Comments on: Pet Sitting Website Review – Part 2

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:43:39 +0000

TBH, the very first thing you should’ve pointed out before even LOOKING at Karen’s website is the fact that Karen needs an easy to remember domain name!! The above web address (url) is too long to easily put on any business card plus makes it even harder for people to just “type” in to their web browser.

This also makes her business look more professional (even if it is just “covering up” the longer web address).

By: Dave Westwood

Dave Westwood — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:28:57 +0000

When they complete the survey, the thank you page has the links as well as asking them to fill out the survey and there are also links in the email.

I sent you a copy of the email so you could check it out.

By: Danielle Chonody

Danielle Chonody — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:25:08 +0000

Dave – I really like the survey – especially that you ask if you can use photos and testimonials on the web.

When you send out the email to invite people to the survey – is this also the email that you have the links to leave a review on Google and Yahoo? Once they have filled out the survey do you have a thank you page that reminds them about leaving reviews and gives them the links again. I’m wondering if you just have the initial email whether people are coming to the survey and then finishing and forgeting about the other request for reviews online?

By: Dave Westwood

Dave Westwood — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:28:06 +0000

Here is the link to the survey, anything I should add or take out?

http://sleepy-paws.com/survey.aspx

By: Dave Westwood

Dave Westwood — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:26:20 +0000

Yeah, I started doing that about 2 months ago. The email I send links to the survey and then once they complete the survey, it pulls up a page with links to Google Local, Yahoo Local and others. I got a real nice testimonial from one of my customers and all positive answers to the questionnaire from 2 others (but no testimonial), but none of them took the extra step to do the reviews. I recently polished up the email using Mail Chimp’s templates and put Google, Yahoo and Angie’s List links right in the email w/a coupon if they do a review. Still nothing yet, but I’m sure we will get some reviews eventually.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:36:04 +0000

Hi Dave – glad you could put the articles to use!

Are you currently sending a follow up email to clients requesting a testimonial or online review? I have just added links to my Google local and Yelp in my follow up email and had a client fill out a review that is listing on the front page of Google for a search on my city. This is definitely worthwhile!

By: Dave Westwood

Dave Westwood — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:26:29 +0000

Before we ever opened for business, the two things we did were get a logo made and get our own domain and have the email set up to our own domain as well. This, I felt, would set us apart from other companies in the area. We got our first client within 2 weeks of launching the website so I think these were definitely helpful. The next thing we did was add our business to Google and Yahoo local searches. The hits to our website quadrupled once we did this (from about 60/mo to about 250/mo) and our business has jumped accordingly.

I appreciate all the tips you have given, I am definitely going to add an about me and testimonial page to my website. The testimonial page was always planned, but we’ve only been up and running about 6 months, so we still need a few more people to give good testimonials.

Any feedback you could give me on our site would be greatly appreciated too…it is http://www.sleepy-paws.com

By the way, we are using the article on pet toys from Circle of Pet Sitting Success as part of our email Xmas card to our clients as well. Thanks very much, the service is great!

By: Danielle Chonody

Danielle Chonody — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:08:59 +0000

Thanks Mel – I really like the template that Mike is using for his site. However, the home pages seems kind of blank – if I was looking for a pet sitter I would like to see the services he offers, his service area, and his affiliations / qualifications shown on the front page – possibly even some customer testimonials too. The front home page may be the only page a customer looks at when they are scanning though pet sitting sites. You want to get them interested and give them the info they are looking for to make a decision right there on the first page.

I love that Mike is using photos with his testimonials.

By: Melissa Freer

Melissa Freer — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:02:48 +0000

Great post Danielle! Absolutely right on.

When I first started doing research about getting into the pet sitting businesses I looked at a lot of pet sitter’s websites. I found that many of them were outdated, confusing and hard to read.

Immediately, I knew that the one thing I could capitalize on this and create a great website that would draw people in vs. turning them off. I thought I did a pretty good job and have heard from a lot of my clients that they chose me because of my website.
But, my friend Mike has done an awesome job on his website. It’s the best I have seen so far. I recommend people check it out.

http://hurleypetservices.com/hpsa/