creatingaprosperouspractice

My hubby and I are on a massive de-cluttering spree. In my efforts of cleaning and purging, I happened upon a box of the first edition of my book Creating a Prosperous Practice. Although this book has been revised and is in its 2nd edition, this book still has valuable information on how I took my business from paying 10s of thousands of dollars in advertising to spending practically nothing all while tripling my business.

I have decided to give them away for free, you just pay Shipping and Handling. There is a limited number of these ~ about 40 or so ~ so it is on a first come, first served basis.

If you want to read what’s included in the book or see what other people are saying about the book, you can go here.

Click here to get your own copy today. These books will go priority mail so that I don’t have to mess with finding boxes or mailing envelopes. Go now!

Sorry all of the copies have been sold. Thank your for you interest.

As we struggle through these uncertain economic times, it’s logical that the survival of our massage business may start filling our thoughts. Maybe not consuming every waking hour, but for some of us that may be close. 

Customers can be fickle — they’re looking to save money just as much as we’re looking to make money. The two are almost mutually exclusive, so we’re always looking for that edge — that balance that will make us as profitable as possible, keep our current customers happy, and win lots of new customers. But there’s no guarantee — no magic potion or formula. It’s often trial and error… hit and miss. Some sink while trying to figure it out, some flounder for a long time, and some… thankfully… thrive and grow.

If you’re losing customers, or just afraid you’re going to lose customers as the economy gets tighter and tighter and the remaining competition gets cut-throat, there are a few things you can do to tighten that bond with the customer and figure out exactly what they’re looking for so that you may be able to meet their needs even better than you have been so far.

#1 — Conduct an email campaign with a discount or coupon included

This won’t work for all businesses, but it will for many. I’m not big on filling out surveys — the only ones I usually like are the ones I conduct on my own. But the few that I do get involved in that really draw me in are the ones that offer me something in return like a discount or coupon on a future purchase. You do that with your customers and you can gain some great demographic information and learn a lot about what your customer thinks about you and your product offering, while keeping them coming back for more because you just gave them something to use next time they need services like yours.

#2 — Contact your long-term customers directly by phone

To make sure that you maintain that close personal relationship with your best customers, reach out to them by phone periodically. Talk to them about what you offer or are doing that they like, and what they would like to see changed. Ask them to be candid and let them know that you’re seriously interested in their honest feedback. Consider it sort of a ‘lessons learned’ session — we all can use those from time to time.

#3 — Analyze customer purchase trends

This is something you probably should be doing all along, but with smaller businesses run by one or two very busy people, it can be extremely difficult to set aside the time to do it right. What you need to do is select a time period — maybe it’s the past six months, maybe a full year — and see who your best customers are, where they’re coming from, what they are purchasing, how much they’re spending, etc.

You would think this would be a no-brainer to want to know this, but you’d be surprised at how many big businesses aren’t really paying attention to this either. I did analysis work that was sort of like this for a very large Midwestern grocery chain figuring out what their top ten sellers in each department were. Yes, you would think that their two hundred stores were already doing this and you would think that the corporate office had a standard way to do this, but that was not the case. It took a forward-thinking store manager to bring me in to help and then other regionally located stores from the same chain wanted the same services from me. It turned out nicely for me, but what a sad statement about this large organization that they had no reporting structure already in place to ensure that all stores are being as profitable as possible.

Below are 5 proven secrets to help you succeed.

1. Stay In Touch
Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Friendly Web Site
Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your Web site. Have a “FAQ” page on your Web site to explain anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill out an electronic survey to find out how make your Web site more customer friendly.

3. Easy And Free Communication
Make it easy and for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible.

4. Teach Your Employees
Make sure employees know and use your customer service policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice excellent customer service..

5. Impress Your Customer
Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses or discounts to customers who make a big purchase.

6. Be Nice
Always be polite to your customers. Use the words Please, Thank You, and Your Welcome. Be polite to your customers even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to your customers should you make a mistake.

Internet Advertising Solution: Build A Successful Business Through Networking Over the course of your business life you’ll come in contact with a number of other business people.

They could be lawyers, business services, suppliers, customers, etc. these people are important to your business in more ways than one.

If you hired them or they bought your product or service, you can also gain their business knowledge, experience, ideas, and advice.

How do you do this? Stay Connected!

Network! Networking is when two or more different businesses stay in contact on a regular basis to build and improve each others business.

If you have the time, start your own networking group. You could hold meetings at a local seminar room, at a park, or at your own business building. If you want to hold meetings on-line use a private chat room. Publish a print or e-mail newsletter to keep members informed of meeting time and dates.

Networking is a surefire way to build a successful business. I have used it countless times and will continue too. I have also met a lot of business people who are now some of my closest friends.

I’ve created a series of videos for you to use for free on your website, Facebook Page/Profile or on Twitter.

Here are what some people are saying about the videos:

Hi Linda, thanks for the fantastic videos, I have been using them on my facebook page. I also do reiki and craniosacral therapy. If you’re looking for ideas for future videos, I would like to see some for other body work modalities in addition to the great massage ones that you have already posted. Thanks again, this is a wonderful idea. –Christine Baker, LMT

I did not know this existed. Wonderful idea! Well done. Thanks again –Suzanne Nichols

Great site and helpful videos! –Sandy Haynes

Hello~thank you for your effort in making these educational videos for our use! –Premo’s Barbar Spa

Linda! I don’t know how I missed this page before now – these videos are great – thanks! –Cindy Iwlew

Excellent page! –Tammy L Regis

Thanks for sharing the I Massage videos. Very well done indeed. –Jean Walker-Wiley

Creating Websites does not come without mistakes. When I look back at each new site I created, each a little better than the next, I realized how very far I had come. Following are some common web page mistakes that many of us have made as new designers.

Hit Counters

I do not recommend using any form of visitor stats that involves adding code into your pages. These methods tend to be inaccurate and rarely measure the actual stats needed to evaluate your progress in developing a successful online business.

HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU SEEN A HIT COUNTER ON A PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE?

Many new webmasters will tell me that they have overcome the issue by making the counter invisible. When choosing this method, please understand that Google sets out some very serious guidelines concerning invisible text and links

Being able to analyze website results is a big part of building your business. However, I recommend using a professional approach. If your domain host does not give you adequate web stats, download and install a program such as Awstats.

Installing this program is not a huge issue, IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Generally speaking, I can figure out how to do just about anything. To be honest with you though, I had trouble getting this installed and working properly without assistance. For those of you that need help, I recommend that you contact Brian Bonini. He will install and configure the program to best fit your needs, at a very reasonable flat fee.

Background Music

This is one of the most complained about features on a website. The internet public simply does not want background music to begin to play without warning. If the nature of a site involves music, provide the user with the option to start and stop the player.

This Website Best Viewed

On many beginner websites you will see a disclaimer statement added to the bottom of a page, concerning which web browser and/or screen resolution they designed the site to be viewed with. At best, your site visitors may likely view this as a sign of an amateur web designer. You also run the risk of offending non Microsoft browser users. At the rate we are seeing Firefox Growing, it would be a serious mistake to disregard it.

Invest the time in learning the skills necessary to design a website that renders well in multiple browsers, and the most common screen resolutions. If you use coding that requires a specific program to be functional, always provide an alternative.
HORIZONTAL SCROLL
A professional website can be viewed without horizontal scrolling in both a smaller and a larger screen resolution. People expect to scroll from the top to the bottom of your pages. This is not an issue. They do not tolerate needing to scroll horizontally. This can make it extremely difficult to read the content on your site, and often your visitors will lose patience and leave. Check your website in a site resolution viewer.

Slow Page Loading

Research shows that more than 50% of internet users are using dial-up connections to access the web. If your page does not download rapidly, visitors will quickly move on to find another site. Take action now to reduce the “weight” of your pages.
SIZE AND OPTIMIZE IMAGES FOR THE WEB
Each image on your site must be correctly sized and optimized for web use. The best method for this process is dependent entirely your actual editor. Most image editors have tutorials to help you with this.

You can find several several step by step tutorials (with screen shots) on our Digital Photography Tips and Image Editing blog.

If you do not have an image editor, there are some decent free programs available on the net. Each will often also provide image editing tips.
IrfanView Image Editor
Gimp Image Manipulation
If you prefer structured help in a group setting, you might want to join our interactive discussion group for more image editing assistance.

SPECIAL PAGE EFFECTS
Adding code to your site to create special effects when your visitors transitions from one page to the next, will not increase your sales. It will however slow your pages and serve to irritate potential customers.

LEARN AND USE VALID HTML CODE
W3C compliant code will load faster than HTML coding filled with errors. It honestly will not matter if you ever develop the ability to open up a blank notepad and hand code all the HTML needed to create a website. It is not important which editor you learn to use, or even if you decide to use a professional template for your business. These are all just tools.

You do however, need to become familiar enough with HTML that you can make the changes needed to keep your website updated on a regular basis, without adding unnecessary code.

LEARN AND USE EXTERNAL CSS
Take advantage of the free CSS lessons in our Website Development Training Class. The time you save in updates on your site is incredible and it will have a substantial impact on the amount of code used for your pages. This will add up to shorter download times for your pages. At the very least, study and follow a good CSS tutorial to learn the basics.
Website Development Training
Basic CSS Tutorials

Right Click Disabled

This is a classic situation of what some folks would call, “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” In a misguided attempt to protect your images, you make the mistake of irritating the vast majority of visitors using right click for legitimate reasons. There is NEVER a legitimate reason to disable right clicking on your site.

Case in point, I was doing some online shopping for the holidays, when I came across the perfect gift for a friend. I was unsure of the exact size needed, so I decided to bookmark the site and return later in the day. I right clicked to go ahead and add the site to my favorites. Immediately a little window opened informing me that it was illegal to steal copyrighted images and that they had logged my IP address. At that point I made the decision to close the site all together and do my shopping elsewhere.
How Do I Stop People From Downloading My Graphics?

Using Free Web Hosting

If you want your business to be taken seriously, this is a common web page mistake you definitely want to avoid. Often business owners will tell me that the business is “just starting out” and that is why they have not yet moved the site to a domain host.

First, you must choose and purchase a domain name, if you do not already have one. Although there are certainly many domain registrars out there, I have used GoDaddy over a period of time. I find their services to be affordable and reliable. They also give you complete control of pointing your domain name to a different hosting company.

Secondly, you need to choose a professional domain host. There is no getting around this one. If you want to run a successful online business, you absolutely must have a reliable domain host. This all comes back to the credibility issue.

Customers that will trust a small business owner with their credit card information, who cannot invest $5.00 to $10.00 a month for proper hosting, are scarce.

If you are having a hard time finding affordable web hosting that you can trust and depend on, I openly recommend 1and1 Hosting. I have found them to be extremely reliable and they allow you to place multiple domains (websites) on the same account, without increasing their fees. If you need help choosing an effective package for your business, feel free to contact me privately. I will be happy to help you.

Using Free E-mail Addresses

Although it is a common mistake, using a free email address, such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail, is never appropriate for your website or for business correspondence. Again, this comes back to the issue of Website Credibility. When it comes to your business, always use an email addresses associated with your business domain.

On the flip side of this coin, you need to be careful with what you say in a public group or forum if you are using a business email address. Many small businesses have suffered the repercussions of taking part in a controversial topic, in an open forum, that ended up appearing near their business website in the search engine results.