Agritourism Website Checklist: 23 Things Visitors Look For
The 23 things families check before driving to a pumpkin patch, corn maze or u-pick farm: hours, pricing, weather policy, parking, pets and more.
A family deciding whether to drive 40 minutes to your farm on Saturday will spend about 90 seconds on your website first. If they can't find the hours, the price, or whether they can bring the dog, they close the tab and pick the farm that told them. This checklist covers the 23 things visitors look for, roughly in the order they look for them.
How visitors actually use your site
Most of your traffic in September and October comes from a phone, from a search like "pumpkin patch near me" or "corn maze Stearns County", on a Thursday or Friday night. The visitor is a parent planning the weekend. They are not reading your story. They are checking facts.
The order in which they check those facts is predictable:
- Are you open this weekend, and what time?
- What does it cost, and for whom?
- What is actually there (pumpkins, maze, hayride, animals)?
- Logistics: directions, parking, restrooms, food, pets, strollers.
- What happens if it rains?
Everything on this list exists to answer one of those five questions before the visitor has to call. If your phone rings 60 times on a fall Saturday, your website is missing items from this list.
The 23-point checklist
Print this and walk through your own site on your phone, not your desktop. Check each item only if you can find it in under ten seconds.
Hours and status (items 1–5)
| # | Item | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Today's status | A banner on every page: "Open today 10–6 · Pumpkins and maze open · Apples: Honeycrisp picked out." Updated from your phone. |
| 2 | Season dates | First and last day of the season, stated plainly. "Open weekends Sept 13 – Oct 26, plus MEA weekend Thursday–Friday." |
| 3 | Weekly hours | Every day listed, including the days you're closed. "Closed Mon–Wed" is information. |
| 4 | Last entry time | If the maze closes at 6 but last tickets sell at 5, say so. This is the number-one source of angry reviews. |
| 5 | Holiday and special hours | MEA weekend in Minnesota, Columbus Day, Halloween weekend. Name them. |
Pricing and tickets (items 6–10)
| # | Item | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Admission price | The number, on the page, not "see us for details." "$12 per person, 2 and under free." |
| 7 | What admission includes | A list: maze, hayride, barnyard, playground. And what it doesn't: pumpkins are priced separately. |
| 8 | Pumpkin and produce pricing | By the pound, by size, or per item. "Pumpkins 59¢/lb, most carving pumpkins $6–$12." |
| 9 | Payment methods | Cash only? Card at the gate but cash at the pumpkin wagon? ATM on site? Say it. |
| 10 | Tickets online or at the gate | If you sell timed-entry tickets, a big button. If you don't, say "no reservations needed." See how to sell timed-entry tickets. |
What's there (items 11–14)
| # | Item | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Attractions list with ages | "Corn maze (all ages, 45 min), kiddie maze (under 6), hayride (every 20 min)." |
| 12 | What's ready to pick | A picking-now list by crop and variety, updated weekly. |
| 13 | Food and drink | What you sell (cider, donuts, brats on weekends) and whether outside food is allowed. |
| 14 | Photos from this season | Four to six real photos of your farm, in daylight, with people in them. Not stock. |
Logistics (items 15–21)
| # | Item | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Address and directions | Full address, a "Get directions" button that opens a maps app, and a sentence of local help: "GPS sometimes sends you to the neighbor's driveway — look for the red barn." |
| 16 | Parking | Free or paid, grass or gravel, how far from the entrance, what happens when it's muddy. |
| 17 | Restrooms | Flush toilets, porta-potties, or both. Parents of toddlers check this. |
| 18 | Accessibility | Can a wheelchair or stroller get from the lot to the pumpkins? Is the hayride accessible? Be honest. "The maze path is mowed field; wheelchairs manage in dry weather but not after rain." |
| 19 | Pets | Yes, no, or leashed-in-certain-areas. Half of all "do you allow dogs" calls would stop with one line. |
| 20 | What to bring | Boots, cash, wagon, sunscreen, bug spray, a cooler for apples. A simple list. |
| 21 | Groups, schools, birthdays | A separate page with group pricing, minimum size, how to book, and a form. School groups in the Upper Midwest book in August for October; have this up by July. |
Policies (items 22–23)
| # | Item | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Weather policy | "We're open rain or shine unless there's lightning. Weather closures are posted here and on Facebook by 8am. Online tickets are good any day this season." |
| 23 | Rules | Short and specific: no alcohol, no smoking in the fields, no climbing on the hay bales, no outside pumpkins (you'd be surprised). |
The items farms most often miss
From the sites we review, the five most commonly missing items are last entry time (#4), restrooms (#17), accessibility (#18), the weather policy (#22), and a real list of what admission includes (#7). None of these is hard to write. They're missing because the site was built once in 2019 and nobody has looked at it as a visitor since.
The fix for most of them is one page, usually called "Plan your visit" or "Visit", that holds items 15 through 23 in order. Link to it from the main navigation and from the hours banner.
Where each item should live
You don't need 23 pages. Most agritourism sites need five:
| Page | Items it covers |
|---|---|
| Home | 1 (status banner), 2, 6, 10, 14 |
| Hours & pricing | 2–10 |
| What's here / Attractions | 11–14 |
| Plan your visit | 15–20, 22, 23 |
| Groups & events | 21 |
The status banner (#1) is the exception: it belongs on every page, because visitors land on whichever page Google sends them to. On a site built on our Harvest plan, that banner is one field you update from your phone; it takes about ten seconds and shows up everywhere, including your Google Business Profile post if you connect it.
Writing the copy: shorter than you think
Every item on the checklist is a fact, and facts read best as short lines. Compare:
"We strive to be open as much as possible during the fall season, weather permitting, so please check back often for updates on our hours!"
with:
"Open Sat–Sun 10–6, Sept 13 – Oct 26. Closed weekdays except MEA (Oct 16–17). Last maze entry 5pm."
The second version is 22 words, answers four questions, and nobody has to call. It also ranks better, because Google reads the same words your visitors do.
Two more habits that help:
- Put the number first. "$12 admission" not "Admission is just twelve dollars."
- Name the thing. "Honeycrisp, Haralson and SweeTango ready now" beats "many varieties available." The customer searched for Honeycrisp; show them the word.
Keep it current, or it works against you
A site that says "2025 season dates coming soon" in October 2026 tells the visitor you're probably closed, even if you're not. Set a reminder for three dates:
- Six weeks before opening: update season dates, prices, group booking page.
- Opening week: turn on the status banner, add this year's photos.
- Every Friday in season: update picking-now, hours for the weekend, any weather note.
That's roughly 15 minutes a week in season. If you can't get that done, pick a plan where someone else does it; our seasonal hours guide covers the ways to make updates nearly automatic.
What this means for your website
Your agritourism site is a fact sheet first and a brochure second. The 23 items above are the facts. They belong on five pages, with the hours-and-status banner on every one. The copy is short, the numbers are specific, and someone updates it every Friday in season. If your current site can't do that from a phone in a field, the problem isn't your writing — it's the tool.
Every site we build for pumpkin patches, orchards and corn mazes starts with this checklist. The Harvest plan ($2,995 setup, $79/month) includes the status banner, a plan-your-visit page, group booking forms and timed-entry ticketing on the platform of your choice, with your first draft in about ten business days. See what we build for agritourism farms or compare plans and pricing.