Name of your website?Allandoo Pheasantry
Your name?
Zoe A Hunter
Your Location (city, etc)
Stranraer, Wigtownshire
When did you start your website and why?
I started my website at the start of 2006 to inform people about ornamental pheasants as we found very little information was available when we started to breed them ourselves a few years before.
Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc
Our website includes lots of photos of our pheasants aswell as a pricelist and information about the idividual species we breed. It also includes a bird breeders directory, other useful bird and pet links and some pictures and information sent to us from other bird breeders.
What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?
It has been infuriating at times to find a page I have made looks very different on another browser or different sized screen from what I use. I was a complete novice and although I have learned a lot I still make loads of mistakes and there are many parts of html I do not understand properly yet.
What has been the easist part of operating your website?
Receiving and answering my e-mail is very enjoyable especially when I can help someone with their bird breeding or aviary building etc. Then I know the hours spent on the website are actually worthwhile.
What was your biggest mistake?
I have made loads of mistakes and still do. Probably the daftest thing is that my server is American so if someone in the UK (where I live) looks up only UK sites Allandoo Pheasantry is not included. However I am too scared to try and change server in case I make another mistake and end up starting all over again.
Who maintains your website and why?
I maintain the site. This is partly to keep our costs to a minimum and also so that I can update and change things when I like. I also wanted to try and understand how to make a website.
Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?
I could not have ran my business without it. The advertising would have been too expensive for us. We have had a great response from all over the world and aswell as finding many new customers and friends we have also came accross other breeders to supply us and many different ideas on how to look after birds.
What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?
I do not feel I am very qualified for this question but I think it is a great thing that introduces people from every walk of life. I hope it always continues to be as inexpensive and and accessible as it is now.
What are your views on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Although it is useful I think it can also do a lot of damage. It makes it difficult for anyone new to starting a website to get theirs found and even when they have a proffessionally made site which can be really good it can end up fairly useless. I have found a lot of good websites - EVENTUALLY. The problem is that it is usually the same websites being found by the search engines over and over again and often these are not even relevant to the search words.
What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?
The search engines have helped my site but only because I have put in a huge amount of hours trying to find out how my site can be found without spending a fortune. I feel that there are a lot of firms wanting payment for links which do not do any good as the companies selling the advertising are poorly ranked themselves.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Trying to keep my website up to date with useful information has helped as viewers want to look at it again and also other sites are keen to link to me which is a huge help with the search engines.
What method has been least successful for promoting your website?
The fact that I have a lot of links to other sites and breeders might not be good. I'm not sure as I know Google now does not like pages with a huge list of links. However with some of my links it is the only way they would ever be seen and they are good bird breeders. I like to have them listed to help other bird keepers that might need to find someone without spending days trawling the net looking at irrelevant sites to find the answer to their problem.
What would you like to see change with respect to the internet?
I would like it to be esier to find a variety of sites. Often I feel the search engines are finding the wrong sites which do not even seem to include the words put in the search box. Also there is a lot of time wasted due to sites not working or no longer existing.
What is your website address?
Allandoo Pheasantry