How do I advertise my startup pet business?

Question

I have an online pet business that I launched in 2005 after I was laid off. So far I have advertised in Cat Fancy, Dog Fancy, and Dog World (as of early this year). Sales are very slow and somewhat sporadic. How do I advertise online or in other venues? I am stuck for ideas. I don't have a degree in business or advertising so this is all new to me. I actually have two sites: http://www.mncatgrass.com

Any suggestions would be so helpful and I thank you in advance for any advice. : )

Answer 1

Well there are many ways to promote your website and the good thing about it is for FREE. There are Directory Submissions, Forum Postings, Social Bookmarkings, Social Networkings, Classified Ads and much more. Which are:

Directory Submissions

directoryworm.com

lacedirectory.net

linksm.com

link-directory.us

directory.gtsee.com

Social Bookmarking

buddymarks.com

myweb.yahoo.com

linkagogo.com

backflip.com

fark.com/

Free Classified Ads

effectlocal.com

eksakto.com

emortgagemanager.net

classifieds.enterhelp.com

pub8.bravenet.com

Social Networking

facebook.com

myspace.com

flickr.com

genwi.com

juzfrens.com

Answer 2

Using payperclick advertising at yahoo and google.You can try to advertise at high traffic free classified website.Try post your ads at this website.

Answer 3

Hi there,

You simply can not go past using all the web 2.0 websites & the technology involved.   Why ?

Traffic, It's that simple. You have to put Your business or marketing message right in front of where the most sets of eyes are focused.

They are sites like myspace, facebook etc, and the video sites like youtube, google vidoes etc.

Make simple and easy videos and upload them and you have huge chances of massive amounts of traffic in a short time. especially if they are of the viral variety ;-)

Check My Site for more info :   http://www.screencamprofits.com

or My blog ;  http://nich-empires.blogspot.com

Hope this can help

Just ask any other questions Ok

To your success

Cheers

Tony Markx

Answer 4

I use autosurf programs like www.topsurfing.net to get free hits to your site. They help a lot in getting your website higher in the search engines. I have never paid for any advertising and my sites do well in search engines.

Answer 5

craigslist.com is the best way to go.  You can post on it everyday and it is free.  You can post in different cities to broaden your advertisements  Also, craigslist ads get picked up by the search engines so you get your ads in google as well

Answer 6

It is geting more difficult, especially from a Google point of view. They will penalise sites for 'buying' traffic. One way is to write orginal articles about pets and pet care, pros and cons about different breed as pets etc. As you know it is all about getting visitors to your site and getting a percentage of those visitors to buy something, and come back.Have a look at our site http://www.ds32.com for some possible ideas.

Answer 7

Three Free Ways to Market Your Home Business

With limited budgets, most home business owners are always looking for ways to effectively promote their business at the lowest possible cost. Well, the cost doesn't get any lower than free!

1. Three things you can do to promote your home business for free. They include:

2. Posting free ads for your home business on Craig's List

3. Promoting your home business through Google Video or YouTube

Teaching a class or a seminar as an expert on your home business' specialization

All 3 are valid ways to promote your home business.  

Answer 8

I have created a website geared towards buyers and sellers at http://salenook.com where you could advertise your sites nationally (or locally) for free.

Good luck!

http://salenook.com