In this article, we\u2019re hoping to provide a basic introduction to building a dog trainer website. We\u2019re going to focus on specific areas like developing a profile of your main message and core values and services so you can better represent these on your website.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re also going to discuss the basics of the BoldGrid website builder software you\u2019re getting with your Website Creator<\/strong> account. We\u2019ll also take a deep dive into discussing how you can develop a marketing strategy to promote your website when you\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n Branding your business and yourself as a trustworthy dog trainer is very serious business. You\u2019re asking potential customers\u2014who may not know you personally\u2014to trust you with their beloved pet.<\/p>\n Your website is an important opportunity for building your business up and communicating your primary values<\/a>.<\/p>\n Think very carefully about the message you want to convey. Your website will be full of content meant to represent that message. What emotions are you hoping to inspire in your website visitors?<\/p>\n So now you should have a better idea of what exactly it is you want to say on your site. Now comes the fun part: building and designing your site. With the BoldGrid site builder, we\u2019ve tried to make this part as easy as possible. And we believe you\u2019ll enjoy this process. It\u2019s your time to roll your sleeves up and get creative.<\/p>\n First, you need to learn how to log into your Website Creator site<\/a>. From your site\u2019s Dashboard you\u2019ll have access to all the controls necessary to build your vision. Here is where you\u2019ll add content, customize your look and feel, and add important plugins you might need down the road.<\/p>\n And what about your company name? It\u2019s important to change your site title<\/a>. You can also add your company logo here (if you have one) .<\/p>\n Remember, in the previous section, we talked about how your website can be a powerful representation of your company\u2019s primary values. Color gives your site an important psychological edge. What colors will resonate most with your customers? You can add your own colors or mix and match different color palettes with the color tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n Your Website Creator site comes with example content depending on your selected industry. It\u2019s critically important to now edit these pages<\/a>, replacing the content that already exists with your own words. You can also add new pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bear in mind, you can also change the background of your site<\/a> and change your theme entirely<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now that you know what you want to say on your site, and you\u2019ve generated a design that works for you, it\u2019s time to promote your site. You\u2019ll be calling upon some classic techniques and new technology to spread the word about your business and the quality services you offer.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s a lot of different ways of playing this marketing game. You\u2019re going to start noticing traffic<\/em> to your site\u2014new and returning visitors from all different sources.<\/p>\n While all traffic can be a good thing in terms of hitting your marketing goals, you will want to take note of where<\/em> that traffic is coming from to make sure you\u2019re properly diversified. Diversification is important because you don\u2019t want all<\/em> your traffic coming from one place; this can be hazardous down the road if that source goes away or is no longer referring people to your site as it once did.<\/p>\n The simplest way to measure traffic and sources is to use the<\/strong> JetPack plugin for WordPress<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re unsure whether or not you\u2019re properly diversified, or if you\u2019re having trouble getting traffic from an alternate source be sure to check with local experts in your area.<\/p>\n Email marketing is one of those classic, constant, and highly reliable sources of traffic you can depend upon. Virtually everyone has an email address. And you can be sure your emails will be seen (even if not always read). People are serious about email, and they guard their inboxes carefully. So don\u2019t abuse your email list.<\/p>\n But what if you don\u2019t have any email addresses yet? No worries. Now is as good a time as any to start. With Website Creator, it\u2019s easy to set up a contact form<\/a> for email signups.<\/p>\n And while it\u2019s easy to set up the form on your site, for long-term list management we\u2019d recommend a third-party service like MailChimp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another highly regarded source of traffic is organic search engine referral. This is when someone types a query into a search engine (like Google) and are presented with results.<\/p>\n Search engines sort these reviews by relevance based on the search criteria. If they think your site is the most relevant based on the user\u2019s search then they will recommend you toward the top.<\/p>\n There is no known way to influence your search appearance directly (other than paying for a top spot, which you may consider). However, the field of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about improving and sharpening your page content in order to improve the likelihood that it will rank higher.<\/p>\n Your BoldGrid builder comes with an SEO plugin<\/a> you can use to make sure your pages have properly represented a chosen keyword you\u2019d wish to rank for.<\/p>\n SEO has a lot to do with page structure. Is your information properly organized? You\u2019d do well to keep page structure in mind. Instead of merely copying in all of your content and italicizing or bolding haphazardly, learn how you can use other kinds of \u201cmarkup\u201d strategically<\/a>, like headings, block quotes, lists (ordered and unordered), and more.<\/p>\n You may already have social media accounts set up for your business. The problem though is that social media accounts are super easy to set up but often undertaken without any sense of strategy. There\u2019s a lot of promise and potential in social media marketing, but if you don\u2019t have a plan, it\u2019s just a waste of time.<\/p>\n Like anything else you will do on your site, there are best practices you must keep in mind when integrating social media<\/a> into your overall marketing strategy.<\/p>\n And as always, remember that social media is only one source of traffic. If you\u2019re getting all of your traffic from social media, then you must diversify in other areas. Social media companies do not owe you anything and they\u2019re apt to change formats or algorithms without notice or disappear entirely along with all of your traffic. So to keep yourself safe, make sure you have alternate sources of traffic humming along.<\/p>\n Like email marketing, blogging has been around for a long<\/em> time, and virtually every business has some form of blog.<\/p>\n It\u2019s because blogs are easy to add to your site. And they give your visitors some hint that you\u2019re an expert in your field. Of course, you have to publish a post regularly (at least once or twice a month) in order to inspire this confidence on the part of your visitors.<\/p>\n Keeping a blog vital is a difficult task. You have to be researching and writing regularly.<\/p>\n But as a dog trainer, you\u2019re surely plugged into the current trends in canine behavioral science. Having a blog can be as simple as writing a few hundred words about those new trends or how you\u2019ve implemented these procedures into your training style.<\/p>\n Blogging is a classic form of content marketing and plays an important role in your overall marketing and SEO strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The most basic\u2014but, arguably, most important\u2014kind of traffic is Direct Traffic<\/em>. This is when people know your domain name type it directly into their address bar or bookmark your website so they can go their directly.<\/p>\n Direct traffic doesn\u2019t have to be complicated. It\u2019s pretty straightforward actually. You just need to get your name out there. This can mean participating in local events, taking on some local advertising, telling friends, visiting trade shows, or just engaging with your community on some level.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve written in detail about the importance of picking a great domain name<\/a>. You\u2019ll want something memorable and descriptive. Picking a domain name can be hard, but it\u2019s definitely important.<\/p>\n If you already have a domain name, that\u2019s fine. You can work with what you\u2019ve got. Bear in mind, you can always get a new domain and redirect there.<\/p>\n But basically, in order to get direct traffic, you must be direct and active in your community.<\/p>\n How will you know when you\u2019ve succeeded? This is up to you. If you\u2019ve worked hard creating your website, you need to make sure you\u2019ve established achievable goals to measure your impact.<\/p>\n These can be anything from the number of email list subscribers, to the number of views, happy customers based on satisfaction surveys, really anything. But it\u2019s important to have some kind of measuring system in place. You will refine it and get more sophisticated as you.<\/p>\n And remember we\u2019re always here to help out if you need anything. Be sure to check out our full Website Creator product guide<\/a> for more helpful resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Services<\/h2>\n
Getting to Know Your BoldGrid Builder<\/h2>\n
Getting the Word Out<\/h2>\n
Email Marketing<\/h3>\n
Organic Search Results<\/h3>\n
Social Media<\/h3>\n
\n
Blogging, Sharing, and Link Building<\/h3>\n
Direct Traffic<\/h3>\n
Measuring Your Impact<\/h2>\n