Give Your Sitter Profile a Spring Cleaning
Right now is a great time to refresh your profile on Rover. We recently filmed a video of Amber Christensen—Rover’s social producer—sharing tips for giving your profile a bit of a spring cleaning.
You can view the full video here.
Aside from working at Rover HQ, Amber is also a long-time sitter on Rover. In one of her first tips, she describes changing her own sitter profile photo to a picture she took with her client’s sweet Boston terrier. She later noticed an increase of requests from dog owners with Boston terriers, Pugs or French bulldogs. She thinks it’s likely that these dogs owners felt more comfortable with her watching their dog because she has experience looking after breeds with similar characteristics and needs.
In the video, Amber breaks down the key components of the profile:
- Headline
- Profile photo
- Gallery photos
- Written content
Headline
Amber recommends staying away from generic headlines like, “Dogs love me!” Instead, perhaps try something like, “Retired couple—home all day” or “Let me take your dog on a hike.” This is a great way to call out your skills, interests or attributes that will help you stand out. A good exercise is to search other cities to get inspiration from other sitters. Look at the sitters with the most reviews. Which headlines are they using?
Profile photo
For your profile photo, choose something that’s close up. Because the profile picture can appear small—especially with many pet owners searching on their phone—a close up photo will show you clearly. Like we already mentioned, posing with your own pet or pets you’ve watched before make great profile pictures. Especially for the profile photo, it’s best to pose without a hat or sunglasses.
Gallery photos
Having ample gallery photos on your profile is a great opportunity to show your home, if you offer services in your house. Where will the pet play? Sleep? Hang out? Amber recommends staging a photo of a cozy spot for pet owners to imagine their pet in.
Make sure that photos show a safe environment. Are plants out of reach? Are cords tucked away? Reducing clutter and using natural light, when possible, makes for a cleaner-looking photo.
If you share a home with a roommate, partner or children, feel free to include them in your gallery photos as well, so that pet owners can see them interacting with pets you’ve previously watched.
Use photo captions! This is great way to give people more information as they click through your image gallery. Amber’s profile shows off her yard with a caption that says, “Fully-fenced yard with green grass.” This tells pet owners that their dog can play in an enclosed outdoor space safely.
Written content
The written content section is important because it gives pet owners more insight into your lifestyle, preferences, experience and requirements. Do pet owners you interact with ask you the same questions often? If so, consider adding the answers into your profile. Providing as much information as possible will lead to more successful booking requests that match your preferences.
Things to consider including:
- Your home: do you have a yard? Is it fenced? Do you have stairs? Do you live with people?
- Your experience: did you grow up with pets? Have you watched pets with special needs or pets that needed medication? Are there breeds in particular that you love and have experience with?
- What pet owners can expect if booking with you: do you live near a park that you love to walk dogs to? Do you love to snuggle on the couch with your clients’ pets?
- Let people know what questions you have for them: Amber likes to list questions that she often has for prospective clients. For example, she likes to know ahead of time if someone’s dog gets along with other dogs or if they are afraid of meeting people on the street.
For more information—and to see Amber’s sitter profile on Rover—check out the full video here.