How to start a day care
When you start a day care your business can benefit enormously from having a website and blog. I have connected with a lot of clients that otherwise might not have found me or might have overlooked my service in favor of one of the above. There are many bigger, faster, shinier, more centrally located days with bigger advertising budgets than mine.
Instead, thanks to my website including pictures and information on every aspect of my day care people were impressed. They liked the beautiful setting, the family run element and our montessori program. Quite simply, they liked the fact that the website had put a face to the name, had added the personal touch and people felt like they knew us already.
Having an online presence has many advantages in terms of marketing and simply communicating with current and potential clients. It is not difficult to maintain or create a website and a professional look can be easily achieved. A vibrant, regularly updated site and blog can sell your business better than anything else. Include lots of information about you and your day care and ensure your site is easily navigated.
The early stages involved quite a bit of work ensuring all my keywords and tags were effective, submitting to online child care and business directories but the work paid off. Most google and other search engine queries for day care in my area will have my business listed in the first few results.
Ensure you have pictures of your bright, airy playrooms, outdoor playgrounds and shots of the exterior of your day care. Help parents understand what your day care offers by incorporating details of important policies, your educational curriculum and what you charge. Downloads of your parent handbook and day care contract provides answers many telling questions for parents and puts their minds at rest.
Keep your existing and future clients up to speed and interested in your day care by adding a blog to your website. I am getting lots of positive comments and responses having recently begun my own blog - Wordpress makes it easy for even the most technically challenged to to this. Put pictures of you and your employees on a staff page and include a few details about each person. This way, when you start a day care you won’t be such a stranger to your potential clients and they’ll be much more inclined to consider your service.
ChildCareOnly.com is the brainchild of Fiona Lohrenz who has 10 years experience running a day care. Fiona has also produced a ‘Start a Daycare Business’ DVD all about the Day Care Business. Fiona can be found at her website on Daycare
- Rene Sandan