Typically, the spa business is relatively slow to embrace new ways of doing things. Perhaps this is due to its centuries-old roots of tradition and culture. Yet an increasing number of top-performing spas are embracing technology for reservations, booking, CRM and outbound marketing. The beauty is you don't have to be a tech-guru to take advantage of what's being offered, what it does and how it can help your spa.

The first step is to get engaged and educate yourself. Read articles, take seminars, join user groups, join social networking sites to see how they work, investigate the latest books-it's simply a matter of wading through the vast amounts of information to find out what's truly salient. To help speed up this process, here is a list of tech suggestions worthy of a second look (or in some cases, a first look).

Search Marketing Optimization (SMO)

Purchasing or bidding on key words with search engines such as Google and Yahoo is a bit like making a traditional media buy except it is much more measurable. Sometimes known as pay per click advertising, most SMO programs revolve around paying for key words and phrases that, when input into a search engine field, yield your ...