If you’re frustrated with your pet business website and you’re thinking, “What can I do to bring in more traffic and sales?” — consider the blog.

In spite of the explosive social networking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and others, blogs are still extremely helpful for attracting customers via the search engines.

Here’s proof. A client I now work with was unhappy with his search engine rankings for certain important phrases related to his services for pet professionals. Simply put, he was upset that, “My ideal prospects aren’t finding my website.”

So we started blogging tips about his pet-business services, and just after 6 blog posts — voila! The blog appeared on page one, second spot in Google results. Not bad for just 6 posts.

Is this a fluke? No way! I’m getting the same results for THIS blog, and many of the blog experts I follow are enjoying similar results or better.

Consider these 3 reasons why blogging is a fantastic strategy, whether you’re marketing to pet owners or other pet businesses: (more…)

Greetings and Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! This photo of Brandi, in her lovely holiday sweater, is from my friend and fellow copywriting colleague Sean McCool. (Thanks for the photo, Sean!)

This is my last blog post for 2011 because I’ll be traveling cross-country with my faithful companion Louie (the Westie pup) the week between Christmas and New Year’s. We’re spending the winter in the warm and sunny southeast.

I hope you’re doing something fun this winter, too, such as growing your business by leaps and bounds!

I’d like to wrap up the year with 12 ideas to get you blogging in early 2012. Perhaps these ideas will spark a series of blog posts that captivate your audience and even motivate them to share your blog with their friends and colleagues.

Ready? Here are 12 blog topics and categories to help with marketing your pet business in 2012:

1. Provide How-To Tips

People are always searching the Web for tips on pet care. Offer a whole series of how-to- tips related to the solutions you offer, whether you’re marketing pet products or services. For example, if you sell reflective dog collars and leashes (one of my favorite examples), you could offer how-to tips on dog-walking safety at night.

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As the year 2011 comes to a close, I’d like to cast my vote for the best pet video of the year.

Before I reveal what it is, I’m happy to share some staggering facts with you regarding this video and a few others featuring pets… and then provide some ideas to boost your pet business outlook in 2012.

First, the facts: (more…)

This weekend, I was browsing through some pet retail magazines and came across a new report that might interest you. It’s called Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts for the Retail Industry, and it includes a number of fascinating facts that may well be worth considering for your pet business Facebook page, whether you’re marketing pet products or services.

Greetings!

You might enjoy checking out a recent pet industry marketing forecast that a colleague just shared with me. It bodes well for all of us who are marketing to pet owners, pet businesses, veterinary practices and others.

I’m very thankful to be working in such a thriving and fun industry, and I’m honored to work with an incredible variety of dedicated marketing professionals and business owners who love pets as much as I do.

Today I was on a conference call with Heather Lloyd Martin, SEO Copywriting pioneer, mentor and friend of mine. She was talking about some of the things that are critical to web success today and I immediately thought of how these tips can be applied to your pet marketing strategies or pet SEO success (of course!). So I’ll address each one in my upcoming blog posts, starting with this one:

First of all, original web content is an absolute MUST these days for marketing to pet owners –whether you’re marketing pet products, pet services or both.

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean.

1. If you manage a pet ecommerce website and you’re using the manufacturer’s content for each product you carry… I’m afraid your online store’s content might be invisible to search engines. You’re missing out on oodles of traffic from potential customers.

That’s because Google’s Panda update has clamped down on “copycat” websites that have the same content as others. Their latest search algorithms are focused on finding original, fresh content for people searching online for answers… and Google rewards websites that offer something unique and highly relevant.

What you can do right now. 

Find ways to offer original content on your website so you can attract more pet-friendly customers via SEO. This means revising each of the manufacturers’ product descriptions with your own spin.

For example, if your online store includes a particular line of pet products because they’re eco-friendly and they reflect your commitment to green products – say so! Tell your visitors why the products are favored by you and treasured by your customers. Make a point to add your own brand voice to the copy. No-one has the same brand voice as you, so this will help make your content unique. Customer reviews can also help, but if you’re just starting to offer those, start revising the product descriptions ASAP.

2. You need to find a way to add fresh, original and highly relevant content to your site each week.

You’ll be delighted and amazed at the search-engine traffic power of writing helpful blog posts, for example. I just started helping a client add blog posts each week, and suddenly after 6 posts or so, the client’s site is turning up on top of Google’s page one for the keywords we targeted. These blog posts are getting attention and driving site visits — all with just a few posts for starters. Great stuff, right?

What you can do right now. 

Map out an Editorial Calendar for blog posts or new articles that you commit to adding at least once a week. You could start with a “how-to,” “best-of” or “seasonal tips” blog series that drives people to check out the products on your site.

This can work in the following way. Let’s say you write a blog post about Daylight Savings Time and the importance of pet safety. You could mention that the arrival of shorter days/darker commutes can spell trouble for pets being walked at dinnertime. You might list the top 5 reflective dog products that can help pet owners solve this problem… and link to the reflective leashes, collars and vests you offer in your store. See how cool that could be? And then, when someone types “reflective dog collars” in Google – voila! Your blog post could be smiling right at them on page one of Google. It’s certainly worth a shot.

If you’re marketing pet services such as dog walking, you could have the same type of blog post about Daylight Savings Time except discuss the ways you pledge to keep dogs safe during their walks. Then link to your services page where you feature your dog-walking options. Be sure to include a mention of the towns you serve so your local prospects find you.

Are you stumped about adding original content to your pet website? Or do you have a tip to share? Please let us know. I promise to respond.

Until next time,

Here’s to a profitable website!

Cheers,

Pam Foster

PetCopywriter.com

In honor of National Veterinary Technician Week (October 9-15, 2011), I’d like to recognize and thank all the dedicated, upbeat and hard-working vet techs I’ve met over the years.

My pets have always been well cared for by these friendly professionals who love animals, work super hard, and continue learning their craft.

If you happen to be visiting your local veterinary practice this week — either on their website, social media pages, or in person — please take a moment to thank the Veterinary Technicians who work there. 

Cheers,

Pam Foster, PetCopywriter.com

Last spring, I was driving my dog to doggie day care and came upon this hilarious scene in a neighbor’s driveway. I had to pull over and snap a quick photo from my phone.

Turkey lessons about optimizing your pet website images

Everyone I’ve shown this to gets a big kick out of it, so I thought I’d share it with you.

What do these turkeys have in common with your pet business or veterinary practice website?

And what lessons can be learned from this photo when it comes to optimizing the images on your site?

I see 2 key take-aways for you.

1. Try to use distinct images for marketing your pet products or services.

This quartet of Tom turkeys are strutting their stuff in full regalia to attract the lone female who happens to be strolling by. Sadly, it’s hard to tell them apart, except the one on the right has some torn tail issues.

So how does the female know which one is her soul mate, or if any of them belong by her side? Hmmm. I wish I knew how that works. All I know is, it leads to an important point. (more…)

I was just reading Entrepreneur (October 2011) and came across a fabulous article about Animal General Hospital in Port St. Lucie, FL.

It seems that the owner of this veterinary practice figured out how to engage local-community clients and prospects online, using the practice’s website in combination with free social networking, email and YouTube plus a modest paid-search advertising campaign (Google Adwords and Facebook ads).

The result: instead of spending $27,000 over 18 months for Yellow Pages and getting lame results, his online strategy only cost $3,600 plus staff time, but his business grew with 250 new clients and $75,000 in additional annual revenue. Can you say “WOW”???

Here are 3 ideas your local pet business can take away from this as you plan your fall and winter pet marketing strategies: (more…)

If you’re in charge of marketing a local pet business or veterinary hospital that serves a specific community, I have a question for you.

How often do people say they found you online?

The shocking truth is, sometimes when a locally-based pet business asks me to help optimize their website and boost traffic, I discover that I can’t tell where the business is physically located.

For example, you’d be amazed at how many veterinary practices, dog grooming businesses and doggy day cares don’t list the following basic information on their websites (except maybe on the About Us page, buried at the bottom):

• The physical address
• The towns or region they serve
• Driving directions and a map

If this sounds like you – we can fix this problem immediately!

Here are 3 quick and simple ways to significantly improve your pet business’s search engine results and drive more people to your door. (more…)