How to Build a Massage Website Guide (For Non- Techies)

How do you quickly build a massage website (or a blog) that brings in clients without paying for a web designer and a SEO expert?

(1) Pick a website builder.

(2) Keep the massage website design simple and write engaging content.

(3) Do basic (not complicated or time-consuming) SEO for a local search.

Easier Than You Think

Knowing what to do (the three things I just mentioned) is the hard part.

Doing the actual website is the easy part.

But before we get into the specifics, I have to tell you that my massage website history has left me more scarred than my childhood.

Just joking, ma. 

You did good!

My Massage Website Trauma

Early on, I bartered with programmers for my website. Let’s just say that things never got done in a timely manner—or at all!

My business suffered big time because I didn’t have control over my website.

About 10 years ago, I did my first Do-It-Yourself (DIY) website.

The experience was mildly better than working with a disinterested designer.

Unfortunately, the website builder I was using was clunky and not straightforward.

At the end of the day I had a website, but I had to put in an insane amount of hair-pulling-out hours to get it done.

But it’s not like that now.

Website builders nowadays are simple to use and the end product looks great.

Still with me on the DIY website?

Good.

Now let’s address the next thing that may be freaking you out.

Blog or Website?

You may have read that you need a blog for your website.

You don’t.

Engaging content and basic SEO will carry the day.

However, if you want to have a serious blog because you like to write or you want to provide more information to your clients (and potential clients) or it’s part of your marketing strategy, go here.

If you just need a website or if you need a website with a blog playing a minor role (1 post per month) then you’re at the right place.

Okay, let’s get crackin’!

Step #1: Pick a Website Builder

You need a website builder to build your website. (If you already have a website builder that you’re happy with and/or have an existing website where you just want to tweak the content, go to Step #2 – Build a Massage Website of this guide.)

I’m going to compare two quality website builders for you: Wix and Weebly.

Why these two?

Because I have built a website on both.

By the way, the website builder links are affiliate links.

So that means if you purchase through a link I get a commission—but you don’t pay more for going through a link.

Not matter if you purchase through my link or not, I’m here to answer any questions about Wix and Weebly. Just email me at mark@makethemostofmassage.com

Not that I’m going to get back to you.

Haha.

Seriously, I’m here to help.

Email me anytime:-)

Okay, back to picking a website builder…

Domain Name

First, you want to own your domain name because you need to control your business name online. Weebly and Wix give you the option of owning your domain name.

Guess what? If you have a “free” massage website through a professional organization, like AMTA, ABMP, or Massage Magazine, you may not own the domain name to your website. If that’s the case and you decide to leave that organization, you don’t take the domain name (and potentially the website) with you.

Sometimes, depending on the professional organization’s relationship with the website provider, your domain name may be a subdomain of the professional organization you’re with or the website provider they use. For example, your URL may look like this: www.ashleysmassage/massageprofessionalorganization.com.

That means your website address will not match your business name. This doesn’t look good to clients and it makes marketing/advertising complicated.

I know this firsthand. A while back, I had a free website through Google. My website was okay looking (not really according to my wife, Lisa), but my website URL made things waaay complicated.

For instance, was I really going to put www.markliskeymassage/googlesites.com on my business cards? Actually, I did. It looked crappy and no one ever went to my website.

The sad thing is that I knew better, but I wanted someone else to take care of all the details, like getting the domain name.

Why?

I guess it’s pretty much the same answer for everybody. Fear of the unknown.

That’s when you start imagining all the things that could possibly go wrong, like Omg, I just bought MarkLiskeySucksAtMassage.com instead of MarkLiskeyMassage.com!

But, seriously, you’re not gonna screw it up.

Picking a domain name is easy with Weebly and Wix or any website builder company. You just need to come up with the ______.com name.

If your massage business is your actual name, you’re domain name is likely to be available.

If you’re business name is different than your actual name and someone already owns that domain name as a .com, you’ll be alerted and alternatives will be suggested.

For example, if your business is Jones Massage and jonesmassage.com is taken, then available alternatives might be jonesmassage .net or jonesmassage.biz.

Yes, .com is preferable because it’s most familiar to people, but .net will work. Our Berwyn, PA USA office is a .net and does fine in the local search.

You could also try adding a word or changing your business name if you business name is not available as a .com.

For example, if your business name is Great Relief Massage and greatreliefmassage.com is taken, you could try greatreliefmassagetherapy.com.

Don’t get too far away from the business name that you want on your sign and/or what is your legal business name, but there is room for experimentation.

If you need a second set of eyeballs on your domain name selection, email (mark@makethemostofmassage.com) me.

You’ll pick out or import your domain name (if you have one already) during checkout with Weebly and Wix. No big deal.

So, which one is for you—Weebly or Wix?

The short answer is…

(1) Weebly is cheaper.

(2) Wix has better designs.

That said, will your website look professional if you use Weebly? Absolutely.

Will you break the bank using Wix? Nope.

So, how will you decide?

You’re going to decide what’s most important to you—price, ease to build or appearance. Let’s start with price.

Price

Both Weebly and Wix offer a free version, but let’s just get this notion out of your head once and for all.

Free comes with three, seriously-long strings:

(1) No domain name.

Your domain name will be a subdomain of their domain name and will not resemble a massage business, like freewix.com/ester2f. And you are not going to want to put that on your business card.

Also, if you have a domain name, like estermassage.com, you won’t be able to use it on your free site.

(2) Ads will be on your website.

Weebly and Wix will put ads on your website that you have no control over.

(3) No support.

You want support.

Obviously, the “free” is a hook. Weebly and Wix want you to upgrade so they’re not going to go out their way to make you feel comfortable at “free”. Eventually you will upgrade or fall off and never have a real website that you can use to bring in clients.

If you want to be real, be real from the get-go. Pay for a website that looks professional and will make you money.

How much do you have to pay?

Actually, not a whole lot. Take a look at the chart below.

Weebly and Wix have specific names for their packages, but to keep things simple in terms of this pricing chart, I’ve grouped their package deals into three offers (1, 2 and 3).

For our needs, a 3-page website (home, services and about), we only need to compare Offer #1 of each.

Weebly Offer #1 is called PERSONAL and it costs $6 a month.

Wix Offer #1 is called COMBO and it costs $14 a month.

Here is Wix’s sales page:

Here is Weebly’s sales page:

 

Note that these are the prices if you paid the full year amount upfront. If you paid month-to-month, you’d pay more.

So, for Weebly Offer #1, PERSONAL, it would be $72 upfront for the year.

For Wix Offer #1, COMBO, it would be $168 upfront for the year.

What You Get With Offer #1

Looks like a no-brainer at this point, right?

Wix’s Offer #1 is more than twice as much as Weebly’s Offer #1. But Wix’s Offer #1 has a lot more in it.

At Offer #1, Weebly still has it’s Square ad on your website (Square owns Weebly), but Wix removes all ads off your website.

Wix also gives you a voucher for a free domain name for the first year if you purchase Offer #1. Weebly does not.

How much will a domain name cost on Weebly?

Weebly charges $19.95 a year.

So, add that to your total yearly cost at Offer #1 and Weebly is up to $91.95.

That’s still cheaper than Wix Offer #1 at $168.

Also, you can’t put video on your website with the Weebly Offer #1.

To have video, the Square ad removed anda free domain name for the first year, you’d have to buy Weebly Offer #2 which is still less than Wix Offer #1.

Let’s take a moment to pull back here and take a bird’s eye view of pricing.

What do you need to have a professional looking website?

3 pages (home, about and services).

Having a video is a bonus, but not necessary.

Having all ads off your website is preferable, but having a Square ad on your website is not the end of the world, especially since the Square symbol is connected with credit card processing. Potential clients probably won’t even give it a second thought.

By the way, both Weebly and Wix Offer #1 provide support. (I need that! Lol.)

So, to have a professional website with no frills for cheap, Weebly wins.

If you’re totally about price, go with Weebly. If appearance and ease to build are important to you, then read on.

Ease To Build

Weebly is known for its ease to build. It was designed with non-techies like me in mind and it lives up to its reputation. In fact, I have been using Weebly for our one website for a few years.

Back in the day, Wix wasn’t known for it’s ease-to-build websites.  The cool thing was that it had tons of design features that you could adjust as you built your your website. The problem was that if you didn’t know what you were doing, like me, things got ugly fast. 

Weebly, on the other hand, gives you very limited control over what you can adjust. So, there’s less room design and function freedom, but there is also less room for screwing up.

BUT then Wix created ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) which allowed non-techies like me to design a cool website in a snap.

How?

The designing was done for me so I didn’t waste time struggling to be a better designer.

ADI asked me a series of questions and through a process of elimination I arrived at a website design that I really liked in a matter of minutes that I couldn’t have designed on my own.

It was like going into a paint store and instead of looking at a paper color sample of paint I got to walk into a room painted with the sample color and next to that room were more rooms in that sample color but with different trim options…which brings us to the category of appearance.

Appearance

Wix has the best designs. Period.

Are Weebly’s design good? Yes.

But Wix’s are better and Wix has more template options for massage therapists.

Am I’m really muddling things up for you?

Let’s un-muddle by simply ranking which categories are most important to you.

Choose Your Website Builder Now

Price: Go with Weebly Option #1 (Personal).

Appearance: Go with Wix Option #1 (Combo).

Ease to Build: For design, go with Wix Option #1 (Combo). For overall ease-to-build, Weebly Option #1 (Personal) has a slight edge. 

The bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with either one. Both will provide you with a professional-looking website that you can build on your own with minimal struggle.

So, let’s build a website.

Step #2: Keep the Design Simple

Ultimately, the design is not what’s going to bring in clients.

Okay, you don’t want an god-awful, ugly design that repels clients.

But if your website is simple and clean, you’re good content will carry the day.

Also, “simple” is a huge time-saver. 

You’re not going to be spending gobs of time trying to get a template design do exactly what you want it to do.

For an effective website, you only need these tabs (pages): HOME, ABOUT, and SERVICES.

Nail the simple but professional design, knock the content out of the park and you’ll have a website that brings in clients.

Once you’ve picked your template or theme, it’s time to…

Write engaging content.

When I say “write engaging content” I mean write 3 pages–About, Services and Homepage–that make the potential client want to pick up the phone and call you.

Let’s start with your About Page.

About Page

I’m just going to say this: You’re About Page is freakin’ important.

Why?

Because the customer wants to know who’s doing the rubbing.

And the About Page is your opportunity to gain the trust of the potential customer.

It’s also where you can stand out from the competition–especially the massage spas.

The faces on their About Page are always changing.

Your About Page face never changes.

It’s always you delivering the same great massage and customer care for each client in your own unique way.

Let the potential customer know this.

This article will show you how to do that: How to Write an About Page.

Just as important as your About page is your Homepage

Homepage

Your Homepage is your first impression page.

And you have to engage the viewer or she won’t check out your About page and/or Services page.

How are you going to engage the viewer?

I have a very simple strategy that you can do.

I explain it all here: How to Write a Homepage.

The last page you’ll need is a Services page.

Services Page

Again, not a big, hairy deal.

Here’s what ours looks like for PressurePerfect. Search to see what your competition in the area is saying on their Services page.

Don’t make it complicated. Just describe your services in a way that’s welcoming, but not overly sales-y.

And if you’re confused about how much you should charge, check out this article: How to Much Do I Charge?

So, you now know or have an idea of what you want to write on your website.

The last thing to do is…

Build a Massage Website Step #3

Basic SEO for Google local search.

The Local Search is the search result that comes up first on the screen when someone types in “massage” in the Google search box.

You want to come up in the top 3 in the local search for “massage” in your area.

Why?

Because that is what automatically displays without the user having to click “More Places”.

There are some basic things you need to do to start ranking higher in the Local Search.

If you have a place to do massage, you’ll want to claim your business at Google My Business (GMB). GMB, a list of local businesses, appears at the top of the screen when someone searches for a term, like “massage”.

So, first, you want to be on that list.

Second, you want to rank as high as you can on that list. This article will help you optimize your GMB page.

That’s all you need to do for now.

You have a welcoming massage website that’s going to start ranking in the local search.

Now you can start to concentrate on other important marketing things and we can tweak your website as we go.

Massage Website Quick Review

  1. Use a website builder, like Weebly or Wix.
  2. Write engaging About, Home and Services pages.
  3. Optimize your GMB page

Not sure a DIY massage website is for you?

My door is always open to talk:-)

Just let me know what’s going on.

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Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Jaime Gronda Jun 13, 2017, 10:56 am

    Thank you so much! I have access to a few free websites but they are all so much more complicated than this! Also want to say thank you so much for all of your helpful advice.

    • Mark Liskey Jun 13, 2017, 1:45 pm

      Hey Jaime, I agree a lot of website builders are not so user-friendly because they’re not straight-forward. Let me know how your website building goes and if there is anything I can help you with.

  • Mark Liskey Apr 25, 2018, 5:47 pm

    Hey, Jen! Glad the article was helpful. Let me know if there’s something else you need more info about. Take care!

  • Mark Liskey Oct 11, 2018, 9:44 am

    Hey Ali, I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one out there who has used free massage to build a business! Lol. I agree that doing free massage is not only free advertising, but it’s the best form of advertising because the people you work on become your “walking billboards” and spread your name. Thanks for the comment and let me know how the “asking your free massage clients to give you Yelp reviews” goes.