As a dog trainer, you’re probably really busy running your sessions and need information on the run. In my opinion the best website platform is Squarespace because it’s easy to make it look good, display your services clearly and automate your booking calendar. 

In this blog post I’ll dig into this in more detail so you can make the most informed decision for you and your dog trainer or dog behaviourist business. 

Squarespace is cheap per month if you are on a tight budget initially

If you are thinking of DIYing your website, you can opt for the cheapest plan which works out at $16 a month if you pay annually, or $25 if you pay monthly. 

If you’re planning to get a website designer to create the website then I would recommend the business plan, which offers more features and the ability to take payments if you are planning to have one or two products for sale. This is $23 a month if you pay annually, or $36 if you pay monthly. Click here for more details on pricing 

You can easily add a booking system to Squarespace

Time is a key thing for you. I can imagine you would love to save some in your schedule so you can focus more on having an impact on the dogs and owners you serve. 

Acuity schedular is one example of a booking system that pairs really well with Squarespace. Dog owners finding you can book in for the different services you offer, without you having to do the back and forth email or phone conversation in between training sessions. 

Acuity makes automation possible – taking secure payments, sending out key details and reminders to dog owners of their upcoming sessions. 

Think of how much time this could save you over a year. I’m willing to guess it’s a lot of hours. 

What does Acuity Schedular pair well with? 

It pairs with Google calendar, Outlook and you can choose your payment processors – examples it pairs with are: Paypal, Stripe and Square. Click here for more information 

How much does Acuity Schedular cost? 

For approx $16 a month if you pay annually ($192 total per year) or $20 approx a month, you can get Acuity schedular. (This is an extra subscription on top of the Squarespace plan)

You can clearly display your services and answer FAQs before you get on a consult call

Squarespace is great for helping you display your key services in an attractive, engaging way so that dog owners know before they hire you what values you have, what training approaches you use and what you specialise in. 

You can also use the platform to share the questions you are asked time and time again, which again saves you time over email or the phone. 

Result? 

You allow yourself to attract closely aligned clients and the dogs you really want to help. 

Squarespace is easy to edit 

If you are getting your dog trainer website built for you, you want to be able to edit your services or prices or any of the little details without having to ask a website designer to do it. It can get pricey right? 

Squarespace makes this easy as it is so easy to learn how to edit. If you get someone to build your website, ensure that the designer provides you with tutorials before they end the project with you. 

I think this is one of the most important parts of my design process. When the website is finished and I am handing it over to you, I spend 1.5 hours showing you live on-screen how to edit various key parts of your website. I record this lesson, so it is yours every time you need to do edits. 

Squarespace has improved the search engine visibility (SEO)

When I originally started out I was a blogger, and I managed to monetise my blog successfully. Back in 2019 I wouldn’t have recommended using Squarespace to set up a blogging website because the SEO tools and features weren’t as good as WordPress’s.

 Fast forward 5 years, and Squarespace have done a lot of work to address this and it now competes with WordPress. (Hence why I now feel excited about being able to recommend this beautiful platform). 

What does this mean for you as a dog trainer or dog behaviourist? 

It means that if your website is optimised for SEO, you are more likely to be found by the dog owners who need your help. Your website is more likely to appear on page 1 of search results when someone searches for a dog trainer. 

(Pro-tip – Creating useful blog content is also a way to boost the number of people coming to your website.) 

Squarespace frees up your time to concentrate on other things. 

Imagine this for a second. If you decide to DIY your website, you will be spending less time learning how to use it than WordPress, which is a steeper learning curve. Editing it will take less time also. 

If you have your website designed for you, you will also be able to edit it in less time, without things looking weird like they can do on WordPress if you alter something like size of an object. 

This will free you up to more of the income producing activities or marketing that previously you haven’t had time for. 

(Plus you feel way more relaxed than if you were trying to figure out why that image you replaced is falling off the screen on mobile. This is one of the common things I see with WordPress).

In conclusion 

Squarespace is now the top recommendation I have if you are a dog trainer or behaviourist. It offers you the ability to either design or have a gorgeous website designed for you. You can update and change your website with ease in comparison to some other platforms. 

Clients can get all their burning questions answered and book in for your services, without creating you more work.