www.thebodyworker.com

When people search online for a massage therapist, what terms or keywords do you think someone would use to find you?

massage therapy?

massage therapist?

While there are many people searching for those keywords, using those words would be like searching for a needle in a haystack as far as the results the search engines would find.
What exactly is someone searching for when they put in those keywords – I really don’t know. Are they massage therapists? Are they people looking for a massage therapist? Since people for the most part don’t really know how to do effective searches it is hard to say what people are really looking for when someone searches for ‘massage therapy’.

One of the ways to get your website to the top of the search engines is using Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search Marketing which I have talked about before.
Basically what you do is pay to get your site to the top pages by bidding on the keywords with each search engine. You can set the amount you pay per click, per day and per month. You can choose what words to bid on.

If you choose Google’s Adsense program, you can also choose to advertise on specific sites like my site www.thebodyworker.com which is one of the top sites for when someone puts in the words Swedish massage at Google. I also get about 2000-2500 visitors a day searching for something related to massage.

Most people who know how to search would probably search for massage, your city I would think. To get to the top of the search engines for using those keywords you can also choose to pay for Advertisements with the search engines or pay for other methods of advertising.

Using Sitebuildit! will also help you get there as they teach you what you need to do to create pages and links to get the traffic that you will need.

To start getting a better idea of the process of finding a good massage therapist – go out and go through the process of finding one yourself. What do you do to find someone? Who would you go to once you get some names or even referrals from doctors or friends? Most people go on referrals but you have to have referral source you can trust. (I have a friend who has referred me to some people that she sees for various healthcare issues and everytime I go, I am greatly disappointed as I have different needs and value different things. I finally figured out to stop going to people she referred – we are just different.)

What are people looking for when looking for a massage therapist? Most have a problem that needs a solution. Or it may not be a problem but a need that they have that they are looking to get fulfilled. Once they find your site or office, what will make the difference in them calling you vs. someone else? They have to perceive that you and your massage is something that they need and they also have to value your service. If they have never met you how can they make a more informed decision on whether or not to choose you? You have to tell them what you value so they can figure out if their values match yours.
By paying close attention to what you value you can also make more conscious business decisions and attract clients who need your services…more on values later but you can read what I wrote a few years ago – Truth Marketing.

Are you getting sick of me talking about websites yet?

I am getting more information from my feedback form that is really quite interesting.

People seem to want a website but do not understand just what it takes to make a website that works. They also do not understand that you have to be able to pay for things to support your practice. The lifetime value of a customer will tell you more about how much you should spend to get one customer. One new client coming in one time would be whatever your hourly rate is ($75.00). How many times will they come in to see you over the year? My ideal client comes in every other week at least – 2 x a month. $75 x2 = $150 per month x 12 = $1800. Should I stop there? You can multiply that by how many number of years you plan on doing massage. I have 2 clients in particular who come 2x a week and one has been coming for about 17 years the other for about 15 years. How much is that worth to you? How much would you spend to get one client like that?

My survey is showing that most people just want an 8-10 page website for their massage business. This is fine but know it is just more like a calling card and getting search engines to find it won’t be easy. And even if you do get them to find you, the chances of getting a steady flow of new clients that fit your ideal client profile (which is a necessary part of creating a massage practice that is successful and lasts) is probably not good without paying additional advertising fees. I am not saying it can’t be done, but you will most likely have to pay to get the search engines to find you.

The thing about adding content – like at least 30 pages and ideally a few hundred is that you can write about what you do and develop a relationship with your readers. You can really get clear about what you do and who you want to be doing it with. The clearer you get in the vision of your practice, the easier it will come to you. Sitebuildit! asks you the tough questions and the process of creating a website is really the process of learning to ask for what you want by sharing who you are and what you do. It is the Law of Attraction all in one. Creating a website with a few hundred pages will challenge you to really show up and be present. It will really make you think about yourself and your dreams and aspirations. It will really help you get clear and set your boundaries and decide who you want to work with. That way your business decisions will be easier. You will know who to talk to. You will know what to say. It is the process of building your self confidence through challenging yourself to write about what you do. Just think how it can change the perception of massage and educate the world.

So starting with an 8-10 page website with just the basic pages – your services, what you charge, your policies and procedures is a great place to start. If you really want results, I recommend writing more. If you are thinking that you can’t write that much – don’t worry. Sitebuildit! will basically tell you what you have to write about if you can’t think of anything. Building a website with SBI begins with doing keyword research and finding out what people are searching for. After you build a dozen or so pages and start getting traffic, SBI will keep track of what words people are using to find your site so you can learn what people are looking for. You can then build pages to attract more of those visitors or adjust your content to attract someone different if it doesn’t seem to be the type of client you want to work with.

The idea that you don’t have to or even want to work with everyone who calls or emails you may seem foreign to you because you are thinking you can’t afford to turn away clients. The best piece of advice that I ever got from an instructor was to only work on nourishing clients. I didn’t always follow that for the same reason you may be thinking – I have to pay the bills. Now I am finally really getting it and can see that it wasn’t alway the right thing to do. I now am only taking clients I want to work with. I have a full schedule and I don’t have anymore no shows or last minute cancellations. ( I was having trouble with them for awile and it seems to come and go depending on how well I am setting my boundaries.)

So what I am saying I guess it that SBI more than anything has really helped me figure out what it is that I want in a client and even with my websites.

It is so much more than just a hosting package- it is an all in one success system with it’s own Coaching system (the action guide) and support system (forums).