Blogs Archives - The Veterinary Content Company http://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/category/blogs/ Your pet content, written by vets Sat, 21 Mar 2026 07:23:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Logo_Final_MillieVersionLargeTransparentSpace-32x32.png Blogs Archives - The Veterinary Content Company http://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/category/blogs/ 32 32 The Complete Guide to Veterinary SEO (2026) https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/the-complete-guide-to-veterinary-seo-2026/ Sat, 19 Jul 2025 06:00:24 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=4010 If you’re a veterinary practice, mobile vet, or locum veterinarian looking to make their digital presence more visible, then you need veterinary SEO. This guide will walk you through everything...

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]]> If you’re a veterinary practice, mobile vet, or locum veterinarian looking to make their digital presence more visible, then you need veterinary SEO. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about SEO, and give you some ideas of what to do next. We’ll also link out to a number of our other guides on SEO for vets, so you can delve deeper.

Before I write any more, I want to share something with you. Firstly, that I have been working in veterinary-specific SEO for leading brands for over 5 years now, working entirely on on-page SEO (more on that later!). And secondly, a proof point – if you’re reading this article because you found it amongst the noise, that is proof that I’m reasonably good at my job! Trust me? Let’s crack on.

Table Of Contents
  1. Do vet practices need SEO?
  2. Technical SEO for veterinarians
  3. On-page SEO for vets
  4. Off-page veterinary SEO, local SEO for vets, and digital PR
  5. AI optimisation for veterinary practices
  6. Measuring your veterinary SEO
  7. Conclusion

Do vet practices need SEO?

Before we get started, we should probably tackle whether your vet practice needs SEO. I’m assuming, since you’re here, that you think you do, but let’s clear up a few things:

SEO is the practice of tweaking your website to make it show up better in search results.

In 2026, that’s not just Google search. That’s Google, Bing, Ecosia and all the search-enabled GenAI results. You might see a lot of chatter about GEO or AIO – optimising for AI results – but in my experience they’re all just good SEO – you don’t need two strategies, you need one good one!

Every veterinary practice with a website that wants customers needs SEO to some degree. If you’re the only practice in your region, and you show up at the top spot for search when customers look for “vet in [location]” then you probably don’t need much in the way of veterinary SEO. However, if you’re not in the top spot, and you have competition for your service, then SEO is worthwhile. It’s everything from making sure you show up for “vet in [location]” queries through to getting clicks and building trust with customers who are searching for “puppy vaccination schedule” in the hope they’ll choose you.

SEO for mobile vets

No physical location? No problem! Actually, mobile vets and house-call vets need SEO more than most veterinarians and veterinary practices – with a wider catchment, and no building to help advertise them, they rely on veterinary digital marketing more than most. The sections below are just as relevant – if not more relevant – for mobile vet clinics, house-call veterinarians, palliative care, hospice and euthanasia vets, and peripatetic veterinarians. As a mobile vet, your SEO matters!

Technical SEO for veterinarians

If your site is slow, confusing, or broken, search engine bots will not be able to look around, or understand what you are, where you are, and what you’re about.

And what about your customer? Well, pet owners are often stressed, on a phone, and in a hurry. If your page takes five seconds to load or your booking form glitches, they’ll bounce to the clinic down the road – Google notices that pogo-stick behaviour and moves you down the results page. For mobile vets, your website is the waiting room, so a rock-solid technical setup directly translates to calls and consults.

Get the tech foundations right and every other SEO win (on-page, local, content) becomes much easier. So what do you need to do?

1. Build a crawlable, logical site by checking your URLs and sitemaps

Google wants to show users the most appropriate result – but if your website is a confusing mess, the robots are going to struggle to know what you do and why. Start by making sure everything is logical, then make sure Google has a map to your site. Here’s what to do:

  1. Run Google Search Console’s “Page Index” report – it highlights any pages the bot couldn’t reach and tells you why. Go through and fix them.
  2. Scan your URL slugs: keep them human-readable (/services/dog-vaccinations/) and nest pages logically under /services/ or /blog/. Logical organisation is key. Make sure, if you’re changing URL’s, that you have redirects set up so you don’t end up with too many broken pages.
  3. Use a one-click XML-sitemap generator I like the super-user-friendly Yoast SEO, but RankMath or Screaming Frog’s free crawl will do the same thing. This lists every page in a neat file (/sitemap.xml).
  4. Submit that sitemap back to Search Console so Google always has the up-to-date map.

I know this sounds like a jumble of mumbo-jumbo, but trust me – it helps! And once you get started you’ll realise it’s actually not as hard as it sounds and can make a huge difference to your veterinary practice’s SEO.

2. Optimise security – HTTPS

I almost left this one off because it’s now such a basic requirement for a website that it’s barely worth saying. But it’s an important one, so just in case anybody is still running their website without an SSL certificate – you need one. If pet owners click on links without https, their browser will warn them (if you’ve never seen it before, it’s a scary warning about hackers stealing data!) and their trust will evaporate.

  • Check your website’s URL – if it starts with HTTP://, you need to sort out a certificate. If it’s HTTPS://, you’re (probably) all fine.
  • Run your domain through the ssllabs free checker, which will check your SSL certificate is set up correctly.

Found out you don’t have an SSL certificate? Talk to your hosting provider, who may be able to activate one, or you can use the ‘Let’s Encrypt’ button on the ssllabs page to get started.

Wondering how this impacts your veterinary practice’s SEO? Well, if humans disappear before entering your site due to scary warnings, Google will downrank you. And since they know that’s what happens, it doesn’t even take a human visiting for a Google bot to look at the URL and say ‘that’s not worth ranking’. It’s a small tweak, but an important one for your vet clinic’s SEO.

3. Speed up your website

You know the feeling – you click, wait several seconds to load, then get bored and try elsewhere? That’s universal. Unless pet owners are 100% sure you are what they’re looking for – and are therefore fine with waiting for it to load – they’re going to click back and try elsewhere. And, as we’ve mentioned, Google notices those signals and nudges your page down the results list to avoid upsetting too many searchers. So, fast page loads matter to Google, and to your SEO!

  1. Check Core Web Vitals report on Google’s Search Console – see which batches of pages Google says are “Poor” or “Needs improvement” on Mobile vs Desktop; fix the worst group first.
  2. Shrink big images before uploading (export “web” or “compressed” from your photo tool); large hero photos are a common LCP killer highlighted in both PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals reports.
  3. Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights – paste the URL, click Analyze, and note the colour (green/yellow/red) plus the “Opportunities” suggestions; repeat for key service pages.
  4. Make sure you have caching on – A cache is like a memory of the website – so it doesn’t have to load from scratch every time. Make sure you have a cache in place by talking to your hosting provider.

On-page SEO for vets

So, now we’ve got the technical website-y bit out the way, let’s look at your on-page SEO. On-page SEO is what you can write on each page to make your vet practice’s website more visible to search engines.

Main website pages

The main pages of your practice website (eg ‘Home’, ‘Services’, Contact’, and ‘About Us’) need to be optimised for search. They’ll need to have the right combination of subheadings and text, and keywords for your site throughout. For example, the beginning of a practice homepage might read

“XXX Vets have been offering the highest quality vet care for over 80 years. Our independent practice of vets, RVNS and nursing assistants is extremely well equipped to deal with all your veterinary needs.”

But it doesn’t contain any keywords. You could rewrite it as:

“XXX Vets have been providing the best veterinary care in [region/city] for over 80 years. We regularly invest in our equipment and staff, and are one of the only independent vets in [city/area/region].”

In this way, the keywords ‘vets in [region]’ and ‘independent vets in [region]’ as well as the synonym ‘veterinary care in [region]’ are in the opening line of the website, and they instantly build authority and trust.

Rewriting your practice’s website can seem like hard work, but small tweaks can make a huge difference. Try to assign one unique keyword per page and then use more general keywords throughout. Some website builders have SEO help built in, or you may be able to install a plugin to help – we use Yoast.

If you need help deciding where to make adjustments, and what to write, consider outsourcing to one of our veterinary copywriters, who will work with you to rewrite your pages.

Content strategy

What about your blog? Well, we definitely recommend having some sort of regular posting happening to your website – it helps you stay current in Google’s mind. ‘Regular’ can be just one post a month, but we recommend two or more if you can manage it. One can be practice news, but for optimal SEO it’s best to have at least one a month that helps to use your SEO keywords and build trust with clients. The more ‘evergreen’ your posts are, the longer they’ll help your practice out – so plan content that won’t go out of date easily.

Need more help? We’re experienced with planning a veterinary practice content calendar that can help your clinic shine (and support your SEO). Or, try this self-help veterinary practice content ideas list here.

Keyword research

Before you can do on-page SEO, you’ll need to do some keyword research. That means finding out what your customers are searching for when they need your services. For most vet practices, some combination of ‘vets in [region]’ will be important, but depending on your service there may be other phrases that are important. If you’re a vaccination clinic, you might want to target ‘what vaccinations does my puppy need?’, and if you’re a mobile vet specialising in euthanasia, keywords around ‘how to tell when it’s time to say goodbye’ will help you get seen by your clients. Some of these will be better suited as blog posts, while others will be your main service pages.

Here’s an article to help you find the keywords your vet practice needs: 5 ways to find veterinary keywords for your clinic – TVCC

Off-page veterinary SEO, local SEO for vets, and digital PR

Getting seen beyond your own website builds authority and trust – two signals Google uses to decide which local vets to surface. It’s an important – and often forgotten – part of veterinary SEO, but it’s harder to implement, because you aren’t directly in control of so much. So how can you build your practice’s visibility online without touching a thing on your own page?

  • Claim & complete your Google Business Profile. Make sure your practice’s name, phone, service area, after-hours info, and booking link are correct, and add real clinic and team photos. This is the bit that shows up when people use maps to search, so it’s worth getting it right!
  • List your clinic in trusted directories & vet registers. You’re probably already on the RCVS Find a Vet page, which is great, but joining other vet registers like the one at VetHelpDirect helps build your online presence. Similarly, online directories like Yell, Yelp, and Thomson Local can be helpful. You’ll need to make sure they’re kept up to date, so keep a note of which directories you’re using to make it easier to make changes to things like opening times and avoid frustrating customers.
  • Ask every happy client for a Google review. Hand them a QR card or text a link after appointments. Photos of their pet in your care add credibility and can influence which snippets show in search – if it fits with your veterinary brand, why not set up a little photo booth in reception to encourage them to take photos and spread the word. Respond to all reviews – good and bad – to show you’re listening. The VDS are a great source of advice for dealing with bad reviews.
  • Engage in some simple PR. Getting the whole web talking positively about your practice is hard, but some simple PR can go a long way to building your authority. Ask your local press whether one of your vets can have a column or whether they accept occasional interesting pet stories. There are also other ways you can get websites and brands mentioning your practice – speak to us about veterinary PR.

AI optimisation for veterinary practices

‘What about AI search?‘ I hear you say. ‘Isn’t SEO dead?‘. Well, no. Firstly, the vast majority of people still use search tools, so it’s important to cater to the majority. Estimates suggest for every ‘search’ in genAI tools, over 300 searches happen in Google still. Don’t ignore the 300 chasing the one!

Secondly, as we’ve already mentioned above, AI search bots follow very similar processes in terms of deciding what to turn up in results. They still value Authority and Trust signals. They put a lot of emphasis on reviews and even recommendations from social media posts and Reddit. In other words, good veterinary SEO is good veterinary AIO – the changes we recommend above will benefit both!

You can find out how your vet practice is currently showing up in AI responses using Hubspot’s free tool. It takes some fiddling to get the inputs right!

Top tip: If you’re getting ‘0’ for ‘share of voice’ and it isn’t listing your competitors, then change the ‘industry’ you put in until it starts to look closer to your competitor mix.

Measuring your veterinary SEO

There’s little point in making your changes and not seeing whether they’re working for you. Whilst there are hundreds of SEO tools out there, the free Google Search Console will tell you most of what you need to know.

Keep an eye on your impressions (how many searches you show up for), your clicks (how many people click to your website), and your position (how high up the results page you’re coming in). You can see the phrases people were searching for when you showed in their results – if they’re not the people you need, it’s time to fiddle with your veterinary SEO. You can also filter the results for pages – eg which keywords people use when they find your homepage or your ‘services’ page – or for queries.

Top tip: Try using ‘query not including’ to remove your vet practice name from the search query – I find this helps me see more accurately how a company is faring against its competitors for more general queries, like ‘vets in [region]’. Obviously, people searching for [your clinic name] will be seeing your website, it’s the others you want to attract!

Conclusion

Veterinary SEO isn’t orthopaedic surgery, but it’s pretty complicated all the same as so many things influence search engine algorithms. We’re the experts when it comes to on-page SEO – that’s everything written on the pages and posts of your website – so if our extensive knowledgebase isn’t helping, or the above sounds too much like hard work, get in touch and let us know what you need.

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]]> 35 Low-Competition ‘Pets’ Keywords your Business Needs (Updated 2025) https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/low-competition-pets-keywords-pet-businesses/ Sat, 05 Jul 2025 06:54:56 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3534 If you’re working on your pet business SEO, you’ll be needing some good pets keywords. It’s important to remember that keywords that work for one business won’t work for another,...

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]]> If you’re working on your pet business SEO, you’ll be needing some good pets keywords. It’s important to remember that keywords that work for one business won’t work for another, so you’ll need to decide if these keywords are likely to be what your customers are searching for. You’ll also need to decide if their low-competition keywords your business can reach for. There are lots of ways to find potential pet business keywords, but we’ve pulled together a list of low-competition keywords for pet businesses in 2025.

What’s a keyword?

When someone enters terms into a search box, this is called the ‘search query’. Search engines match the query with what they know of your website. The more closely your website matches the search query, the higher on the results page it will appear.*

So, part of SEO involves leveraging the use of ‘keywords’ on your website to match specific search queries that your customers and clients are likely to be searching for. By using these keywords, you’re more likely to get your website in front of those people.

*Well, apart from the rest of the ranking algorithm – that’s a hugely complicated and ever-changing kettle of fish to get into. I won’t go into huge detail about that here, but you can check out other articles in our knowledgebase for more insights into Google’s algorithm.

What does ‘low competition’ mean?

Some pet keywords are very popular. And if lots of other websites are competing for the same keyphrase, it’s hard to rank towards the top of the results. After the closeness of the keyword match, search engines look at other things (such as how big the website is and how much ‘authority’ it has) in order to decide on rank.

If you’re just starting out, it’s going to be very difficult to rank on a high-competition keyword, because you won’t have enough of the other ‘trust’ signals for Google’s algorithm to rate you highly. Although fewer users will be searching for low competition keywords (they are often low ‘search volume’), they’re easier to rank for. In other words, “best pet food” will be extremely competitive, but fewer users are searching for “best pet food for doberman puppies in the UK” which means fewer websites are fighting over the keyword and it’s an easier starting point for small businesses.

As a pet business owner, you’ll need to decide on the right keywords at the right level of competition. If you’re struggling with this, you can get a free initial consultation with our pet content strategist for personalised advice.

35 pets keywords to use on your pet business website

To help you out, we did some keyword research of our own. These keywords are all low-competition, making them easier for small and early-stage businesses to rank on them. (Don’t forget, lots of other things influence your rank on Google – including who wrote the article, see EEAT for more info). These low-competition animal keywords are also suitable for the US and often the UK, but there will be minor differences in how easy they are to rank and exactly what your customers are searching for from country to country.

To help you find relevant keywords for your pet business, we’ve included them in different categories.

6 Keywords about puppies

  • Puppy whining in crate
  • Kennel training a puppy at night
  • Easiest puppies to train
  • Crate schedule for puppy
  • Puppy schedule 8 weeks
  • Puppy excited pee

To rank for these dog keywords, you’ll need to write an excellent article that answers the question the owner is asking. This takes some guesswork, skill, and experience, but we find that setting up an article as an FAQ is a good way to go about it (and is likely to help with Generative AI Search – AIO).

7 Keywords about dog breeds

  • Types of pitbulls
  • Japanese dog breeds
  • Fluffy dog breeds
  • Dogs that barely shed
  • Small dogs that don’t shed
  • Kinds of guard dogs
  • Best family protection dogs

Here, you can see that general dog breed articles eg “labrador” will be high competition, so dog businesses investing in SEO and content should aim for these low-hanging fruit first. The other great thing about these dog breed keywords is that they mean you can link out to other articles for individual breeds, if you have them. Internal linking is important for SEO.

5 Keywords about dog health

  • Dog health certificate
  • Bernese mountain dog health issues
  • Mental health dogs
  • How to improve dog gut health
  • What dog breed has the most health problems

For dog businesses that focus on supplements, food, or other health-supporting products, you may want to look for dog health articles. These dog health keywords are low-competition, but it’s important to remember that health articles are hard to rank for unless you use qualified vet writers to help your EAT.

4 Keywords about kittens

  • Ragdoll kitten
  • Bengal cat kitten
  • How to help a constipated kitten
  • Why are my kitten’s teeth falling out?

Cat keywords are generally a bit easier to rank for than dog keywords, so if your pet business focuses on both it can be a good place to start.

9 Keywords about cats

  • Why do cats lick you?
  • How many teeth do cats have?
  • Calico cat
  • Cat years to human years
  • Large domestic cats
  • How to improve cat dental health
  • Why does my cat hate my husband
  • Why does my cat smell so good
  • How to get rid of cat smell from house

There are literally hundreds of low-competition cat keywords we could pick from, so we’ve just highlighted 9 to show you the range of articles you could write about. As always, it’s about finding one that fits your pet business’s aims, and also your customers’ language and concerns.

4 Keywords about pet food

  • How to keep ants out of pet food
  • Can dogs eat cat food
  • Cat stopped eating wet food
  • Is my cat eating enough?

Pet food is big business, which means low-competition keywords in this niche are often really difficult to find. They are out there though! We’ve put four above, but if you need help finding pet food keywords for your business you can always reach out to us.

How do I use this keyword list for my pet business?

This keyword list is designed to give you some ideas of keywords you might want to write about and target. Don’t bother using ones that aren’t relevant to your business – for instance, if you only sell dog products, don’t write about cats or kittens. Some keywords might work for the main pages in your website, while others are best as standalone blog articles.

Some keywords might be about species you work with, but not about your product – that’s ok! Content marketing involves answering questions that your customers might be struggling with, even if it doesn’t naturally result in a sale. By gaining their trust, they’re more likely to buy from you in the future. So if your pet business manufactures dog beds, it’s fine to write articles about crate training or breeds that shed – after all, those people will need dog beds one day too!

What if none of these keywords work for me?

If these keywords aren’t for you, you can do some keyword research of your own. Alternatively, you can hire a professional to do some research for you. At The Veterinary Content Company, we have an in-house pet content strategist who works with our businesses – you can book a free initial consultation with her by contacting us. Depending on your needs, she will either create a content plan for you, or suggest we get an SEO professional to audit your website and provide a pet keyword list.

Writing for SEO

Of course, once you have your pets keywords decided upon, you’ll need to write articles for each one. Writing articles for pet businesses in 2025 is a tricky balance of optimising the article for SEO and AIO (generative search) without sounding like a robot. Articles have to be useful to humans first and foremost! Our vet writers are fantastic at writing using keywords and formatting for SEO, and their natural authority in the pet niche means you’ll get extra ranking points from Google (see EEAT). If you want to talk to us about how our vet writers can help you, reach out using the contact form or our email address and we’ll get back to you.

Back to the blog

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]]> Vet SEO – 4 top tips from a veterinary content strategist https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/vet-seo-top-tips/ Sat, 18 Jan 2025 18:41:05 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3912 If you’re a veterinary practice or company struggling with your vet SEO, you’ve come to the right place. I’m a vet myself (I’ve been graduated 8 years), but I work...

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]]> If you’re a veterinary practice or company struggling with your vet SEO, you’ve come to the right place. I’m a vet myself (I’ve been graduated 8 years), but I work entirely as a pet content writer and veterinary SEO specialist now. Not only have I run the Veterinary Content Company for the last four years, providing pet writing services to businesses all over the world, but I’m also working 25 hours a week as a Content Marketing Manager for a veterinary CPD company, helping them grow their visibility on Google. In this article, I’m going to share some of my veterinary SEO secrets you can use to boost your own company’s SEO.

SEO for veterinarians: the basics

I know, you went to vet school – not marketing school. Our business lessons at vet school are sadly lacking, and the world is changing rapidly – there’s a chance you know you should be ‘doing SEO’ but you aren’t really sure what that is. Let’s take a look, before we get any further.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It means making tiny alterations to your website to make it stand out on Google (and other Search Engines). While nobody knows the ins and outs of Google’s algorithm, by testing and adjusting (and taking notes every time Google employees speak) we can make some pretty good guesses about ways that Google ranks websites. The goal is to make the right adjustments to your veterinary website to move into the top 10 results on Google, and ideally the top 5.

For more information, see our article “SEO for the Vet Industry“.

Do vets need SEO?

Well, yes, any business that wants customers should have a website, and unless you’re the only veterinary practice in the whole country, you probably need some sort of SEO. You’ll especially need SEO if your radius is wide – for example, if you are a mobile veterinarian – or if competition in your area is high – for example, in a city, where pet owners have their pick of vets nearby.

What about AIO?

If you’ve been trying to keep up with marketing trends, you may have heard of AIO – or Artificial Intelligence Optimisation. Because of the rise of generative AI search, there is a possibility that everything we know about ranking highly on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is incorrect. But so far, generative AI seems to mostly return responses that are high up on the SERPs anyway – more on that in another article. In other words, don’t worry about AIO yet, focus on your SEO, and AIO will follow.

4 top tips for your vet SEO

So, let’s look at SEO. As I mentioned, this is my niche area and what I do every single day, so here are my top tips for helping your website rank above your competitors.

1. Choose your keywords carefully

Nobody can rank for everything, and there’s no point ranking for something your (potential) customers aren’t searching for. As an example, a recent client had an excellently-performing website on the surface, with really high clicks, but they weren’t making any sales. I took a closer look, and determined that less than 0.01% of their clicks were clicking through elsewhere on the website. A closer look at the keywords, and they didn’t make sense for their potential customers. I knew their customers weren’t searching those keywords – they were attracting the wrong people. Carefully choosing your keywords is important for your vet SEO.

2. Don’t write for the bots

There’s nothing worse than clicking on a high-ranking website to find the content isn’t useful. Customers click away, then find another website that answers their questions. This is a negative signal to Google, and you won’t have that coveted top spot for long. Whatever you put on your website, make sure your customers are the end goal – help them, provide them with value, and they’ll stick.

3. One focus phrase per page

Each page of your website should have a focus, so it’s only natural that the keyword (focus phrase) should be different on each page. Audit your pages and compare them to your keyword list – some will fit easily and naturally, some might need some help, and some keywords might need new pages or posts adding that meet them.

4. Test and adjust (it takes time)

You’ll need to monitor your ranking on various tools – Google Search Console, SISTRIX, or whatever your chosen option is. Make changes to your website, but expect a couple of months to see the effects – it’s a slow game, but incremental increases in ranking are a good sign. Then, adjust your vet SEO again slightly and watch it again.

Conclusion

SEO for veterinarians is just as important as it is for other industries. On the whole, we vets haven’t been used to having to market our services, but despite the technology it’s still really no different to letting the town gossip know about your new x-ray suite. In times gone by, people might have got their info from the local post office – nowadays, it’s Google they turn to, and it’s Google you’ve got to impress and tell about your services. Vet SEO is easier than you think, and anybody can improve their website and help it move up the rankings. That said, if you’re fed up of grappling with veterinary digital marketing, give us a shout – my competitive streak comes out when it comes to vet SEO and I genuinely love the challenge and reward of seeing a website beat the competition. Just pop us an email and let us know what’s bothering you – initial consultations are free!

Need more help? We also have 10 steps to improve SEO for vet practices.

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]]> 8 Common Pet Industry Copywriting Mistakes to Avoid https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/pet-industry-copywriting-mistakes-to-avoid/ Thu, 31 Oct 2024 07:04:15 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3851 Pet industry copywriting is in high demand, and with the pet care market value rising to 7.2 billion pounds in the UK in 2022, it’s no surprise that pet businesses...

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]]> Pet industry copywriting is in high demand, and with the pet care market value rising to 7.2 billion pounds in the UK in 2022, it’s no surprise that pet businesses are looking for the right people to deliver their writing needs. But, as a nation, and indeed a planet of predominantly animal lovers, surely there’s no shortage of people willing and able to write about them?

That’s right, there are plenty of pet content writers out there. Some are pet industry copywriters, focusing solely on this sector, while others offer copywriting services for other industries too. Unfortunately, this means that there’s a lot of variation in the quality of content and copy, which can make marketing materials ineffective, or worse, breed fear, spread misinformation, or delay veterinary care for pets who need it.

So, as a pet copywriter, how do you ensure you’re delivering quality, accurate content that’s also engaging and reflects what pet parents want to hear? This blog focuses on some of the common mistakes made by pet content writers and how to avoid them.

1.     Using a tone that’s too detached

Make sure you know your audience. For the majority of pet businesses, the target customers are pet owners and animal lovers. For these people, as with many of us, pets are family. Using detached or insensitive language, including referring to pets as ‘it’ rather than ‘they,’ doesn’t warm the reader to your product, and could leave them questioning whether you truly understand them or even love animals yourself. This point can be taken further, depending on the purpose of the content. In most instances, avoiding using ‘owners’ in favour of ‘guardians,’ ‘parents,’ or ‘carers’ and even using terms like ‘fur-baby’ (like it or loathe it!), can help identify you and your brand as safe, trusted, and empathetic.

2.     Not doing your research

Pet copywriters have a responsibility to deliver accurate and reliable information. While opinions and storytelling can be humorous, add colour, and ramp up engagement, it’s still important that the content is clear and correct. Sharing misinformation or content that could be easily misinterpreted, even unintentionally, could have serious consequences, as well as being unethical. Besides, well-researched blogs or articles drawing information from reliable sources will help build your brand’s reputation as somewhere to go for trusted, balanced advice.

3.     Not providing sources

There’s no point in doing your research if you’re not going to share the sources with your readers. Linking to or referencing scientific studies, data, or other reliable sources demonstrates that you’ve done your research and that the information is accurate. Without the sources, even if the information is correct, your reader may be suspicious.

4.     Feeding fear

A pet parent’s worst nightmare is their pet becoming sick or injured, so it’s important to share information in a neutral fact-based way, using balanced and calm language, rather than sparking panic or fuelling fear unnecessarily. Of course, it’s also important not to play down health risks and consequences either, as pet parents need to act and seek veterinary advice or intervention when it’s needed. Finding the balance, where facts are shared openly and transparently and signposting is given will help pet parents think clearly.

5.     Making veterinary care undesirable

Veterinary care is important, but as a skilled profession requiring specialist premises with lots of technical equipment, it’s also costly. This means that pet parents often get advice online or try to treat their pets at home before taking them to the vet. While this is understandable, as a vet I know that many health conditions deteriorate when diagnosis and treatment are delayed. And the information and advice available from some online sources could even make a pet’s health worse. That’s why it’s important as a pet business to speak positively about visits to the vet, rather than contribute to the narrative that vets are expensive or unnecessary, which creates a barrier to pets getting the help they need.

6.     Losing value or readability in favour of SEO

If you’re a pet content writer, you know how important SEO is. You can have the most engaging and informative article, written by experts, and still have poor visibility if you’re not including those magic keywords. But there’s nothing worse than when SEO keywords are overused or used awkwardly. They can disrupt the flow for the reader or take the place of actual value (facts, tips, etc.). Whatever you’re writing about, focus on fulfilling the aim of your piece and delivering value to the reader.

7.     Not sharing personal experiences

Facts alone won’t create engaging content that pet parents want to read. Yes, they want to get information, but if you deliver it in a way that shows some of your brand’s personality and traits, you can become their go-to, whether you’re providing pet information and guidance or selling pet-related products and services. A great way to do this is by sharing personal experiences or using a storytelling approach – this shows that you’re also an animal lover and part of the pet parent community. Don’t overdo it though – it’s still important to give useful facts and information. This brings us to the next point…

8.     Not getting to the point

It’s easy to get carried away telling stories, but in content writing, every sentence counts. Engaging doesn’t just mean colourful language and personal anecdotes, it also means conciseness – getting to the point. Don’t use lots of padding – plan your work and write purposefully, otherwise you’ll lose the reader’s interest along the way!

Why do vets make great pet industry copywriters?

The pet industry is full of competing brands, and many offer similar products or services so it’s hard to stand out. Using a specialist veterinary copywriter for your content marketing can help you share accurate, engaging content, trusted by pet parents because it’s been written by experts. Our vets have relevant real-life experiences, adding depth to blog posts and articles. They’re not just in the know with SEO, they also know the difference between reliable and unreliable sources.

If you need support delivering your pet brand’s content marketing, contact us at the Veterinary Content Company. We’ll get to know your brand and needs and find the right vet writer to help you reach your goals.

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]]> The Importance of Visual Content in Pet Business Marketing https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/the-importance-of-visual-content-in-pet-business-marketing/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 08:35:53 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3814 When it comes to pet business marketing, our regular readers will know how important your written content is. We’ve written tons of articles about content marketing for pet businesses and...

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]]> When it comes to pet business marketing, our regular readers will know how important your written content is. We’ve written tons of articles about content marketing for pet businesses and even copywriting for pet businesses, but we’ve not covered visual content much. That doesn’t mean visual content is unimportant though – videos and images are also essential to your pet business marketing, so let’s take a closer look.

What is Visual Content?

Visual content is everywhere in marketing. It’s the videos, photos, graphics, and drawings that go alongside words and social posts, even on adverts. It’s what catches your eye when you’re scrolling, and what helps pet owners recognise your brand from a distance. It can also help explain concepts – at Petlearnia, visual content is used to help explain complex medical topics easily.

Types of visual content for pet businesses marketing

In general, there are three main types of visual content you’ll need for your pet business:

  1. Photographs – photos are still fantastic at showing off products and showing a quick peek behind the scenes
  2. Graphics – graphics are visually appealing and can help your brand shine through
  3. Videos – videos of less than 1 minute are one of the most regularly consumed pieces of content online

Where can I get visual content for my pet business?

Pet businesses have it easier than most – there’s naturally plenty of great visual content that goes with pet businesses. After all, you work with adorable animals every day!

Photographs

The best way to get photographs for pet business marketing is to take them yourself! Get yourself a decent camera, and snap away – a good phone camera will do! Take photos behind-the-scenes, of your favourite pets, of your set-up, of funny moments – this stuff is gold for your marketing! If you need something specific and don’t have it yourself, Unsplash, Pixabay and Canva have free photos available. You can even have a play around with AI image creators, but bear in mind that people can often tell if they’re AI-generated, and you should have a think about whether this fits with your business.

Another option is to hire a professional photographer – this can be a really good option when you’re first starting out and need a lot of photos at once for brochures etc.

Graphics

Undeniably, Canva is one of the best programs out there to make amazing graphics for pet businesses. Whether you are a doggy salon or a cat sitter, Canva has some incredible options for graphic creation, with templates to help you get it looking professional. You can do tons with the free version, but the paid version gives you more images and graphics to play with. If you’re struggling, graphic designers can really help and can often create you a whole bunch of branded content for a fee!

Videos

Again, it’s usually best to take these yourself. Portrait-style, on a phone, is great! As with photos, take videos behind-the-scenes, of your daily life, and of your favourite pets – people really value these insights into your life, so these kind of videos are great for marketing. If you haven’t got the video you need, you can get videos on Canva, but most need paying for. Don’t forget to make sure the videos fit with your pet brand – use of filters and even the way you talk on camera should all feel like part of one cohesive brand.

Staying on-brand

As we’ve said before, it’s essential to stay true to your pet business branding. If you have a light and friendly brand, with bubble writing fonts and generally cheerful tone of voice, don’t take photos in dark rooms with boring backgrounds. Instead, get some good lighting and maybe some wall decals to help you stay on-brand.

On the other hand, if your brand has a serious, trusted image, you don’t want anything too light and airy-fairy – videos of you skipping along walking the dogs might be jarring to your audience. Instead, try videos of you giving advice to camera, or photos of views, or even a video of the dogs all coming when they are called or sitting nicely on command.

Use your new visuals in marketing your pet business

Now it’s time to market your pet business with all your visual content. You can use your new visual content across your social media platforms and in your printed marketing materials. Keep taking new videos and photos – it’s a continual process.

Conclusion

Your pet business marketing strategy should include visual content – it’s eye-catching and can increase trust with your customers. But it does need to be on-brand!

If you enjoyed this article, you might want to read more about pet brand design. Or, if you’re inspired to re-vamp your social media pages, why not read about our writing services for pet businesses?

Read more….

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]]> Why good pet copywriters can’t be replaced by AI https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/why-good-pet-copywriters-cant-be-replaced-by-ai/ Sat, 20 Jul 2024 06:45:36 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3793 Ahhhh! AI is coming to steal our jobs! Isn’t it? Well, no. Good pet copywriters can’t be replaced by AI. A copywriter gets to know your brand the way AI...

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]]> Ahhhh! AI is coming to steal our jobs! Isn’t it?

Well, no. Good pet copywriters can’t be replaced by AI. A copywriter gets to know your brand the way AI can’t. They step into your shoes, and write like someone who has worked in your organisation for years. They have your interests at heart, and AI is just an advanced predictive text machine. Let’s look at why a good pet copywriter isn’t going to be replaced by AI any time soon.

Key Takeaways

– AI writes by guessing the most likely next word from a context, based on ‘learning’ from billions of examples
– It struggles with some of the nuances of human conversation, like humour, slang, and emotions
– It can’t innovate – by its nature you’re always re-hashing content when using AI
– It might seem cheaper to use AI at first, but a good pet copywriter is worth their weight in gold
– There are some specific ways to use AI to make your pet copywriter’s job easier – find out more next month!

Pet copywriters or AI?

All businesses have to measure up the costs of marketing against their ROI, and for some the idea of using a free AI like ChatGPT instead of a good pet copywriter might seem like a no-brainer. After all, generative AI can write more quickly, and you can feed it information and details about your company just like you’d feed it to a copywriter. Most importantly, it’s free – or very cheap, if you’re using the paid versions.

But people buy from people, not from bots. Your pet copywriter can infuse your communications with humanity, humour, and a person-centric experience, something you’ll never get from AI. Yes, they might cost more, but quality is more important than quantity (even Google agrees!).

Here are a few other things a good pet copywriter can do that AI can’t:

Things good pet copywriters can do that AI can’t:

1. Write from personal experience

AI has never squeezed a dog’s anal glands or smelled a cat’s rotten breath. They can’t write from the heart or give their experience in the way the best pet copywriters do.

2. Assess how a campaign might land

The last thing your pet brand needs is for a new campaign to land flat or even offend your customers. A good pet copywriter will tell you if they feel your campaign is tone-deaf, but AI isn’t human and can’t read subtle undertones. In fact, it can even accidentally create biased or unethical content – not the look you’re going for!

3. Add humour

AI hasn’t got a sense of humour. Sure, you can try to tell AI to be funny but it can’t intrinsically tell whether something is funny or not. While everyone finds different things funny, a good pet copywriter can write humour for you, if that’s what you want.

4. Innovate

AI works by learning what other people have written after that word before, in the context it’s in. What it produces is a ‘best guess’ based on what people have already written. It sort of averages out the information out there to find the likely ending to a sentence. It can’t innovate and it can’t think outside the box. The result? Beige.

5. Use slang

AI can’t use slang and natural variations in local languages properly. If your pet business likes to use idioms and slang, AI is definitely not for you.

6. Provide industry-specific, accurate information (that doesn’t need fact-checking)

AI writes well, but it makes a lot of mistakes. And the more niche your industry, the more mistakes it makes. It might be free, but the time taken to research and check AI’s facts can be costly. Sometimes it’s best to just use a good pet copywriter in the first place!

What about pet content writing? Can AI do that?

Weeeelll…. yes and no. As above, it can, but it misses some of the things central to the human experience that make people trust your content. It can’t give real-life stories or gain Google Authority on a subject. It can’t get qualifications that give it Expertise. It gets facts wrong (especially in a niche subject like pet health). And, most importantly, Google is starting to negatively rank websites that use AI in bulk.

Summary

Good pet copywriters are worth their weight in gold. While using AI might seem like a cheap shortcut, it’ll cause problems for your business eventually. That said, there are some specific use-cases where AI can help your pet marketing – we’ll go over them in next month’s blog.

If you liked this article, you might be interested in finding out more about why vets make the best animal copywriters.

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]]> Pet Marketing Magic: The Role of Pet Professional Copywriting https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/pet-marketing-magic-the-role-of-pet-professional-copywriting/ Sun, 16 Jun 2024 05:21:43 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3777 Digital marketing is crucial to the success of most companies these days. But with so much information and competition on the internet, how do you get people to look at...

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]]> Digital marketing is crucial to the success of most companies these days. But with so much information and competition on the internet, how do you get people to look at you? Well, this is where pet professional copywriting comes in!  We understand that it can be hard to find the time to work out the intricacies of marketing magic, whilst also doing the day-to-day running of your business. We’re going to explain how a pet professional can help.

First of all, what is a pet professional copywriter?

A pet professional copywriter is more than your average content creator. Professionals have a certain level of knowledge in their chosen area – in this case animals! A professional pet writer will be able to write pieces based on their experience and expertise, which adds a great deal of value. Pet owners like to hear from vets and vet nurses directly, as they know they can trust the information being given to them. A pet professional will be able to separate fact from fiction, as there are many instances of myths and half-truths being peddled online. 

Most of these writers also continue to do their day job alongside their copywriting work, so you can be sure their advice and information are up to date. They are also regulated by their governing body, meaning they have certain standards to uphold in their professional capacity.

How does pet professional copywriting add value?

There are so many ways that pet professional copywriting can add value to your website, blogs and social media posts. These include –

Adding expertise

Just the fact you have a vet or vet nurse writing for your business will give you gravitas. Owners want a trusted source of information, and only a pet professional can provide that. Having a vet writer working for your company is therefore a big tick for many potential customers. 

Professional copywriters will also provide links to reputable sources of information, such as scientific papers, journals or other respected websites. This allows pet owners to see the original resource for themselves as well as improve your credibility.

Professionalism

A pet professional is just that, a professional. We are used to meeting commitments and deadlines in our day jobs, so the way we handle our writing work is no different. We want you to be proud of the end product and will work with you to achieve something special for your business.

We are extremely passionate about pet care and health – it’s what we’ve spent years training for. We enjoy the opportunity to support like-minded businesses and our enthusiasm comes across in our work. 

We understand how Google works…

Pet professional writers have an excellent grasp of the inner workings of search engines. This is important if you want your business to appear towards the top of a page of results. The nearer the top you are, the more likely you will be to receive clicks. We understand how to utilise search engine optimisation, including seamlessly weaving hyperlinks and keywords into our pieces. While in theory, this isn’t hard to do yourself with a bit of research, employing a professional can help to take the pressure off. 

We know pet owners

This is where the real magic comes in, pet professionals are used to communicating with the public – it’s what we do each time we step into the consulting room. As such we can digest scientific material and translate it into something that pet owners can understand and relate to. Not only does this help educate them on their pet’s problems but also helps them to get on board with the solution. We also know all the commonly asked questions and recognise hot pet health topics. This again helps improve your search engine optimisation.

How can I best utilise a professional pet copywriter?

We understand the cost of employing a veterinary writer will need to come out of your marketing budget, which is why you should use us wisely! We are experts in pet health, so let us work our magic on these sorts of pieces above anything else.

While employing a professional to write your whole content piece is ideal, there are options for all budgets. You could choose to mix vets into your normal content by asking for shorter, quote or experience-style pieces. These can be slotted into your existing work to give your webpage the extra credibility it needs.

Finding the right vet writer, with an interest in your chosen topic will also help greatly. Vets all have different areas of interest or may have additional qualifications in particular areas of pet health, so finding a writer that aligns with what you want to achieve can help too.

Where do I find a pet professional copywriter?

You’ve already come to the right place! The Veterinary Content Company has a wealth of professional talent available for you. Our pet professional copywriting services are second to none. With a variety of experts ready to help your business, we can be certain to find the right vet writer or vet nurse for the job. We also perform regular internal reviews of our work and strive for excellence in all our projects. Speak to us today for an informal discussion about your needs. 

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]]> Exploring the Pet Industry Writer’s Toolkit https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/exploring-the-pet-industry-writers-toolkit/ Wed, 08 May 2024 09:41:59 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3766 With many careers and jobs, it is hard to fully appreciate what goes on behind the scenes unless you work in that sector yourself. The role of a pet industry...

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]]> With many careers and jobs, it is hard to fully appreciate what goes on behind the scenes unless you work in that sector yourself. The role of a pet industry writer is no different. There’s a lot more to writing top-quality content than meets the eye, so we’re going to showcase the various tools and steps that one of our writers uses when crafting their pieces. This should give you an idea of what to try yourself, or what you should be looking out for when employing your next content creator!

Research tools

Research is a huge part of content creation and can take up as much time as the actual writing itself. For your content to be credible it needs to be backed up by scientific facts and the vets and vet nurses in our team know the importance of up-to-date information.

A good writer will use reputable sources like Pubmed, which contains scientific papers about a variety of topics in both veterinary and human medicine. They will then try to include papers in their references or hyperlink to them within your blog so that fact-finding pet owners can see the original sources for themselves.

However, it is not good enough to just stick in a load of references at hope for the best! This is where having a veterinary professional as a pet industry writer really pays off. They will be able to interpret the scientific data, assess it for relevance and be able to interpret it for your intended audience. This is a skill, being able to make complicated scientific knowledge accessible to all.

Your veterinary writer will also know where to look for other top-quality sources of information. Linking to reputable resources will improve the credibility of your website, increase search engine optimisation (SEO) and make it more likely you will get those all-important clicks.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)/keyword research tools

It’s no good having a great website and articles if no one can find it! This is where search engine optimisation (SEO) comes in. This is the art of getting your website higher up the results list generated by search engines, meaning you are more likely to get clicked on. A key part of this is including certain keywords and phrases within your website or blogs.

To come up with keywords for our pieces we look at what is trending on Google searches through the ‘People Also Asked (PAA)’ results. When you Google a keyword or question, PAA automatically shows you similar popular key phrases that people are also searching for.

We also use websites like ahrefs. This website allows you to type in a keyword and it will produce a list of similar keywords. It also generates information about these words including search volume (the average number of searches for that word per month). This indicates how popular a keyword is – the more popular it is the more you want to feature it on your website!

But it’s not enough to know what the keywords are, you then need to know how to use them in your work. They need to be peppered throughout the piece, featuring in headers and text, while still sounding natural and making for an engaging read. A good content writer will be able to achieve this.

Writing/grammar tools

Once your pet industry writer has written their blog or article, then it is important that they check their grammar and spelling. Nothing ruins the professional appearance of your website faster than poorly written work! Not only do we use the spelling function in Word, but we also run it through further checks using websites like Grammarly. This helps to hone the grammar we use, whether that’s in UK English or US English.

It is also possible to check whether the language we are using is appropriate for our target audience. Using some of the ‘insights’ on Word or the scoring system on the Readability Formulas website can help us to check our work is written appropriately accessible level for our readers.  

And remember that all of this happens before we put it through our own internal editors for checks too!

Graphics tools

Graphics are also important when you are putting together your content. Large blocks or lists of text can be a bit dull if not broken up with pictures. Canva is a great example of a tool used for design and photo editing.

Just remember that each image also adds to your website’s SEO. Its file name and alt text should therefore be something relevant to the image, ideally using popular keywords or key phrases. For example, someone searching for the ‘best dog chew toy’ is more likely to come across your image and website if your picture has a descriptive file name rather than a generic one. Google can’t ‘see’ your images so relies on you naming them. It reads image file names to display them during a consumer search.

Final thoughts

There’s a lot to think about as a pet industry writer! While most of the tools we have listed are open to anyone, it is important to know how to use them. Hopefully, some of our tips will get you going, but if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed then speak to us! We have a variety of services available, and we can tailor them to your needs. This includes writing all your content for you from scratch, through to reviewing and advising you on your already written pieces. Contact us today for more information.

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]]> Pet writer insights: 4 tips from 4 of our pet content writers https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/pet-writer-insights-tips-from-pet-content-writers/ Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:10:48 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3755 The Veterinary Content Company is nearly four years old, but the combined experience of our pet writers is over 60 years! We decided to celebrate our upcoming birthday by asking...

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]]> The Veterinary Content Company is nearly four years old, but the combined experience of our pet writers is over 60 years! We decided to celebrate our upcoming birthday by asking 4 of our best pet content writers for their top tips, and they didn’t disappoint.

Key Takeaways

– Keep your content factually correct by using a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to write or check the content
– Have a clear stance with evidence to support it
– Use personal experience and stories to enrich your content and provide connection
– Don’t just state facts, explain and show pet owners how the information is important to them

Vet writer Emma Rogers-Smith has been writing for us for nearly three years and in that time has authored over a hundred articles. She shared her top tip:

Emma-rogers-smith-veterinary-writer

Make sure your content is factually correct (it’s better for SEO and your readers!)

Writing engaging pet content can be tricky; that much is true! For me, as a veterinary pet content writer, one of the most important things is ensuring content is factually correct. Having knowledgeable content backed up by evidence will help build trust with your readers and keep their pets safe. Knowing whether an online resource is fact or opinion is undoubtedly getting more challenging, so try to go back to the original scientific papers or reference articles written by experts in the field (with the qualifications to back it up!). If you are unsure about the truth behind what you’re reading, reach out to the experts for input as needed. Sorting through fact from fiction in the pet content world is where having an experienced veterinary content writer can be a hugely helpful asset!”

Next, we asked Dr Rebecca MacMillan, pet vet and writer. Becky has been writing for us since 2020 on all pet vet subjects. She’s also one of marketing bods, so writes for our knowledgebase. She had the following tip:

Have a clear, evidence-based stance on matters to build a loyal following

Using a veterinary expert as your pet content writer means that you will be getting up-to-date, professional advice. Vets and veterinary nurses have professional integrity, meaning that anything we recommend will be in the very best interest of the animal and there is no personal agenda. So, my top tip is to use a writer who is happy to take a stance on important matters, providing factual information to back their points up. This ensures that your website is always a credible source of information and becomes the trusted ‘go-to’ source for pet owners. By having a clear stance, backed up with evidence, you’ll build a loyal following of pet owners.

Dr Rebecca MacMillan is a veterinary copywriter with The Veterinary Content Company

The next vet in the firing line was Dr Jnanee Krishnasamy. Jnanee lives in Singapore and has been veterinary copywriting for The Veterinary Content Company for two years now. Jnanee does a fantastic job of explaining complex topics for pet parents.

Enrich your pet content with personal stories

With hordes of pet content writers roaming the Internet, it’s no easy task to make your pet content stand out! However, you can warm your readers’ hearts by adding personal stories to your pet content. In fact, you could even write an article with pet content as a personal story by itself. People love personal stories – especially success stories – in their content, and pet content is no different. You could talk about pets that you’ve helped with the tips in your pet content e.g. rearing orphaned newborn kittens to adulthood, successfully rehoming rescue pets with anxiety and so on. Personal stories also add legitimacy to your pet content, as you show readers that you’ve “lived” your pet content and know that it’s authentic (and that you don’t just cobble facts together to write your pet content!)

The last pet writer we asked was Dr Hannah Godfrey. Hannah has been writing for us for over three years and is one of our senior writers. She’s great at writing for pet owners but has also dabbled in marketing and writing for other vets – and she excels at it all! Hannah regularly writes for our pet marketing blog here, and knows exactly what she’s talking about when it comes to pet content writing. Her tip was:

Show, don’t tell to keep your reader engaged

Keeping your readers engaged isn’t always easy, especially if the topic you’re writing about is quite technical or scientific. It’s important to steer away from listing facts and statistics one after another, as this can be challenging to read. You can improve readability by ‘showing’ your audience the information in your storytelling. Seeing how the information is applied in reality will help keep your reader interested and improve their understanding, for example, instead of stating “Onions and other alliums cause Heinz body anaemia in dogs” you could say “If your dog eats onions or other plants from the allium family, they could become anaemic. This is because alliums can damage your dog’s red blood cells, a condition known as Heinz body anaemia.”

Dr Hannah Godfrey is a pet content writer at The Veterinary Content Company

Find a pet content writer with The Veterinary Content Company

With those top tips in mind, you might feel ready to set off and write your pet business blog. But if you’ve just realised what a huge job writing a good pet blog will be, why not try outsourcing your content writing to an expert? It’s super easy to work with us – all we need is a title and a wordcount to aim for, and we’ll turn around an amazing article using modern SEO techniques. We also offer free consultations with our senior team so we can get to the bottom of your pet marketing troubles and work out how best to help.

But if you want to have a go yourself, we don’t blame you. Our Knowledgebase should give you more information on all pet business digital marketing topics!

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]]> Veterinary copywriter secrets: 9 ways to make pet parents into loyal customers https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/veterinary-copywriter-secrets-9-ways-to-make-pet-parents-into-loyal-customers/ Tue, 09 Apr 2024 08:48:44 +0000 https://veterinarycontentcompany.co.uk/?p=3752 Pet owners are hungry for knowledge. They want to know more about their pets and what’s best for them – their health, their behaviour, how to look after them, and...

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]]> Pet owners are hungry for knowledge. They want to know more about their pets and what’s best for them – their health, their behaviour, how to look after them, and how to have fun with them! Your business can turn pet owners looking for information into customers by tuning into their needs. A veterinary copywriter is a valuable asset. There are hundreds of competitors trying to get pet parents’ attention. Your brand needs to stand out as trustworthy rather than trying to take advantage of how much they care for their pets to make a quick sale of a poor-quality product.

But as a veterinary copywriter, how do you win your reader’s trust to become their go-to source of pet information and products? Below, we’ll share our nine veterinary copywriter secrets to help your pet business bond with pet parents, inspiring loyal customers who stand the test of time.

Key Takeaways

– Know your audience and get in their shoes for the best content
– Focus on benefits, not features
– Combine pictures, data, and real-life experiences
– Use clear calls-to-action
– Analyse your results, and adjust accordingly
– Consider getting a professional veterinary copywriter to help, like our team

Knowing your Audience

Before creating content for your pet business, you must understand a pet parent’s mind. How else can you make sure that you appeal to them? Unsurprisingly, many people working in the pet industry have pets themselves. If you do, let that first-hand experience guide your writing.

Pet ownership comes with a great sense of responsibility to do the right thing, from ensuring the pet has a good diet and exercise routine to keeping up with their healthcare. Pet parents love their furry family members, and it’s distressing for them if their pet is sick, in pain, or anxious.

Understanding the concerns of pet parents about their pet’s health or your product and acknowledging them is an excellent way to build trust. However, this vulnerability makes pet parents susceptible to misinformation, since many desperate pet owners search online for an answer to their pet’s injury, health condition, or behaviour concern and end up bombarded with contradictory and unreliable search results telling them to ‘try this’ or ‘do that.’

Even if they’re misinformed, pet parents have their pet’s best interests at heart. Instead of isolating a group of potential customers by writing content that shames them for using an outdated training technique or poor pet product, be empathetic and make your content gentle but informative. After all, correcting this misinformation is the perfect opportunity to inspire loyalty.

9 Veterinary Copywriter Secrets to Convert Readers into Loyal Customers

Secret 1: Speak Their Language

Remember who you’re writing for! Tap into your inner pet parent, use language they understand and find engaging, and keep your tone friendly. However, don’t forget you’re providing informative and trustworthy content, so hang on to your expert tone by avoiding casual phrasing.

Secret 2: Focus on Benefits

If you’re introducing or explaining a pet product, it’s natural to want to list all of the great features, but that’s not going to keep your reader interested. What pet parents want to know is how your product will make a positive difference to their or their pet’s life. That’s why it’s really important to put yourself in their shoes and consider their needs and concerns when explaining your product.

Secret 3: Share Real-life Experiences

We all know the power of real-life stories and personal recommendations. If you want to connect with your readers as pet parents, include stories about your product from other pet parents in case studies or testimonials. Don’t underestimate the sense of community among pet owners, and word-of-mouth recommendations are powerful.

Secret 4: Use Data and Research

Increase your credibility and demonstrate your expertise by backing up your content with relevant statistics, using your data, or referencing research. This way, you’ll gain your reader’s trust as they’ll have more than just your word that your product is great.

Secret 5: Use Pet Pictures and Videos

It’s amazing how much time can be lost watching cat and dog videos online! Our furry friends are hilariously funny and effortlessly cute, and pet parents can’t get enough of their antics. Choosing some high-quality pet pictures and videos will increase reader engagement and give them that warm, fuzzy feeling about your brand.

Secret 6: Show Them the Next Step

When we browse online these days, we’re much more distractable. We spend less time reading one specific article and instead tend to flit around, following links off the page or googling something else when a new thought occurs to us. This means it’s even more important to use clear calls to action throughout your content to guide the reader to make a purchase, find out more, or speak to the team.

Secret 7: Highlight Achievements on your Socials

There’s no denying the power of social media! Not only does having professional-looking and regularly updated social media accounts allow you to interact with your community, show them who you are as a brand, and build their trust, but they also give you a platform to showcase great customer feedback and testimonials and announce any awards your product or brand wins.

Secret 8: Keep it Fresh

A veterinary copywriter’s work is never done! It’s important to regularly update your content with new information, trends, and seasonal tips to keep pet parents coming back for more.

Secret 9: Don’t Shy Away from the Data

Analysing your content’s performance has lots of benefits. Firstly, you’ll get to know the topics and content styles that your audience love and engage with, and what leads to product sales. So, over time, you can use this information to continuously modify and improve your content. Don’t forget though, taking a closer look at the data and reader demographics will allow you to target your content at sub-groups of your audience, making the information feel more personal and nurturing that brand-customer bond.

Do you need our help?

As a veterinary copywriter aiming to attract loyal customers, you must create informative content delivered in an engaging, empathetic, yet expert way. Highlight how the product will make a difference to their pet’s life and use real-world examples and sturdy statistics.

If you’re juggling creating content for your pet business while running the show or struggling to create content that generates results, head to our pet content and copywriting services page to see how we can help.

The post Veterinary copywriter secrets: 9 ways to make pet parents into loyal customers appeared first on The Veterinary Content Company.

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