Advertising Online

It’s hard to believe that spring will be upon us in a few months! We pretty much missed winter this year in Virginia – which I really appreciate. It was nice to only have to thaw frozen bunny water bottles a few days this winter. On the farm, we’re busy making plans for 2007: refining our poultry housing, planning bunny breedings, and taking care of all those little chores that pile up on a farm in the summer.

Spring is also one of the hottest times of the year for rabbit sales. Even disregarding the famous (or infamous) “Easter bunny” demand, spring is a popular time of the year for many people to purchase new animals. And so, if you raise rabbits, now is a great time “get the word out” about your bunnies!


A Spider in the Web

So far, one of the most important tools I’ve used in advertising my rabbits is our website (www.geocities.com/cremerabbits). I may actually be a little too dependent on it, but it can be such an effective tool! Websites are usually quite inexpensive, and they allow you to have information available to potential bunny customers 24/7. If you use a so-called “free” (supported by banner ads on your site) website hosting service like Geocities or FreeWebs you can get started very cheaply indeed!

However, a website does have drawbacks. It takes a big time investment to create one. You do need basic computer skills, even if you plan to use special website building software like Microsoft Frontpage or Publisher, Dreamweaver, or software that comes with your hosting package.

Having a website also means that you’ll be spending time to keep your website updated. Have you ever been on a website and noticed a little line of text on the page that says “Last updated January 10, 2002”? It really makes you wonder if the person who owns the website is even still alive, right? Well, potential customers will ask themselves the same thing if your site is outdated too! It’s essential to keep your website fresh. The basic idea is to keep adding new content to your site so people will want to come back to your site again and again. (One great example is Laurie Stroupe’s website at www.thenaturetrail.com.) If someone makes your website a regular stop in their surfing, they’ll probably check out your wonderful rabbits too!

Classify Me?

Another valuable tool in advertising is online classified sites. Placing an ad online is faster than updating a website. You can also use classified ads to encourage people to visit your website. ("Want to see pictures of my adorable English Angora babies? Visit my website!")

I feel that classified websites like these are especially important in reaching the general (read: non-breeder) public. They get a lot of traffic, and they’re probably one of the first websites someone will visit when they’re looking for a new pet. Thus, having regular ads running can be very helpful in drawing new customers!

When you write a classified ad, be specific about what you have for sale and try to narrow down your location (I'd strongly advise you not to post your actual address online, but it doesn't hurt to say that you're half an hour north of Chicago.). Think about some of the key words people might use to find rabbits like yours - use those words in your ad! Here's an example:

"Adorable Holland Lop Bunny Rabbits For Sale or Adoption - Baltimore"
We have an adorable litter of Holland Lop bunny rabbits for sale or adoption. Parents are ARBA registered Grand Champions. Hollands are sweet, friendly dwarf rabbits. The bunnies are well-socialized, and would make great pets, 4-H projects, or show prospects. Visit our website at www.yourname.com for pictures and more information! $35.00

Having photographs of the rabbits you're trying to sell is invaluable when using online classifieds. PetClassifieds.us, a popular free classifieds site, said that ads on their site with pictures get four times as many responses as ads without! This goes without saying, but make sure the picture is clear and flatters your rabbits. [grin] Try to get pictures that capture the "personality" of your rabbits, not simply a static posed shot.

Here's a few of my favorite classifieds sites:

• www.petclassifieds.us
• www.centralpet.com
• www.usclassifieds.com
• www.gotpetsonline.com

Network

And last, but not least: join a few rabbit-related forums and message boards. There's a myriad of them on Yahoo Groups, plus independent boards like the rabbit forum on HomesteadingToday. You do want to be polite and avoid posting a lot of unwanted ads on a forum, but it can still be a good place for hobbyists to advertise. (Make sure your board allows ads before you post, by the way.) One of the advantages of advertising on a forum you visit regularily is that people can get to "know" you a little. Some people are more comfortable with that. How many responses you get will vary with the board.

When you post an ad on a forum, I'd avoid the "hard sell" type ad - write your sales post in a friendly, personable tone. (Forums are where people go to have fun, after all. While they may be interested in what you have to sell, they don't want to be bombarded with "advertising".)

Here's an example:

"Hey guys! Remember that litter my Californian doe Snowhite had a while back? They've gotten huge! I need to make room in the barn now. They're from good lines, of course, and their relatives have been wonderful mothers. I think they'd be great for a home meat herd. Email me and I'll send you some pictures!"

Anyhow, I hope this post has given you some ideas for advertising. Feel free to drop me a line and share your own tips and ideas! I'm always looking for new stuff for the blog.

A Natural Way?

I subscribe to a number of rabbit-related forums and e-mail lists, and over the past year or so, I've noticed a growing interest in raising rabbits naturally. Some people just want to move away from a "traditional" pelleted ration and brew their own rabbit diet; others are interested in something a bit more extreme like colonies and "tractoring".

I can tell that "tractoring" is conjuring images in your mind of a bunny sitting on the seat of a John Deere. [grin]

So, let me explain a little bunny Greek before we go on: a rabbit tractor (pasture pen) is a portable enclosure that combines a shelter and a pen for grazing. (They're often used for chickens and other poultry.) Every day or so, sometimes twice a day, the "tractor" is moved ahead to fresh ground. By confining them this way, rabbits can run around and stretch their legs, graze fresh forage, and remain protected from predators. It's a relatively simple concept.


A Quick History

Let's start with a quick history of rabbits so you know where we get some of our ideas in the first place. When rabbits were first bred in captivity roughly 2,000 years ago, they weren't raised in cages. The domestic rabbit's wild cousin, the "European" wild rabbit (actually native to Spain), is a burrowing creature. They dig intricate networks of underground burrows to protect themselves from predators and to shelter their young. So for the earliest rabbit breeders, it was simplest to mimic the rabbit's natural home. In fact, the ancient Romans gave their walled rabbit colonies a special name: leporaria.

In the Middle Ages, rabbit breeding began in earnest. People started raising rabbits for specific purposes, like meat, fur, and wool. Specific breeds developed. Then somewhere along the line, people discovered that breeding could be controlled much more easily if their rabbits were caged!

And so, modern rabbit husbandry evolved.


Why colonies and tractors?

Today, some of us are looking to the past for ideas. We question "unnatural" ways of raising other species of livestock, so we're looking for ways to raise our rabbits in as natural an environment as possible. The only problem is that rabbits have been raised in cages for so long that they often have a hard time adapting to "natural" husbandry. Young rabbits switched suddenly to a diet of greens may get fatal diarrhea. Rabbits raised in portable grazing pens often struggle with coccidiosis parasite infections. Rabbits fed a more "natural" diet of hay, grain, and green foods are usually less productive than rabbits fed a diet of strictly pellets.

So if colonies and tractors have so many drawbacks, why do we do it? To put it simply, we want to raise our bunnies in an environment that complements their natural instincts. Rabbits are gregarious social animals with a complex social order, so why confine them - alone - in a cage? When their instincts say "Dig a burrow!” why are we putting them on a wire mesh floor?

Frankly, do we want the rabbit barns of our future to look like this modern rabbit farm in Italy?

Modern colony raising and tractoring are still in their infancy, but I think that both have long-term potential. (Perhaps not in a commercial barn, but definitely on small farms and in backyards.) When my rabbits are in a tractor, they nibble fresh pasture, they cuddle and groom, and they have room to stretch their legs.

They seem happy.


-Hannah


If you’re curious about learning more about tractoring or colonies, here’s a link to a translated French website with some really good, detailed pictures of some tractors over there. There are also photos of creative housing methods in third-world countries. (If the link doesn’t work, here’s the original link. Click on “Cages mobiles”)

New bunnies!

Today's post will have to be short, but I did want to let you know that our first litter of English Angoras was born Saturday! Lacie, the mother, delivered nine kits. One was stillborn, unfortunately, but the other eight are healthy and growing bigger every day! Pictures are coming soon (check our Nursery page for the latest updates)