You have five real choices. Learn it yourself from an operator-run course, about $69 a month. Buy a website built for scoopers. Hire a specialist to run it for you, from about $600 a month for managed ads. Turn on the marketing tools already inside your scooping software. Or spend nothing and grow on referrals. Match the choice to what you are short of: money, knowledge, or time. Under about 25 customers, the free one is usually the right one.
Say you have about $200 a month, one free evening a week, and five tabs of people who all say they can grow your business. This page is the comparison I would want in that chair — with one caveat up front: I am one of the options on it. Read it as a competitor trying to be fair, not a neutral judge. The prices are what each option advertised publicly in July 2026, nothing here is an affiliate link, and I will tell you plainly where hiring me is the wrong move.
The five options, priced#
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Operator-run courses: ScoopStart, Poop Scoop Academy | About $69/month | Training and a peer group from people who run real routes. |
| Scooper website products: PoopSites and similar | Ask for pricing | A ready-made scooper site with booking, fast. |
| Done-for-you specialists: Kurt Van Arsdale, me | From $600/month for managed ads; my work is quoted per job | Someone builds and runs the site, quote flow and ads for you. |
| Your own software: Sweep&Go, Jobber, QuoteIQ | Already paying for it | Instant quotes, booking and review requests. Usually switched off. |
| Referrals and neighborhood presence | Free plus shoe leather | Door hangers, yard signs, local groups, the ask after visit two. |
How to pick in one minute#
Ask yourself what you are actually short of.
Short on money? Do the free playbook. Door hangers, local groups, referrals. It is all here. Paying anyone a monthly fee before 25 customers is an expensive and common mistake.
Short on knowledge? Buy the course. $69 a month against an agency’s retainer is no contest if you have the evenings. The operator communities also answer questions no agency can.
Need a site fast and cheap? A scooper website product, or the themes inside Sweep&Go. Templates have limits, but shipping this week is worth a lot.
Enquiries come in but don’t become customers? That is a conversion problem. First check whether your software already has the tools switched off. If the leak is bigger than that, a specialist is worth it.
Route full but money thin? Nobody on this page fixes that. That is pricing and route density. Run the calculator before you spend a dollar on marketing.
Where I'm the wrong choice#
Since I sell one of these rows, here is the honest line. If you are under 25 customers, do not hire me. Do the free playbook, and I will tell you the same thing if you ask. If you want to learn marketing yourself, the course is better value than me. If you need the cheapest possible site by Friday, a template product wins. And if your software’s tools are just switched off, switch them on first. That might end the conversation, and it should.
What is left is my actual lane: your site does not answer price, area and trust, and enquiries are leaking. That is the work I do.
Why trust a comparison written by a competitor?
Don't trust it. Check it. Every price here is public and takes ten minutes to verify. And notice that for most readers, my advice is the option that costs nothing and pays me nothing. If the parts where I say 'don't hire me' look honest, the rest probably is too.
Why aren't normal marketing agencies on the list?
Because there are hundreds and they are all the same offer: a local-SEO retainer with 'pooper scooper' typed into a template. If you go the agency route, pick someone who already understands route density and quote forms. In a trade this specific, that saves you a paid learning curve.
Can I combine the options?
That is actually the best plan. The free playbook always. Your software's built-in tools switched on. Then add either the course (if you have time) or a specialist (if you have money). Nobody needs all five.