Hey Gang,

I wanted to publicly apologize for 2 posts/emails you received the last couple of days. I hired a couple of so called professional freelance writers who took advantage of the opportunity. 

I respect you and your time and you. You have come to expect only high quality material from this site and that has not changed.

I’d like to do now what I should have done originally, and offer the opportunity to my readers to contribute.

If you have marketing or pet care information you think would be valuable to the Dog Business Daily community of readers please submit a sample of an article to me at: fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

When submitting an article consider what your fellow pet care business owners might appreciate. Share tips or tricks for marketing and promotions that have worked for you, especially anything unique and creative.

Any article accepted will be published on my site, marketed on twitter and emailed to the Dog Business Daily subscriber list.  Your business and website will receive credits in the signature of the article.

I appreciate you and am dedicated to helping you build your pet care business.  Hopefully this opportunity will translate into PR and increased authority for you in your market. 

Warm Waggles,

Fran

Take care where you donate!

If you think your donations to the HSUS are going to Pet Shelters - you may be suprised to learn…

Less than 1% of HSUS’s funds go to Pet Shelters!

Just because an organization is large, powerful and seems to talk the talk doesn’t mean your donations are actually doing what you intend.  If your intention when donating to the HSUS is to contribute to animal shelters you may consider diverting your donations elsewhere.

The HSUS has earned a C- grade from (AIP) the American Institute of Philanthropy because less than 1% of HSUS’s funds go to pet shelters. As did the Fund for Animals, which merged with HSUS in 2005.
In addition to the extremely high costs associated with fundraising, the HSUS failed for the charity’s excessively high percentage of money diverted to the pension plans…to the tune of millions of dollars directed into executives pension plans.

A second nonprofit watchdog organization, Charity Navigator, recently ranked the HSUS a one star (lowest ranking) reflecting its high cost of fundraising.

I suggest we send a strong message to the HSUS by bypassing them altogether and sending our donations directly to our local shelters.

Let the HSUS know that you want your money directed toward shelters, not lawyers, lobbyists and executive pension plans.

If you don’t have a local shelter to support, Visit Best Friends for a variety of ways to give to businesses who are serving animals: https://www.bestfriends.org/donate/index.cfm?

Warm Waggles,
Fran

Please help support my project to heal the world, one addict at a time: http://prosperitywhisperer.com/release-addiction

The much anticipated series…How To Make Money Online with Your Dog Business is officially open!

Woof Woof!

We are going to take you through a simple step by step process of making your first $1000 online.  If you don’t have a website yet - no worries.  This is really simple stuff.  You won’t have much of a learning curve at all.

The most important piece of this lesson is to just do it.  Once the money starts coming in you will be free to tweak and learn and refine.  For now, it is all about getting started online fast.

The very first step is to find something you want to sell. I know that might seem obvious, but the internet is full of websites people built to make money with that have absolutely no monetization strategy at all.

First, pick a product you want to sell.

It can be some information product like a “how to groom your dog” book or video (it doesn’t have to be your own creation! It can be a video or book you have created or something you intend to create in the near future or someone else’s product - we’ll talk about that soon); or it can be some physical item, like a dog toy,  dog food or a dog bed.

All that matters is that you choose a product people want to buy.

No rocket science here!

Do not be afraid of choosing the wrong product. This is all about getting started fast.  It is more important to start making money than it is to pick the perfect product or create the perfect video.  Besides, there just isn’t a thing as perfection.

Getting it done.  Making the decision is the most important step here.

So, pick something you know something about, something you use, something you purchased that you can recommend to someone else.  Which means, a product you actually like and can feel good about endorsing.

That is all for step one.  Decide what you want to sell.  Tomorrow, we will discuss step #2, you’ve picked a product, now what?

IF YOU WANT TO EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY PUT VIDEO ON YOUR WEBSITE -This is the camera I currently use to quickly and effortlessly take video and upload it to my blog.

IT IS SO SIMPLE…YOU POINT, PUSH THE RECORD BUTTON TO START AND STOP, PLUG THE ENTIRE CAMERA INTO YOUR COMPUTER’S USB PORT AND YOU HAVE A VIDEO!

THERE IS EVEN A BUTTON THAT ASKS IF YOU WANT TO SEND YOUR NEW VIDEO TO YouTube. Say yes, and you can immediately go to YouTube and grab a link to your video and put it on your blog post just like I have done dozens of times on this blog.

If you haven’t yet put your pet care business online - this is the time!

I am going to dedicate a series of posts to help you get online and profitable in the new year.  Keep a watch out for the series - better yet, subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss a single post.  I am going to start with a simple strategy for getting profitable fast - you won’t want to miss it.

Meanwhile, register for the free video’s below.  They don’t start until January and are for already established online businesses but the information is invaluable and you can save the free videos for future use.

These are the guys I pay 10’s of thousands of dollars a year to learn internet marketing from.

Inside StomperNet w AJ audio

The perfect holiday marketing strategy for profits and exceptional pet care!

This is the time of year that pets are given as gifts, and pet parents spoil their little furry friends with gifts, toys, treats and luxuries.

As a pet care business owner, it is easy to see the opportunity for gift items…if you dig a little deaper you can tap into a way to not only support pet owners but acquire new clients in the process.

In addition to the usualy Holiday discounts and pet accessory sales what you do to market your business during the holiday season differentiates your business-establishing you as the pet care leader in your community?

I’ve listed a few of my favorite Unity Dog holiday marketing strategies below (for more great ideas visit our services page):

• Design an elder visit package

The elder visit package is a customized service that involves you or a staff member along with a well balanced, mild mannored dog visiting the ederly in their homes, at nursing homes or retirement communities.

The program can be tailored to be sold to individual families or retirement communities.  What family wouldn’t love to be able to send their mother, father or grandparent a gift of a visit and an adorable dog?

The visit lifts spirits and improves the state of mind of the recipient - truly an invaluable gift.

• Create a new puppy potty training program

What a blessing it would be if the new puppy mommy and daddy were planning to bring home for the holidays already had a head start on potty training.  Think of the stress reduction for the new puppy owner.  Your program could incorporate in home or in your store potty training sessions.

If you accept puppies in your store who have not completed their puppy shots - you must provide a safe place to work with the puppy away from other dogs in your care.

The program does not have to guarantee potty training by the Holidays.  A jump start on potty training along with continued support after the family brings the new puppy into their home is a valuable gift.

• Obedience before Christmas program

In a similar vein as the puppy potty training program, you can offer a basic obedience program for the new dog or puppy that can be performed with or without the initial participation of the new pet owners.

In this way, you not only help the puppy get a head start on obedience, regardless if the new pet owners are willing to make time to attend an obedience class, but you also almost assuradly guarantee that the parents will attend a future obedience class.

If the pet care owner knows the puppy already understands basic obedience, they may be more inclined to attend an obedience class to learn the commands for themselves.   Either way, you have given the new puppy a much stronger chance of staying in the new families home.

All three of these unity dog marketing strategies are designed for optimal benefit.  Revenue generation, acquisition of new clients, client retention and client skills development.

All required elements of a successful pet care business and successful pet care ownership.

Warm Holiday Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

Unity dog strategies are always focused on strengthening your dog care business and the pet owner simultaneously.  This strategy adds a community component as well.

Client education is an extremely important component of business stability and should be an ongoing project for your business. Whether you hold monthly or quarterly educational classes or provide ongoing education through a regular newsletter…just do it.

Part of that educational training should be dedicated to the safety and care of pets in the community.  Your clients aren’t likely to be the target demographic to talk about abuse, neglect or risky behavior but they may witness it if you can raise awareness.

Even though our clients are the most dedicated pet care owners, they don’t always know some of their actions that may put their animals at risk.  Educate your clients about the potential for abuse when advertising to give away puppies or dogs for free.

Our well intentioned clients may be putting animals at risk if they advertise free dog or puppy to good home in the local classifieds or with a sign in their yard.

The risk is quite high that a less than caring and loving person will take the dog and neglect them.  An even worse fate if an unethical breeder (puppy mill) or dog fighting enthusiast gets ahold of the animal.

By keeping your clients informed and always increasing their pet care knowledge you are creating a healthier community for animals. The more your clients know about pet care, and about your expertise, the less likely they will be to take a shot on the new, inexperienced kid on the block or opt to allow their neighbors to be their defacto pet sitter.

Healthy pets and wise clients make profitable business.