Looking for some advice

[ashott]

I am opening a daycare starting in August and I have a website, ad on daycarebear and on kijiji and I see that all three sites get plenty of hits. I am currently interviewing parents and have received emails but they are no where close to the number of hits that I get. I am hoping for some feedback on my site or my ads to see if there is somewhere I can improve, in order to get more initial emails and calls. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I believe my site is linked to my forum account. Thanks in advance!

[mom-in-alberta]

Don't really have advice, per se.... but keep in mind that someone may look at your ad a couple times before calling you. And other providers are probably snooping your ads, as well as parents who are thinking about looking, or thinking ahead, but are not ready to make the phone calls yet.
Good luck, though!!! :D

[Inspired by Reggio]

I agree with mom-in-alberta .... my website gets hits from all over the WORLD when I look at my webstatistics ... so Germany, England, Australia, India and boggles my mind sometimes but generally it is because someone 'googled' something and my site came up for them or it was a 'bot' scrolling the net for certain words and other times it is spammers leaving 'spam' in the leave a comment section which I since disabled cause I hated dealing with that!

However if you are wanting feedback on your website I am sure the ladies would be happy to offer it - I tried to find it on your profile but it is not there?

My first advice is if your ads say NEW or OPENING IN AUGUST ... I would remove that - you can tell people in the interview you are 'new' if you want but at least get them in to door in person to meet and see your awesome program ... I would just have ads that say 'Full and part time spaces available for August' and so forth ..... unfortunately unlike with a car or home or other servings in our industry NEW is not a selling feature - many clients are afraid of newbies because so many people enter into childcare thinking it is easy, quick fix to earn lots of money while being home .... only to find out it can be very emotionally and physically demanding and at the end of the day after expenses and factoring in you work 10-12 hours a day you are making less than minimum wage... and they close up on people.

[ashott]

thanks ladies. My ad doesn't have new or opening or anything like that in it (I read previous threads on here so I made sure not to do that). My site is spiltmilkdaycare.blo gspot.com

thanks again!

[Momof4]

I looked at your ad and it's great. Just keep trying and waiting and interviewing. I always recommend reaching out to friends and family and spreading the word and if you know anybody who works for a large corporation, hospital, factory they usually have electronic internal systems where they can place ads and that reaches tons of people.

It's really hard to get going but once you have pictures on your website of all the children playing and creating it sells your daycare for you before you even meet the families. Good luck!

[dodge__driver11]

Hey there, based on some of the feedback I've gotten over the last little bit your space looks great, but I would just put the one picture up with the baby playmat of your basment area. it allows them to focus more on what thier children will be doing rather than your living space. I would save the tv and sitting area for physical tours. (I had to put mine in the pictures cause some of my toys are situated right beside it and I couldn't crop it out, boo)

I would also for your safety take out your exact location, rather put up intersecting streets and landmarks etc on daycarebear, or anywhere else you have your dayhome address listed; too, if you can take pictures of outdoor space where the kids will be playing, it helps parents to know the areas which thier tot will be spending thier outdoor time :)

[dodge__driver11]

hey just curious to know what the toy with the green slide in the corner is?? it looks like something the boys in my group would love :)

[Sandbox Sally]

Your site is beautiful! Did you take that picture with the Boynton books. It's a perfect logo/home page photo.

The only thing that stands out to me that potentially might throw people off is your hours of operation. Most people won't be able to do a 4pm pick up if they work. Especially considering you're in the burbs and often parents will be working downtown, I'd say that 5:30 is a more reasonable time to remain open.

[michellesmunchkins]

I too think your site looks great. I agree with Alpha though that your operating hours will probably be an issue for most parents. There are very few people I know who are done work before 4:00 and they still have to add in travel to get back to you. I would say you would have to change the pick up times to a little later in order to attract more families.

[dodge__driver11]

I too agree with the hours:) you for sure have a creative eye --best of luck!!!

[playfelt]

The hours is an example of what I was going to give as one of the explanations for more hits than emails. If you do a search yourself - ie put in your postal code and all that comes up is a list of caregivers starting with the one closest and then branching out. A parent needs to click on each name to check for what is important to them. For some reason you didn't meet their criteria and it could be the ages you are trying to find, the price you are charging, the hours, and other information down the side such as do you speak french, do you offer part time care. We had the discussion on another thread about programming - some want total structure, some parents are anti-structure. I have always had more emails when I have pictures added to my website so parents get an idea of the setup , what kind of activities I have available.

Also many parents start several months in advance looking for information so they can start budgeting and planning. Many will contact you back even 6 months from now - it seems to be something moms up through the night breastfeeding like to do - surf the web for baby related info.

Some of those hits will be other caregivers. I go into the list for my area even when I don't have open spaces just to get an idea of norms like how many caregivers are charging each rate. What do they seem to be offering and how can I adapt my daycare to be in line with others - which will make me more competitive assuming I agree enough to adopt the ideas. I like looking at the pictures and when I am bored I just pick a postal code out of the air - just follow the order for letters and numbers - and check out anyone in the list that has pictures (there will be a camera beside their name). So for some of you across the country at some time I might even be one of those hits but it is all random so I wouldnt' even be able to match info, names and anyone on the list cause I just look at the pictures not much else.

Right now any contacts I am getting are for June so it is possible that parents looking for August or beyond aren't actually looking. Long weekends seem to help change people's focus. I tend to get tons of emails after such as after the long weekend in May I will get people wanting Aug, Sept, Oct and even a few for beyond that.

Also school haven't told parents if they are in as far as JK goes so I have two leaving for school and if the program is full they will be sent somewhere else if there is space and that then effects full day/half day. Also one of them is on a wait list for the school based daycare so once mom finds out about that she will be able to make her plans - is she even looking for daycare or not as I do not take JK/SK or school age kids as I no longer do the bus runs.

[playfelt]

Local Ottawa advice (I am in Orleans) is to join CCPRN and take advantage of their start up sessions and supports as well as check out their childcare connection meetings - which are a free monthly meeting where parents needing care and caregivers with spaces can meet. It is done by area of the city. You can also post at www.usedottawa under services childcare but kijiji and daycarebear have always given me more leads.

[ashott]

Thank you ladies for all of your comments and feedback / advice.

As for the CCPRN - I am a member and have gone to 3 courses in the last month - but good advice to attend the meet and greets - haven't done that yet.

I will take that one photo down as suggested. As for my hours - the interviews I have had so far have liked those hours - I do get what you are saying - that being opened later would help - however there are some things I am not so willing to change and that is one of them at this point.

Also - thanks for the heads up on how this can happen in cycles - like after long weekends.

And for the person who asked about the photos - yes I took all of them.

Thanks again!

[Skysue]

It also may just be the time of year that your opening most Moms’ on mat leave will go back to work after the summer. In my experience Sept/Oct is always busy!

Everything else looks great!

Good luck!