Is YOUR Site Ready for #MobileGeddon?

Not to sound too dramatic, but Google is changing the game beginning April 21st, 2015 and is going to start ranking search results by their mobile-friendliness. The internet has dubbed this #MobileGeddon. (I can't help but hear that phrase in my head with some big, scary voiceover similar to a thriller movie trailer with an ominous "DUNDUNDUN" at the end.) But despite the overuse of hashtags and armageddon references, this is actually serious and could affect your site's google search result rankings.

Here's an article that explains what this all could mean for your small business in more detail:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/small-business-owners-guide-googles-april-21-mobile-friendly-algorithm-update/129535/

Not only is your website going to be affected, but also your online scheduler site. Even if your online scheduler is optimized for SEO, this new change could impact it's google rankings if it isn't mobile-friendly. Your site working on mobile devices isn't enough, it needs to pass the test by Google's standards of what they consider "mobile-friendly".

Here's a great tool to test your site's mobile-friendly rating by Google.

If you use Bodywork Buddy for your practice management software, your online scheduling microsite has an "awesome" rating, so no worries!

If your regular website doesn't pass the test, here's a few options to get ready for the change.

• Weebly, Wix, GoDaddy, and Squarespace all have inexpensive and easy website builders and their sites are mobile-friendly.
• You can easily use your Bodywork Buddy microsite as your entire website, as it includes customizations to allow you to add your own images (or choices from our extensive image library of professional bodywork-related images), client reviews, map, etc as well as your online scheduler.
  
  Wondering what the Bodywork Buddy scheduler looks like? Check out Affinity Massage Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  
  We can even help you point your domain name to your microsite, just contact us and we'd be happy to help! 

Member Spotlight: Mary Hardin

Today's member spotlight is Mary Hardin, advanced craniosacral practitioner and board certified polarity therapist. Mary's business is Ultrasonic Core Body Therapy in Culver City, California.

Q: What inspired you to be a bodyworker?

A: There's a concept in polarity therapy about "holding space." It's creating a space for you and the client that's in alignment for the highest good of both. It's like that feeling you get when everything is right in the world and you feel like your true self. It's something I loved about receiving the work and so I thought by doing the work I'd have an opportunity to be in that space more often.

Q: How long have you been doing bodywork?

A: I started studying Polarity and Craniosacral work 17 years ago and worked part-time at first and then started to this work full-time in 2010.

A; What is your favorite thing about being a bodyworker?

Q: My favorite thing about my work is seeing how the lives of the people I work with change for the better. Sometimes that's not something I see right away but months or years later they'll tell me what a profound effect a session had on their life.

Q: What do you feel is the most challenging issue for bodyworkers?

A: The most challenging issues is getting people to put their health and well-being at the top of their to-do list and to understand that bodywork will help improve the quality of their lives.

Advice:

Try to imagine things from your client's perspective and offer what they're needing. I think it's important to make the whole experience as easy as possible for the client. Make it easy for them to find you, easy for them to schedule with you, easy for them to pay you.

My single most effective marketing tool…and it’s FREE

by Hillary Arrieta LMT, Plano, Texas

This weekend I was working as a vendor at the AMTA Texas chapter convention. I was approached by many of my fellow local massage therapists about marketing.

"How do you market your practice?" They asked.

“What's working for you?”

This is a topic that I have come to love. When I first started out, I would say that marketing made me a little bit crazy. When I thought of it, I had the impression that I would have to spend a ton of money on print, radio, or TV ads. I didn’t want to become a sales person. Now I know that marketing is so much more than sales and I find it fun and challenging!

As I discussed my current marketing process, many therapists were surprised to learn that one of my top marketing tools was my email list.

Maybe you’ve heard that saying  “email is dead.” Well my friends, It’s very much alive and well.

My email list is one of the most successful marketing tools I’ve encountered, if not THE most successful.

My clients love my weekly emails. Yep, that’s right, I email my clients at least once a week. When I was trying to come up with my email marketing plan, I thought weekly emails were a bit much and that maybe it was going to come off too pushy. I didn’t want to annoy my clients.

Funny enough, I began receiving great feed back about them.

My clients LOVED that I sent out my availability so that they could hop on to my online booking site (thank you Bodywork Buddy!) and schedule right then and there. Everyone is so busy these days and having my openings delivered to their inbox every Monday morning was just another way to support my clients in keeping up with their self care.

Many of them told me to keep it coming! That they actually looked forward to my Monday email.

I also have a handy sign up form on my website that allows prospective clients to sign up if they are interested in hearing from me.

In addition to my weekly availability email, I’ve used my list to run successful semi annual massage package sales ( take that, Groupon!!) as well as sending out important information about changes in my practice. I love emailing reminders for my meditation class, and adding a link to my blog so that my clients can read about self care suggestions and current events within my practice.

I always keep the information valuable and relevant to my clients, because who is going to read boring newsletters?

If you don’t have an email list, here are some resources to get you started!

And they are free!

www.mailchimp.com

www.tinyletter.com

www.hellobar.com

How do you use your email list?

The Heeling Hut

T

*NEW FEATURE* Print/Email All Sessions on One Receipt

We've just implemented a new feature that many of our members have asked for: the ability to print or email all sessions from a specific client onto one receipt.

You can choose to do this from within each session record in the upper right next to the usual "print receipt" and "email receipt" buttons.

You can also do this from within each client's file in the upper right corner.

Now you can not only do that, but you can also choose a specific timeline of sessions you want to include if you don't want to do ALL sessions.

Thank you to our members for the suggestions and feedback. Your ideas help to make Bodywork Buddy even more awesome and we value your business!

Member Spotlight: Tanya Knicely

Today's member spotlight is Tanya Knicely of Trust Your Journey Therapeutic Massage in Elizabeth, West Virginia.

Q:What inspired you to be a massage therapist?

A: My inspiration to become a massage therapist was two-fold. The first being my oldest daughter was attending a massage therapy program and would come home everyday with new techniques and amazing information about how massage works with the body's natural healing processes. Her excitement was contagious. Secondly, being a nurse at the time, I saw the benefits touch had with my patients and their healing. I saw these benefits from caring for ill newborns and their distraught parents all the way through the final stages of the dying patient who can peacefully transition into death with just the slightest touch on their arm, back or brow as they are passing. The comfort massage and touch in general allows is astounding.

Q:How long have you been doing massage?

A: I have been a massage therapist for almost two years.

Q: What is your favorite thing about being an MT?

A: The thing I like most about being a massage therapist is passing on the knowledge I have with my clients and why they are feeling the way they are. Whether it is through education about the muscles that are giving them discomfort and how muscles somewhere else on their body could be the actual problem or the benefit massage is to their body, even something as simple as the need for drinking an adequate amount of water to keep their bodies hydrated and systems flushed. Education is so important to me and giving my clients the information they need to help their body heal itself through massage with no side effect is wonderful.

Q: What do you feel is the most challenging issue for massage therapists?

A: I feel there are several challenges for massage therapists. One of them is educating people so they will include massage as an important part of their weekly or monthly health program. Another is educating insurance companies so they include massage as a necessary addition to preventative care and adding it as a covered benefit to more insurance plans. Education on massage as more than just a luxury is important for individuals and insurance companies.

Q: What advice would you give to other MT’s to help build their business?

A: I feel the best advice I could give another MT is to never stop learning, never stop trying new techniques that can give their practice and their studio that special advantage. Always work for the clients best interest and treat their clients as if it were themselves getting the massage. Because when you do that you will be more in tune with what your clients are in need of and how you can help them achieve their goals for their body, health and healing. And most importantly know where you want your business to go and never give up on getting it there. When your clients feel your passion for what you do, your advertising is taken care of...word of mouth is your businesses' best advertisement.

*New Feature* Recurring Appointments

Bodywork Buddy has always had recurring/repeating general events, but now we also have the ability to create recurring confirmed appointments!

When creating a confirmed appointment via clicking within the calendar (dashboard > calendar > main > click into date on calendar > confirmed appointment), there is now the option to make the appointment recurring/repeating.

Fill in the client, service, and time details like when normally creating a confirmed appointment, and then select the repeating type from the dropdown box.

Once choosing the type of repeat, you'll have options to customize it more with how often it repeats, and until forever or a set date, certain days of the week, etc. 

Click Schedule Appointment.

Clients will receive a confirmation email with the first date in the series for the repeating appointment, and then receive their email reminders prior to their appointment as specified in your settings.

This latest update also includes the ability to delete just one in a series or the entire series of a recurring general event. (Up until now there was only the option to delete the entire series).

The Power of Real Reviews

Displaying testimonials or reviews on your website or in other marketing can be very persuasive to prospective clients looking to schedule an appointment with you. They build trust, aren't "sales-y", and help clients overcome skepticism.
When a potential client sees a whole page full of quotes and testimonials from existing clients, it
further cements the idea that you’re someone they want to do business with.

So, how do you go about collecting reviews for your business? While there are many review sites available to list our businesses on, there's also great testimonials all around us if we are listening. When a client comments about how great they feel after their treatment, ask them if you can quote them on that.

Many online scheduling softwares include automated emails that ask your clients to leave a testimonial or review. This is not only a great way to collect testimonials for your marketing, but a wonderful source of feedback to improve where needed. 

Some tips for collecting testimonials:

• Ask for a review within a day or two of your service when it's still fresh in your client's mind.
• Ask for their permission to use it and their name in your marketing.
• Have an easy form for clients to fill out that simply asks them questions like "How do you feel before your massage? How do you feel after your massage? What do you like most about our services?".
• Use an online system that automates the process for you. (Shameless plug: Bodywork Buddy.)
• LinkedIn can be another easy source for testimonials. If you're connected with clients on LinkedIn, you can easily send a request for them to leave you recommendations. 
• Facebook business pages includes the option to rate and review.

When using testimonials in your marketing, choose testimonials that are:

• Filled with benefits.
• Substantiates your claims.
• From someone your clients can relate to.
• Compares your services to others.
• Credible - use real words from real people. Don't create fake reviews.

Keep mediocre reviews. This is your opportunity to make your business shine with great customer service. It also makes your testimonials more believable if there are some 3 and 4 star reviews in with your 5 star ratings.

Member Spotlight: David Kuhn

Today's member spotlight is David Kuhn of Muscle Therapy Pro in Columbus, Ohio.

Q: What inspired you to be a massage therapist?

A:   My inspiration for becoming a massage therapist came out of a loss of a job which I turned into a positive rather than a negative.  I was at a good paying job but at the end of the day I was not happy.  My desire is to change lives for the better and I was not spending 12 hours a day doing this.  I was at a crossroads, recently divorced then the loss of my job all in a 6 month period and I was narrowing in on 40.  I decided I was going back to school and this was my one shot to do what I wanted for the rest of my life.  I would never give somebody else the power to tell me when my job was over and change not only my life but my children’s life as well.  It has not been easy buy I have never taken my eyes off of my goal.



Q: How long have you been doing massage?

A:   I have been doing massage for almost two years now.




Q: What is your favorite thing about being an MT?

A:  Wow, there are so many good things to say about being a massage therapist!  I guess my favorite would have to be making people feel good and changing their lives at the same time.  My favorite type of client is the one that comes in for headaches and has been taking over-the-counter meds on a regular basis for their condition.  I love explaining to them what the meds may be doing to their stomach and what I can do for them so they no longer need the meds and at the same time they no longer have the headaches.



Q: What do you feel is the most challenging issue for massage therapists?

A: I feel the most challenging issue for massage therapist is to educate the public. This is a profession that has been around for many years. In fact it was the first type of medical care. Unfortunately down the line it has received a bad name because of some much less than professional individuals in the business. Most people view massage as a pure luxury and not for the numerous medical/health benefits as well as emotional benefits.  Think about it, where else can you go for things like plugged up sinuses, constipation, headaches, muscle tension and emotional healing, be treated for all during a 90 minute session then sent on your way feeling like a new person for a fraction of the cost at a doctor’s office and no meds prescribed!



Q: What advice would you give to other MT’s to help build their business?


A:  The advice I would give to other massage therapist to help build their businesses would be knowledge, market, have a vision and stay the course while continuing to be flexible.

Cool Tool: Hubspot's Blog Topic Generator

Are you blogging for your massage business? (You should be! More on why later...)
Here's a cool tool from Hubspot.com to help you come up with some topics. The Blog Topic Generator is simple: enter a few nouns of subjects you would like to blog about, and the generator comes up with some ideas for you.

I entered:

• massage
• health
• stress

The generator came up with these topics to blog about:

You might need to tweak some of the results to work for topics for your blog, but this could definitely help get the creative juices flowing.

What other ways do you use to think of topics to blog about for your massage business?

New Facebook Call-to-Action Button

Facebook recently added a new feature to their business pages: a call-to-action button. This handy new feature allows you to add your online scheduler right into the top of your page and encourage clients to schedule an appointment with you.

From your business page, click the "Create Call-to-Action" button.

A pop-up window will appear with a drop down box to select a button for your call-to-action.

Select "book now" from the drop down menu.

Add your online scheduling site URL in the field for website.

Choose destinations for iOS and Android. Select "website" if you use Bodywork Buddy for online scheduling. 

Your call-to-action button is ready!

You can even view your results and see how often clients click on your "book now" button from your Facebook page.

Bodywork Buddy already had a "schedule online" app to connect to your Facebook page (see the "schedule online" tab below) but now with this new feature from Facebook your online scheduler can be even more prominent for your clients to schedule from Facebook.

Member Spotlight: Laura Holt

Today's member spotlight is Laura Holt from Skowhegan, Maine. She owns Laurel Tree Massage.

Q: What inspired you to be a massage therapist?

A: I was inspired to become a massage therapist as a result of everyone at my CNA job loving their shoulder "rub and foot rubs" on our night shift as CNA, even the nurse would be at the head of the line. She would send someone upstairs to get my peppermint oil so I didn't have to smell sweaty feet.

Q: How long have you been doing massage?

A: I have been a massage therapist for 5 years, all of those working for myself right out of college.

Q: What is your favorite thing about being an MT?

A: I love meeting new clients and seeing all the results as they become regulars, watching improvements.

Q: What do you feel is the most challenging issue for massage therapists?

A: Finding the right software that can be the best thing for your business, that makes all these tasks easier to do for us, but ultimately making it easy to track stuff to reward clients, remember details of their sessions easier and allows them to schedule online so we don't play phone tag, best too is those awesome reminders! 

Laura with her portable bars for
practicing Ashiatsu DeepFeet Bar Therapy.

Q: What advice would you give to other MT’s to help build their business?

A: Get Bodywork Buddy now!!! The only other advice I would give is a program that no longer exists for helping with all the other business stuff. But really opening your heart to be there for the clients vs worrying about the financial part of business, worry about money and it becomes the focus, worry about the clients it builds them knowing you truly care about them... OR WAIT NO!!! GO take ASHIATSU and save your bodies now!!!! BEST THING EVER!!!

*New Feature* Overdue Appointments Box Collapsible

Have a lot of "overdue appointments" on your dashboard that you haven't quite gotten to completing into session records yet? Now you can easily collapse the overdue appointments box so it doesn't take up your whole dashboard.

Just click the little arrow on the right of the Overdue Appointments box.

Voila! They are hidden and your dashboard is more open. 

The Integrated Stretching Harness (ISH)

http://www.ish-stretch.com/

I first met David Henre several years ago at the AMTA National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. It was in 2008, to be exact... wow 7 years ago!

He stopped by the Bodywork Buddy booth at the 2014 AMTA National Convention this past Fall in Denver, Colorado and brought us a bag of goodies - the Integrated Stretching Harness (ISH). David's timing was perfect as it was day 2 of the convention, Berin and I were really feeling the effects of standing on the convention floor all day in combination with spending our free time in Denver walking everywhere. My calves were screaming at me and the thought of standing in our booth for another 2 days was pretty daunting.

I put the ISH on my calf and let it work it's magic while I stood in our booth and talked to massage therapists about Bodywork Buddy. The difference it made in my legs was amazing. I felt so much better and had no problem standing on the convention floor all day. I wore it most of the day and alternated between each calf. I don't doubt that my body would have been much worse for the wear after that 2nd day were it not for David's ISH.

David explains that it works by pinning 2 points of pressure on a limb above or below the joint, changing the shape of the tissue. This allows the soft tissue being pinned to stretch while you go about your day.






The Integrated Stretching Harness is available for a variety of areas including:

What massage therapist couldn't use THIS? mmmm....

• Hand/Foot
• Forearm/Upper Arm/Lower Leg
• Upper Leg
• Shoulder
• Hip/Glutes

A little bit about David:

Growing up in Colorado running cross country, climbing, bouldering, road and mountain biking, and alpine and telemark skiing (doing just about everything The Rockies provide access to!) helped fuel David's appreciation for what gives him the ability to enjoy outdoor activities: strength and health.

In 1991, David cracked vertebrae and compressed and broke a disc in his back. The threat that he may be paralyzed and his lengthy healing process after surgery sparked his interest in fitness and alternative medicine.

"Nobody needs to live in pain. I feel very strongly about this. It's why I got into fitness in the first place," David says.

In 1995, David achieved Personal Training Certification through the National Federation of Professional Trainers.

The ISH is a winner in our book. Many thanks to David for helping us out at the convention by bringing us several!
Learn more about ISH and order one at www.ish-stretch.com or visit their Facebook page.

*New Feature* Highlighted Business Hours in the Calendar

We've just made some updates that will now show your open business hours highlighted in light green in the calendar from the week and day views.

*New Feature* Services Report

Happy New Year! We're hard at work here at Bodywork Buddy to make 2015 the smoothest year yet for your bookkeeping needs for your massage practice.

We've added a new report option in Bodywork Buddy. You can now generate a yearly summary filtered by service type.

To access this report: Dashboard > Reports > Service Report >
Simply choose the year, and then select which service from the drop down menu to pull up a report of how much income you made that year from that specific service.
Please note this report is for service totals and tips from those services only.

Top Tech Tools of 2014 for Massage Therapists

Top Tech Tools of 2014 for Massage Therapists

• Online Scheduling
  Many massage therapists report online scheduling being their single most important tech tool for their practice.
  Mary-Claire Fredette of Cincinnati just wrote a blog post of her own on the topic: Why Online Scheduling Works for Massage Therapists.
  Using an online scheduling system not only provides a convenience for your clients, but it also helps to cut down on no-shows with email and text reminders, helps to reinforce your cancelation policies, gives you more control over your schedule, can help fill last minute openings, eliminates phone tag, and increases your professionalism. (Just to name a few of the benefits!)
  
• Professional Website 
  Having a professional website for your massage business helps to build authority, builds a relationship with your clients (before they even walk in the door), improves credibility, and much more.
  Some things to consider when creating or redesigning your website:
  Make it easy to navigate.
  Update it regularly.
  No flash graphics or music.
  No "wall of text". Break it up visually with some pictures.
  For more guidelines on creating a winning website, check out our past post When good websites go bad.
  
• High Ranking Search Results / Search Engine Optimization
  Search friendly design, keywords, content, links... there's a lot to consider with SEO, but a few basics can get your website going in the right direction. Be cautious of guns for hire claiming to skyrocket your search engine rankings, this is an area that has a lot of scam artists online.
  We'll be writing more in 2015 on ways to improve your SEO, so stay tuned.
• Testimonials 
  Many MT's report the use of testimonials as a key influencer for new clients to book. Whether it be a review site like Yelp.com, or the use of your own collected testimonials, showcasing reviews for prospective clients can be very persuasive and help you build your business.
  Bodywork Buddy automatically collects client testimonials for you and displays them on your online scheduler.
  We also have a checklist you can signup to receive that details lots of great ways to use testimonials to boost your business.
  

Using Bodywork Buddy For 2 Different Locations

While Bodywork Buddy was really designed for a single location for online scheduling, we do have some members who use it for multiple locations.

There are a couple of different ways you can do this.

The first is to create your service groups of the types of services you offer, and then within those groups create different services for each location.

For example, a service group of "Hot Stone Massage" with the services of "60 minute hot stone massage @ location 1" and "60 minute hot stone massage @ location 2". This method seems to be the preferred style with our members.

Another way you could create different locations on your microsite is by creating different service groups for each location.

*While this workaround seems to be suitable for some members, please note that it is not possible to create only certain days in the calendar as "open" for each location. You could add in the text descriptions for the services which days are at which location, but clients scheduling online would still see all of your available openings in your calendar no matter which service or location they were scheduling for.