DogWalker.com

[friday]

The point I was making is I would never consider getting a dog walker or pet sitter from a general listing site, unless the site was a bonded agency and had systems in place to guarantee the professionals were vetted. Pet sitters, including dog walkers, as we well know, need to be from a very trusted source, as in a lot of instances, they can have access to your private property and possesions at times when nobody is present. That is a scary proposition and that is why the business is mainly driven by word of mouth.

I was being serious about an ebook site, I fell it could do really well on the singular of the domain. I just think it is quiet hard to create revenue from a listings site, especially as Google has that well covered with local search.

As for running an agency online, I meant be the service provider / agent, not actually walking the dogs yourself, just taking a commission on the rate which I suspect would be quiet lucrative. As to the IRS, I dont believe they are as lax as you claim, I would say they care greatly whether tax is being paid on dog walking fees or not, but it is quiet difficult to track the business as it is largely based on word of mouth and cash. Part of critiquing a site / development feedback is deciding whether or how a site will make money. I was only pointing out an opinion. I feel the days of listing sites like the above are dead, but again that is just an opinion. But like you say, you have a lot more insight and understanding of the business and a business plan that will prove otherwise.

g/l

As for DogTraining.com that is an incredible domain.

[Gerry]

My wife and I have been involved with dogs, dog training, and dog therapy work for a few years now.

Yes, people will get a lot of information by word of mouth. But a great deal of information will be garnered from the internet.

As for bonding and insurance, that is going to be up to the individual company contracted, not up to the website that provides information or acts as a portal (note to elliot: disclaimers).

DogTraining is one hell of a name.

Large market. National and international market.

Service, therapy, patrol, competition, show, attack, bomb, drug - again, so many sectors. And, shows the worth of a good generic.

[EJS]

My wife and I have been involved with dogs, dog training, and dog therapy work for a few years now.

Yes, people will get a lot of information by word of mouth. But a great deal of information will be garnered from the internet.

As for bonding and insurance, that is going to be up to the individual company contracted, not up to the website that provides information or acts as a portal (note to elliot: disclaimers).

DogTraining is one hell of a name.

Large market. National and international market.

Service, therapy, patrol, competition, show, attack, bomb, drug - again, so many sectors. And, shows the worth of a good generic.

Have a disclaimer in the footer and then stronger one in the disclaimer section.

Also, the name I bought is DogTrainer.com... I typo'd when I first posted.

[Gerry]

Have a disclaimer in the footer and then stronger one in the disclaimer section.

Also, the name I bought is DogTrainer.com... I typo'd when I first posted.

Still an excellent name.

[KING dot NET]

Geez!!! That's a gem! Might be able to talk my wife into writing original content for you.

Nice business concept, I have wagzone.com and dumbdog.com, still in development. I still need to get my first dog .. maltese or something similar to start it.

Good luck EJ.

[draggar]

Wordpress

Very nice - where did you get the script for the directory part of it? I mihgt be interested in something like that in the near future.

Thanks everyone for comments. I agree about getting dog walkers. I am going to call many on Monday and offer free listings, so i can pick and choose areas across the country. There are a couple of search bugs my developer is working on, so I am glad to not have advertisers right now, but will give away some freebies in the upcoming week.

Send me a PM - I know a couple in my area.

Good idea.. I also own DogTrainer.com, so if I don't sell it, I will build a similar site..... sorry typo'd... DogTrainer.com - not DogTraining.com

Very nice - again, send me a PM when you get this one going and may be looking for signups.

I still need to get my first dog .. maltese or something similar to start it.

Get a real dog - a German shepherd or if you're feeling adventurous, a malinois.

[EJS]

I've had some very good success with DogWalker.com over the last 2 months. Somewhere in the vicinity of 100 paid listings so far, and getting between 1-2 sign-ups per day. I wanted to follow this up to announce the launch of CatSitter.com, a directory of cat sitters from across the US. One of the nice things is that a good deal of the companies who are on DogWalker.com have pet/cat sitting services, so there is an opportunity for cross-marketing.

BTW, all development and marketing costs have been covered by the paid advertisers, and the revenue is now going towards ongoing marketing efforts and the cost of the domain name. Payments are made via Paypal subscription, and I am looking to break even (including domain acquisitions) by the middle of year 2, but possibly sooner.

[David G]

Good job as always Elliot. Congrats on all the signups and advertisers.

There should be a lot more developed sites selling products and services than there is. That's where the real money is and the secret to monetizing domains which need not rely on natural high traffic.

[EJS]

Thanks, Dave. One thing I can say is that having the keyword domain name has helped improve the Google rankings, which is impressive to potential advertisers. Also, many have complemented the site's look and ease of navigation.

IMO, I am operating in niche markets, with quite a lot of potential advertisers, the domain names are very targeted, and most of the comp sites don't look as good and their names aren't as easy to remember as mine.

Domain investors with good (targeted) domain names, a solid plan (development and business), a good knowledge of the marketplace, and a top quality designer and programmer can do exactly what I did and make money.

Once you find a model that works, you can take what you have and what you've learned and incorporate it with other websites.

[David G]

Makes a lot of sense and your words are what domainers should read over and over again to achieve success. On a personal note, I have a lot of thiose things going for me especially the targeted keyword aspect and niche markets but I admit to lagging behind in the designer and programmer areas but now working on improvement there but not easy.

Thanks, Dave. One thing I can say is that having the keyword domain name has helped improve the Google rankings, which is impressive to potential advertisers. Also, many have complemented the site's look and ease of navigation.

IMO, I am operating in niche markets, with quite a lot of potential advertisers, the domain names are very targeted, and most of the comp sites don't look as good and their names aren't as easy to remember as mine.

Domain investors with good (targeted) domain names, a solid plan (development and business), a good knowledge of the marketplace, and a top quality designer and programmer can do exactly what I did and make money.

Once you find a model that works, you can take what you have and what you've learned and incorporate it with other websites.