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Purpose of websites for massage
therapists
The main reasons for having a website are for
new clients to find you when they search for a massage therapist in whatever
city/town you live, to build trust with those who land on your page and to give
them enough information to overcome their fears and concerns and
call! It can also be used to help support current clients in their
process of healing, providing articles on health and any related topics.
In today's high tech world, when people need information
they turn to the internet. How often have you heard people say "I need some
information on whatever topic" - they look first online. When
people are looking for a good massage therapist, they should be able to type the
name of their city or town into any search engine and the word
"massage" and find your website. On your website they will find
all the information they need about your practice - locations, fees, why you are
different from all the rest and how to contact you.
Developing a Website that is of your essence will allow
you to build trust and attract new clients to your practice. Just the
process of writing the content can bring new clarity to your vision and mission
and rejuvenate your practice.
The most important thing a
website can do for your practice is to educate your clients and potential
clients about what you do and who you are! Building a practice is not
about sales, but educating clients and potential clients about why they need
to have a massage once a week. I am so tired of reading about the
benefits of massage therapy I could just scream. The benefits mean nothing
to your readers. They don't really care if massage can relieve
stress. They don't care about increasing their circulation or
whatever. You have to discover who your ideal client is so that you can
write to attract and educate those who would be most likely to use your
services.
I highly recommend that you start writing
about what massage means to you, how it has influenced your life and what you
feel your purpose is in doing massage. Figuring out who your ideal client is and creating a
powerful educational website is essential in building a practice. When you
create a vision that is in tune with your values, your efforts will be directed
into creating that for yourself. Writing a powerful mission statement
and/or informed consent statement will do more for building your practice than
paying for any advertising. You can find more help for building your
practice at www.massagepracticebuilder.com
Some of the features you will need in a website are:
- the ability to send out a newsletter to
subscribers who are potential or current clients. A newsletter will
assist you in building your practice by building trust and getting people to
know you before they come in and can deepen your relationship with current
clients.
- software for tracking statistics. Knowing how and
where your visitors came from will allow you to add more information or
build specific pages. This usually comes with your server.
- some way to submit your pages to the search engines and
track the results of the search engines so you can improve your pages for
search engines to find them.
- Dynamic Content is what will attract search engines to
your site and content is what will keep people reading to become interested
in trying your services. You can learn more about developing content
through the free Service Masters Class
and other ebooks offered through SiteSell.com
Some things to include on your website:
- Forms: Have all intake, insurance verification forms
and release of records forms online for your clients to download and fill
out before they come in.
- Rates, services
- Location, Map, Directions to office
- hours available for sessions
- online appointment booking
- purchase gift certificates online
I recommend using Sitebuildit! for all your hosting and building
needs. You really have to see it to believe it. You don't need to have
any programming experience!
I have created
my other website www.massagetherapycareers.com
using this great service and started selling my e-book -"The truth about
becoming a massage therapist" the first month I set it up. I still
haven't had time to promote that site efficiently but still get regular
sales.
Update: Sept 05. Back in April I realized my traffic
would never get beyond 100 people a day (which is what sitebuildit recommends
waiting for before you start selling things.) I went through and redid the
whole website using the sitebuildit analyzer that is built in to every
page. My website www.massagetherapycareers.com
traffic is now climbing steadily and I am making more money from my google ads
from that site (which is about 30 pages) than I do with this site that is over
400 pages! I still haven't done the building links with other
websites or contacted the massage schools.)
I also use
Front Page and www.ez-webhosting.com
for hosting as an alternative. This website is hosted using this
service. It comes with bulletin boards, templates, full email account,
mailing lists, search engine submitting, and more. If you are experienced
in website building or have the patience to play and learn while you go...it can
be really fun!!
But if you are really serious about building your practice
you'll head straight for the Sitebuildit!
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