Online Marketing

[Mo-N-Me]

I was just going through the memberlist and checking out others' websites. It makes me wonder why so few are using the internet for marketing their businesses. What keeps you from doing so? Cost? Knowledge?

Those of you with a website, do you ask clients for email addresses? Make appointments via emailing, or even email reminders?

I'm lucky in the sense I have a degree in "I.T." that I aquired before becoming a groomer. I've never used it in a professional environment, but it has paid for itself by allowing me to build, market, and contact my clients differently than most groomers offer.

[plushpuppy]

I get alot of traffic to my we site. for new clients I e-mail a cute email thanking them for trusting me with fido and giving the $5 off their next groom. it usually gets them to book again. Has worked great so far. I then say ok it's been so & so time since fido was last groomed why don't we set up his next appointment abut 95% will book before they leave

[pamperedpups]

I'm working on a website and blog now for my grooming biz. and am very anxious to start advertising it. Time has been my biggest limitation when working on this project.

[hairdevil]

website

I've thought about a website, but I don't even know where to begin..who to contact, what to put in it...the cost? I have no idea what the costs are. I have a program that will generate automatic emails for reminders to my clients, but haven't figured it all out yet...I use pet123. any suggestions?

[Kim in SD]

My website generates probably 50% of my new customers. I use Yahoo. Its not expensive and easy to use. A friend of mine built mine. NOt sure on the cost of hiring someone to make one.

[furryfriends]

I get tons of inquiries from my website. It explains a lot about my grooming philosophies to potential new customers. It's an amazing tool to promote my biz. I get so much activity from it that I didn't have to do any yellow page advertising and best part is it only costs me $95 for the entire year.

I do all my reminders via email. I use 123pet and it does it automatically. Saves me gobs of time.

[misscatahoula]

Lack of knowledge is what's stopping me. I want to set up a website for the business, but don't even know where to start. I'm damn near computer illiterate.

[Mo-N-Me]

Yahoo Local is a great resource to set up a free business profile. I get alot of business from there. You can list your website as well as your general business info.

I know I have a dirt cheap website!!

Your fees for a website include:
your domain name (IE:www.xxxx.com) I got mine $7.95/yr for three years.
hosting (the company that airs your domain to the public) I pay $13.47/quarterly. My hosting company also allows me to view statistics regarding my site activity...where the hits are coming from, how many per day, what pages are being viewed, etc etc.

I can tell you the companies I use, but not sure if it's okay to post them here? Send a message!!

Roughly $62/year...cheapest, and best return on money I can think of!!

I get an average of 20 new customers/mo with the $5 off first groom coupon on my site.

It usually takes anywhere from 6 months to a year for search engine results to show. This is from coding within your website itself called Meta-tags...they are just keywords...invaluable though.

Another note on search engine submittals...there are companies that charge big $$ to submit to several engines at a time. Guess what? You can do it yourself for free....ask me how ; )

I did my site design myself...that is where your big initial costs can come into play. I'm lucky I had the knowledge to do so...I've checked pricing...OMG! If I didn't have the knowledge, I'd post to a computer school and hope a student would want some experience and give me a bid lower than the "pros". Or ask friends, family...etc.

Approaching book length...if you have questions ASK ME!!

I don't know anything about Pet123 software...
Most hosting packages include email for your domain, usually within there you can create lists to market to. I've not had the time to approach this end of it yet...time time time...

[toomuchfunbnme]

Website

I had a website for my last business. For some reason alot of my clients were not very internet oriented though. Then I also did have some clients who would visit my website to stay informed. I plan to have a website once I start my grooming business. I think a website can be a really valuable business tool as long as it is well done.

Update.Yay! My website has been up for a little while now and is actually getting lots of hits. (Somehow it has already gotten over 3000!) I'm setting up some tracking systems so that I can find out where the hits are coming from and also how many are resulting in grooming calls and appointments.

[Butterfliekisses]

There are alot of groomers on myspace that use their myspace profile for their website. this is a friend of mine www.myspace.com/pawfectionpets

[Gracy Rose]

Website

I get a lot of business from my website (which was done by me, computer illiterate as I am). I haven't really gotten into the whole "myspace" thing, I view it as a "teeny bopper" place since my kids use it:-)

[Mo-N-Me]

Myspace is another awesome tool. Theres alot of adults on there too...its not just for kids. The networking function is awesome. I added alot of in/out state rescue groups. The bulletins they post about pets needing homes or donations can travel across the states so quickly...and I think that part of it (instant info) is AWESOME!

[k9krazy_2050]

A competant web developer should be able to complete your site from start in finish in less than 10 hours. Get them to charge you a flat rate and try to get them to keep it under $350. Host with doteasy.com because you can buy a domain name and get server space for hosting for around $25. BUT EVEN THE BEST WEBSITES DO NOT GENERATE BIZ! Think more along the lines of an email newsletter that customers sign up for when they are at your site. Then keep pumping them with info, tips of keeping their pet looking good between grooms, info on nutrition and maybe info on products in your shop. Good luck!

[diamienono]

I had a website for my last business. For some reason alot of my clients were not very internet oriented though. Then I also did have some clients who would visit my website to stay informed. I plan to have a website once I start my grooming business. I think a website can be a really valuable business tool as long as it is well done.

That is becuase typing might chip their nails lol

[Kim in SD]

ROFL...I think lisa has something there. Although I do get about half of my new clients from the web.