Here you can read more about Farmgear and its twenty plus year history. Farmgear was formed all the way back in 2004, at a time when there were only a small handful of new and used farm machinery marketplaces online. We quickly became one of the leading new and used farm machinery marketplaces online.
Moreover, Farmgear was designed and developed for machinery manufacturers and dealers across the UK to advertise their machinery stocks. Each business also had a section where they could list their services and enter more information about themselves. Additionally, they could advertise events, such as open days, ploughing matches etc.
Our founder had previously worked within the agricultural trade since 1990. Over the years he had realised that the Internet had become more prevalent over traditional magazine advertising. That farmers needed somewhere they could quickly find the equipment they needed to carry out tasks on their farms, without having the thumb through hundreds of pages of magazine classifieds.
Therefore, after careful market research and listening to farmers’ needs, Farmgear was carefully constructed.
The interesting thing about Farmgear was that outwardly the directory appeared to be a simple website. But behind the scenes was pioneering technology and functionality. Including a content management system (CMS), that allowed dealers to create their own adverts and upload their stocks.
The directory was also packed full of useful features such as SMS text and email alert system. Which allowed farmers to be notified of specific machinery being for sale as soon as it went on the website. Some of the CMS’s features are still ahead of their time today.
Farmgear quickly secured deals with several manufacturers in 2006 including Merlo and Grimme for their dealers to use Farmgear to advertise all their new and used farm machinery stocks.
Soon McCormick and Landini followed suit and their entire UK dealer network had a dedicated ‘McCormick Trader’ site, which although had its own design, was being fed by the Farmgear CMS.
In 2008 we entered into an agreement with Atlas Finance to provide independent brokerage finance services via Farmgear.
In 2010 Landini followed suit with there own dedicated ‘Landini Trader’ site.
Within a few years of forming, thousands of pieces of farm machinery were being advertised and dealers were reaping the rewards with improved sales and stock turnover.
We were then asked by various customers if we could design and develop websites for them. With our expert knowledge of the industry, soon we were making dozens of dealer websites, whose machinery stocks were being fed through to their website by Farmgear for the ultimate in convenience.
Dealer websites, soon turned into manufacturer websites as we started building bigger and better websites, which not only had their product information, but dealer locators and integrated ‘Trader’ sites.
As smartphones became increasingly popular, the changes to how farmers viewed websites meant the sites needed to become more mobile friendly. Therefore, Farmgear partnered with Web Design UK to build dedicated mobile friendly dealer websites.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) was significantly improved to help our customers’ websites achieve higher rankings in search results to give them a competitive edge.
SEO research and audit reports were introduced so we could see exactly what keywords were being used, making our customers websites even more SEO friendly. All of our clients started to achieve consistent page one rankings on Google search engine results page (SERPS), helping to boost machinery sales and visibility of their company.
Working with Web Design UK since 2015 meant that we also had real life experience in other industries that form part of the agriculture community. Such as catering, hospitality, retail, mail order and more.
Alongside website building experience that began in 1999, this expertise allowed us to understand and support so many more agricultural and rural business types as well.
The next stage for Farmgear was mobile app development, as app has usage significantly increased over the years.
Whilst all of this was going on, the original Farmgear website was not getting the much-needed redesign and redevelopment it needed, as we were so busy on other projects.
One of the great things about Farmgear is that we are constantly innovating and transforming. This was was our last website from 2018:
Covid-19 then hit the world, giving us the time to reflect on the changes we needed to implement within Farmgear, to better reflect the needs of our customers and the wider farming and rural community.
One of the community’s biggest concerns centred around pricing and having a company that understood the unique requirements of the farming industry, plus the unpredictability of the agricultural world.
As our clients’ websites were achieving higher rankings on search engines, thereby generating more direct enquiries, this allowed them to reduce their spend on other online marketplaces.
Previously the dealers would have promoted their stocks on multiple marketplaces and in most magazines, incurring a significant cost to their business’. Their own websites, built by Farmgear, now consistently have great visibility on the SERPS. In fact, they often rank higher than the marketplaces they were advertising on. Making the dealers confident that they could reduce this extra expense without potentially losing any enquiries.
For many clients the money they have saved means their cash-flow is healthier and their businesses feel more secure.
Perhaps the need to continue with an online machinery marketplace could have seemed pointless. As our clients’ websites are now showing above these marketplaces, a rethink was required to see where else we could not only save our own clients more money, but also other businesses in the same situation.
Eventually, after a lot of discussion about Farmgear, market research, keyword, and competitor analysis, we took the decision to turn Farmgear back into an online farming directory. Furthermore, one that truly reflects the costs associated with having your business listed on it. In particular we introduced transparent, fair and affordable pricing.
We have created an innovative, user-friendly rural directory which offers outstanding value-for-money at a time when all of us need to be more cash conscious.
Farmgear believes that you the customer should always feel valued and understood. There are many challenges in this industry and rural living, some of which are completely new and unprecedented. Therefore, for us the single biggest reason for recreating Farmgear, was to show you that there is a company out there that understands the problems you are facing and is completely on your side.
Our philosophy is simple; to be genuinely understanding of our customers’ needs. And to offer them real, honest value and hold each and every one of them in high regard, regardless of their size.
We believe that by forging long-lasting, strong, and trustworthy partnerships, we will remain true to our word of providing an unequalled service to the rural and agricultural industry at an unbeatable price.
If you would like to see your organisation featured here, please complete our Spotlight Business Form and apply.
