Interview with petwebdesigner.com

Interview with Michael Ayalon, http://petwebdesigner.com

5/24/09

Hosted by:  Madi, The Cat

Kritters That Twitter

 MADI:  Hello Michael, and thanks for meeting me at the Kritter Koffeehouse.  I am very excited to be speaking with you today and greatly appreciate your time.  Before we get started, I just want to point out that just like everything associated with the Kritter Kommunity, Kritters That Twitter is specifically designed for Animals and Animal Lovers.   The Kritter Koffeehouse is open daily and serves beverages and snacks for both Animals and Hoomans.  That being said, I see you are a Hooman…..could I offer you a cup of hot tea or coffee?

 MICHAEL: I would love to have some hot tea, I prefer the herbal variety. Even though I LOVE coffee, I gave up all the caffeine a few years ago. My heart starts beating really fast if I even have a sip of caffeine now.

 MADI:  My mommy doesn’t let me drink caffeine, but I hear it can be quite addictive.  Its nice to see you taking such good care of yourself, already I know you must be a great role model in the Kritter Kommunity. 

 Lets jump in and get started; we are eager to learn more about you!  First and most important, what is your association with Animals?  Do any Animals allow you to care for them?

 MICHAEL: I have always loved animals. I grew up with three cats (Simba, Mickey, and Lilly). I rescued a pit bull mix at the shelter in my college years named Soco, she was my favorite. Right now I have two young children that are begging me for a new dog, so we’ll be headed to the shelter to try and help a new pet. I’ll send you pictures soon!

 Just to give you a little history, I started Petwebdesigner.com over 6 years ago when my mother in law told me about her Champion Mastiff puppies. She was showing her champion Mastiffs at some of the biggest shows around (like Westminster), but she had trouble finding homes for her new litter of 13 Mastiff puppies. I offered to build her a website and get her to the top of Google for the term Mastiff. After that, she found homes for all 13 puppies in less than 2 weeks. She told me I had to help others in the pet industry to do the same thing – the results were just amazing. That’s when Petwebdesigner was born. Now we work with Pet Groomers, Pet Sitters, Dog Trainers, Breeders, new pet products, and much more! We specialize in websites and blogs for anyone in the pet industry, and we know how to market your product or services by harnessing the power of the Internet.

 MADI: Your screen name is @petwebdesigner on Twitter….Tell me about that name, what it means, how you came up with the name.

 MICHAEL: Petwebdesigner just seemed to be the most logical name for the new business. It accurately described what I did, which is exactly what I wanted. When choosing a new name for a business, it helps when people can immediately understand what you do. It also helps in the search engines as well, because I’m now in the top spot on Google for Pet Web Design. It’s an important lesson when starting a new business – you should always have key words that you are targeting in the name itself. I have a tool that I use to find available domain names with the keywords I want.

 My mission now is to help as many other pet related businesses to achieve the same levels of success that I have had. It enabled me to quit my day job and focus on what I really love – pets! Why not help others do the same?

 MADI:  My sister Abi and I see you on Twitter regularly.  What do you like most about Twitter and how do you find it valuable?

 MICHAEL: I love Twitter! It’s great to have a community of pet lovers like me to share interesting pet stories, funny pet videos, and see what’s going on in the pet industry. I find it valuable because I’m able to put my ears to the street. By having my own business, sometimes I feel isolated from the rest of the world and their “water cooler talk”. Twitter enables me to hear what’s on everyone’s mind, and vice versa. It can just be chatter about the latest TV show, or really important niche trends. You can also generate tons of traffic to your own stories and business through this powerful site. I now have 2,500 followers that read my stories daily, and I learn from every one of them as well.

 Celebrities on Twitter are fun too. One of my idols is Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric (GE) that took the company from $26 Billion in sales to over $130 Billion in sales. We had a brief exchange last week on Twitter about our baseball teams, as he is a big Red Sox fan and I like the Yankees. It’s so much fun to talk to your idol. You can follow Jack (@Jack_Welch) or follow me (@petwebdesigner) on Twitter!

 MADI:  How do you use Twitter to add value to Animal and Animal Lovers lives?

 MICHAEL: I add value on Twitter by sharing inspiring animal stories (just Tweeted about a couple of college girls that raised over $450 on Twitter to save an injured dog they found abandoned on the side of the road), notifying the pet community of pet product recalls (Nutro just had a pet food recall that I was able to broadcast), and just giving humor to other pet lovers on a daily basis.

 MADI:  We at Kritters That Twitter want to make sure we offer solutions and add value to the lives of Animals and Animal Lovers through our blog.  Do you have a blog and if so what types of things do you blog about? 

 Could you give me a few examples of things you have blogged about?

 MICHAEL: I do have a blog. You can check it out here:

http://www.BlogEye.com

 I use it almost as my home – I put up things that I enjoy, it’s full of stories about pets and funny pet videos that make me laugh. I sprinkle in a little bit about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) because these are my hobbies. I prefer sending people to my blog rather than my business website (http://www.Petwebdesigner.com) because I don’t want to give people the hard sell.

 Twitter to me is like a big party. If you meet someone at a party, you wouldn’t walk up to them and say “Buy my website design services, and oh, we do search engine marketing and search engine optimization too”. Instead, you would introduce yourself and talk about your mutual interests. That’s what I do with the blog. If they like my sense of humor and my interests (pets), then they are much more likely to use Petwebdesigner for their website and marketing needs. People tend to push away the hard sell on Twitter. Just be yourself, add value, and people will seek you out!

 Here’s the story about the college girls that raised money on Twitter for an injured dog they found:

http://www.blogeye.com/2009/05/24/using-twitter-to-save-a-wounded-pitbull/

Here’s a funny tutorial on cat yodeling that I blogged about:

http://www.blogeye.com/2009/05/19/advanced-cat-yodeling/

 MADI:  Wow, this was such useful information, and most importantly it has been a pleasure kicking back and getting to know you better.  Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to chat with me and the other Kwitters.  You are the first Kwitter to interview on Kritters That Twitter, we hope to see you here again soon! 

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Mommy for helping me write this interview.  Because of Mommy I was able to use Spellcheck and edit my Grammar.  We believe that this will help both Animals and Hoomans understand the content.

 -Madi The Cat