This page has been established, to give therapists a clear view of where we are in the completion and maintenance of the site, and what they can expect in terms of its performance. We will update this page as progress is made, and new features are rolled out. We have been asked, 'what is happening with MC?' It looks amazing, but I haven't heard anything about it? So we thought we should clarify our game plan.
Intentionally, we have not promoted the site and limited its appearance in search engines. We have done this for a few good reasons. First, as you can see from the intro video, we don't believe in doing things half way. When finished, therapists will have every tool imaginable, to run their massage practice. We did not want to detract from completing most of this before shifting resources to marketing the site. Secondly, we ran a couple of test promotions early on and discovered errors that kept many from being able to successfully create listings. This taught us how important it is to triple test everything and then test again, before making an official launch. Finally, until enough therapists have signed on, we cannot allow search engines to start listing us.
So you might be wondering if you should sign up, and how long will it be until we officially launch? Of course you should sign up. With all the tools you get to easily manage and run your massage business, creating a listing with us is the best choice you can make for your career. Especially since the earlier you sign up, the more money you will save and the quicker you will start to acquire new clients with us.
The first version of the site consisted only of the therapist listing and public pages, along with an alpha version of the massage trades finder. Bookeeper was still being designed, and a mobile app had not been considered. Though many therapists responded, we decided that the best course of action was to finish Bookeeper and test the site thoroughly before attempting to market.
We create an intro video and send out a small test promotion acquiring additional therapists into our community. But much work remains and we are eager to continue adding features. We also weren't entirely happy with how the video came out, so we suspend any additional marketing.
Having reached a major milestone we create a new intro video worthy of the site. There are still two large parts to the site that we want to develop, so we decide not to begin marketing.
This gives us more time to dedicate to the site, but first I feel the need to write an article which also prompts me to add an article/blog creation tool on the site. Additional sections added include a complete social media component and enhancements to the massage trades finder.
This section which we have been planning for a long time, is comprised of two parts. The first part incorporates a whole new way of acquiring appointments. Once finished, it will give visitors an easy way to book appointments and increase the ways in which therapists will be able to acquire new clients. The second part of this will be the addition of the mobile apps, one for therapists, and one for visitors seeking massage services.
By the end of 2023 we are almost finished with the first part. All that remains is a rework of the massage search functionality to incorporate a new location api. After that we will add the mobile apps.
Initially we were going to concentrate on the mobile apps during the spring. However, One of our team members pointed out the necessity to finish some of the incomplete features in the employee management section. This is a section that we initially thought could wait until we began promoting to schools and spas, since most of the benefits apply to those types of businesses. The core functionality for employees, including the payroll and tax tools, which is necessary for all therapist accounts, have already been implemented. However, it was pointed out that the appropriation of tips, reimbursements and other events, needed to be included and finished as well. In addition, during fixes and improvements to the appointments routines, it became evident that accounts with multiple employees, would require adding changes to the employee section including allowing employees to have access to some of their own profiles and scheduling options. So we spent a major part of the year completing them.
During the bulk of Fall, we will be putting on the finishing touches to the entire site in preparation for our marketing campaign to therapists in the beginning of next year.
Starting in mid January, we will begin a promotion targeted solely at therapists. If you are reading this before that, there is no need for you to wait. You can sign up now and enjoy all the benefits instantly. The promotional special offer is already in effect. We simply want to finish some final preparations before dedicating time and resources, to reaching out to therapists that don't know about us.
Spring of 2025 will begin to see the phasing out of the free lifetime memberships. Those therapists that found us and signed up while the free offer was in effect, will keep their membership, without ever having to pay anything for the Complete Listing. The Complete listing is out main full listing membership, which includes the Bookeeper Suite and all the primary tools. Please note that in regions which reach our required minimum number of members, this free offer will no longer be available. As of the current update to this document South-Florida has already reached this minimum goal.
Beginning in Summer we will devote a portion of our resources towards the creation of the mobile apps. Though we have been planning them for quite some time now, we wanted to wait for three things before dedicating time to them. These being that the majority of the work on the site was complete, the site was stable and free of errors, and we had begun our marketing campaign and the site had started to grow in membership.
The apps will act as quick appointment portals for visitors and therapists, with some additional functionality for each. They will allow both visitors and therapists to log in and access their respective appointments manager, making it quick and easy for visitors to request appointments or make changes to the status of existing ones, and allow therapists to respond to and manage their appointments calendars. Additionally, visitors will be able to directly access the massage search section of the site, and therapists will be able to access their social messaging api.
In the fall we expect to start shifting a part of our marketing towards the general massage seeking public. Our hope is to be able to begin an aggressive public awareness campaign by the end of the year. Of course this will depend on the amount of therapists who sign up by then.