Thinking about doing an 'odd' side project

I've been thinking about this on/off for a while, and had previously run it by Patch (who does a lot of rescue work) and she thought it was great idea.

It's odd because it's exactly the sort of site I dislike: free-ad type 'pups for sale' sites.

Why?

Because currently we have no voice on them - or to the millions of visitors they get every year. Unfortunately they are the first port of call for a huge number of people looking to buy a pup or dog - the first thing most people do when looking for a dog is google 'puppies for sale'!

At least if we had a controlling interest in the 'sector' we could get our message on there - hopefully making people aware of good/bad breeders (and over time intensify that message - because to begin with we'd have to be a bit stealth). We could also use the stats, perhaps for campaigning or legislation. And at the same time there would be a big fat advert for Dogsey... so people are more likely to join here where we have a large majority of ethical and responsible owners.

If we manage to kill those amoral sites who do next to nothing to help educate their site visitors, that will be worth it in itself - for all the good, sites like Dogsey does, they undo - so I think it's a bit of a war and I'm beginning to learn that you need to beat them at their own game

Additionally - rescues will be able to upload their dogs that need rehoming, so will be able to get good exposure for their dogs.

Just considering it

I'm only just considering it at the mo, I need to find a side project to practise on before starting that big pet site I keep going on about (the one where we try to raise £1M for pet charities) which of course this free-ads type site will also help give exposure to (due to the massive traffic they get). I am on my last programming book (which is actually taking a while as Rocky doesn't let me leave his side, bless him).

Anyway - what do you think? Have a I gone mad or is this a good idea? The fact is soo many people are using those sites, and they go to them way before they come to us (which is usually after they've got a dog) so I can't think of any better way to reach out to them, or to have more of an impact on things.

Edit: New to this thread?

If you're just catching this thread please read through it if you can - some really good questions and concerns have been raised and hopefully the replies will give you a better idea of what I have in mind.

How can you trust the sellers?
What safe guards can you put in place..?
What can you do that the other sites cant ??
Why would breeders come to the site rather than c dogs for instance ??
Just a few thoughts ...J

I did write out a big rant and then realised that it was pointless as it wasn't really answering your question

I say go for it

Sounds good in principle The problem will lie in getting a higher ranking on the google and such search engines to be higher on the list than the kind of sites you want to beat.

Plus you're also relying on the money over common sense factor of people - which we all know is a kind of a loosing battle Reaserching a breed or type of dog is alien to some people - they see their friends dog/ tv dog etc, think Ooooh that's nice I'll have one of those and off they go - they don't want to wait for the next litter they want one NOW

Those of us that know the difference between a good and bad breeder etc will choose wisely, however most people have learnt either through experience of from coming on sites like this

p.s: if you need any help on SEO (search engine optimisation my OH is a programmer and web builder so I'll have a word with him for you

Good questions Murf!

You can't - and we're not going to try to.

The site's main aim will be to 'replace' the current sites in the same sector - but of course with the benefit of us being in control. So we'll have more prominent 'advice' on how to choose good breeders, send people to Dogsey to get advice, and also have a prominent rescue section - I think we'll have more chance to get rescues on board than the others out there at the mo.

In what respect? We're not going to put restrictions on the ads - because we actually want as many people as possible to use it (regardless of whether they are good/bad - basically if they advertise on the other sites, we want them to come to us instead) as that's not who we're trying to actually reach... it's the people going on the site looking for a new pup/dog who we want to reach, and hopefully enlighten

As mentioned above - give better and more prominent advice on distinguishing between good/bad breeders. Although we'd have to start of 'gentle' or we'll just scare the advertisers away (all ads will be free btw). When we become a leading site in the sector we can intensify things. It's all part of the master plan

We'll also try to work more with rescues and maybe even give them a (free) prominent banner space for their message - but like I said it's something we have to work up to.

The target 'advertiser' is the same advertisers that the current free-ads type sites get - anyone and everyone who uses them to sell a dog.

We're not trying to change the way people sell dogs in this round - this round is purely about replacing the current sites that do jack-all in trying to educate people or promote better more ethical ways.

Glad you like the idea

Ditto - glad you like it

I'll answer your other points in a bit.. just eating at the mo

yes, good idea.
A couple of things - include Rescue ads (they also have pups to rehome)
Make sure warning of health issues etc is displayed in each section - for instance, a warning that a lot of doodles DO moult no matter what the breeder might say.

It might also be an idea to have a check list for each advert:
Parents can be seen?
Parents health tested?
KC Reg? (please note other `registration schemes` are not reliable)
Puppy Pack?
Breeder will take pup back if needed? (Any limit?)
Breeder will give breed advice?
Insurance cover?

Yes - that will certainly be a challenge. But I do have a plan

Yes, unfortunately I don't think it's an easy task to make a big change in what 'most' of the population think when it comes to getting a dog. Look how long Dogsey has been going and (as much as all the good we have done) the majority of pet owners we haven't been able to touch... perhaps that's because they never get this far to begin with (which is another reason to do that site).

I see this as one battle in the war - the idea is that responsible ethical people be at the helm of such sites, instead of unethical irresponsible ones - and then carefully, perhaps slowly, make changes to try and shift the balance of things in favour of good.

Thanks! When the site is done perhaps you can get your OH to take a look and give me his feedback

Along the same principle years ago there was a push for people with health tested Staffords to advertise their dogs at stud, with the view to making people more aware of health testing.

I don't know how much of an impact it made because I got loads of enquiries to use my dog at stud. I asked about the health tests their bitch had, explained what each test meant and why they were important and invited them to come back when they knew the results of the bitches test.

Not only did they not come back but in one day I got three calls from the same woman because she had got details off different sites and she did remember who she had called.

No matter what I said she was just looking for a local dog to cover her bitch and she did not care for anything else.

So it can be an uphill battle.

But if the site had breed health testing requirements and sound information such as in SBTs blues are not rare down to the difference between KC reg and DLUK reg then it might help those that care but just don't know.

Yes absolutely I think most rescues currently shun the other 'free-ad' type sites out of principle, but hopefully we will be able to persuade them that we are the good guys and that we aim to first kill-off the bad sites and replace them, and then slowly instigate change that would not have otherwise been possible.

And of course letting them know how much exposure their dogs will get if they 'are' on the site (because so many people visit these sites to begin with).

Perhaps we'll be able to be really clever, and when people are looking for say 'Akita pups' we might be able to sneak in a 'Hey look there's an Akita in rescue not far from you' somewhere

That could be really effective? What do you reckon?

That's a great idea, just this site is not going to be a breed-profiles site (we'll keep those on Dogsey). It's basically going to be a free-ads type listing site, where people click on a page and it's pretty much just a listing of dogs/pups available.

At this stage we don't want to enforce our ideals or warnings - we actually want these 'breeders' to love us, to helps us get to number 1. I know it's crafty but I think it has to be done

Another good idea. Closer the time I will open up a thread specifically about what route we might go in order to try and help people make the right choice. I think it will be a big important topic so will warrant a thread in it's own right - keep a hold of that list!