Give regulars somewhere to find you between markets: a simple site listing market days and stall locations, what is on the table this week, how to order ahead, and the shops that stock your products.

Four hours on a Saturday

A farmers market vendor sees customers for a few hours a week, in a parking lot or a park, and then takes down the tent.

Everything in between depends on whether people can find them again. A customer who misses a Saturday, moves across town or wants a gift on a Wednesday has nothing to go on but a memory of the stall.

Searching the vendor's name usually turns up the market's own page, a Facebook page with posts from last season, and perhaps a directory listing with the wrong day.

Many markets open for the season this month, and the first weeks are when new regulars are made.

What regulars need to find

The fifth is the one most vendors leave out. If two shops and a deli stock your products, every customer who cannot reach the market on Saturday still has somewhere to buy, and a reason to keep you in mind.

A small site that changes weekly

A vendor's site can be small. Four or five pages will do, and the home page carries most of the load.

Put this week's markets at the top, with dates written out: "This Saturday, May 14: downtown market, 9 to 1." A schedule that just says Saturdays leaves people unsure whether you will be there.

Below that, a short list of what you are bringing, updated on Thursday evening. It answers the question regulars would otherwise send by message.

Add the end of the season too, and where to find you once the outdoor markets close.

Ordering between markets

Pre-orders suit market vendors well. A customer who orders by Thursday finds their order bagged and waiting on Saturday, and the vendor knows what to bring.

A simple form is enough: name, phone, what they want, and which market. Payment can wait until pickup.

Say plainly when orders close, what happens to an order nobody collects, and whether you deliver. Clear rules save awkward conversations at the stall.

Where Facebook and Instagram fit

Many vendors rely on a Facebook page or an Instagram account, and both are good for photographs of the table and news on the day.

Neither works well as a schedule. A Facebook page's posts already reach only some of its followers, and Instagram has announced that its feed will soon be ordered by interest rather than time.

A post saying you will miss next Saturday may never reach the people who needed it. A line on the website, linked from the Instagram bio and the Facebook page, is somewhere people can check.

A worked example

A fresh pasta maker with a small commercial kitchen sells at two weekend markets from May to October, and at a winter market twice a month.

Regulars kept asking the same things at the stall: could they get ravioli midweek, would the stall be there on the long weekend, was the squash filling back.

The business had a Facebook page and a single web page giving a phone number beside a photo of linguine. Searching its name brought up a market listing from two seasons ago that gave the wrong day.

The mechanism was simple. Between Saturdays there was nowhere current to look, so regulars who missed a week bought pasta at the grocery store and some fell out of the habit.

The new site puts the weekend's markets and stall numbers at the top, then the week's pastas and sauces, an order form that closes Thursday at noon, and the two delis that carry its frozen ravioli.

The owner updates the list each Thursday in a few minutes, and the card handed out at the stall now leads with the website address.

Photographs from the stall

Market tables photograph well, and the photographs do real work on a vendor's site: they show the products, how they are packed and what the stall looks like from the aisle.

That last one matters. A photo of the tent with the sign clearly visible helps a first-time visitor find you among dozens of others.

Take them early, before the crowds arrive, and replace them as the season changes what is on the table.

Being found by name

The market itself usually has the listing in the map results. A weekly stall at someone else's market rarely has one, so a search for your name depends on what you publish.

Use the business name exactly as it appears on the banner, the labels and the market's vendor list, and ask the market to link to your site.

A farm gate, shop or kitchen with regular hours can carry a Google My Business listing of its own.

Collecting addresses at the stall

An email list reaches regulars on a Wednesday. A sign-up sheet at the stall works if it says clearly what people are signing up for and who will write to them, since CASL expects consent to be recorded.

Enter the addresses in a proper mailing service within the week, with the date and the market.

The counter-case

A vendor at one small market for a short season, with a loyal crowd and nothing to sell between weeks, may need only a single page with the schedule and a phone number.

Some products do not suit pre-orders either: bread that sells out by ten, or produce that depends on what is ready on Friday.

And a site that is not kept current does more harm than a short one. A schedule from last August tells people you have stopped trading.

For most vendors, though, a small site with this week's markets, how to order and where else to buy is what keeps a Saturday customer all week.

Before the first market

  1. List every market, day and stall number.
  2. Put this week's markets at the top.
  3. Add the shops that stock your products.
  4. Set up a pre-order form with a cut-off.
  5. Photograph the stall with the sign visible.
  6. Link the site from your Instagram bio.
  7. Update the list every Thursday evening.

Step seven decides whether the rest works. A vendor's site earns its keep by being current, and a fixed weekly time is what keeps it current through a busy season.

If you also have a farm stand or a shop with regular hours, how Google chooses which businesses to show is covered in three places in the map results instead of seven.

Frequently asked questions

What should a market vendor's website show?

Which markets you attend and when, where the stall is, what you are bringing this week, how to order ahead, and the shops that stock your products.

Why put dates on the market schedule?

A schedule that only says Saturdays leaves people unsure whether you will be there this week. A dated line heading the home page answers that.

Do pre-orders work for market vendors?

Often, yes. Customers who order by a cut-off find their order waiting, and the vendor knows what to bring. Say plainly when orders close and how pickup works.

Is a Facebook page enough on its own?

It is good for photographs and news on the day, but a page's posts reach only some followers, so the website is where people should check the schedule.

Why list the shops that stock my products?

Because customers who cannot reach the market still have somewhere to buy from you, which keeps them buying your products between market days.

Can I collect email addresses at the stall?

Yes, with a sheet that says clearly what people are signing up for and who will write to them. Record the date and enter the addresses promptly.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Selling at markets with no site of your own?

Send us your market schedule and product list. We will suggest a small site that stays current all season.

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