Interview with Therese from PetSitUSA.com - How to Setup and Optimize Your Pet Sitting Blog

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Next Tuesday night I am going to be interviewing Therese Kopiwoda from PetSitUSA.com for our monthly Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence member call. As well as having her own successful blog, Therese also markets her services as a Social Media Expert and Consultant and helps others set up their own pet sitting blog.

On our call here are the questions that we will be discussing:

What are some of the reasons that you think that pet sitters should use a blog to promote their business?
What are some of the benefits of having a blog?
There are many different blog software programs - why do you use and recommend Wordpress?
Do you recommend that pet sitters set up a new domain for their blog - or tie it into their pet sitting website?
Which hosting services make it simple to set up a Wordpress blog?
How do you customize a Wordpress blog?
Are there any Wordpress plugins that you use and recommend?
What are the best ways to promote a new blog?
How do you connect you blog to Facebook and Twitter to make the most of your posts and raise awareness of your blog?
Do you have any suggestions for pet sitters who say they can’t think of what to write on their blog?
What type of blog posts do you find are most popular or attract the most comments?

If you have been thinking about setting up your own pet sitting blog - or have a blog but want to know the best ways to market your blog and get more reader interaction, then don’t miss our call. At the end of our call all listeners will have the chance to ask Therese their blogging questions and get her advice for way below her normal consulting charges!

Sign up to join us as a member of the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence to get the call details and access over 12 months of recorded past calls, special reports, and pet care articles that you can use on your own blog.

If you have questions for Therese that you would like answered on the call but can’t make it live please leave them as a comment and I’ll be sure to ask them for you next Tuesday.

Here are your 7 quick Thursday tips for finding fresh ideas for your blog posts:

1. Read magazines – magazines are great for spinning information in a million different ways. Reading industry magazines will help you tap into the general public’s awareness and will help you come up with unique and fresh ways to look at ideas.

2. Read other blogs – other blogs in your industry or complimentary industries will help you generate fresh ideas for your own blog. You may decide to elaborate on a post written by someone else or take an opposing position.

3. Read industry publications – online publications like newsletters, whitepapers, case studies and the like are a great way to stay informed. You can write content about the data and information presented in these documents which helps establish your credibility and authority, it provides value and it helps generate a continuous stream of useful content.

4. Have a brainstorming/planning session - sometimes just letting go of all the outside distractions and allowing yourself to think out of the box can generate hundreds of new and unique blog post ideas. Set time aside to brainstorm.

5. Pay attention to forums and chat rooms – discussions on industry forums and chat rooms often generate some controversy but they also present new ideas, questions and room for elaboration on points you find to be valid or interesting. Use these sites to help you generate fresh content.

6. FAQs – what questions do you commonly hear from others? These make for great blog posts.

7. Ask your readers what they want to know – If you don’t know what to write about, ask your readers what they want to know.

Pet Sitting Marketing Pie and Members Benefits February 2010

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Had a great call last night with my Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence members. We discussed 8 low cost marketing strategies essential to the success of your 2010 marketing plan. I also explained how to take these strategies to set up your personal systems that ensure you market consistently to attract a steady stream of new pet sitting clients. We also covered:

The 3 steps of the sales process
The Pet Sitting Marketing Pie
Why you need a free offer and how to use it to build a list of potential clients that you can follow up with to build a relationship

We also discussed the essential components of your pet sitting website and I did a complete website review of Sleepy Paws Pet sitting website.

Here are some of the comments from my members about the call:

“GREAT call Danielle! Thanks SO much for the information. I’m exciting to start my mktg plan for 2010! I’m thankful that I joined your network!” - Christina Walker

“Thanks again..lots of good info” - Kathleen Francisco Todd

You can get a download of the call by joining the Circle of Pet Sitting Success. The recording is now posted on the member download page - as well as over 12 recordings of our past pet expert calls. Click here to get all the details of the membership

As well as our monthly calls members also receive 3 original articles each month that they can use for marketing their business. Members are free to publish them on their blog, use them as press releases or as articles for their their client newsletters. They can also edit and post on internet article directories to drive more traffic to their website and improve their search engine rankings

January 2010 Member Articles

How to Protect Your Pets Dental Health
Valentines Presents for Pets
How to Avoid Pet Theft

Members also receive special reports on business building topics:

January Special Report

Your Quick and Easy Guide to How To Do Market Research & Niche Your Business will help you get inside the mind of your ideal customer.

You’ll learn…

4 critical questions you must have answered to find your ideal customer

The #1 secret to finding loyal customers who pay

How to develop a successful relationship with your market

A simple technique for doing niche research

The 3 magic ways to find out what your niche wants

How to avoid the biggest niche research mistake that could hold you back from success

An easy 3-step system of tools for finding hot keywords

How to take full advantage of your competitors, ethically and legitimately

There are so many benefits to become a member of the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence. Here is what one member sent me after joining this week:

“I just wanna say , It is totally worth the money for what you get from your site , Wow . I was so excited I stayed up all night down loaded all the calls to my ipod touch and im gonna listen to it all day , Plus there are so many fact sheets on your site that are so helpful” - Donald Czyzyk

Get all the details about the membership here and join today to get immediate access to all the member benefits - Circle of Excellence Pet Sitter Coaching Group.

Your Marketing Plan 2010 - The 8 Essential Pieces of Your Marketing Pie

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This months Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence call is next Tuesday 26th January at 7pm CT. Our topic is “Your Marketing plan for 2010 - 8 Essential Pieces of your Marketing Pie”. On the call I will be explaining why you must have 8 low cost marketing strategies in place to enable you to attract a steady stream of new pet sitting clients this year. Learn how to implement these 8 strategies and create your own marketing systems that ensure you are marketing consistently.

I’ll also be doing a website review for Dave Westwood of Sleepy Paws pet services on the call - and may also do a live website review with a random member on the call as I haven’t been able to contact my second winner Loriana Duran (Loriana if you are out there please get in contact!).

At the end of the call we’ll have an open Q&A session where you can ask me any questions that you have about your website or your marketing strategies.

It’s only a $9.95 investment to sign up and join us on the call - or get the call recording and transcript - plus you’ll also get access to over 12 months of recorded calls, special reports, and 19 original pet related articles that you can use in your own newsletters or blog. Sign up now to get immediate access to all past files at Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence Coaching.

Here is an article to introduce you to the marketing pie:

Marketing methods are the ways in which you get the message about your business into the hands of potential clients. There are so many options available today that choosing how to market your business can become very confusing. Traditional marketing methods used by major corporations include television and radio commercials, and advertising in major magazines and newspapers. These methods are typically not affordable or effective in marketing small and local pet sitting businesses. Luckily there are many other methods that are both low cost and more effective to reach your target market of pet owners.

When choosing the strategies and tools that you use to market your business you need to ensure that they lead potential customers through the following 3 sequential steps in the sales process:

· Step 1 – Find potential clients and gather their contact information

· Step 2 - Follow up with these clients by giving them valuable information to build a relationship

· Step 3 - Close the sale

Some potential clients will find your business and immediately be ready to schedule you to care for their pets. Other clients may find you but want to learn more about you and build a relationship with you before they are ready to buy. By including all three steps in your marketing you will insure you meet the needs of both types of clients.

The ideal mix of low cost high impact marketing activities for a pet sitting business is what I call “The Pet Sitting Marketing Pie”. By including marketing actions from each of piece of the pie you will ensure you include all 3 steps of the sales process and can creatively engage your target market.

Join us on the call to learn more - members also receive a copy of The Marketing Pie diagram. Sign up now to learn what the 8 essentials strategies of your marketing pie at Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence Coaching.

I hope you can join me on the call!

Pet Sitting Deductions and Documentation - Interview with Deduction Diva Vicky Collins

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I just finished hosting Vicky Collins for our monthly Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence teleseminar. Vicky is a CPA and tax deduction specialist and on our call she explained which expenses you can claim as legitimate pet sitting deductions and exactly what documentation you should keep to justify each expense to the IRS.

We covered the two most audited expenses in detail - vehicle expenses and home office deductions. We also discussed travel expenses, supplies, cell phones, internet, and training and seminar costs.

The deduction that I find the most difficult to document every year is vehicle expenses.

If you use your car for pet sitting but also for personal use then the way you need to document car expenses is to keep a mileage log that shows the start location, end location, number of miles travelled, and the business purpose. You can use a store bought vehicle logbook or make your own tracking sheets using excel. If you use this mileage method you don’t need to keep reciepts for gas, maintenance etc. At the end of the year you total your business mileage and mulitply this by the annual mileage rate (different each year and set by the IRS).

If you have a car that you use exclusively for pet sitting business - then you can actually claim the expense of purchasing the car (you can’t claim all in one year but you can depreciate over several years), insurance, gas, maintenance etc. You do have to keep all the receipts if this is the method want to use to claim your vehicle deduction.

One of the important tips Vicky gave was to have proof of your vehicle odometer reading at the end or start of each tax year. Close to December 31st or January 1st you want to either - have a service done on your vehicle and keep the reciept that shows the odometer reading or use a digital camera that puts the date on the photo to take a picture of your car odometer. If you claim any type of vehicle expense the IRS will want to see this proof if you are audited.

Vicky has a newsletter that you can sign up for at her website - http://www.deductiondiva.com where she gives tips and will keep you up to date on any tax law changes during the year. When you sign up for this newsletter Vicky will also send you a copy of her Tax Documentation Checklist. On her website Vicky also offers filing aids to help you keep track of all you business expenses during the year - so you are not digging back through a stack of receipts at tax time.

The information on this call could save you big on your 2009 return by making sure you don’t miss any deductions that you are eligible to claim this year. To get the full recording and written transcript only costs $9.95 to try out the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence membership. Join in December and be entered into the drawing to win a free website review - and also get immediate access to my full library of over 12 past monthly call recordings, transcripsts, special reports and articles.

To find out more info or to join go to http:/www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com.

Network on Facebook with Other Pet Sitters

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Social networking sites are a great place to meet other pet sitters around the globe to share ideas and get helpful tips.

I have my own Facebook group - http://www.petsittingsuccesscircle.com where there are over 80 members ready to meet you.

As I have removed the member forum feature from my paid monthly membership group - I will be more active at this free Facebook group and I will posting regularly to encourage discussions about our monthly call topics, answering questions posted to the group, posting regular tips.

I’d love you to join us and contribute to the group. All you need is a Facebook account. You can find us easily by either searching for Pet Sitting Success Circle in the search box in Facebook (at top right of the screen) - or typing http://www.petsittingsuccesscircle.com into your web browser.

See you there!

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