We have found that most of our childminder's have found their first placement through childcare.co.uk!
It’s free to set up a profile on childcare.co.uk, but in order to send messages you’ll have to pay for a gold membership (we’d recommend doing this for a couple of months if you’re just getting started).
How to set up a great Childcare.co.uk profile
Select that you are registered with a childminding agency and NOT with Ofsted. Your account will be suspended if you put the latter.
Add your tiney registration number (this can be found on the app)
Select all of the tags relevant to the childminding services you offer
For the “About Me” section, provide a general overview of yourself and what sets you apart from other childminders. What are your unique highlights?
For the "Experience" section, add any relevant experiences and qualifications that make you stand out as a childcare provider. This can include being a parent or spending lots of time babysitting!
Make sure your availability is accurate
Use your tiney branded headshot as your profile picture for consistency– a happy photo goes a long way and many parents don't acknowledge profiles without them. You can get your tiney branded headshots once you complete your profile and receive your marketing materials
You cannot add your tiney profile link to your profile, but you can direct parents to learn more about you by visiting your tiney profile. When you private message parents you should also guide them to your tiney profile.
When setting your prices, compare prices of other childminders in your area. Input your postcode into the search for a childminder section of the website, and a pop up will show you the average price of childcare in your area.
Try some tiney hacks...
1) Log in and make some small tweaks to your profile on a regular basis and you'll appear higher up in search results – the tiniest update will do it!
2) Add as much useful information as possible to your profile, such as directing people to visit your tiney profile (you are not permitted to add direct links, unfortunately, but you can message them a link) – parents will then be able to contact you through tiney if they haven’t stumped up for membership on childcare.co.uk!
3) Respond to parent enquiries within 24 hours. If you aren't quick to respond, another childminder might get there first! Responding quickly shows that you are keen and proactive.
4) Reach out to parents
If you see a parent looking for childcare in your area, be proactive and send them a message to get yourself noticed. We've crafted an example template to give you some inspiration:
Hi Bernice,
I can see you’re looking for childcare in the Forest Hill area for your little girl, so I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Gen, a newly registered childminder seeking families.
I recently trained with an Ofsted-certified agency called tiney.co, who have an extremely high quality bar. I'm passionate about learning through play and share tiney's mission of providing all children with a great start in life.
I’ve really enjoyed turning my home into a fantastic, fun, learning environment and am so excited that, now I’m registered, I finally get to open my door to families.
If you'd like to know more you can message me on here or find me on the tiney.co website.
Thank you for reading!
Gen
5. Ask for reviews
The most valuable thing you can do. Once you're trading, ask the parents of children you’ve cared for to leave you a review! This will help engage any potential customers and give a more reliable insight into you and your setting.