PROMOTING YOUR CATTERY
How to Construct a Web Site
by Karen Lawrence
Reprinted with permission, Cat Fanciers' Almanac, April 1996
Structure of the site
We thought it would be fun to explain a little each month about how to construct your own cattery homepage on the World Wide Web. In the following pages, we hope to be able to provide you with some tips and tricks to help make your website unique.
Cat fanciers are turning to the Web as a personal publishing and advertisement medium, using it to let the world know about their catteries and themselves. We searched the Lycos service for the word "cattery," and found 184 links to cattery websites on the Web. The same search in the new AltaVista service produced an astounding list of 600 web pages. A search for the same word on DejaNews (which searches newsgroups) came up with 96 references in rec.pets.cats.
Clearly, many people in the cat fancy have mastered email and are going on to bigger and better
things on the Internet!
What do you want to tell the world about yourself?
This month, let's stop and think about an outline of the information you want to present to the world. Do you have special information about your breed, or about cats in general, that you would like to share? Lovely photographs of your cats that you would like the world to see? Stories about your cattery? In short, what's unique about you and your cattery that you would like the world to know?
Your homepage is where you make information about yourself and your cattery available to others on the World Wide Web. It can contain any information you choose to present to the world. You can think of your homepage as an article that you are writing about yourself, complete with photographs and references to other publications (such as the CFA Web Site, CFA Breed Profiles and Standards, and so forth). It's more fun than writing a printed article, though, since you can organize it any way you like. You can also make changes at any time, adding frequently updated information such as the shows you are going to and the kittens you currently have available. You are limited only by your imagination and time.
A rough basic outline for a homepage could look like this:
About your cattery
- history of your cattery
- which breed(s)
- link to CFA Breed Profile for overall breed info
- link to CFA Standard for detailed look
- characteristics of your chosen breed(s)
- genetic information re the colors of your cats
- photos of your favorite cats
- details of your upcoming litters
- which shows you are attending, where, and when
OR
About your cattery, its policies & your contributions to responsible pet ownership
- who you are and why you chose to breed cats
- breed you work with, and why it's special
- link to CFA Breed Profile for overall info
- link to CFA Standard for detailed look
- photos that best represent your breed
- awards your cats have received, with photos
- kittens available (include photos)
- your policy re selling kittens, and why
- neuter/spay agreement
- no-declaw clause
- health guarantee
- your club membership(s) and details of club activities
- your involvement in the promotion of cats in your community
Why would you want to use the World Wide Web to advertise your cattery?
Here's a few quotes from email sent to people with websites that might give you an idea of the kind of impression you could possibly make:
"Frankly, your homepage convinced us of your integrity,
something we can't get from an ad in Cat Fancy."
"Bravo to your spay/neuter policy!"
"We were looking for a new kitten, when your cattery caught our
eye. Love your Website, the pictures are beautiful and we like
the fact that you are a discriminating breeder."
"We only want a kitten from a breeder who is as responsible
when giving his/her kittens to a new family as you are. [...]
If you can't help us at least you know that all the way over in
Hamburg (Germany) there are people who appreciate your
informative pages and the great pictures!"
Finally, remember that a lot of different kinds of people will be visiting your homepage. Once your homepage is up on a Web server, anyone in the world will be able to visit your homepage by typing its URL into a Web browser. At first, most people visiting will be friends that you give your URL to. But after your page is listed in directories on the Web, complete strangers from all over the world will start to visit your page! Keep this in mind, and you will end up with a page that gives a good impression of you and your cattery, and that a wide range of people will enjoy.
Page maintained by Karen Lawrence, klawrenc@computan.on.ca. Copyright Karen Lawrence©. Cat sketches courtesy of Cindi Farnsworth©. Created: 1/29/97 Updated: 2/9/97
