My husband and I own and operate our own pet care business- we provide pet sitting and dog walking services. We are willing to accommodate alternative requests when they are made but we rarely get them. I know that pet care businesses are gaining popularity because people are doing more for their pets. However, as a small business what services could I offer or what approaches could I take to appeal to pet owners more than the average pet sitter? While I’m willing to undergo additional training for more skills like grooming and training, what services could be useful that I could offer right away? My business already offers pet sitting visits that are one hour in duration, which is unheard of among professional sitters around here (most people stay for 30 minutes or so). Without dropping prices, what could I do that would appeal to you and make my business your first choice? I want to be unconventional- don’t want to stick to JUST dog walking, pet sitting and house sitting.
Health care! There are so manmy things you can do without a vet that will make sure to keep low cost for owners and more income for you! The DHPP (parvo combo) vaccines can be given by you and if you do cats, the FVRCP vaccines can be done as well. Reaearch small animal care and learn the facts, so you can educate your customers! Dogs need HeartGuard or a heart worm prevention once a month, and if they go months or more without it, they need to be tested first, or if they have heartworms, giving them the preentative could kill them! Also, little things like not being abl to give cats the flea prevention from Walmart stores could be a good thing to spread around. It has an active ingredient permethrin and is very toxic and can kill them. Puppies and kittens need at least three vaccines (DHPP/FVRCP) to be protected, and until they are 3 months and cn be on the heartguard, they need de-worming with Strongid or another pyrantel based wormer to prevent those nasty intestinal worms. Also, outside cats need to be tested for leukemia and vaccoinated yearly. These are just a few very commonly ovrlooked things I see daily,and you can investigate them more thoroughly or even ask your vet about them. The Strongid you can also keep on hand, but stay away from trying to do rabies vaccines yourself (its illegal) and leave the heartworm prevention and testing to the vets as well. GOOD LUCK!!! You can also check out this Dog Business

If you have a really good blog article, tell me about it. If you picked up a copy of my Pet Blogging Profits report and are just starting out, tell me your web address and let me be the first to link to it.

I have absolutely no problem taking the time to promote a particular blog article or new pet focused blog. Having said that, I will not promote garbage or link farms. Don’t expect me to.

Just leave a comment on this post OR on an existing post that is related to your topic and I will give you some link luv.

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Here is my new blog policy for linking BUT the sites MUST be pet related!

“If you add my blog as a favorite on Technorati, I will add your blog. If you add my blog to your blogroll, I will add your blog. It’s that simple. If you leave a link to your website below (either in the form or in your comments), it will appear as a link to your website on Technorati. I have disabled the ‘nofollow’ tag.”

Links/backlinks to your blog is the best and fastest way to rise in search engines and other services. Technorati is one such service and it’s a good measure of your popularity as well. I have absolutely no problem with your self-promotion on my blog.

I am always looking for new ways to promote my pet businesses (both online & off). Today I came across a new eBook that promises some serious traffic…

It utilizes a new Web 2.0 site called hubpages.com

I will be playing with this over the next couple weeks and present my findings for all to use.

Let me know if you are currently using this software or Squidoo (it’s close relative) to promote your business.

As the economy tightens the market for pet products and services is still growing, with households earning at least $70,000 tripling their pet related expenditures to over $18.6 billion dollars – accounting for more than half of all U.S. spending for pet supplies, pet services and vet services, according to the latest Packaged Facts report.

This key demographic now accounts for more than 60% of all pet services purchased.

The report points out that while some of the growth in this demographic’s market share can be attributed to a general increase in upper income families, it also shows the success that the sharp marketers within the pet industry have had capitalizing on the recent trend of the humanization of pets (also described as “functional pampering”).

“Products for pets are being made to resemble those for humans,” said Tatjana Meerman, publisher of Packaged Facts. “Especially among aging Baby Boomers, empty nesters, DINKs [dual-income, no kids couples] and singles, humanization is fueling consumer demand for premium products and services, including those bearing familiar brand names crossing over from the human side.”

This “pets as people” trend, both as seen in the product/service offerings and the accompanying marketing pitches, attempts to lead pet owners to think in human terms as they shop for products for their pets. This can be seen in the recent huge growth in licensed products (one of the biggest hits of the past 10 years in the collar segment was Coastal Products licensing agreement with Harley Davidson — making millions for both companies) and marketing terms like “organic” and “all-natural.”

Supporting this market shift toward “functional pampering” is another demographic factor, the aging of American pets. Very similar to the highly targeted aging “babyboom” trend, I believe the “aging pet population” will emerge as the single most important pet market sales driver in 2008 and beyond.

I believe this trend will continue because as pets live longer, owners (especially in the upper income households) spend more to care for them and have more time with them to develop that all important bond.

Add to this the fact that as these pets are aging, so are their owners (which further strengthens this bond and often leads to the owners ‘treating’ their pets the way they hope they are cared for in their final years).
Studies have also shown that older (higher income) pet owners are more likely then younger pet owners to be “highly dependent on this mutual, and increasingly PRIMARY, source of companionship.”

This demographic knowledge is VERY IMPORTANT for online pet product, service and information petrepreneurs. Forrester Research and Shop.org reporting that online shopping appeals more to premium pet households, being 48% more likely than average to buy pet products online.

The Forrester/Shop report characterizes one out of every three dog- or cat-owning households as a premium household (defined as single-person households with annual income of $50k or better and two-person households with annual incomes of $75k or better.

Where children were once considered the primary pet market driver, these new demographics studies (and census bureau data that shows 4 out of 5 U.S. households had no children in 2000) demonstrate that households without children now purchase over 70% of all pet products and services (up from 45% just 6 years ago).

It makes sense (having three kids at home) that people without children can buy more – and more expensive – pet products and services because they have more discretionary income and time.

Take these factors into account as you create your products/service or profit pulling niche reports.