I guess that we all use Google. According to Alexa (http://www.alexa.com) thirty percent of internet users consult the site and it currently ranks No 2 in overall internet popularity, just behind Yahoo. Agmachine uses Google multiple times in a single day to locate information and we also receive income from the AdSense advertisements which are located throughout our website. And so we are a great fan.

But something is missing and Google are as aware of this as anybody. Let's take a search for manufacturers of self propelled chemical sprayers. We would expect to find Hardi, who manufacturer a range of chemical sprayers, including self-propelled models in the first listings. Checking Hardi with Alexa we find that the UK company website (http://www.hardi.co.uk) ranks only 22,414,408 in the world whilst the parent company Hardi International (http://www.hardi-international.com) ranks better but still only 1,564,315. 

No problem for the company because potential buyers can always use Google or some other search engine to find them, even if their company website visit statistics indicate the number that do so is limited. Anyway let's try a Google (http://www.google.com) experiment using the product description used on the Hardi International website as our keywords, namely Self Propelled Field Sprayer.

The Google search for a Self Propelled Field Sprayer yields 385,000 results. This is all very well and good but at 10 results per page the searcher would have to consult 38,500 pages to cover all the entries. According to Alexa the average Google user consults only 7.22 pages and so if a self-propelled sprayer manufacturer is listed on pages 8 - 38,500 it's goodbye and goodnight. So let's take a look at which manufacturers are visible on the first 7 pages.

There are no manufacturers on page 1 which is a surprise but as expected Deere appears on page 2 along with Hardi International and Hardi UK. Landquip UK and Hardi Australia are on page 3, Walker on page 5, and Amazone on page 7. And so overall only five manufacturers are visible to the average farmer, dealership or contractor looking at what is available in the self propelled field sprayer market. 

And so Google has provided a partial solution but it has located 384,930 results that I am unlikely to consult and to get to my five manufacturers I have had to look at 65 irrelevant listings. After a time this all gets very tiring and I still haven't located all the other global manufacturers of self propelled field sprayers. If you start looking for other types of farm equipment you have to go through the same lengthy procedure again.

And so Google is great but there has to be a better solution to this search problem. More next time. 

Agmachine has been including agricultural machinery videos for just over one year now and two landmarks have been reached. The first is that the 168 videos have in total received over 1.0 million viewings. The second is that two of these videos have been viewed just over 100,000 times each. 

The lesson to be drawn is simple. Video is a great way for a manufacturer to promote their products to the world. So Action. Take One. Everybody Quiet Please. 

Agmachine recently undertook some research into the internet visibility of manufacturers of agricultural machinery using Alexa (http://www.alexa.com). If you are a manufacturer it is an exercise worth trying yourself.

A few thousand manufacturers, from the very large to the very small, have invested varying amounts in the establishment of a website presence. Great so far. When Agmachine founded the Worldwide Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Directory in 1997 very few companies had even heard of the internet but that has all changed. Shining examples everywhere beam their products across the ether to a mass of website visitors. The web designer is extremely proud of the company website and demonstrates it's clever attributes to the Head of Marketing and other senior staff from time to time. All are impressed, except that is for the sales department who see a potential threat to their jobs. In fact many loathe the internet. 

But hold on. Has anyone actually measured how many visitors their website receives? Perhaps a clue is the mere trickle of enquiries that come via the website. For some it just confirms that the potential of the internet is limited and you can't beat the crusty salesman sharing a beer with Worzel Gummidge at the Netherton and Farnworth Show or at Agritechnica. Great shows no doubt and a very significant amount of business is done. But what about the remaining 335 days of the year. How do we promote our company to a global audience at least cost?

Let's just start with a small company, say John Deere! The latest Alexa ranking for Deere is 22,141, way behind the likes of Google and Yahoo! but very respectable when over 30 million companies are ranked. So what, you might say. Deere has tens of thousands of customers and has millions of dollars to promote it's products. The point is simply this, that even agricultural machinery manufacturers can attract very large numbers of website visitors interested in agriculture and related activities.

Other rankings of interest are Claas (177,278), Massey Ferguson (335,117), Case IH (223,131),and  New Holland (140,970). No real surprises there then. All very large manufacturers with significant resources behind them. But here's the rub. Smaller manufacturers can make their presence felt on the internet and compete with the big boys. Take Amazone for example. It has a ranking of 146,348 putting it right alongside it's senior producers. If Amazone can do it why not others?

And talking about others we have to look at the Dark Side of the Moon (  http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk/obtu/). To blame the innocent and protect the guilty we won't actually name them. A well known UK self-propelled sprayer manufacturer ranks 17,058,035, a leading US manufacturer of tilling, drilling and spraying equipment ranks 9,153,864, a major US manufacturer of post-harvest machinery ranks 24,421,971 and so on. Hundreds of other agricultural machinery and post harvest technology manufacturers also languish in the millions. Amazone has shown the potential of the internet so why can't they?

In the words of Saint Bill???! Do the Math.

Let's face it. There are millions of Blogs out there and the vast majority are never seen or read. But the real sympathy should go to the successful ones who are tied to the treadmill of continuously having to produce articles every day for little or no return. True, a minority make a good living but at what cost to their time and sanity? So forgive me but Agmachine will not be stepping onto the treadmill. Just occasional articles from time to time, which hopefully will be of interest. Feel free to add your own comments.   

One of the key shortcomings of the agmachine.com website was a lack of opportunity for visitors to post their comments, join discussions, upload photos and share their videos. Hopefully this situation has been rectified with the launch of the Global Farm Machinery Network (http://agmachine.ning.com). Clearly it will take some time to grow the membership but there is currently a critical shortage of Groups discussing global agricultural machinery and farm equipment issues. Please feel free to sign up and take part.

If you have any comments or suggestions (positive or negative) about the new agmachine.com website design we would be very pleased to receive them. Simply post your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below or just email your message to info@agmachine.com. We would also welcome your views on any agricultural machinery and farm equipment related subject.

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