“I am delighted with the website and search engine rankings that have been achieved to date. I have seen an increase in traffic to my website and unbelievably it has already nearly paid for itself. My new clients have reported choosing to use my services because of how professional my website looked!”

At the time I contacted Top Therapist, I had been struggling to get my website further up the main search engines and onto the 1^st page.  I also knew my website needed a more professional look and feel about it and I had been advised to change to WordPress.

All I wanted to do was to concentrate on building up my business. Search engine optimisation was a large headache that I didn’t want. I just wanted someone to do a good job of it for me! I was a regular user of Andy’s  website Holistic Local and had browsed his articles on SEO, all of which I had found very useful. This gave me the confidence  to contact Top Therapist  to discuss my own website failings.

I then took the plunge and went ahead and purchased a Top Therapist website. I have been dealing with Andy since, and everything has gone very smoothly. He has maintained regular contact with me throughout the process and everything I have asked for (and more) has been achieved.

I have just had a lesson in using Word Press, which has left me feeling in control of the layout and content of the website, but I know Andy is only an email away when I need help.

I am delighted with the website and search engine rankings that have been achieved to date. I have seen an increase in traffic to my website and unbelievably it has already nearly paid for itself. My new clients have reported choosing to use my services because of how professional my website looked!

I cannot recommend Top Therapist highly enough. If like me, you would like  more clients, and understand the importance of  both a professional looking website  and good search engine rankings, then Top Therapist can help.

Madeleine Harvey ( 5th September 2010)

http://harrogatemassagetherapist.co.uk/

The biggest problem any business faces, is when it considers itself to be a business. It stops thinking of its clients as individuals with different wants, needs, expectations and aspirations and lumps them all under the label of “customer”.

Last week, we went to a local restaurant for dinner. We were expecting a place to have conversation, to eat wholesome food and to enjoy good service. Instead, the person we booked with hadn’t passed on the message to the greeter. When deep in conversation, we’d be disturbed by the owner booming out his own inane drivel at decibels guaranteed to reduce us to silence and don’t even get me started about how the service was arrange to suit their needs rather than ours. Will we be going back? No. Do they know what they are doing wrong? No. As their client base dwindles will they blame it on the recession? Yes. What could they have done differently? They could have asked for anonymous feedback. They could have placed someone in a corner to watch and observe reactions. They could have asked. They could have tried looking at what they offer from the perspective of the customer. Disappointment arrives in the gap between the expectations of the customer and what they actually receive. If you don’t understand the essence of your business then you certainly will fall into this trap.

What is the essence of what you are providing? Ask your customers. Are you providing healing? Or a forum in which a person feels you “get them”? Or sanctuary from speed and stress? You need to know their perspective to ensure you adapt your practice to suit. And remember it may be different for different people. You know this already, but when in business for a long time, it’s easy to forget.

When touring Ireland this year, I could see the South had been hit by the recession. It was almost tangible. But ask any entrepreneur and they will tell you that a recession can also be seen as an opportunity, not just a problem.

- In a recession everyone is looking for solutions to cut costs and increase productivity just to survive.How can reiki fill this gap?By having a monthly treatment could you prove an increase in productivity?
- Opportunities exist for innovative new services to be launched.For example, I created an e-learning experience so that I could be teaching in other countries whilst I’m still in England.
- Opportunities exist for redefining an existing service as a new service by unbundling or reframing the offer.For example, Reiki can be offered as pure relaxation for the stressed, or as a tool to increase productivity or you could rebundle the Reiki together with other services to offer a whole day package or you could create a tangible package where there are a set of vouchers for a series of Reiki treatments placed in a gold box with a gift ribbon and sold as a gift package.
- Opportunities exist to get customers to outsource their in-company internal services, thus increasing “customer share”.For example, a spa may hire you on an ad-hoc basis where they would usually hire a full-time member of staff.A care-home may hire you to use your tools to calm the agitated or distressed residents.
- Build stronger relationships to get through the tough times together.Use your support groups to bounce ideas, share resources.For example, a group of ten of us clubbed together to get our promotional exhibition screens and were able to negotiate a substantial discount.

Tips for during a recession

1. Look at other businesses in your sector. What works and what doesn’t work? Cherry pick the best ideas and make them work for you.

2. Look at what happened during a previous recession. What can you learn from it? Are there still people around who can teach you what they learned from it? Some sectors recover earlier than others. Is yours one of them? Will you be ready?

3. Have any of your competition closed their business. There may be potential clients looking for an alternative solution.

4. Don’t stop communication with your client base. In a recession they may spend less, but when it recovers you want them to come to you first. If you can’t afford advertising spend, then switch to a more low-cost method such as using your free text-messages to contact offers directly, or use email to contact your existing clients. Even better, create an offer that is so crazy you’ll be getting everyone talking about it. Word-of-mouth advertising is great.

5. Cut your costs, not your price. Customers are looking for value so if you increase the perceived value of what you do, you’ll keep the customers coming, but it need not cost you more. I noticed at a spa recently, rather than letting me rush off after the treatment, they led me to a quiet area, settled me into a comfortable repose and brought a tiny cup of fresh fruit and a small glass of juice. A delightful surprise and an indication that I could continue to allow the relaxation to set in, rather than rushing off.

Consider whether your clients think of Reiki as a need or a want. When it is perceived as a “need” they’re more likely to quibble over price. When it is considered as a “want” it is less price sensitive. How can you position your Reiki treatments as a “want?”

About our Guest Blogger

Jane Sheehan is the UK’s leading foot reader and recently released her third book “Sole Trader: The Holistic Therapy Business Handbook.” She tours The UK and Ireland regularly and can be seen sometimes on television and in the national print media. See www.footreading.com for details.

We’ve recently finished our first Top Therapist website and even though we haven’t yet achieved top rankings on every keyword we’re targeting, we’ve achieved some fantastic results in less than 2 weeks since the site went live (sometimes it can take a month or two to get all the top rankings depending on the level of the competition).

Our first client was Madeleine Harvey, a massage therapist based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire who also serves clients in the towns of Ripon and Knaresborough. Like many therapists, Madeleine already had a website that she liked the look of, but she didn’t have the rankings that she hoped for and she liked the idea of having a WordPress website that she can easily update herself. So she commissioned us to build her a new website with a similar design but that would get top rankings.

You can see our finished work at http://harrogatemassagetherapist.co.uk

Here are some of the rankings we’ve achieved in less than 2 weeks:

(** means we’ll be working hard to improve those rankings over the next few weeks)

As you can see we’ve achieved a top 3 ranking for almost all the keywords we were targeting - and that is in less than 2 weeks after we launched the site. All the keywords are on the first page of search results, but we’re certainly not content with even 8th or 9th place and we’ll be making sure those keywords are in the top 3 soon enough.

Has it done its job?

We’ve just spoken to Madeleine who has informed us that she’s already seen a definite increase in client bookings and she’s incredibly happy with our work.

Andy Metcalfe, designed the service to enable therapists to concentrate the work that they do whilst a large part of sales and marketing effort is catered for by the top ranking website. He said “approximately 1 in 5 therapists go out of business within 6 months, mainly due to the commercial aspect of running a small business is not within the skill set of the therapist. Top Therapist websites will maximise the potential for generating business via local searches on Google. Being on the first page is often the difference between success and failure especially in today’s market.”

His partner Asif Mirza, pointed out “ less than half of people use the Yellow Pages to find local therapists, whereas people now head straight for Google as you get to view more information on the service via the website instead of a limited printed advert . Therapists can pay through the nose for a slick website but found many pages back on Google. We don’t do that, we get the site designed professionally, cost effectively, in a position to leverage its exposure by getting it top of the local rankings, that’s where we differ from all other services.”

Top Therapists websites provide the client with the fully optimised website and further resources around business and marketing articles and blog posts which mean that there is always something for the client to use to their advantage, and to learn and grow into a successful small business owner.

For further information on the service, please visit the website on www.toptherapist.co.uk or contact Asif on 07971 909826.

However, there’s another type of blog that’s been gaining in popularity which is what you need to be concerned with, and that’s the business blog.

Many business owners are finding tremendous value in having a blog for the following reasons:

- It’s an easy publishing tool. A blog is essentially a simple content management system that allows you to easily write and publish new pages to your website at the push of a button.

- A blog allows you to easily communicate with your clients  and prospects in a non-intrusive manner. Websites quite often lack personality, but a well written blog can easily help you project your personality. Ultimately, people like to do business with a real person (and usually a person they like) and a blog can demonstrate there’s a real human being behind your business which should have the affect of making you more approachable.

- A blog can be used to demonstrate your expertise or knowledge in a particular area. If people regard you as an expert or a leading authority in what you do then they will be far more likely to use your services.

- A blog can significantly increase the amount of traffic to your website. Each new blog you write will be indexed by Google and if you optimise each new blog post for a particular keyword phrase then it could easily rank well for that phrase.

- A blog can be a nice easy way to get client feedback. Most blogs offer the reader the ability to leave a comment below a blog post. This can help you improve existing products/services, or develop new ones.

- A blog can make your website ‘sticky’ and encourage repeat visits. If your website does nothing more than promote your services then there’s very little reason for anyone to return, but if your website is constantly providing new and useful content through your blog then people will more likely keep on returning and that keeps you in their awareness.

- Blogs are designed to be used by anyone who can use a computer. Once the blog has been setup it is incredibly simple for you to update with little or no training.