Articles from GBE Friends

I'm a huge advocate of having a website and blog to support your business when you are starting a day care. My website was born at the same time as my day care and I have benefited from a lot of business that otherwise might not have found me. They might have overlooked my service in favor of a bigger, better, faster, shinier, more centrally located day care.

People were impressed with my website; with the pictures, information and 'glimpse inside' that it offered. The Montessori curriculum, the beautiful, country setting and the fact that we are a family run business appealed to them. They felt like they knew us already thanks to the 'personal touch' effect of the website.

Communication with potential and existing clients is so much easier, as is marketing your day care when you have an online presence. It is not difficult to maintain or create a website and a professional look can be easily achieved. Your business can be marketed better by a regularly updated, vibrant website and blog than by other methods at less cost. Include lots of information about you and your day care ensure your site is easily navigated.

Granted it took a few months of work submitting my site to online business directories and ensuring I had all my meta tags and keywords up to speed but ultimately it was worth it. My day care almost always shows up in the first few listings for any search for child care in my area (oftentimes for nationwide searches).

Pictures of your day care should abound, both interior and exterior - nice bright shots of your playrooms and playgrounds. Help parents understand what your day care offers by incorporating details of important policies, your educational curriculum and what you charge. You can include downloads of your day care contract and parent handbook - the more information you provide the less questions they're going to have.

Keep your existing and future clients up to speed and interested in your day care by adding a blog to your website. I just recently revamped my site adding a blog (I use wordpress and highly recommend it) and am already reaping the rewards and hearing lots of nice feedback. Put pictures of you and your employees on a staff page and include a few details about each person. People love that personal touch and feel that you are less of a stranger to them as you start a day care.

Fiona Lohrenz is somewhat of an expert on child care having run her own day care for a decade. She writes about her experiences on her childcare website and shares even more on her 'Start a Day Care Business' DVD guide: Open Daycare You can find her at her Day Care focused website.