The Good News About Blogging

As a busy pet resort owner or manager, blogging is likely at the bottom of your To Do List. With so many responsibilities already on your plate, keeping up with a regular blog might seem overwhelming. But we would argue that the benefits are worth it – building trust, connecting with local pet owners, establishing expertise, and more. Based on 12 years of experience working with pet resort clients all over the country and witnessing the evolution of the industry, we’re convinced that blogs with a local angle are an essential piece of your content marketing strategy. The good news is that blogging doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems, and we’re here to help.

Getting Started

Making the most of your blog starts with focusing on high-quality content that appeals to your local market and establishes you as a pet care expert in your community. When you do this well, you’ll strengthen brand loyalty and increase customer engagement. People are more inclined to do business with those they like, respect, and trust. When your fundamental mission is to improve the lives of pet families, the intent will show through and be appreciated. 

As you already know, trust is the foundation your client relationships are built on. This trust is cultivated over time when you commit to providing reliable services, transparency, a consistent online presence, welcoming facilities, satisfied customers and of course, happy dogs. The addition of an informative blog with local appeal can further strengthen trust, loyalty and engagement with your brand. 

Benefits of Blogging

Understanding the benefits of blogging, which have been well documented across a wide span of industries and interests, will help you maximize the time and effort invested in your blog. And while popular approaches and available features have evolved over time, business blogging has remained just as valuable as ever. A regular, high-quality, locally focused blog will likely:

• Improve ranking on search engines for a variety of keywords
• Help drive traffic and attract visitors to your website
• Enable you to better convert that traffic into leads
• Position you as an expert with a passion for the well-being of local pet families
• Establish you as a pet care resource in your community
• Build your brand’s online presence
• Build trust and rapport with your local audience
• Cultivate an online community
• Continue to help your business grow and attract new customers even after a post’s initial publication

For pet care service businesses, the payoff for a successful blog is a combination of positive perception and quantifiable data. A well-crafted blog can enhance your brand’s credibility, engage potential customers, and drive measurable growth through increased website traffic and customer inquiries.

Content is King

Creating and sharing high-quality content in every blog is essential, especially with Google’s updated AI-based algorithm. It looks for evidence of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT) in your content. This is crucial for determining how well your blog ranks on search engines. High-ranking content helps establish your blog as a reliable resource for pet parents, making it more likely to be followed, referred to and shared within your readers’ networks.

Posting fresh blog content on a consistent schedule is also important for maintaining your credibility and the interest of your readers. Use a content calendar for planning your topics several months in advance so you don’t forget what you were going to write about or have to scramble at the last minute.

The right content serves multiple purposes and will:

• Appeal to your local market
• Position you as a thought leader
• Demonstrate your expertise
• Offer insights about the challenges and opportunities specific to pet families in your area

As a pet care professional, you have a unique perspective on what to look for in a daycare and boarding service. You could write a blog highlighting the questions that come up a lot when giving tours at your facility, followed by thoughtful answers with insights that only an insider would know. This approach would serve as a resource for pet parents and earn their respect, which could lead to a customer conversion or future referral.

Your content could also include topics such as:

• Local events and festivals
• Dog-friendly venues to visit around town
• Volunteer opportunities at local pet shelters
• Health concerns for your climate such as extreme heat/excessive freezing or seasonal allergies
• Training tips, if you have a skilled dog trainer on staff (guest post)
• Grooming tips, if you have a skilled groomer on staff (guest post)
• Local leash laws
• Holiday safety advice with a local connection
• Highlight a local pet-related business, or partner with one (For example, sponsor a pet first aid class with a local veterinarian and write about how it went)

By focusing on building connections through your content, you’ll establish stronger ties within the community, leading to long-term customer relationships and a more robust local presence. This community-focused approach not only helps in retaining existing customers but also attracts new ones, as word-of-mouth referrals and positive online reviews play a critical role in the decision-making process for choosing pet care.

Trends in Blogging

Like most aspects of the digital landscape, the trends in blogging are constantly evolving, and it’s part of our job to stay on top of them. We recommend striking a balance between staying relevant to what’s trending and staying true to your purpose and audience. A few of the more recent trends we’re tracking include:

• Targeting a niche market (such as your local audience) instead of catering to a less defined group with broader appeal
• Integrating visual storytelling through images, video, and infographics in addition to long form text
• Offering longer, well-researched content over shorter, more generalized blogs
• Including plenty of subheads, brief sentences and shorter paragraphs in your formatting. With the majority of blogs being read on mobile devices, even one long sentence can look like an intimidating wall of text when viewed on a phone
• Using data analytics and SEO strategies to gauge interest and inform content decisions
• Welcoming interaction with readers through comment threads and social media feeds to foster community and serve as a reliable pet care resource

In addition to providing high-quality content on a consistent basis, you’ll also need to promote your blog through multiple platforms so it will reach your target audience. Posts on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn can expand your reach, and email marketing such as a monthly newsletter allows you to deliver blog content directly to your subscribers.

Blogging can seem like a big commitment, but it can also have big rewards. If you need some help or guidance with starting, maintaining, and promoting your blog, reach out to us any time at petresortmarketing.com. Our team is ready to support your ongoing commitment to providing valuable content that will help you maintain a strong online presence and continue to grow your brand’s reputation in the competitive pet care industry.