Name of your website?Animal Affair
Your name?
Sue Wright
Your Location (city, etc)
Mooloolaba
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Animal Affair is a showcase for our award winning Grooming salon and canine boutique, we stock a select range of products for Dogs and Dog lovers, i.e Dog collars, Plush Dog Toys, Flea Treatments, Grooming supplies and gifts for Dog lovers
What inspired you to launch your own website?
we wanted to take Animal Affair to a wider audience the obvious choice was to go online, although Animal Affair is a Dog Grooming salon we also stock a great product range that can be purchased world wide,we also have interesting articles informing people about relevant doggie issues such as flea infestations
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
About 6 years ago I launched my first web site selling Scrapbook supplies in the UK
How did you decide on a name for your website?
After leaving the UK and relocating to Australia with my family I purchased a Dog Grooming salon The salon was called Animal affair, hence the name for the web site www.animalaffair.com.au
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Animal Affair stocks a wide range of products for Dogs especialy sourced throughout the world, Animal affair is always looking out for new products that are not widely available in Australia
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Animal Affair is an award winning salon and is definatly here to stay the website is growing daily and we are working hard to secure it's future
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Animal affair the website is still in it's infancy, I know from past experiences that it takes a long time to create web presence, at this moment in time I dont have the funds to spend on expensive advertising for the website so I groom dogs all day (which I love so I'm not complaining) then add the web site to directories on an evening
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would like to add a blog to my site so I could interact more with my cutomers, people would be able to swap stories and infomation upload video/photos, hey we could be the You Tube for Dog lovers :)
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, without a doubt, My husband and 2 sons would be only too happy work with me not to mention the staff at the salon
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
After purchasing the salon I soon discovered that most of the equipment/tools in the shop needed replacing, I had to replace Grooming tables, 4 x clipper, kennels I didnt even have a checkout that worked
What has been your biggest challenge?
Refitting the shop and telephoning each and every customer that had ever visited Animal Affair to tell them that we were under new managment, with a new grooming team. Adding the website and learning about keywords, web presence and all the technical stuff that goes with a website! I'm 43 year old woman so I didnt have the luxury of computer lessons at school:)
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Because of the lack of an advertising budget for the website I think adding Animal affair to web directories, oh and selling on auction sites with a link to my website
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Way more time consuming than you ever imagine,uploading images, adding articles, gallery images, product descriptions and promoting the site
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Animal affair has been live for 18 months, Animal Affair is here to stay - As long as people keep Dogs then there will be need for Dog collars,Dog Treats, Dog Clothes, Flea Treatments etc
How do you see the future of online shopping?
I think people will expect all websites to be more interactive i.e when shopping online it would be great to ask other shoppers what they thought to a certain product, would they recommend it, I dont mean by testimonials but real time answers like you tube
What is your website address?
Animal Affair
