Looking to form a group together for FetchFriendly.com

I have a pet friendly travel site called: FetchFriendly.com
and for the past 2 years I have done nothing with it not even advertising but somehow made $58 from 3 order which isn't much but shows there could be a demand.

I came across this one site I really liked and wanted a similar layout so that I could add more dog related stuff. officialpethotels.com

To get a better idea of what I want to add please refer to this and imagine if my site had a layout like this for states: http://officialpethotels.com/us/az/phoenix/

State/City Page:
On each city under the map area and to the right of the hotels there will be user submitted and reviewed listings these sections will be arranged by top ratings including:
Doggie Daycares
Dog Walkers
Shelters
Dog Parks
Dog Clinics
Dog Meetup groups powered by meetup.com
State specific Dogs for Adoptions based in that area.
Simple state specific forum. - Buy, sell, trade, adoptions for dog and items

Users can submit listing for their services under their state and even pay to have it featured and highlighted.


Home Page
The homepage aside for having featured travel deals, will also automatically pick-up the location of the user and have these features:

Local dogs for Adoptions
Local Meetup Groups based on dog lovers powered by meetup.com
Local/National Dog News
Latest Blog Review Preview
Dog Care Tips
Donation Meeter for a cause
Featured members dog of the day.
Poll
Simple forum based on the location automatically detected. - Buy, sell, trade, adoptions for dog and items


Checkout will have a round-up for donation feature and a percentage of every sales goes to the charity.

Anyway that's the model I'd like to develop then start marketing it. I already like the style of fetchfriendly.com if anything I'll refresh it just a little. So no worries about it looking the same.

I just really wanted to make this site not only a booking resource but a learning resource and a way to raise money and save dogs. It's more of a passion.

I also wanted to see if this was possible to build on Wordpress or some kind of CMS so later on I can edit or tweak things. As far as budget goes I don't have a lot but what were you thinking?

Thank you to all.

 

I don't think I can be of any help but I like the idea. I never knew there was such a niche. So if someone books a hotel ,lets say 7 days at $100 per night, what's your take?

I think people would like this and use it. I also think they don't know of other sites like yours available. So if you can get your site in the right sights they will use yours.

Coming up with advertisement ideas is what you should do. Then test them out. I don't know the right advertisement path I know it's there some were. I just think if you can get a animal lover/owner who is already planning a vacation on your site they will use it.

 

Is there anyone who would be willing to help me redesign this and add a few more features?
IF not do you know where I can find them?

 

If someone books a hotel where the subtotal (before taxes and fees) is $100
you will earn:
$17, which is $11 (11%) plus $6 (50% of $6 plus 6%)

 

I know you were going for a brandable domain and having the same letter for both words is usually a good idea but this name is just terrible.

It's not really catchy, it's not really appropriate for a travel site, meh I'd scrap it.

 

Gez, thanks.

 

I disagree the names not bad, name doesn't matter, look at apple.

I would worry more about creating sales before tryIng to rebuild it. Work your way up to that. The margin is kinda low after advertisement cost it might not produce anything. I'd find out what your competition is doing.

One time I had a site I wanted to see we're my competition had links there's a site that will show back links to any site. Maybe there's other clever ways to see what the competition is doing.

 

Thank you and good idea. I wanted to cross promote with the meetup groups per state and have featured dog tips from various bloggers but I guess its wise to stick with what I have. It's just kind of annoying how the homepage has the same featured hotels displayed for the past 2 years.

Thank you so much for your feedback. I wonder where I can start marketing it. I just figured before spending money on marketing it would be ideal to have more resources but like you said I guess it can come later.

 

Well if you think about it after you spend all that time fixing it your still gonna be at the most important question which is "how do I market it?"

I would try and make sure people know this is for finding "pet friendly hotel"

Maybe something like "find hotels that allow pets" something more creative then that.

I have 0 website skills beyond simple HTMl. That stuff gets on my nerves. Hopefully you can find someone to help you out.

 

Thank you CJ, I was thinking I would cross promote with the meetup groups, find dog based sites and advertise on there, put flyers in the doggie daycares, Geo target pet owners, and grassroot and digital type methods. I figured that would be a good start but maybe im missing something what would you do?

 

All are good options. I would target vacation sites. I don't know I would try and target people planning on traveling you have to assume a % of those people have pets.