The latest survey from the Pet Care Trust reveals that less than half of pets shops have a website and about ten percent of pet shop owners don't have access to a computer.
But just like many other standard products, the business is moving online, either as research before buying from a local pet shop or as an e-commerce transaction.
Evidence From Google Searches
Google is just one of many search engines but it is the dominant force and their search data for Google.co.uk - the default for people that Google recognises as based in the UK shows the following average searches per month (Google rounds the numbers when the get big to 2 or 3 numbers):
pet supplies - 27,100
- pet accessories - 18,100
- pet shop - 18,100
- pet shops - 18,100
Those numbers don't include what I think of as local searches on the Internet - pet shops London is averaging 1,900 monthly searches.
But search activity on the Internet doesn't end there.
More detailed searches show:
- dog beds - 74,000
- dog harness - 33,100
- dog coat - 22,000
As you can see, people are searching on Google and you can do you own checking using the Google keyword tool.
Tips To Researching Pet Shop And Accessories Online
This Google tool was designed to help people who promote their websites with pay per click campaigns to find the best keyword phrases.
There are several things you need to do to make best use of it.
- Make sure that it is set to English, United Kingdom if you are based in the UK (or wherever you are based as my blogs are read by people from over 150 different countries).
- Use exact results and not the broad search numbers - otherwise you will get some very big numbers which exaggerate searches for the exact phrases.
- The columns can be changed and the option to show a graph of volume trends can be very interesting.
Does Your Pet Shop Need To Be Online?
I believe every pet shop should have some kind of representation online.
If potential customers are searching, then you want to be positioning yourself in those searches.
But be realistic You don't need to be found by people searching for pet shop anywhere in the world. Unless you can deliver nationally - or internationally - aim for local searches.
Does Your Pet Shop Need A Website?
I would say that for most businesses, a website is important but as we shall see later, there are websites and websites that work.
Many small business owners - not just pet shop owners - have been burnt by website designer charging high prices for websites that do next to nothing for the business.
So if you have a website, you need to:
- Know what you want to achieve - the more clarity you have the better.
- Find a good website designer who will charge a fair price.
- Learn how to attract traffic from searches, either by paying for sponsored links (pay per click or placement) or by making your website give the search engines what they want to rank highly. (This is called search engine optimisation.)
If You Can't Afford A Website For Your Pet Shop?
Even if you don't buy a website you should still be online to promote your pet shop.
Register your pet shop in as many directories that you can find ranking in your area.
You can find these by searching for pet shops and your area e.g. pet shops London.
Where possible explain why people should visit your pet shop in preference to others in the area. You might have a speciality or you might want to emphasise location - either because it's near or close to a major attraction which people will know.
This blog has started to allow pet shop owners to promote themselves locally and I am gradually adding locations. You add yourself by adding a comment. It couldn't be simpler.
The idea is to be where people are looking and then to give them reasons to visit you.
You can also create your own website page and put as much detail as you want on a website called Squidoo www.squidoo.com. A funny name but I think it is great and it is very easy to use. You can be commercial on it although its main purpose is to provide information and you are not limited to one page.
Go for things like Reptiles London: Finding A Reptile In London and explain what people should look for and consider when buying a reptile and explain about your wide range of reptiles, accessories and advice you can give.
It's not as fancy as having your own website but it is free and the Squidoo pages packed with relevant content usually rank well in the search engines.
For example, you can see a page that I created for my general trade business coaching about Business Profitability It currently ranks at number 4 if you search for business profitability although things doe move around a bit. You can make it very interactive and have lots of fun.
Buying A Pet Shop Website
There are two kinds of websites:
- Websites that provide information and (hopefully) create a contact - a visit to the pet shop, a phone call or an email enquiry.
- E-commerce websites which sell products, take the orders and the money. The biggest and best example is Amazon. They have turned it into a fine art with a brilliant information and e-commerce website - but they have spent millions.
The information websites are quite low cost to produce but the e-commerce websites are more expensive to build and have ongoing running costs as you have to keep paying for the shopping cart facility to collect the money.
Consider carefully what you want. Remember my number 1 issue was knowing what you want to achieve.
If you are trying to drive people to your shop, then the information website is fine and can still have special offers which people can ring up to order.
If you like the idea of selling pet products online, do you have a special niche e.g luxury dog beds or are you hoping to slug it out with the big discounters on price?
Want To Sell Online But Don't Want To Have An E-Commerce Website
A couple of low cost ideas for you to piggy back on the power of huge sites but you will have to be super efficient as prices will be low and you will have to handle the delivery/shipping issues.
You can sell on Amazon or eBay (the auction website) by opening a store and posting what you want to sell at what prices.
It is very competitive and buyers will buy on price and delivery, particularly on the very popular standard items but you will have more opportunity to let your inner salesperson flourish on the less popular stuff with better descriptions, better photographs and better reasons why the product should be bought.
Deciding On Your Pet Shop Website
Time to do your research.
Select a few words which represent your pet shop business and go to Google and search to see your competition.
I recommend you start locally.
So as I am based in Birmingham, I would start with pet shops Birmingham, move to pet shops West Midlands and then pet shops without any restriction.
This is so that you can see the level of your local competition - who you have to beat - and the good practices that are out there which you can borrow. You must not steal the content as it is copyrighted but you can see the good ideas and adapt them to your pet shop website.
I recommend you get some 3 x 5 cards and record the website address at the top and write down what you like on one side and what you don't like on the other - alternatively use different colour pens.
Try to think like a consumer looking for a pet shop to visit but saving their shoe leather by searching on the Internet.
Perhaps they do want to buy a good quality dog bed, gluten free dry dog food or they want a different kind of lead and collar because their dog pulls so badly. Or perhaps they want to buy a rabbit and all the accessories and want to find a pet shop that has a good range to choose from.
By the end of this exercise, you should know what you want to achieve and have some ideas for the type of website you want.
Finding A Good Website Designer To Create Your Pet Shop Website
Here are a few criteria for you to consider on your choice of website designer:
- How good are their designs - each should be proud to show you a portfolio of websites they have produced. The client decides but you can usually get an idea of the type of design the website designer favours. A few words of caution - you don't want a pretty website for your pet shop that doesn't sell. This is a business tool to make you money.
- How good are they at communicating - it is the website designers job to explain to you what they do. You don't have to be an expert in websites.
- How does the service work - user managed and updated content is a great facility which isn't much different from typing on a word processor but it may mean that you are just given a design shell and you have to populate it yourself. Remember the more you do, the less it costs, the more the website designer does on your pet shop website, the more it costs.
- How experienced are they? This is very important for e-commerce websites as they are complicated. If you see a website you like in your research, most website designers promote themselves at the bottom of each page.
- When will the work be done? Some website designers work very quickly but I used one lad once who never did finish.
- How can they help you to promote the website? Either they should have a good knowledge of search engine optimisation and pay per click themselves or they should be able to point you to someone who has. The best pet shop website is worthless if no one visits it because it can't be found in the search engines.
- How scalable is the website? Bigger websites are more work but create more of an impact and generally do better in search engines as each page can be made relevant to a particular subject. For example this page is about pet shop websites and the search engines know that because pet shop and websites keep being mentioned. My advice would be to start small and then, if it works well to build.
- How much will it cost? Try to agree a relatively standard design and service with three or four website designers so you are comparing apples with apples.
Before making a decision, take a few references from customers of the website designers. I have had people contact me and ask me about my experience and I'm happy to help.
Your Pet Shop Website Is One Part Of Your Business
Your website is just one part of the success of yourt business. If you would like specific coaching and advice (UK only) then get in contact by emailing me.
