Don’t Kick Yourself – Facebook Banner Offer Ends Tonight…

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Eric

The special offer for $20 banners is now over and the price is now $100. However, as a BodyworkBiz newsletter subscriber you can get your banner for just $50 until Sunday, Feb 29th by using HALFOFFBANNER in the discount code box when checking out.

Click here to order your Facebook banner now before it’s too late

Why you need one…

I’ve written a whole article on this, but in summary…

When someone lands on your Facebook Page there is no obvious way for them to contact you. Facebook likes it that way. They want to keep the visitor on their site rather than send them to your site.

A Facebook banner is a quick way to tell visitors to your Page who you are, how you can help them and how they can make an appointment to see you now. They don’t need to scroll or click. All the information is there and available for them instantly.

This is vitally important because if you make them jump through hoops to find the information they need, they’ll go elsewhere.

It’s inexpensive…

When I looked for graphic design services to refer you to they were costly – from $50 to $100.
So I decided to allow my full time graphics design guy, Bryan, to spend four weeks creating these for my subscribers and their friends.

Instead of $100, they are just $20 for a limited time.

At $20 people are buying multiple banners and are having different ones designed for a variety of purposes: Valentine’s Day promotions, gift certificate sales, Holiday wishes, vacation notices, to highlight certain modalities or benefits, etc. Click the image to the right to see how one therapist has done this.

The catches:

At this price there are a couple of conditions:

You need to provide any images you want for you banner: logo, portrait, massage images, etc. You don’t have to provide images, but they do enhance the look of the banner.
You don’t get unlimited revisions. After you submit all your info you get one chance to make any changes you want to your banner.

What do they look like…

Here are some recent samples straight off the presses this morning before customer revisions:

How does this work…

Click here to purchase your banner

You’ll immediately be brought to a page where you tell us what you want to appear on your banner. Use the simple tool to upload any images you want and leave us any special instructions. We will also send an email with a link to that page, so that if you want to submit it when you have more time to think about it, you can do so.

Bryan has been swamped, so I’ve hired two more full time graphic designers for the next two weeks – Thammy and Mira. They will take your information and build a unique banner for you from scratch using the information you’ve provided.

Everyone waits until the last minute to purchase, so I anticipate a rush of orders today. Despite the rush, we should be able to complete your banner within ten business days.

The designer will send you an email with a link to a page where you can download your banner and view a video that shows you how to post it to your Facebook Page. You’ll also see a place to leave feedback for the designer and if you want to change your banner you can give them instructions there. The revisions are done within one business day and you have a fantastic custom banner to post to Facebook.

This is a special one time offer for my subscribers and friends:

Click here to order your banner now for just $20 bucks

A few tips…

Here are some tips for creating an effective banner. You’ll see some of these illustrated in the samples above:

At the top there is an image that draws the visitors’ eyes to your “Like” button and encourages them to click it.
There is a clear call to action like “Call 416-555-1212 Today!” or “Visit our website for this month’s special!”
You phone number and website address is clearly displayed to give visitors a way to easily contact you without having to hunt around for contact info.
There is the opportunity to outline your service area or the benefits of your service to motivate visitors to take action.
Keep text minimal. If you have many messages to communicate it is better to create multiple banners and rotate them.
A logo helps brand your business and improve instant recognition.
A photo of you puts a personal face to your service.

The offer expires tonight…

This offer comes off the table late tonight, so if you want to save $80 today:

Click here to order your banner now

Please share with others by clicking one of the buttons below…

Binge Marketing

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Eric

What Is Binge Marketing and Why You Should Never Fall Victim to It…

Don’t do it!

Don’t do binge marketing. I see this all too often where therapists suddenly find that their appointment book is looking a little light and figure they had better do some marketing. It was illustrated in an email I received today where the therapist mentioned that “Marketing may be important to me in a FEW WEEKS.”

The unfortunate part is this is an attitude that is widely shared. It’s not an isolated occurrence.

Where I see Binge Marketing in a big way is immediately before holidays like Christmas. I get panicked emails from BodyworkBiz newsletters subscribers asking, “How can I sell lots of gift certificates?” or “What can I do for a promotion for this holiday?”

The thing is, marketing is not something you just do in a few weeks to fix a slow practice. That’s like pulling out a Band Aid from the medicine cabinet to fix a gushing chest wound.

If your practice is not at the level you want it to be, I can almost guarantee that it’s not a techniques issue. You are probably very talented. Your massage does not suck. Taking another techniques class as a way to help your practice is a mistake.

If your practice is not at the level you want it to be, I can almost guarantee that it’s a marketing issue. You didn’t get 500 hours of practical business training in massage school. Your marketing probably sucks. Learning simple ways to incorporate ongoing marketing activities into your practice is the smart thing to do.

I’m not trying to insult anyone. I’m just tired of seeing talented therapists barely scraping by. I’m tired of seeing fantastic therapists leaving the profession because they can’t make a go at it. It’s painful for me to watch great therapists hit the ground, kamikaze style.

So I beg of you, don’t fall into to binge marketing mindset. Binge marketing might keep your business alive, but in the long term it just is not the answer for a satisfying and sustainable practice.

So what’s a therapist to do?

Start by learning more about marketing. If you do not have a highly successful business, then invest at least twice as much time, money and energy in your marketing education as you do in advancing your massage skills.

You can study with me or you can study with someone who you resonate more strongly with. Whatever you decide, make sure that the marketing person you work with is highly experienced and has not just personal success, but is able to translate that success to others with a proven marketing strategy.

For example, before I released the 60 Clients in 60 Days program, I tested the ideas on groups of massage therapists to make sure the strategy worked on a broad range of practices. It allowed me to create pretty much a foolproof strategy. You can read about the successes of the participants here. This is just one of many pages of success stories illustrating what happens when things are done right.

More recently, I’ve turned my attention to web marketing because it’s an important area, but one where most therapists are extremely weak. I have a great deal of expertise to share. Not only do I do large scale web projects like World Massage Conference, the largest event in the history of massage, but I’ve personally developed over 100 websites for massage therapists of which over 95% ended up on the first page of Google within weeks.

For this reason, I developed the Web Marketing MBA program that will pretty much allow someone to learn how to master web marketing. It’s not a binge marketing solution. In fact, the ten sessions are spread over almost a five month period to help encourage sustainability in your practice. I’d like to see you helping people through your hands on skills for the long run. I want you to be successful by taking regular action over the long term in a way that’s practical and doable. I welcome you to take advantage of this valuable and low cost resource:

http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/webmarketing

Whether you decide to join me or not, I want to do whatever I can to discourage you from doing any more binge marketing. Don’t do it. Learn some solid strategies that work and incorporate them into your daily practice to develop a strong sustainable practice that will allow you to benefit increasing numbers of people.

That’s all my ranting for today,

Eric Brown, Grand Massage Poobah
http://www.bodyworkbiz.com

Do you believe that more therapists need to avoid binge marketing. Vote “yes” by clicking the Like button below.

Google Places Describes You

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Eric

Google Places is one of the easiest ways to get your site found at the top of Google rankings. And it just keeps getting more and more interesting. Now Google is rolling out descriptive words for your business within the listing. These are taken from sources all across the web, such as reviews, web pages and other online references, and they can help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique.

If you haven’t claimed your free Google listing yet, do it today: http://www.google.com/places/

A Google Photo Shoot for Free?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Eric

I’ve been a big fan of Googles Places because it’s one of the easiest ways to get your website at the top of Google.

Google wants to give small businesses top billing when customers search for products and services in their area. And they’ve taken another step forward by offering to do photo shoots of local businesses. This will be tested in a limited number of markets and will be expanded over time.

How much does it cost?

It’s free!

For more information go here:

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/

For a list of international cities that are eligible for this first round of photo shoots go here:

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/faq.html#q3

Facebook Webinar Available for a Short Time

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Eric

Last month, the largest massage association in the USA, the ABMP broke a record when 2,450 massage therpaists signed up for a webinar they hosted. That’s the most registrants ever for one of their webinars… and they’ve done a lot!

You can watch the recorded replay here:

That webinar, Using Facebook to Grow Your Massage Practice, was taught by yours truly.

I was amazed and humbled that so many people registered for my webinar – especially given the fact that it was broadcast the same time as American Idol! (Maybe I’ll sing on my next webinar and see if that does anything for attendance. Or then again, maybe not.)

I want to send a big “Thank you!” to you and all my other subscribers for your continued support.

I’m biased, but I thought it was a fantastic webinar. It was great for Facebook newbies, but I guarantee even the most seasoned Facebook junkies learned something new about using Facebook that evening.

Thanks to ABMP for making a copy of the replay available to me to post. I’ll have it available for two weeks before I archive it in the e-Marketing for Massage Professionals 101 e-course participant area. ABMP members can watch the replay anytime by logging into their member area and navigating to the webinar area of the site.

Enjoy the show,

Eric Brown, Grand Massage Poobah
www.bodyworkbiz.com

PS The host’s voice is a little garbled at the beginning, but the sound from my mic is perfectly fine. Also, if you click the little square beside the volume control button you’ll get a full screen view and will be able to see the Facebook screenshots a little better.

Please feel free to share this webinar with your Facebook Friends.

Erik Dalton didn’t believe me…

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Eric

I was chatting with Erik Dalton a couple days ago. He really liked my latest BodyworkBiz newsletter: “Can you spot the massage therapist in this picture?” But in a recent more recent email he said he didn’t believe I actually did the climb in the picture. He thought it was some kind of “an advertising stunt”.

I’m not dising Erik. I think he’s a fantastic educator. However, I know that people are naturally skeptical. I’m sure other Marketing Tips subscribers besides Erik Dalton thought the same. So to put that myth to rest, here’s a little video I took. It’s not pretty (excuse the snot running down my face) and it was never meant to be seen by the public, but I thought I’d end the skepticism. Other people may be posers, but I’d like to think I’m the real deal, whether it comes to climbing, marketing or otherwise. Watch the video and see for yourself:

That last email was about taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves. And Facebook is one of those opportunities.

I did a webinar for ABMP on using Facebook to build your practice. It broke the record for highest number of people registered for an ABMP webinar: 2,450 registrants! That event is over now, but you can get a copy of the replay by going to www.bodyworkbiz.com/abmp11.

After you enter your name and email address, you’ll also get a special offer for my e-Marketing for Massage Professionals 101 e-course. It’s likely the easiest to understand, applicable, current and comprehensive courses you’ll find anywhere on using the web to build your practice.

Make sure you pick it up right now, it’s normally $99 (and will be going up to $199 later in the spring), but right now I’ve put it back on special until May 1st. Get it now for only $49.50:

http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/web.php

All the best,
Eric Brown, Grand Massage Poobah

PS Please share this post on Facebook.

How important is first place in Google?

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Eric

A recent study by Optify shows just how important it is to rank highly in Google.

As you can see from the graph, a first place position gets about 36% of the clicks from searchers, while a website ranked in fifth gets clicked by 4% and a site in tenth place gets a mere 2%.

Most people will find your site through a search engine like Google. If you want to have visitors to your website you have to make sure your site ranks high. That doesn’t happen by accident. Don’t let your site lie in digital dust.

To get the full story on practical search engine optimization techniques for your massage website, check out the e-Marketing for Massage Professionals 101 ecourse. Only $49.50 until May 1st: http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/web.php

Share Your Website on Facebook

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Eric

How can you get customers and Friends to share your company website on Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account?

It’s simple!

Just send an email to your clients and friends and let them know that you’d like to let more people know about your business and ask them as a favor to share your site on Facebook.

Then give them this link to click:

http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=XXX

Be sure to replace the XXX with the URL of your website or a specific page of your website, i.e. http://bodyworkbiz.com/web.php. So your link will look like this:

http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://bodyworkbiz.com/newsletter.php

Click the link to see what happens. And if you want to follow the process through and share it you’ll see how it gets posted to your Facebook Profile (and I would be eternally grateful for you sharing with others.)

You can also put a share button directly on your web site. Use the image in this blog post and simply link it to the share URL that you’ve created.

Click this share button to see how I’ve linked it to my Facebook Page instead of my website…

It’s likely that most of your clients are already on Facebook. Why not get those happy clients to spread the word for you and refer you to others?

If you like this idea, click one of the sharing buttons below and share with your friends…

Adding links to your YouTube video

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Eric

YouTube has a great annotation feature that allows you to link to other YouTube videos, but how do you create a link that takes the viewer to a site beyond YouTube.

There are a number of online tools that allow you to do this. One free and easy to use tool is LinkedTube. By filling in a few fields you can add a link to your website right on your video.

This only works for videos that you embed on your site, however, and doesn’t work on videos played on YouTube directly.

Here’s a short tutorial and example of how this works:

http://howontheweb.com/how-to-make-links-in-your-youtube-videos/

If you like this tip, please click the Like button below.

Eric Brown, BodyworkBiz Blog

Category Archives: Web Resources