How to get this site making a decent profit? Pet Related.

13 replies
Hi all

I have a site which is a dog product and services directory. I also list coupon codes, press releases etc.

Not made a lot of money, despite being at it for coming up to 18 months now and the site growing weekly.

Any bright ideas from anyone on how to get this profitable?

I'd like to write ego bait for insurance companies, or holiday accommodation which accepts dogs, but I'm struggling for the voucher codes from both to reel the visitors into actually buying.

Sometimes I wonder whether this site will ever make any real profit and feel like giving up, but I've put so much into it, I would kick myself if I sold it and someone else got it turning a big profit!

Am I allowed to share the site name here? The house of dog dot co dot uk (if not, please remove)

Opinions and suggestions welcome! (I only work in legit, white hat ways so please nothing dodgy!)

Thanks!
#decent #making #pet #profit #related #site
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Hey Sally,

    You have a nice looking site. Growing traffic to dog properties is relatively straight-forward. You'll just need to familiarize yourself with socials.

    Dog lovers love to share dog pics, dog memes, dog videos, dog pretty much anything.

    A few areas for you to research, just to get you started:

    1. FB Marketing.
    2. FB Fan Pages.
    3. FB Groups.
    4. Pinterest.
    5. Twitter.
    6. Viral Marketing.
    7. Memes.

    Do this:

    1. Grow platforms and accounts.
    2. Syndicate viral images.
    3. Syndicate viral blog posts.

    Pinterest alone is good for XX,XXX uniques a day. And, actually, Pinterest in the dog market is very good.

    Some food for thought!

    Tom
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    • Profile picture of the author msm24
      Originally Posted by Tom Addams View Post

      Hey Sally,

      7. Memes.

      Do this:

      1. Grow platforms and accounts.
      2. Syndicate viral images.


      Pinterest alone is good for XX,XXX uniques a day. And, actually, Pinterest in the dog market is very good.

      Some food for thought!

      Tom
      These are excellent ideas for more traffic. If you are having problems with getting people to your site then that is what I would do.

      I also think you should build a list if you haven't already. Instead of posting your coupon codes, use them as a way to grow your list. These coupon codes expire frequently, which gives you scarcity. You could probably make more sales by sending them these coupon codes and highlighting the fact that they expire soon.

      I've never been in the dog niche but this seems to make the most sense to me.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
        Originally Posted by msm24 View Post

        These are excellent ideas for more traffic. If you are having problems with getting people to your site then that is what I would do.

        I also think you should build a list if you haven't already. Instead of posting your coupon codes, use them as a way to grow your list. These coupon codes expire frequently, which gives you scarcity. You could probably make more sales by sending them these coupon codes and highlighting the fact that they expire soon.

        I've never been in the dog niche but this seems to make the most sense to me.
        Thanks, msm24. And right back at you. Excellent stuff!

        OP, if you're still with us, the idea behind a freebie is to "collect" your target market by encouraging them to subscribe to your newsletter. This gives you an opportunity to market and re-market in the future and is generally understood to represent a stable business model. The requirement, then, is to come up with a reason for these people to subscribe. It needs to be something wildly attractive to everyone in that target pool. The idea above from msm24 is a very good one.

        Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    P.S

    After that, concentrate on an improved monetization strategy for your site. Then you'll have traffic + a site engineered to earn.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author ZanyZebra
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author winnermarketing
    Start a PPC campaign, I suggest Google Adwords and Facebook Ads to start.

    Open a free page on some social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and share contents related to your activity (photos, status, posts, tweets)
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    My advice...

    Ignore ZanyWhatever. Pitiful advice.
    Winnermarketing mentions socials - thumbs up.

    Take a look at this:

    https://www.facebook.com/dogsworld.me?ref=br_rs

    Nice numbers?

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author NeedBucksNow
    Hey there. Not a bad looking site but might do better if you can shorten up your menus some, add your picture with a dog and a short introduction for how you got started and what you like to do at the top of your site, put your facebook widget underneath, having some links for cheap ebooks to help train your dog or something and having widgets direct to amazon. You might also want to change your adsense ads as they have to be 300x250 to be optimized for any mobile users that you have and they could probably be a good source of income if you already get some decent traffic. Most people won't spend more than a couple minutes looking at your website and unless you can have something that can really capture their attention or at least get them coming back later on like Facebook, you might lose them forever. Most people probably shop for their pet supplies at Amazon, eBay, or Wal-Mart but best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyler Pratt
    Write up a quick report on how to save money on dog products.

    Give it away for free and collect emails.

    Then mail out affiliate products related to the dog niche
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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    To help monitize the site look into some recurring products you could market. There are many lines of pet foods that are shipped to the customer on a monthly basis. They know how much they need and set up auto orders and get it delivered when they need it. Very convenient for the pet owner. They do not have to run to the store because they have run out of dog food.

    They are several programs doing this. Also be sure to build an emai list for your marketing purposes.
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  • Profile picture of the author icoachu
    Why don't you contact manufacturers and ask for cheap sponsorships?

    On top of everything, they'll give you free content

    Win Win situation
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  • Profile picture of the author sallysqueak
    Wow thanks for all the replies everyone! Looks like I've found the right place to ask for advice!

    I was going to reply to each individually, but it may be easier to just summarise below;

    A lot I notice are mentioning social media. I've been mainly focusing on this all along. I have a twitter account with almost 7k followers at https://twitter.com/TheHouseOfDogUK and a Facebook page with over 1k at https://www.facebook.com/thehouseofdog (added the links so you can see the style of posts I'm adding and tell me what I'm doing wrong, but please delete if not allowed).

    The problem I seem to get with Facebook is that despite having over 1k followers, only about 25 people seem to actually see each post I make, unless they're meme type posts and they get shared. I'm trying to create content which others will want to share such as the top 10 national trust places for dogs post, but sharing is few and far between. I've made absolutely no nat trust membership commissions whatsoever through this post, despite getting quite a few clicks.

    I created the interactive toys post, again no commissions, a few clicks.

    The only commissions I've ever earnt from this site so far are from groupon - a total of 2 sales on dog related products!

    I've made a small amount of directory listing sales which have helped to pay for the hosting etc, but even that seems to be very quiet lately. Yesterday I added the coupon code section, but have had few clicks and no sales from this as yet, despite sharing on social media.

    I do have a couple of pinterest boards, as someone suggested, https://uk.pinterest.com/thehouseofdoguk/ but don't seem to get a lot of interaction on this. Perhaps I should try to get more followers somehow? I confess I know little about pinterest and have been instead concentrating on the more popular Facebook/Twitter pages, although the lack of interaction from Facebook fans lately has made me wonder whether Facebook is becoming a bit of a waste of time.

    One thing which I'm not doing at all, which I'm aware I probably should be is email marketing. I do have a way of collecting mailing lists on the site, and have about 190 email addresses collected via that, but I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea what to do with regards to email marketing. It's not something I've ever done before, I don't know where to start and I can't afford to pay for special software right now to do it, not while the site's not bringing any in Is there a free option which won't upset my home internet supplier and will look professional? Maybe I should research this more.

    Tom, I'd love to know what you mean by syndicating viral blog posts/images? Do you mean create my own? This sounds interesting. I will also work on the Pinterest - I have a lot to learn there about how to even get followers!

    Zanythingy, when you say my site appears 'poor', I'd be interested to know in what way? I guess I need honesty, if it's not user friendly I need to know. Just not sure how to make it any more user friendly. I've been doing this for 18 months yes, but I really set out wanting to create a directory which would become a household name and genuinely useful to UK dog owners, so I havn't just thrown a load of random clutter at it, I've tried to give it some structure and have asked dog trainers for help with contributing articles etc. The site's now getting around 3k visits a month and has a 75% average bounce rate, is this bad? I don't know a lot about bounce rates.

    Needbucksnow - Some good tips, will get to work on those today, thanks.

    When you say 'grow platforms and accounts', do you mean simply grow the number of followers, fans etc to my social media pages?

    Interesting idea with the sponsorships tip - what should I offer them and what price should I charge? I've never done this either! Although I have sold banner space on other sites in the past, but I feel that leaving these spaces for affiliate products may be the best way to get a recurring income long term rather than selling them for £40 a year to a sponsor? I may be wrong or barking up the wrong tree!

    Thanks again to all for the suggestions, I really do appreciate the help. Some days I just feel like giving up on the whole site. Earning 60p a month and paying out £15 in hosting fees a month really isn't a sustainable business model to me and I really would like to earn a nice income on the side with this site if possible. Does anyone think it really is possible to get even a few hundred £'s a month from a site like this if I can get more social fans?

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
      Originally Posted by sallysqueak View Post

      Tom, I'd love to know what you mean by syndicating viral blog posts/images? Do you mean create my own? This sounds interesting. I will also work on the Pinterest - I have a lot to learn there about how to even get followers!

      Does anyone think it really is possible to get even a few hundred £'s a month from a site like this if I can get more social fans?
      Sure. The aim with viral marketing is to infuse anything - an image, a video, even a website - with viral potential. When you become good at this, take it from me, traffic is mammoth, targeted, and passive. When I refer to syndicating blog posts or images, I'm talking about the initial impetus that can lead to a viral effect. To give you an example - you're familiar with Grumpy Cat? Classic meme. I have no idea what lead to the explosive viral reaction, but it could have been generated in dozens of different ways. One of which - simply sharing that cat to a cat group on Facebook.

      To answer your second question: yes and a whole lot more. I'm unable to go into too many details - I'd be stepping on too many of my own businesses - but the potential for your site is big. It needs work, the site, and you'll need to learn how to work socials more effectively, but yes it does have potential. To help steer you in the right direction:

      1. Look at competing sites in your market and reverse-engineer. Make note of what they're doing and utilize the same elements and improve upon them. These elements could be design-related (structure, branding, layout, writing tone, colours, etc), monetization-related (offers, networks, placement, tricks), and traffic related. To get a handle about where their traffic comes from, plonk them into SimilarWeb.com for starters.

      2. Learn FB, Pinterest, Twitter, YT, Instagram. Ideal for your market.

      3. Learn viral marketing.

      4. Learn list building.

      You have a mountain to climb with a huge amount of work. Climb it, you should be doing very well for yourself.

      Best of luck!

      Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author sallysqueak
    Thanks Tom

    I really do appreciate the input from someone who has some idea of what they're doing, because right now I feel like I've wasted 18 months of my life trying to get a site working which just never will

    Some days I feel like selling it and going to get a job in Tesco! It's making me zero profit these days, it's not even paying for itself anymore (hosting fees), I'm having to dip into my own pocket and I don't earn a lot as a dog sitter as my main business. But I'm putting so many hours into this a week, every spare minute I get, and it's just coming to nothing. It's quite depressing! Clearly everything I'm doing the way I'm doing it is wrong and ineffective. Sigh....

    I'll work on what you've advised above, but I have to admit, I'm just feeling kind of hopeless and lost these days.. anyone want to buy a website? lol

    Thanks for the advice anyway

    Sally
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