I’ve been playing training games with my younger standard poodle, Reese, for some time now. Considered by me to be sportier and more playful than my reactive older poodle and grooming salon reject, Milo, games seemed like a natural way to train Reese in new concepts.

Enter the Absolute Dogs 14 day dog trainer challenge and my entire way of thinking about games-based training was upended.

The other thing that is currently upended is my backyard, so it isn’t exactly a perfect spot for training either poodle. Obviously others in the group have similar space challenges or live in areas where there are no off-leash areas they can visit with their pups.

Games based training is fun outdoors… if you have the space to do it.

Then someone in the group mentioned Sniffspot. It’s like airBNB, but for dogs. Essentially, hosts offer their property up to dog owners creating a network of safe, local, private dog parks. These options are especially important for owners, like me, who have reactive dogs that can have issues in dog parks or public areas where canine interactions cannot always be controlled. And all dogs like to sniff new spaces. It’s a good enrichment activity for them. And dogs like to run around with some freedom. It’s nice to feel like a puppy let off the leash no matter what age canine you are.

Based on the recommendations from members of the challenge group, I had to check out Sniffspot for myself.

And you know there is nothing I like more than sniffing out what’s working and where opportunities exist on websites.

So let’s jump in and do a little nosework on the Sniffspot site:

I love the Sniffspot concept…but honestly, I don’t love the headline. When we dig below the fold, I feel like I am finding at least a better half for the headline. Private dog parks has a nice ring. Sniffspot seems to really cater to the reactive dog owner, so putting something about that in the headline could also be beneficial to instantly help that audience self identify.

And that button text. I’d like to boost that with something that reminds folks this a local network of private properties. How about “explore your local Sniffspots”?

Hidden in the site navigation is a link to a pretty extensive dog trainer reviewed content library. Moving down the home page, Sniffspot takes an opportunity to share some of that knowledge with visitors by inviting them to learn more about the Sniffspot private dog park concept vs. public dog parks. It’s a good idea to build authority and provide proof of concept but there is one major issue here. You have two calls to action stacked on top of one another. If a visitor takes you up on the offer to find out about Sniffspots…there is no call to action on the page where you are driving traffic. And as a copywriter, I really want to tighten up the copy on that page and raise the quality to what’s found in the “off leash” blog.

While I typically don’t get too deep into design in these micro critiques, this site has so many opportunities to install more visually engaging colors, images, and fonts. Any or all of these updates will elevate the brand in the highly competitive pet services space, so I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it here especially since similar issues pop up in the next portion of the site.

You can find sniffspots local to you whether you are at home or away with your pooch. There could be more engaging and explanatory copy here and I would definitely use the button text to direct visitors to download the mobile apps rather than relying on them to click in the link buried in the text.

But realistically, you need hosts more than you need app downloads. So I’d drop this entire section lower on the home page and raise the enticement for hosts higher.

Because you can’t let a network of private dog parks…if you don’t have hosts willing to rent their spaces. Considering how critical having quality “spots” is to Sniffspots, I’d really love to see the benefits of hosting show up much higher on the home page. I’d also recommend modifying the page for attracting new hosts. The info promised (and likely needed to get on board with a relatively new concept) is buried below the fold. I’d get the big why for hosting up high because the copy here is some of the best on the site. Once you have convinced potential hosts of how great a deal this is for them and for dogs, then hit them with the sign up.

The biggest takeaways:

punch up the overall copy, starting with a strong headline that instantly explains the Sniffspot concept, engages visitors, and keeps important details above the fold
give the site an overhaul with stronger fonts, images, and colors to boost the brand image in the competitive pet services space
use clear, powerful calls to action that align with the associated text blocks…and then, keep it to just one request at a time
make attracting hosts a priority by moving the appeal to them higher on the homepage.

Overall, Sniffspot is a pretty cool concept for dogs and their people. This website has laid a great foundation to promote their unique service and they still have plenty of opportunities to stand out in the billion dollar pet industry with just a few website content upgrades and basic design modifications.

Nosing Around Sniffspot