We audited over 225 ag company websites - and the results will help you grow and thrive online.
Introduction
You already know
the agricultural world is changing quickly.
Ag businesses of all sizes are moving online and adopting digital opportunities to attract new customers across the globe. Tools, services, and pretty much everything else, are being sold online, and customers expect to find everything they need with a simple Google search.
The online world is growing more competitive every day and at Agtivation we want to help agriculture businesses like you compete and grow online in this competitive market.
So, we conducted research into how the agricultural industry is shaping up online compared to other industries.
We wanted to see how many companies within the industry were able to deliver the standards that their customers expected online.
We looked at over 225 ag businesses and graded their websites.
We also analyzed their businesses for 7 important elements, took a look to see if they were using social media to promote their businesses as well as YouTube for marketing, we also dug into their Google My Business profiles to see where they stood and how much they could improve (or if they were using it at all).
Here are the key areas we looked into during our research:
Our team used
HubSpot’s Website Grader tool, to calculate the average score for the site’s performance, SEO, mobile responsiveness, and security standards.The average we found was 73% across all the sites we graded with a low score of 0 to a high a 97.
Here’s how the 227 sites we ran through HubSpot Website Grader scored:
- 6 sites scored in the 0 - 25 range
- 35 sites scored in the 26 - 50 range
- 49 sites scored in the 51 - 75 range
- 137 sites scored in the 76-100 range
Out of the 227 sites we ran through HubSpot Website Grader
only 38 sites received a score of 90 or higher.
We wanted to see what the industry standards were in each of these areas and share the results with you, so you can grade your own website and
improve your online presence to start selling more.
Have a look at our findings and figure out where your company is on its digital journey. Start attracting more clients to your business and
improve your website so you can compete better online.
Have a look at our findings and figure out where your company is on its digital journey. Start attracting more clients to your business and improve your website so you can compete better online.
User-friendliness of the website:
Are agricultural websites mobile-ready?
76.2% of websites in the agricultural industry are mobile-ready. This is great to see because
being mobile-ready means Google will rank you higher on the search results and you’ll get more visitors to your website.
However, this also means that over 20% of websites in the agricultural industry still aren’t mobile-ready - which isn’t good for those companies. It’s a necessity these days for companies to have mobile-ready websites or you’re going to lose leads.
Why would you lose leads?
Most people access the internet through mobile devices like phones and tablets.
83% of the U.S. population uses a mobile device to search for the products and services they need and it's expected to increase to 86.7% by 2025.
If a site isn’t mobile-ready, it won’t look right when displayed on a mobile screen. Which means that your visitor, who’s viewing your site on their phone, will more than likely click away if it doesn’t work for them.
Make sure your website is made with mobile users in mind by:
- Making sure your contact information is easily accessible.
- Is your business address easy to find? People often use Google to find out where businesses are located so don’t make your location hard to find.
- Make sure all your content is easy to read on smaller screens.
- Check to see if your buttons are easy to press and select on smaller screens.
- Make sure all your content, images and other media aren’t distorted on phone screens and load properly.
- Page load speed is important regardless of what device your user is on but if your site doesn’t load instantly on a mobile device your user is probably going to go elsewhere.
Take a look at your website on a mobile device today to make sure it’s accessible for your users.
Is your web page mobile-friendly?
You can test it here. If it fails the test, let’s chat.
Do agricultural websites look professional?
Having a professional-looking website is a lot more important than you might think. About
94% of your users’ first impressions are related to your site’s web design and
75% of your website’s credibility comes down to your design.
With the websites we audited over 65% of websites looked professional
but around 35% of websites looked unprofessional.
Having an unprofessional website won’t give your business the credit it deserves and you won’t look like an expert to potential clients.
Even if it’s mobile-ready if your website isn’t pleasing to look at your potential clients will just leave. The standards for web design are constantly evolving and your website should always be designed to meet the standards that your users are used to.
A website that is outdated isn’t the way to get recognized by your audience. If your website looks unprofessional you could be losing a lot of prospects. If somebody lands on your website and sees it’s not well put together they’ll think the same of your business and they won’t want to work with you.
Digital marketing for agricultural businesses
How many agricultural websites blog regularly?
Only 12.5% of the websites audited had a blog. Blogs are a vital part of any
content marketing strategy. They help your website get seen by Google and help improve your search engine optimization (SEO).
Did you know that
companies who blog get 97% more backlinks to their websites?
The more you post on a blog, the more people will come to see you as an expert in the industry. They’ll think of your brand as trustworthy and they’ll be more likely to choose you for the work they need doing.
If you don’t have a blog for your business then now is the time to add one to your website.
Try to update it at least once a month with:
- Interesting industry tips
- News about your company
- Events happening nearby
HubSpot notes in this article that a blog post with 2,100-2,400 words is ideal for SEO.
Remember, blogs are used to help and educate your clients and prospects not sell. You want to provide them with something valuable.
Do agricultural businesses have social media?
About 60% of the websites we audited had social media accounts set up - which is a great start!
If you’ve got a social media account be sure to regularly update it with relevant, interesting posts. This will make your audience want to engage with you more. By doing this you’ll become better known within the industry and more people will want to work with you.
If you don’t have a social media account then we’d advise setting one up as soon as possible.
Social media is a great way to connect with your audience and bring more clients to your business.
Do agricultural businesses have a YouTube channel?
Of the companies that we checked, only 37.2% had an active YouTube channel. Video marketing is such a great way to engage with your audience and show them what you have to offer.
In a
recent study by HootSuite, they showed that YouTube is bigger than any other social media platforms. YouTube has 2 billion users worldwide, that’s more than any other website apart from Google (Statista, 2019).
YouTube is a marketing platform that gives you access to millions of potential clients.
You can upload videos to YouTube that go through demonstrations of your products. You could also upload video vlogs from events you attend to show that you contribute to the community.
People prefer to consume information by watching or listening to it rather than reading it which makes video one of the best mediums to advertise on.
If you go down the paid ad route,
ads on YouTube receive more attention (62 percent) from viewers than television ads (45 percent).
YouTube has some serious sway when it comes to consumer decisions - so get on it!
Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) is an absolute necessity for any business, especially in the agricultural industry.
It helps you:
- Rank higher on Google for local searches
- Look more professional
- Be easier to find online
- Increase your online inquiries
Here’s what we found out about agricultural companies and their Google My Business listings.
Have they claimed their GMB?
63% of companies we surveyed have claimed their listing on Google My Business. This means that there are more than
37% of businesses that haven’t claimed their company on Google My Business.
You’re missing out on a lot of amazing and
free marketing opportunities
if you haven’t claimed your business on GMB. So, claim your listing as soon as possible so you can start getting more and more clients to your agricultural business.
Most people who view your Google My Business listing will check out your website too.
According to a recent study, 56% will visit your site, 24% will give you a call and 20% will ask Google for directions to your business.
Google My Business is a great promotional tool to have. An optimized profile can get you serious leads too.
96% of local businesses are viewed 25+ times per month in the search results. 16% of businesses also receive more than 100 calls every month because of GMB.
If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business page, Google has probably already created it for you and is just waiting for you. To check, search for your business name and it will most likely show up on the right side of the search results. If you’re a new business Google might not have created one for you yet, so you’ll need to create one for your business on
Google Business.
if you want local customers, you need to claim and optimize your Google My Business profile (it’s one of the things we do best, get in touch!)
Have they optimized their GMB info?
Out of the small percentage of agricultural companies who have a GMB account set up
only 23.7% of those companies have optimized their GMB.
What this means is that they’ve verified they own the business and have a GMB listing, but haven’t optimized it to help with SEO and marketing.
You can optimize your Google My Business by:
- Adding photos of your business
- Writing a small description in the bio section
- Adding your opening and closing hours
- Including your contact information
- Adding products and services
It’s super important to
optimize your GMB profile so potential clients know where you are, what you do, and how to contact you. GMB also has a neat feature called
Posts that will help with your SEO rank and you can also use it as another place to share your blog articles with the world.
Does their GMB have customer reviews on it?
Out of the companies who had verified their Google My Business, 79% of them had received reviews.
Reviews are incredibly important for a company’s growth. They allow you to learn and grow to be better for your clients and improve your business.
84% of people trust online reviews - making them a necessity when attracting new clients.
Positive reviews will also show your audience that you’re a wonderful company to work with.
Responding to negative reviews in the right way can also have a positive effect on your business. By solving the problems of your clients you’ll be able to show future clients that you have amazing customer service skills and if they have a problem with your services or products you’ll be able to fix it for them.
It’s very important to respond to every review your business gets good or bad. If you can it’ll show that you’re on top of things and you care about your clients as well as your business reputation.
If you don’t have any reviews on your GMB, email your clients after you’ve completed a job for them and ask them if they could leave a review for you.
Website privacy, security & ADA compliance
Do agricultural businesses have SSL certification on their website?
An SSL cert is the true fighting force behind your online security. It protects all your sensitive information and the sensitive information of your clients. SSL is used for protecting your website regardless of whether or not you handle important information.
62% of the companies we audited had their SSL certification but the
other 38% didn’t
have it on their website.
This is a huge red flag for visitors and Google
alike that your site may not be secure.
SSL certification is a necessity for any website. It protects your data and it also affirms your identity as a business. It helps you rank higher on Google and
improves the trust between you and your clients.
SSL certification is very important and you now need it to be compliant with the
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Privacy Cookie Notices
These are the annoying pop up notices that you see on most sites, asking you to approve of the site placing a tracking code (or cookie) on your computer
California’s version of Europe's GDPR law, the CCPA, is an act that gives consumers more control over what personal and tracking information you’re allowed to collect from them, how you store that data, as well as their rights to have you delete their personal data if requested.
This means you’ll have to give your clients certain notices explaining your privacy practices, like those annoying cookie notices you may have noticed popping up everywhere. The CCPA can be enforced across the US, it’s not restricted to just California, so protect your business and get compliant as soon as you can.
ADA Compliance
While we’re talking about legal compliance, of the businesses websites we audited,
92% were completely non-ADA compliant.
If a website isn’t ADA compliant, they run the risk of being sued.
This is a huge issue in our industry and has put many smaller, family-run companies out of business already.
We can’t emphasise how serious this is - if your website isn’t ADA compliant, you can get sued - this isn’t something you can put off and sort out later. When all is said and done it’s the right thing to do for you clients and prospects that may be physically impaired.
Conclusion
We found all our data by looking at the websites and GMB profiles of agricultural companies and your audience could easily do this too.
Think about what the customer wants from you. How can you improve your website and your GMB to meet those needs and become a better company in their eyes?
If you’d like us to assess your online presence,
get in touch with us today. We’d love to help you make the most of your website, our Marketing Maximizer program is designed to help you make the most of your website, your content and your Google My Business profile.
