Massage websites and just websites in general is my passion. Through the years of working with Site Build it! I have learned a tremendous amount about building an online business and generating traffic. I started in 1999 with my first site – www.thebodyworker.com mainly because I was too burned out from doing massage. My health was suffering. I was also asked by a friend of mine to help her figure out how to avoid taking the anatomy/physiology/pathology because she already had extensive training in it. I started creating an apprenticeship program for her – they are accepted by WA State as a method of training to get licensed. I started collecting all of the information about what one would have to learn in massage school and then learned about all of the hoops you have to jump through to get set up as an apprenticeship program and just never went through with it. She did get out of taking those classes by testing out of them at the massage school she found. So anyways I just decided – hey I’ll make a website out of them! At that time back in 1999 websites weren’t really the thing. My friends kids had taught me how to use a computer and the internet- the click and go method I call it. Somewhere along the line I came across a company called Site Build it! and read an ebook called “Make Your Site Sell” (which I paid for at the time- it is now free but is a little outdated) I used the basic premises to build this website that you are now reading -www.thebodyworker.com. This site gets over 2500 people a day and makes up half of my total monthly income. I do massage 2-3 days a week and see only 12 or so clients a week.
At the time they did have a system for building websites but I didn’t buy it- it was too expensive – or so I thought. Finally in about 2002 I started a site using their system. (I know – it just takes me awhile to process things!) That was my site www.massagetherapycareers.com that I started. It was a site about everything you need to know about becoming a massage therapist – all of the things that massage schools don’t really tell you about. I wrote an ebook called “The Truth about Becoming a Massage Therapist”. I didn’t know what I was doing really back then. I was just following their action guide which was very primitive back then – but it somehow all worked. I started selling the ebook within about 2-3 months of starting the site. Not many sales but a few a month! I sold that site last fall for a good amount of money because it was being found for the keywords – massage therapy careers, massage therapist and a few other top words. The company just wanted my traffic – not my content so I just started another site – www.massage-career-guides.com which is basically a replica of the old site but much improved with all that I learned from the first one. It is almost a year after selling that other site now and the new one is getting about 200 people a day. The old one was getting 500 people a day so that’s not bad and it just keeps growing.
I also have another site www.workless-playmore.com that I started on a whim really and haven’t been working on but it still gets about 100 people a day. Everywhere I go I think – I am going to make a website out of that! If each site makes a few thousand I will be happy and just keep making more. But the thing is that anyone can really do this too. It is just about doing your research to find what people online are looking for and find a niche – and build a website based on your keyword research. Site Build it! takes you step by step through the process so you can’t really go wrong. The thing though is that it does take a lot of time until you start getting over 500 people a day or so. The whole process is just writing content and getting others to link to your site. There are many ways to do that and as I said it is all explained in the action guide and help sections of Site Build it!
The other thing is that it is always fun for me at least. I am always learning something new. I am always creating something! I just can’t wait to get up in the morning to see what is cooking online today. I can’t think of a better way to make a living (or part of a living for me! right now but in a few years – who knows?) They have some new software that I am dying to try – a new brainstormit! system that helps you research topics and keywords but I just don’t have time right now for another site – maybe by Christmas!
My favorite section at SBI! is the results section which is a very long list of the different site that are being done with SBI! – barbecue recipes, computer stuff, weddings, birthday cakes, herbs and nutrition, aromatherapy, guitars, get out of debt, business and marketing, resume writing, juggling, motorcycles for women (made me want to get one!), horse photos, flat stomach exercises – you name it- you will see it being done with Site build it!
I also love consulting with people about websites and ideas – so if you have some ideas or questions be sure to let me know! If you are ready to try it for yourself – Site Build it! is on sale right now – buy one for $299 (the same price it has been since the beginning) and get the second one for $100. A site for your massage business and one for an online business perhaps? (Ok I don’t really get their ad either. I am not going back to work- I have been working all summer – well sort of – in between vacations, visitors and too much sun here in Seattle.)
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