Originally Posted by BrynleeJean:
I used Facebook in the beginning when opening the first time (I closed after my son was born and Ill open up again in august) i made a page just for my daycare and joined a lot of locate "kid toy/clothes swap group pages" and i posted there. out of like the millions of people that probably saw my post i got like one or two but it was a start, and then word of mouth was my friend, my parents told their friends, and i think the biggest help was id get calls throughout the year from people that found me on my states website because i was registered with my state, it says that i had so citations and stuff and i think thats why people called me. I got so many calls for babies but wasn't taking any ironically, because come august I'm going to only run babies-18 months and would have to turn them away.
When you advertise, Loving, home daycare is what a lot of parents are looking for. they don't wanna stick their child in a big loud center where they have to follow rules (heaven forbid) and do work, so a HOME is enough to be a big selling point so know their child can have a home away from home where they can safely play and have FUN all day and mom and dad can get calls and texts from the provider updating them on their day (i did this Centers can't) so they don't have to worry is a big selling point
Good luck!
I haven't had any luck from fb yet. Most of mine have been from craigslist. I changed the ad a little and added that we have a small group in a safe, loving home environment, and I put a link to my free google website in the ad and that has seemed to help. I got an infant starting in March that I got from Craigslist. I also have an interview this weekend from my first word of mouth (someone my brother in-law knows).
I just started trying new ways of advertising last month besides using CL, so hopefully I start having better luck. I really don't like having to rely on CL so much because of all the weeding out I have to do. I think most of the people are just price checking. I'm also listed with our state but haven't had any luck with that. Our inspector who came recently thought maybe our location might be the reason we are having trouble filling up. We aren't in a subdivision. We live kind of in the country, but not in the middle of no where. We are close to a major highway and close the suburbs and downtown KC. I'm just thinking if we lived in a more traditional neighborhood we would have better luck. I appreciate your advice.