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4 Specific Ways To Improve A Blog Post [Case Study]

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Whether you are comfortable with it, or not, blogging (or simply creating content) is a requirement in the battle of SEO (search engine optimization).

Google has repeatedly said that creating unique, original, relevant content matters. Or, as they say it specifically: “Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site.”

OK, so with that out of the way, today’s post looks at a recent blog article from pet sitter Laura Capra of Keep Me Company Pet Sitting.

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If You Do Not Find Excitement and Inspiration from this Video, Something Is Wrong

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Watch us on this Google Hangout chatting about how to grow your pet sitting business.

Every successful business owner understands that they need to learn from others.

Whether it’s in the form of following their journey and reading their work, or having a mentor, success rarely happens without some influence of others.

Marcus Sheridan is someone outside of our industry who I personally follow, learn from and admire.

More importantly, the main reason I’m so excited to bring Marcus into our industry is because the way he succeeded is something that pet sitters can replicate.

Marcus began as a pool guy. He owned a pool company that installed fiberglass pools to his local community. He’s a local small business provider.

And so are pet sitters. While looking bankruptcy in the face, Marcus changed directions and used his website as his biggest form of marketing and now his pool company makes over $4 million a year!

The nuggets he provides in this insightful video can and should be used by pet sitters starting today.

Grab a pen and paper and take notes. He discussed things you can take action on right now to make huge progress. (Some pet sitters already have!)

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What’s Worse Than An Email Submission Landing in Spam and Not Knowing It? This is How to Prevent That.

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Prevent important website contact submissions from landing in Spam.

What’s worse than finally getting a potential new client on the phone and hearing her say, “Did you get my email? I sent it in last week?”

How embarrassing and disappointing is that?

Especially if you never received it…

Knowing how hard you work to keep all your ducks in a row, the last thing you need is technology getting in the way.

At this point, you sheepishly (and frustratingly) check your email spam folder and, wouldn’t you know it, the woman’s email is right there.

Not good.

So outside of driving yourself crazy and remembering to check your spam folder every 2 hours, how can you prevent this from happening in the first place?

This is how!

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How To Create A Visual Service Area Map for Your Pet Website [Video]

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Create a custom service area map for your website

Since you run a pet sitting business, you know that defining your service area is one important element.

While it’s advisable and recommended to have a “Service Area” page that lists the towns, neighborhoods, zip codes and/or areas you serve, it can also be helpful to include a visual reference for your visitors.

Did you know that Google Maps makes it simple enough to create your own custom map that defines your own service area?

Side Note: I made a video like this over a year ago, but since that time, Google has updated the maps method so that video is no longer relevant.

Google is always keeping us on our toes and you can be sure I’m always keeping up.

Create A Defined Service Area To Embed On Your Website

Watch this short video to create a custom map for your pet sitting business.

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Listen to a Recorded Call from One of Those Spam SEO Emails You Receive And See What It’s All About

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Do you receive spam email promising SEO success?

What’s the number one thing you want from your pet sitting website?

More traffic? Top keyword ranking in Google? Better SEO (search engine optimization)?

Call it what you will, but I’m guessing you want all of that.

And rightfully so!

Running a pet sitting business with your website as your huge marketing tool takes work, effort, time and knowledge.

Many of us struggle just to keep up with the pet sitting visits, let alone have time to focus on the business side of things, right?

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How To Get More Traffic To Your Pet Sitting Website (and 6 Other SEO Questions Answered) [podcast]

A few Friday’s back, I sent out a last-minute note saying that I will be holding an impromptu phone chat on the topic of websites, WordPress and search engine optimization (SEO).

I asked for your most pressing questions and was joined on the call that provided wonderful dialogue lasting 45 minutes.

I absolutely love these “casual, let’s chat” events and have hosted others recently with Bella Vasta via Google Hangout.

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What’s the Most Important Thing When It Comes To SEO?

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Prevent SEO from becoming a mystery that never gets solved.

Pet Sitters: I get it.

SEO (search engine optimization) is a big mystery.

On the surface, you might have a firm grasp on exactly what needs to be done, but even if you have done those things, you may not see results.

And we all know how frustrating it could be to put in some work and not see the results you were expecting.

Today’s question may put you in a better direction to make some real progress on your SEO efforts.

(And at the end of the post, you’ll have an opportunity to work directly with me and Bella Vasta on taking SEO by the horns and see results literally within 30 days 🙂

SEO: Where In The World Do I Begin?

This is the question I received:
Josh, with the WordPress SEO plug in, what’s the one (or few) things you would do first to quickly rise in rankings? I realize the algorithms for SEO are complex with many factors involved so there’s no “one” thing but what do you think of first when constructing sites? Blogging? Titles and descriptions? Other?

This is a great question and a very important one.

First, let me clarify that there is no magic bullet to “quickly rise in the rankings.” I understand what you are asking, but I just want to be clear that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.

No one thing (or no few things) will have you quickly rise in Google or allow you to remain in Google.

Correct SEO is a series of ongoing and consistent efforts. And guess what?

These efforts do not have to be difficult.

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Will This Pet Sitting Website Domain Name Hurt My SEO Rankings?

I love receiving email from pet sitters.

And I received a great question recently from pet sitter Laura Milholland who is just starting up her business.

She writes: Hello, I recently purchased your “Start a petsitting business in 45 days” program. I have had a really hard time finding a domain name that ends in .com. I currently own the domain “DoggonePurrfectPets.net“. Is that going to really hurt my SEO? Should I scrap that name and try to find something else? Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Great question. And plenty of info to discuss on this topic.

So, I fired up the ol’ Web cam and gave my thoughts on the matter.

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The Best Way to Track Your Keyword Placement In Google Is Not Always A Google Search

track your keywordsEvery so often, I’ll receive an email from a pet sitter who says something like the following:

“Hi Josh, I’ve made some additions to my website, and I don’t see my site coming up in the search results for my keywords. Help!”

While I’m always happy to help, and while there are plenty of directions to take in this case, I’m always interested to know HOW this person knows where their website ranks for various keywords.

Typically, you will search Google yourself for a handful of keywords that you want to rank for. You may even ask nearby friends, family or other pet sitters to help you in the hunt for your Google rankings.

Sadly, this approach for all of us is flawed.

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How to Interpret Your Pet Sitting Website Analytics and Stats [with Video]

Website TrafficSome of the most popular questions I receive, as you can imagine, deal with the topic of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

As pet sitters and website owners, it’s important to keep a steady eye on how your pet sitting website is operating in the search engines, and how visitors interact with your site once they arrive.

Google Analytics is one of the best ways to analyze how things are going for you, but there is more you can do from there.

One of my pet sitting website users sent me this email and I thought it beneficial to share with you.

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