I got a great question recently: Do you recommend Google AdWords as part of the marketing campaign for complementary therapists?

Note: (if you do not know) Google AdWords are the ads you see on the right hand side of any Google searches. Advertisers bid how much they are willing to pay per click (so they do not pay when the ad is shown, just when someone clicks on it). Google then ranks the ads by how much the advertiser bids and the quality of the page the ad points to.

So here are my thoughts:

AdWords are a science in itself. the advantage: you can target the people who will see your ads very specifically (through the keywords you bid for, and you can specify a geographic area). The disadvantage: competition is quite high for keywords and the prices you need to pay per click are rising every month.

So, unless you are certain that your website converts visitors to paying clients, it is a dangerous game to use Google AdWords.

If you want to do it, I would establish a conversion rate for your site first (i.e. how many people visit your site before someone books a session, if 200 people visit the site, before someone books, your conversion rate is 0.5%). You can use Google Analytics to work that out (if they can book online).

Once you know that and you know how much profit you make from each person (e.g. they come 5 times on average and pay $50 each time, so the revenue is $250. Your costs, including your own time, rent, washing, etc. are $150, so you could theoretically spend up to $100 to get people to your site.)

Now you need to multiply your conversion rate with what you want to spend on Google AdWords (e.g. $100 x 0.5% gives you $0.50). So the maximum you want to spend is $0.50 per click.

Then, you need to test that for each keyword and each different ad. It might be that more people who use click on a Google Ad convert or less than the traffic you had before. My experience is that it is usually less than from the organic traffic.

In my opinion, you are much better off to optimize your site for organic search engine traffic. You can download an ebook that shows you how to build successful websites that draw organic traffic. It is a tiny part of the education you get when you purchase the SiteBuildIt package.

Money well spent if you enjoy working on the computer. Otherwise, find yourself a good webdesigner who understands about Search Engine Optimization. And by having read this document, you will be able to ask the right questions to find out whether someone is knowledgeable.

You can contact Julie for support in using the SiteBuildIt package or contact Catherine for web design services.

If you have not yet received my free report: The 7 Biggest Business Mistakes Health Practitioners Make, just enter your name and email and I'll send it to you. Name: E-Mail: I respect your privacy and will never sell, share or pass on your details.

One of the things I am quite passionate about is sharing my knowledge and experience in using websites to start and build a massage practice. It is one of the most easy and direct ways to promote your business. When someone searches for the words ‘massage, your city’ the first thing that should come up is your website. Well or so we would all like. To create a website that achieves that status involves a little bit of learning about Search Engine Optimization. The first step is using the keywords in your title, heading and metatags. Your main keyword will most likely be just what I said before ‘massage, your city’. It also helps if your domain name uses those main keywords. You domain name does not necessarily need to be the same as your business name. There is a little bit more to creating pages that I have outlined on my site www.thebodyworker.com

If you don’t know what it all means just know that if you are hiring a webdesigner or purchasing a premade website find out if the pages will be optimized for search engines.

The next part of the website is the content. You can get your website to the top of the search results for your keywords with search engine optimization. You can get them to click on your listing and read your content when you create a site that is about them- not about you. A good website needs lots of content. A basic 8 page website is a good place to start but it is just more of an online business card. What we need to do is start really educating clients about massage, what it does, how it works, what to expect, why they should be getting an hour and a half massage 2x a week (yes that much! I have two clients who have been doing that for over 15 year each. With regular clients like that you won’t have to keep marketing.)

Back to content… The standard list of the benefits of massage needs to have one page for every benefit or even a few pages. If that amount of content intimidates you just stop to think - you are probably already telling people this all day long. The thing about writing content is to remember that you are just putting down what you would usually want to say to people. Having quality content allows the reader to start trusting you before then even call for the appointment. It allows you to share your values and purpose and helps you find clients that share those too making for a better match. Working with people who are not your ideal client can end up being draining resulting in burnout, stress and even resentment. A successful practice will be full of your ideal clients.

So just start writing about things that you learned in massage school. Most people have little understanding of what massage is or can do. When I started telling people more about it, I attracted regular weekly clients. One of the things I always ask too is would you like an appointment for next week to continue working on that so and so.

The way to create your pages is to also be sure that you are focusing on your readers needs - not yours. A site that is focused on your needs goes on and on about your credentials, I did this, I did that etc. Content that is focused on the reader should feature “you”… You will experience, You will receive… You don’t have to live in pain. What will your service do for me ( the reader)? How will it make my life better? How will it make me feel about myself? People want to know what is in it for them. Put yourself in their shoes. Actually do this for yourself- go online and look for a massage therapist in your area. Who would you go to? The person with a few pages of flashy graphics or someone who will tell you more about themselves?

Keeping it simple and just teaching readers and potential clients how massage can make a difference in their lives is what having a website that works is all about.

You can read more about websites www.thebodyworker.com in the Creating a Website that works section.

Julie Onofrio
Founder www.thebodyworker.com

You may not have given much thought to the colours you’re using in your logo and marketing materials, but did you realise that colour can subtly communicate what you stand for, and the wrong choice can put people off?

A client of mine has made great consistent use of colour throughout her practice. Sonia wanted to use a lotus flower as the inspiration for her logo and web site. For the web site, I picked out a palette of purples and greens from photos, and her graphic designer used the same palette for brochures and business cards. Finally Sonia painted her new clinic in matching shades to create a wonderfully relaxing environment that you remember because it stands out from the crowd.

So, what are the best colours for a natural therapies business? If you’re working with a graphic designer they’ll be able to select a colour scheme to reflect your core philosophy. If you’re making the choice yourself, my recommendations would be to consider:

• Green. Green is a tranquil colour that is often used to represent healing, renewal and growth. According to Siba Graphics, green lowers blood pressure, relaxes the nervous system, and calms and soothes the mind.
• White. White is the colour I would recommend for web page backgrounds, and other text-heavy applications. It’s professional, and when used with black text makes the text easy to read. White symbolises purity, peace, and simplicity.
• Purple. Purple is a spiritual colour that is often associated with meditation and the higher self.
• Blue. Blue is often associated with medicine. Pale blue can be calming, whilst darker blue can suggest wisdom.

Generally speaking, muted tones create a welcoming, calming mood, whilst stronger tones are more playful and energetic.

Although using different shades of a single colour can produce a harmonious peaceful effect, you might want to spice things up with an accent colour. Go ahead and experiment, but don’t go crazy - choosing between 1 and 3 colours will ensure a more professional look.

As Sonia’s story illustrates beautifully, choosing the right colours and using them consistently allows you to create a lasting impression.

Happy Marketing,
Catherine
………………………………………………………………………………….
Founder, Soothed - web design & online marketing for natural therapists
Editor, natural bloom - sharing the inside story on holistic health

I am very excited to welcome three fantastic contributing authors: Catherine Doyle (www.naturalbloom.com), Julie Onofrio (www.thebodyworker.com) and Amy Roberts (www.massagetherapymarketingsuccess.com).

All three have years of experience not only as people supporting massage and other natural health practitioners, but also practicing themselves.

Amy has had many successes in advertising and will share her wealth of advertising tips and tricks. Julie has her strongest passion in the collaboration between natural health practitioners and will share a lot about supervision and networking and Catherine is a webmaster who supports clients to set up successful websites.

For detailed profiles, please go to Amy Roberts, Catherine Doyle and Julie Onofrio.

Catherine’s first post will be published this Monday, Julie will follow up on Wednesdays and Amy on Fridays.

For me it is fantastic to see the collaboration between the four of us and I look forward to seeing what grows out of it. Looking forward to your questions and thoughts.

Some wonderful things are happening in my life.

As I am gaining more clarity and focus, I want to share what I have to give with even more people.

That is why you can start the Passionate Training today on a trust-based Pay-After-You-Are-Happy basis.

How it works?

With no deposit, no credit card details, no obligation, you can access the complete training and work through it.

If at the end you do not think it gave you any value, you owe me nothing.
If it worked, you decide what it is worth to you personally - and pay me that. It is totally up to you.

Check the details here.

I recently had the opportunity to review the work of Amy Roberts. She is a successful massage therapist and business coach to massage therapists around the world. I had known about her for a few years but only recently realised that we only live two hours apart.

We have not met yet, but are planning to do that soon.

Amy has generously agreed to let me review her entire suit of books and workbooks. The sheer volume felt a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but once I delved into them and worked my way through, I got really excited. Amy has put together a complete collection of everything you need to know to advertise your massage therapy business.

Marketing Preparation

Rather than just jumping into the advertising, Amy spends time discussing the foundation of a successful massage therapy business. Developing your vision and keeping a positive mindset are just a small part of what Amy offers. She also provides great insight into developing a clearly defined target market.

Advertising Samples

Amy’s ebooks give detailed examples of headlines, direct mail letters and whole ads. She explains why and how to use the different elements to attract clients. You are even free to copy the examples and use them in your own ads.

Do-It-Yourself Work Sheets

There is a multitude of questions and worksheets that help through the steps of developing your own advertising. One of the best is the “Business Checkup”. It helps to get a really clear picture of how you rank in your marketing approach and what to do to improve it.

The whole course is set out in such a way that you do not need any other professionals. I would still maintain the extra Dollars for a professional graphic designer are a worthwhile investment.

However, by working through Amy’s course, you have a precise proposal that cuts the necessity of professional input to a fraction.

To get more detailed information about what her course entails, see www.massagetherapymarketingsuccess.com 

Feedback

If you have worked with Amy’s ebooks (or any other massage marketing coach or books) leave a comment so we can all benefit from it.

We ran a competition at www.naturalbloom.com. It called for the best marketing and promotion techniques. Thanks to everyone who participated. The competition ended yesterday and I got to read the entries to judge what I thought was the best tip. Here is what I think:

Give your all to your clients: Quality, expertise and healing with love and presence. Word of mouth clients referred from clients who believe in you are the best.

This entry comes from Mitta from California. Thank you very much for this insight and congratulations. We’ll be doing a phone consultation in the next few days. Congratulations also to the other winners: John from the UK, Jean from the UK and Emma from Australia. All of you receive a free Passionate Training to help you move forward.

Why is it the Best?

You might wonder why I think this is the best tip. Very simply: it starts with the most important concept: the client. Giving the client everything puts total focus on creating value for whoever walks in the door. It steps away from the need to sell or the worry whether there will be enough clients.

That is the true meaning of marketing: providing that exceptional service. All other advertising and marketing tools are just supporting this one essential thing. And without the great service, nothing else will work.

So congratulations again and I look forward to our phone conversation.

I received an email last week from Angela one of my students. She has only been in business for 4 months, but is really taking a great professional approach. She allowed me to share what she does with you. Here is her email:

“I’ve purchased your training manual this week and am really looking forward to getting into it. As a massage therapist you’ve given me a more balanced outlook on my business so I’m ready to make some changes.

I send out an email and paper newsletter on a monthly basis to my clients and I was hoping that if you had some time you could have a look at it and possibly offer a few suggestions. If it’s not part of your service though then that’s OK.”

View the Smooth Massage massage newsletter sample.

It is fantastic how Angela uses informative and educational materials (that she does not all have to write herself). That gives the value to readers that should not be lost with any of these thoughts.

Focus on Results

My suggestions? That really depends on what you want your newsletter to do and what it is currently doing. Do you want to attract more clients? Do you want your existing clients to come back more often? Or is it more a thank-you for the clients that are coming to you anyway.

As with any marketing tool, you need to look at what you want from it and what it is delivering currently. Then it can be improved. What feedback are you getting from your clients? Are they commenting on it, on specific articles? Or don’t you ever hear anything about it?

Hooking the Readers’ Eyes

It is really well designed, stylish and simple. It might be worth adding a few more paragraph breaks and subheadings. Most people do not read from start to finish, but skip until something catches their interest. The more things you have in there to catch someone’s interest, the better.

Maybe you could subtly work in articles about the benefits of massage.

Build a Relationship

Or add something about you personally. People buy from people they like, trust and understand. You could build that relationship by sharing more about yourself. The things that are important to you, what is happening in your life, what is happening for clients (like testimonial stories).

Call to Action

Another possibility would be to add some special promotions. This does not have to be discounting. Instead you could package your massage with different things, possibly from other related businesses.

Or you could recommend other businesses and ask them to do the same for your, possibly pass on your newsletter.

It is absolutely fantastic that you are producing your newsletter and I am sure it will pay back for the time and money you put into it.

I received an email today from one of my students and wanted to share that with you.

“To be honest, this has been a lot of hard work.  I am just starting out, do not have a client base to work from so much of what you are advising, I have not been able to really complete 100%.
I have nonetheless really gotten a lot out of the exercises, by creatively applying those segments that pertain to self representation.  For example, since I don’t have past clients to use, I have been working on those parts of your manual that help with communicating my speciality and how to design my vouchers and business cards.
I work full time at a job that pays the bills so in reality, your course is helping to instill good habits before I get busy and mess up.
Thank you for creating this course.”

It gives me such joy to read an email like this, because I can see how someone benefited from it. I also really appreciate the honesty that it has been hard work. Maybe I have to take out the “Effortlessly” from the title.

But then I wonder how this hard work compares to learning to become a massage therapist. I am sure this is easier or at least less time consuming.

Just Starting Out

I have had that question a few times: “I am just starting out and have not got any clients yet. Can I still do the training?”

1. Yes, because it will give you a much smoother start to opening you practice.
   A lot of the exercises are designed  for you to get clarity around your clients and what you are offering them. For that you do not need past clients.
2. Some parts of the training integrate building your relationship with past clients.
   That part is just to get someone up to speed to be able to implement the really important follow-up systems for the future.
3. I am certain that everyone who is a natural health practitioner has worked on other people. It does not matter whether it was paying clients, family, friends or even other students. They can give you great input.

So yes, the training is great when you are just starting out. And it might feel like hard work while you do it, but it pays off really well when the clients start coming.

More Advanced Marketing Training

I have started to review some other marketing trainings that are available. Some of them are fantastic once you have build the foundations and you want to build your practice. I will share my reviews soon.

Thanks so much to all of you who have contributed great questions in the last 6 weeks. It was fun and challenging to answer them.

At the beginning I said that the best question would win a Passionate Training. Little did I know that it would be very hard to decide which one was “the best” question. Lucky for me, technology keeps track of a how many people read a specific post.

I am therefore defining the best question as the one that most people were interested in.

It was the post about the best way to promote yourself by Gizelle - by far.

Congratulations Gizelle. Your training is on the way and I hope you get a lot out of it. I will be really interested in hearing how it works for you in your small town in South Africa.

Any other questions, just post a comment … There is no training to win, but sharing and collaborating, we all win new insights.