A pet day care business can be a fun and profitable undertaking for any animal lover who wants to work from home. It can be especially ideal for a work at home mom (WAHM), since children who are old enough can help care for the animals. Pet sitting for the people who live in your neighborhood can even be a great way to make new friends. If you've started a pet day care business and are ready to begin finding customers, follow these steps to promote your business.

Step 1: Create Marketing Tools

Create some flyers or pamphlets that you can hang up or hand out. These should have your business name, services, price list, a short blurb about your business and your contact information. If designing attractive media isn't your forte, try hiring a freelance designer to put together the materials for you. Freelance designers can be hired relatively cheaply through sites like iFreelance.com, GetAFreelancer.com or even CraigsList. Once you have the flyers or pamphlets designed, you can print out as many as you like, either straight off your computer or through a printing company.

Step 2: Search in Your Neighborhood

If you live in a neighborhood, you likely know which of your neighbors own pets. Go door to door and let your neighbors know about your petsitting services - don't be shy! If they show interest, leave them a flyer or pamphlet so they know how to proceed should they choose to do so. You might consider offering a special "neighbor" discount to encourage them to take advantage of your services.

Step 3: Widen Your Search

You don't have to confine your business to just your neighborhood. As long as you work out some way to get the pets over to your house and back home (whether their owners do a drop-off and pick them up or whether you provide transportation is up to you), feel free to expand your business to care for any pets in your town. You can help bring in local business by posting flyers around town. For an approach specifically targeted to pet owners, try visiting local or nearby pet stores like PetSmart and asking about in-store advertising.

Step 4: Promote Yourself Online

Make a simple website and use some SEO content to draw traffic to your website. SEO is a method of writing which utilizes keywords to make your site rank higher in search engine results. On your main page, where you have your introduction, insert the phrase "__________ pet care" in the intro (the blank should be filled in with the general area in which you live). If you live in Portland, for example, you could write something like "If you're looking for the best Portland pet care services..." and so on. Your website, like your flyers and pamphlets, should contain a blurb about yourself, your services, your prices and your contact information.

Following these 4 steps will help you promote your business both locally and online to attract customers and make your pet care business a success.