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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Advertising for Open Spots?
HappyPennie 06:10 PM 05-01-2013
So I have recently had 3 daycare spots open up and want to advertise for them. I was wondering what forms of advertising you all use (if any) besides the usual ad in the paper. I really want to get the word out, as this puts a big financial burden on my family. Any suggestions are welcome! Thank you in advance
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sharlan 06:42 PM 05-01-2013
I have had more calls from Craigslist than anywhere else.
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Patches 08:20 PM 05-01-2013
Originally Posted by sharlan:
I have had more calls from Craigslist than anywhere else.
Ditto to this^
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blandino 08:28 PM 05-01-2013
If you don't have a Facebook page for your daycare, it's really given me a lot of business. Mostly referrals from past & current clients, but they still contact me through our FB page. Just invite everyone you want to, and it will get your page out there and seen.

And CRAIGSLIST !! More than 50% of my current clients are from CL.
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daycare 08:47 PM 05-01-2013
I have my information in everything you can think if

And all for free

Yellow pages
Yahoo local
Yext
Yelp
Yellow bot
Manta
LinkedIn
Google
Daycare match
Mom trusted
Angie's list
Bloglines
Merchantcircle
Map quest
Daycare bear
All about day care
Daycare.com
City squares
Craig's list

I do not have a Facebook or any form of social media.
I only have my website.

I'm sure I forgot some, but as mentioned before all of those were FREE
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apick 09:07 PM 05-01-2013
Originally Posted by daycare:
I have my information in everything you can think if

And all for free

Yellow pages
Yahoo local
Yext
Yelp
Yellow bot
Manta
LinkedIn
Google
Daycare match
Mom trusted
Angie's list
Bloglines
Merchantcircle
Map quest
Daycare bear
All about day care
Daycare.com
City squares
Craig's list

I do not have a Facebook or any form of social media.
I only have my website.

I'm sure I forgot some, but as mentioned before all of those were FREE
Wow thank you for the additional ideas I didn't know about most of these! I also get tons of calls from Craigslist.
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Lucy 09:15 PM 05-01-2013
Yellow Pages is free??? I thought you had to pay to have your business in the yellow pages??
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daycare 09:18 PM 05-01-2013
Originally Posted by Lucy:
Yellow Pages is free??? I thought you had to pay to have your business in the yellow pages??
All of the companies have free versions or paid.
It's up to you to decide what you want to get out of it.

I chose free. Look into so you can see of it will work for you too
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MarinaVanessa 10:06 AM 05-02-2013
A lot of my clients come from people Googling for daycare online or from Craigslist.

If you don't mind posting your address you can add a free business listing on Google Business and when someone near you Google's daycare your daycare pops up along with other centers and family child care providers that advertise through them. I get at least 4 or 5 calls each week asking about daycare but I also think it's because I have a pretty big website which I link to my listing so they visit the website first then call me for additional questions.

Craigslist is also a big one for me especially since not too many people in my city advertise there. I think right now there are only two other FCC's advertising at the moment that live in my area.

I have never had to pay for advertisement and from what I have heard, newspaper ads don't bring hardly any business in at all. Most provider that I have asked that used the newspaper to post ads say it was a waste of money.
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melilley 11:10 AM 05-02-2013
Craigslist has worked for me! All 5 of my families have found me on there and I have had several interviews and have an infant waiting list and all but one family has found me from advertising on there. I also made a website and one of my waiting list families found me on there.
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KnoxMom 11:24 AM 05-02-2013
Craigslist and as much online visibility as possible. If you have a website, submit it to Google, Yahoo and Bing to be indexed so they crawl it for content. It takes time, but if you get yourself listed and keep fresh, quality content on your page you will rank on Google.
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melilley 11:45 AM 05-02-2013
Originally Posted by KnoxMom:
Craigslist and as much online visibility as possible. If you have a website, submit it to Google, Yahoo and Bing to be indexed so they crawl it for content. It takes time, but if you get yourself listed and keep fresh, quality content on your page you will rank on Google.
Yes! Online visibility is a must! I have gotten compliments on my website and even on my CL ad because of the pictures and details that I put on the site and in the cl ad! It just looks more professional in my opinion.
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melilley 11:48 AM 05-02-2013
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
A lot of my clients come from people Googling for daycare online or from Craigslist.

If you don't mind posting your address you can add a free business listing on Google Business and when someone near you Google's daycare your daycare pops up along with other centers and family child care providers that advertise through them. I get at least 4 or 5 calls each week asking about daycare but I also think it's because I have a pretty big website which I link to my listing so they visit the website first then call me for additional questions.

Craigslist is also a big one for me especially since not too many people in my city advertise there. I think right now there are only two other FCC's advertising at the moment that live in my area.

I have never had to pay for advertisement and from what I have heard, newspaper ads don't bring hardly any business in at all. Most provider that I have asked that used the newspaper to post ads say it was a waste of money.
Follow MV's advice! I can't thank you enough for the advice you have given me- even if you don't remember. I owe some of my success to you. Thank you!
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MarinaVanessa 06:11 PM 05-02-2013
Originally Posted by melilley:
Follow MV's advice! I can't thank you enough for the advice you have given me- even if you don't remember. I owe some of my success to you. Thank you!
That's what we are here for . Someone really helped me get started and so now I pay it forward
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AmyKidsCo 08:06 AM 05-03-2013
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
That's what we are here for . Someone really helped me get started and so now I pay it forward

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Tags:advertising, marketing ideas
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