Are you an up-and-coming Dog Trainer looking to make a splash in the world by building up your Dog Training business? Maybe you have an established Dog Training business and you’re looking to take it to the next level, so you’re eyeing Yelp as a potential source of new clients. Which ever is the case, you’ll want to sit and pay attention, as we are about to untangle the often confusing and definitely tricky world of optimizing your Yelp profile, as well as getting more 5 star reviews.
Despite recent criticism and even lawsuits against Yelp, the online marketplace is still visited more than 178M times per month, according to ReviewTrackers.
These statistics make it a no-brainer to try and make the most of the platform, especially since there’s no way to opt out of having your business profile and public reviews displayed for the world to see (and judge).
That being the case, coupled with the well-known fact that two-thirds of consumers tend to check online reviews before making purchasing decisions, brings us to some important facts that you as a business owner should definitely consider.
If you’re going to operate a Dog Training business, it would be wise to make the most of your Yelp profile, since the upside involves getting more clients for your small business and potentially even making it your biggest source of new clients!
Source: The Advocate
HOW TO CRUSH IT ON YELP AS A DOG TRAINER
There are several key factors you’ll want to understand before creating a rockstar profile on Yelp.
First, we’ll discuss how to get the details just right on your profile so the highest percentage of clients who see it end up booking your services.
After we cover that, we’ll shed light on how you can get more 5-star reviews for your Yelp profile so you look more professional and show up higher in the Yelp rankings.
The competition is fierce on Yelp, with a wide variety of Dog Trainers occupying top spots and collecting all of the clients for themselves. Starting today, we’re going to help you grab your fair share of business by following these simple steps.
OPTIMIZE YOUR YELP PROFILE
Let’s start off with the basics. One thing we repeatedly see successful Dog Trainers do is put pictures of their clients on their Yelp profile – both humans and dogs!
If you’re just starting out and don’t have any actual pictures of happy clients or dogs, at the very least use stock images of happy folks and maybe include pictures of your own dog for social proof reasons.
You’ll also want to consider including a picture of you holding up your Dog Training license. This generates immense social proof, instills immediate trust into your potential clients by positioning you as an expert in your field, and leads to a higher conversion rate of folks booking your services.
For more info about this as well as a practical step-by-step licensing guide, read our article on Why You Should Get Your Dog Training License.
The next step is to write a stellar description to share your mission with potential clients.
You want to come across as genuine and willing to go the extra mile and the best way to do that is to communicate your passion for being a rockstar Dog Trainer!
Also, make sure to update the technical aspects of your profile with the correct information about your business. This includes:
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone number)
- Website address
- Description
You should also consider offering a Yelp Deal on your page. You can offer a small discount ($15 for $10 for example) and this will, in turn, place a conspicuous green ‘Yelp Deal’ badge on your Yelp listing. We’ve seen multiple Dog Trainers (as well as businesses in other industries) do this to bring more attention to their listing.
You’ll also want to include your PocketSuite online booking link on your profile, so potential clients can book your Dog Training services straight from Yelp.
This also communicates that you are a professional, established business. That goes a long way, especially if you’re a new, fresh-faced Dog Trainer, ready to tackle and win business from established companies like Wag or Rover as well as other solopreneur Dog Trainers!
Now let’s talk about how to get more 5-star reviews, so clients trust your business even more.
HOW TO GET MORE 5 STAR REVIEWS FOR YOUR DOG TRAINING BUSINESS
It’s a well-known fact that more 5-star reviews on Yelp means more business.
You should aim to get your first 10 reviews as quickly as possible – let’s discuss the easiest and best ways to do so with limited effort on your part.
The first step is to ask for them – but don’t ask every client after you complete their dog training.
Instead, ask them for feedback about their experience first. Send a quick email, text, or make a phone call and ask them how their dog is doing, and the difference that your training program made in their dog’s behavior.
Once you’ve collected this valuable feedback, ask your happy clients to leave a review.
This will help to self-select the best possible clients to leave a review on your profile – the satisfied ones.
Remember, you shouldn’t ever promise compensation of any kind in exchange for a review – this is frowned upon by Yelp and can even result in them putting a nasty Consumer Notice on your profile warning folks that you tried to manipulate their algorithm or submit fraudulent reviews.
Another benefit of this strategy is that you collect invaluable feedback from your unhappy clients, which helps you improve your training program and also dissuades clients from leaving bad online reviews on Yelp and other sites to try and ‘get back at you.’
Another tip is to mark your ‘Not Recommended’ reviews as Useful, which will help to bump them out of the ‘Not Recommended’ category.
Use this method with caution, and maybe from a different computer or IP address to avoid any kind of trouble with your Yelp profile.
YOUR DOG TRAINING BUSINESS IS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS
It can be a difficult journey starting your own business, especially when you’re battling for business against entrenched competitors in a crowded market.
Hopefully, the fable below will inspire you to take on the challenge and charge forward confidently:
Two mice fell into a bucket of cream. One mouse gave up and drowned. The second mouse kept swimming, and eventually churned that cream into butter, and walked out.
You are that second mouse! Now go fetch some new clients and let’s build your business!
USE POCKETSUITE TO GROW YOUR DOG TRAINING BUSINESS
Now that you’re crushing it on Yelp, how are you going to manage your payments, let your customers create online bookings, manage your classes and schedules, respond to business messages, or collect deposits?
Thousands of successful Dog Trainers are using PocketSuite to do all of this, and making 6 figures as well.
The free plan is yours to play with, so you have nothing to lose (except the hours of time you spend on back office admin tasks).
If you’re already using PocketSuite, learn how you can set it up specifically for Dog Training.
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