How to start a day care
So,you want to start a day care. I’m a huge advocate of having a website and blog to support your day care business. 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. 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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
- Rene Sandan
:: Feb.23.2010 :: Health :: No Comments »
