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pet_portrait_artist
Joined: Sep 11, 2005
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 09/11/2005 07:48 am
Hello everyone!
I have an established website, I am a professional pet portrait artist; people have been commissioning me to paint their pets for over 10 years. I have had my website for over a year now and my site gets around 400 unique visitors per day.
· I have added good informational content to my website this year, which has increased visitors
· I have got some good back links
· I think my site is well designed and easy to navigate but I have to say I do it all myself and am no expert on the subject.
· I am submitted to the main directories like dmoz etc
· I am on page 2 of google for my main keywords ‘pet portraits’
· I am good at my job and I have some great artwork on there.
So where I fall down is in sales and marketing. I know for a fact that there are millions upon millions of families with cherishes pets and I need to find a way to get to them so they can commission me.
The strategies I have tried are
· Magazine advertising – very expensive!
· Dog’s shows - ive don’t a few but I live in a rural area so it isn’t really easy for me to attend them.
· Pay per click – Did this for a while until my site got to page 2 of google for my keywords
· Flyers and brochures and leaflets in vets, pet shops etc
· Affiliation schemes – I have a gift voucher service and am trying to get myself on sites to sell my gift vouchers.
· I have created my own award for websites to win
· My best so far and unique to any website I know – clients can watch their portrait in progress on my website. I take photos stage by stage. This is very popular.
Strategies I have thought of include somehow getting my work to be associated with members joining a kennel club, perhaps giving members 10% off. The only thing is with anything like this, I don’t want to seem cheap and out of work. I need a way of promoting my work, and getting people to want to use me and my work in their publications without me having to beg!! I have even contacted some magazines to do features but no luck.
I am wondering if I am going about this in the wrong way? Does anyone have any ideas or inspiration for me to work upon?
Thank you in advance
Melanie xx
pet portraitartist
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SportsGuy
Moderator
Joined: Aug 30, 2002
# Posts: 3595
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Posted: 09/11/2005 12:10 pm
Alright.
Great service. A study early this year showed that North Americans were forcast to spend roughly $5.1B on their pets in 2005. ...and we were only going to spend $3.7B on children.
Here are some ideas:
~ dogster.com - hook up with them. They are growing fast. Might want to construct a contest with them where you award three winners portraits. The entire process you do can be documente don the site for users to follow.
~ Online pet stores - contact the two biggest and offer them this service as a product to sell. You offer them a cut rate, they mark it up and sell the service for you.
~ Contact the dog magazines and AKC - find out if they will, likely for a fee, allow you to mail to their subscribers. They'd actually arrange the whole thing like an ad buy. Again, set up a specific rate for these folks.
~ Contact the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)or go directly to a direct mailing company. there are hundreds of direct mail lists already segmented - I'm sure someone has a list segmented for pet owners - again, prep a specific offer for this group.
~ Since the process is documented online, and it seems to be popular already, run with that. Folks really appreciate seeing where their money is going. (Not sure if this is pre-pay or post-pay)
~ Check with the AKC - in fact, become a member if you are not already. Find out if they can help you understand which demographic metropolitan areas (another dma for ya...LOL) tend to have what percentages of owners/registered purebreds.
I have 3 purebred pooches - and I'm damn proud of the fact they are purebreds. In fact, pretty much nothing is too good for my pups. This attitude is typical of owners - whether they are purebred or not.
Anyway - the AKC, if they're able/willing to share data, can help you understand WHERE large concentrations of owners are located. Follow up that data with a direct mail drop in that area - a local company will easily be able to get a pamphlet for your services into all the mailboxes in the area.
This kind of approach is never my first choice, though, as it's rather like hunting budgies with a shotgun. Not very targeted. (Incidentally, I do not hunt...  )
~ Try to gather a list of vets across North America - I see a local vet offering to get your pets pawprint set in stone for you. Offer them an incentive and they'll happily pitch the service.
~ Classified ads in local newspapers - smack in the middle of the Pets For Sale/To Give Away section - cheap and they offer big coverage. Get ads running on craigslist.org (just google "craigslist" - you'll see them - they're online classifieds)
~ Keep after your website. Make sure to do some keyword research to determine how many searches your main phrase actually gets in a month. Being on page 2 is solid, but if the phrase only gets 30 searches a month, you need to be number 1.
~ Contact the organizers of the largest dog shows in North America. Offer to supply portraits to the overall winners (the number is up to you). The goal is to get those top-tier winners thinking about your service. They will spread the word to others in that circle.
If I think of any more ideas, I'll post up.
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pet_portrait_artist
Joined: Sep 11, 2005
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 09/11/2005 01:27 pm
This is ABSOLULTY FANTASTIC! When you are so close to a business sometimes it’s hard to look at it objectively, so to have a nudge in the right direction is wonderful! Thank you SO much for all of your input; I now have lots to plan!  melanie xx
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sarthak
Joined: Sep 11, 2005
# Posts: 3
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Posted: 09/11/2005 11:52 pm
Melanie, I would also suggest that you evaluate certain key metrics like how much are you making per sale and what is the conversion rate of the visitors that are reaching you through your PPC campaign from different keywords. Your bidding should ideally increase if you see a positive return on investment after calculating all these figures.
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beth_lk
Insider
Joined: Jun 23, 2004
# Posts: 1085
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Posted: 09/12/2005 09:36 am
I am sending you a message of someone who I think can help you, she is in the pet care business - please check it
Beth
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Canadian_optimiser
Joined: Feb 06, 2002
# Posts: 14
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Posted: 09/16/2005 03:12 pm
Your woes are about keyphrase frequency. The search term : pet portaits is searched less than 3000 times a month. Compare to other keyphrase choices:
pet 140,600
pet supply 90,061
pet gift 7,264
pet product 8,663
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SportsGuy
Moderator
Joined: Aug 30, 2002
# Posts: 3595
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Posted: 09/17/2005 04:53 am
Ah, but I'll bet the number of competeing pages for "pet portraits" is significantly lower, too. And, if she can convert even 5% of those searches into traffic, that's an extra 150 visitors per month to her site.
THEN, if she's able to convert just 5% of those 150 visitors into sales, she'll have an increase of 7+ sales per month. At that point it might become a volume issue (I have no idea what kind of output she can manage).
I'd say it's traffic worth going after - niche product, niche traffic.
PLUS, you know those searchng on the phrase are looking for THAT product.
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