Erika Godwin is the Co-Founder and the Chief Marketing Officer of ProPet Software, a boarding kennel, dog daycare and pet grooming management software. She is also an expert on website creation, maintenance, and SEO.
Show Highlights:
- What is the difference between an HTTP & HTTPS backup? [3:30]
- Why do business owners need a virtual webmaster to help keep their sites up to date? [6:25]
- How do plugins, speed/performance, and SEO all affect each other? [11:45]
- Is it true that Google won’t show my website if my mobile website isn’t up to date? [13:00]
- Are branded emails a thing of the past or an up-and-coming trend? [16:00]
- What are the biggest mistakes pet sitters make on their websites and social media? [18:00]
Quotables:
“The more plugins you have, the longer it will take for your website to load – which causes more people to BOUNCE off your website. The more plugins you have, the longer it will take for your website to load – which causes more people to BOUNCE off your website. The more plugins you have, the longer it will take for your website to load – which causes more people to BOUNCE off your website.
“SEO is NOT a one and done thing. You have to keep at it to make sure your website stays at the top of Google.”
“Mobile is now more important than the desktop version of your website!
Downloadable Offer:
Erika is offering websites to pet sitters for 93% off what it would normally cost. This $5,000 website is only $350 and will include all your own copy and logo. It is a crazy deal that has never been done in the industry.
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Transcript:
Bella:
This is episode 79 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready, Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting, and today I’m here with Erica Godwin. Erica, how are you?
Erica:
Good, how are you?
Bella:
Good. I am so excited to have you on because you are a wealth of knowledge, and I want to back it up and explain to everyone how I actually found you. It was probably about a year ago. You were killing it on Instagram, and then I got into your group, and just the amount of awesome information that you put out there so nonchalantly and casually is so attractive to me. I love how you are an educating marketer. And I want you to tell the audience a little bit about you. I know you’re up in Canada, so yay, all you Canadians. But you also went to college here in New York, and now you have this big business that you are a partner in. So why don’t you explain to everyone who you are and how we got here today?
Erica:
Sure. So I guess backtrack a couple of years. I grew up in Ottawa. I had a hockey and golf scholarship, so that took me down to upstate New York at Elmira College. After that, I came back to Canada after I graduated, and there weren’t really any options, so I was really struggling to find a job. I stumbled across a real estate entrepreneur in Ottawa, and he was opening a business incubator. So that’s kind of how I got started in business and startups and everything. Unfortunately, that company went under due to lack of funding, and then that’s when I met another entrepreneur who is my partner in our software. So basically three years ago, I met them, and one of them is a software entrepreneur and the other one is a kennel owner. So basically, the three of us together, with my marketing background, we ended up founding ProPet Software. While starting ProPet Software, that’s when I found out that there were a lot of pet businesses that were lacking in the marketing side, and they had a lot of outdated websites and social media was non-existent or just not done properly. So that’s when I decided to start helping, because I like helping people.
Bella:
So essentially, I started an Instagram page just putting out some tips and tricks and suggestions. From there, people were asking me if there was a blog because they wanted to know how to implement them. So I started writing a blog implementing it. And then I was trying to think how I could help more, and that’s when I met Bella, and we kind of discussed some other ways that we can help pet businesses.
You’re a diamond in our industry. I think you would probably agree with me—there are a lot of things that glitter, but they’re not really gold. And you definitely shine, and you are definitely gold—or diamond, I guess. I was like, girl, you need to figure this out. So we’re going to get to that at the end of it, but before we do, I just want to lay some truth bombs on people here. We’re going to talk a lot about your website. If you’re watching us live and not on the replay or on the podcast, we’re actually going to open it up for questions at the end.
So if you’re liking what we’re saying, go ahead and say hello, tell us you’re here. I know there’s a bunch of people watching right now. We want to know who it is. And if you have questions, definitely post them as we go and we will get to them at the end. Why don’t you back up a little bit here, Erica, and talk to me about our websites. I think one of the most basic and tiny little things that a lot of people don’t understand is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. Can you explain to us what the difference is there and why every pet sitter should have HTTPS, how to get it, and what it actually means?
Erica:
Right. So actually last month, October 2017, Google just came out with a new warning. So if your website does not have HTTPS, you will then notice that if you look in the top of your browser there, it will say “not secure” if you have any forms on your website. And before it was kind of more just like if you do credit card processing, but now if you collect email addresses for your newsletter, if you have a contact form, you need to make sure that all of that information is encrypted. So essentially, HTTP, when you go to a website that is not secure, your information that is transmitted through forms is all in plain text.
Bella:
So if a hacker tries to intercept that, they’ll be able to get all of your information super easily, which is not good, especially when it’s email addresses and credit card information. So with HTTPS, it’s all encrypted. So essentially what happens is there’s an SSL handshake, a secure socket layer handshake, and that encrypts the connection so that if a hacker does try to intercept it, it’s all encrypted information—they can’t decode it. So your information is all safe.
Fantastic. Yeah, because in the past it was like, I have software. And when people go on my software, that’s all encrypted and that’s fine. But a lot of us are actually taking information off of our own pet sitting and dog walking websites. So what Google now said, like you need to have HTTPS, everyone does. Is that what happened in October?
Erica:
Basically, if you look in the top corner of a website, it says secure, that means you have HTTPS. If it doesn’t say secure, now what Google is saying is they’re going to penalize you essentially by putting “not secure.” So if someone goes to your website and they see “not secure” in the URL, they’re probably going to leave because they don’t want to put their information in your website, and they might get nervous.
Bella:
That happened to me. Mine expired because these things also expire, right? It’s like every year you have to get a new one.
Erica:
Some of them are every year, some are every six months, but a lot of hosting providers will automatically just renew them for you.
Bella:
Got it. So that’s just another thing as a business owner I need to keep aware of. Great. Thanks, guys. I can hear people getting overwhelmed and sighing right now.
Erica:
They are free. You just have to know where to go to make that toggle and do the setup.
Bella:
My goodness. So that leads me to my next question. And this is something I’ve learned by falling on my face, Erica. I am not as eloquent as you, and I call it my website handyman or handywoman. So why would someone need this day and age—you—because we’ve come a long way with websites, right? Why would someone need a virtual webmaster or, as I call them, a handyman to keep their site up to date because we’re so busy with everything else?
Erica:
The virtual webmaster basically keeps everything up to date and fresh. So maintenance is a big thing. You need to make sure all of your plugins are up to date and that, if you’re using WordPress, your WordPress is up to date. With websites growing so much, hackers are now seeing more of an opportunity to intercept and get your information. So that is the most important reason why you need to keep your website up to date. For example, whenever WordPress pushes a new update, most of the time it’s a security update because someone found a hole. If you’re not updating your website right away, there’s a big vulnerability there and someone can hack your website.
Bella:
Yeah, I had that happen. My pet sitting site started selling Viagra in 2015. It was so much fun. And then you go into this panic and it ruins your day, and you’re trying to figure out what happened, how to get it back. Simply put, I wasn’t keeping my house clean. So when we are busy business owners, I think it’s really important to have someone do that.
Erica:
If you wait too long to update, you could screw up your whole website because there are so many updates in between. Sometimes plugins go out of date or are no longer supported, so you need to make sure that if a plugin is outdated and no longer supported, maybe it’s time to switch to a newer one.
Bella:
Right. So we have our WordPress website that needs to be updated constantly, but then we have all these plugins—on average, what, 20, 25? Sometimes people have even more than that because they just keep adding plugins. It’s not good.
Erica:
Plugins slow your website down. You really want to stay as lean as possible and use the least amount of plugins as possible. I like to stay with just a couple—maybe four or five—just to keep your website lean and loading quickly. The more plugins you add, the longer it’s going to take to load, and the more likely someone may bounce from your website because everything’s loaded in the background.
Bella:
Right. So what I’m hearing is that you, as a webmaster, know which plugins cover what, rather than me guessing. Things could run smoother when you have that global understanding of things.
Erica:
Exactly.
Bella:
So you basically keep up with the updates, make sure the plugins are right, and that the website is running efficiently. And like you said, hackers are getting smarter and more creative, so it’s really important that we stay one step ahead of them.
Erica:
Exactly. And even if you do get hacked, having a backup system is extremely important. A lot of people don’t even realize they should be backing up their website daily. So if something does happen, you can just restore it to a previous backup and not lose everything.
Bella:
Yes, that’s huge. Because the average business owner isn’t thinking about their website until something goes wrong, right?
Erica:
Exactly. And that’s the problem. It’s like insurance—you don’t think you need it until it’s too late. Having a webmaster or someone managing your site ensures that everything’s working behind the scenes, so you can focus on running your business.
Bella:
That’s so true. And I know a lot of pet sitters and dog walkers listening right now probably don’t have time to think about all of that, but it’s so critical because it affects your credibility. If someone goes to your website and it’s down or says “not secure,” that’s it—they’re gone.
Erica:
Exactly. You only have a few seconds to make that impression, and if your site doesn’t look trustworthy, potential clients will move on to the next one.
Bella:
That’s why I tell people all the time—your website is your first employee. It’s the one working 24/7 when you’re asleep or out walking dogs. It’s constantly selling you. But if it’s not optimized or up to date, you’re literally losing money.
Erica:
That’s so true. And it’s not just about security. It’s also about user experience—making sure your site loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, and has clear calls to action. These are all things that can make a huge difference in whether someone books your services or not.
Bella:
Right, and people don’t realize how important those little details are. Even the speed that a site loads can determine if someone stays or leaves.
Erica:
Yes, absolutely. Google actually uses page speed as one of its ranking factors now. So if your website takes too long to load, not only are people leaving, but you’re also being penalized in search rankings.
Bella:
So it’s all connected—your website performance, your SEO, your credibility, and your conversions. That’s why having someone like you managing the backend is so crucial.
Erica:
Exactly.
Bella:
So for someone listening who’s maybe thinking, “Okay, my site might not be perfect, but I don’t know where to start,” what are the top three things they should check or fix first?
Erica:
The first thing would definitely be to check if your website is secure—make sure it has HTTPS. Second, make sure it’s mobile-friendly. More than 60% of traffic comes from mobile now, so if your website doesn’t look good on a phone, you’re losing out. Third, check your page speed. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to see how fast your site loads and get suggestions for improvement.
Bella:
Those are great tips. I love that you mentioned mobile-friendly, because I think a lot of people design their site on a desktop and forget to check what it looks like on a phone.
Erica:
Exactly. It might look amazing on a computer, but on a phone, the buttons could be too small or the text could be overlapping, and that creates a bad user experience.
Bella:
So for someone who wants help with all of this, what does working with you look like?
Erica:
I usually start with an audit of your website. I’ll go through and identify what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved. Then I’ll create a plan that includes things like fixing technical issues, optimizing for SEO, and setting up security and backups. Once everything’s running smoothly, I offer ongoing maintenance packages to keep everything updated and secure.
Bella:
That’s awesome. It sounds like you really take the stress out of the whole process for business owners.
Erica:
That’s the goal. I want my clients to feel confident knowing that their website is taken care of and that it’s working for them, not against them.
Bella:
I love that. And like we said earlier, your website is your hardest-working employee. You wouldn’t neglect an employee, so don’t neglect your website.
Erica:
Exactly.
Bella:
So where can people find you if they want to connect with you or learn more about your services?
Erica:
They can find me at petmarketingunleashed.com or follow me on Instagram at @petmarketingunleashed. I share a lot of free tips there too.
Bella:
Awesome. You guys, seriously, go follow her. She’s one of the best in our industry, and her tips are super practical. Erica, thank you so much for joining me today.
Erica:
Thank you for having me.
Bella:
You’re welcome! You guys, that’s it for this episode of Bella in Your Business. Make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and as always, keep jumping.