Advertising Kittens
How to advertise kittens online is a question often asked by both experienced and also novice cat breeders. This is a very good question that any cat breeder should be asking as let’s face it if we want to carry on breeding cats we need to find homes for our kittens. These days everybody looks on the internet for anything and everything be it a fridge freezer, the best gym or a pedigree kitten.
I guess that our kitten sales are one of the things that cat breeders of any breed like to talk about. It is something we all have in common, is always a concern for cat breeders and is also of course a conversation starter. Let me try and help you out with a couple of tips that have served me well over the years I have been breeding.
A Well Written Advert
This really is so very important for a variety of reasons but probably the most important one is something my mother always used to tell me, ‘You only get one chance to make a first impression’.
Please make no mistake this is your only chance to make a first impression. Poor spelling, dreadful grammar and punctuation are to be avoided at all costs. Using spell check is really very easy so trust me when I say I know because I use it all the time as my own spelling is atrocious. For me though the biggest pet peeve has to be when the advert is lazy, non-descriptive, all lower or upper case and worst of all written in shorthand or ‘text speak’!
Write For Your Audience
Another thing I often wonder is why breeders don’t also take the opportunity to write about the kittens. Granted there are some things that are wise to include such as GCCF registered, inoculated, insured and litter trained as these are important to, or rather, expected from somebody looking for a pet kitten. Yes, I said pet kitten because in case you were not already aware this is what 93% of people are looking for and where 97% of our kittens actually go.
Avoid jargon such as Champion sired, show type, stunning, show winning potential, all red pedigree, excellent blood lines; trust me breeders are the only ones who care about such terminology and they know how to read a pedigree and how to judge for themselves if a kitten has show potential. Using jargon will only serve to put people off and look at the next advert.
You are always, always going to be better off using descriptive terms such as outgoing, friendly, lap cat, bombproof, loves children, used to dogs, playful,  will make a wonderful pet, affectionate kitten, loves company or even perhaps a real heart-breaker or time waster. The list goes on….
Don’t Tell Porkies
One final note, don’t waste your time or other peoples with at best, outrageous exaggerations when describing kittens in an advert.
Imagine going to meet a kitten who has been described as having the most amazing, outgoing temperament with a very confident nature who loves to play and make new friends.
Only to drive 100 miles to meet this kitten and when you get to the breeders home the kitten is terrified hiding behind the settee and you leave without even meeting him after 30 minutes awkward conversation with Mr & Mrs Pinocchio the most optimistic cat breeders in the country!
Trust me it is far better to describe a timid kitten as a gentle soul, who with love and understanding will be a fantastic pet but would probably benefit from living as an ‘only pet’ in a home with no young children where you are sure he will thrive and form a close bond with his new owner.
Newsflash – not everybody wants boisterous kittens. Some people prefer their kittens to be a little more reserved so please just describe your kitten as they are and you will do far better.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This is just so easy; take a photograph of your kittens to put with your advert. People love photos of kittens, especially when they are looking for one to join their family. Most mobile phones these days have decent cameras on and most digital cameras have an idiot setting (which by the way is the one I use 99.9% of the time just in case any of you thought I was the next David Bailey).
Remember when I said not to use breeder jargon and use descriptive text instead when writing your advert?
Guess what the same applies with the photos, people looking for a pet kitten could not care less what your kittens profile is like, how firm the chin is or how high or how low the ear set is. Give your audience what they want, a nice clear photo of your healthy, clean, well groomed kittens playing or looking very cute and looking at the camera.
A fantastic photograph can actually more or less help find a home for your kitten on its own merits as people seem to put a lot of emphasis on the photos of kittens.
If you can’t be bothered taking a photo then I am afraid your advert will just blend in to the background, a great photo however will make your advert leap out from the page and make your advert stand out. Coupled with well written descriptive text you stand a far, far better chance in making your advert stand out and also in finding homes for your kittens.
There are of course other avenues of advertising your kittens online and other forms of multimedia that can make your kittens stand out from the rest. I look forward to writing about some of them very soon with my next articles including subjects such as the benefits of having a cat breeders website, making and using video footage for advertising kittens and using social networking sites to advertise kittens.
Perhaps you have some tried and tested techniques or even pet hates that you want to share. I would love to hear them, please add them in the comments section below.
