Free ways to market your childcare program

This blog will walk you though a few ways you can advertise your daycare without spending a dime on ads.

Do you have to invest money in ads in order to market your program? In this post I will share with you a few ways you can market your program organically. Before we get started I want to mention that organic marketing does take more time and effort. Because you aren’t leveraging the power of ads and with all the algorithm changes it will take you longer to put your program on the map.

Website: 

Your website is a great place to start with organic marketing. Google is still the number 1 search engine on the planet so make sure your website is found when a potential client googles childcare in your area. 

Add your website to Yelp, google my business and all your local online directories. Moreover, your website should have a few important pages such as about us, contact us, services and book a tour page.

SEO:

Search engine optimization is important so that your website can be found when someone searches for childcare. How does it work?

• Keyword research - Keyword research is often the starting point for SEO and involves looking at what keywords a site is already ranking for, what keywords competitors rank for, and what other keywords potential customers are searching for. 

• Content marketing - Once potential keywords are identified, then it's time to create original content. Your website copy is really important and must contain the proper keywords your clients are searching for. You can also add a blog to your website to increase your chances. Good content also has a greater chance of being shared on social media and attracting links.

• Link building - according to optimezely.com , links from external websites (called "backlinks" in SEO parlance) are one of the core ranking factors in Google and other major search engines, obtaining high-quality backlinks is one of the main levers that SEO has. This can involve promoting good content, reaching out to other websites and building relationships with webmasters, submitting websites to relevant web directories, and getting press to attract links from other websites.

• On-page optimization - Improving the actual structure of the page can have tremendous benefits for SEO. Some techniques include optimizing the URL of the page to incorporate keywords, updating the title tag of the page to use relevant search terms, and using the alt attribute to describe images. Updating a page's meta tags (such as the meta description tag) 
• Site architecture optimization - Internal links (the links within one's own website) play a large role in SEO as well. 

Social media platforms

Directing traffic through your social media platforms is also a great way to grow traffic organically. 

Pinterest, FB and IG can be leveraged through content creation to share about your program but also direct traffic to your website and to do this… free of charge! 

The key when creating content is to stay consistent, create content around your programs values and beliefs as well as going live weekly. Only about 5% of your followers are going to see what you post so make sure you stick to a posting calendar of 4-5 a week.

Local partnerships and networking 

Whether you leverage other local business online platforms to give your program a shout out or create referral programs with current clients this is a great free way to grow your visibility by leveraging other businesses audiences.

Joining networking events or groups is also a free way to boost visibility to your program. Join local networking groups online or checkout meetup.com.

There you have it, a few free ways to market your program. 

Be well

Christina