How to Make A Babysitting Website 2023 – Suitable for Nurseries & Childminders

A reliable website is the cornerstone of a modern professional. It’s a resume and an interview all in one.

For professional babysitters and childminders, a website is the first point of contact for parents. You can make it easy for them to trust your services. With reliable content and simple navigation, you can be a client’s first call.

We’re going to walk you through how to make a babysitting website suitable for nurseries and childminders.

How To Make A Babysitting Site In A Few Short Minutes

Have the core website for your childminding business up in 10 minutes or less with these step-by-step instructions:

• We need hosting so people can see your site online; go to JustHost here to set that up.
• Press the Get Started Now button.
• Choose a plan then click the Select button. If you’re only making one site, the Basic plan will do the job.
• In the box, type your babysitting business name if you want that as your website name [E.g. IBabysitKids.com then select the Next button.
• Enter your name, email & other details. For Account Plan pick at least 12 months to get nearly a 50% saving. Untick all Package Extras then Submit the form.
• Now you’ll be logged in to JustHost. Select ‘Install WordPress’.
• You’ll be shown simple instructions; follow them. Just don’t add plugins or themes as we’ll add those later.
• Add privacy for your domain (website). On the Justhost dashboard, go to ‘Domains’ > ‘Manage’ > ‘Security’. Toggle ‘Domain Privacy’ to on.

You now have a fully functioning babysitting website; congratulations!

Once it’s set up, the next step is to make your babysitting site look attractive and professional.

Top WordPress Themes to Make Your Babysitting Website Look Professional

Don’t underestimate the importance of a strong theme. It’s the bones of your website. You couldn’t stand without it. A great design makes a great first impression, and you can make that impression last.

We’re going to discuss the best themes to create a nursery website.

Peggi Multipurpose Children Theme

The Peggi Multipurpose Children Theme is SEO optimized, responsive to any screen size, translation ready, and compatible with many useful plugins.

The layout has crisp, bright lines with your choice of colors, but the premade designs favor soft pastels. Two pre-installed widgets are the image gallery and WooCommerce Dropdown Cart.

Premade assets include two blog list pages, two event pages, a calendar, a pricing table, and a simple contact form.

Preschool – Nurseries Kindergarten WordPress Theme

You can take advantage of the Preschool WordPress Theme’s generous white space, making the layouts easy to read and navigate.

With over seven homepages, content pages like Our Service, Contact Us, About us, Gallery, Events, and Blogs, there’s a lot premade so you can hit the ground running.

Don’t feel restricted by what’s already there. You can customize color styles, use the Drag & Drop Page Builder, or transform the event calendar into an availability schedule.

The theme is SEO-ready, with customer support, One-Click Demo Import, and WooCommerce included. Some handy additional features are profile pages with direct email contact info, Contact Form 7, and a newsletter subscription form.

SuperOwly – Kids WordPress Theme

Suppose you’re not keen on spending hours on complicated customization, or you want a one-click install. In that case, the SuperOwly Theme has a premade website option based on their demo.

The Drag-and-Drop Page Builder function, free updates, and customer support make personalized changes easier. There are useful premade pages to use as building blocks, such as the three Homepages, Classes Timetable, Events, About, and Profiles. The Gallery page can share kids’ crafts or showcase your nursery location.

SuperOwly is another theme with a newsletter subscription form. The installations also include WooCommerce and Contact Form 7.

Babysitter Job Board WordPress Theme

The Babysitter Job Board Theme‘s premade design has some restrictions. Still, you can customize pages to fit your business better.

The theme features five homepage layouts, Google Maps integration, Post Jobs, and Recent Jobs (profiling current babysitters or childminders). Links to contact information are already in the premade features.

Babysitters can sign up, upload resumes, and apply to jobs directly, or you can customize to restrict user roles. Parents can search for a specific childminder near their location or read babysitter profiles.

Resume Manager, Job Alerts, Application Deadline, WC Paid listings, and Simple Paid listings are compatible plugins. Purchasing the theme gives you access to free updates.

Installing a Theme

Once you decide on a theme, here’s a step-by-step video that explains how to install a theme.

Plugins Needed for a Nursery Website

If you want parents to engage with your childminding service, you need your content pages to do more than a flat paper page would. Plugins are interactive features that make your website accessible.

Contact Form

Parents and clients need to know how to reach you. It’s better if they can find your contact information quickly, and ideal if they can reach you with a click. Whether it’s an email address, a premade query form, or a phone number, it needs to be there.

Contact Form Examples:

Contact Form 7: Basic form creation and compatible with most themes.

WPForms: A user-friendly form for beginners but lacks some useful features of other plugins. The free option offers the most commonly used functions.

Formidable Forms: Highly customizable for creating advanced forms from scratch, like payment forms, registration forms, profile forms, quizzes, and more. But not intuitive for beginners.

Payments

When you build a website parents trust, you’ve created a business that needs payment methods. There are more than a few plugins for accepting payment. WooCommerce is one option that is easily understood and compatible with most themes.

Whatever payment plugin you choose, Stripe and Paypal are the most commonly used online payment methods and are necessary for your website.

Payment Examples:

WC Paid Listings: You can create purchase “packages” in advance, such as “babysitting for three nights, $60” or “Clay Art Class Series, $10.”

WP Fluent Forms: Build forms and accept payments through Stripe & Paypal.

Contact Form 7 Stripe & PayPal Add-On: The themes we reviewed were Contact Form 7 compatible. Eliminate an extra step with an add-on.

ELEX WooCommerce Authorize.net Plugin: Compatible with major credit cards MasterCard, Visa, American Express, JCB, Discover, Diners Club, and eCheck.

Search

Search functions are useful for an assortment of purposes. For companies with more than a few personnel, a search bar allows parents to look up a specific babysitter or a staff profile.

A search plugin is a must if you offer other products or services, such as optional activities or classes. Kids can search with their parents to opt-in to an event or craft.

Search Examples:

Relevanssi: Build a search index, adjust searchable tags and comments, and “Did You Mean?” suggestions (like Google). It works like an update to the basic WordPress Search, no need to install anything else.

Ivory Search: It also functions as a boost to the native WordPress Search plugin. Parents can search WooCommerce posts on your website and view results with highlighted search terms.

News Updates

Depending on whether you’re a solo babysitter or a nursery, your news updates will vary. One-on-one contact is essential for establishing trust, but sometimes you need a group update.

A newsletter, weekly or monthly, is a professional way to keep parents up to date. Updating in advance is crucial, but a newsletter, comment board, or Twitter feed can inform parents of sudden changes or availability adjustments.

News Examples:

Constant Contact: An email newsletter compatible with WP Forms and other popular form plugins. You can customize free templates and take advantage of customer support. As a marketing service, it lacks advanced targeting features and requires an account membership.

MailPoet: The plugin is compatible with WooCommerce and easy to set up. You need to create a mail account with a third-party, but you can manage your subscriber list and newsletter directly through WordPress.

Calendar

Your schedule can change, and parents need an easy-to-read format that shows them your availability. A plugin you can edit and adapt to your nursery website will help communicate your schedule and nursery events.

Calendar Example:

• The Events Calendar: You can edit times and venues. Show or link to a Google map. You can add recurring plans or create ticketed events.

Installing Plugins

Now that we’ve broken down plugins that make it easy for clients to navigate your website, watch this video for the technical breakdown.

6 Pages A Childminding or Babysitting Website Must Have

There are a few essential pages your website should have to promote trust with your customer base and consistency with the services you offer.

About Page

The About or About Us page should describe why parents can trust you. You can include when you started, the age range your service accepts, and what you think parents should know about you. If you’re a business with many childminders, tell the story of how you became a team.

CV

Remember when we said a website acts as a resume? A page for your CV makes it simple for a parent to read through your qualifications. They might compare your experience to another service, or they might have a checklist for their ideal babysitter. Both the About page and the CV page are part of the initial interview process, but your CV page provides specific details.

Contact

Now that parents have read about you and your qualifications, they need a way to talk to you. For companies, you might include a business contact and contact for individual babysitters.

You should always have a professional email easily accessible on your nursery website. There should be at least one phone number, but don’t panic if you only have a cell and no landline. Suppose you have a business number and a personal number. In that case, you might only list your business number on your childminding website.

Personnel Bios

If you’re creating a nursery or childminder website for a company, you need a page that introduces every employee.  Each profile should have contact information and attach or connect to a CV.

Parents will want to put names to faces. Seeing new faces virtually first can make a meeting in person easier, especially for a nervous kid.

Calendar

Parents need to know availability and business hours. Dedicating a page makes the information accessible. The type of calendar you display depends on your service type, whether you showcase a weekly, monthly, or longer-term plan.

Blog Tips

It’s not a must to have a weekly or daily blog, but a page showing that you are concerned about easing children in your care can help parents rely on you. If you have ideas for several tips, or maybe anecdotes from parents that have helped them, this can boost your service.

Other Childcare Website You Can Use for Inspiration

It helps to have a few examples to inspire if you’re scratching your head for design ideas. Here are a few fantastic examples of websites doing it right.

Snuggles Childcare – Babysitting Website

Snuggles Childcare sets the tone immediately with a welcoming image and a top drop-down menu that allows parents to navigate their babysitting website.

The must-have pages are visible. They provide one-click access to a booking form, contact page, and a blog informing parents about childcare standards and tips.

Babysits – Babysitting Website

Babysits simplifies the top menu by presenting site visitors with a choice: are you a babysitter, or are you looking for one? Then, it leads to why the company is reliable and how their company works.

The search bar allows parents to search by postal code to find the nearest babysitter. Visitors can scroll through posts about tips, activities, and news.

The bottom of the page features service reviews, which is a helpful feature for parents who need more than a CV or a first impression before reaching out.

KidSit – Babysitting Website

KidSit is a resource website for babysitters. The top menu bar showcases everything site visitors need. It has a dual design, with one set up for childminders and a separate set up for parents. The plan anticipates parents’ needs and has the answers available.

LittleBrook Nurseries – Nursery Website

LittleBrook Nurseries home page has a brief ‘About’ and ‘Open’ section for availability. Parents can dive into essential but necessary information. ‘Read more’ links lets parents know how to find more information.

The misleadingly named ‘menu’ option in the top bar is a unique feature. More aptly named ‘Food Menu,’ it tells parents what their kids will regularly eat when they’re with you.

Remember, When You’re Making A Nursery Site…

Building trust with parents is essential for any babysitting website. Information should be easy to find and understand. Making the process simple will help you put parents and children first, so your website becomes a tool instead of a hassle.

Make your nursery website child-friendly. If parents have an excellent first impression of your service, they might invite their children to browse too. Parents want their kids to feel comfortable with a childminder. Suppose children see a welcoming site with links to images and fun activities. They’re more likely to like their parent’s choice of a babysitter.

How to Make A Childcare Website, Final Thoughts

By following these tips and tricks, you’ll have a website up and running in no time. Once people can get an idea of what your business is about, they’ll be interested in your services and will also be more likely to trust in you.

Now you have a babysitting website you can be proud of; the next step is promotion.