In doing research for this section, I viewed more than 200 massage therapy Web sites. They varied from simple contact information, such as found in a telephone book listing, to elaborate sites complete with photographs, links and animation. 
I also interviewed 11 Web-site owners, and discovered that most designed their own sites. The more elaborate sites were designed by professional Web designers, or in some cases the original concept layout was done by a graphic artist. One of the most distressing discoveries was that even though the majority of massage therapists are women, they have a minor presence on the Internet.

The following sites seemed especially useful to those in our industry.

Personal Best
http://www.pbest.com (See Figure 1)
This site immediately captured my attention. The home page is inviting: The left side of the page has a vibrant green band emblazoned with their logo and major site links; the text is easy to read; their position statement of “Live, Work and Play Better Every Day” is prominently displayed; there are clear links to a wide variety of information; it fits on one screen. It is easy to navigate between the other pages. The section on “Who We Are” includes the company’s mission statement, philosophy and staff information. Each therapist’s profile includes a photo, background information, description of the modalities used, and a few personal highlights. Interspersed throughout the site are friendly, dynamic pictures of therapists working with clients. (It would have been ideal if captions were placed under those photos.)

Hollis Radin joined Personal Best in 1998, and immediately was put in charge of marketing and the company’s empty Web site. The company’s Web page frame and background was originally designed in 1997 to match its stationery, but nothing was done with the site. She stated, “I knew nothing about HTML or FTP or URLs. But I did know that just about everyone here in Silicon Valley uses the Internet. I started by printing out the entire contents of Netscape Composer Help and took it home to read. I also asked everyone (clients, friends, etc.) for advice and looked on the Web for hints. Our site was finally up and running in 1999. I am continually modifying it.” 

Another therapist at Personal Best, Bruce Richmond, said, “We have a modern clinic with up-to-date information and to keep up with this image (particularly in the Silicon Valley), we had to be modern and connected.”

In terms of overall design, Radin suggests the following:

1) People expect information from the Web, not a sales pitch.

2) Start with a few good pages. You can always add more later. It’s better to get the site up and running than to wait for it to be perfect or complete.

3) Make sure all the important stuff fits on the top half of the screen and loads quickly. Most people are impatient. This might mean that you reserve photos for deeper-level pages.

4) Frames are nice because they keep your appearance consistent and provide an easy way for people to jump around within your site.

5) If you see something that you like on someone’s site and you want to know how they did it, choose “View Source” from your browser menu and you can see their HTML.

6) It’s much faster to prepare text in a word-processing program and then paste it into your Composer document, but beware—some characters (such as smart quotes, em-dashes and trademark signs) don’t translate properly. Just because they look fine on your browser doesn’t mean they will look fine on all computers. Ask your friends to check out your site with their browsers. (I’m still correcting these kinds of errors on our pages.)

7) Be sure you include Meta tags on your index page (these are key words or phrases that search engines use to locate your site).

8) Talk to your clients! Ask them to look at your site and give you suggestions. Ask them if they had any trouble finding you.

Karen O’Donoghue
www.MassageByKaren.com
Karen O’Donoghue has had her site since the beginning of 2000. She did most of the design herself. It is an excellent example of an effective no-frills site. “I keep it very simple because I originally thought of maintaining it myself and even though I’m not doing that I haven’t seen a need to fancy it.” Originally her goal was to appeal to a specific target market: “I’d been planning on making a pitch to a local tech company to hire me as an employee benefit. I knew I’d be taken more seriously with the page up and running.”

Now she mainly uses the site as a brochure. She finds it particularly helpful while doing demonstrations. “I can refer folks to it when doing chair massage. If I’m massaging Jane Doe, and Jack Smith wants to know what reiki is, I ask him if he has Web access and refer him to the page. If he’s not connected, I just ask him to wait, and of course anyone who’s dying to know can wait and still check the page later if they want. It adds a professional touch at demos, and I’ve got it on my card, too.”

Tom Altmann
http://www.lara.on.ca/~taltrmt/index.htm (See Figure 2)
Tom Altmann’s site appealed to me at first glance. I felt relaxed just viewing the home page with its parchment background, green lettering, statement of “For Peace of Mind & Body...” and three pictures of a woman receiving a massage. Plus the ticker tape display moving across the bottom reminding the viewer about the benefits of massage and to “call today” is clever. One of the site’s most unique features is The Home Stretch section of Client Support: It includes written instructions and animated demonstrations for a variety of stretches. The major drawback is that many of the pages don’t fit on one screen.

This site has been operational since October, 1999. His major goal was (and still is) for client support—especially with the home stretches. It was created by a Web site designer. Altmann suggests, “Don’t bother designing it yourself unless you have talents and experience. To save money find a new designer and do a trade.” He is very pleased with the results from his site. In addition to supporting his current clients, it’s a great tool for obtaining new clients (e.g., he got a referral to work on performers for Tap Dogs).

Mark Sincock
http://www.MassageTherapyHomepage.com/msincock 
Mark Sincock’s site was established in 1994. He designed the site himself and does a complete facelift on it once a year. The site serves a much broader purpose than as a personal promotional tool: It’s a resource for the general public to learn about massage and a place for massage therapists to market their practices with a free Web page listing.
In terms of his personal page, Sincock says, “I have found it very rewarding and a worthwhile investment. My client base remains strong from personal referrals from my existing clients but my gift certificate sales have done well from the Web-site exposure. In addition to selling gift certificates over the Internet, I’ve been fortunate to land some on-site contracts based on the Web presence. As more and more households come online I feel the market will continue to grow and be a viable part of an overall advertising program for small businesses.”

Edward Pacyna
http://www.eptherapia.com (See Figure 3)
Edward Pacyna desired a professional image, so he hired a professional to design his site in 1999. His original goal was to increase business—to bring in at least the same, if not more, than his Yellow Pages ads. He had large color ads in two phone books, but wasn’t getting results. He dropped them down in size and invested in the Internet. It has paid off! He’s received lots of inquiries, sold gift certificates and received compliments. He knows exactly how many people actually view his site, unlike the phone book where the only way you know your ad is seen is if someone calls you.

This site is a good example of a straightforward design that incorporates the key elements of drawing people in with engaging graphics and stated benefits. His use of association logos and certificates establishes credibility. Unfortunately, his home page doesn’t fit on one screen. The second page describes his services. The content is excellent and the photographs accentuate the information and help make the viewer feel comfortable. The only other major suggestion is to increase the font size.

His future plans include doing more updates, furnishing links to other sites (making sure to incorporate a freeze frame to lock in his site), and providing information on specific topics where people can ask direct questions. When I asked if he had any further advice, Pacyna said, “Submit on a regular basis. Now there are so many sites, that you get bumped around and bumped off search engines.”