pet sitting marketing

100+ FREE places to list your pet sitting & dog walking business online!

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Whee! I love giving out free stuff that pet sitters and dog walkers can use immediately to skyrocket their business to success.

The latest goody I have for you is this: 100+ FREE and low cost websites to list your business online.

Having your website listed on other websites is one of the most important ways you can raise your search engine ranking. This means you’ll get higher up on the search engines and get more clients. Wa-hoo!

Click to go to our website page where you can now download your free 100+places to list your pet sitting and dog walking business online.

100+ FREE places to list your pet sitting & dog walking business online! Read More »

Best Web Hosting for Pet Sitting Websites (and why)

kristin-006173Okay, as most of you know I rarely endorse products and services but I just have to tell you pet sitters and dog walkers about this one…

As a pet sitter you may think that all web hosting companies are the same but that just isn’t true.

If you have a website that is hosted by Go Daddy or Vista Print you will find that it is very difficult to change the wording in your site to make it search engine optimization-friendly.

Even if your website is not hosted by the hosts above you may find that you will gain so much more than you can imagine by switching your hosting company to Blue Host.

I have been using this hosting company for my website for 5 years now and here is what I absolutely LOVE about it:

1) You can reach a live human being at any time-day or night! If you have an issue with your website you can call them anytime. They answer the phone! So unheard of these days…

2) You can see how your clients find you online. This hosting company has a cool features where you can go behind the scenes and click a button and boom! You get the inside peek into how your clients/competitors/trawlers are finding you. It is so revealing and will appeal to the detective in you that wants to find out what people typed in to find your pet sitting company. I love this feature!

3) You can transfer to Blue Host in less than 24 hours. Just contact them and within 24 hours you can easily and effortlessly transfer from your current host to this fantastic hosting company.

4) It’s one of the cheapest hosting companies on the web. You get the most bang for your buck and it is one of the least expensive hosting companies. How is this possible? I’m not sure but I appreciate the monthly savings.

If you are a new pet sitter in the midst of creating a website or an ‘old dog’ pet sitter that is looking to create an even more powerful website at a reasonable price then check out Blue Host today.

You will not be disappointed!

Best Web Hosting for Pet Sitting Websites (and why) Read More »

It’s Not About the Money

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I’ve been on nearly a hundred pet sitting business coaching calls in the past few weeks.

It’s been really great to work with some of you after being gone for so long.

As much as I love traveling (and I really, really love it!) I do love coming back and diving into my life here. It is so gratifying to work with pet sitters from around the country who are hungry to grow their businesses so that they can lead rich, meaningful and fulfilling lives both professionally and personally.

I was talking with a friend the other day about money. We were engaged in a discussion about her recent business venture which resulted in a big profit. My face lit up with happiness over her financial success.

She smiled and said to me, “Kristin, you love money.”

I thought about it for a minute and then I said:

“Yes, it’s true I do love money,” I replied. “But money in and of itself would be so boring and unsatisfying. It’s flat and kind of an ugly color green. It’s what money gives me and my coaching clients that is really where the excitement is for me.”

Mostly it comes down to freedom. To me, having enough money equals freedom. The freedom to travel around the world. Money provides the resources and the time to be able to live my life in a way that feels really right for me. To live my life in a way that really suits me.

What about for you? What does money equal for you? For everyone it is so different.

Part of my coaching involves determining the WHY of money for the person I’m working with.

When I can help them see what they can create in their lives if they have more money things usually happen pretty quickly. They begin to do the action steps I’ve given them. Their bank account grows. They are able to hire more help and create more space in their life.

And what my coaching clients want from money isn’t more things. Sheesh. We all have enough things now, don’t we?

Some of my clients want enough money so they have more time.

Time to sit with their kid on their lap and eat cookies together in the warm sunshine.

Sometimes it’s all about taking the trip they’ve always dreamed of taking. Having enough money and time to go on that Alaskan cruise or that trek through the jungle in Peru which will inevitably bring them closer to their spouse or themselves.

Sometimes it’s about wanting to create stability: being able to buy a house or provide for their family.

It’s not about the money.

It’s what is created from the money.

If you want to make more money in your pet sitting and dog walking business to provide the kind of life that is meaningful for YOU there is still time to sign up for Tuesday’s teleclass: Get Pet Sitting Clients NOW: Marketing that Works.

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5 Business Tips for Successful Holiday Pet Sitting and Dog Walking

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Below are 5 of the most important tips for holiday pet sitting and dog walking business success:

1) Charge and enforce a holiday fee. Many pet sitters are resistant to charging a holiday fee because they are afraid or embarrassed to ask for more money over the holidays. Get over your fear and DO IT. You (and your staff) are giving of your time to work during this special time of year and deserve to be compensated for it.

2) Have your holiday fee be over the holiday period, not just on the actual holiday days. My holiday period this year is Dec. 20-January 3. Clients are charged an additional $5 for visits and $10 per night during this entire period.

Charging a holiday fee for the entire holiday period can help your profit increase by $500-$1,500+ during the holiday season!

I recommend that half of that holiday fee goes to the sitter working that particular holiday job. The other half goes to the company. Obviously if you are the one doing the job(s) you would receive all of it.

Why should your company get a portion of that holiday fee if your staff are doing the holiday jobs? The bulk of December reservations are often (obviously) only around the holidays so often times pet sitting business owners will find they are super stressed this time of year but are not making any more money than they might make in say, April. Having you, the business owner, receive a portion of that holiday fee will help your business thrive financially during the holiday season.

3) Figure out exactly how many visits you want to take NOW so you can have a sane holiday. Holidays only come once a year, folks. It’s up to you to decide now how you want to spend the days that are special to you.

If you want to spend Christmas day pet sitting from morning till evening with a brief holiday dinner in between jobs that is no problem. If that is what you want.

But if you don’t want that, decide now and limit the number of visits that you are willing to take. Make a time plan of the special holiday days that matter to you (Christmas Eve/Christmas/New Years) and block off the time for you that is sacred. Be clear and firm that nothing can touch that time you have blocked off for yourself and your family, no matter how insistent a client might be that YOU are the only one who can care for her pets.

Sound easy? It’s not. That’s why deciding now and sticking to a holiday time plan will help you stand behind your no (or help you get a staff member to take an insistent client).

4) Have all of your holiday cards and gifts purchased and sent off by December 18. If you get all of the holiday preparation done by December 18 you will be able to focus on the business of pet sitting and be able to enjoy your own holiday period. Start today by outlining all that you need to do to be fully prepared for the holiday for both your business and personal life. Next write down the action steps that you need to do between now and December 18. Put the action steps in your calendar on the specific days that you intend to accomplish them.

Example:
December 7: Purchase holiday cards, purchase staff gift cards
December 8: Write holiday cards
December 10: Mail holiday cards

5) Buy yourself a holiday gift to honor all the hard work you’ve done in your business this year. Why is this a success tip? Because it is a way of honoring all the hard work you’ve done this year. When we honor ourselves, more money flows to us. Always.

This is an action step I give to my coaching clients this time of year and sometimes it is the hardest action step they can take! Allow yourself to give something to you. Pet sitting is a business of serving and taking care of others; explore a way to bring that focus to yourself in the form of a gift for you.

Here are some gifts that pet sitters have bought for themselves to honor the work they’ve done in their businesses: a six-pack of massage certificates to use at various times in 2010, a novel that a pet sitter has been wanting to read all year but hasn’t made the time to read (part of her gift to herself was putting time in her time plan to read the book too!), a 2-day spa retreat with a girlfriend in January, a new car (!), a dinner out at a favorite restaurant.

Happy Holidays everyone!

For many more holiday success tips you can purchase the Riches and Relaxation for Holiday Pet Sitting Recording.

5 Business Tips for Successful Holiday Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Read More »

5 Inexpensive Pet Sitting Business Marketing Tips

facebook-smallHere are 5 inexpensive marketing ideas to generate more business this month:


  1. Target pet-friendly apartment complexes to go for volume of potential clients: introduce yourself and your business to building managers and ask if they have a ‘welcome packet for new tenants’ that you can add your business cards to.
  2. Advertise on Craigslist: Craigslist comes up high on the search engines and potential clients DO look on Craigslist for pet sitters! Include a picture of you with pets as well as your business logo and a link to your website.
  3. Commit to doing one marketing action a day: drop off business cards while you are running errands, keep a list of clients who have called you in the past but not used you yet and ‘cold call’ them to let them know you are offering a special of one free walk or visit in exchange for the purchase of four walks or visits this month, answer your phone directly at least 20 times per day so you can avoid potential new client hang ups as a result of their getting your voicemail.
  4. Do some direct marketing: contact your city hall or local humane society to get dog license names and addresses: send inexpensive but professional postcards from Vista Print which advertise your pet sitting or dog walking service.
  5. Easily and effortlessly market your business to the masses on Facebook: sign up for the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy’s teleclass: Facebook Teleclass: Secrets to Marketing your Business on Facebook on Tuesday, September 22 at 5:00pm PST / 8:00pm EST. (Only $20 if you register by Tuesday, September 15 so sign up NOW!)

5 Inexpensive Pet Sitting Business Marketing Tips Read More »

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Coaching for Pet Sitters

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In just one complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) session I will give you the keywords you need to put on your website and tell you exactly where you need to put those keywords plus other important SEO tips that will shoot you to the first page (and often number 1 or number 2) on search engines! You simply relay what I’ve told you to your web person and have your web person enter the information that was discussed in your session.

It’s that easy!

Tired of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on advertising that doesn’t yield powerful results when it comes to increasing your pet sitting client base?

For the month of September ONLY  I am offering $30 off a complete SEO session ($165 instead of the regular price of $195). You must schedule your session before September 30, 2009 to take advantage of this special offer.

What is also included in your Search Engine Optimization Session:

  • How and where to list your business on Google, MSN and Yahoo
  • 25 FREE websites to link your business website on.
  • Secrets to getting higher on Google Maps and other sites
  • The top 5 pet sitting directories that will generate pet sitting clients
  • What you absolutely need to have on your website for top SEO
  • What you can do to maintain high ranking on the search engines
  • Additional tips and tools to skyrocket above your competitors

Call 616-712-1426 to set up your session or email Coach Kristin at: success@SixFigurePetSittingAcademy.com

Ready to have more clients find you online?

Click here to find out more and to sign up for your complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for pet sitters coaching session today.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Coaching for Pet Sitters Read More »

Pet Sitters: Grow your Pet Sitting Business through LinkedIn!

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Are you ready to learn new ways of using LinkedIn to generate more business and gain more clients?

The LinkedIn: How to Grow your Pet Sitting Business and Generate New Clients Through LinkedIn teleclass is Tuesday, August 25 at 5:00pm PST / 8:00pm EST.

There’s still time to sign up and get the $20 rate discount if you sign up by August 18. After that the price goes up to $30 so sign up today to take advantage of the special $10 discount for early registration.

Find out more and sign up now by visiting the LinkedIn: How to Use this Powerful Site to Generate New Clients teleclass page. We look forward to ‘seeing’ you at this exciting teleclass!

Join Kristin Morrison from the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy™ as she interviews Therese Kopiwoda. Therese has the knowledge and experience to teach you how to use social media to get your business noticed by potential clients and customers. She has used LinkedIn and other social media tools to turn her online business, PetsitUSA, into a nationally recognized source for pet sitters and pet owners alike.

Pet Sitters: Grow your Pet Sitting Business through LinkedIn! Read More »

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