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

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

Want to get into one of the lucrative Dog Businesses?

One of the easiest ways to break into the pet care business is to start a dog pet sitting business. Dog businesses are big business - and without financial resources you can’t directly compete with the established dog businesses in your market.

Ease of entry, low financial investment, makes small, owner/operator dog businesses like dog walking businesses and dog sitting business ideal.

Before you consider dog walking, pet sitting or any other dog care business there are a few things you need to do. I do not recommend that just anyone get into the dog care business. It takes the right temperament and energy.

In addition, you will absolutely without a doubt, need good transportation and a back up plan if something happens to you or your vehicle. People put the safety and care of their animals in your hands and it is not to be taken lightly.

If you aren’t sure if you are cut out for a dog pet sitting business or other dog care business, take a few minutes to visit my friend and business coach, Steve Little, at The Perfect Biz Finder. You will get a ton of invaluable, free information on how to select the perfect business - guaranteed to bring you abundance and joy because it is a genetic match to you!

If you already know that dogs are your passion and it is your purpose to be in dog care business but lack the funds…start small. Starting a Dog Pet Sitting Business or dog walking pet sitting business is relatively easy.

We have plenty of resources on this site to help ensure your success. Keep us posted and please comment with any challenges or questions. We are here to help you help dogs.

What were your reasons for starting your own pet care business?

Most business owners include love of animals, personal freedom, financial independence and time with family as their top reasons for starting a pet care business.

Whatever your original reasons for opening your own business, take an honest inventory of your success in the area of each goal. How do you define personal freedom?

If it is simply calling your own shots - not answering to a boss then you can probably pat yourself on the back and put a check mark next to that one. However, if your goal was deeper than firing your boss - if it included creating a meaningful life outside of work - how would you score?

Are you taking the trips you always dreamed of?
Is your personal life as fulfilling as your time at work?
Do you spend quality time with your loved ones?
Have you set and achieved personal goals in the areas of fitness and health, travel and adventure?
How would you rate your financial goals? Are you still trading time for money?
Do you have systems in place so your money is working for you?

Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t achieved more than one or two of your primary goals you had set for yourself when you started on this entrepreneurial journey. You are certainly not alone - as a matter of fact, you are in the majority.

Most people fail to achieve even their most passionate desires and goals because they allow life to get in the way. The one defining difference between the most productive and successful people in the world and everyone else is the ability to focus time and attention on a specified goal until its completion.

The single most important action you can take each and every day is upon determining your most pressing goal(s) - devote a specified amount of time solely dedicated to that goal until it is completed.

Depending on your goal - it may look like two hours in the late afternoon when you lock yourself in your office with absolutely no interruptions. No phone calls, no e-mails, no interruptions at all. It may mean you get up an hour earlier in the morning or stay up an hour later in the evening to work on your fitness goals or your intellectual or spiritual goals.

It takes consistent action toward your goal to accomplish anything worthwhile. Don’t imagine that you are too busy to accomplish more. The wealthiest, most successful people in the world are arguably the busiest people in the world as well.

If the busiest people in the world make the time to achieve their goals - and we all have the same 24 hours in a day - it is a good indication that we too can achieve our goals.

Whatever you are saying to yourself right now, whether affirmations or excuses - those thoughts are the fuel that will drive your future. Excuses will keep you stagnant. A year from now you will not only not have achieved any of your goals but you will have lost footing in your existing business.

There is no sitting still - you are either growing or dying. No in between.

If you believe you can achieve your goals with a consistent, focused effort - you will. And that achievement will foster more belief and power to achieve even greater goals. It is a law of nature - what you focus on grows.

Focus on the excuses and you will get more busy work and garbage to fill up your 24 hours. Focus on possibilities and a worthy goal and you will become the person you imagine yourself to be.

It is really very simple if you just allow yourself the opportunity to succeed. Take the time every day to fulfill the dreams inside of you. Before you know it - those dreams that once existed only in your mind will be a reality in your outside world.

Take consistent action today and every day and soar!

Warm Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

How to Get Your Articles “Out There”

Before you send out any articles to anyone, you must read their guidelines fully! Failure to follow the set guidelines for posting/submitting your article usually ends with straight out rejection.

Most people will want the following.

1) Article 500 to 700 words in length -Put the exact amount of words there are in the email to the ezine publisher/article announcement list.

2) No spelling errors

This is as simple as doing a spell check

3) Complete contact details of yourself and a short synopsis of your article.

What this means is that when you send an email to say an ezine editor, you include a brief introduction about yourself, your contact information if needed and a short run down of your article. Anyone else but the ezine publisher or article announcement owner doesn’t see this.

4) Word wrap

You will want to wrap your article to 65 characters for each line. What this means is that every line of your article has 65 characters or less in it. This is important for margins in email.

There is a free tool that will do this for you, that I love. It will also help you with your article writing as well. You can get it from <http://www.ezineassistant.com>

5) Article in the body of your email

Never send your article as an attachment in an email. Most people don’t open attachments for the fear of viruses, so send all articles only in the body of the email. This is a big stumbling block for newbie writers.

But the best advice I can give you is to follow any guidelines set to the “T”. If you are unsure, ask someone.

So what should my email look like to any publisher? Here are a few examples.

“Please consider this article for your website or ezine. Permission to reproduce if byline stays intact. Courtesy copy appreciated; not required.

TITLE: Business, Patti and Lucy are Opening a Doggy Day Care!

AUTHOR: Doggy Diggs, The Dog Coach

WORD COUNT: 627

WRAP: 65

URL: http://www.doggydiggs.com

Mailto: doggy diggs, 123 Bow Wow Rd.

"Article Title: Make your business Doggy-Friendly

Author Name: Doggy Diggs

Contact Email Address: lucy@yahoo.com

Word Count: 1216

Category: Pet Care

Copyright Date: 2008

Special Requirements For Reprint: You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the complete resource box is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Please send it to:

Send Your Articles Out To Thousands

Here are the best resources anywhere on the Internet to post your articles. If it’s not here, don’t bother with it!

Here are a list of ezine directories. You will find hundreds even thousands of ezines that are looking publish articles on all topics.

<http://www.published.com>

<http://www.ezine-dir.com>

<http://www.writerswrite.com/epublishing/mldirectory.htm>

<http://www.zinos.com>

<http://www.topezineads.com>

<http://www.directoryofezines.com> - The best, but it’s not free

<http://www.ezinesplus.com>

<http://paml.net>

<http://www.ezinesearch.com>

<http://www.marketing-seek.com>

<http://www.ezinelinks.com>

<http://ezine-universe.com>

<http://www.ezineseek.com>

<http://www.freezineweb.com>

<http://www.newsletter-directory.com>

<http://www.ezinedirectory.com>

<http://www.list-city.com>

Now not everyone of the mailing lists you find will accept articles, and not every ezine directory will tell you who does and who doesn’t accept articles, so it will be a bit of a process in finding out which ones do and don’t.

Make sure you write down all the details of who you submit your articles to and make a directory, so you know where to send them next time.

Here is a list of article announcement sites:

<http://www.websource.net/articlesub.htm> - The best of the best

<http://www.marketing-seek.com>

<http://www.ideamarketers.com>

<http://www.authorconnection.com>

<http://www.ezinearticles.com>

<http://www.makingprofit.com>

<http://www.clickz.com>

<http://www.bpub.com>

A final tip - use original content only for article marketing. It is absolute death to your article marketing if you are found re-using content - your own or any one elses. New, never before published articles are the rule.

I saw an interesting press release today announcing Happy Tails Pet Sitting new membership in Pet Sitters International, pet sitters professional association.

If used properly Press releases are a great way to give your pet care business visibility, brand recognition, credibility and a boost in new clients.

The problem is most dog business owners don’t use press releases to their full potential. In fact, most pet care business owners don’t use press releases at all. So, if you are one of the minority who actually do utilize press releases - great work.

If you haven’t used them yet - time to start. If you have used press releases - lets tune them up a bit to get the most marketing bang.

There are a few things to consider before submitting a press release:

• when is it appropriate to submit a press release

• what is the purpose or anticipated outcome for the press release

• who is your press release target market

• how do you differentiate your (marketing) press release

• how will you distribute your press release

Your press release should begin with the “news” first.  Make your headline compelling and pertinent - include keywords in the headline.  Don’t use introductory clauses, use simple noun/verb sentences.

Try to keep the “news” first theme as well as the keyword theme throughout the press release.  Use both strategies sentence by sentence.

Your headline is critical - if it doesn’t catch attention - no one will read your release.

The content should show something unique, how your business differentiates itself from the competition.  Make some comments about the feedback your product/service has received.  You may have to sell the concept if it is new - by showing how popular it is with your existing clients.

If you are not the focus of the story - make sure your contact information leads with  your e-mail address, website address and phone number…your contact name last.

There are plenty of places you can submit a free online press release including www.openpr.com where Happy Tails submitted theirs. Other free submission sites are: i-newswire.com; free-press-release.com; pr.com/press-releases; many more just do a Google search for free press release.

Newswires submit press releases to multiple publications, editors and news media. Prweb.com is a communication tool to the media and the public. Results depend on the fee level you choose. For example, 2 months after submitting a press release you might expect to receive:

• 1000 plus views

• if you offer product downloads (tip - this is a significant way to increase the value of the press release), depending on the quality of your headlines - excellent results would be 30% downloads

• Thousands of Headline displayed thru RSS, XML or other syndication

• Hundreds of Headline displayed on PRWeb Site

• 10 or more backlinks (*if your goal is backlinks - try the $200 Visibility Package PR Web press release it offers significantly improved results over the $85)

PR Web is by far the best resource for online press releases.  Be prepared to get calls from mainstream press if you have an interesting or news worthy release.  If you expect that your news release might attract media attention provide contact information that will allow immediate response from you.  The media will probably not hunt you down or for that matter, even leave messages.

Always be sure to Include an e-mail address, phone number and a contact name.  You can write your press release in the third person and even make up a name for the author of the press release.  It is just sometimes easier to write in the third person.  Writing in a story telling format - as if you were speaking to a friend makes it personal and is usually well received.

Depending on your goal and size of your target market - putting links in the first few sentences can help you take advantage of backlinks. Be careful with this press release optimization strategy, it is important you make your press release interesting and newsworthy and not just an attempt to get back links.

The most important SEO things to consider are your Headline and the keywords in your headline. Keep your headline length in mind - if it is too long - many services will cut it off.

The goal and use of the current press release is to “socialize” it. Try to create a conversation with your press release. Engage your prospects and invite them to offer their feedback. You can use press releases that are not of “legitimate” news if your goal is primarily targeted for consumer distribution. You can write customized sales presentations if your target is strictly the consumer.

Your press release is still submitted - but generally in these cases you would simply e-mail them directly to journalists.

I do not suggest wasting your money on pr submission software.  Most just submit to PR Web anyway and they are really the best service for press releases.

For more information on writing effective press releases - you can visit pr web.com for press release tips.

If you provide dog kennel services a few simple tweaks and you could double your profits from your existing clients and add another 20%-30% in profits from new clients.

• What is the single most important factor to your business success?

• Your unique selling proposition!

What is it that you do that none of your competitors do? Or, what do you do so much better than your competitors you don’t even consider them competition?

If you don’t have an answer to that question - it is time for a quantum shift in your marketing strategy as well as execution of your day to day business. Your Unique Selling Proposition is what allows you to ignore competitors pricing. It allows you to flourish when the competition is struggling to keep the doors open.

If you run a dog kennel service there are several things you can do to immediately differentiate yourself from the competition, command higher prices and retain long term clients.

• Hire a trainer
  • a trainer on staff to work with your kennel clients
    • your clients take a home a dog that is more obedient and well behaved than when they arrived is sure to come to you whenever their travel needs require sitting or kenneling
    • if choosing between in home dog sitting and day care a client is going to choose the provider that keeps their dog happier
      • if the client comes home to a mess and a dog full of pent up energy they instinctively know they dog was not happy or fulfilled while the owner was away
  • a trainer of course is another stand alone source of revenue for your business

• Add a dog runner/walker to staff
  • For the same rationale as the trainer - a tired dog is a more well behaved dog
  • adding a dog runner to staff allows you to add additional services for your dog kennel clients
    • I call my dog running / dog kennel package - Fit Kennel
    • The client is paying for dog kennel services as well as up to 3 - 30 minute running sessions per day

• You get the idea right? Adding additional services to bundle with the dog kennel service that also serve to increase obedience and fitness are not typical and are extremely well received by owners. Sure, there are plenty of pet care businesses that provide multiple services but rarely do they aggressively bundle the service and almost never do you see the connection between fitness, obedience and kennel services.

I’ve got a few more suggestions I will e-mail anyone who posts a comment and requests them.