Name of your website?Anti Icky Poo, the Ultimate pet odor remover
Your name?
David Fitch
Your Location (city, etc)
Valencia, 91355
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Most odor removers only mask the smell and because animals have a greater sense of smell than humans they return to the same spot over and over. Anti Icky poo has been on the market for 18 years and is a tried and tested product that actually works. it's reccomended by veterinarians, animal hospitals, rescue groups etc.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
To offer quality products at reasonable prices to pet owners. Products not found in the big chains.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was launched in 1992 when i lived in France. It was a site offering English language training, specializing in pilots, air traffic controllers and I also offered guided tours of the U.S.A.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Anti-Icky-Poo is the principal product offered and the only available suffix was .net
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Fair pricing and excellent customer service. Immediate order acknowlegements, normally same day shipping with email notification of tracking number. Other sites claim "free shipping" but it is just highly inflated prices. We offer shipping "at cost" we ahve a no quibble replacement policy for missing or damaged items.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To expand to such that I can employ people and then eventually have a looming retirement income from the site.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
As a self employed person the balance of time greatly exceeds the success but I've gone from zero to almost $100,000 turnover in jsut 2 years so I'm happy with results so far.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Rent a wharehouse so I can empty my living room. More local publicity, pay for website optimazation, employ people to man a booth at more cat and dog shows and local markets. This would mean doubling my inventory so that would mean investing.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes but only by employing someone which would be self financing.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Attack on prices by a competitor. He reduced prices down to almost cost at one satge. he also copies all my website source and any special promotions I might have running.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Paying the bills. Finding the right product to invest in.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I have done all my own promoting until recently when I paid a company to do it for me. It hasn't made any spectacular improvements yet.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It hasn't really as I have a lot of experience in running other websites. In France I had 2 large clients that I designed, created and ran websites for.
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?
The site has been running for 2 years now. I don't envisage any loss in traffic, income or popularity at the moment. Anti Icky Poo has almost a cult following and while I keep up good pricing and customer service i will have many repeat customers.
What is your website address?
Anti Icky Poo, the Ultimate pet odor remover
