To say that I was honored when NAPPS asked if I would be a speaker at their 2016 conference is an understatement! Honored. Thrilled. Humbled. All of those words and more. Here are the top 3 things that I am…
There are a lot of pieces that go into writing a blog.
I feel the most important one – above the writing of it, above worrying about word count – is your topic.
A lot of bloggers get stuck on “but I don’t know what to write about!”.
We’re going to help you with that today!
Blogging is all about answering questions.
The first step is identifying questions that your target audience is seeking the answers for.
We are going to use the specific example of cats today. Pretend (and maybe you don’t have to pretend), that you are actively looking for new cat clients.
Do you know where, in the process of purchasing your services, a potential client is?
Do they know about pet sitting? Or are they already sold on a pet sitter and they are looking for the right fit?
The way each of the above people find your site is completely different
If you are not getting the traction you want/expect out of your blogs, maybe you need to look at the 3 different buying stages your visitors are in. You’ll want to write articles focusing on each stage.
Stage 1
They have no idea that pet sitting and dog walking exists.
Blogging is all about being helpful to your audience. I look at blogging topics as an Idea Tree – picture a Family Tree and then just switch out your great grandparents and put IDEAS at the top of your tree.…
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a beast and it can be a challenge to get people to land on your web site.
The PetSittingOlogy template is already set up to maximize your SEO potential, but how can you take charge and implement new content that will make your site more noticeable?
By blogging about “Trending Now” topics.
What does that mean?
As the name implies, Trending Now is all about things that are currently happening. It’s a one shot deal or maybe something that only happens once a year (think holidays).
Networking is intimidating.
Especially if you are not comfortable around strangers and you’d rather stay at home with your own pets and read a book, watch a movie, clean the closets – anything to avoid going to a networking event.
The good thing is though, YOU’RE NOT ALONE!
Seriously. I’ll bet that the majority of people in the room have some level of “I know I just got here but can I leave yet?” You can use this can be your ice breaker:
“Hi, I’m Laura, and I’m really uncomfortable at networking events”. If you say this to anyone in the room you are going to have 1 of 2 reactions
Many of us in the professional pet care industry hold ourselves to a high standard and work ethic.
We take great pride in the care we provide, the job we do, and the business we run.
We are professionals.
Since there are no exams to pass or degrees to obtain in order to open up shop and call yourself a pet sitter, the line is sometimes blurred between a professional pet business owner and someone simply attempting it.
Pet Sitters International (PSI) published a wonderful blog article recently about professionalism in our industry. [Read it here: The Most Important “ism” for Pet Sitters]
In it, they presented several specific questions that every pet parent should ask the pet sitter who she is considering to hire.
Presented here is the other side of the coin detailing how the pet sitter must position herself well before a potential client makes contact.
Much of the decision to contact you is already made in the mind of the pet owner within a few minutes of viewing your website.
Therefore, you as the professional business owner must present yourself in the most professional manner at the very first point she comes across your brand in order to even get the chance she’ll consider hiring you.
In other words, if your website design, look, feel, layout, colors, images, photos, content, articles, videos, and reviews do not quickly set the visitor at ease she will leave and look elsewhere.
So how do you position yourself as a professional before your potential client ever makes contact with you?
Do you find it frustrating and confusing to keep up with all the things you should be doing to rank high on Google’s first page?
How often do you wonder what those other pet sitting websites are doing that you are not doing?
If you’re like most other business owners, you want to do all you can to land new clients.
But did you know that landing in Google is just one small part of the puzzle?
While it’s a very important piece since not much activity will take place without that, it’s equally as important to get your visitors to take action once they are on your site.
If you rank well in the search engines but nobody makes contact once they are on your site, it’s still a loss.
Here are some things you should stop doing on your pet sitting website that will increase the chances a visitor likes what she sees and gets in touch with you.
There was a recent thread in the PetSittingOlogy group on Facebook where Josh asked the question:
“How would you answer a friend who asks “What does PetSittingOlogy do?”
When I summarized the more than a dozen responses, do you know what the core theme was?
NETWORKING.
Google defines networking as a verb. “To interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career”.
Networking opportunities within PSO that you should be taking advantage of and being active in:
Like it or not, networking is an important part of growing your business and building your brand within your community.
We talked last week about the HOW of networking, but now WHERE do you start?
As a pet sitters of course you want to talk to and get to know other pet professionals in town such as vets, groomers, trainers etc; but they are only one piece of the puzzle. You want to be involved with other business professionals who can help network you to their clients as well!
Where do you find networking opportunities?
1) MeetUp.com
You may have used MeetUp.com to look for social events. Have you ever thought to put “business” or “professional” into the search box?