9 Reasons Why Your Pet Business Can’t Afford to NOT Have a Website… Even with Referrals Coming In!

This is something I’ve written about before, but I think it’s worth writing about again in a new lens because it’s just that important. It’s somewhat surprising given the following information that some pet business owners still don’t have a website.

I know there are many hurdles including money, time, you name it. BUT, I’m here to tell you that you no longer afford to NOT have a website for your pet business. And I have written 9 reasons why below. 

1. You have no control over the number of referrals or WOM business that will flow in. 

I don’t care how long it’s been running this way or if the number has been increasing ‘lately.’ There is absolutely no guarantee or reliability when it comes to word of mouth or referrals. Your biggest referrer can move out of town. A huge competitor can come in and take a share of the market, detracting from your potential referrals. You name it!

However, with a website, once you establish decent search result rankings, you’ll consistently grow as long as you’re producing content and keeping your website up to date.

2. With a website, you won’t be relying on other people to grow your business for you.

Similar to the referrals mentioned above, you would no longer need to rely on others to grow your business for you. Whether this is in the form of referrals, contacts with other pet businesses around you, Yelp pages, etc. 

You will have control over your systems and you don’t have to be at the mercy of hoping someone will spread the word for you. As a business owner, you should be in control of how you grow, expand, and attain new clients. While referrals and network partnerships can be extremely beneficial, they shouldn’t be relied upon as a source of sustainable wages.

Let your website do the work for you, especially when you’re sleeping or out in the field. 😉

3. It saves you time by streamlining your process, answering FAQs, and allows you to get them set up.

For most of my service-based pet business owners out there, you spend a HUGE amount of time on acquiring new clients. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing, especially if it’s part of your brand to harness some personal touches/conversations in the on-boarding process. 

However, I will say this point may be the most important part of this blog post. Pet Marketing Unleashed is HUGE on what we can do to help you save time and stress in the pet industry. Because I know you’re probably overworking.

Again, the goal is to allow your website to do the work for you. And it can do a lot more than you think. It can…

• Answer questions that you’d normally answer on the phone.

• Weed potential clients out that aren’t a good fit so you don’t have to waste your time or run into negative situations and reviews.

• Get people set up in your system so you don’t have to.

• Acquire bookings while you’re sleeping.

• Market to new audiences and potential clients.

One of the best ways to make your website work for you is through blogging tutorials and other blog posts. To get my list of free blog post topic ideas for pet businesses, click below!

4. It’s professional. You can wow them.

As marketers and web designers, we believe in WOWing potential clients wherever you can. In fact, we have a whole blog post on How To Wow Potential Clients.

While the focus of your website isn’t necessarily just on the looks, it’s a HUGE HUGE percentage of what keeps people interested in your business. It takes approximately 50 milliseconds before your website viewer will make a snap judgment about your brand. Yes, MILLISECONDS.

As consumers, we judge. We place meaning to certain colors, pictures, verbiage, etc. If your website isn’t ‘pretty,’ people won’t say. Simple as that. The science behind strategic copywriting, branding, and layout is just as important, BUT, the bottom line for this point: You need to WOW your audience if you want them to stick around. 

If you don’t have a website, you won’t even be on their radar.

5. You can become more SEARCHABLE on Google.

This reason is pretty self-explanatory. How can people search for your business on Google if you don’t exist on Google? Sure you could have a Yelp page or Google My Business page, but what’s the first thing they’ll do from there? They see you have good reviews. “Awesome. Let’s take a look at their pricing or more about what they offer to see if they can help me.

OH wait. They don’t have a website. NEXTTTTT.”

It’s really as simple as that. Money, out the door. 💰🚪

6. You’re missing out on sales without it.

It’s where people book services. I mean come on, can it get more important than that? This is probably the most direct way that you cannot afford to NOT have a website. 

7. You can speak to your clients on a personal level, which is important in the pet industry.

Social media is full of distractions. Most social media users are mindlessly scrolling through without any real intent, which means your cute pic of the dog will be gone in two seconds. They probably didn’t even read the caption! 

If you want a way to communicate with your audience, distraction-free, try your website. You can share more about yourself and your story, plus do it in a way that people will be more likely to see. Because did you know that less than 10% of your followers on social media even see your posts!?!? The algorithm is pretty wild. Learn more about it here. (OR, while this post was written in 2018, it has valuable takeaways on the way the algorithm works).

8. It’s where a large majority of your audience is searching for businesses like yours.

Like I mentioned earlier, the first thing a potential client will do after coming across your business (if they aren’t already just searching on Google) is go to your website.

80% of viewers will engage with your business if it has a website. Not only that, but people are more likely to trust your original content compared to ads. 70% of consumers learn about a business or company through their blog rather than ads. Your blog is on your website and is one of the most important things I recommend to help with your SEO and marketing.

9. It’s essentially necessary.

81% of shoppers conduct online research before buying. I mean, I could lay into the stats all day, but I don’t really think I need to prove to you the insane percentages of people who are looking for businesses online. Given that the majority of pet owners in the US are Millennials, you can know pretty whole-heartedly whether they care if you have a website or not. If you don’t have an online presence, you’re forgotten.

While it’s normal to be hesitant when it comes to bigger projects like web design, whether it means outsourcing it to someone like us here at Pet Marketing Unleashed or creating it yourself, I’m telling you, you are LOSING money and you cannot afford to not have a WONDERFUL website for your business. If you’re reading this and you do have a website, but it’s not converting or it’s not saving you time or it’s not something you’re proud of, you’re probably running into the same issues.

A bad website is not the same as having a website. It’s just not, unfortunately. 

If you’re a great designer already, you can create one on your own using Wix (see why I use Wix for most clients here) or Squarespace. If you need a professional, Pet Marketing Unleashed can help. Learn more about our web design services here.

P.S. Don’t forget to get access to my FREE PDF: The 7 Most Common Pet Biz Mistakes & How To Fix Them. ⬇

This is especially important if you’re wanting to DIY your website or know you need to make some changes to your current one.

Happy website designing!