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| How to Sell Your Horse... (Tips for writing an effective ad) |
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| This is especially geared toward writing effective ads for horse classified sites on the internet. The very best site is Dreamhorse, followed by equine.com and AgDirect. The first time I sold a horse on the internet I placed his ad on about seven sites. I got more hits from Dreamhorse than the rest put together. |
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You Need A Photo. On Dreamhorse this only costs $15 so if you sell your horse only two days faster with the photo, it will be worth the expense. The photo places your ad above all the text ads and draws attention to your horse. This also weeds out a lot of emails from people who just write to say, "please send a photo".
At the very least, have photos of your horse somewhere on the internet and include the address in your ad. Make sure the title of your ad lets people know that photos are available if they click the ad. If your horse photos are in an online photo album, make sure the proper album is well marked. It is frustrating to have to wade through someone's prom photos to find the horse for sale. |
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You Need A GOOD Photo. This is an addendum to rule #1. No heads sticking out of stall windows, no grazing photos, no yearling photos if your horse is now five years old. The photo should either be a full body conformation shot (with the horse stood up in an appropriate manner for his or her breed) or an action photo showing a typical sales-type pose for your discipline. You know what I mean... if your horse is a hunter he should be braided and jumping with his knees tucked up tight and even. If he's a dressage horse photograph him on the bit doing extended trot. Professional show photos work great. Still frames taken from a video will work in a pinch, especially if he is green and has not shown yet. It is very tricky to get the timing right with most digital cameras. |
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Spell Check Spell Check Spell Check. I know Dreamhorse doesn't have spell check... you can cut and paste, can't you? Paste the text from your ad into a Word document and let Microsoft check your spelling. Here are some important ones: conformation, mane, and gaits. Oh, and spell your breed correctly, please. It is Thoroughbred and Welsh, not Thorobred and Welch. |
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Know What You Are Talking About. Or at least sound like you do. It is important to use the right lingo in your ad. Proper use of words like typey, daisy-cutter, and cowy make you sound knowledgeable about your horse or your sport. Improper use just sounds dumb. Know what is involved in, say, Pony Club before putting something like "great Pony Club prospect" in your ad for an unbroke two year old or a 26-year old Shetland.
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Anticipate How The Buyer Will Search. Dreamhorse has all kinds of great searches but some of them are kind of quirky. Not all the searches pick up the breed you list as secondary so if your horse has more than one breed you might want to list him twice or even more. For example if he is an Appendix Quarter Horse, list him as AQHA Appendix, list him with Quarter Horse as a primary breed and Thoroughbred Cross as secondary, and then turn it around and list Thoroughbred Cross primary and Quarter Horse secondary.
Another example: if you live in Portland, Oregon but are listing a horse for a friend who lives in Spokane, Washington, don't list the horse's location as Portland! People searching around the Spokane area will miss the horse if they perform a zip code search and people searching around Portland will probably be reluctant to drive 350 miles to see a horse. |
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back to horses... |
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