlucky enough to receive a fraudulent or unsolicited message, please forward it to classifieds@northernhorse.com, and we will take care of it immediately. But please keep in mind that if you are placing your email address within the writeup area of your ad, we cannot block the offending user from sending you messages.

We have had repeated requests for ad space on the front of Northernhorse.com and we have decided to give it a try. We are limiting the ads to 5 at a time as we see on the comments on the April Draw that we still have a lot of regular visitors who use a dial-up connection. This reminds me of a good tip for website owners: You should look at your website on dial-up once in awhile just to make sure you aren’t eliminating a big percentage of your potential clients by making it too slow. Continue Reading »