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 Your website is your greatest business asset! Is it portraying your horses and business in the best light? Is the design outdated? Is it user friendly and inviting? Is your content up to date? Do you frequently post fresh content to your blog? These are all vital considerations that will play a key role in the success of your marketing efforts.
If you’re considering designing a new website, refreshing your current site or simply crafting periodic updates, now’s the time to assure your site reflects your business in the most positive light possible. 20% OFF ALL WEBSITE PROJECTS booked by JULY 15, 2024. PLUS 10% OFF the following: Social Media Marketing Packages Comprehensive Marketing Plans Event Planning & Mgmt. Services Email Marketing Copywriting Graphic Design Services Check out all the services we offer HERE. Then contact us for a complimentary consultation and let us put our expertise to work for you!  Foals bring such joy to our lives. Send us your best shot, and we’ll make your little one a star!!! All photos will be shared with our audience, and the winner will receive a custom designed pedigree AND will be featured in an upcoming promotion with a link to your farm’s website or social media page. So send us your best by August 31, 2024, and let us help celebrate your new arrivals!
 If you're not using Instagram to promote your business, you're really missing out. Instagram has emerged as a powerhouse in the realm of digital marketing, revolutionizing the way businesses engage with their audiences. With over a billion active users monthly, this visually-driven platform offers unparalleled opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services, connect directly with their target demographics, and build a distinctive brand identity. Through its seamless integration of photos, videos, stories, and interactive features, Instagram not only amplifies visibility but also fosters meaningful customer relationships, making it an indispensable tool for modern business marketing strategies.
Whether your new to Instagram or familiar with its features, the resources below will provide a wealth of information to help you build your brand and leverage the power of Instagram. And of course, we're here to help, so feel free to contact us with any questions. INSTAGRAM FOR BUSINESS – RESOURCES IG business vs personal account https://www.business.com/articles/instagram-business-account/ How to Make Your Instagram a Business Account https://get.nicejob.com/resources/how-to-make-your-instagram-a-business-account Hubspot: Instagram for Business https://offers.hubspot.com/instagram-for-business 6 Instagram Features Marketers Should ALWAYS Use In 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDdzg8ksK8w Instagram Marketing For Small Business (2024 UPDATE) https://youtu.be/b_gvwR1pg5I?si=IJ2T0jxMoljmVR1E How to use Instagram for business: a complete guide https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-for-business/ How to Use Instagram for Business and Drive Results in 2024 https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-instagram-for-business/ 5 Reasons to Use an Instagram Business Account + Set Up Tips https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-business-profile/  AHP members enjoyed a visit to Double Dan Horsemanship during the pre-conference "Breeds of the Bluegrass" Tour. By: Carol Trimboli Aldridge I recently had the pleasure, once again, of serving as the Conference Management Director for American Horse Publications’ (AHP) Annual Equine Media Conference. And what a pleasure it was! A record number of freelancers, publishers, authors, business owners, association staff, photographers, podcasters (basically anyone who produces content focused on the equine industry) came together in Lexington, Kentucky for three days of education, networking and fun.  The Conference offered something for everyone, including a “Breeds of the Bluegrass” Tour with visits to Double Dan Horsemanship, The Kentucky Horse Park and Old Friends Farm and over 18 educational sessions. Attendees also enjoyed three lavish receptions and six full meals provided by renowned sponsors such as Purina, Farnam, Breyer, Equine Network, Absorbine, Straight Arrow, Zoetis and many more. But the best part was watching everyone freely sharing their knowledge and resources with each other. Newcomers consistently expressed their delight in the welcoming spirit, and the overall camaraderie and generosity was truly a treasure to witness!
I personally offer my gratitude to them for their valuable contributions to the equine community over the years. It was an honor and always a joy to work with them, and I wish them the greatest happiness in the future. And, I'm pleased to report that AHP will remain in good hands as the Board of Directors and Easter Associates Management Company take the reins to guide the Association toward continued success ahead.
If you are looking to connect with others throughout the horse industry, boost your visibility and your knowledge and get your news in front of over 600 leading industry professionals, then you need to check out AHP. Visit them at: americanhorsepubs.org.  Many of my clients come to me with outdated WordPress (WP) websites, needing a more streamlined, user-friendly option. I consistently recommend Wix for several reasons.
For the average small business owner, the learning curve for WP is steep. Creating or updating the site’s design and content as well as regularly managing the necessary plugins, themes and general maintenance of the site can prove to be time consuming and somewhat daunting. If you require a supercharged site with more complex functionality, you may opt for WP, but be prepared to employ the services of an expert to ensure your site remains secure, stable and up-to-date. Wix provides everything needed and more to produce and maintain an aesthetically pleasing, modern, user-friendly site that will present your business in a professional and appealing light for your target audience. There is no monthly maintenance to worry about, excellent SEO tools, hundreds of modern, customizable design templates, mobile optimization, an easy drag and drop interface and even ecommerce, membership, and high-quality media capabilities. Learn more about these two website builders: Wix vs. WordPress: Which Is Best in 2024? By SEMRush Wix Vs. WordPress (2024 Comparison) By Forbes
“AHP is fortunate to have Carol join the 2023 conference team,” says Chris. Carol’s event management skills and experience as an AHP member are a perfect combination to add fresh ideas on planning the association’s annual event.”
“I’ve always had a passion for bringing people together and building a sense of community. And I’ve long admired the strong networking and educational benefits provided to AHP members, especially through the annual conference,” states Carol. “I am honored to have this opportunity to put my event management skills to work to help create a fun and successful conference for all AHP members.” Born and raised in Queens, New York, Carol went on to attend Virginia Intermont College, where she earned a B.A. degree in equine studies. She spent the early years of her career as a riding instructor and farm manager in Virginia, New Jersey and on Long Island, New York. Her career ultimately led her to Lexington, Kentucky, where she thrived as a full-time event and association manager for an international equine membership organization. In 2010 she founded Equine Office Solutions, a digital marketing and event management agency serving equine business owners and associations throughout the United States. The 2023 AHP Conference, “Meet at the Mesa,” will be held June 22-24 in Tempe, Arizona. American Horse Publications (AHP) has united equine media, businesses, media professionals, nonprofit organizations/associations, and students for over 50 years. The professional membership association promotes excellence in equine media and encourages relationships and communication within the horse industry through education and networking. For more information, visit www.americanhorsepubs.org. For more information, contact: Christine Brune, AHP Executive Director, E-mail: [email protected].
 By: Carol Aldridge & Erica Franz In 2022 more than 43% of all websites worldwide were created using WordPress, according to W3Techs. "WordPress is used by 63.6% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 43.2% of all websites." WordPress has become so popular because it is flexible enough to create many different types of websites. Because it can be so simple to get started creating your own website with WordPress, the importance of regularly maintaining your site can be easily overlooked. To share more about the benefits of regularly maintaining your website, we turn to Erica Franz of Fat Pony. Erica has been developing websites for 23 years, with a keen focus on WordPress since 2005. Q: WITH SO MANY WEBSITE PLATFORMS TO CHOOSE FROM, WHAT MAKES WordPress SUCH A POPULAR OPTION? A: WordPress is well known for being a very flexible way to build just about any type of website you can dream up. There are already tens of thousands of plugins you can use to add functionality to a WordPress site. And because WordPress powers such a large segment of websites on the internet it can be straight-forward to find a developer for a custom solution. The WordPress community is also well known for how much they contribute free knowledge and support to make creating your website as encouraging as possible. Q: WHY IS MONTHLY WordPress MAINTENANCE SO IMPORTANT? A: Your website is your most valuable promotional asset. Even if you’ve created it yourself instead of paying a professional, your time costs money. If you buy a brand new vehicle but don’t maintain it the investment you made in it is lost very quickly. And the cost to fix problems is much greater than if you would have regularly maintained the vehicle to begin with. Websites work in a similar way. The pace that WordPress adds new features and technology evolves like driving a vehicle. That progress puts wear and tear on your website. If you don’t regularly maintain your site to make sure it’s working correctly with the changing technology and address potential safety issues while they are still minor, it can cause a full break-down or cost a lot of money to fix a big problem later on. Regularly maintaining your site means updating the WordPress Core, which powers your site, and the theme and plugins that are active. Updates to these components don’t just add features, many times the updates address security flaws to protect against hackers and bugs that can negatively impact your website. Maintenance can also improve the site’s performance through faster page loading speeds, enhanced SEO and an overall better user experience for increased site conversions. During maintenance, backing up your site frequently can literally save your site if it is hacked or compromised – you do have regular site backups, right? Bottom line - providing regular monthly maintenance is a direct way to protect your investment. Preventing a major site issue with regular maintenance is less expensive than having to rebuild a site from scratch or recover and restore from a backup. Q: WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF MY SITE IS HACKED? A: Having your website hacked could have a number of potential consequences. In some instances, hackers might simply leave a calling card to let you know that they hacked your site; like changing the homepage to show a message that you’ve been hacked. However, it is more likely the hacker will cause real damage. They may steal data from your website to try and hack into other websites, like financial institutions. They could take over your website and hold it for ransom, locking you out until you pay. If you are running an eCommerce site they might steal financial information and customer data. This could open you up to lawsuits, and depending on local laws you could face additional fines and penalties. Don’t forget about the cost involved in repairing the damage done to your site by hackers. It may be as simple as addressing the security flaw or as extreme as having to rebuild the website from scratch. Q: HOW MUCH DOES A WordPress MAINTENANCE PLAN COST? A: Developers will either charge a flat rate or an hourly rate for website maintenance. The cost may vary depending on how complex your website is and how often you have it maintained. Hiring a Developer to maintain your site on a monthly basis often allows them to give you a better price. This is because implementing smaller updates more frequently can reduce the risk of complications. Because your Developer is also regularly accessing the website their familiarity with its functionality can also decrease the amount of time needed to properly maintain the website. Because of how flexible WordPress is for creating a fully custom website, your website might not be like any other website that’s been built before. Having a good relationship with your Developer can end up saving you money in the long-term and keep your website running smoothly. Q: HOW DO I FIND A QUALIFIED WordPress DEVELOPER TO MAINTAIN MY SITE? A: There are many ways you can find a qualified WordPress Developer to maintain your website. Word-of-mouth is an excellent approach, ask the people you know who have professional websites if they can make a recommendation. Generally, people are unlikely to refer you to someone they distrust or have had bad work from, so the recommendations you receive this way tend to be of very good quality. You can also post a listing to WordPress Jobs. It’s good to be as specific about the requirements when posting a public job listing to elicit the most qualified applicants; this includes the most important aspects of your website and a general budget. Many times WordPress Developers donate some of their time to help answer support topics in the WordPress.org Forums, and in specialized online groups for themes and plugins. If your site relies heavily on a specific theme or plugin you might consider joining an online community related to that theme/plugin and inquire about hiring a Developer that way. There are also many development agencies if you prefer not to work one-on-one with a freelance Developer. Q: CAN I MAINTAIN MY WordPress SITE MYSELF? A: Just like vehicle maintenance, yes you can maintain your own website. It’s important to weigh the cost vs risk of doing it yourself or hiring a professional to maintain your website. There are numerous things that can go wrong when updating a website. These are often easily resolved by a professional if caught early, but left unattended, could develop into larger issues as time goes by. Before deciding to perform site maintenance yourself, ask yourself these questions: - Do you know how to resolve a fatal error should it occur? - Do you know what to do if an update breaks some other functionality on the site? - Do you know how to restore a full backup of the site should you need to? - Is the money you’re saving worth the cost of fixing your site should it break in the process? In conclusion, you’ve made the smart choice to build your website with WordPress. Now there are steps you can take to protect your investment and assure that your greatest asset continues to serve your business for years to come. If you have any questions regarding marketing, website management, or other promotional topics, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]; or if you have any questions regarding WordPress Development feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. ______ ABOUT US EQUINE OFFICE SOLUTIONS At Equine Office Solutions, we understand the unique challenges that horse-related business owners face in today’s rapidly changing digital world. Since 2010, our clients have enjoyed focused, personalized support, customized marketing plans and comprehensive sales funnels designed to increase website traffic and generate qualified leads. Contact us to learn how you can achieve your goals with consistent, quality results. Carol Aldridge, Ph: (859) 361-9416, www.equineofficesolutions.com FAT PONY Fat Pony has been helping equine businesses with their websites for more than 20 years. We build long-term professional relationships with businesses who value efficient, transparent, and reliable website development. Offering front-end and back-end development, SEO, and UX optimization, we pay attention to the things that matter. Contact us to discuss your short and long-term website development needs. Erica Franz, [email protected], Ph: (206) 794-2005, www.fatpony.me |
