Pet Sitting Website Review – Part 1

Last week I received an email from pet sitter Karin Perry:

My name is Karin Perry and my website is not being found by potential clients. Help !! I’ve finally given in to my petcare passion. I want to continue but, if I don’t get a steady client base I’m afraid that I will have to give up on my dream. Could you help me to get my website noticed ??

Karin sent me her website address and agreed to me doing a review of her site on the blog this week so that other pet sitters can also learn from the suggestions that I give her.

http://s2.webstarts.com/AnimalsGreatandSmallPetsitting/index.html 

I am going to break the review into 3 separate blog posts that will cover the 3 keys to getting results from your website - 

1. Is the site customer friendly – does it clearly give the customer all the information that they need in order for them to make a decision to hire you?

2. Is it pleasing to the eye – is it attractive and easy to read

3. Is it optimized for the search engines – does the site include the right elements to get it ranked in the major search engines so that it is easy to find by customers that are looking for your services.

So for this first blog post lets look at key number 1 – Customer Friendliness.  Here is a screenshot of Karins home page:

Two of the things customers are immediately looking for on your home page are:

1. A description of the services that offer

2. The service area in which you offer these services

Karin does have these included on her home page and does a great job of specifically naming the cities in which she provides services. Naming the cities you service is much clearer than identifying a region.  Putting the city names on the home page also helps with search engine optimization as the city name is typically one of the words people will use to search to find a pet sitter.

I would recommend that Karin make the services that she provides stand out more - by putting them in a list format. She does put them in the first sentence of the page – but if customers are scanning the site they may not take the time to read full sentences.

It is great to list your credentials and affiliations on the front page of your site. Karin has stated that her company is certified, bonded and insured. She could also state the company name though which she is insured. For example “Bonded and Insured by ………” 

The word “certified” can be intrepreted in different ways - if you list ”certified” I think that you definately need to clarify the organization through which you are certified.  Pet Sitters International and NAPPS both now have certification programs – and if you are certified by these organizations I would showthe image of the badge that they provide to their certified members.

Listing the asssociations of which you are a member – such as PSI, NAPPS, Pet Sitters LLC, or PUPS – and/or showing their logos on your home page also adds credibility to your business.

Another piece of info that you can add on your home page is how customers can find you on social media. Put links to your facebook business page or profile page, your twitter account, myspace page, or LinkedIn profile. This gives potential customers a way to find out more about you and ask you questions via social media.

Lets take a look at Karin’s pricing page:

It is very beneficial to clearly list your pricing on your website – it will help to screen out the bargain seekers and those who are shopping around for the lowest price.  It also helps the customer to figure out exactly what they need before they call you.

Karin has done a good job of specifying the prices for the daily walking service. She has different options and states how many pets this includes and the additional charges for extra pets.  However, I don’t see any pricing for the vacation pet sitting or poop scooping services that she says she offers on the home page. I would definately add the pricing for these too – otherwise customers may be confused or simply assume that you only offer dog walking.

It is also good to specify that the inital consult is free and that admin of meds is an extra charge.  Other notes that could be added would be for any additional holiday fees, late booking or cancellation charges. 

Think about also providing packages of services for clients. You could provide packages for walks – for example a weekly or monthly rate that includes X number of walks.  You could also package walks and poop scooping.

You want to make it very obvious how clients can contact you to get more information or book services. Karin has the pricing page shown below which is great because it gives customers 3 options for getting in touch – a phone number, email address, and contact form.  However – I think that it is also a good idea to put your businesss phone and email address at the bottom or top of all your other pages (just in case the customer doesn’t immediately find their way to the contact page).

Another important piece of info to put on the contact page is your business hours. Let the customer know when to expect you to answer your phone – and add a note letting them know how often you check email and when they should receive a response back after submitting the contact form.

Testimonials are very important to new clients wanting to find a new sitter or dog walker. Karin does have a page called “Review” but is currently only showing 1 testimonial.  I think I would change the name of this page so it tells visitors more clearly that this is the page where they will find out what other customers say about your service.  Find a way to gather more reviews from existing clients (you could offer them a reward or send a follow up email after service requesting these) – so that you can fill out this page and show that you have many happy clients.  When you collect customer reviews the best way to ensure they are effective is to ask people to describe the problems that you solved for them in their review and get them to say specifically what they liked about your company.

I also sprinkle customer testimonials throughout my other website pages – especially the home page.  When people are scanning you site – you want to start building their trust on the first page that they visit (it may be the only page that they visit!). 

One page that I would recommend that Karin add is a bio or an about page. This page should describe why you started pet sitting, how long you have been in business, what your past experience with pets is, if you have pets of your own, and why you love being a pet sitter.  It is also great to add a picture of you and your family (including your pets of course!).  Again this page is to let potential clients get to know you better and start to build trust.

Please let Karin know your suggestions by leaving a comment on this post.  I’ll be back tomorrow with Part 2 – How to make your site pleasing to the eye.

If you would like a review of your pet sitting website – join the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence this month. I will be awarding a free website review to one lucky new member in January.  To be eligible to win just sign up in the month of December. Membership is just $9.95 and you don’t want to miss my call this Thursday with Vicky Collins – The Deduction Diva to learn how to make the most of your tax deductions on your 2009 return.  Visit http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com for all the details.