A client called yesterday in need of pet taxi service. There was a family emergency and they had to leave town immediately, so the dog needed a ride to the boarding kennel. I picked up Ginger the Golden Retriever and drove her down to Woof Dah in Burnsville. What a fun little place! The dogs were so cute. It's a cageless facility, so they just run around and play together all day, then at night they sleep in one big room full of doggie beds. Ginger is a rather rambunctious dog. I had to pull over several times on the way to the kennel to situate her and calm her down. I talked to Ginger's owner after I dropped her off; apparently Ginger is accustomed to riding in the front seat. No wonder she was such a handful. I set up her doggie pillow and belted her leash in the back seat, so she was practically choking herself trying to climb up front with me. I'll also be bringing Ginger home next week, but she gets to ride shotgun this time. Plus, If I pick her up late afternoon, she'll be good and tired from playing all day.
I finalized some arrangements this week for a client who is in need of dogwalking and grocery shopping for 3 weeks this July. She's an executive assistant that called on behalf of her CEO, who lives in another part of the country but comes to Minnesota every July. He brings his daughters and his dogs with him, but the daughters go to summer school while they're here so the dogs need some company during the day. You know what the crazy part about this job is? She contacted four different errands services and I'm the only person who bothered to return her email. She keeps thanking me on the phone, saying that she's so grateful that I'm willing to do this because it means she doesn't have to worry about it. I just keep thanking her right back. I'm ecstatic about getting a 3-week job, especially one that involves playing with 2 fun little dogs. I'm truly astonished that no one else would even respond to her inquiry. I felt like apologizing on behalf of my industry.
The rest of this is just me brainstorming out loud, so read at your own risk. I finally found a new template that I like for my website redesign. Webmaster Clint sent me a bunch of layouts to choose from, and I picked one that will look nice with my logo and still leave the site uncluttered. We'll be eliminating the Rates page altogether, and breaking up the current Services page, maybe something like this:
- Pet Sitting, Dog Walking, Pet Taxi
- Party Planning, Written Correspondence, Reminder Service
- Personal Shopping, Grocery Shopping, Gift Shopping, Special Occasions, Returns and Exchanges
- Pick-up and Drop-off, Laundry, Auto Service
- Relocation Assistance, Wait Service, Home Organization
- Event Reservations, Travel Arrangements
- Bill Paying, Postal Needs, Bank Deposits
- Mobile Notary Public, Business Research, Administrative Assistance
The reason for breaking it up would be more search hits, of course. The only thing I'm worried about is having sparsely filled pages. Clint suggested the site become photo-heavy, not only to fill up the pages, but to make it more appealing for visitors to look at. I suppose he is right. But I don't want a bunch of dorky pictures of myself, so I'm going to have to get creative and think of some fun photos to take that are related to my business.
if you want some help with graphics or coding let me know... its what i do. ok ok.. my gf does most of the big coding. ;)
scott
Posted by: scotty | March 28, 2005 at 07:26 AM