Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi,

You can view safesparky at safesparky.com

 

The business is stamping dog tags.  But it's a bit different than current offerings out there.  It comes as a mesh between dog tags (or any pet tags) and microchipping.  Most of my friends have microchips (not all).  They're great.  But there are problems with them.  

1) it's hard to change the information

2) you have to pay $20/year for it to remain in the database

3) costs $90 to get your pet back when someone drops him off at the shelter so his microchip can be read!

 

 

I move around a lot, so my address and phone number change frequently.  I also travel a lot, so even if you called the number (I go between Canada/USA) I may not have the phone with me (depending what country I am in).

 

So I decided to make it easier (at least for me).  I have an 877 # which is connected to my web database.  So if someone buys the tag, they are given a tag with 877-K-FOUND-9 (877-536-8639) and an id number.  When you call it and enter it, you get the address and phone number of the id (automated).  You can also look it up online.  

Cost is one-time ($5).  

 

Does this seem like a viable sell?  And does the website give the information well?

 

(If you want to try it, my dog's ID is 1115)

So you can call (or visit safesparky.com) and enter 1115

 

Thanks for your help!  Let me know about your project, and I'll review it for you.

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A spin-off from my company, now undergoing funding. A real-time, live-event polling program. Engage your audience at your next conference, seminar, talk or retreat! http://www.indiegogo.com/ballotboxes

Oh, I guess I should say too, that your information can be updated in a few seconds.  Which makes it easy to change it when you move hotels, houses, or whatever.  You can change it as often as you like too...

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A spin-off from my company, now undergoing funding. A real-time, live-event polling program. Engage your audience at your next conference, seminar, talk or retreat! http://www.indiegogo.com/ballotboxes

Hi Jeff,

Really like the idea very cool. A few things that come to mind:

-You should have a print tag service.

-I thought the point of a microchip was to be able to track the dog somehow by satellite or GPS (could be wrong on that) but if it is then your service does not really replace that very important option/feature

-you should add more content to the site. Social media, articles my some testimonials etc.  A simple splash page while your is very nicely designed does not really cut it these days.

-The updated information page before you enter has no way to get back to the home page.

-You should not have a 10 year expiration date.

-You should maybe offer it for cats and other pets as well rather then just focusing on dogs.

Other then that its  a very cool idea and one of the better and more affordable services I have seen in a while.  Best of luck and keep us posted on how it progresses.  How many people have signed up so far?

Daveb1,

 

Thanks for the tips.  I'm adding some pages now.  And reworking them a bit.  Getting some hits, but no conversions from Google (so I have to tinker with the ad/site).  A few signups.

 

Microchipping puts a chip beneath the surface of the skin. It's an inert chip, meaning that it can be read by a scanner up close and simply just contains information.  It's like a dog tag that can't fall off :)  But is expensive to get it read!  (If your dog goes to the pound because it didn't have tags then it usually costs about $90 to get it back!)

 

After I'm done creating new content I'll add some landing pages for cats too :)

Check out safesparky.com in tomorrow to see how the redesign goes (just adding a few things to make it cleaner, and hopefully also to pull in more conversions).

 

I do have social media (facebook).  However, I only have 8 likes right now.  Should I put it on the website or no?  I was thinking of offering a $1 discount to grab more likes :)  I'm going to raise the price a bit.

The only reason I have a 10 year limit is that it costs money to have the ID, should I kill that?  I was also hoping it would get me resales in 10 years.  Should I just up the price and kill the limit?  Or should I explain the reason why?  I don't make much money on a tag :)  Some tags I won't make anything...  This will just bring in some coffee money and protect some pets :) 

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A spin-off from my company, now undergoing funding. A real-time, live-event polling program. Engage your audience at your next conference, seminar, talk or retreat! http://www.indiegogo.com/ballotboxes