Marketing, and especially online marketing, is an important part of any business that wants to perform well in a competitive market. Getting found by the people who want what you have to offer is the main building block to a successful business. Childcare is no different.

Recently, we’ve noticed a few mistakes that childcare providers have been making with their online marketing. Mistakes which are negatively effecting the amount of parents finding them online. Avoiding these mistakes will help you fill your empty childcare spaces, guaranteed.

Childcare listings with photos get more views on ChildcareFinder.ie then those without. Simple. So upload photos where possible to your childcare listing. However, having no photos on your listing is arguably better than having poor quality photos. Poor photos give a poor impression.

A picture speaks 1,000 words. Make sure your photos do your childcare setting justice. Keep them clutter free, preferably taken on a bright day from the correct angle to give a great impression on the space and cleanliness of your childcare facility. You can upload and change your photos any time and as often as you like during the year on ChildcareFinder.ie allowing you to keep them fresh and perhaps seasonal for parents to see.

We’ve got you covered: We have some stock photos of happy children and some Montessori materials you can use until you get proper photos taken and uploaded.

As simple as it may seem, don’t underestimate how easy it is for spelling and grammar mistakes to slip into your advertising wording and content. Always run a spell checker and grammar checker over your adverts text before publishing it. The effects of poor spelling and grammar in your on-line marketing material can be two-fold.

– Firstly it will do your Google ranking no good if your important keywords are not spelled in the way that they will be searched for.

– Secondly (and more importantly) bad spelling gives a bad user experience and reflects badly on what your childcare facility has to offer. Parents need to feel confident in your offering for their child, so give yourself every benefit you can.

We’ve got you covered: We run a spell checker and grammar checker over every new childcare listing/advert that’s created on ChildcareFinder.ie and make corrections for you where needed. 6% of adverts posted on ChildcareFinder.ie needed spelling/grammar corrections in the last 12 months.

ChildcareFinder.ie is a highly effective when it comes to getting you a high Google ranking. We have a great search engine optimisation team behind us who ensure we get your listing top of the search results. However, you can help yourself with some simple keyword usage in your listing’s content. Think about what parents might be searching for and tune your advert/listing accordingly.

If you are a preschool service in Blanchardstown you might want to say “We are a creche based in Blanchardstown“.

There are 2 important keywords that Google will pick up on in that sentence – “creche” and “Blanchardstown“. But there are so many more keywords you could use for Google to pick up on.Changing that simple sentence to the following gives you a lot more chance of being found by parents searching in your area. We’ve highlighted the important keywords in red in the changed sentence as follows. “We are a warm and friendly Montessori and creche based in Blanchardstown in Dublin 15. We are easily reached from Ashtown, Carpenterstown, Castleknock and Clonee. In the last X years we’ve cared for children from surrounding areas too including Coolmine, Corduff, and Ongar who have loved the fun and engaging childcare service we provide.”

Try to get get important keywords into your content, without overdoing it.

We’ve got you covered: Once you create your advert, feel free to ask us to tune it further for you. It’s all part of the service at no extra cost.

It’s difficult running your own childcare business because you are responsible for every aspect of it. We get that! As the childcare provider you have to be on top of everything from your accounts, staff, safety, maintenance, payroll to advertising and marketing and of course providing the best quality care for the children who attend your service. But concentrating on your core strengths is important to the growth and success of your childcare business. Outsource what you can’t do yourself.

We’ve got you covered: We’re the digital marketing specialists for the childcare sector so let us help you. Listing your childcare service with us will ensure that you get noticed by parents in your area. We’ll help you tune your advert to give it the best possible chance of getting noticed – allowing you to get on with the other aspect of running a childcare business.