Dennis S. Davies, PT
http://www.painrelease.com  (See Figure 6) 
This site relaxes you just by opening it. You can practically touch the water as it cascades over the rocks, hear its soothing sounds, and feel the cooling mist of the spraying water. The home page is a model of simplicity and elegance. A handy feature is that each page lists the major sections on top so you can easily move without going back to the home page. Very few practitioners sell products on their sites. “The Body Shop” section is an excellent example of an appropriate, attractive, manageable shopping area with five major product categories. Overall it is a very personal site. The only major missing element is a photo of Dennis.

Dennis Davies worked on his site for almost 10 months before it went live in May, 1999. He states, “It thoroughly surprised me at how much time it would take from start to finish. A long time ago, a business consultant told me that every new project in the business world takes twice as long and costs twice as much as you expect. ‘So’ he said, ‘take your best calculations and then double the costs and the time projected. If you can live with that, go for it.’ He was correct and I’m glad I went for it.”

The world of physical therapy has taken a huge hit in the past five or six years, largely because of managed care and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Davies billings dropped 60 percent in the past six years, and realized he needed to think outside of the box or move on to another career. “My Web site is one of my out-of-the-box ideas. It is intended to be a commercial Web site with two objectives: sell retail products and generate referrals. As such, it needed to be designed professionally.”

In terms of marketing, he says, “Ten years ago, a physical therapist could hang out a shingle and people would show up. The business plan was simple: Successfully treat the people who show up. It’s not like that any more and neither is it on the Web. Just because the site is up and running doesn’t mean people know how to get there.” Currently he is promoting his site on a shoestring budget. He has submitted to all of the major search engines and a few of the minor ones, too. He places an ad in a special interest newspaper that says: “Tired of Feeling Terrible?” “PainRelease.com” In the next run, he is adding “free sample inside, while supplies last.” The free sample is a one-ounce sample package of his favorite analgesic gel. “I have budgeted a couple of hundred dollars for this promotion. As I get bigger, the campaigns and the budgets will grow also.”

Davies suggested visiting the following sites for resources: http://www.WebPromote.com, http://www.WhatsNextOnline.com, and purchasing an audiocassette program titled “Making Money on the Web” by Seth Godin. It can be obtained at: http://www.nightingale.com.

Final Notes
Across the board, everyone interviewed is happy with their sites and the results. Most therapists use their Web sites as electronic brochures. Some obtained new clients that were just surfing and found them, but most clients see the Web site address listed somewhere and look it up.

The most common goals are to provide a way for potential clients to find them and to easily disseminate information in a timely manner. Several people mentioned have secondary goals of selling more products and gift certificates.

Nancy Castro is in the development stages of her Web site. Her main goals are name recognition, education and information. She plans on her site being more educational than sales-based, “I want my site to spell out what I offer and what I don’t. It will be primarily for my clients, but also for other local therapists. I currently send out a monthly E-newsletter to about 60 local therapists, and we get together every month to share and network, so I want my site to accommodate that as well,” she says.

The area of most concern is upkeep. It takes a lot of time to keep a Web site fresh and current (unless the Web site just contains contact information). Even if you have a professional Webmaster design and maintain your site, you still need to provide the copy for the updates. The therapists who maintain their own sites often work on them in between clients or during a quiet hour before starting work. They spend two to five hours per week doing maintenance.
All the therapists interviewed include their Web addresses on their printed marketing materials, such as business cards, brochures, fliers, and newsletters. Listing in free directories (both in print and online) generates traffic. It is also helpful to link your site to other health-care sites and organizations such as your local Chamber of Commerce. Two therapists mentioned printing T-shirts that sported their Web addresses. Place classified ads in appropriate newsletters published by health-related companies, associations that cater to your target markets and even local homeowners’ associations. Include your Web site in your phone book listings, advertisements, and on your answering machine message.

Many therapists did not even submit their sites to the major search engines and directories. Several did this when the site was originally up, but have only resubmitted once or twice since then. Site submission can be a time-consuming process since each search engine has its own procedure for submitting URLs. Luckily, each search engine provides easy-to-follow directions and now you can purchase software to automate this procedure.

Carefully consider the descriptive words you want to submit as META tags: Be sure to include the major words people might use to find you (e.g., massage, massage therapy); specialty words such as sports massage or shiatsu; problems that potential clients might have (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome, stress, headaches); benefits such as stress reduction and relaxation; your company name; your name; and your city. You might want to include common misspellings. For example, Personal Best lists Feldenkrais and Feldenkreis. Don’t forget alternative capitalization either. O’Donoghue shares, “My techie set things up so capitals were irrelevant: MassageByKaren works as well as massagebykaren or MassagebyKaren.”
Hollis Radin states, “Many people say that they found us on the Web. Even if they find us some other way, they may choose us because they can learn more about us than just our name. Sometimes people call from out-of-town to buy a gift certificate for a friend or relative who lives locally, or because they are coming to this area for a visit. We received a request from a Chicago firm to set up an ongoing seated massage program for its San Francisco Bay Area office. When we receive a call from potential local clients, who perhaps picked our name randomly from the phone book, we ask if they have access to a computer. If the answer is yes, we tell them about our Web site and give them the option of looking us up or having us mail printed information out to them. Also, our site includes a map and driving directions to make it easier for clients to find us. It’s great when someone walks in and says, ‘Hey, I recognize you; I saw your picture on the Web!’ Having our photographs on our site really makes people feel at home.” 

Cherie Sohnen-Moe, MTJ business editor, healing arts practitioner, coach, workshop facilitator, author of Business Mastery, and coauthor (with MTJ columnist Ben E. Benjamin, PhD) of an ethics home-study course, can be reached at 3906 W. Ina Road #200-367, Tucson, AZ 85741 (520-743-3936); sma@rtd.com; or www.sohnen-moe.com.