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Manitoba farmer turns Internet hobby into a profitable business
When a December blizzard kept grain farmer Dwayne Leslie from getting to his farm four years ago, it gave him the opportunity to learn how to develop his own Web page on the Internet. Two years later, what was once a time-consuming hobby became Prairielinks.com, a profitable side business for this Manitoba-based farmer.
According to Leslie, who lives close to Portage La Prairie, the Internet is ideal for farmers because information that once took valuable time to access is now as close as the computer on their desk.
"Farmers embraced the Internet as a business tool early on," says Leslie. "Our site is used by farmers throughout Canada, the U.S, and offshore to find used farm equipment, current grain prices, commodity charts and weather information."
Billing itself as "Canada's premier starting point for agriculture," Prairielinks is a portal with links to a wide variety of agriculture-related sites. In addition to farm equipment, users can access almost 5,000 ag-related links including livestock, government ag sites, marketing, classified ads, humour pages and discussion groups.
Traffic on Prairielinks is measured by "unique visitors" rather than conventional "hits." According to Leslie, "we get approximately 1,500 unique visitors each day which we are quite happy with, especially during summer months. During winter, we expect those numbers will spike again." Since going online about four years ago, over 3,000,000 visits have been registered.
Revenue is generated with banner and button advertising from companies targeting ag producers. Leslie says that with "the targeted demographic that Prairielinks reaches, it is a great spot for companies to promote their brands and products."
The site is affiliated with ag-based Web sites like AgDealer, Land Marketer and ePipe.ca. The AgDealer – Leslie also serves as Manitoba's sales rep – gives producers the flexibility to search for used farm equipment throughout Canada and the United States. The site is designed so potential buyers can search for machinery by make, model, year, price range and location.
A firm believer in the technology, Leslie is no stranger to purchasing products like machinery online. As a matter of fact, he purchased a Case 9270 Steiger tractor at an online auction, sight unseen.
"I'm very comfortable buying online," he maintains. But what about those who aren't so confident buying products over the Internet? Leslie advises that it is important for buyers to know who they are purchasing from and what they are buying. Doing as much research as possible into the sellers is as important online as it is in conventional face-to-face business transactions.
"As long as you have trust in the site you are dealing with and confidence in what you are buying, there shouldn't be a problem," he says. On a philosophical note, he advises "like everything, you need to have trust and that takes time to develop."
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