How Does Blogging Help Me Get Pet Sitting Clients?
On more than one occasion I have gotten the question “How does blogging help me get pet sitting clients?” And while I have been blogging up a storm for years on how to do all of this, I realized I haven’t actually explained on a strategy level how blogging helps customers find you and how it converts them to pet sitting clients.
I have shown you Mark, a dog trainer, who ended up with so much business from blogging that he raised his prices.
I also had the incredible Mike Alton on Bella In Your Business showing you how your local blogging can gain you credibility and expert status in your community.
I even showed you what you need to do post publishing to make sure the most amount of eyeballs get onto your blog. Post publishing is almost as important as writing the actual blog.
There have been numerous other instances… as I have over 200 videos, 500 blogs, and 130+ podcasts (at the time of publishing) but I have never actually directly answered “How does blogging get me clients” so let me explain.
We Google Everything.
When you have a question you don’t know the answer to, where do you go?
Google, right?
People ask Google (or Siri or Alexia, etc) for everything! We ask them on our phones. We ask them by typing in on our computers, and we even ask them by voice.
Search is something that has changed so much over the years and more and more questions are being asked, and less “search term + city” ENTER.
People are looking for answers to their questions. Will you be the one answering them? I guarantee most of your competition isn’t doing it.
There is a huge opportunity up for grabs. Will you take it?
Content Marketing in 2019 is Like the Gold Rush.
This is still an untapped strategy that many are too lazy to adopt. Or, they lack the planning to actually execute.
In many communities, YOU, my friend, can still stand out online. Imagine if you were trying to make a purchase and googling to learn more about the product or service. Typically people want to know the major questions:
How much does it cost (in the area)?
What are the problems with the product or service?
How does it compare with others?
What are other people saying about it?
People will figure out the answers to their questions somehow and why not it be from you? You can be the one responsible for bringing the information that the people want. For that, they will be grateful.
When People are Grateful To A Brand It Leads to More Revenue
I want you to imagine the last time a company was super helpful to you. When they educated you or provide value in a way that you felt like you could trust and were unbiased.
A super example of this is Hubspot. They have endless blogs, downloads, and even free software that you can download now all so you can get comfortable with the knowledge of sales and tracking the things they provide the tools for. They basically let you test drive their brand before making the investment.
This ability that the consumer has to “kick the tires” is hugely powerful IF they can actually believe what the brand is saying. This will make the decision to reach into their pocket a lot easier and less stressful because they feel like they have gotten to know you.
Repurpose & Upcycling Your Blog
Blogs are super for repurposing, or what my friend Brian Fanzo calls “upcycling”. This is when you take the content and chop it up, we use it and spread it far and wide. We also talked about this on the Bella In Your Business Podcast.
Another advantage to repurposing is that different people frequent different channels. Some people might follow you more on one channel than another and by posting your content on more than one platform you can and will expand your reach.
But I warn you, master one platform before you add another or it can get overwhelming.
Writing a Blog and Then Chopping it Up Will Help You Upcycle
For example, a simple 1000 word blog might be upcycled like this:
- Create graphics with your major points and share them on Facebook with a link back to your blog.
- Create an infographic and tease it on your Instagram feed.
- Talk about it on your IG stories or FB stories and encourage people to go back and look at the article. (This is for your business and personal stories)
- Go live on your FB page talking about the article.
- Go live in your Facebook group talking about the article.
- Tweet about it.
- Post it on your business page on Linkedin.
In this day and age it isn’t about creating more and more content but using the content you do have and spreading it as far as you can.
Think about spreading out pizza dough. It is the same effect!
The Bottom Line:
At the end of the day, your customers will always have the same questions. They will get their answers, one way or the other.
It is all a part of the buying and decision-making process.
What if someone was looking for a veterinarian in the area and they came across your blog about the Top 5 Veterinarians in CITY? That was just one touch you made with a potential customer.
What if someone was thinking about using your services, and when they went to search for things like “how much does dog walking cost in CITY?”
Your blog was the one that kept coming up. It would subconsciously show them that you are showing up online.
That you are a trusted local expert. That you care enough to make your marketing shine, must be a great indication of your work ethic. The very thing they are hiring you for!
Still Not Sure How To Get The Most Out Of Your Blog?
I get it. Many people fall into one of three categories:
- They hate marketing for numerous reasons.
- They love marketing and always intend on doing more but really don’t ever get to it often OR (most importantly) consistently.
- They love marketing and rock it on a daily basis.
If you are #1 or #2 then I have a solution for you. It is Better Marketing with Bella where we provide you over 25 marketing items each month for six months. We provide videos, content calendars, graphics, emails… It is a six-month program and we will be admitting those who apply and meet the criteria very soon. You can apply here.
Nice blog on how to get pet sitting client