Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Do You ZiggyBug?
Announcing the launch of the self-proclaimed "World's Largest Online Child Directory"...
Looking for child care? Ever had to? Well, if you are one of the 500,000 parents each year that have to go through this daunting task you will appreciate a new online national child care referral directory. Parents and Child care providers can now find each other with a simple click of the mouse. www.ZiggyBug.com has a listing of over 300,000 home child care providers, day care centers, and pre-schools. Just by logging on to ZiggyBug.com a parent can browse through local child care facilities and look at pictures, see parent comments and get general information about facilities before going to visit. And all for free.“ZiggyBug.com is a resource that parents have needed for too long” says Jill Barker, mother of a 5 month old baby boy from Rancho Santa Margarita. “I am a speech pathologist for children and took time off after the baby. When I knew I had to start looking, I had no idea where to start. I knew I wanted a home based child care, but they aren’t listed in Yellow Pages.”
“Choosing the right child care for any reason is maybe one of the most important choices that parents can make for their children. In these critical years every parent wants to make sure that they have every available option at their fingertips. These government referral hotlines are not very helpful to parents. They give the parents a few phone numbers and tell them to call back if you don’t find anyone! That’s just ridiculous!” says Monica Sieverding
Monica Sieverding, the founder of ZiggyBug is a mother of three small children and has run her own successful home day care for 10 years. “There came a time where I just realized that the whole system of parents and providers finding each other was at the mercy of the government referral agencies. And home day cares don’t have much for an advertising budget so ZiggyBug really is a whole industry solution. It levels the playing field for the home daycares, child care centers, and preschool centers for the benefit of everyone involved, especially the children!”
ZiggyBug offers photo profiles for child care facilities to customize. Each profile sums up the preliminary information that parents need to choose a facility to further explore. Each profile contains photos, basic information, such a location, mapping, hours of operation and facility numbers. Even the small things are noted like if meals are provided, do they provided transportation, or accept government subsidized programs, and what languages are spoken at that facility. The profiles even have a parent comment section for referrals!
“I look at ZiggyBug.com as the new revolutionary way to search for child care these days. The internet has brought us new innovative ways to do almost everything now, from shopping for a new pair of shoes, to finding the love of your life. It’s time we streamline the connection process between the parents and child care providers. It’s time to open the communications lines, discuss concerns, ask questions, and be informed.”
I don't know if this will be a huge help for advertising your child care to prospective parents... but on the other hand, you only need to invest a few minutes of your time to fill our a profile and make a free listing. You're really not out anything to give it a try. Check it out at www.ziggybug.com.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 4:29 PM 
