If you’re growing for market (farmers’ market, CSA, etc), chances are good that, no matter where in the world you are, an online presence is a plus. But you want the Web to work for you, not the other way round, so keep things simple. Here are some tips for beginners—stick to them and you won’t go wrong.
- Start simple. A website with one to five pages, an email newsletter, and a Facebook account will probably deliver 80-90% of the benefits of a more involved effort.
- Keep it simple. Literally billions of people have web sites, Facebook and Twitter accounts and the like, so how hard can it be? The minute you start feeling confused, consider backtracking to where things made sense, and dropping or putting aside for now whatever it that’s causing the confusion.
- For a web site, use WordPress. It’s free, it’s used by tens of millions, it’s robust, simple to manage, user-friendly, has tons of add-on features that let you customize it if you have something specific in mind…really, if you want to keep it simple, don’t think further than WP.
- Use social media with common sense. Popular social networking sites include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube fits here…and more. Avoid spending much time posting and cross-posting, and coming up with promotional plans, start by simply sending basic messages on the services you know people you’re trying to reach are using (they’re local people, just ask them!). Listen closely to feedback and figure out where to go from there.