Hello, and welcome to Procatsitter Today!

I feel a little bad right now as my podcast goals for 2019 have fallen behind the goals I had set for it.

The reason for that is family. A little over a year ago, my 80-year-old father suffered a devastating stroke that took his independence and left him unable to communicate properly.

He has had a tough year trying to recover and has been experiencing health complications related to that stroke. Since he can no longer communicate easily, I’ve become his voice.

He supported me for so many years, now it’s my turn to support him.

As much as we lay out plans for our business, when it comes to these pivotal moments in our lives, such as having to care for our aging parents, the business is not foremost in our minds.

Fortunately, his health has stabilized, for now, I’ve found some support, and it’s time for me to get back to work creating this podcast.

In this episode, I’ll talk about Instagram marketing for cat sitters and how to keep your website and intellectual property legally protected. So let’s dive in!

Segment One

Instagram and cat sitters

So are you like a lot of other business owners? You set up an Instagram account but have just used it for personal stuff with just occasional business related posts?

I know when you are busy running your cat sitting business it is very easy to put off doing any promotional work with social media. And sometimes it feels like we’re getting nowhere with it getting sparse engagement and no conversions of new clients for our efforts.

That’s because social media is a long game rather than a quick and patchy approach.

I know you’ve probably heard this before …. social media success takes persistence, consistence, and patience.

But it’s true, that’s how it works. And if you build solid work habits around your social media strategy, it will eventually pay off for you.

And you’ve probably also heard, or discovered yourself, that jumping around from one platform to another, never really focusing on one, is an exhausting waste of time.

And the reason I think it’s time to go serious about this is that Instagram, which has been around for years, is becoming the number one place to engage with your potential audience.

And in the crowded world of pet sitting today, establishing your unique brand is even more important than ever before.

Instagram is growing faster and more popular than all other social media platforms.

Having been acquired by juggernaut Facebook, its popularity and usefulness have exploded.

So if you’ve just dabbled in Instagram before, you might want to revisit this platform as an important part of your overall business strategy.

Instagram’s visual appeal and its emphasis on attractive user experience such as Instagram stories and IGTV, makes it worth the time for any business to invest in.

When I first started out in business, social media was pretty much a non-entity. Most of my first clients came from my association with a local cat shelter that I did lots of volunteer work for.

That volunteer work also gave me lots of access and recognition with local veterinarians that worked with the cat shelter. I still strongly recommend volunteering with cat shelters, especially in the beginning, as a powerful and quick way to become known as a dedicated advocate for cats and a feline specialist.

When Facebook first appeared, I became interested in this online opportunity as a way of showcasing my business and services. I also switched to doing a lot of my volunteer work for the shelter online, publishing their newsletter and fundraising events.

In fact, Facebook was first launched in the same year that I started my pet sitting business: 2004. It’s hard to believe that Facebook has been around that long but it didn’t become accessible to general audiences until a later and I didn’t really get into Facebook until the middle of 2010 as the platform became more appealing as a place to advertise and engage with potential new clients.

Eventually, Facebook opened up to brand pages and it was a great way to build a following and find new clients.

However, as you know, Facebook has changed in countless ways since then, and some of those changes haven’t been in the best interest of businesses.

Algorithms were changed based on user interests and overnight it was harder to get your posts seen by potential clients without paying for it.

As a result, many businesses started looking to other platforms to attract potential clients. And for now, Instagram is an emerging social media rock star.

I also really like the platform, and just as with Facebook, I started out being interested in it for personal reasons…. Mainly cute pictures and videos of cats!

But as Instagram’s features and algorithms are constantly changing, I’m more intrigued with the opportunities it presents for advertising local cat sitting businesses.

My business activities have changed as I’m no longer accepting new clients, (way too busy!) What I want to do now is spend more time creating this podcast specifically to help cat sitters build their businesses. Man, I sure wish I had Instagram when I first started.

I’ll continue to use Facebook because it’s still a huge and growing platform and has many attractive features that can be very useful to cat sitters and integrates with Instagram easily. So, I spend most of my time on both.

My Instagram account will be changing dramatically this year and it’s because I have been putting a lot more time and research into it.

If you’ve just dipped your toes into the Instagram platform and would like to know how you can use this platform to engage more potential clients, then the next couple of episodes are for you.

I’m planning a series of podcasts that will dive deep into Instagram marketing for cat sitters over the next few weeks

And you’ll want to stick around for all of them because they will be packed with useful information for beginners, intermediates and even more advanced users of Instagram.

I also plan to keep a close watch on how Instagram and Facebook evolve over the coming years and to keep you informed on the best practices for advertising your local cat care business on both platforms.

If you’re a regular poster on Instagram, there’s info included in this first episode that you might already know.

But, please, bear with me as we get into more advanced marketing strategies for cat sitters using Instagram over the next couple of weeks.

So let’s look at the basics: There are three types of Instagram accounts. Personal, themes and business.

Personal accounts are obviously used to capture your life and interests to show your friends and family.

Themed accounts are designed to feature topics or dedicated interests such as classic cars, for instance.

What do you want to use IG for? I’m going to assume it is to promote your business to potential clients so that is what I will be dealing with for the most part.

It’s important to note that some analytic tools for Instagram are only available to business accounts, as well.

You will also be asked to link your IG page to your Facebook business page so make sure you have that setup if you don’t already.

Next, you want to pick a good name. And you can change this later if needed, but if you want to be found, you need to choose wisely.

Consider your Username versus your Profile name. Your username is the name you see written in bold at the top of your IG profile page.

Your profile name is the line just above your bio. Both names should be on point to your brand and should be different.

Don’t make your username, again, the name that appears in bold at the top of your account, and your profile name underneath it, the same.

This is another small space you don’t want to waste. Use it to tell people what you do here.

Sometimes, you can’t use your business name because someone is already using it. You will know by the big red x that shows up when you type it in the field.

If that’s the case, then try adding your city or even your first name after the business name.

At least, this will get you close to your actual business name.

You can also use a website called Namecheckr, spelled without an e before the r, to find out quickly if the name you are trying to use is taken.

This tool will tell you whether the name you choose is taken, or not, over all types of different platforms. I’ll put the link for it in the show notes.

If you haven’t done so already, you should try to secure the name you want to use for business on all social media platforms, even ones you don’t plan on using at the moment and any new platforms that come out in future.

That way, you can secure your name if and when the new platform becomes popular.

And it will give you brand recognition across all social media making it easier for you to be found and become known.

If you can keep your user name as similar as possible across your social media accounts the easier it will be for people to remember you and find you again when they need cat care services.

Next, when it comes to your BIO:  Craft this very valuable piece of real estate carefully.

Your picture or logo should be 180 x 180 pixels to fit nicely in the circle you are allowed to display.

Whatever profile picture you use, make sure it is clear and large enough to fill the circle.

And don’t forget, this will be displayed in a very tiny spot when you are posting or engaging so make it stand out as much as possible.

When writing your bio, you need to keep in mind this question: Why should people follow your account? What is in it for them?

Bio must-haves. Instagram only allows for one link, so use it well, you are most likely going to link back to your website.

Colorful symbols and emoji are attention getters. They work. They attract people’s eyes to an otherwise boring list of words.

Content: Brevity is key. Internet attention spans are tiny!

You can change everything in your bio later

Use a caption for every post. Example – Post a picture of a cute Tortie Cat client playing with a pink feather wand toy and caption it:  “Jessie is shy and wasn’t going to play today but I coaxed her out with this!”

Get clients permission to post pictures of their cats but never post pictures or identifying information about their home or location.

Use relevant hashtags. Some people don’t feel hashtags work well for them, but I do notice an increase in engagement when I use the most relevant #hastags.

And the nice thing about having a business account is you get the insights feature that actually tells you what number of them came from hashtag searches.

Here are some examples #catsitteryourcity, #petsitteryourcity or, #yourbusinessnameyourcity. 

To add to the consistency of your posts, use the same colors and fonts as you use on your website and other platforms. Build instant recognition of your brand where ever people see it.

It's important to be very strategic with your posts. Always keep your goal in mind. Telling potential clients what you do and how well you do it.

Consider posting “themes” that you can repeat over and over. Lots of cat themes, for sure, but put some travel themes, too. If you really become dedicated, you can use those first 9 to 12 posts that people see immediately under your bio to have a beautiful collage of your business and what you do.

For example, every third post could be a cat care theme. A cat getting fed, cuddled or brushed. Other themes to mix in there are events or pictures of your car out and about, maybe in front of a cat shelter, your city “welcome” signs or a pet store. Are there other prominent views or landmarks in your city that you can photograph yourself in front of?

Another theme could be posting about local cat news stories and events.  and funny or inspiring cat quotes.

Also, keep in mind what is important to your client. Things like security, confidentiality etc. you should be building your dedication to this issue into your brand, everywhere.

Make that 9 square grid tell your story! And include the community in which you work in your story. Become a community fixture. The one everyone knows looks after cats and looks after them well, reliably and competently.

Upload photos of you wearing a T-shirt with your logo and name visible. Instagram is all about images, and images can be carefully designed to say a lot with one shot.

Do you have a regular blog? Link to it on Instagram, better yet, use an automated tool such as Buffer, Hootsuite or Edgar to post your blog to IG.

Other themes could be seasonal: Before winter you could post A beautiful tropical beach photo with the caption “don’t forget to book early for the holidays!”.

This can act as a good reminder for your clients to book a tropical holiday for themselves! And helps to avoid those late Louie’s, too!

Local Connections: How do you connect with potential clients in the first place? Follow local cat Vet clinics, groomers, breeders’ speciality pet food stores. Find out who is who about cats in your community.

Don’t forget to follow #yourtown. Check out who is posting and following there. many of them will be cat owners, guaranteed!

CTA – don’t forget your call to action. Remember, you want to drive your audience back to your website from IG.

Study successful sites. What are they doing right, what content are they consistently posting that is doing well. Which ones are receiving the most likes and comments?

One active pet sitter on instagram to check out is NYC Pet Nanny or just search for pet sitter accounts to see what others are doing successfully.

Also, don’t forget to check out sites that are not in our field. A couple of good ones are Buffer and Motivationmafia. See how they structure their posts to keep you watching. You can find lots of good inspiration from accounts not related to cat sitting.

In the next episode, I will have a pdf checklist for you to download in the show notes so don’t forget to look for “Instagram checklist for cat sitters

So don’t miss part two of this Instagram for cat sitters series. Next episode we will talk about IG stories and ads, as well as some more advanced Instagram tips for photos and posting. We’ll talk about using Instagram Analytics to fine tune your content strategy. In the meantime, have fun experimenting with themes and hashtags.

Website Legal Must Haves

Is one of your goals for 2019 to build a website? Or, if you already have one, have you thought about reviewing the health of your website?

Maybe you should think about getting that in shape this year.

The vast majority of pet sitters have a website these days. While it’s great to have an active and popular Facebook or Instagram account, it is crucial to understand that these are not actually your property, they belong to other businesses and at their discretion, your connection between your followers and you can be taken away.

Sadly, this can and has happened to many businesses who, for knowingly, or unknowingly, violated their terms of services. And your hard work can disappear. These platforms also control exactly who can see your posts. So you can be busy putting your best work out there, but if the algorithm is not right, you could see less views than you expect.

But your website is yours, no one can control who can see it but you, and no one can take it away from you and your business.

And most potential clients are expecting to find a website to get information about your business.

And there are some fantastic websites out there! We are the luckiest business owners in the world because we get to fill our websites with adorable pictures of cats!

But a lot of people don’t realise that creating websites today is an entirely different ball game than it was when I first started over a decade and a half ago.

While you’re busy creating your copy explaining your services and rates and finding the cutest photos to impress your potential clients, it's easy to forget about the legal stuff.

The internet is becoming a huge, busy place.

Laws regarding the internet are changing all the time. And the legal aspect of a public website can be incredibly important to your business. And, depending on where your website is viewed, your legal protection can be crucial.

So, Have you taken care of your legal pages or given them much thought? Every website should have at least these three policies posted on their website:

Number One, the most important, non-optional page is your privacy policy.  Two, your website’s terms of use policy and three, your disclaimer policy.

You may ask why would a small pet sitting business need all of these things on their website? After all, you’re not selling to an international market.

Well, for one thing, if you ever plan on running Facebook ads and use some kind of tracking element on your site, such as a Facebook pixel to track the effectiveness of your ad, you will need to inform any potential readers of your site that some of the information they supply to you will be collected.

If you have any kind of analytic software on your site such as google analytics, you are collecting information and that fact needs to be disclosed in your privacy page.

Again, your privacy page is not an optional page, but a legal requirement. Your privacy policy let’s your readers know what you plan to do or not do with the information that you collect.

In your terms of use page, a visitor to your website can either accept the condition or not use your website at all.

Your disclaimer policy is the third essential element. If you publish a blog or other copy that talks about such things as pet health, nutrition, behavior, etc, you need to let people know that you are not presenting the information as an expert.

Laws are different depending on where you live and where your website is read. The best thing to do is get help from someone who specializes in these types of things. Because you must have something in place.

I am not a lawyer but I found one to help me with my websites’ legal pages.

He is a lawyer and online business owner, named Bobby Klink, his website is called your online genius where he talks about the legal requirements for websites for all sorts of situations.

Bobby has a membership site that explains in simple, easy to watch videos what the different types of agreements online business owners might require and offers  legal templates for everything your business could need.

Not just website protection, but also protection of intellectual property if you write a blog and post images. Or, if you have testimonials, employees, independent contractors.

Bobby does not work in the pet industry and he is American but much of what is contained in the templates applies universally. All of his templates are customizable to your business, as well.

I’m in Canada and I use Bobby’s Templates. It is much easier than trying to do it yourself or paying a lawyer a ton of money to draft one for you. Bobby is also the most friendly and approachable lawyer I know. He is very active in his member’s Facebook group and is always available to answer questions.

His tagline is about helping “online entrepreneurs get their legal protection in place quickly, easily, and affordably… so you can focus on building your businesses instead of worrying about the “legal stuff.”

So, For a fraction of the price, you can get done-for-you templates that will help keep your website in legal shape for 2019 and beyond. I will link to Bobby’s website in the show notes.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’d love to know what you’d like to hear on this podcast in order to making your pet sitting business more rewarding and successful.

Reach out in the comments and don’t hesitate to contact me directly whenever you want to chat about my two favorite subjects: cats and the cat care business!

Just a reminder that the information in this podcast or for general interest purposes only and should never be taken as professional advice. Always consult a qualified Professional for individual cases.

Thanks for listening and may your week be filled with purrs and head bunts!

Show Notes:

Links and resources mentioned in the show:

https://www.namecheckr.com/

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