In every profession and walk of life, there is joy in creativity. Whether in school or at work, our most rewarding projects come from when we can do things our own way. Now that you're a chiropractor with your own business, you may feel like this is a great time to put your creative mind to work in marketing your practice and chiropractic website.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but today I'm going to explain a business problem that results from over-creativity. I call it "trailblazing," which is when a business owner decides to market his or her services in a way completely new to the industry. The business people who trailblaze can sometimes go down in history as the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, but 99.99% of the time, the venture does not work.

The best way to predictably market you chiropractic website and services is to follow what's tried and true and then put your own unique spin on it. Instead of blazing a trail, you're making the current trail a little wider. You won't be featured in business magazines most likely, but you will make great money with less risk. Even Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, designed his business similar to how MySpace and Friendster had worked in the past, and added his own variation.

So stick to the strategies advocated in this blog and from our Customer Support Coach team. You add your own ideas to the mix as well, but stay grounded in a foundation that's already proved itself.

Yesterday we talked about link-building on forums for your chiropractic website. I want to introduce to you a concept called "anchor text variety." When you get a link back from another website, you often can choose "anchor text," which is the word or phrase that someone would click on to go to your site.

If you've done some keyword research, you may have a key phrase you want to target, such as "Houston chiropractor." While you may want to use that phrase for many of your anchors, you will want to switch it up so it looks more natural to Google. It's good to have variety such as "chiropractors in Houston," "Texas chiropractors" and "Houston back health." You'll also want some simple links with your chiropractic website URL as your anchor text, but that will usually be covered on its own.

Always keep in mind that the more natural the distribution appears, the better.

When you first start marketing your chiropractic website online, you may be tempted to post your link in every place that will let you. Forums can be a great place to get easy links, but you have to do it right.

The first thing to keep in mind is that any forum that has a decent amount of traffic will have moderators to keep spammers out. While you may only associate spam with Viagra and emails from Nigeria about your sudden inheritance, it really applies to intrusive advertising in general. This means that if you just sign up for forums and promote your practice and your chiropractic website, you'll be considered a spammer and quickly banned.

However, many forums let you create a "signature" that's automatically attached to every post you make. In your signature, you can promote your chiropractic website and no one will mind. Some forums will require a minimum post count before you are able to add a link. If this is the case, then you'll have to decide whether it's worth your time to make the extra posts needed.

As for the content of your actual posting, keep it as informational and conversational as possible. The easiest way to kill your reputation on a forum is to start talking about your chiropractic website in inappropriate conversational threads. Be relaxed about this and you'll be very happy with the results.

As we talked about in an earlier post, there will be times where you run into people who have the potential to promote your chiropractic website and help your practice. Maybe it's someone who has a health and wellness publication or an osteopath who is looking for a chiropractor to refer patients to. You'll want this person to stay in contact with you.

How you construct an email to this type of person depends on how many new contacts you are making on a regular basis. If it's only once in a while you add someone to your network, you can write a full email from scratch. If you're at a conference and returning home with twenty business cards, you'll have to semi-customize it.

A good way to construct a semi-personalized email is to have three paragraphs.

Paragraph 1 is a salutation and some contextual talk about the situation. Include sentences like "I really liked Dr. Jameson's talk on Medicare."

Paragraph 2 is 100% personalized focused on the other person. In this section, you can talk about a funny moment you two shared that the rest of the conference didn't see.  You also talk about what's interesting about the other person's profession or location.

Paragraph 3 is directing them to look at your chiropractic website and possibly call you, if appropriate. You can be nonchalant about this and say, "If you'd like to check out my chiropractic website, go to (URL)."

If you're following up with people from a conference, Paragraphs 1 and 3 can be the same for every person. Just make sure you use the right name! If this is someone you met in another place besides your office, you're better off writing a fresh email and bringing in more personalized content, such as how you like the coffee shop you met at, etc. This becomes easier each time you do it.

So far, we've gone through how to set up your business cards, make the initial contacts, and basically set the stage to get someone you've met, while out of the office, to visit your chiropractic website.

Today we'll go over an often neglected or misunderstood part of networking: the follow-up.

Most chiropractors make one of two big errors when contacting someone they meet after a business card exchange. They either don't follow up enough or are very salesy when they do make contact.

When you meet someone you might like to do business with in the future, always act on the assumption that they will lose your card and forget about you five minutes after you part ways with them. No matter how excited this person may have been to check out your chiropractic website and give you a call, you can never count on this person following up with you. Sometimes they will reach out first, but treat this as a lucky bonus event, not a default.

Follow up with in a day or so over email, and possibly phone. It's better to use phone if the person sounded very motivated to set something up with you right away.

Your new contacts will fall into one of two categories:

1)    People who have explicitly said they're interested in paying for yours services
2)    People who haven't.

In the first category, whether you follow up over phone or email, it is perfectly fine to talk about the benefits of what you offer and suggest they visit your chiropractic website to find out more.

For the second category, you'll have to be much more mild in how you promote yourself. We'll go through more specifics in a later post.

After we posted Networking Tip #3, we received a few questions about why it's important to ask someone you meet, "What do you do for work?" before talking about your chiropractic website.  

The first reason for starting a conversation with this is that most people will predictably return the question with, "Oh, I'm a <his/her occupation>. What do you do?"

Believe it or not, we're so used to reciprocating "small talk" questions that it takes more effort to not return the question than to go ahead and ask what you do for work. Most people take the easiest path in conversation, whether they like the person or not. Once you mention that you're a chiropractor, it isn't you being pushy or salesy because the question was their idea. You've also put out the bait so if they actually need a chiropractor, you can give them your card and talk about your chiropractic website.

Remember that when networking, you only have two objectives with each person: extend a positive energy and share what you do. You can't effectively convince a stranger they need a chiropractor if it wasn't already on his or her mind. This is why you do this consistently, so with enough conversations you end up talking to the right people.

There will be times where your chiropractic website gets featured in something special.

I was recently at a health and wellness conference where a seminar speaker pointed out a chiropractor in the audience and said, "This guy is a top chiropractic and wellness expert. All of you should refer difficult patients to him if you can." He proceeded to have this lucky audience member say the URL for his chiropractic website for everyone to write down.

Later I ran into him and said, "You must have a ton of referral opportunities from that endorsement."

He said, "Oh, you'd be surprised. It's not as straightforward as you think." He proceeded to illuminate the real situation.

He had been outgoing and meeting people for the rest of the conference and noticed some very interesting things. Some people seemed like they wanted to ask him something but stayed a safe distance away.  When he walked up to the people who were eyeing him, they said things like "Oh, I'm glad to speak with you. I really need to talk to a good chiropractor." If he hadn't initiated conversation, their shyness would have kept them from ever speaking their needs.

Beyond that, a number of people didn't clearly hear the URL for his chiropractic website and others wanted to speak to him but did not get a clear view of what he looked like. ("Oh, YOU'RE the big chiropractor. I was trying to find you").

The lesson here is that when you get a big break or public endorsement, this is not the time to play "celebrity" and let the masses come to you. Take the initiative in working the room as if no one has ever heard of you. Use your endorsement as a way to multiply the effects of your networking action, not replace it altogether.

There is a ton of opportunity to market your practice and chiropractic website.  There are, of course, plenty of people who need a chiropractor and others who have publications or websites and could use your voice for a healthcare column.  

If you want to meet these people, you can't be shy.  Oh, you can be "naturally shy," but to the rest of the world, you have to look like a very outgoing and friendly person.  

Want to know the best habit to get into?  Whenever you sit down next to someone, introduce yourself and ask what he or she does for work.  It makes it more natural if there is some contextual talk between among those two points.  

Here's a sample conversation you might have with someone at a coffee shop.  Suppose someone is sitting at a table nearby and has a laptop.

You: "I'm so glad Starbucks has Wi-Fi now.  The whole corporate takeover doesn't feel so bad now."
Person: (chuckles) "Yeah, I'm glad I can log on."
You: "I'm <your name>, by the way"
Person: (shaking hands) "Nice to meet you, I'm Kim."
You:  "What do you do for work, Kim?"
Person: "I'm a speech therapist, what about you?"
You: "I'm a chiropractor."
Person: "Oh wow, my sister had a car accident a month ago and really needs a chiropractor.  Where is your office?"
(Transition to showing Kim your chiropractic website on Kim's laptop.)

Is the conversation always going to go this way?  Of course not.  You may -- no let's be honest, you WILL have awkward conversations and some people will be unfriendly.  The good news is that it gets easier each time and no one really gives it much thought, even if it is awkward.  Most people have more important things to think about than the random chiropractor who said hi in a coffee shop.  When it goes bad, nothing happens and when it goes well, great things happen.

When you put yourself out there, you'll notice that two things start happening.  First of all, you'll see opportunities that have been right under your nose this whole time.  Secondly, you'll become very comfortable with starting these conversations and won't even need to begin with small talk.  You'll just smile and put your hand out to everyone you meet, and somehow your chiropractic website will come up.  Make this a habit and watch your network grow.  

Two posts on business cards in a series about networking?  

Is that overkill?

Not if you understand the power of getting your new contacts to visit your chiropractic website when they go home.

Often in the pursuit of having a dazzling card, people lose track of the basics, which are simply to make sure that new people you meet can contact you.

Make sure you have on the front of the card your name, phone number, email, and chiropractic website URL.  When people put any of this information on the back of the card, it's often not even seen.  Someone shouldn't have to look hard to find this information.

Bonus items:  URL's for your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles.  A lot of professionals prefer to connect over social media before email.  The good news is that all of these social media profiles will have links to your chiropractic website, so your new contacts will have access to all your contact and practice information.  

Today we're going to start a series on networking.  As small business owners with your own chiropractic websites, you must understand the importance of building a base of friends and colleagues to support you in your expansion.  One of the first steps you can take is having a good business card.

A good business card does not mean "pretty," or even "impressive."  Fancy cards will impress some people, but can actually cost you some good contacts if you do it the wrong way.  

Your face-to-face impression will always trump anything on your card.  If you're warm, professional, and confident, then a basic card won't smudge that image.  If you're boring or seem needy, then even a card with a Star-Wars style pop-up hologram won't change anything.  

Because of this, it's best to choose a business card that lets you continue an already positive face-to-face impression, instead of choosing one that tries to impress on its own.

What's your greatest obstacle after you leave a conference?  It's not being remembered as the knucklehead or wallflower of the group.  It's being FORGOTTEN.  You need to make sure that you are remembered.

So first of all, put your picture on your business card.  If you're the only chiropractor at a conference or cocktail party, then your title will be enough to jog someone's memory.  If you're at a health and wellness convention, then it will be extremely hard to separate you from a stack of chiropractic cards without a picture.  Luckily, it doesn't cost very much to put your picture on a business card, if you use an online service like iPrint.com or PrintsMadeEasy.com.

Second of all, make your card easy to write on.  The more someone likes you, the more he or she will want to write notes about you on the card you hand out.  If your card is too colorful to see ink on or too glossy for a pen to even make a mark, then you've neutered any chance of being kept in mind for that person.  Get your card out and verify that someone can scribble on the back if they need to.

We'll have more tips to come this week so stay tuned.  

Long before you launched your first chiropractic website, you put yourself through intense education, training, and mentorship to become a qualified health professional.  You improve the health of your patients and often assist in near-miraculous recovery.  Given all this, it makes sense that you should get paid an appropriate amount for your work.

However, it's not always easy to explain to a patient why his or her procedure or treatment plan should cost what it does.  Sometimes the patient agrees with you over the fee, but still says the dreaded "That's more than I can afford."

The easiest way to give your patient confidence in spending a large sum is to present the financial implications of not going ahead with your treatment plan.  One would think that a degenerative health problem would be enough to justify expenses, but people are often willing to let their body deteriorate even to save a few bucks.  If your treatment plan will cost $1500, you need to show how not taking treatment will cost significantly more than your fee.

Examples of this include:

• Missed workdays
• Problems keeping career going in the future from pain/mobility issues
• Medical care being more expensive if injury or condition is not taken care of in early stage
• Higher costs of medical insurance for pre-existing condition

When you're sending emails or writing blog posts for your chiropractic website, the worst offense you can afflict on your readers is boredom.  In fact, if a current or new patient has an inkling that what you've written for them is not going to be interesting, they're not going to bother even making that first click.

One thing that helps with this is to make your email titles or blog titles a little "edgier" than your competitors.  

Examples of this include:

"3 Steps to Having Better Posture Than Your Boss"
"Why Unattractive People Don't See Chiropractors"

If you got nervous at the thought of sending something like this to your patients, then you're seeing some of the power of this concept.  There is definitely some risk with an approach like this, and you can easily go overboard and offend patients, so use your best judgment.  The power come from you standing out and really piquing the curiosity of your readers.  

If you want to experiment with this, just take the title you were originally planning to use and make it a tiny bit more controversial.  Even changing a word or two can make a big difference.

As much as we may prefer that chiropractic work was 100% helping others with their health, we can never fully separate the business aspect from it.  You have a chiropractic website for a reason... to bring in new patients and raise your revenue.  

There are many goals to be completed as you market yourself, and it can be tough to stay on track for all of them.  A great way to stay on top of your business activities is to join or form a "mastermind group."

A mastermind group is something you form with a few other entrepreneurs and meet regularly to semi-regularly.  Three people is a good minimum, and you don't really want to get larger than six.  When you meet, you each get about twenty minutes to talk about your projects and what's holding you back.  

This is kind of a "hot seat" where all the focus is on one person at once.  Maybe you'll say you want to start an email newsletter for your patients and prospects.  Someone will ask, "What do you need to do for that to happen."

You'll say "Well, I need to start an email list, write the content up, and put up a schedule to send things out."  Your group will then help you schedule the time for you to do all of this so by the next meeting, you have a rocking email list on your chiropractic website. (ChiroMatrix helps with this, so ask your Customer Support Coach).

Then you would move to the next person, and so on.  It's probably better if your mastermind group isn't consisting of other chiropractors, so you don't have any worries of competition.

You'll find that with a mastermind group you get both the organization and accountability you need to get everything done.  

You have a number of specific actions you want your current and new patients to take on your chiropractic website.  This includes calling for an appointment, signing up for an email list, and referring a friend for care.

What most chiropractors do is put the phone number and email form somewhere in the site and assume that the visitor will find a way to contact the professional.

This is expecting way too much.  

Even if you work in a high income, highly-educated area, you can never risk overestimating either the intelligence or perseverance of your clientele in terms of figuring out how to contact you.

If you have a phone number, make it big and on every page of your chiropractic website.  If you have an email list form, put it on the upper half of the website so they don't have to scroll down.

Your customers will never be offended by you "dumbing it down" and you will get much better use out of your traffic.

There's a simple question you can ask yourself that will give clear indication of how successful you'll be in your work as a chiropractor.  This includes your success with your chiropractic website and your practice as a whole.

"Do I love to be rich more than I hate to be poor?"

Or "Do I love having a ton of patients more than I hate having an empty schedule?"

Or "Do I love having a ton of visitors to my chiropractic website more than I hate having my site fail?"

The answer to this will let you know whether you're operating with success polarity or failure polarity.  

There's a big difference between playing to win and playing not to lose.  If you're focused on the prize, you'll find yourself getting excited about your work, taking every necessary step, and enjoying results very quickly.  When you're worrying about paying the rent, and trying to make ends meet, you find yourself in a struggle and constantly "putting out fires," as we've talked about.

When a mountain climbing instructor tells a new trainee "Don't look down," this applies to all aspects of life.  

You may be wondering how you can apply this if your practice has been struggling and you're already late on the rent for this month.   The answer is that wherever you are on the ladder to wealth, you must make your "success picture" more clear and defined than your "failure picture."    If you're having a hard time, chances are your success picture is fuzzy and undefined.

If you ask a rich chiropractor what his goals are for his practice and chiropractic website, he'll have a clear description of what he's aiming towards, even if it's not completely thought out how he'll get there.  If you ask him what'll happen if he fails, and will have a confused look and say "Hmmm, haven't really thought of it.  I guess I'd figure it out."  This is because his success picture is crystal clear, and his failure picture is very fuzzy and muddled.  The clearest picture will have the strongest polarity.

If your failure picture is already very clear, such as "The patients would just stop coming, I'd lose my business, the landlord would be banging at my door," then you have to make your success picture even more clear and defined than that.  Write down a detailed description of what your ideal situation for your practice would look like. 

Do this in the present tense, begin with "I am so happy and grateful that..." and write down how many patients you're getting a week from your chiropractic website, how much money your practice is bringing in, and even the smallest details about how your thriving practice looks, including new equipment, what your new support team looks like, and anything else.  Take as many pages as you need.

Ideally, you would visualize this for 30 minutes a day once it's completed, but you'll get a great effect even from reading the description to yourself once or twice a day.  This will create a strong success polarity and magnetize you to success.