Name of your website?Welcome Home Pet Sitting | Jacksonville, FL
Your name?
Alysson Fergison
Your Location (city, etc)
Jacksonville, FL
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Welcome Home Pet Sitting's owner has been providing quality, in-home pet sitting services in Jacksonville, FL since 1998. Pet sitting is the best alternative to a traditional (and potentially dangerous) kennel or boarding facility. Hiring a pet sitter provides pet owners with the opportunity to keep their pets safe from exposure to other animals, as well as the peace of mind knowing their pets aren't spending the day in and out of a cage. Instead, their pets remain safe & sound - and in the comfort of their own home, with their favorite toys, familiar sounds and comfortable sleeping spots.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Any small business owner is doomed to fail these days without a website.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I launched my first site in the 90's and it was a music-related fan site on Geocities.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Our pet sitting motto is "Welcome Home" (due partially to the premier services we offer in addition to pet sitting - like "Grocery Getter" and "Clean Sweep" services). Our goal is for our clients to come home to find happy and healthy pets, as well as a home that is in the same or better condition than when they left.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
I don't believe any of our competitors offer as much comprehensive information about their pet sitting services, nor about pet sitting in general. I ultimately intend to offer reviews of pet-related products, as well as updates and bulletins with pet-related news (like pet adoption organizations, pet product recall information, etc.)
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I will eventually sell pet-related products through this site, in addition to its primary function - which is to advertise Welcome Home Pet Sitting.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
While I am still employed full-time elsewhere, my business partner relies solely on pet sitting for her primary source of income. Welcome Home Pet Sitting enables her to generate substantial income, allowing her to remain a stay-at-home-mom. That is the ROI we planned for initially, and it has played out as anticipated.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would create a full Flash version of the site due simply to the aesthetic appeal of Flash-based sites.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Not at this point.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
None that I can think of off hand. Both myself and my business partner are very detail-oriented and tend to spend a great deal of time planning before taking on any project.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding the time to dedicate to building and promoting the website itself.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
The site has been live for just over a week at this point, that remains to be seen. A site was launched at the .com in November 2006, but having been built in iWeb it was not very search-engine friendly and the .com is now redirected to the .net where the new design resides.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Not at all.
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?
We will keep it up as long as the business is running regardless of the gains that come directly from the site. The fact is that traffic or no traffic, no small business can succeed without a website today - even if the only people who visit it do so as a result of the URL being printed on a business care or flyer.
What is your website address?
Welcome Home Pet Sitting | Jacksonville, FL
