Orchid, You are absolutely right about the need for a basic website or blog -- heavens, my husband and I have been building websites and blogs for small business owners for over a decade now -- there is no way I would NOT recommend that Mustang have a blog... And Dotsie's links certrainly proved that OTHER dog walking and pet care businesses do this. (Wonderful links, BTW, Dotsie!)

I just wanted to make sure Mustang new that she doesn't have to wait to get a blog built to start promoting -- and, as you said, to point out that small business owners need to utilize as many marketing resources as they can.

One additional note of advice: Don't let the Yellow Pages people sell you a big ad. Your listing in the YP is free, and that is really all you need there. Put the rest of your marketing efforts into as much free marketing as you can find.

The great "guerrilla marketer Jay Conrad Levinson once had a list of something like two dozen ways local businesses can market -- and many of them were "creative"

For example, why not make up a shirt or jacket that you wear when you are walking the dogs, that has your business name on it -- a phone number and a picture that makes it clear what you do... Why knows, you might get photographed by your local newspaper photographer who is out looking for "color shots." And if nothing else, you're a walking billboard when you are out with the dogs.