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How To Market Your Ayurveda Clinic

A How To – Step By Step Instruction Guide

My name is Tim VanDerKamp. I am a 350hr Registered Yoga Teacher, and Reiki trainer. I am also co-owner of Stay Wild Digital Marketing. After teaching yoga full time for five years, I decided to turn my attention to employing my skills as an advertising professional and executive coach, to help Ayurveda Practitioners and anyone in the Healing Arts succeed as a small business owner. That is why i wrote this guide on how to market your ayurveda clinic. 

My wife graduated from the California College of Ayurveda after three years of training. That is how I learned about Ayurveda. I was one of her first clients, and still follow my Ayurveda routine every day.  

As she was going through her years of education, I began to notice a common theme among her classmates – most of them were struggling to get new clients (even to satisfy their internship requirements).  

I remember thinking to myself, “Wow! This is SO MUCH they have to figure out. They have to learn ALL OF THIS information about Ayurveda, and THEN they ALSO have to also become successful as a small business owner – which is something 99% of people who try – do not succeed at pulling off. Did you know that?  

Literally – 99% of people who start a new business… are not around after the first five years….half of all businesses that open close in their first year (according to the Small Business Administration Statistics). Those are terrible odds. Most entrepreneurs literally have a 1% chance of succeeding.  

 So here is the thing #1 thing you need to know about succeeding as an Ayurveda Practitioner (which is the same for any small business) – the main thing you have to have to succeed as a small business owner is a steady and predictable flow of new customers coming in at all times.  

Without a steady and predictable method for bringing in new Ayurveda Clients, you are always going to struggle. You end up with what I call the hero to zero effect. You get a bunch of new clients come in at one time, and then you are busy taking care of them (and not doing any marketing to bring on new ones). Then as they leave, you don’t have new ones to replace them, so your income takes a dive. This is what you have to avoid if you want to be successful as a business owner. Remember, they key words are: STEADY and PREDICTABLE.

So  I developed our FREE GUIDE that outlines precisely how you should market your ayurveda clinic. 

Here Are The Things That Should Become Your Top Priority to help market and promote your Ayurveda Business:

#1: Google Maps (Now Called Google My Business)

This is #1 because NOTHING in your local area is going to bring you more steady and predictable business than the Google Map. It is also number one because it is SO EASY to do.

All you have to do is:

#1 – go to https://business.google.com

#2: log in with your regular Gmail e-mail address and password

#3: Click “claim my business”

#4: Follow the prompts. Fill everything out that it asks you to

#5:  Once all info is filled out it will as you to “verify” your address using a post card they send you in the mail. Give them a good mailing address to send you your post card

#6: When post card arrives log back in and “verify your listing” using the PIN number from the Post Card

This is how you get your business on the Google Map.

How important is the Google Map to market your ayurveda clinic? Extremely. Most local business can expect fully one-third of ALL of their business to come from that Google Map, and this is going to increase over time, not decrease. Google is really pushing their Google My Business (Google Map) to be a KEY INGREDIENT in your small business marketing mix. So get your Google Map Listing Claimed, and fill it out completely.

If you don’t want to do this yourself, or are not feeling confident about it, e-mail us and you can hire us to do it for you:

tim@staywilddigital.com

Once you have your Google Map completed and have claimed it with the post card they sent you, get EVERYONE who has ever experienced your services to leave you a review. And as new clients come on, ask them to leave you reviews.

PRO TIP – It isn’t good enough on the Google Map to get five hundred five star reviews and then just leave it. Google does not allow you to “set it and forget it” – when you stop keeping up your regular maintenance on your Google Maps Listing, they stop putting you at the top – Make sure that for as long as you are in business – that you periodically (I would suggest once a week as being the best case scenario) get new reviews.

PRO TIP – Add photos, and add posts to your Google Maps listing. Google is very interested in becoming a more dominant player in the social game. If you add photos and posts to your Google Maps listing, Google will reward you for it with higher placement on the map.

And again, if you want help, or want our expertise to make sure you are on top – email us:

tim@staywilddigital.com

#2: SEO – Search Engine Optimization for Ayurveda Practitioner Websites

If you want to read all about what SEO is – Click Here. What you really need to know is that my wife gets 1-2 new Ayurveda clients a week from Google. Google is a great way to market your ayurveda clinic. When she first put up her website it didn’t show up on Google in the top spot when someone searched “Ayurveda New Orleans” – I fixed that, and now she does. I have since done the same for many other Ayurveda Practitioners. I have succeeded at putting small businesses on top of Google in their local market area 100% of the time. Everyone I have ever worked with is on top of Google.  

Why is Search Engine Optimization (getting on top of Google) so important to market your ayurveda clinic? Because new studies show that people look for the FIRST local company they find on Google, and that is who they buy from. It isn’t good enough to be at the bottom of the first page of search results. Not even close.

Page two of Google? Forget about it!

There is actually a common joke among Digital Marketing professionals (like me) that goes like this:

Question: How do you bury something and make sure nobody ever finds it?

Answer: Easy – Just put it on the second page of Google Search Results

The question is – how to you get in that top spot and stay there? The following will be a good start for you:

#1: Log in to the back of your website

#2: Find the SEO Settings

Example From Weebly

Here is An Example From WordPress –  This Is Normally Located at Below Each “page” as you are editing the page – just scroll all the way down and you will see these (if you don’t – install Yoast Plugin)

#3: Locate in SEO Settings where it says: Page Title – or Title Tag – Page Name

• Write in that space: Ayurveda Name of Your City – Your Company Name
  • Example: Ayurveda New Orleans – Inspired Ayurveda

#4: Usually below that Page Title Block you will find: Page Description or Description

• Write in that space a short sentence and make sure it includes the words ayurveda Name of Your City.
  • Example: Inspired Ayurveda offers Ayurvedic Consultations in New Orleans Louisiana. They also offer Shirodarah, and Pancha Karma
  • DO NOT – just write whatever you want in there. You can write all about love and light on your blog. Your Description tag is for Google, and Google ONLY CARES about matching keywords to what people search for, and nobody who is interested in Ayurveda is typing “love and light” into the search bar.

#5: Somewhere in your SEO Section in the back of your website you will find a place to put “slug” or page URL

• You want to use the same keywords from above in this spot.
• Example – Keywords: Ayurveda-new-orleans
• If your main web address looks like this: www.inspiredayurveda.com
• The page will go change to this:
• www.inspiredayurvea.com/ayurveda-new-orleans

Every single page of your website has its own SEO Settings. You can’t just put in the same exact keywords and description and slug from above on every single page (that actually used to work just fine). That creates problems with Google Search. So you need to add different keywords and descriptions and slugs (sub-URL’s) on each page – let’s say you have a whole web page on “what is Ayurveda”

The Title Tag might be: What Is Ayurveda – Inspired Ayurveda

Description might be: What Is Ayurveda. On this page is a complete overview of what Ayurveda is. Inspired Ayurveda is an Ayurveda Practitioner in New Orleans Louisiana

Slug example: what-is-ayurveda (www.inspiredayurveda.com/what-is-ayurveda)

Fill out EVERY Page SEO Settings on Your Website – And again, if you want us to do all of this for you, just e-mail: tim@timvanderkamp.com

On Page SEO For Ayurveda Practitioners

Don’t worry about the jargon “on page SEO” unless you want to some day do what I do for a living. All it means is that on each of the pages of your website, there are some things we need to do to help make sure you show up well on Google, and is critical to market your ayurveda clinic and make sure it succeeds. 

#1: The keywords you used in your page title tag (example Ayurveda New Orleans)– need to be in the FIRST Headline at the top of each page

• Meaning – up there at the top in the big splash page photo at the top of your home page – you should find a way to put the words – Ayurveda My City
• You can put whatever you want after that – but you NEED to put your MAIN KEYWORDS in the first headline. After that you can write whatever you want. Remember- we are trying to appease Google – it doesn’t matter if your writing is perfect if nobody ever finds you. Make Google happy first – then write content for your reader.

#2: The keywords you use in your tags (above) and description (also above) need to show up IN THE TEXT on your web pages at least six times.

• What that means is, your keywords “Ayurveda my city” need to find their way into the paragraphs of text on your web page, and you CANNOT just cram them in at the bottom or put them all in one sentence (but that actually used to work). Google is smarter than that, and will actually push your site down for doing it.
• So you need to write enough paragraphs to figure out how you are going to get those keywords in there.
  • Example: I have been practicing Ayurveda in New Orleans for ten years. I am an ayurvedic health counselor who graduated from the California College of Ayurveda after three years of study.
• You also need to add “on page links”
  • Meaning, link to other pages of on your Ayurveda website. This is one of the good reasons for having a page called “intro to Ayurveda” because you can always say things like “to learn more about Ayurveda CLICK HERE and then link to that page

• Off Site Links
  • Find a way to link to at least one other website other than your own. As an example, in the paragraph above, you could link to the California College of Ayurveda’s website

This is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do for on page SEO, but it will put you so far ahead of everyone else, that it is what we recommend. If you want to full blast SEO done on your website, or you want us to do the whole thing for you please email: tim@staywilddigital.com

Blog Posts/Articles

Market your ayurveda clinic by writing blog posts. If you want to appease the Google gods, you need to write articles (like the one you are reading now). If you want to keep Google Happy, you need to do your “PH.D” – that is:

PHD – Pile it Higher and Deeper

Pile what higher and deeper? Everything there is to know and say about Ayurveda. At least once per month, you need to post a blog article. If I had my way, it would be once per week. But I know how hard that can be to sustain.

Ayurveda is the best thing ever for writing articles anyway. I look in my cabinet and see all of those jars and bags of herbs my wife has, and I think to myself – every single one of those herbs does something, and is used for something Ayurveda related, and is worthy of an article. People are looking at Google right now, researching about those herbs. To market your ayurveda clinic – write articles and blog posts! 

Or write ayurvedic recipes. Or write about each dosha – do one per month and then cycle through them again. Nothing I have ever seen lends itself so well to blog post articles as Ayurveda. The possibilities are endless.

PRO TIP

There are thousands of Google Searches every month for the keywords “kitchari recipe” – I would make sure to have a recipe on my blog or under my articles. People are searching for it. How do I know? Because I know where to look and see who is searching for what. Trade secret.

PRO TIP

The Three Doshas get more Google Searches than anything else related to Ayurveda. AND – shocker…of the three…Vata Dosha gets nearly twice as many searches on Google as the other two Doshas combined. Make sure you have pages on your website about the Doshas and make sure you write Blog Articles about the Doshas, and make sure you write more about Vatta Dosha than the other two, because the more you write, the more Google is going to show people YOUR stuff as opposed to other people’s.

I Saved The Tech Part (the hard part) For Last – Google Search Console

You need to connect Google Search Console. It would take a whole book to explain why. But what you need to do is get it connected. I put this AFTER all of your SEO work on purpose. Do not connect Google Search Console until you have done everything I mentioned above because Google Search Console tells Google how to interact with, and catalog, every word on your website so people searching Google can find you. So if you do the SEO after you connect Google Search Console, it might take months before Google comes back and “crawls” your site and catalogs those words. So do this last.

NOTE – WordPress Website Owners, if you have a WordPress website skip this next section and scroll down to the next PRO TIP – Huge time saver coming your way!

But if you don’t have a wordpress site – here is some help connecting search console:

#1: Do a Google search for Google Search Console (don’t ask me why but you have to do this every time to find the login page)

#2: Click – Get started (lower left hand button on screen)

#3: Log In With Your Gmail and Gmail password

#4: VERIFY YOUR PROPERTY (website) Instructions

• When you do this the First time – you will need to “verify your domain” – and we are going to verify the domain using html tag option
• The main thing is when you go to verify your property (website) – Choose the Option below for verification ….(enter your website domain where red arrow points)

• Click Continue
• Next you will be offered multiple options for verifying your property (website)
  • Select – Verify Using html Code
  • Next – Copy The Html code they give you so you can paste in the back of your website
  • Next – Open a new tab (keep search console open), and log into the back of your website and Find the “header” section on your website settings and paste the code in there
    • If you can’t find this – Google search “find header for mywebsite provider”
      • Example google “find header for weebly website” – you will undoubtedly find endless articles of those who came before you who had the same question – with precise instructions
    • Once you find where the header is on the back of your website, paste the code in there and then save or publish
  • Next – Come back to Google Search Console and Click – Verify
  • That should be it

Pro Tip

• If you have a WordPress Website – you don’t need to do anything I just mentioned, because Google rolled out this AWESOME new Google Plugin that will do this all for you
• Log in to your WordPress Website and on the left, find Plugins
  • Click – Add New
  • In the search bar type Google

• Site Kit By Google – Click Install Now
• Follow the prompts and this plugin will set up Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Ads – everything Google Will be done for you and installed in the correct place on your WordPress Website.
• And if there are any problems, the Plugin will tell you what they are.
• Big shout out to Google and WordPress for this plugin – makes life so much easier.

Last Thing – Submit Sitemaps in Google Search Console

• Once you get Search Console Verified you need to submit your sitemap.
• Once you are logged into Search Console, and “find your property” in the upper left hand corner drop down menu and click on that
  • On the left hand side of the screen select Sitemaps
  • Then where it says “submit sitemap” – enter your sitemap.
  • Depending on your website (and plugins for wordpress), they might use all kinds of different sitemaps. To find out where your sitemaps are:
    • Google Search “sitemap mywebsite platform”
    • Example: “sitemap for Weebly” or “sitemap for WordPress”
  • Then find an article that tells you what kind of sitemap you website builder uses, and copy and paste that into search console where it says “submit sitemap”
  • As an Example: Weebly uses: sitemap.xml – go back to search console and paste sitemap.xml into the block and click “submit”
  • For wordpress – sitemaps are often created by yoast and you will need to go into your yoast plugin to find them and then copy and paste each of those sitemaps into search console and submit them.
  • If none of this is something you want to do – or you can’t figure out your sitemap – you can manually enter links for crawling one at a time very simply, by following the instructions in this video:
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4p1nVspM5U&feature=youtu.be

Once you have done this, for the most part, you can be done with Search Console. You don’t ever really need to go in there again.

If you get stuck, and this is the only thing you are stuck on, you can hire us very inexpensively to just set up Google Search Console if you needed to. Just e-mail tim@staywilddigital.com

Google Ads – Google Adwords – AKA Pay Per Click

You could literally get a PH.D in Google Adwords, and trying to explain it in any meaningful way would be a book in and of itself…and it would be a long book. But there is a fairly easy and simple way to get started with Google Ads. It is called Smart Campaigns.

To Get started all you have to do is:

#1: Go to https://ads.google.com

#2: Login using your Gmail and Gmail password

#3: Follow the prompts to set up your first campaign

Tips – these campaigns are fairly limited in what they will let you do. But here are some things that will help set it up and not just burn through your money

#1: Do not let them pick your keywords for you

• Use: Ayurveda – Ayurveda Practitioner – Ayurveda My City- Ayurveda My City My State – Yoga My City – Yoga My City My State – Ayurveda Near Me – Ayurveda Practitioner Near Me – Yoga Near me – Shirodarah – Abyanga – Herbalist Near Me – Herbalist My City – Herbalist My City My State
  • You kind of have to force them to use your keywords

#2: Geo Targeting

• You only want people to see your ads who can buy from you. So unless you are selling Ayurveda classes online (in which case you definitely need a professional to do this for you like us) – you want to use their GEO targeting option to target only the area around you that you believe someone might legitimately come see you from.

• So as an Example, in Salt Lake City, because of Geography, there is no reason to show my wife’s ads any further out than 25 miles.
  • But rather than radius targeting, we would probably use zip codes or township names instead….because 25 miles in a circle would get a lot of places where there are no towns.
  • But if you live in an area that is not impacted by geography, you can just choose “5 miles (or ten or whatever) from my address” and then anyone inside of that circle will be the only people who see you ads.

• Set Your Budget
  • Google will tell you what others are spending. Chances are you can get away with 25% of whatever they tell you as a daily budget. Minimum budget is probably going to be one or two dollars per day. But if you can afford it, just set your daily budget at whatever Google says others are paying, and then they will try to help you spend it in whatever way the machine says will get you the best outcome.

I want to say straight away that this is by no means the BEST way to do Google Ads, but this is a do-it-yourself guide, and I believe this is the best way to do it yourself for beginners.

If you want to really drill down on this, and become your own Google Ads Expert – I recommend you start by buying “the Ultimate Guide to Google Ads by Perry Marshall from Amazon. Fair warning – if you get the “free additional content” from his website they offer you in the book, he will never stop trying to upsell you stuff I just don’t think the average person needs. But the book is easy to read, and very actionable. I have it myself, and refer to it often. If you do, you will know more about Google Ads than most of the so called “experts” out there.

And again – if you want us to set this up for you, email: tim@staywilddigital.com

 This is the end of Part 1 of The Definitive Guide to Marketing and Promoting Your Ayurveda Business.

There is a good reason we put this first. I tell EVERY entrepreneur – if you are not #1 on the Google Map, and #1 on Google Search, and you are putting your energy into something else marketing related, then you are really making a mistake.

E-mail marketing is Good. Social Media Marketing is Good. Word of Mouth is Good. Speaking at Events is Good. Hosting Workshops is Good. Posting on Istagram is Good. Posting recipes on Facebook is Good. But the truth is – people are searching for Ayurveda every day, twenty four hours a day, and they are using Google, and they are not finding you.

If there was a holy grail of marketing, it would be the ability to get directly in front of a person at the EXACT moment they are interested in the thing you sell. Google is the only marketing vehicle that perfectly fits this description. If someone does a Google Search on Ayurveda New Orleans, I know they are probably looking for an ayurvedic practitioner in their area, which means they are most likely looking for someone they want to visit personally, rather than just doing general research on Ayurveda. This is THE person I want to contact me about Ayurveda…the person who is looking right now for someone in their home town to talk to.

Do you NEED to do social media? Not necessarily. Do you NEED to do e-mail marketing? Not necessarily. These are all good marketing vehicles, and we are going to talk about them in part 2 of this guide, but the things you NEED to do, that are always going to end up bringing you business is:

#1: Google Maps Listing

#2: Be #1 on Google Search because of your Search Engine Optimization Effort

#3: Run Google Ads in your local market.

About Stay Wild Digital Marketing

Stay Wild Digital Marketing focuses on providing Digital Marketing Services to Ayurveda Practitioners, and those involved in the healing arts. We are entrepreneurs ourselves and love being able to help people like us succeed at small business. We know that if every Ayurveda Practitioner succeeds at being a small business owner….if every entrepreneur in the healing arts succeeds…then the world will be a better place. A brighter place. A healthier, happier place. We are here to help make that happen.

Thank you for reading Part 1 of our series on marketing your ayurveda business. We will continue to publish more articles in the future on other methods for marketing Ayurveda.

To contact us or schedule a free evaluation of your current marketing efforts – please e-mail: tim@staywilddigital.com

Web Masters Note – Please feel free to link to this article from your website. If you cite a portion of this material, please link to it directly from your website, and cite us appropriately as the original source. This is original content – Plagiarism is not a victimless crime. We worked hard to produce this guide, and we simply want credit for our work.

Copyright 2021 – The entirety of this work is owned by the copyright holder (Stay Wild Digital Marketing), and the unauthorized reproduction in whole, or in part, for any reason is expressly forbidden, and is a violation of the copyright holders policies regarding its work. So don’t copy our stuff – we check.Ho