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In the so-called "good 'ole days," people who wished to purchase a dress, a painting, or most any other commodity, would have to get in their car (or horse and buggy), drive to a store, and buy said item. Later on, mail order catalogs were invented and shoppers could flip through the pages of a book and order via snail mail or even call in their order.

As technology advanced, television introduced such programming alternatives as the "Home Shopping Network" and "QVC" on cable, thus making it even easier to shop from the comforts of home. And then the Internet exploded into our homes and offices around the world and the business of SELLING and BUYING would never again be the same!

Just ask Dallas, Texas-based business owner, Faith O'Heron, who created her own web-based business exclusively for Internet shoppers. O'Heron's online enterprise, The Pet Lovers' Gallery, was started several years ago as a forum for pet artists, such as O'Heron herself, an accomplished artist, to display and, hopefully, sell some of their work.

The Pet Lovers' Gallery began as a division of The Artists' Gallery almost two years ago, which represented a few cat artists," she remembers, "Shortly after that, dog products were added with t-shirts, posters, and calendars for 89 different breeds. The calendars really took off and sales started coming in from around the world."

Since The Pet Lovers' Gallery's inception, shoppers can now buy cat-related, dog-related and, most recently, bird-related merchandise. With the expertise of her webmaster, John Chevalier, who took about a month to develop the site, The Pet Lovers' Gallery has grown leaps and bounds and now sees an almost daily increase in online traffic (browsers and buyers alike).

O'Heron decided she wanted to divide her online gallery into subjects, thus the Cat-Lovers' Gallery, Dog Lovers' Gallery, and the Bird Lovers' Gallery are all separate rooms inside one big gallery. The gallery sells many popular pet artists' works such as Bill Bell, Teresa Farr and, of course, the works of Faith O'Heron, herself.

From t-shirts to books to calendars to portraits, shoppers from around the planet visit and BUY from this online showroom. "I ship things all over the world, including Japan, Australia, and France," O'Heron proudly states, "Of the many foreign countries we do business with -- a high percentage is done with Japan. From the time we started, there has been a steady increase in business and a growing list of repeat customers."

Of course, no matter where you live, if you have access to the Internet (either through a computer or the newest rage, WebTV), you can visit Faith's "pet" project, The Pet Lovers' Gallery which, incidentally, only cost approximately $800.00 to set-up initially. Also, she says she is involved in fifty percent of the online store's design and development. And, although O'Heron's site sells mostly items by other individuals or companies, she is currently working on a line of products exclusively for her store, which is scheduled to appear online very soon.

As with any business, marketing your company is an important ingredient to success. As with most things "net-related," O'Heron has found it to be much easier to market her firm on the web than anywhere else and, of course, she has a world-wide audience to pitch her products to!

The Pet Lovers' Gallery owner explains that she has successfully promoted her site on the Internet by using the Internet itself -- by such means as link exchanges, advertising in applicable newsgroups, and by listing her online gallery in all of the Internet's search engines (such as Exite, Yahoo!, and Infoseek).

Her long term goals include making a full-time job out of her online profession so that she can stay at home (with her two cats, of course) and run The Pet Lovers' Gallery and make it a positive, fun, global experience to do business in.

"The communication with people in general and the opportunity of communicating with people from other countries," O'Heron states, is the best part of running The Pet Lovers' Gallery, "It is so interesting to learn more about other cultures and all the people we deal with are pet lovers and fun people to do business with."

So, be sure to stop in at Faith O'Heron's online shop, The Pet Lovers' Gallery, and shop for that perfect gift for the pet lover in your life and, of course, you might as well pick up something for yourself while you're there. And, unlike the other fine shops you may frequent, you won't even have to put your shirt or shoes on -- Faith certainly won't mind. "It's a great way to do business!"