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If you would of told me that I would be managing a farmers market a year ago I would of thought you were crazy. The opportunity arose quite suddenly to be the manager of our local farmers market. I am no expert on how to run a farmers market, but the following are important concepts to consider when you are thinking of starting a farmers market for your community or taking over one as a manager.Before you even begin to formulate your location, vendors, layout, marketing strategies you need to have a board of directors. This board will be the governing entity of your market. You will need people who are experienced in urban planning, business, the agricultural scene, and active with your community. It is also a good idea to talk to other farmers markets; how did they start their market? What advice do they have? Would they be willing to help you? Once you have your board members selected, you need to come up with a mission for your market. What do you stand for? What do you want your community to gain by your presence?You can’t have a farmers market without vendors. The type of vendor for your market really depends on your location. Here in Asheville, artisan vendors don’t do great. Produce vendors those are the vendors you want. You need to make sure that they are not all selling the same crops. Variety is key. At our market we have five produce vendors. They all have different items for sale. With the new craze of food trucks, it would be a great idea to recruit one or many for your market. My market is a smaller farmers market and I found that it’s best to try to reach out to food trucks that are just starting out. The ones that have been around for a longer period of time may consider your market – if it’s on the small scale or just starting up – a waste of their time because they may not make what they would consider to be a good profit for their time.Marketing is a deal. Based off data the best way to market is using social media; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,etc. These are valuable assets to any business. You can also use Google Business to let people know about your market. Social media posts are free, which is great when you are just starting out. Once you get your market sustainable cash flow, you can look into boosting posts on Facebook and Twitter. Both Facebook and Twitter offer you to set your advertising budget which allows for less stress; once your budget has been spent the advertising stops until you reset it. Another great idea is to partner up with local businesses that are willing to promote your market using their social media. From my experience going and talking to local restaurants, breweries, kitchen supply stores that do food demos are all great prospects.Location! Location! Location! This is very important to farmers markets. Last year my market was behind a church in their parking lot. There was no road visibility. We lacked new customers due to no visibility. During the off season we worked diligently to find a new location that was more visible, had walk ability, as well as good parking. We are now partnering with a local business to use their parking lot which has road visibility, parking as well as walk ability for our neighborhood. This move was a win-win for everyone involved. Our customers are now their customers, and their customers are now our customers.If you want to start your own farmers market here are some resources to consider reviewing before starting the process. There is a course you can take through the Farmers Market Federation of NY, Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Broome County and SUNY Cobleskill and funded by NYS’s Fresh Connect Program. This program costs $200, after taking the certification course you will be a certified Farmers Market Manager. It is an online course. I plan on taking it in the near future. Another great resource is ASAP. They have a section dedicated to how to become a farmers market manager with Powerpoint slides, PDF’s on farmers market rules and regulations. The best part is that this is a free resource.Resources:http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/fmm-pro-suny-farmers-market-managers-certification-programhttp://www.asapconnections.org

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a mega-hot, high-paying field right now. Just a decade ago, practically no one but techies even uttered the phrase regularly. Now, it’s a common part of internet marketing language. Job opportunities in SEO have grown significantly, which means the need for SEO training is growing by leaps and bounds.The Growth of Jobs in SEOJust how much is the job growth in this sector? A 2012 study by Shareaholic revealed that:Professionals with ‘SEO’ in their title or description on Linked-In grew by 112% in 12 months;Job listings with ‘SEO’ in it increased on job site Indeed by 1900% since 2006; andWanted Analytics reported that over 3,800 jobs were advertised online that required SEO skills in March 2012, which is a 24 percent increase compared to March 2011.So yeah, SEO is hot – and so is SEO training.What to Look for In an SEO Training CourseBefore looking for specifics, the first thing you need to know is that search engine optimization is a broad field. So you have to determine what you want an SEO course to cover.For example, if you want to learn how to write content, you’d look for an SEO copywriting course; if you wanted to learn how to do keyword research, you’d seek a class that covered this; if you wanted to learn how to optimize your site, you’d look for an SEO course that covered things like link structure and meta tags; etc.How Much Does an SEO Training Course Cost?What you’ll pay for an SEO course ranges from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. It’s really like the wild, wild west. It all depends on:Factors That Affect How Much an SEO Course Costs(i) What the course covers: As discussed above, there are many elements of search engine optimization. Some courses cover certain elements; others are more skill specific.(ii) Who’s giving the course: SEO courses are given by everyone from universities to internet marketing firms, to individual industry professionals.(iii) Online or in person: Many prefer to enroll in an SEO course online. This is because they can usually do it at their leisure. Some courses are held in person. Online SEO courses tend to be cheaper, obviously, because there’s no renting of a room, equipment, travel expenses, etc.How Long Is an SEO Course?(iv) Length of the course: Depending on what’s covered, SEO courses can last from a few hours, or span several days or a week or more.Search Engine Optimization Training: A Worthwhile Investment?Starting salaries tend to be high, which makes it a smart investment. For example, if you take an SEO copywriting course, you can expect to earn in the mid-40′s just starting out, and up to $90,000 with five or more years experience.Proof?According to a 2012 survey by Robert Half, one of the largest staffing agencies in the world, salaries range from the mid-40s ($45,000) to just over $90,000 per year. The study stated:”Web content writers with five or more years experience can expect a salary range of between $60,500 and $90,750, while those with less than five years experience should receive something in the range of $45,250 and $66,250.”So yeah, SEO training can pay off – big!