Tip #1 - Don't post all your ads at the once, spread them out over time.

Jeff Davis. | https://gundogcentral.com | All Hunting Articles
Posted 06/27/2021




This is one biggest mistake I see people repeatedly making on the site. I'm all for you posting every single one of your dogs and puppies on Gundog Central, I just think it's a bad idea to dump them all on the site at the exact same time. I see people who have a litter of puppies they want to sell, so they'll post one ad for each puppy ... all on the same day. Great idea, right? It increases your exposure, lets everyone see the different puppies you have and kind of monopolies the front page with just your dogs. Wrong, not only is it poor online etiquette, because it forces a massive amount of other people's classifieds way down the page, but it's just poor, lazy marketing.

Let's walk through a scenario together. You've bred your dogs and ended up with a litter of puppies, let's call it a dozen, because who doesn't love extremely large litters. You come to Gundog Central and post ads for all twelve of your puppies. All your ads get approved and show up at the top of the list. Then someone else comes along and post all their puppies and then all their ads get approved. What happens to your ads? All your ads, not even a day old, have already they've been forced half-way down the page. Imagine a third kennel comes along and post another dozen puppies ads on the same day, your ads have now fallen off the front page in less than a day. Part of what makes Gundog Central successfully at helping you sell dogs, is that it brings all these dogs together, from all over the world and puts them in one easy to find place. People don't have to browse around to different websites on the internet hunting for dogs, it's all right here in front of them. But with all these dogs on here, you're basically competing for views with every other kennel that post ads ... you need to treat it like a competition, between you and everyone else selling dogs on here ... my suggestion would be to treat it more like a card game. Wouldn't it make more sense to hold onto your twelve puppy ads and play them like a deck of cards, trumping the deck of classified ads with a new ad each time someone post a dozen ads, instead of just listing them all at the same time? That way you always have an ad showing, instead of being forced way down the page.

I can promise you, that spreading your classified ads out over several days is going to generate the most exposure and get you the most responses from your ads. When you're marketing or selling something online, you want to generate a response, a contact, because that might lead to a sale. You want to keep your classified ads in front of your potential customers for as long as possible to generate the most responses. You might say ... but I have a whole litter of puppies to sell, and I want to sell them all. They need to be labeled "Red Puppy", "Blue Puppy", "Green Puppy", so people can contact me about the dog they are interested in. I'm not saying you can't do that, you totally should do that, that's a great idea and maybe a future tip, I'm just saying it makes more sense to post "Red Puppy" on day 1, post "Blue Puppy" on Day 3 and post "Green Puppy" on day 5, instead of spamming the feed with all the ads at the same time. You still have all puppies on the site, but you've kept an ad at the top of the page all week, instead of just a few days.

Consider this, you post all your ads at the same time, on the same day and every one of those ads are exactly the same, except for the picture you post with the ad ... every single one of them will fall off the front page, expire and disappear from the site at exactly the same time. Ads located at or near the top of the front page, will always perform better than the ones located near the bottom or on older pages. That makes the real estate at the top of the page, more valuable than the space at the bottom. It makes sense that you'd want to keep an ad at or near the top as long as possible. I've seen people fight over that top spot and had people offer to buy that position for a whole year. I've put rules in place to help make this a fair process, those rules say no duplicate ads and you can't repost an ad until it has expired or run for at least 30 days.

So, what should you do if you have a litter of puppies for sale, what's your best options? It makes more sense to post one or two dogs on one day, wait a few days, then post different ad, then wait a few more days then post another ad, and so forth. Why would you do this? Because that way you always have an ad on the front page, at or near the top, in front of your potential customers. As your ads start to work their way down the front page over time ... that's when it's time to post another, different ad. As your ads start to expire or are over 30 days old, you can update them, and it will automatically place them right back at the top of the listings. This essential creates a loop of your ads that are always in front of people, always on the first page.

Here's another reason for doing this as well. It gives you the chance to see how your ads perform and adjust your future ads. Maybe you're not getting the response you want, it gives you a chance to try something new with a different ad, maybe use a different description, a picture taken from a different angle or out in the field, you can literally fine tune your ads as you go, so you don't end up with a dozen carbon copy ads out there that all look and say that same thing. People are really good at recognizing patterns, if all your ads appear identical, when they see something in your ad that they don't like, they won't bother to look at the rest of your ads, they'll just gloss over them until they see an ad that looks different. There are a lot of people who check to the site daily. They aren't going to bother to click on an older ad or look at older pages, they'll focus mainly on the top portion of the first page, looking for new ads. If all your ads are the same, guess what ... they might click on the first one of them, but they'll skip over the rest. But if it's a different day and a new ad, mostly likely, they'll be checking it out.

Perhaps another reason for not mass posting ads all at the same time has to do with reputation. You don't want it to appear like you're running a puppy mill or desperate to unload your dogs. Placing dozens and dozens of ads at the same time, can lead to the wrong impression. Over the past 15 years, I've had to field numerous questions about whether such and such kennel is a puppy mill, or if this person is just a backyard breeder.

Like anything else in life, you're going to get out of it, what you put into it. It might seem like more work to spread your ads out over time, but in the long run, you'll end up posting the same number of ads. You'll just have an ad on the front page, in front of your target audience for a longer period of time. The main reason you're creating an ad might be to sell the dog that's featured in it, but if you're running a kennel or have a litter of puppies, it's just as important to generate those leads, or a response, because those responses can lead to you selling a totally different dog than the one that's even listed on your ad. Happens all the time, once someone has contacted you by phone or email, it's up to you to sell them what you have, it doesn't have to be the dog that is in the ad. I'm not saying you should bait and switch customers, but often times, just talking to a person and understanding what they are looking for, might lead you to believe a different dog would be better suited for them. You're the only person that knows your dogs, their personalities. It's up to you to read the person contacting you about the dog and figure out what might suit them best.

Puppies grow up fast and have a limited "cuteness" window. I understand the need and desire to place all the ads at the same time. The point of this article isn't to tell you want you can and can't do on Gundog Central, but to help you get the most out of it. I'm not telling you can't post all your puppies on the same day, I'm saying, if you have the time, you might be better served spreading your ads out over time. You might say, if it's such a good idea, why don't I just limit the number of ads people can post in a day. The answer to that, is that I do, but only with free accounts. Free accounts they are limited to a maximum of 3 ads per day and a total of 9 active ads at one time. However, kennel accounts have no such limits. They are free to add, update and delete their ads at will. That's part of the service that they paid for, but they are still bound to the same rules as everyone else, no duplicate ads and no repeated ads until 30 days have passed.
 


About the Author : Jeff Davis.
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When I created Gundog Central, it was to help people place their hunting dogs in hunting homes. I want everyone to be successfully using the site, so l thought I'd try my hand at creating a few articles filled with knowledge and lessons I've learned over the years running this site. I'm certainly not a writer and I'm a terrible speller, and although I promise to make an effort to proofread and spellcheck these articles before I post them, you'll most likely find them riddled with grammatical errors. I don't know if I'd even really call them articles per say, more of a collection of tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Gundog Central. Tips on how to sell your dogs and tricks on how to use the site. I have no plans to write any other articles, as I have great writers already contributing content to the site. My focus with these "articles" will be geared towards helping you be successful selling your dogs and marketing your kennel and services on Gundog Central.

 
 


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