Massage Practice Builder

OK I am a bit of a geek which is unusual for a massage therapists.   I have a system that I use and recommend but it is fairly time intensive yet anyone can do it.  So the other day I started researching various website design systems for massage therapists and was wondering what people are using and what is effective.

An effective website to me is one that gets 3-5 clients a week AND also makes you an additional stream of income from promoting affiliate products. (Affiliate marketing is promoting things that are related to massage – like I promote a stretching program, Traumeel, Biofreeze and books on health that I have read)

The reason that I feel a website is so important is that it is more than just a calling card for your business.  It is also an opportunity to be more professional and educated doctors and the general public about what massage really can do and how it is used.   You know the drill – it’s good for stress, injuries, wellness but most people are clueless really about their bodies.

A website is one of the easiest ways to get clients I think because people are already looking for a massage therapist.  They aren’t looking for you when they start out – but they are just looking for someone to help them with whatever issue they are having – stress  or pain in some combination usually.   People want to know that you have experience working with the kinds of things that they are dealing with.  They want to make sure they are spending their time wisely.  What do they think when they find a site that doesn’t have any more info than just a few pages on how much the massage therapists charges?

One of the best exercises you can do is to go online and try to find a good massage therapist.  Go through all of the process of searching online.  Actually go and do it and follow through and go and get the massage.   See what you find out there!

The components of an effective website are many.  It has to do with keywords and a little simple search engine optimization and also just writing all of the things down that you really just talk to people about – how muscles work, how massage works, what happens with stress and injuries.  Writing this all down will also improve the way you communicate with clients in person.

While all of the technical details might seem too overwhelming they are worth learning about to create an effective website.  I have it all laid on on my website at www.thebodyworker.com

If you would like some help with your current website just leave the address and I will give you some pointers on how to get your site to the top of the first page of Google (which is really the goal of every website. )

Happy Halloween!

Julie

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.

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!

One of my passions is teaching massage therapists how to set up websites to promote your massage business.  If you do it right that is all you will ever really need to promote your massage business.  People usually turn to the web and more often Google of course to find what they are needing.  When they are looking for a massage therapsit they type in ‘massage, your city’ or ‘massage, some area of a city’.  Having your website show up at the top of the search results for those keywords will bring you targeted traffic.  They already are looking for a massage therapist!  When they find your site at the top or at least on the first page of Google your listing has to look appealing so that they will have the choice of whether to click on it or not.  So even after you get your site on the first page of results you then need to get people to click on the results.  This is done by using some simple search engine optimization tools that will show up on the listing.  You need to use words that will appeal to their needs and let them know exactly what it is that you do.  You can do this by choosing the best domain name that does communicate your unique selling position and also by using keywords. That listing is done by using targeted keywords in the metatags of your website and also in the title and in the first few sentences of your website.

When people click on the results they want to know if you can provide a solution to their problem which is usually pain, stress,  some type of injury or disease.  They want to know if you can handle the condition that they have!  When massage therapists start their websites their homepage is usually filled with some thing like this:

Welcome to my website.  I am so and so a massage therapist that is trained in such and such unknown type of massage that the person really doesn’t care about or know what it means.  I am NCBTMB certified which will mean nothing to you again but I did pay a lot for it.  To find a contact number for me you will have to hunt around on this website and see if you can find it.

People who find you online are already looking for massage. You don’t have to do much to convert these people into clients because they are already looking for massage.  They actually aren’t looking for you to begin with so the other thing your site has to do is just provide enough information so that they will begin to know that you know your stuff and can handle their condition and needs.  Your website needs to build trust so that they will then make the call.  Most people today are weary of sales pitches.  They know when they are being sold too and they usually run the other way.  To overcome that all you really need to do is to create enough information about who you are and what you do and do it in a way that focuses on the reader and not you. You do that by using the main/homepage as a way to connect with your reader.  You don’t talk about yourself there yet.

Just take a minute and go online and do a search for ‘massage, your city’ or any city and just look at some massage therapists websites.  Pretend you are a potential client and really need a massage to help you heal from a back strain.  Who would you choose on the basis of reading a few websites?  Actually go out and find a massage therapist by their website.  See if you can find a reputable massage therapist that you think will meet your need and go and get a massage to see if the do or not.

If you don’t have a website that is on the first page of search engine results you are missing out on highly targeted clients.   I have the full details of what you need to do when choosing a webhost, domain name and setting up your website on my site www.thebodyworker.com

 The previous poll from Massage Magazine found on the front page of massagemag.com asks:
What is your most effective marketing approach?

• • Word-of-mouth 79.2%
  • Print advertising 3.1%
  • Doing demonstrations at events 7.3%
  • Web site 9.4%
  • Offering discounts 1.0%

Word of mouth comes up first which it usually does.  I am surprised that more people don’t have effective websites.

Your website should be driving targeted clients to you every week.  It should be on the first page of Google when someone searches for ‘massage, your city’.   You can even find out how many people are searching for that to give you some ideas of how many clients you are missing out on using this free keyword search tool by Google.

Here are a few things to make your site work better for you:

• Sign up with Google Maps.  When people search for massage, your city there usually is a section at the top of the page that says “local business results for massage near whatever city’.  Click on that link and then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Information for Business Owners” and click on that and follow the steps and submit your site to the local business listings.
• Be sure to choose the domain name that is best for search engines.  The best name uses the most searched for keywords.  Most people search for massage therapists by putting in a combination of keywords such as ‘massage, your city’.  Use those keywords in your domain name!  Yes even if your business name is different than that.
• When you create a page on your website be sure to follow these easy formatting techniques that I have outlined on my site www.thebodyworker.com.
• Create a xml sitemap and submit it to Google and the other major search engines.  Don’t worry if you don’t know what a xml sitemap is really.  I actually don’t really understand the real details but you need to let Google (and the other major engines) know that you are out there.  Here is more on how to do it.
• Find affiliate programs like amazon.com that you can sign up to promote their products or ebooks on health or related topics and make additional money for your masage business.  You can also use Google Adsense which is a program that allows you to put Google Ads on your website.  When people click on the links you get paid. If you are adding them to your massage website you might want to wait until you are getting 100 people a day to your website and also write about 30 pages of short articles on massage and health to put the ads on.  Since not everyone finding your site will become a customer, you can still make money from the visitors.