Thanks again, Kevin...

> I think people will search animal first and category second. Simply
> because the entire theme is visiting a zoo. When you visit a zoo, you look
> for what animal you want to see.

You came in after I explained all this...

Lots of my exotic animals have top ranking in Google, lots more are in the top 3, lots more are in the top 5 -- and that's where ALL my traffic comes from.

The common critters -- the ones that get the most searches -- are nowhere to be found, and that's why I'm fixated on moving Mr. Giraffe up.  Once I get the formula right, I'll move on to lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

> Each animal has own room (rather than call it store).

Yup -- each animal does have its own room, and each room has a link to the main Zoo Gift Shop -- but Sunil Tanna suggested splitting the critters up, and I worship the ground that man walks on, so that's what I'm doing, starting with the "Giraffe Exhibit," which now has many rooms, only one of which is "The Giraffe Store."

> Either select quality items for each animal, or categories if too many
> items.
> link on each animal page saying "Buy [animal name] items from the
> gift store" or something like that.

Like this?

I really appreciate your ideas because they're coming from the point of view of a visitor, and so far you're suggesting exactly what I'm doing and making me feel I'm on the right track.

> This americazoo.com site you have seems to be something that could be
> really profitable.

I hope you're right... I'm counting on it for my retirement :-D

> I don't like some of it's web design, but since it has
> good content it must create quality traffic.

I don't either, and yes it does.

I wish I could change the whole design, but I can't.  Number one, I don't have the skill, and number two, the things I absolutely MUST do are going to take me the rest of my natural life.

> You just have to do what they
> call "monetize" and have a "great sales process".

Adsense is doing relatively well (although I'm really worried about the sudden downturn)...

I make some money on the existing "Zoo Gift Shop," which is nothing but a few banners hastily slapped up, so I have great hopes when I do it right.

From swap meets to the net, I've never done well with a "store" of any kind, and when I realized other stores have shopping carts and I have affiliate links, I panicked.

Sunil asked how many people buy more than one thing, and while I can't see actual items purchased, I know by the total order that lots of people are buying several things at a time through one of my links.

> Also wondering how much you paid for the website...

I'm not sure I should tell -- it seems kind of tacky -- so I'll just say I paid peanuts.

It was my 10 y/o's favorite website, it disappeared for a few months, I contacted the owner who was the brother of the man who created it, he had died and they were just trying to "find a good home" for the site.

Nice, nice people!

I got it back online before before it was forgotten (by its fans and by Google), and the traffic came back quickly and has continued to grow.

I still can't believe my luck!

Thanks again for your interest :-)

Luv,