Tips to Make Your Pet Service Website Sound More Like You

Does your pet service website sound too formal, or does it sound like you?

I’ve worked with clients who had websites developed for them, but the writing didn’t sound like their personality.

I’ve worked with digital marketing firms to add unique character and humor to the web templates they designed.

I’ve interviewed clients so I can write their About page in a way that sounds like they wrote it.

What do these three scenarios have in common? They emphasize how important it is for your pet services website to sound like you.

You know how welcoming your voice sounds when a pet parent visits you in person. The pet parent feels seen, heard, important. You make a connection through your words, your voice.

Pet parents should feel that same welcoming connection when visiting your website.

If you think your website sounds too formal, let’s look at some tweaks that can help.

Shorten Sentences

Websites feel more inviting with shorter sentences and paragraphs.

Your English teacher probably taught you how to build a long paragraph with full sentences. But this is the web. People read it on their phone. Or their watch. Shorter is more accessible.

Picture a pet parent coming to your shop and having to walk a winding path filled with obstacles just to reach the front door. It’s likely they won’t come in. If they do, it’ll probably be their last visit. That’s what long sentences and paragraphs create for your web visitors.

Pet parents visiting your shop want to see an open door with smiles and warm greetings. Short sentences and paragraphs will do that for your online visitors.

Take a look through your web content for those long, winding sentences. See what happens when you break them into smaller sentences. Sound more like you? Easier for pet parents to read? Good job!

Use Contractions

Here again, you need to set aside what you learned in English class. Web content needs to sound conversational. A simple tweak is to include contractions.

When you are talking with a pet parent, you probably speak in contractions like, “I’ll do this” or “You’ll like that.” Contractions will give your web content the same conversational tone.

You don’t need to overdo it but find a natural balance.

It helps to read web content out loud. Better yet, have someone read it out loud to you. Follow along with a printed copy, and circle words that would sound more natural as a contraction.

Choose Conversational Words

The words on your website should be the words you’d use in a conversation.

If you’re a professional dog walker, instead of listing canine exercise as a service, change it to dog walking. If you refer to dogs as pups in conversation, use that wording on your website. It’ll sound more like you, and it’ll be closer to how your clients talk as well.

Look through your website for stiff, formal language and swap out those words for everyday language.

Include Friendly Notes or Quotes

To make your pet pro website sound even more personal, you can weave in favorite pet quotes or light humor. You can also add friendly notes.

A dog walker can add a survey of what pup clients look forward to after their walk: 60% want a treat, 38% want an air-conditioned nap, and 2% want another walk. That would make a cute sidebar, photo caption, or a paragraph on your service page.

A boarding service website can include a friendly note to pet parents: “We know it’s difficult to leave your pet with someone they don’t know. That’s why we treat all pets like family.”

Those personal touches make your website sound more like you and help your website visitors connect with you. They’ll be more likely to trust and do business with someone they feel connected to, someone who talks about pets the same way they do.

One Quick Step

This week, take a look at one page or one section of your website. See if it sounds like you. If not, you can make one or more of the tweaks suggested above.

You don’t have to wait for a huge amount of time to review the whole website. Tweaking one section at a time is easier to do, and even a few tweaks make a big difference. Start with the page that gets the most traffic and go from there.

Need a second opinion? I offer mini web content reviews if you’re stuck.