March 2008

Website Wonders

by Cherie Sohnen-Moe 

You can also enhance your “convenience quotient” by adding an online scheduling component to your site. An e-newsletter archive with news, health tips, and special promotions also adds interest and value to your site.  

If those aren’t enough reasons to spark your interest in a website, talk to any massage therapist with a website and you’ll hear rave reviews about online coupons. These easy-to-use promotional tools—which can be printed from your site and redeemed for introductory visits or special promotions—are proven business builders. Online coupons are one of the most effective ways to attract new clients and build loyalty with existing clients.  

A website can also make it easy for time-pressed clients to purchase gift certificates and package deals. In short, you want a website that educates new clients and persuades them to make an appointment with you, and that strengthens your relationship with existing clients. 

The speed of the Internet lends itself well to communicating the latest news to your clients via your website. For instance, if you have activities and announcements about classes, open houses, discounts, promotions and product specials, you can make changes to your website in minutes at little or no cost—in comparison to the expense of reprinting brochures. 

To get started, purchase a Web hosting package. Contact a Web hosting provider such as www.1and1.com, www.godaddy.com or www.networksolutions.com. Choose a domain name that makes sense not only to you but also to your target clients. For example, if you decide to design and build your own site, you can purchase templates to aid you with the look and structure. Get these from sites such as www.templatemonster.com.  

If you are going to hire someone to design, make sure you ask to see his or her portfolio and contact clients '

Once your site is built, make sure you promote it using services such as Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Engine Marketing and Microsoft adCenter. These are very inexpensive and powerful ways to advertise your practice online, because they allow you to target your local area and reach your clients through the search engines your clients use.  

Check Issue 6’s Online Resources at www.futureLMT.com for more advice on creating your own site.

Get hip to the lingo. Learn the meaning of such terms as "Web host" and "TCP/IP" by reading "Internet Terminology."

MASSAGE Magazine’s VP, Web Operations and Audience Development, Manuel Lirio, contributed to this article. He can be contacted at mlirio@massagemag.com.

Cherie Sohnen-Moe is an author, business coach and international workshop leader. She has been in business since 1978. She was in private practice for many years as a massage and holistic health practitioner before shifting her focus to education and coaching. In her coaching/consulting practice, she has worked with individual therapists to small wellness centers to day spas that have multiple locations. She has served as a faculty member at the Desert Institute of Healing Arts and the Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and is an adjunct professor at Clayton College of Natural Health. She has written more than 100 articles that have been published in more than 15 national and international magazines. She is the author of the book, Business Mastery, which is in its fourth edition, has sold more than 325,000 copies to date with 650-plus schools requiring it as a text. She is also the author of Present Yourself Powerfully and The Art of Teaching. She is co-author of The Ethics of Touch, with more than 300 schools requiring it as a text. She is also a contributing author of Teaching Massage: Fundamental Principles in Adult Education for Massage Program Instructors, and was interviewed for a chapter of SAND TO SKY: Conversations with Teachers of Asian Medicine. Sohnen-Moe is a firm believer in education and as such serves on the exam committee of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) and is a founding member of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE).  She can be contacted through her website, www.sohnen-moe.com.