August, 2013 | Cremation Solutions

On The Ninth Day God Made Dogs

That enthusiastic welcome every time you return home, the soft snugly body to curl up next to, the unconditional love whether you’ve had a good day or a bad one: these are just a few of the joys of having a dog. Few, if any, animals embrace life so wholeheartedly and eagerly, whether it’s a ride in the car, an impromptu game of “fetch” or an evening stretched out on the coach.

Why we need dogs

From pugs to pit bulls, chihuahuas to cocker spaniels, from terriers to little teapot dogs, a dog is more than just a companion; he’s a part of the family and adds immeasurable joy to our lives. God made dogs for:

Companionship — No one likes to come home to an empty home or apartment. A dog’s unconditional love and loyalty brightens the day when you walk through that door. Plus, a dog is that perfect companion for a long walk on the beach, a car ride to no where or a weekend camping trip.
For our emotional health — Caring for a dog has been shown to ease depression and anxiety. It’s easy to understand. Who can be depressed with a furry friend wagging his tail at your feet?
For our physical health — Other studies have indicated that owning a dog can help to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and even promote good heart health. Plus, dog owners get more exercise than their neighbors who don’t have a dog to accompany them on walks.
Fun — Health benefits aside, having a dog in the house is just plain old fun. Whether you’re watching his attics or getting sloppy kisses, it’s all but impossible to be upset with a dog eagerly panting at your feet.

Remembering our dogs

One of the few unfortunate things about caring for a dog is that they have much shorter lifespans than we do. Having to say goodbye to our beloved pet is one of the most difficult things any pet owner will ever have to do. If you’ve ever lost a dog, you know the deep sadness and emptiness that such a loss brings. Most of us want to be able to keep our beloved pet near us, even when they are gone. At Cremation Solutions, we offer a variety of ways to do just that. From decorative cremation urns for pet ashes to pet cremation jewelry, we understand how important keeping a part of your pet near you after he is gone can be.

Pet Cremation Jewelry

Jewelry for dog ashes — Has an Inner Chamber to Hold Ashes

Far from being creepy, pet cremation jewelry can be a subtle and private reminder of your beloved pet. Cremation Solutions offers a variety of beautiful pet cremation jewelry. Cremation crystals are composed of 20 percent pet ashes. These brilliant, colored gem stones have the look of an expensive piece of jewelry. Only you have to know that the necklace or ring is really a tribute to your dog who has passed. Before you bury or scatter your dog’s ashes, just keep a little bit to be made into a piece of lovely crystal jewelry that you can keep near your heart for years to come.

Urns for pet ashes

If pet cremation jewelry isn’t right for you, we also offer a full line of pet cremation urns. Like the jewelry, these don’t have to be obviously a pet memorial. With many of our urns, only you will know that the piece is a container and memorial for your pet. Our birdhouse urns make a stylish addition to any yard and they truly continue the cycle of life. These urns are used to scatter the ashes of you dog and then convert to become a memorial birdhouse. And so the cycle of life continues. We also have pet urns with paw prints, shaped as picture frames that hold a picture of your dog, dog-house shaped urns and urn candles with a paw print motif.

To learn more about finding the right pet memorial or pet cremation urn for your four-legged, furry friend, visit petcremationsolutions.com or call us at 877 365-9474. We understand the pain of losing a dog; we’re pet owners too.

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Crystal Jewelry and Keepsakes Made From Cremation Ashes

When a loved one passes, we feel the need to keep something special close at hand to remember that person or pet always. Some people choose to keep something that person owned or cherished while others hold dear the memories of times spent together. Choosing how to memorialize that beloved person or pet is a personal preference of the living left behind. One way to always remember a passed loved one who has been cremated is with cremation jewelry made from a small bit of his or her ashes. This is the type of keepsake that you can take with you everywhere you go.

What is Cremation Crystal Jewelry?

Crystals made from ashes — Choose The Cut and Color

Cremation jewelry crystals are a unique way to remember a person or pet who has passed. This jewelry made from ashes creates a one-of-a-kind piece that is as individual as the person or pet being memorialized. Before scattering their ashes, save a small bit to have made into a beautiful jewel you wear every day in memory. Cremation keepsake jewelry helps heal the heart by:

Soothing grief
Honoring loved ones
Memorializing special pets
Celebrating a life shared
Remembering pets and people
Sharing an everlasting connection
Creating an enduring tribute

Cremation Crystals are infused with the ashes of your loved ones and pets to create a long-lasting memorial. Using a patented process, the ashes are transformed into actual crystals that contain over 20% ashes and then placed into custom settings to create a beautiful tribute to the deceased.

Where to get Cremation Crystal Jewelry

Cremation Solutions specializes in all things cremation, including the beautiful keepsake jewelry made from a loved one’s ashes. This unique crystal jewelry enables wearers to keep close an everlasting piece of their dear departed loved one forever. There are many gem cuts and setting styles to choose from including pendants and rings. Cremation Solutions will even customize a piece just for you.

You can choose the color of your gemstone, but ultimately the finished color will vary because it is influenced by the unique elements of each person or pet’s ashes. Although we try our hardest, it is almost impossible to predict the exact color of a gem, so our descriptions include a variation of the colors you can expect.

There are seven different gem cuts to choose from, each custom designed by world-class gem cutters before being mounted into an original design setting created by respected jewelry designer and setter, John Clark. You have a choice of 14K white gold, 14K yellow gold or sterling silver, in ring, pendant, or necklace styles. Whichever cremation jewelry you choose, it will be a one of a kind tribute to the special person who passed.

Available cuts include:

Cushion
Radiant
Portuguese
Heart shaped
Pear shaped
Trilliant
Teardrop

What to Expect with Cremation Jewelry

Although the cremation jewelry gems look like other naturally occurring gems such as diamonds, they are not the same. The cremation keepsake gems are created from a patented process that uses glass and the human ashes or pet ashes of a loved one who has passed to create unique one-of-a-kind stones. These stones are much softer than diamonds, but harder than onyx and can withstand normal wear and tear. However, accidents to happen, so if your memorial keepsake would happen to break, it can be recast.

The Real Value of a Cremation Jewelry Keepsake

Crystal Cremation Keepsakes — Crystal Keepsakes Made From Ashes

The real value of a cremation jewelry keepsake is in its unique design and beauty. Since these gems are influenced by the unique elements of each person’s ashes, no two are the same, and that uniqueness is invaluable. Beyond this value, is the true reason anyone wants a keepsake like this. The emotional value alone makes this an irreplaceable memorial that is reflected in a work of art made from the ashes of your loved one.

Everyone handles the loss of a loved one differently, and everyone chooses to hold on to those loved ones in different ways. Cremation Solutions provides handmade customized cremation jewelry keepsakes for those that want to keep their loved ones near in every sense of the word. Wear a necklace, pendant or ring made from the ashes of your dearly departed loved one to help heal your heart and keep them close forever.

For more information on the complete line of cremation jewelry available at Cremation Solutions, please visit www.cremationsolutions.com and click on “Crystal Cremation Jewelry” or call 877-365-9474 to speak with one of our cremation jewelry experts. Our sympathetic staff is on hand to help you choose the perfect way to memorialize your lost loved one.

How Your Funeral Home Can Benefit From Local SEO

What Good is a Website if it Can't Be Found

If you’re involved in running a funeral home, you’ve probably already created a website. This is a step in the right direction, but there are other things that need to be done. If no one knows about your website because it does not rank in local search results then your website won’t be drawing in any business.

One of the best ways to ensure that your site gets found, in addition to publicizing the URL in print promotional materials, is to ensure that your site shows up in local searches. You’ll need to focus on local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies, like other entities that are doing business in a specific regional area. There are several steps involved in the process.

Register Your Site With Major Search Engines

Ensuring that your website is registered with major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo is essential to your website SEO strategy. With Google, this is as simple as adding your URL to their database and verifying your listing by phone or postcard. You’ll also need a Google account to do this. Bing’s process is similar; you’ll have the option to add or claim your listing with the search engine, and then you’ll be required to verify your listing by phone or mail. You’ll also need a Windows Live ID to complete the process as well. The process is nearly the same through Yahoo, but you have the option to obtain a basic or enhanced listing with this search engine.

Make Sure Your Business Goes Social

You won’t want to ignore other methods of listing your funeral home business either. You may want to establish listings with Yellow Pages, YP.com, and City Search. You may want to add listings to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. These profiles can assist you in ensuring that your business has a better chance at obtaining higher rankings in search engines, because in many cases, these profiles will show up first in search engine results.

Get On The Map!

Get Listed With Local Sites

Don’t ignore regional portals when you’re listing our business. Many of these sites are run by various media institutions. Many local newspapers and news stations offer local businesses an opportunity to have a listing on these sites. Obtaining a listing on these sites can definitely increase your search engine rankings significantly.

Consistency is the Key

While you’re creating these listings for your funeral home you’re going to want to make sure that you maintain consistency in your listings. Your business should be listed under the same name each time. You don’t want to list your business as Your Business, LLC in one area and then have it listed as Your Business in another. Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that the same address and contacts are listed under each registration. This is critical in getting recognition from major search engines as a local business entity. Even slight variations can cause your efforts to fizzle and affect your rankings.

Perform Competitive Research on the Competition

When you are researching keywords for your website, you’ll need to look at other local businesses that rank highly with that keyword. Pay attention to the place that these businesses occupy in ranking. Search for these businesses by the names and addresses in the search bar of whichever site you’re previewing and find out what sites these businesses are listed at. This will let you know where your business needs to be listed at in order to get the highest possible rankings. One simple test is to just Google some terms relevant to your services and location to see how your website is ranking and see where you need to be. Type in Funeral Homes or Funeral Providers and the town and state you are located in. Also type Cremation Services or Cremation Providers and learn about where you rank for these key terms as well. For example type cremation services in Arlington Vermont and see where your website comes up. Ideally you want to be in the first top three of search results. If you not on page one your not going to attract much new business.

Review All Your Business Reviews

Assuming that you’ve got your site listed at various places, you’ll want to check out those listings regularly. Check out any reviews about your business. Find out if any of your clients have had frustrating experiences with your business. You’ll also want to find out if your clients have been pleased with your service. You can use this as a springboard for ensuring that your funeral and cremation services are the best in the area. You’ll also get more positive reviews with this type of effort. Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to check out competing reviews for other businesses. Find out what these entities are doing right, and what customers believe could be better. This kind of insight will help you deliver better service, and positive reviews will obviously increase your rankings.

Audit Your Site’s Usability

This is extremely important. Before you waste time promoting your site, you need to make sure your site is easy to navigate. You’ll also want to ensure that the site looks appropriate in a variety of browsers. It won’t do your business any good to get a high ranking, if leads visit your site and leave because the site is poorly designed. Your visitors should see how to contact your easily. If you maintain guestbooks for clients, these applications should function properly. Don’t forget that mobile usage is increasing, you may want to invest in having a mobile website created so mobile users can navigate your site easily.

Consumer demands and social innovations are changing the funeral home business. Funeral Home SEO has the technology and know-how to assist you in developing your funeral home business to meet those evolving demands. Contact us today to discover how your funeral home business can benefit from our services and expertise. #877-365-9474 or info@cremationsolutuions.com and I will connect you with the experts!

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