One of the easiest ways to build your massage practice is by having a website that works - that is one that gets you to the top of the search engine results and gets people to click on your listing and then make the phone call for an appointment with you. If you are located in a big city that has a lot of massage therapists who have websites competing for those top listings there are many things that you can do to get your website on the first page of Google (and other search engine results).

1. Choosing Your Domain name - Your domain name is an important part of getting your site found. You don’t have to have make your business name into a domain name. The best domain name will easily inform a reader what you do and where you do it. It will also tell people what solution you provide for people. That is basically what people want to know - what solution do you provide? Will you be able to help them with whatever issue they are having. They aren’t really looking for you - sorry to say. The best domain name will let people know what you do. People will usually search for the words ‘massage, your city’ or ‘massage therapist, your city’ (or maybe an area or section of town etc.) Naming your site www.massageyourcity.com (or .au or whatever the most popular ending is in your country) will increase your chances of getting found.
2. The file names of your pages is also important in getting your site found as well as how you format your pages. The file name is the second part of url address as in www.massageyourcity.au/deeptissue-massage.html - it is the deeptissue-massage.html. I have seen some websites that just have things like page numbers or abbreviations of the descriptive words as file names. Then when writing your page create a headline with your keyword - deep tissue massage as well as use that keyword in the first sentence of your page. Also using that same keyword or phrase and creating a link somewhere in the page helps to get your website found. The metatags of the page will also include that keyword in the description, keyword and Page title section. If you don’t know what meta tags are you will have to find out how to create them in whatever program you are using. They are words put into the pages that are meant for only search engines to read.
3. Start with creating about 8-10 pages including some of these topics like:
   • what to expect during a massage
   • services and fees
   • policies such as cancellations, late fees, insurance billing or privacy policies
   • different types of massage you do. (Actually each type of massage you do could be written about in separate pages.)
   • How massage works
   • Your mission and purpose statement
   • An about me page. Most massage therapist just seem to want to list a basic resume of classes. While that is OK, what would be even better is to talk more about your philosophy on healing, massage and wellness. One of the things that most massage therapists don’t seem to mention is why you are doing massage - what brought you to the massage profession? What are your reasons for taking the training that you have?
4. The Benefits of Massage page. Most websites and massage brochures include a benefits of massage page. This is becoming one of my pet peeves…. The thing is that no one really cares if massage increases their circulation or helps loosen their muscles. The standard list of the benefits of massage that is taught in massage school really means little to someone seeking a massage. Again what people want to know is what will massage do to solve their problem whatever it is - pain, an injury, stiffness, stress. Take each so called ‘benefit of massage and keep asking the question “So What?” Keep asking until it almost becomes silly or meaningless. When you get down to the real answer of so what - you will then have a real benefit of massage that people can relate to.
5. After your first basic 8-10 pages of information start writing pages that answer the questions that people seem to ask every day. My favorites are:
   • Is that a knot?
   • Is that a bone?
   • What is causing my pain?
   • What can I do to reduce the tension in these muscles?
   • Does massage work well with chiropractic or physical therapy?
6. Keep writing pages of content until your schedule is as full as you want it and continue writing pages every month or so just to keep the site fresh and new clients coming. Building content and providing information is what will help build trust with your readers. Since I started doing that with my website, most people who become clients will read the site and say things like “I want you to be doing my massage”. They want to go to someone who is an expert and also knows how to handle whatever it is that is bothering them or can help them with whatever disease or condition they have.

The basic way to get your site found by the search engines is to use search engine optimization methods when creating your pages and also getting back links to your website which I will talk about in my next article. Backlinks are just links to your site from various sources. It isn’t so much about getting someone to click on the link. It is really more about making your website look more popular in search engines eyes.

Julio Onofrio
Founder of www.thebodyworker.com

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