Recently I’ve been reading quite a lot about some highly regarded websites being penalised by Google. I can see why they want to keep the spammy sites out of their search results, but in many cases it seems like innocent businesses are being hit by this as well as the unscrupulous operators.

In fact my husband noticed a couple of weeks ago that one of his websites had been penalised and his visitor numbers from Google had dropped right off as a consequence. When we checked his site, we found that some of the sites he’d been linking to for years were now horrid spammy sites (rather than the reputable sites they were when he’d first linked to them). He’s now removed these and asked Google to reconsider, but you can see why you’d want to avoid getting on Google’s bad side in the first place!

If you’re doing any promotion of your web site yourself, it’s well worth reading and complying wit h Google’s quality guidelines on linking to other websites. If you’re linking to other sites, make sure the other sites are:

• relevant - e.g. they are on a similar subject
• provide quality content that you’re happy to recommend

A good rule of thumb is to link to a site only if you feel it’s genuinely useful to your visitors. Don’t be persuaded to exchange links just for the sake of a link back, and don’t buy links to enhance your rankings. Lastly, check your links occasionally - good sites can go bad, so make sure the sites that you’re linking to are still relevant and high quality sites.

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

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

Just a quick post for those who are interested in using the Internet to reach new clients. Massage therapy marketing on the Internet can be highly profitable, but most websites never see any visitors apart from friends that you sent there yourself.

There are two general ways to go about creating websites that really work for you.

I introduced one of them in my post about Marketing Massage and Other Natural Health Modalities. You put up a website (instead of a flyer) and send people to it through business cards.

It is ideal if you use a network of affiliated businesses that serve your target market. That way you get a lot more out and you already come “recommended”. (more…)

Flyers are outdated. They are expensive, inflexible and hard to distribute. Most of them are thrown away without being read properly. But they still seem to be the most used promotional tool in massage marketing.

If you have the budget to produce professional flyers, go for a website instead. It gives the flexibility to update details, and it has the possibility to draw the right clients to you through search engines (if done properly, but I have to leave that for another time).

But there are some times when flyers are useful. You might have read yesterday that we did in fact produce some flyers. Why? Because Caroline needed to give something to a mothers’ group she meets tomorrow and her business cards are not ready. (more…)