Massage Practice Builder

Article marketing is one of the many online tools for promoting your website, your massage business, your massage school, your massage ce classes, your related massage products that is not very well known by massage therapists.

Article marketing is writing short, to the point articles and posting them on various free services such as ezinearticles.com or one of the many article marketing sites.

The main goal of article marketing really is to get the link to your site.  It doesn’t necessarily about getting people to click on the link but that can help too.  The search engines love to see that you have other sites out there that are linking to you.  They want to know that you are popular.  Most search engines rate and find your site based on the keywords you use in your site and pages and also how many backlinks (other sites linking to you) you have to your site.  They don’t really care if you create your own or not!

Writing in depth articles can also help you become recognized as an expert in your area, field or whatever it is that you are promoting.  Massage schools and massage ce teachers could benefit by writing articles about what their classes are and will do for people.  So many teachers miss the boat for promoting themselves.

Article marketing is fairly easy.   I also have set up a free article directory for massage therapists to add their articles too.  It is just a blog really that I have set up on my site www.thebodyworker.com The way it works is that you just create a free login.  You have to have a valid email address to get the login information.  After you get that you can login and post articles through the dashboard.   It works just like a word processor really.   Here are some ideas for articles that might help you get going:

For massage therapists promoting their business

• massage and fibromyalgia
• massage and cancer
• how muscles get tight
• the real benefits of massage
• describe your unique blend of techniques

For massage teachers/authors/massage schools:

• write articles on a topic that you talk about in your class or school or book and just write enough to want people to know more and then leave a link where they can find out more.
• Write why your class or school is different and what it will do for massage therapists – what will it do for their massage business or in getting a job?
• Write personal things about why you are doing this and what doing massage and doing the things you do mean to you.

In each article you can leave a link to your website.  To create a link just select the text you want to make into a link and click on the link symbol at the top and it will pop up a new box where you enter the exact address.  Select open in new window.   To get people interested in your link use it in an example or put something like :  For more information (on my very interesting class/school/topic) see my website

I started this awhile ago but only have a few articles written.  I don’t think people quite understand the reasons or methods of article marketing so let me know if you have questions.   I started doing an intensive article marketing campaign last month and my website traffic is increasing quickly which in the summer it is usually quite the opposite as far as traffic goes.

One of my most favorite quotes about massage therapists beliefs about money comes from one of my favorite books written by Steve Capellini called “Making the Switch to Being Rich”.   I don’t think that many have heard of or read this book but it is very interesting in many ways.  First it is a story of how Steve was a member of the “Moonies” in the early 70′s I think it was.  They were a cult basically.  Steve’s father had him taken away and deprogrammed by a specialist.   He equates the process of deprogramming of brainwashing from his experience with what massage therapists need to do to snap out of it – it being the moneyless bubble where massage therapists gather and live in.

In it he says this about massage therapists:

If there is an entire group of people who are almost all inside the moneyless bubble, it’s massage therapists.  We want to help people and heal them.  We want to ease their aching muscles and soothe their unquiet souls.  We want meaningful interactions with our clients.  We do not, for the most part want to focus on the monetary aspects of our jobs.

Why do massage therapists equate making money with doing something evil?  Why do massage therapists so easily give of their time and sacrifice making money in order to help people?  Why do they think that it is more “noble” to live in poverty or without and help others?  Why do they think that making money for doing something so loving and caring is not right?

Money is just money.  It really isn’t worth anything anymore.  There is no gold in the banks backing up the money.  Our money is just currency – something to trade for products and services.  How we get so many hangups about money comes from the beliefs we adopt at an early age without having the opportunity to question those beliefs.

Some common beliefs about money are:

• Money is the root of all evil
• People with money must have  sold their soul to get it
• People with money must be doing something illegal to get it
• I get enough in the form of being appreciated by clients
• Living simply is a better way of life because you don’t need much
• If you are rich you are focused on materialist things and not caring and helping people.
• You can’t care and make money too.
• You are not in this for the money
• You can’t make money doing something that you love

The thing is that most of these beliefs about money just are not true.  As Steve also says in his book people become massage therapists to further prove their beliefs about money.  It is sort of a self serving prophesy.

There are a few ways to start looking at what your beliefs about money are.  You can just start thinking about what you think or say when you see people with money or driving a fancy car.  Are you jealous?  Angry even?  ( I had a client who once owned a Bently and he sold it back to the dealer because so many people were keying it because they were one of those things – jealous and/or angry) .  What do you think about the idea of being able to charge $100 a session for a massage?  Do you think it is impossible?  That no one would pay it?  That it would be impossible to stay in business or even get clients at that rate?

Beliefs are just the perspective or filter that you see things through.  Everyone has them and lives their lives through them.  Some see the glass half empty and others the glass half full.  We think something is true because we think it is true.

Understanding and becoming aware of the belief systems that you have about money and success is a process that takes time and learning more about how beliefs are formed and how they impact your every decision.  It is a process of learning to take responsibility for the outcomes of your actions that are based on these old beliefs.  It isn’t about blaming yourself for where you are.  It is just being willing to accept what happens when you make decisions and then change that response to get a different outcome.

Once you are more aware of these unconscious beliefs that drive your actions you can then begin to change your actions to get better results.  Instead of blaming your lack of success in your business or in the massage job market  you can start seeing that it is a result of your actions or lack of actions.  There was a particular online forum recently just wanting to blame everything on the economy.  Is it the economy or lack of financial preparation and planning?  Lack of marketing or not figuring out the right marketing method that works?

The reason I keep writing about this is yes I was once in the moneyless bubble mindset.  Until I started my websites and started making money online, I always just made just enough to live on.  I didn’t care for the most part either.  Now I know better.  A career in massage is not a license to live in poverty or even simply.  You can have whatever you want if you are willing to start thinking and challenging your beliefs about money.   While Meagan Holub’s book the Magic Touch: How to make $100,000 as a massage therapist is being released – what is the next level even that this could go to? Could a massage therapist make $250,000 ??  $500,000?   or become multi-millionaires like Bonnie Brown former massage therapist at Google.

Social Networking is the latest craze as many of you are well aware of.  Figuring out what is the best use of your time is important when considering participating in these networks.  How will you find the best opportunities to get new and repeat clients?

Twitter is one of the easiest to use and get results with.   If you don’t know what twitter is yet, it is an online network that you sign up with for free.  Create a twitter account to just be used with your business.  Twitter is unique in that it only allows you a few sentences of space to use to communicate with people.   But who are you communicating with?   People can sign up to ‘follow’ your postings.  But where do you get people?   The best place is to put a twitter feed on your website.  You can get the code to put a twitter badge on your website by going to the Settings page.  In about the middle of that section there is a place for you to put your website address but right under that is a link that says:

(You can also add Twitter to your site here)

Click on that and click on the other tab (or one of the others if you are using one of those systems for your website.)  Click to create a badge.  You can add what you want it to say on the top or whether or not you want to create a flash badge or a html badge.  The flash badge will be interactive and show people’s reply ( I think!) So just copy and paste the code into your webpage where you want it.  I have mine on my homepage above the fold (near the top) where it is the highest profile and also on my services pages.  I also just created a twitter page that people can go to directly.  You can see how I am using it at www.massageseattle.net  I actually just started using it last week and have already gotten 3 new clients.  I also have quite a few visitors to my website and it already gets me a lot of calls but I think it will help even more by making this info of my schedule availability more public.  I am also sending a series of posts based using “you know you need a massage when you ….” and then will do a top ten reasons for getting a massage or something like that and see how that goes.

Facebook – Facebook is fairly time consuming.  It is really important to set up a business only listing.  What facebook is better for is finding your old high school buddies and long lost loves.  You are supposedly not allowed to set up more than one facebook profile.  They do have a way to make a business page and have it connected to your personal page but to me it is not private enough.  I personally don’t mix clients and friends.  You can use facebook to create more messages and even use it like a mini website if you don’t already have your own.  You can search facebook members to find businesses and doctors or other people who you want in your referral network and ask them to be your friend.  You can write a small newsletter like posts.  People can post on your wall or you can opt to not allow people to do that.  The thing I don’t like about Facebook is that people who become your friends will also have access to see each others profiles which may not be a good thing for your clients who want their privacy.  I did find a facebook group for my office building when they were having an open house that I could become a fan of and post my message about being the massage therapist in the building.

Linkedin in works sort of the same way as facebook but it doesn’t connect you with all of your old friends.  Linkedin is more of a professional networking site.  They also have a section where people ask questions like yahooanswers but it is much more professional than answers is.  You may possibly find someone looking for a massage but it is more like looking for a needle in the haystack.

I am not a big fan of social networking because of the time it takes to put into it all.  I would rather be writing a new article for my website to educate people who are already interested in getting a massage.  My website is found for the keywords that I have chosen – downtown seattle massage and it comes up first on Google and most of the other major search engines so writing there is more targeted advertising.  Also writing more content and educating people about massage and muscles and how the body and massage work together is a way of building trust with people.  When they read a website full of information and research they will get the feeling that you know what you are doing and trust you enough to make the call.

So if you are using one of these or other social networking sites successfully I would love to know what you are doing!

I just read that AMTA Massage Industry Research Report says:

Nearly sixty percent (57.8 percent) of school administrators responded that the average age of students has declined at their school in the past five years, according to the 2008 AMTA Massage School Survey. School administrators estimate that the average student is 30 years old, with 36.6 percent being 25 years old or less.

The National Average for massage therapists was 45 and is now about 40 and is continuing to decline according to these facts. (that of course are not public information – another of my AMTA pet peeves!)

What does that mean for the massage profession?

I have been seeing a trend through my website www.massage-career-guides.com where I talk about what it takes to become a massage therapist that more people right out of high school are wanting to go to massage school.  Their main question is ‘do I have to take math?’  If people are coming to a career in massage just to get out of taking math classes what will that do to the profession? Do they have the maturity to hold the therapeutic relationship?

Careers in massage are becoming more appealing to younger people but with only a 500 hour training program I for once don’t think it is enough.  I come from the camp that less education is really better and that anyone can take a 100 hour massage school training and provide adequate relaxation massage and also bill insurance companies if they want to learn the ropes on how to do that as massage for stress is applicable to just about everything!

But thinking about high school kids wanting to become a massage therapist I usually tell them to go to college and get a degree in business and marketing and then decide later if you still want to go.

If people are coming to the massage profession just to get out of taking math or they are also drawn by the so called ‘ high wages’ that of course is not true – where has the passion and a calling to help people gone?  For me being a massage therapist is a lifestyle and a way of life and a great road for personal and professional development.

I think it is about time we do start thinking about creating 4 year college programs like Japan or 3 year training programs like Canada for these younger people.  My concern is that will massage just be massage – in the totally pure physical sense without the emotional, mental, and spiritual healing aspects?

Who is studying these trends and working on keeping up with them in our massage training programs?