As a professional massage therapist for 6 years (now retired) I have experienced both of these realities but at the height of my career I had a thriving and successful massage business that brought in an income well into 6 figures annually.

Over the years I’ve had the privelege of working with many different therapists and I have observed both in them and in myself, what ‘attributes’ set the really successful massage therapists apart from those that we’re struggling.

In my opinion here are the core 5.

1) Passion

Successful massage therapists love their work. In fact they couldn’t imagine doing anything else that could possibly excite them and give them as much personal satisfaction and fulfilment as being a massage therapist. This genuine ‘passion’ is easily felt by their clients and keeps them coming back for more of that ‘wonderful energy’.

2) Positivity

Successful massage therapists strive to maintain a positive attitude. They give themselves the confidence they need by ‘choosing’ to believe in themselves and their abilities. By focusing their desires, thoughts and actions on achieving specific goals they become more and more empowered. They are then able to more effectively empower their clients.

3) Entrepreneurial Spirit.

Successful massage therapists see their themselves as running a ‘business’. They realize that they are both a ‘provider’ of massage and a ‘marketer’ of massage at the same time and that their success comes from doing both things well. They research and develop effective systems to both market, manage and grow their massage business and they also are continually on the look out for creative ways to ‘leverage’ their time and energy to increase their income beyond just performing massage.

4) Giving

Successful massage therapists are ‘givers’ plain and simple. They see themselves as offering a valuable ’service’ to their clients and they really enjoy providing it to them. They have a genuine desire to really help improve their client’s health and wellbeing and pride themselves on giving 110% in every treatment.

5) Walk Their Talk

Successful massage therapists follow their own advice. By this I mean they themseleves receive regular massage and are conscientious about living well and also achieving their dreams. They genuinely ‘walk their talk’ and this integrity makes what they say to their clients and the treatments they give to their clients all the more powerful.

Ultimately wherever you are today in your career, it has been your thoughts and actions (i.e. your decisions) that have brought you to where you are today.

If you have not yet created your ideal massage business, then you may find great benefit in further developing and practicing the above 5 attributes.

One thing that’s for sure is that if you continue to think and act in the same way, then you will continue to experience similar results.

If we want a different result, then we need to take a different approach. It’s really that simple.

Wishing you a happy, successful and fulfilling massage business!

James Thomas is a marketing mentor to massage therapists around the world and is the creator of MassageMarketing.wordpressdotcom. A site loaded with FREE massage marketing tips!

But website promotion is not just about stuffing your site with articles. In fact, for each article, there are certain requirements that it must fulfil for you to reap maximum benefits. Here are 5 such requirements:

1. Good Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

An article should be written with good keywords and keyword phrases in its content. Usually, a prospect will be searching for information related to the keywords. Keywords are the words or phrases that he or she will type in the search box of a search engine. It can be anything that he or she wants to find out. Most of the time, it is related to a solution sought for a problem at hand.

Hence, the important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site and in answer to what your prospect is looking for. For example, if you maintain a herbal remedy site, you should put up articles about medical conditions and herbs. It is a good idea to spend time doing keyword research as keywords are the phrases that help target your prospects.

If you get your keywords right, you target the right person. Just think about it. Writing an article that is on herbal remedies for cancer and with keyword phrases like “herbal remedy” and “cancer” is going to win you prospects in the example cited over writing an article with keyword phrases like “mesothelioma”. “Mesothelioma” may be a high paying keyword but what is the use if your site is targetting people looking for herbal remedies?

2. Keyword Density

Now that you know which keyword phrases to use, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have three to four percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results.

Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. If your article has a keyword density that is too high, search engines know that you are “keyword stuffing” and frown on this act.

3. Good Article Content

Like what is stated above, you cannot just stuff your article with keywords. The article must also be a good read. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Show professionalism by having correct spelling and good grammer. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic.

4. Include Related Keyword Phrases in Your Author’s Resource Box

In the author’s resource box, write as a third party describing your sites and include some of the keywords phrases that target your site. For instance, in the above example, I may include the sentence “the site also includes information on herbal remedies, herbal products and chinese herbs” in the author’s resource box if I determine that “herbal products” and “chinese herbs” are also good keyword phrases to target. My article is on herbal remedies for cancer, but my potential prospects may be actually looking for information on traditional chinese herbs. Saying that your site includes far more information that what the article content has helps to raise the curiosity of the reader such that he or she will click through to your site.

5. Include an active hyperlink to your site

Lastly, don’t forget to include an active hyperlink to your site. Many article submissions fail to ensure that the hyperlink is an active one. As a reader to an article, I will not have second thoughts to making a click through to the author’s site on an active link as compared to one that is not. If you are using an article submission service and not submitting your articles manually yourself, it is a good idea to include the full url of your site in your author’s resource box and instead of using a text link. Some article submission service providers may omit to also submit an active hyperlink for you. In this case, if the hyperlink is not active, readers can still find your site as the full url address is included in the author’s resource box.

Evelyn Lim is a writer and an online market strategist. Her article directory site is a growing database of content on health, business, internet marketing, finance, home, etc . To submit your articles, please visit ArticleMapdotcom rightaway!

Improper grammar, bad spelling, and problems with writing a paragraph may just be a few of the problems you had in writing in school.

However, writing for the business world is a little different. Yes, you should still learn how to spell. Use capital letters in the appropriate places, and make your writing look professional.

The rules of grammar can be broken though to make your writing more clear, as well as making your writing more conversational.

Regardless of what type of writing you need to do for your business, these tips will help you write better. They may not help you get an A in English class, but they could help you write better copy and improve your conversion.

1. Write and then edit.
If you’re having trouble getting started, the problem may be that you are trying to write your piece perfectly the first time.

The easiest way to correct writer’s block is to simply say what you have to say. Write it down as it comes to you. Once you’ve written down everything you need to say, set it aside for awhile. Then go back and edit. Do you rewrites after you have written it.

2. Read it out loud.
You can catch up to 70 percent of your grammar and writing mistakes by reading your piece aloud. Check for flow. You’ll get clearer writing by hearing how the piece sounds.

3. Do a good spell check.
If you’re not very good at spelling, you can use your spell check to help you find many spelling mistakes. However, a good spell check won’t catch words that sound alike. If a spell check isn’t enough to help you find all of your errors, find someone who spells well and get him/her to read it and check for mistakes for you.

4. Study good sales materials.
If you don’t have a swipe file, you should keep one. This should include a text document of great headlines you have found, great sales letters, email sales letters, ads, etc.

Include pieces that appeal to you. This can also include the sales materials for things you have bought.

Study these pieces and incorporate what you learn into your own writing. However, don’t copy. Rewrite elements in your own words.

5. Focus on the benefits not the features of your product or service.
What is the most important benefit of your product? This isn’t what a product will do, it is what it will do for the customer.

For example, if you are selling shampoo, perhaps the shampoo gets hair really clean. The major benefit for the customer could be that this shampoo creates shiny, luxurious, and thicker hair that makes him/her look like he/she stepped out of a salon.

When writing for the Internet, think about your reader. Use short words, short paragraphs, and only write your piece as long as it needs to be to explain your offer. Readers online read 25 percent slower than when they are reading in print.

You’ll get a better sales piece, and your reader is more likely to respond to your offer.

Jinger Jarrett is the “Internet Marketing for Free” lady. She will show you how to use free techniques to market your business. Get thousands of dollars in free internet marketing stuff when you Visit her blog at Internet Marketing for Free.

Statistically, it takes about seven contacts with a potential customer to get the sale. However, over the course of one year,
if you continue to market your product or service to that reader, you have an 80 percent chance of making the sale.

Below is a list of reasons why you need a list.

1. It’s where the money is.
As I mentioned before, when you capture the contact information of your potential reader you can
market to him/her over and over again. This increases your chance of making a sale.

2. You can build a relationship with the potential customer.
Credibility is always a problem on the internet. When you build a relationship with your potential customer, you are more likely to get the sale. Your new customer is more likely to trust you, further leading to a sale.

Now that doesn’t mean you should abuse this relationship. Offer your new customer products and services that will actually help him/her. You will inspire more confidence this way and increase your sales.

3. It’s cheaper than finding new customers.
It costs about five times more to find new customers than it does to market to the ones you have. Build a relationship, provide your customers with valuable content, and they will stay with you.

4. Lists are easy to build.
Once you have decided the topic of what your list will be, all you need is a good lead capture system. Set up a minisite, list the benefits of subscribing to your list, and collect the email addresses.

Then you can send them your offers. Just don’t forget to provide some kind of content. Offer a free report in addition to your newsletter. I can’t emphasize enough how important good content is. You want to keep your customers coming back, and content is king on the internet.

5. Having a list will open up new markets for you.
If you have a lucrative list, word will get around. This will open up a new market for you because you will get plenty of potential joint venture partners.

Not only will you get tons of products thrown your way, absolutely free, but you will add new products to the line you
sell.

Let me caution you here: don’t accept every joint venture you get. Make sure that the product falls in line with what you are
already selling. Make sure that the product is a good one. Evaluate it yourself first to make sure that this is a product
you can be proud of selling. Your reputation is on the line here.

Send too many offers to your list, and your readers will get so angry with you they will unsubscribe.

There are probably dozens of reasons why you should build a list. The most important reason, of course, is to increase your
bottom line. Give your customers what they want, at a fair price, overdeliver, and you’ll be well on your way to quickly
and easily increasing your profits.

Jinger Jarrett is the “Internet Marketing for Free” lady. She will show you how to use free techniques to market your business. Get thousands of dollars in free internet marketing stuff when you Visit her blog at Internet Marketing for Free.

Since there are so many great computer programs out there, it’s hard to resist the buying impulse.

However, before you start shelling out your hard earned money buying software for your computer, there are several things you should consider:

1. Why do I need this software?
2. Is there a free version that will work just as well?
3. What’s the difference among freeware, shareware, free trials, open source, etc.?

Freeware is simply software that you can get for free. Sometimes it has advertising in it, and sometimes it doesn’t. The downside of using freeware is that it might not be stable, or it contains advertising.

Shareware is where you get a full version of the software, and you get to try all of the features for a certain period of time. Then, if you want to keep it, you have to pay the fee.

Free trials allow you to try the software, but not all of the features are enabled, so you will have to upgrade to get everything to work.

Open Source is free software that has been developed by volunteer programmers and is freely available. You can even edit the source code if you like. The downside is that not all open source software is stable, and it can cause problems on your computer.

There are also other types of software, like donationware, or lite versions of the software. With lite versions, you get a working version of the software, but some of the features are disabled. Unlike a free trial, you can continue to use the lite version forever.

Below are five sites where you can get some great software for your computer.

Some of these sites are free. Others, you have to buy the software, but it’s definitely worth the investment.

Freeware Home – freewarehomedotcom – This is absolutely one of the best websites on the internet. It contains over 7,000 programs that are all free. The programs are all full versions of the software, and there are tons of categories. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, you’ll be hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

Doug Knox – dougknoxdotcom – This site is actually more of a site for scripts you can run on your computer. All of the scripts are designed to fix various computer problems you may be having. You’ll also find information on different operating systems as well, so this is a good all around computer resource to help you solve your computer problems.

Snap and Pop – snapnpopdragondotcom/ – This program isn’t free, but I felt it was important to mention it.

This site offers a free ecourse to show you how to tweak your computer so that you can get better performance out of it. The software is especially good for anyone who is new to computers because it can help you maximize your resources, as well as fix any computer problems, and you don’t need to be a computer geek to do it.

Webmaster Free – webmasterfreedotcom – If you are a webmaster, or you’re considering building a website, this site is absolutely invaluable.

You’ll find every possible tool you can imagine to help you build, upload, and promote your website. Although there are plenty of free trials and shareware located here, there’s enough free software on this site to keep you browsing for days. This site is part of the iEntry Network, where you can find tons of information on just about anything, especially if it’s related to business.

Jumbo – jumbodotcom – This is one of the oldest software sites on the internet and contains thousands of programs. You can find all kinds of freeware, shareware, free trials, and other computer software to download. This site also offers software for just about any operating system. Part of the internetdotcom network.

There are tons of places on the internet to find free software. However, it’s important that you use a reliable site to find it. Otherwise, you can end up with all kinds of spyware, adware, and malware on your computer, and it will cause you all kinds of problems.

Avoid all of that by surfing on reliable sites. These sites will keep you surfing for days, and you’ll find tons of great software for your computer.

Jinger Jarrett is the “Internet Marketing for Free” lady. She will show you how to use free techniques to market your business. Get thousands of dollars in free internet marketing stuff when you Visit her blog at Internet Marketing for Free