Click here for my website
Hawaiipetphotos.com asked friends, associates, and connections for help with a “little problem.” In the midst of my lamentations on LinkedIn, a person from one of my network groups sent me a private inquiry: “I’ve been thinking about becoming a pet photographer, and I would like some advice.” Thankfully, she was not living in Hawaii, but I guess if she was, I would have suggested that she grab a domain name close to mine and “tag-along” for the ride.
Curious, I began to “Google” pet related product and services. I started with “Pet Photography,” of course. 474,000 entries for “Pet Photography.” A “Pet Photographer” search yielded 73,500 entries. Amazingly, there are 1,090,000 “Paw-printers” with 278,000 paw-print photographers. My guess is not all of those are pet related businesses. There are 8220 “Paw-tography” entries with 2720 entries for “Paw-tographers.” There are fewer “Pawtographers” practicing “Pawtography” sans the hyphen. “Petographers” seem more plentiful with 33,100 entries.
With those numbers, I was thankful that my main focus is my love for the furry friends.
I continued my searches with Pet Products. I typed in pet jewelry, doggie couture, and feline fashion. I looked at pet foods and pet spa products. I found 5853 retail entries for pet strollers. I thought back to the 2009 Pet Expo at the Blaisdell where we had to look twice when we saw a baby in a buggy. There are 25,355 pet bath entries. Pet walks, pet trimmers, and pet beds are offered in the tens of thousands.
Wow, this is baby boom sparking a pet boom feeding a pet product explosion. If the Gen-X’ers follow the lead, the market for “K-9″ things and “Kitty do-dad” should be sky high. And if young people are smart they will explore veterinary studies or doggie psychology or the newly popular pet whispering. There are currently 42,800 sites for Pet Whisperer(s) by the way.
For hours, I searched. What started with curiosity, continued in amazement. At the end, Hawaiipetphotos.com was in need of a spa (181,000 of those for pets). So, needing a pet sitter (1,060,000 entries) I called a Pet Nanny (108,000 “Google” listings) and left for Kahala for a little pampering.
All this stress over the letter “s!”
