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At the end of the day, what is the number one thing your potential pet
sitting clients want from you?
The best care for the pet? A fair price?
Sure. But the most important thing a pet owner is looking for is peace of mind.
Peace of mind knowing they have made the right decision by hiring you
(rather than anybody else).
How can you be certain you are properly providing them this trust and
security in the first place?
Read More …
It’s one thing to know, track and monitor how many visitors your website is receiving, but it’s a completely different thing to discover how many visitors your website is missing out on.
For example, I was having a friendly debate with another pet sitter friend of mine recently and Steve was not convinced that a website is actually all that necessary for drumming up new business. He currently hits the pavement a few times a month revisiting vet offices and pet supply stores with a batch of fliers and business cards.
While I’ve written plenty on the pros and cons of focusing exclusively on a marketing campaign that consists only of fliers, I had to really get to the bottom of Steve’s approach.
Make no mistake here. Steve has a website, he just has given up on trying to use it for his main marketing tool. (I quickly learned that Steve gave up merely out of frustration trying to learn the ins and
outs of how to make his website work. Sound familiar?)
“What kind of response do you get with fliers and business cards,” I asked?
“Eh, you know, not much of anything, really,” Steve admitted.
I then asked him why he continues with a marketing campaign that is consistently not paying off.
“It’s what I’ve been told from other pet sitters as the only thing they do…”
“What kind of traffic are you getting from your website, Steve?”
“How should I know?!”
Steve, apparently, wasn’t using his website to its fullest potential, and sadly, didn’t even realize it! It surprised me that he was not even monitoring how many visitors were sent to his site each day, which pages were the most popular, how long each visitor spent on his site or what keywords they used to find his site.
He went on to say that he read somewhere to stuff his meta tags with various pet sitting-related keywords and that should do the trick.
Here’s what I pointed out to him… Steve is a pet sitter in New Jersey. He offers dog boarding, dog walking and the occasional cat sitting visit. If Steve is told to use a generic set of random keywords for his websites meta tag, he is doing himself an injustice and missing out on a ton of potential traffic.
Here’s why.
Unless you do the proper research based on your specific services and areas that you serve, you’ll have no idea which keywords are the best ones to target. For example, Steve had no idea whether people were searching more for ‘pet sitters in New Jersey,’ ‘New Jersey dog walker,’ or ‘pet sitting NJ.’ He also wasn’t aware that there are literally dozens of other key phrases that people are using to search for his service that he didn’t even consider.
I pointed out to him that unless you do the research and target only the most searched for keywords, you’ll be wasting your time and missing out on a bunch of potential targeted traffic to your website. And, really, that targeted traffic is the only kind of traffic you want since those visitors are more likely to turn into happy, lifelong clients.
Steve allowed me to show him an example using my own website. I run a pet sitting business in New York City. I sat down with him and quickly jotted down a few dozen keywords that I believe someone searching for my pet sitting business would use. Everything from the obvious ‘pet sitting ny’ to the less common ‘dog boarding [zip code]‘ and ‘cat boarding [neighborhood].’
I put the results in a spreadsheet for Steve to see for himself what was happening. He quickly saw that without properly utilizing his website with the most popular keywords and phrases, he was missing out
on the following numbers each month.
10 Sample Search Terms – Average Monthly Search Volume on Google
This is a real sampling of certain keywords and the actual number of searches being performed each month for that keyword:
pet sitting ny – 1600
pet sitting nyc – 170
pet sitting new york – 480
pet sitters ny – 590
dog boarding ny – 2400
dog boarding new york – 1300
dog boarding new york city – 210
dog boarding nyc – 720
dog walking new york – 720
dog walking nyc – 1000
TOTAL MONTHLY SEARCHES 9,190
306 SEARCHES PER DAY!
Steve was blown away. These were just a random sampling of 10 sample searches. He saw that we were quickly able to extract a variety of other popular phrases based on these ten alone.
“What would you do with an additional 306 potential visitors every single day browsing your pet sitting website?” I asked him?
He was still staring blankly at those numbers.
I hope the importance of a good website that works is clear. I use and recommend the WordPress platform for all my websites. It creates clean code that Google will appreciate, and it puts an end to your website building frustration with its ease of use.
And I hope the importance of proper keyword research is even more clear now. You would not want to optimize your website for, let’s say, ‘atlanta cat sitter’ when the phrase ‘cat sitting in atlanta’
gets searched for more often.
This is why you need a website and this is why you need to know which search terms are bringing you the most traffic. You shouldn’t blindly target specific keywords without doing the research first to make sure
you are maximizing your search potential.
The final piece of the puzzle is this; No matter what keywords or phrases you choose to target, you should only target one per page.
That’s right. Target just one keyword or phrase per page. In other words, create separate pages with separate content for each of your services (keywords) that you wish to target.
Target your most popular phrase or service on your home page, then begin to create new page content for all other pet sitting keywords.
Tools to Use:
Google Keywords: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/
Please leave your thoughts and questions below.
Human beings are goal-seeking creatures. We are impatient and try, and fall, and try again until we learn to walk. We babble and coo and struggle until we learn to talk.
Skinned knees mean nothing in the quest to ride a bicycle. Recently, the world has watched Olympic athletes over-come incredible obstacles in the quest for a medal. When a client tells me they have had a goal, but in the past 6 months they have made little or no progress towards achieving it, I encourage them to ask themselves the following 10 questions: Read More …
Where do you draw the line with a potential client’s demands?
One of the things my pet sitting business prides itself on is
availability. Being accessible to clients and potential clients.
I’ve learned early on that the pet sitting industry is highly
competitive, especially in New York.
I say especially in New York because unlike a rural or suburban area
where the client homes are spread out in driving distance from each
other, New York is so dense that you are competing with at least a
dozen other companies and sitters who can all be at the client’s home
for the initial meet and greet within 10 minutes.
I know the importance of making sure each client gets a live person on
the phone when they call in because they are literally going down a
list of the first ten Google results of pet sitters in New York.
If they call and have to leave a message, they are moving on and very
well may have a conversation with pet sitter #2 and decide to go with
them and their search is over. If I call them even five minutes
later, chances are they will not be open to hearing what I have to
offer.
Side note: There are plenty of responses you can give to a potential
client you call back that says, “Oh, I’ve already spoken with another
sitter. I’m all set now. Thanks anyway for getting back to me…” but
that’s for an entirely different blog post.
I was manning the phones recently and received a call from a potential
client who was calling around for more info. I was in a meeting and
had some errands to finish up so I was forced to send this call
straight to voicemail.
By the time I got back to my desk ready to return the call, no more
than 3 hours or so had past. I call the woman back and one of the
first things she says to me is, “I’m surprised it took you this long
to get back to me. I called you earlier this morning.”
On one hand, I was flattered. Flattered by the idea that from just
visiting our pet sitting website, this woman had already given us the
benefit of the doubt that we are a professional business, running it
in a professional and efficient way.
On the other hand my thought was, “My goodness, this woman is a tough
cookie.” She wants what she wants when she wants it. Apparently, 3
hours was a bit long for her to be waiting for a return call. And her
travel dates were NOT just around the corner.
Here’s the thing… she’s the potential client. She has every right to
make the rules.
Now, I do not mean that she has every right to make the rules on how
we run our business (quite the contrary) but she does have every right
to set the rules through her expectations.
She decided that she wants and expects the pet sitting company she
hires to call back immediately and/or be available immediately.
We as the business owners have to play by her rules (expectations) if
we want her as a client. This is not to say that we have to expose
ourselves and be a whipping post for every potential client that comes
our way.
There are plenty of times a client is expecting too much or becomes
too difficult to deal with that we feel it best to pass and send her
on her way. But the woman who expected a call back before 3 hours
passed is not in that category. We can deal with that.
So where were we? Oh yea, the phone conversation… she just expressed
her surprise that ‘it took that long’ to get back to her.
What do you say in response to her?
“Sorry, I was in a meeting all morning?” “I was running errands?” “I
was busy?”
You could, but it won’t get you very far. Why? Because she’s not
looking for an excuse.
She’s looking for a response. She’s testing you to see how you handle
such a question. If she’s going to establish a long term relationship
with you and trust you with the care of her beloved pet, she needs to
get inside your head a bit.
A drab, even honest, short response won’t do the trick. You need to
be clever and creative and turn the tables back her way – while still
being honest.
Here is the gist of what I say:
“As you know, I put the words ‘Call Anytime’ on our website because we
are available to potential new clients and current clients anytime day
or night.
“However, being consistently reliable and accessible 24/7 can backfire
on us at times. My clients are spoiled with total undivided attention
whenever they need it, that the minute some time goes by and they
haven’t heard from us, they start to worry.
“I understand having the reputation of always answering the phone and
providing unparalleled service to our team can sometimes get me in
trouble on those rare occasions someone catches me in a meeting.
“My motto is this: I like to give each of my clients my undivided
attention and, when you first called, I was in the middle of a first
meeting with a new client and I didn’t want to be rude to pick up the
phone at her place. We were going through the instructions, step by
step, of how to best care for her dog while she’s gone.
“You, too, can be sure that when you become a new client of ours,
you’ll be receiving the same undivided attention so we can do the best
job possible while caring for your pet during your absence. And I’d
never interrupt a call or meeting of ours by taking another call.”
Obviously that reply is long-winded but I hope you see the point.
I didn’t give her an excuse or simply state the reason why I couldn’t
answer the phone, I turned it around and showed her how it would work
in her favor.
There are ways to turn a potential client’s negative comment into your
favor. Remember, the goal of any phone call is to establish trust,
display expertise and build rapport.
So, how would you respond to a potential client saying 3 hours is a
little long to be hearing from you?
Though Pinterest launched over 2 years ago, it has grown faster than any other site in the U.S., reaching nearly 10 million unique hits per month. This is yet another social media app where people share things they like… but it IS much different. How is it so addictive? Why are user sessions longer than on youtube? It is an extreme in visual enjoyment.
So does it have use for your pet sitting business? It might. As usual, a new method of marketing can be useful depending on the time you have to put into it. Keeping that in mind, sitters do spend their days with a dream that so many others have: ‘Playing with dogs all day.’ Perhaps you can l
et them escape to a fun-filled life while at work… through you.
Unlike Facebook or Linkedin, your posts are seen by anyone looking for something under a specific pinboard. For example, if you created a ‘board’ called ‘cute dogs’ and began posting pictures of cute dogs, anyone could repost those pictures.
The focus comes in with creating useful pinboard names with pictures / articles people want to reshare. For example, you could put the name of your business… or ‘Cute Dogs in (enter town here).’ Be creative. With so many people now on Pinterest, it is worth it to see if it would work for you.
Here are some statistics of pinterest. Review them and see if it fits the current demographics of your clients.
(Source Modea - http://www.modea.com/)
In sum, the typical Pinterest user seems to be young, upper-middle class, and female. It just so happens that this demographic is pretty similar to those who also have a passion for dogs.
Do you use Pinterest?
Awww — How nice! Someone made a computer desktop wallpaper for APSE with ‘pet holiday’ reminders on them. That was so nice, we’re putting them all here so you can download them and use them for your computer screens. Read More …
This month APSE has focused on client retention and customer satisfaction. We had the Director of Operations at Zappos come and chat with us about creating a culture client’s love. So far we have had tips to satisfy clients, updates to our media library, forms for pet sitters, and marketing reports all based on improving client retention.
The basic idea of client retention is to be there for them; be empathetic and do whatever you can for them. People have a general need to feel connected and acknowledged. So many business owners tend to focus on getting new clients rather than improving relationships with current clients. It is easier and more cost effective to focus on current clients than on getting new clients.
Here are some specific things you can do to improve customer satisfaction: Read More …
Mark these on your calendar! Let client’s know how ‘in the know’ you are by supplying them with this list of pet-centric holidays throughout the year. These are all holidays created by different organizations in order to raise awareness. By posting them on your Facebook wall, announcing them to workers, or creating a celebration around a certain day you help your business in multiple ways: It creates a fun environment (Squirrel Appreciation Day), it shows your company has compassion for certain causes (Pet Theft Awareness Day), and it gives you some great things to blog / share with your clients.
We scoured the internet to find these, so Read More …
Hopefully as a business owner you have heard you should learn about your clients. You have probably also heard you need to focus on your demographics and learn what
type of clients would work well with your business. The downside to this is that sometimes we forget our clients are really people, too. With almost all people, communication and open mindedness is almost always the key to success. (Hear what members had to say and how other sitters keep client’s happy.)
1. Give customers more than they expect
Whether from promises you place on your website or from what others do in your area, know what your customers expect from you and then do more. For example: Read More …
We here at APSE are pretty excited about our January promotion. I’ll be blunt. Like any association, we always want to increase membership. Ultimately, we’re in the business of helping businesses improve. The more people we reach, the better we can help the community. We want to reach as many businesses as we possibly can to help them improve their business. We realize the business world is constantly evolving, so we must be even more Read More …
APSE has a great feel for what is going on out there. I have gotten more out of my membership than I ever thought I would. I have other logos on my website, I have joined other groups, but APSE is the first one that makes me feel like a memberNeil Simon, Romp Pet Care
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