Three Essential Web Pages for Your Holistic Business

Have you heard the term “Push – Pull” marketing?

Simply put, “Push” involves sending your marketing message out into the world and hoping that passersby, virtual or real, are so enticed as to devour your every word. While this form of marketing can be effective for the right product and audience, I have NOT found it to be effective for holistic practitioners.

A more effective method of marketing for those of us who heal, help, and empower is the “Pull” method of marketing.

Pull implies that you draw to you individuals and groups who are an ideal match for your services. Once you have pulled them to you, you provide benefits to your clients, while developing an ongoing relationship of trust.

I have found that “Pull” marketing works very well for holistic practitioners.

Here are Three Essential Web Pages that provide the benefits of Pull marketing.

1. The most important link on your website is the option for visitors to subscribe to your e-zine or blog. If you do not currently have some method to capture email addresses and maintain permission-based contact with your readers, I believe you are literally throwing money and time out the window!

An on-going relationship with your visitors allows them to experience your expert status, grow in confidence in your abilities, and, most importantly, develop trust in you and in your services.

It’s rare for a website visitor to land on your webpage and, BOOM, decide to purchase your high-end products. Yes, it happens, but rarely. More often browsers come to know you first by reading your website, your e-zine, your blog, and perhaps a short paper or e-book. Then, some visitors go on to purchase your high-end services.

So the single most important action you can take is to collect permission based email addresses and then provide USEFUL and RELEVANT information to your subscribers. The two most popular tools for managing subscriber lists are Constant Contact and Aweber.

Let me emphasize again that what you provide to your readers should be useful and relevant to THEIR interests. If you don’t know the interests of your Ideal Client, contact me and request a free copy of my Ideal Client Worksheet. The worksheet is a simple method to clarify with whom you most want to work, where to find them, and what their interests are.

If you would like to know more about how to funnel clients to your business, read my description of a standard Marketing Funnel, discussed in detail in my October 2006 e-zine.

2. I want to thank Allison Oster, Angel Therapy Practitioner® and Reiki Master, for turning me on to another essential webpage: Google Analytics. Wow! What a great tool for reporting who visits your website, the route they take to find you, and what specific information on your site interests them.

This is a free service of Google, and well worth using. Analytics tells you the words searchers use that bring them to your site, frequency of referrals from other sites, and the web pages that visitors view most often. This information allows you to stay current on what is of interest to your visitors.

One note: Exclude your own computer from the Google results. Otherwise, every visit to your own site will be reflected in the tally, and you aren’t really interested in your own visits, are you?

3. Your third website essential is to negotiate reciprocal links with mutually beneficial websites. Consider who would be a good match, and attracts clients similar to your ideal client, but does not provide a competing service or product.

For example, I share website links with holistic schools that teach specific practices (e.g., Reiki, energy work, intuitive guidance) but don’t provide coaching. We complement each other’s businesses: Students become familiar with my coaching and TeleClasses, while the schools reach my readers who are predisposed to invest in holistic practice training.

Who might you partner with to increase your visibility? My advice is to make sure it is a relationship that benefits you both! You don’t want links that take visitors away from your site, if it does not equally benefit your business.

By incorporating these three methods of “Pull” marketing, you can attract and maintain contact with your ideal clients, provide service to your target market, and substantially boost your business!