Ok so we talked CL, what other forms of advertisement do you use?? I gotta get the word out now that I'm LICENSED! ::
I made up these cute flyers and when I go to Wal Mart or Krogers, I will put a few on the cereal boxes, diapers. I try not to put any more than about 15 around the store. Don't want to get the manager mad at me. I have got about 5 calls from them.
When your area has kids sporting events...go hand out flyers.
We have 2 great parks and I made a 8x10 poster with a pouch to put flyers in and I will tape it to the bathroom door.
I also made fliers, went to Community colleges, recreation center, starbucks, any where that I could hand a flier. I joined daycare match.com that was a bust...I also made a cheap website on yola, very easy and got a few hits out of it....but in the end it was word of mouth and Craigs list...
Also carry your business cards around with you. I love to talk and I actually got a client from the grocery store, the clerk as well as from my hair studio......
If i were to post an add on craig's list, I wouldn't be taken seriously as a provider, but that is just here. In the future when I have openings, I plan on contacting the HR department at some of our larger employers. Letting them know I have openings and my hours and such. We have a big problem here with flyers with other providers taking ones down to put their's up. Kind of a crummy thing to do I think! Get in touch with preschools and your local Child Development center. Also the employment agency. It is amazing how many people tell the employment agency that they have to stay on unemployment because they can't find daycare.
I get most of my hits from my website. If you type of my city's name and 'daycare' in google, I come up on google maps, with some of the other daycares in town. Most home daycares are not listed on here. You have to register as a business location with google, which is really easy to do. If you type in "how to list your business on google maps" in google, the instructions come up. In my listing, I have a link to my website, where they find out how great I am haha, anyway, I have a free website from webs.com, which was really easy to make. I also hand out business cards that I got free from vistaprint. The more professional looking the website and cards, the better, I think. People have this misconception that home daycares are all just a bunch of lazy mom's who babysit, so i really try to make sure that my website and cards reflect that I am a childcare professional who takes this very seriously and offers the best childcare possible.
Business cards,.... Everywhere. Anytime you talk to someone and if it comes out that you are a provider, that you just became licensed, anything. Give them 2 cards. Do this all the time. Even after you are full. Talk to your dentist receptionist next time you are there. Your dr, dry cleaner, cashier,. Everywhere. Everyone knows someone looking for care. And next year the smile you gave your labtech may land a client.
On my web page I have the main page which lists some important, eye catching things - like my organic menu, no TV (except for yesterday, first time in a year, man what a day!) and general philosophy about parenting and childcare. I mention why I started doing this in the first time, and my experience and education. I have another page that lists a sample menu and examples of activities. Another page is the photo gallery, where I have pictures of my playroom and my own children playing in the backyard, pics of us on nature walks, pics of some of the crafts the children have done. Never pics of the dayhome kids though, unless they are so covered in winter gear that you can't make out the face, or the child is turned back on, again, no face. I have another page (that I haven't published yet, not finished) where i'm doing parent testimonials and contact info for myself. And rate/availability/policies on another page. I also have a page with links that I like (to things like organic food pages, pages on the importance of outdoor time for children, pages on the dangers of too much TV, good resource pages for activities etc. Oh, and a page about my pets.
On my web page I have the main page which lists some important, eye catching things - like my organic menu, no TV (except for yesterday, first time in a year, man what a day!) and general philosophy about parenting and childcare. I mention why I started doing this in the first time, and my experience and education. I have another page that lists a sample menu and examples of activities. Another page is the photo gallery, where I have pictures of my playroom and my own children playing in the backyard, pics of us on nature walks, pics of some of the crafts the children have done. Never pics of the dayhome kids though, unless they are so covered in winter gear that you can't make out the face, or the child is turned back on, again, no face. I have another page (that I haven't published yet, not finished) where i'm doing parent testimonials and contact info for myself. And rate/availability/policies on another page. I also have a page with links that I like (to things like organic food pages, pages on the importance of outdoor time for children, pages on the dangers of too much TV, good resource pages for activities etc. Oh, and a page about my pets.
All great ideas!!! We also try to do as much organic/natural as possible. And no tv as well. I could snap a few photos of the play area too. (Although it is a bit boring right now, not many wall hangings, etc.
It's great that you have a site. It wasn't "eye catching" though. I started to read through it, but it was too long. Most of it was rules and most it should be in your contract, not the handbook of policies. You have some double spacing where you should create paragraphs so I don't have to always scroll down and down to continue to read. I would recommend you create more links/categories to make it appealing online to look at. You don't need everything word for word with all the specific rules online necessarily either. The Online advertising is to catch a new customer and shouldn't be only for those enrolled checking to see what the policies are....get what I mean? Sometimes if you google for other daycares in your area or even your state for daycare websites it will show you what your competition is.
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