6 Tips to Improve Your Child Care Program’s Online Profile

Having a web presence and an online profile for your child care business is of the utmost importance. To put it simply – lack of an online presence (or an incomplete or negative presence) is business suicide in 2015. In our previous post describing how child care centers and preschools can get more enrollments, the first tip is to have an online presence!

The quickest way to build a web presence is to create a free online profile on www.CareLuLu.com. If you don’t have one, get one IMMEDIATELY. If you do have one (kudos to you!), make sure that it’s as good as it can be by following these 6 tips.

1. No Typos Allowed.

Make sure whatever text you have is written with good grammar, spelled correctly and free of errors. This is the first impression that many parents will have of your program. You want to be perceived as a place of learning and high standards. Typos, misspellings and glaring grammatical errors will give a very negative impression.

2. Brag (a little!)

Make sure you have a solid and complete description of your child care or preschool program. This include (but is not limited to):

• Your experience
• Your education
• Center (or home) hours
• Capacity and ratios
• Your teaching philosophy
• Curriculum information
• Sample menus
• Transportation information
• Safety information

3. Sell yourself.

Have a call to action on your profile. If you aren’t sure what that is or why it matters, don’t worry. It’s not hard to add a call to action to your preschool profile. This is a simple sales tactic in which you let prospective parents know what next step you would like for them to take. Better yet, give them an incentive! For instance, “Schedule a tour and mention CareLuLu, and we’ll waive your registration fee!”

4. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Parents love pictures. You can upload great pictures with ease these days and there is no reason not to when you think about what they can do to benefit your child care business. Pictures don’t have to be professional, although it helps if they’re clear and fairly high-quality (just avoid the completely blurry photo showing a corner of a room!) They should also be well picked: choose photos where children are smiling, interacting and working on fun projects. You should also include photos of the facility and highlight the best features of your home or center.

5. Get parents to leave you reviews.

Invite parents to leave you a review. Preschool profiles with reviews typically generate more interest. A lot more interest! People love, love, love to know what other parents think. In this modern, technological era, an online review can be as trusted as a personal recommendation from a friend. In addition, reviews will get you a higher ranking .

6. Know your target market and adjust your services to serve your customers’ needs.

Do your market research and consider these types of questions:

• Are there particular hours parents tend to need? For example, is a there a large factory nearby where parents might work 3^rd shift? If so, consider adjusting your child care hours to accommodate these families.
• What is the average income in the community? If, for example, it is a low income area, offering lunch as a part the tuition might be attractive to parents without the resources to pack a healthy lunch each day.
• Are there many immigrants in your area whose children might benefit from an ESL program, or a language immersion program?

7. Ask for professional help.

CareLuLu offers child care advertising and marketing services to make your online profile stand out! Contact us to learn more how your program can become the go-to option for parents in your area.

Play up and advertise whatever it is about your center that you think will attract the consumers in your area.

In summary, having web presence is key, and having an online profile is certainly better than having none at all. If you don’t have one, list your child care or preschool program on CareLuLu today (it’s free!) However, the better your profile is, the more parents it will attract. Be sure it is correct, descriptive, targeted and thought out. If possible, include pictures and invite online reviews from your existing families. Keep in mind that your online profile is the very first thing that many people will see of your center. Make sure it looks great!