The Online Wellness Association Blog

Have you met LAURA ABRUZZINI, presently our only REAL ESTATE COACH? What is the difference between a real estate agent/broker and a real estate coach? Is a REAL ESTATE COACH a wellness practitioner? ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION defines a wellness practitioner as “anyone that contributes to the health and well being of another human being, animal, or humanity of planet earth”. When the real estate market fell in 2008, Laura, based on her personal references, re-evaluated her role as a realtor. She set a new mission statement for herself to only do the right thing when selling property. This means that Laura goes the extra mile with both her buyers and sellers to do what will benefit them in the long run—even if it means not making a sale. LAURA ABRUZZINI works as a broker with John L. Scott, Eugene, OR. If you are planning a move, even a long distance move, know that LAURA ABRUZZINI will conduct business with you in the highest integrity. While Laura is rebuilding her website, you can reach her directly through her e-mail: llabruzzini@gmail.com. THANK YOU LAURA ABRUZZINI for your support of ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION. We are proud to have you as a member.

OWA promotes our members on a regular basis. This is one of the valuable benefits that comes with the membership. Blogs, like this, increases your SEO.

Do you meet the standards and criteria for membership in ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION? Go to

http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

Hello Fellow Adventures in Space and Time,

I live in one of the most beautiful areas of the world. It is at the bottom end of the Willamette Valley on the western side of the state of Oregon in a rural setting outside of a little town called “Pleasant Hill.”

Sounds good to just say ‘Pleasant Hill’ doesn’t it? Well, here in the Pacific Northwest we are blessed to have temperate weather that is not too extreme and allows us to live with lush green forests and amazing soils that are verdant and abundant. We can grow just about anything here except tropical fruits because of these natural conditions.

One of these natural conditions is ‘rain.’ It is raining right now outside my office window and it has been raining pretty steady for the last couple days. I have a river, the ‘Coast Fork of the Willamette River’ that runs right in front of my house and you can tell how much it is raining by watching how high the river gets.

Well, the river is quite high right now and it is going to get higher because we are in for steady rain for the next few days at least. Wow, aren’t we blessed?

I was laying in bed last night listening to the rain and just thinking about how nature takes care of this garden of paradise we live on called ‘Planet Earth.’ The earth is three quarters water and for a very good reason. The way the game is set up here on planet earth we must have water to survive.

Just as the earth is three quarters water so is our bodies. We are mostly water and just as we must hydrate ourselves so too must the earth stay hydrated and it does this through the phenomenon known as rain. As I was laying in bed I was just imagining how nature was taking a huge water bucket and sprinkling this area of the country with this life giving water. Just like watering your garden so does nature water this big garden called planet earth.

It is a lot of water and it fills the lakes and rivers and all the water reservoirs that lie beneath the surface. It is life fulfilling, life sustaining and life affirming.

We are so blessed by these simple things that nature does for us on an on-going basis that we rarely think about that allow us to live in the splendor that we live in.

Go turn on your tap water, fill your glass, drink it down and give thanks for the rain.

Live in love,
Richard D. Blackstone

A potential OWA member recently e-mailed this response to me:

“I noted the verifications you do are essentially the same as for LMT’s to get their massage license (as to back ground check, etc). Thus, I am not perceiving membership in OWA as of particular value to me, or those in my industry, (since we are already thoroughly checked out). I do see it as valuable to those offering their services who don’t have such oversight.”

“VALUE” this is the key selling point for all of us, isn’t it. We at OWA want to create the most value for our members. OWA is NOT just about verification; most service providers have “oversights” for their certification process. Please keep in mind the general public doesn’t know that; the OWA SEAL lets them know you are legitimate. Verification for the new energy workers that are just beginning to set their own standards will be an immediate VALUE to help them become part of the wellness community. We don’t want anyone left behind. Creating a global wellness community is our goal because “TOGETHER WE ARE BETTER”

Fully understanding the present state of the global economy, Richard Blackstone, OWA’s new VP of marketing, has made it easy for people to join by setting the costs at $80 initial fee + $15 first month, then, $15 per month after that. Let’s review just some of the VALUE added benefits that are presently in place:

SEAL OF APPROVAL: Visual on your website to let the public know that you are legitimate. Remember, anyone can put a website up and say they are anything they want to be. The SEAL legitimizes the person offering services.

TWO DIRECTORIES: One alphabetized, one categorized. This is equivalent to putting an add in a global publication. Cost: Hundreds of dollars!

SPOTLIGHT THERAPIST: Every time someone visits our website, the first thing they see is the picture of our Spotlight Therapist; we also blog and mention our therapist throughout the month. Added VALUE.

BLOG: Members have the ability to blog directly on to the OWA blog. More VALUE

ARTICLES: OWA posts member articles on the OWA site, PLUS 40-50 other directory site. GREAT Internet presence.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: Two directories, spotlight therapist, blogging, and articles all help to increase your SEO. These services can cost a minimum of $100 per month.

Any business person would agree that membership in ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION offers VALUE well worth the $15/month membership.

WE ARE SO MUCH MORE THEN VERIFIERS! WE ARE THE BEST VALUE FOR ANY WELLNESS PRACTITIONER WANTING TO ESTABLISH A LEGITIMATE PRESENCE ONLINE AND BELONG TO A GLOBAL WELLNESS COMMUNITY.

Have you applied for your membership?

http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

TOGETHER WE ARE BETTER!

Who qualifies as a “wellness practitioner” for membership with OWA?

When the model for the Online Wellness Association was being developed, many “association” websites were visited to determine what was really needed. Most associations tended to be segregated, or targeted. For instance, all Chiropractors were on one website visited; on another there tended to be psychologists & psychiatrists. It appeared that communication between traditional and complimentary healers was often fragmented, or split all together: another words, many times one held itself higher then the other. So, the question came up: what about all the complimentary healers that are becoming more legitimate, but don’t necessarily have official “certification” boards (yet). Looking at the early development data there appeared to be a need to legitimize the “obscure”, “new age”, “complimentary” healers, as well as the traditional healers. That is why one of the requirements every OWA applicant needs to fulfill are at least three RECENT PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES. This was a way for OWA to be able to validate the alternative healers.

OWA defines “wellness practitioner” as anyone who contributes to the health and well being of another. This includes medical doctors as well as Reiki Masters; counselors as well as psychiatrists. Online Wellness Association’s goal is to create a global wellness community because TOGETHER WE ARE BETTER.

Have you submitted your application yet? To see if you qualify go to

http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

SEO=Search Engine Optimization

Novices often confused as to what is a search engine vs a website host. Yes, this may be hard for all of you techies out there to believe, but “search engine” is still a new word to those folks that are just turning on their first computers. As a matter of fact, until I started ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION, I hardly spoke any techy at all, AND, was totally lost trying to get my site built because I didn’t speak the language. That is why I want to blog this series every Wednesday until you, too, speak techy.

Here are two official definitions provide by answers.com:

Noun: 1. A software program that searches a database and gathers, and reports, information that contains or is related to specified terms. 2. A website whose primary function is providing a search engine for gathering and reporting information available on the Internet, or a portion of the Internet.

To find this information I used the search engine “Google” to search for “search engine definitions”; Google brought up 50,000,000, yes 50 million!, entries. As most people do, I chose to look at the first three. One of the entries I chose sent me to http://www.answers.com, another search engine that helped me narrow my search to “search engine”, where, I found the most useful information.

Here is a little exercise for you: using the information I provided for you above, find out what is the difference between organic vs paid search engine.

If you complete the exercise you will find the importance of (1) having your website listed (I call it grabbed) by search engines; and (2) why being at the top of the list is important.

Next Wednesday I will give you hints on how to maximize your SEO. If you have a specific word or topic you need explained, please send an e-mail to:

maxfabry@onlinewellnessassociation.com

OR, now that you know how, you can do a search yourself: “knowledge is power.”

Submitted by MAx Fabry, President
ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION (OWA)

Have you started the process to join the OWA global wellness community? Go to
http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

Another Beautiful day in Paradise,

I love being a practitioner of wellness because it makes you feel so darn good. When you are in service to humanity you are in alignment with the Source energy that creates universes.

For anybody who has ever gone through a period of transistion there is one thing that overcomes most every obstacle and that is to have a higher purpose that is more important than the obstacle. The higher purpose trumps your troubles and allows you to prioritize moving beyond your percieved problems to the ‘Higher Purpose.’

Right now I am in a position of living for a higher purpose which has created a passion in my life that I haven’t experienced for quite a while. My higher purpose right now is to serve humanity in the capacity of building a community of ‘Wellness Practitioners’ for the Online Wellness Association.

I am so blessed to be able to serve my fellow Wellness Providers because one thing we all know is that “Together we are Better.” We are entering an era of rising consciousness and those of us in the Wellness Community understand that the new paradigm is cooperation instead of competition.

I am excited about meeting all of you on this way cool adventure in space and time who want to band together and move all of humanity forward by living in community and cooperation as an example for all to see.

Looking forward to playing with you on this wonderful journey,

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Online Wellness Association helps there members attain high SEOs through providing two directory positions, posting blogs and articles, and highlighting their members via “Spotlight Therapist” and blog recognition.

Is OWA promoting you and your site yet? JOIN NOW:

http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

Have you ever Googled your career? Before starting this blog entry I searched for “membership associations”; over 18 million entries came up! The famous line from the movie “Field of Dreams”: “If you build it, they will come” does NOT apply to websites. To be considered among 18 million other similar companies, it takes creative SEO—Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is the process of building presence for your site on the internet by manipulating the rankings of the search results of a search engine. The goal is to achieve a high ranking in order to encourage visitors to your site. I equate this to building a high energy magnetic field that will pull the visitors in via search engines such as Goggle, Yahoo, bing, MSN, etc.

Building your SEO is an ongoing process that takes daily work and a toolbox of effective tools. According the Kathleen Gage, “The truth About Making Money on the Internet”, some of those tools include:

-Position of KEYWORDS
-HTML title tags
-Have relevant content
-Build links
-Submit your key pages
-Verify and maintain your listing

In our April OWA NEWSLETTER, I will discuss each of these SEO building tools and provide additional ways to move up in search engine rankings. This newsletter is FREE to all members.

Building a website is the easy part; promoting is where the work begins. OWA is dedicated to promoting member websites.

Have you become an Online Wellness Association member yet? Apply now at http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

Meet one of our newest members: BEVERLY “Bjo” ASHWILL, MA, LPC, NBCC, Eugene, Oregon. “I have been a LPC in Oregon for over 25 years. I am a person with a disability and work with Disability issues.” In fact, Bjo as most people know her, is extremely active in the disabilities community in Lane County, OR. She is also an ardent supporter of Mobility International, USA, “UMIUSA”, often hosting people with disabilities from all over the world.

In addition to her private clients, Bjo teaches communication and assertiveness classes as well as Eliminating Self Defeating Behaviors and Anger Management classes. In her “spare time” she writes plays and children’s stories (many relating to disabilities); she is a well-known playwright in Oregon, and she has been recognized on a national level for her poetry.

“I, of course, work with other issues as well. I particularly love to do dream work.” In fact, Bjo designed a program, “Dream Spinner”, to analyze large databases of dreams. Want to know what those dreams and nightmares you are having really means? This is a service that she offers long distance.

Bjo is presently having her website revised, but she can be contacted weekdays 10 AM-4 PM, PST, at:

dreambjo@comcast.net
Or call: 541-343-7248

“We are all a work in progress.”

Amazing! WELCOME TO ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION where we are letting the world know that you can be trusted as a therapist!!

Have you started your application process to be a member on ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION? Do it now at http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com “become a member”, “apply”

Hi Everybody,

LIFE IS GOOD! Just walk out your door and look around you. You live in Heaven. Well, let me clarify that a bit. I live in Heaven and you can too if you just have the right perspective and concept of what Heaven means to you.

It is my opinion that if I were going to ‘Create a place called Heaven’ I would end up creating a planet just like ‘Planet Earth.’ I would have all kinds of terrains, from mountains to deserts to forests & farms. I would have oceans of water and lots of lakes to swim in and rivers to keep it all moving. I would have vegetation of every variety to use for the service of me in foods, medicines and beauty. I would have animals to share the planet with and serve me in ways too many to describe. I would populate the planet with wonderful beings of light and tell them all to go play and allow them to play with total freedom.

I would ‘Create Heaven’ to be just like ‘Planet Earth’ and that is exactly what I have done. I am a Master Creator and so are you.

What does your Heaven look like? Are you creating lots of wonderful people in your life who share your visions of love, oneness and the ability to consciously create your life the way you really want it to be?

Of course, you would also be able to create your own private version of ‘Hell’ but that would be entirely your choice.

Here at “Online Wellness Association” we are in the business of creating heaven for our clients and associates. Join us for the ride and we will help you create a business of abundance, health and harmony.

We are here to serve,

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Hello Everybody,

This is Richard Blackstone and I am so excited to be part of the ‘Online Wellness Association’ community.

I have been a long time member of the association. I love all the benefits of membership and now I have joined Max Fabry and her wonderful staff as the Vice President of Marketing and Membership.

We are going to implement a lot of new changes to the association and they are all designed to serve you, our membership, in powerful and meaningful ways. We know that as an association we have a duty to help your business grow and we are already taking steps to make that happen.

Stand by for more updates every week as we bring you new and innovative ideas that keep you on the cutting edge of how to maximize your business growth and serve your clients at the highest levels.

One thing to get you going every week day morning is to subscribe to my “Create One Love Notes". These inspirational love notes help you in a positive manner with powerful affirmations that you can use all day long.

Just go to www.CreateOneLove.com and click on the button on top that says “Create One Love Notes.” You can easily register there and you will begin recieving the ‘Love Notes’ in the morning.

Thank you again for all your support and please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have about how we can serve you better.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

I am sooo excited about Richard Blackstone joining ONLINE WELLNESS ASSOCIATION as the VP of Marketing and Membership! He has already implemented things to help our members succeed:

-Weekly business tips
-Blogging about new members
-Monthly newsletter

And there will be even more with the new website in JULY!!!

If you haven’t visited his site, please take a few minutes to do so:

http://www.richardblackstone.com/

Also, be sure to sign-up for his FREE (no strings) “LOVE NOTE". You will have a love note waiting for you each week day when you turn your e-mail on!

http://www.createonelove.com/

I received raves from my private practice clients about his recent teleseminar. Hopefully, he will offer it again very soon.

Have you applied for your membership?

http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

If you are as overwhelmed as I am trying to keep up with your “social networking", you might be interested in this article that I found that has relieved some of the pressure I put on myself:
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Why No Business Should Be Involved In Online Social Networking
Sure it’s a powerful tool, but will it accomplish want you want it too?

By Marc Gordon
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Marc Gordon is a professional speaker and marketing consultant based in Toronto, Ontario. His firm, Fourword Marketing, specializes in helping businesses create a brand identity and developing effective marketing campaigns. Marc can be reached at (416) 238-7811 or visit www.marcgordon.ca. Follow Marc on Twitter at twitter.com/marcgordondotca.
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Take a look at these four scenarios.

1. A teenaged boy in Cleveland is sharing strategy secrets on a Playstation 3 Facebook group.
2. In San Diego a father is posting photos of his family’s day at the beach to Flickr.
3. A mother in Toronto is uploading a video of her daughter’s dance recital to You Tube.
4. In New York, an HR consultant is twittering about recent changes in employment law.

Which one of these people stands out as being unique from the others in the way they are using social networking?

If you answered number 4 you would be correct.

That’s because the first three people are using social networking web sites for the purpose of social interaction. They are keeping in touch with friends, family and people of similar interests. Their goals are nothing more than to belong, share, and socialize.

But the HR consultant is networking for a different set of reasons. This person has chosen to use networking sites as a tool to position themselves as an expert – an invaluable source of reliable information. Beyond Twitter, this person may also be on Facebook, Linked In, Plaxo and others. This sharing of information would, in theory, impact on how they are viewed within their industry by current and potential clients. Over the long term, these efforts could materialize into new business. That is why they are there.

When business people use social networking sites, they often do not understand why. And that is a big reason why so many of them see no positive return from it. Although a positive return can mean different things to everybody, for most business people a positive return usually involves making a sale.

The problem is that for the last couple of years, experts have continuously preached that the success of a business is dependant on participating in online social networking. They will try to convince you that you need a Facebook page, that you need to regularly update your Linked In profile, that you should post articles to a myriad of resource sites, and of course let the world know you are doing all this by Twittering at least 5 times a week.

What every expert has forgotten to share with you (or just don’t know to) is that this is not social networking. There is in fact nothing social about it. You are not trying to make friends, get in touch with old school chums, or keep tabs on the ex. You are trying to grow your business.

So maybe it’s time to stop referring to all this as social networking and start seeing it for what it really is: social marketing.

Any form of communication you perform on behalf of your business is a form of marketing. Regardless of whether it’s a business card or a Facebook page, your are building an image - a brand identity that will help you convey your values allowing people to better understand the advantages of doing business with you.

Think of social marketing as just another tool in your marketing toolbox. In many ways it is no different than web sites, yellow page ads, trade shows or promotional items. Each of these is important in their own way depending on your needs, industry, budget, and time. One tool should not be favored over another simply because it seems like the right thing to do.

But as this article is specifically about social marketing, we will try to determine if it should be a key component to your marketing program.

It seems I come across a lonely blog at least once a week. I can tell they’re lonely because the last entry was from 2008 or earlier. The owner of the blog no longer posts and people no longer visit. The same can be said for Facebook profiles that have no personal information or photos. Or Linked In sites that have outdated employment history.

So many business owners jumped on the social marketing bandwagon because they felt compelled to. Yet when they finally spent the time and money to create those blog sites, they had nothing to say, no information to share, and no time to maintain it.

Time is one of those things the experts rarely bring up. But for anyone who runs their own business will tell you, finding time each day to write about who-knows-what can be impossible. I have always believed that the most successful people in business do not invest a lot of time in networking sites because they are too busy making money doing their real jobs.

On the other hand, networking sites have contributed to making countless people famous and wealthy. And it can be argued that many of whom possess no real skills in the first place outside of being able to successfully exploit their following. I have to wonder where celebrity gossiper Perez Hilton and socialite Kim Kardashian would be without the internet. (Of note, Kim Kardashian charges $10,000 to mention a product in her tweets to her 2.7 million followers.)

So should you be jumping into the social marketing pool? Only you can answer that. But here’s some things to think about before getting wet.

1. What are your goals? Are you looking to increase sales or just to build a list of contacts? Both can be important depending on the type of business you own. A restaurant can use Twitter to let people know about specials available only for that evening. Whereas an accountant might want to build a list through Linked In as a vehicle to let people know about changes to tax laws.

2. Content is key. Not actively participating in social marketing is like being a wallflower at a party. If no one will know you’re there, what’s the point in even going? Being an active participant means contributing relevant content. Depending on the sites you choose to join, this can involve submitting articles, industry news, anything that your contacts, friends, or followers will deem useful or worthy of reading. This means avoiding Twittering about what you had for lunch or posting photos of your trip to the beach (unless you’re a travel agent).

3. Time commitment. Like other types of marketing, frequency is important in reinforcing your message and getting people to remember you. Just as you would not place an ad in a magazine for just one issue, you must also contribute to your social marketing presence on a regular basis. For many business owners, this can be anywhere from 15-60 minutes per day. Are you ready for that?

4. Know your audience. A hair salon creating a Facebook page sounds logical until you find out the average age of their clients is 55, most of whom do not even use the internet. So are they trying to keep in contact with current clients or attract new ones? (Refer back to #1)

5. Coordinating with conventional marketing. Social marketing should not be treated as a stand alone program. To be effective it should be combined with traditional marketing. For example, if you send out a flyer by mail, mention that people can get notice of additional promotions by following you on Twitter. Or use Facebook to post photos of special industry events you were involved in.

6. The return. Even with conventional marketing, many business people are guilty of thinking they can expect a certain return for every dollar spent. If they don’t see that return in a specific period of time, they deem the campaign a failure. Social marketing can be even more abstract. In many cases, your posts or submissions will not be focused on generating sales, but instead providing information. As such, readers would be less likely to contact you looking to spend money. However if you choose to create a social campaign focused on driving sales, you may find yourself ignored as many people get turned off of sales pitches made through social media sites.

Using the analogy of farming (for some reason people like to compare business to farming), if a sales presentation is like harvesting fruit, then social marketing is like planting seeds. That is, in sales, the harder you work the greater the immediate gains. An effective sales presentation will generally result in more sales.

However social marketing is less about what you can get and more about what you can give. More information, more posts, more contacts, more referrals – all of these can lead to an increase in business over time. How much time and how much business no one can say. It can take months just for people to take notice of you. But like a farmer planting seeds, if you plant enough of them, invest the effort, and be patient, eventually you will bear the fruits of success.
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“Business Tips” are provided to help Online Wellness Association members improve their businesses. Are you a member of OWA? Do you have what it takes? To find out if you qualify for membership go to:
http://www.onlinewellnessassociation.com

Hi Everybody,

This is Richard Blackstone and I am so happy because I am now serving you. I am helping MAx Fabry, our illustrious founder to take the “Online Wellness Association” to new heights in both member services and new membership.

We have lots of great new ideas so please stay tuned for updates coming your way.

You are invited to send your comments on how we can improve “OWA” and really serve you in generating more business and any other area you are interested in.

Plan to hear from me with new announcements and breaking news about “Online Wellness Association.”

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone