Welcome to the BodyworkBiz practice-building newsletter - designed to help you build the practice of your dreams.

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You'll find yourself referring to the information in these newsletters over and over again as you build your practice. Print out each email, pour yourself a beverage and grab a pen to highlight important concepts and to jot down some ideas. Are you on the sofa yet? Let's begin.

This month's article is more like a small "report" rather than a "tip". But it will be well worth the read. Make yourself comfy. Seriously… pour yourself a nice glass (or mug) of something, settle in and get ready for some insightful info. Are you on the sofa yet? Let's begin.

In last month's Massage Marketing Tips newsletter we looked at the concept of education-based marketing and looked at four simple strategies you can use to get more highly qualified clients into your practice. If you missed that issue, you can view it here...

After writing that article, I got a big slap in the face that woke me up to another writing idea that I completely overlooked.

I'm Almost Famous...

You see, BodyworkBiz is one of the busiest massage websites on the Internet. The site is a little over a year and a half old and we have consistently outranked pretty much everyone: we are busier than any massage association website, massage magazine websites, massage supply websites...you name it.

(How do I know this? I check my site rankings through Alexa, the most respected site ranking service on the net. I have their free toolbar and I can see my site ranking every time I open my browser. 'Heres my short review of the service http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/reviews.php.)

So a few weeks ago, I did a little searching in Google to see how I was ranked for different key words that people might use to find BodyworkBiz. On one of these important searches, my site didn't even show up in the top ten results.

But I was amazed to see articles that I had written for OTHER websites show up in position #1 and #2!

I thought about it for a little while wondering if it was a good thing or not. After all, these sites were getting top positions for articles I had written on marketing. And as I thought about it, I came to the realization that this was not a good thing...

It was a fantastic thing!

Why?

Put yourself in a surfer's shoes...

Imagine yourself in the place of someone surfing the web for information on something they are interested in: Let's say massage and pregnancy.

They type their search terms into Google or Yahoo and the first thing they see in the results page is an article that YOU'VE written on pregnancy massage. Are they going to click that link?

You betcha!

They found exactly what they were looking for: Relevant information.

And they are more likely to click that link than any other because it's obviously not a sales pitch.

And as they read the article, they learn some great stuff. They can see that you, as the author, are very knowledgeable. They read through your article with great interest and they want to know more. When they reach the end of your article, your contact information is there, perhaps with an active link to your website.

Now when they visit your website or give you a call, they are doing so because they respect you and your knowledge. They see you as an expert who can help them. They are favorably predisposed to using your massage services.

This is what has in recent years has become known as “pre-selling”. It gets people to visit you with a trusting, ready-to-buy attitude. You don't have to sell them on the idea of using massage or using your services. They are already pre-sold.

Sounds like a great way to promote your services, doesn't it?

But here's the thing: How the heck do you get other websites to publish your article?

Two suggestions for getting published
(and maybe becoming almost famous yourself)…

1. Suggestion number one...

If you specialize in a particular market or in working with particular conditions, there are websites that would welcome your insights into the benefits of massage and your services. Just do searches for websites in areas in which you are knowledgeable, go to the "Contact Us" page and write a brief note to the webmaster asking them if they would be interested in a free article. Most are looking for interesting and unique content and would welcome the opportunity.

It's important that you request a Signature Box or Bio be included at the end of the article with your contact information. This is key.

A signature box is simply a little blurb about you along with your contact information.

My signature might look something like:

Eric Brown specializes in helping massage professionals who are struggling in their business to get more clients and fill their practice. You can get his free Marketing Tips newsletter at www.bodyworkbiz.com

After reading your article, people are interested in knowing more. Your signature box gives them a quick and easy way to contact you immediately while their interest level is high.

2. My second suggestion...

Go to www.BodyworkWeb.com. That's bodyworkWEB.com, not bodyworkBIZ.com.

This is a fr ee resource I've developed for you so you can establish your expertise online and generate visits to your website or calls to your office.

Go ahead, check it out. Then come back here when your done and I tell you more about how you can benefit from this kind of tool.

You're back already? That was quick.

As you can see that it's brand spanking new. But I hope in the not too distant future, with contributions from professionals like you, this website will become a massive repository of massage-related information.

Submitting an article is easy. Just click on the “Submit an article” link and login using the user name “guest” and password “welcome”. That will take you to the submission page.

Once you're there, simply type in your article. Or better yet, write your article in whatever word processor you use and then simply cut and paste the text into the content area.

You'll see a “Bio” area. This is your signature box. Just enter any information that you'd like people to know about you including your contact information. This Bio area is set up like Microsoft Word. You can use it to create active links to your website or email address. It's super simple. Be sure to fill this in!

There's also a place to enter in your email address. This won't be published with your article. It's simply there so we know how to contact you if we have questions about your article.

Preview your article to make sure you're happy and then click the “Save” button. One of our editors will give it a go over for spelling and grammar and will make sure the content is appropriate. Your article will likely be on the web within 24 to 48 hours and you'll be on the way to celebrity. ;o)

On the road to fame...

One important reason to put your contact information in the Bio area is because someone may want to reprint your material - for a trade or association newsletter, on a website, in printed media. You never know when someone with influence might want to share your information with others.

And we'll do our part to spread your fame as well.

Are you familiar with the term "syndication"? In the newspaper industry, it's every writer's dream to become a syndicated columnist, like Dear Abby or Ann Landers. With syndication, your article is published in hundreds of newspapers simultaneously.

We've set up a way for your article to be syndicated easily on other massage related websites. Yes, you may soon become a syndicated writer! Dear Abby, watch out!

We won't bore you with details right now and of course we haven't announced this function yet because we are waiting for your content first. But essentially other massage-related websites can publish your article and others easily by pasting a little bit of code into a webpage on their site. (If you're a techie, this is an RSS feed.)

Why would they do this? Because it provides great, fresh content for their visitors and helps their rankings in search engines. It's a win-win-win-win-win situation for everyone involved. We'll publish more details as BodyworkWeb develops.

In addition, if BodyworkBiz publishes courses, books or articles and finds your content useful, we'll do our best to use it and will be sure to give you proper credit.

What could be better than having others help spread the word about your services without you having to lift a finger?

If you have a website, be sure to put an active link to your site in the Bio area. This allows people to click onto your site immediately while their interest level is high. And there's another very important benefit to having your website link published. It could increase the ranking of your website.

Increasing your popularity

One of the factors that search engines use in ranking a webpage is the number of incoming links from other highly ranked websites. This is particularly true for Google, one of the most highly used search engines. In essence, you can piggyback on BodyworkBiz rankings to boost your own ranking.

Will you have thousands flocking to your site as a result? Probably not. But you may get dozens or even hundreds of people who are VERY interested in your subject to check you out and maybe contact you. These are highly qualified people, that is, people who have specifically searched for what you have written about and who have taken the time to read your information.

Who knows, it may even be a reporter who is looking for some new story ideas or an expert in a particular area.

It takes a little effort, but that article will be on the web, working for you for years and years.

We've done as much as possible to make sure that you get noticed by search engines. Again, I hate to bore anyone with technical stuff. That programming stuff doesn't interest me at all. But unlike some content sites that create "dynamically-generated" web pages (the kind of pages that search engines often ignore), we've set up BodyworkWeb to publish your article as a "static HTML" page that search engines love to index.

Think Global, Massage Local!

And speaking of indexing, here's another way to make sure that you get the most benefit for your submission: Make sure you include keywords that identify you as a local business. The major search engines have poured a ton of resources into getting local businesses noticed. They see "local search" as the next big thing on the web.

Let me illustrate this for you. Go to www.google.com and enter the term "massage therapy Miami" in the search box, then click Enter. Look at the very top of the results page. What do you see? (By the way, you can enter any city at all. It doesn't have to be Miami.)

You see a list of local massage therapy businesses in Miami. How does Google know to list you there? It determines exactly where you're located from phone numbers, addresses, intersections, cities, ZIP codes and postal codes mentioned on a web page. You can see that Google even tells people how far you are from the city center.

So in your Bio, be sure to include as much local information as possible along with your title or modality. For example, you will likely be found in a search for “massage therapist Kalamazoo” if your Bio includes information like:

"Jane Doe, Massage Therapist, has been practicing in downtown Kalamazoo since '95. For more information or to make an appointment for massage therapy, visit www.janedoemassage.com or call 234-555-1234. Located at 123 Street, Kalamazoo."

You can see her that I've listed her title (massage therapist), modality (massage therapy) and her location (Kalamazoo). These are all terms that people looking for her services in her locality will enter into the search engines.

Is it a lot of work to write an article? Not at all.

How to write an article in ten minutes...

You share your expertise all the time in a way that's so natural that you may not even realize you're doing it. Think of some of the questions you get asked by your clients:

	What can I do to get this pulled muscle to heal faster?
	Is massage good for pregnant women?
	Why do you always suggest that I drink water after my massage?
	Can you suggest any stretches for me to do before I run?
	What are the benefits of massage for someone with fibromyalgia?
	Should I use heat or cold?
	Are there other things I can do to help me relax and maybe sleep better?
	Can you rub away my fat?

Say "yes" to that last question and you'll make a lot of moohla...

Just kidding! ;o)

Seriously: It's likely that you have an explanation when your client asks you these kinds of questions.

To write an article, just write down your answer in exactly the same way you would tell your client. If your explanation takes two to three minutes to say, then you have a one page article - that's the perfect article length for the web.

So for example, if your client asks you what they can do to help them recover from a pulled hamstring, your article can be: Four things you can do to help your pulled muscle heal faster. Write a paragraph of introduction and then outline four things that they can do, such as rest, ice, gentle stretches, writing a brief summary of your four suggestions.

Or let's take the next item on the list above: massage and pregnancy. Title your article Massage for a painless pregnancy. Then outline three uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy and how massage can provide relief for each.

Depending on how fast you type, you could have an article ready to be published in 10 minutes.

Don't worry about PROPER English. Write like you talk. You're writing for readers, not your 9th grade English teacher. Writing in your own voice adds interest to your writing and allows your personality to show.

And for the web, it's okay to write short articles. You'll tend to lose your readers if your article gets too long. So don't think you have to write a report like this one. (Hello? Is anybody still here?)

The really big picture...

Now I've been focusing on the benefits you'll get by publishing your articles at www.bodyworkweb.com. And I'm hoping you'll take some action on this right now so you can benefit. But I have to be honest and say that these benefits for you are somewhat secondary to my real goal.

Ultimately, the goal is to create an incredible resource to educate the public (and other massage professionals) about this fantastically diverse, wonderful world of massage and bodywork. To create a knowledgebase that covers hundreds and hopefully thousands issues related to massage that people can easily look up and refer to.

There is no consolidated resource like this that exists on the web to answer the vast range of questions that people may have about massage.

I can't do this on my own and I'm urging you to share your expertise to help me build this vast repository of knowledge. And although there's incredible incentive for you to be part of this for strictly the benefit of your business, I hope you'll recognize the larger role that the creation of this kind of resource can serve for everyone.

So warm up your lumbricales and interossei, open up your word processor and submit an article today.

All the best,

Eric Brown, Director
www.bodyworkbiz.com and
www.bodyworkweb.com

PS. I have a favor to ask you. Please forward this issue onto as many of your colleagues as possible. Pretty please. In fact, pass it onto any complementary or alternative health professional. If you want to mention it in bulletin boards you post to, please feel free.

And if you want to publish this month's article, you have my full permission to do so as long as you include the following acknowledgement:

"Eric Brown specializes in helping massage professionals who are struggling in their business to get more clients and fill their practice. You can get his free Marketing Tips newsletter at www.bodyworkbiz.com"

I'm just following my own advice :o)

PS#2. Just a word about ownership. You own all rights to your article. It's yours and you can do whatever you like with it in the future. It doesn't belong to us, however, by publishing it at BodyworkWeb, you are granting us and others the opportunity to publish your article on other sites or in print as long as we keep your bio information (including your contact info) attached to the article. You get the best of both worlds, you maintain ownership of your material and you have other people distributing it for you. How cool is that!

PS#3. Feel free to send me any feedback regarding BodyworkWeb using the Contact Us form. Although I may not be able to respond to each email, I welcome any ideas, feedback, suggestions, constructive criticism, or praise you may have. BodyworkWeb is obviously in its infancy and your feedback will help us to make this the best possible resource for massage-related information.