Selling Massage

The internet can be an amazingly low cost tool to build your massage business and a good website can do wonders for your bottom line. If you have created a great website then you have taken an important step to using the internet as a marketing tool. However, a strong internet website is only one piece of the internet marketing pie that you need to have in place.

You can have the best billboard in the county, but if it is located on a deserted country road where no one ever sees it what good does it do you? Along these same lines of thought you can have a beautiful website, but if no one ever sees it then what good does it do for your business?

Potential clients need to be able to find your website before you can use it as a tool in your marketing arsenal. Generally people will find your website in one of three ways.

1. They know your website address because your domain name was communicated to them in some way and they type it into their web browser directly. For example they have a brochure, business card, or other piece of marketing material that contains your domain name.
2. They find your website through what is known as pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click advertising is simply when you advertise through search engines or other companies online. With pay-per-click ads you pay a fee each time a visitor accesses your website by clicking on an online advertisement. Pay-per-click advertising can in many instances be an effective campaign, and we have another article that addresses strategies for this method of advertisement.
3. They find your website because they search for certain terms in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN and find your site. For example, people looking for a massage therapist in a certain area may type in a phrase such as “massage in yourtown yourstate” or “massage therapist in yourtown yourstate”. The terms people search for are often referred to as key phrases since they will consist of a string of terms used together.

In this set of marketing tips we will be discussing the third option, which is how to drive traffic to your website by increasing your ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPS).

If you work towards increasing your rank in the search engines you are doing what is commonly referred to as search engine optimization (SEO). The great news is basic SEO in a low competition market can sometimes be a do-it-yourself project with your website ending up on the first page of results. Smaller sized communities are usually a low competition market for massage therapy related searches.

If you are in a medium size or larger city then you will have to work harder to rank well. In these tougher markets you may want to look into possibly hiring a SEO professional to help you so you can concentrate building your practice. One SEO professional I can personally recommend is Axemedia. Not only do they know their stuff, but they are reasonably priced and specialize in the kind of local SEO that will provide you with the most benefit.

Optimizing your website can be a lot of work, but if you go the do it yourself route many of the techniques we discuss will cost you nothing more than your time. Ranking well in the search engines happens through two different methods known as on-page optimization and off-page optimization. An effective strategy includes both techniques. Please keep in mind that the world of SEO is a constantly changing so make sure to check back with us periodically for updates.

If you feel a bit intimidated then simply hire someone such as a title=”Axemedia” href=”http://www.axemedia.com”>Axemedia for a consultation. However, you should still read through the rest of the article so you can intelligently speak with your SEO consultant about your website and your needs.

On-page optimization for massage websites

On-page optimization merely refers to writing your web pages in such a way that the search engines will rank them well for your various key phrases. Web pages are written using what is known as HTML (hyper-text markup language). Don’t worry we are not going to get technical. After all I am not very technical myself!

All HTML does is format your page to look a certain way. Many non-technically inclined individuals have used HTML without a problem. There are even HTML editors that you can purchase such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage that do all of the work for you! With these editors you can write pages and make changes without any HTML knowledge at all.

Below are a list of recommendations to make your web pages friendly for the search engines.

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Your pages should not be too short and contain at least 200 words on the pages where you are trying to rank on your various keywords.
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Try to use the keywords you have already identified sprinkled throughout your site. Don’t put too many different keywords on the same page. For example, if you are a massage therapist that also performs day spa services such as body wraps then place your day spa services on a separate page from your massage services. This makes your various key phrases appear more concentrated and relevant for the search engines.
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You should try to use what are known as header tags (H1 and H2) to surround your various key phrases. Use the header tags in a logical way to as to not sound like the pages were written only for the search engines. Sound natural, like you do when you speak to your clients, and you will do fine.
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Each web page has what is known as a page title. The page title is the text in the blue bar at the top of your web browser. Use your keywords in the page titles and preferably towards the front of the title.
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Short page titles are generally better than long page titles. Don’t try to cram too much in each page title and keep it focused.
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Avoid using a lot of flash in your website. Flash is often what is responsible for the cool moving graphics you see at various web sites. Flash when used sparingly can be nice, but search engines often have a hard time indexing (reading) flash pages as it is cataloging its results and determining how to rank your web page.
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Focus on good and unique content that will be useful for your clients. The major search engines will often discount web pages that seem to be similar to another site. The important thing here to remember is copying and pasting from another website can hurt your search engine ranking results so don’t do it!
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Place keyword phrases in both the first paragraph of your page as well as the last as is possible.
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Avoid trying to use “hidden content”. Hidden content is when you attempt to add text or links with the same color of the background so that they are not visible to your visitors, but they are visible to the search engines. Some people do this to add keywords or phrases a lot throughout the page, but this has been demonstrated to now have a negative impact on your site.

Off-page optimization for massage websites

Off-page optimization is simply making your website seem more important to search engines by having a lot of links point to you from other sites. The more competitive your market the more you will have to work on your off-page optimization to rank well. Don’t worry I am going to give you some hints to do just that!

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Get links from directories. Although links from online directories don’t pack as big of a punch as some other links, they will often be free and only take time. A list of online directories can be found at sites such as http://www.addurl.nu. Please note that you can often pay for other people to do online directory submissions for you, but I do them myself. This takes more of your time, but saves money and you know the submissions are being done right.
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Vary the link text as possible for incoming links and vary the pages that are referenced. In other words do not have all of your link text say Yourbusinessname.com or have all of your incoming links point to the same page. For example, for a massage website in Springfield, Mo I would use different combinations such as Springfield Missouri Massage, Massage in Southwest Missouri, and Day Spa in Missouri. Perhaps you specialize in a specific type of massage such as pregnancy massage. When you set your link text you would use something like Pregnancy massage in Missouri instead. When these links are next to massage related information on the page they become even more powerful. List your massage services and location in the description near the link or as part of the link itself as is demonstrated above.
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Try to get local high-quality free links if possible. An examples includes links from your local chamber of commerce.
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Check the competition! Find the top ranking websites for your massage keywords in your area. Then go to yahoo and type link:www.competitorwebsite.com where competitorwebsite is the domain name of your competition. Get listed in as many of the same places as possible and then use the rest of our tips to get more links than the competition.
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Submit online press releases as possible with your domain name in the press release. An example of a site where you can do this is http://www.prweb.com
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Write articles about the areas you specialize in and then submit the article to article directories. Many of the article directories will keep a link of your site in the biography portion of the article you write or towards the bottom of the article. Submit your article about massage to these directories in order to increase the link count coming back to your site. An example of an article directory is http://www.goarticles.com. You can find many others by doing a search on “article directory” in your favorite search engine.
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Exchange links with other massage related sites. Be careful as you do and only exchange a few links with high quality massage or day spa related sites. Excessive reciprocal links can actually damage your ranking. Never link back to a “bad neighborhood” site. A bad neighborhood site is one that contains questionable content such as porn, drugs, or gambling.

The web can be a marketer’s dream. Reading and using just a handful of the tips above will put you well ahead of the competition in bringing you additional business.

Using Internet advertising to grow your massage business

Are you losing money? If your practice cannot be found through the Internet search engines the chances are you are losing business.

There are two ways potential clients can find your business on the Internet. The first way is through the search engine results pages. These results are also known as organic results. The ranking you have through organic results is achieved through what’s known as web site optimization. In order to help your customers find you through this method check stay tuned for an upcoming article on this method.

The second method, the topic of this article, is through search engine pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click advertising enables you to bid on positions for keywords. Keywords are simply the words that people looking for your services are likely to use in their Internet search

For example, if you are a massage therapist in Seattle potential clients may type the phrase “massage in Seattle Washington” into their preferred search engine. The phrase “massage in Seattle Washington” is a set of keywords that are important to you. You want people searching for these keywords to find your site, not your competitors.

Fortunately, choosing keywords is straightforward. Keywords that don’t produce results can be quickly deleted and new keywords can be added. If you need help getting jump started in finding keywords then go to your competitors’ websites. Browse through their pages. Good keywords will likely pop right out at you.

I recommend staying away from generic keywords as the return on investment (ROI) from generic keywords is usually not good. For example, if you use the keyword “massage” your ad will potentially display every time someone searches for massage. At first glance this may seem like it would be a good thing. However, what if the person performing the search is in another country or state? The chances of them buying from you decrease greatly. Your keywords should only be relevant to potential buyers, not browsers.

Now that you have your keywords, you need to sign up for the appropriate pay-per-click programs. I recommend signing up for pay-per-click advertisements with the big three search engines (Google, MSN, and Yahoo). One interesting item that all three of the major search engines offer is the ability to run multiple campaigns. Why is this interesting? Well you can test each campaign to see what keywords and options work best for what you really want- getting new clients! Below are the links you can use to sign up for your very own pay-per-click ads.

Google- http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads/

Yahoo- http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/as/index.php

MSN- http://advertising.microsoft.com/home/home

Each of these search engines also provides free tutorials on how to use their pay-per-click problems as well as useful tips and hints for a successful campaign.

Using your business cards as a marketing weapon

The business card is one of the most underrated marketing tools for new business owners. These little billboards with your name on them can be used to bring in additional clients when used effectively. The best part is they are incredibly cheap to print!

In this free marketing article you will learn how to use your business cards correctly to bring in more business. First let’s address the basics.

1. If you don’t have your business cards with you at all times then you will miss out on business

2. You must get potential clients to read and keep your business cards or you will miss out on business

3. The most important part of a business card is the person handing it out- you! The business card by itself has limited value, but when combined with your personality it can be a powerful marketing weapon.

Prior to passing out your business cards, you have to have some. Here are some things to remember when ordering your cards.

1. Make a checklist of what you want on your card. Possible items to include are logo, company name, locations, description of your business, phone number, email address, website address, and your slogan. Only add what you feel is necessary.

2. Consider using the back of your card. A couple of suggestions are a place for referral information or appointments. Another possibility is having a picture of reflexology spots on a hand or foot if you practice reflexology. Use whatever you think is useful on the normally blank space!

3. Obtain some cards from the competition. Write down what you like and what you don’t. Then get some cards from other industries as well. Take notes on anything you think you’d like to include on your card.

4. Be creative! Make your card simple but make it stand out from the crowd. Include a unique phrase or design. Although they cost more you can also get metal cards or other specialty cards that really stand out. Use lots of color or go black and white only. Use an oversized card or one that doesn’t even look like a business card.

Now that you have your card, we’re ready to pass them out. This is the most important part of using your business card to get clients (other than having your cards on your person in the first place).

When passing out your card have a ten second summary ready that describes your business. Make sure your ten second summary is well-rehearsed and you know exactly what you will say to someone as you hand out your card. Also practice your smile as you go through your ten second summary because you want to use that too!

As you finish your ten second summary and you hand over your card say something such as “This will help enhance your wellness, hang onto it” or “Only take this if you want to reduce stress in your life.”

Don’t hand over the card right away and make eye contact so this person understands you mean what you say. This imparts an additional level of importance to the giving of your card and significantly adds to the possibility that the potential client won’t toss your card as soon as you’re out of sight.

Instead of handing out your cards and saying “Here’s my card” hand out your cards with the intent to get business. Use the tips in this article and the sky is the limit.