marketingfortherapists-blog

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An introduction to search engine optimisation (SEO)

In this article, I’m going to be sharing with you some easy to implement techniques that can help you to make the most out of the time and energy you spend producing content for your blog or website.

Increasing the amount of visitors to your website (or your blog) through appropriate search engine optimisation (SEO) is not an art, it’s a science. And whilst that sounds like you need a lot of technical know-how, that isn’t the case. All you need is to write some good content that is of interest and value to your clients, and then apply some simple techniques to ensure that your work is more likely to be found.

Does it work?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) has been one of the biggest buzzwords – and sources of debate – in online marketing for years.

As Wikipedia puts it, SEO involves “the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results”. In other words, it involves optimising everything on a website – the design, writing, content quality, keywords, links, everything; in order to try and increase its search engine ranking.

You’ve probably noticed that I said it’s a source of debate. It’s effectiveness in recent years has been debated among online marketing experts. Is it really as effective as it used to be? The answer is, we truly don’t know. What we do know is that it’s done a lot for a lot of websites and businesses.

A working example

Let’s say for example that you decide to write an article about how to overcome seasonal affective disorder (SAD). In fact, you’d probably call the article precisely that: How to overcome Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Right away, you’ve already hit on the most important SEO term. Think about it, if you were searching on Google or any other search engine for tips on how to deal with SAD, that phrase would be the most likely one you’d type. The trick is to include that phrase a few times in your article. As your potential clients type into Google, Google will scan the internet for relevant content. The more in keeping your writing is with the sort of language that clients or potential clients are inputting into the search engines, the more likely it is you’ll be found.

Staying with this example, people may also type: help for SAD, causes of SAD, why am I depressed in winter, do I have SAD?

All of these phrases can be used in an article. In fact, you may even use the questions to break up the text, as sub headings.

It’s all about getting into the mind of your potential clients, and as therapists you’ve got some pretty good training in that department.

Other thoughts for better search engine optimisation

If you follow these simple strategies, you are more likely to see greater results from your efforts.

Choose your keyword wisely and make it work for you. Make sure that your keyword appears within your heading, the first line of your article and the last line too. You’ll also need to ensure that your keyword appears throughout the blog or web posting regularly;

Use bold and italics on your keyword. In this blog post, my chosen keyword is search engine optimisation. And if you look back through this post so far you will see that I have used both italics and bold to highlight this term. This technique is another you can use to boost your rankings and encourage visitors to your website; 

Use your keyword in your image uploads. On almost every blog or website platform, you will have the option of adding an image and a caption. Get your keyword into the caption as well as the title of the image. To so this, you’ll simply need to save any image you’re using with the same words as your heading before you upload it; 

Link to other articles in your blog. It is no longer enough to have links to external articles on your blog, you also need to be linking back to your own blog as well. It is important here that the post you link back to is relevant, otherwise you can confuse and alienate your reader. This is much easier once you’ve produced a number of articles. In the first instance, you can always link to your profile or contact page;

Don’t overdo things. Content that is written specifically for SEO purposes reads terribly and most of us have had the experience of reading something on the internet that is clearly produced to rank highly in search engines, but does little to inform or educate. In other words, the content has no real value to the reader. These websites or blogs are of little value to the reader and the originator alike, as people will tend to click off and find better material elsewhere. Sidebars can be useful for this purposes, as you can get extra keywords into your site without interrupting the flow of the text. 

The real key to success with search engine optimisation is to create useful, quality content that informs, inspires, entertains or helps your clients. Just be sure to get these basics in place too.

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Marketing with love, not fear

Marketing doesn’t have the best of reputations in our collective consciousness. Television dramas such as Mad Men depict highly paid advertising executives sitting around, cynically exploring ways to get customers to part with their money for products that are detrimental to their heath. It’s not surprising that therapists often find the business of marketing off-putting. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we think of marketing in it’s simplest terms, then it is literally the process of letting people know that we’re there to help. With a service that may be useful to them at the right time. Without marketing, no one is going to know about you or what you do. 

The inspiration for this blog post came to me last night when I watched this BBC Scotland video. 

It’s a vet talking about the dangers to dog owners of feeding their animals a raw food diet, and demonstrates the ways in which raw food contaminate the homes of owners and therefore pose a significant risk to their health. 

There have been over 500 comments on this video, and the vast majority of them are criticising the vet, rather than buying into the fear. I’ve spent some time reflecting on this... and it feels to me that the vet in question has significantly underestimated her audience. The people who have chosen to feed their dogs a raw food diet are doing so out of love for their animal. They have chosen to select a product that they believe is the best, most nutritious for their beloved pet. 

When the eyes of love meet the language (or in this case visuals) of fear, then fear doesn’t stand a chance. The eyes of love see straight through the manipulation behind the message. 

Bringing it back to the topic in hand, if therapists are looking to grow a practice and attract clients, then it would be worth taking note of ‘how not to do it’ from the vet in this video. 

This may be as easy as asking, how does the information you put out there promote the best of intentions? Is it ethical? How does it speak to the love that people may have for their families and crucially, how does it speak to the hope that they may have for the love they wish to grow for themselves? 

Yes, people looking at advertising are increasingly savvy, they know instinctively when they are being manipulated... but if we can position our marketing and advertising efforts with a loving intention, then this will also shine through too. 

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How to write great content for your website

Your website is there to support and promote business growth by helping potential clients to find you and your service.

A good website will be easy to navigate, visually attractive and most importantly, provide good quality information. This means the content must be professional, accurate, well written and easy to understand.

You may or may not know it, but every time you produce content for your website and upload it, it is one more opportunity for search engines to find you and therefore one more opportunity for individuals who would benefit from your support, to find you.  

Getting back to basics

Writing content about topics of interest is definitely worth doing, firstly because it gives you a great opportunity to practice your writing.

But before any of that, make sure that you do a basic check to ensure all of the other information contained within your website is correct. This includes considering:

· Are all your qualifications listed?

· Are all the therapies you offer listed?

· Are your fees correct?

· Can you improve your photograph? The way you look makes a big difference (unfortunately it's true). A new photograph could help a lot. Avoid using photographs that are grainy, low resolution, out of focus or with distracting backgrounds

· Could the description in your profile do with a polish?

· Is the information consistent with other information you have out there about yourself, on a counselling directory or leaflet, for example?

· If you are currently fully booked, putting this information on your profile could save a client the frustration of a wasted call. Likewise if you only work on certain days or times, why not put this on your profile?

Top tips for writing good-quality content

Structuring and writing good-quality articles for your website – like all other types of writing – is a skill.

And whilst truly great writing talent can’t be taught, writing that is ‘good enough’ definitely can.

In this blog post, you’ll learn some tips for creating content that speaks to your readers, and provides them with helpful information that is relevant to them and their lives. Some may get in touch, many probably won’t. But the better your content, the more likely it is that they will.

Write a good headline and introduction

Spend some time on this. Why? Did you know that 38% of people who click on your website will leave after reading only the first few words? This means that you have just seconds to capture your reader and get them to stay on your page. So, make your opening paragraph one that immediately addresses the issue you’re writing about and let’s your reader know how the information contained within the article is going to help them.

Build a relationship

By this, I ultimately mean know your audience and then write to them as real human beings. Find a writing voice and style that you’re comfortable and relaxed using, and the content will flow more naturally and sound more authentic too.

Use case studies and examples

Nothing brings a piece of writing to life better than a real-life case study or personal example. Although in the world of counselling it can be difficult to use examples and case studies from real clients, there are plenty of stories in the media of people experiencing various issues that your readers will be able to relate to.

Lastly, understand that everyone is busy

And that one of the reasons for seeking information online is that people are pushed for time. Keep your information short and to the point, break it up with white space and a good-sized font. Use simple, easy to understand language rather than trying to impress people with what you know. Again, if you can specifically write for the audience then you are more likely to connect with them.

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Deciding upon a specialism when in private practice

Counsellors and psychotherapists operate within a marketplace, just like any other person or business offering a service to their community. As difficult as it may feel to acknowledge that you are first and foremost in business, it is going to be important to accept this if you are to run a successful private practice.

Whilst therapists don’t always like to talk about being in ‘business’, or having competitors, it is true that all businesses need to be able to be found by their clients, and to stand out as different in some way. Perhaps it may be helpful to turn this around by considering that by being different and letting the world know about what makes you stand out, you are in fact in a better position to help more people.

In this blog post, I’m going to be talking about the ways in which you can do this as a private practitioner by having a specialism.

Choosing a specialism – why bother?

Having a specialism can really help you to stand out against the increasing numbers of therapists out there. In Cheshire along (where I am based), there are 517 therapists listed on The Counselling Directory within just a 15-mile radius. There are 17 pages of therapists listed on this directory within the same radius. This of course doesn’t include those who aren’t listed, and who may advertise their services elsewhere.

Consider for a moment how many clients will scroll past page five or even three, before they make a decision. And now think for a moment about those therapists on page seventeen.

The example above is based upon a generic search for therapists offering any sort of counselling for any sort of issue within the Cheshire area. By contrast, searching for help with a specific issue – to illustrate this point I chose to search for therapists offering support with infertility – that number immediately halves. Whilst there is still a lot of competition out there, by having a focus, the chances of the client choosing you are doubled, instantly.

Connecting with the right clients

Your specialism helps you to connect with the right clients, and it can also mean that your work is more alive and energised, as you are helping people deal with something that you feel passionate about.

Perhaps you already, instinctively know what your specialism is. You may have found yourself reading more books targeted to this topic in your training, or you may have created a presentation on the issue when you were given free rein to talk to your training group about something not covered in the formal classes. However, your specialism may be buried further in your personal life story and may be something you need to do a little cultivation on… to help it to emerge. This can be done through supervision, your own private therapy, or self-reflection when you have some spare time.

It may be useful for you to talk with friends, family and peers to see if they can help you to explore and understand this. You don’t need to decide right away, and your specialism can shift and develop as you do. Nothing has to be set in stone forever, that’s the great thing about the freedom of private practice.

Another way to develop a specialism is to look out into the marketplace and see what is popular. What is being talked about online or in the media? Right now, there’s a lot of focus on mindfulness, particularly given that Ruby Wax is making the term even more popular than it was before. In recent years, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) became the most talked about therapy, with GPs referring their patients for courses of 6-week therapy. 

Anyone trained in these areas began to automatically benefit from more referrals, simply because the types of therapy were more alive in the public’s consciousness than say, Jungian therapy or other psychoanalytic approaches.

Possible misconceptions about having a specialism

· You’ll get less clients. Whilst having a specialism may seem counterproductive – it can initially feel quite limiting – it does mean that by getting really specific, you can narrow in on and really serve and support the people who are going to benefit from what you offer. Offering a specialism can actually help your clients make a decision. Imagine for a moment you’re in the midst of a life crisis and looking online for support, only to be presented with 517 options! How on earth would you make an informed decision, particularly given your current emotional state? This is the world from the client’s perspective, and so it makes sense to do as much as possible to help them to get the right support for them;

· It will prevent you from working with other clients. This isn’t necessarily true, or at least it doesn’t have to be true. You are still free to work with clients and what they bring to the sessions. The truth is that even if you say you have a specialism in depression, the client will inevitably bring in other issues such as relationships, bereavement and stress, because they are part of the human experience and they are all potentially what has contributed to the depression in the first place;

·You’ll need to re-train. Having a specialism doesn’t have to mean specific training in a certain area. Of course, for more specialised services such as trauma or relationship counselling, it’s vital that you know what you’re working with. However, in the general world of counselling, the same themes will come up over and over: relationship breakdown, grief, loss, bereavement, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, stress, sexuality or career issues.

Do you have a specific interest in any one of the above areas, or do you find clients are drawn to you with similar issues and therefore a pattern naturally emerges? Notice this and work with it. Your natural interest will inform a natural aptitude, as long as you have the self-awareness to explore for yourself why the interest is there in the first place.

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Developing a long-term client base

(Please note that in this article we use the terms therapy/counselling and therapist/counsellor interchangeably)

If you want to build up a private practice that can provide you with a living wage, you are going to need some long-term clients.  This is a simple matter of mathematics - if you need 18 clients per week to give you the income you need, and your clients stay for 6 sessions on average, you will need to find 3 new clients each and every working week. Apart from the fact that this is very difficult to achieve by your own marketing, it can quickly lead to you burning out too.

So how you you get long term clients?

There is a myth, which seems to have arisen in the early days of counselling, that six sessions is the "right" length of time for therapy. It still pervades the public sector and the EAP (employee assistance programme) world, where clients will be "sent" for six sessions of counselling, whether or not this is right for the client. Under exceptional circumstances, this might be extended to 12.

The consequence of this limit, is that counsellors and therapists start to work to this norm, and can start to feel that they are not good enough if they don't get results in that time. A therapist with this mindset will start to give off subtle signs to their client that will bring about the ending after six sessions, whether or not this is the right time for the client to end.  It may be that some counsellors are best suited to short-term work, and that is fine, but you will need an agency that can supply you with a constant stream of new clients, such as the public sector or a charity to sustain a private practice this way.

If you would prefer to work with long-term clients, here are a few points to ponder that can help you to shake off what you may have learned in your training or other work in the counselling sector so far, which may be blocking you from working with clients over a longer period of time:

1.  The six session norm is nothing to do with the good of the client, it is to do with getting as many people treated within a limited budget. Long-term therapy is expensive, and not many agencies are willing to fund it.

2.  To divert attention from the limited budget, one of the justifications used for short-term therapy is avoiding dependency. The argument goes that if a client stays too long they become dependent on the therapist, and this is a bad thing.  To answer this in depth is beyond the scope of this article, I will just point you to the Freudian or Psychodynamic approach, in which a certain amount of dependency on the therapist is encouraged, but it is then worked through so that the client comes out the other side much stronger and more independent. I believe that every therapist should have enough knowledge of these ideas to be able to work comfortably with their client's dependency needs, because they are at the core of therapeutic change.

3. Linked to this is your willingness to engage in a close working relationship with your client. Six sessions is barely enough to develop a therapeutic alliance, and the longer you have, the deeper the relationship can become. Developing a professional form of intimacy with a client is part of the reward of providing long-term therapy, but if you are not comfortable with this it will feel threatening. And please note that this is not something you can hide from a client.

4. The best way I know to prepare yourself for the challenges of working long-term is to have long-term therapy yourself.  Many counselling training courses only require their therapists to have six sessions of personal counselling, and some other modalities don't require any at all. I know personal therapy is expensive, but it pays off when you start to consider long term-work. There is a principle in therapy that you can't take a client somewhere that you haven't been yourself, so if you have no experience of therapy lasting more than six sessions you will find it hard to keep clients longer than that.

5. Returning to money for a moment, it's worth looking at your own beliefs and conditioning around this difficult topic. Many therapists struggle to ask for money, and worry that in extending the length of the therapy they are exploiting the client. This is not helped by the way therapy can be portrayed in media - the money-making "shrink". Another way to look at this is to ask yourself how much it has cost your client to have their mental illness or psychological problem.  What has it cost them financially in divorces, lost jobs, failed businesses, alcohol consumed, time spent in hospital or prison?  What has it cost them in failing to fulfil their potential, which may not be measurable in terms of money, but in happiness and satisfaction?  What will it continue to cost them if you limit their recovery by cutting the therapy short?

How is long-term therapy different?

Each therapist who works long term will have their own ideas on this, and so here are a few of my observations:

Short-term work basically deals with providing coping strategies, information and relief of symptoms. Sometimes this is enough, and if a client gains a fresh insight into the origin of their problem this may be all they need to move on.

Beyond that comes behaviour change, such as learning to replace drinking too much alcohol with a different form of stress relief. This is going to take longer, as replacing one habit with another requires time for the neural pathways to become rewired. Eventually the old habit withers away as the new one becomes established. You may be able to achieve this in six sessions, but the chances of a relapse must be high. The risk is that if the client feels they have failed, they may not give therapy another chance, and that is a lost opportunity for healing.

Beyond behaviour change is personality change, where we are looking at traumas, patterns and conditioning that may have been hanging around for a lifetime. I sometimes compare the personality to a tangled, knotted ball of wool, and the treatment to the careful, patient, teasing apart of the knots which is done by client and therapist in co-operation. There is no way this can be done in a hurry, as often when one knot is released the next one immediately appears.

Beyond personality change we enter a realm which is psycho-spiritual, as the client can start to allow their ego to relax and the higher self to emerge. To facilitate this as a therapist you definitely have to have trodden the path yourself, but even if you haven't it's worth knowing that the possibility is there, so that you can recognise it in your clients and refer them on to someone who can help. Spiritual awakening can look like mental illness to those who are not aware of it, and this can lead to a lot of suffering for the client before they find the right support.

To summarise, finding long term clients starts with working on yourself, overcoming limiting beliefs about what therapy is and the ethics of working long-term, preparing yourself for the emotional challenges of working more deeply with clients, and broadening your knowledge of the field.

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When times get tough...

Inevitably, as a self-employed therapist, there will be times when our client levels ebb, and times when they flow. It could be a string of no shows, last minute cancellations or even perhaps a quiet spell when no new clients get in touch to book appointments. Conversely, we may have a situation where we have so many clients calling that we have to put some people onto a waiting list, or even refer to other practitioners.

The former situation – those times when things get quiet – is going to be the focus of this post.

Having worked for a psychotherapy practice for many years, I’ve seen time and again a new therapist join, abundant with enthusiasm, only to be put off and start searching for a part-time, or even full-time role, when the clients don’t appear as quickly as they would hope.

This is all too often before their practice has had the chance to build.

It’s understandable for sure. There’s bills to pay and most therapists would prefer to be putting their skills to use in some capacity, even if it isn’t formally in the role or counsellor or psychotherapist.

And whist the need to pay the bills and feed the family always take precedence, it can be useful to do some thinking at the outset about our reason for doing this work. Getting a true sense of your ‘why’ can really help during the difficult times, whether they are at the start as things build, or even after many years if for some reason the client numbers go down.

The good news is that as therapists, plenty of the groundwork for self-reflection and exploration will have been done, and so it’s likely that you’ve got a good understanding of what drew you into this vocation and the personal story behind it.

So take a moment and have a think: what is going to sustain you during the tough times? By which I mean, what is the purpose, the motivation, the driver, the ‘why’ that will prevent you from throwing it all in and getting a job?

Is knowing your personal story going to be enough? Really spend some time getting a clear understanding of what keeps you coming back to this work. What is it you’re hoping to heal in the world through your work as a therapist?

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Marketing, not advertising...

In this blog, the aim is to help therapists to market themselves, not simply to advertise what they do. Many of us can mistakenly believe that the two are the same, however this isn’t the case. 

Advertising refers to the way we promote our counselling or therapy service, so for example we may take an advert out in a local newspaper or create a poster for a local shop noticeboard. 

Marketing on the other hand refers to the whole brand, the whole identity for what we are offering. It requires us to have an in-depth understanding of what we want to convey to the potential client, and then ensuring that at every possible opportunity, that message is coherent. 

Therefore, it stands to reason that marketing isn’t particularly glamorous. Many elements of marketing include getting the basics right and focusing in on the detail, such as: 

Ensuring that our answer machine message gives the right impression. The way we want to come across on an answerphone message if we are a therapist is going to differ somewhat to if we are an investment banker or physical fitness coach. We want to go for a balance of welcoming, without being too ‘soft’ that it sounds patronising or condescending. A good idea is to ask a few trusted friends or colleagues to listen to our recordings and give honest feedback on how they felt when listening. It may be worth asking them to consider: did they feel a connection with you? Is it friendly? Do they get a sense of what will happen next? Is there an alternative means of contact?  

Being aware of our social media presence. If we choose to use social media to promote our services or to connect with friends socially, much information is accessible about us online. As therapists we need to be even more cautious of what is out there in the public domain. Whilst the idea of being a ‘blank canvas’ for clients to be able to project onto is more synonymous with the psychoanalytic approach, it goes without saying that clients don’t need to be reading about our night out last Friday (with accompanying photos) on Facebook, it isn’t professional and nor will it do much good to the therapeutic relationship; 

Ensuring that any information we put out is consistent. You may have multiple social media accounts, as well as profiles on directories and counselling websites. It is our job to ensure that information contained on each is the same, that information (such as telephone numbers, email addresses and links to other sources of information) is kept up to date. 

Incorrect information can give the overall impression that we aren’t up to date or organised. Inaccuracy can put clients off even before we’ve had a chance to have a chat with them and so it makes good sense to get it right. 

Other aspects of marketing – which feed into the idea of having an overall brand image – to consider are: 

Will you have a website? 

What about Facebook, Twitter? LinkedIn and any of the other social media accounts? 

Will you have a logo? 

Where will you practice and what does the location and decor of the room say about you and what you offer? 

How will you dress when you meet clients? 

What makes you unique as a therapist? 

Underpinning all of these elements is a simple yet crucial question that we can return to again and again, and that is: what motivates us to do this work? Often known as ‘Our Why’.

If you have a clear sense of why you’re doing this work, then much of the marketing falls naturally into place, we begin to communicate a coherent vision and message for our work and will begin to align with the right people that can put us in touch with the right clients. It will also help you to get an understanding of what makes you unique as a therapist. This may result in us deciding upon a specialism that we feel passionate about, that perhaps not many other people in our area are covering, or it may be the creative way in which we utilise our training to offer something different to clients. 

Once we’re clear on this, it will infuse and shine through in what we write and say. There will be a more in depth post covering this next week. 

We’ll cover advertising in an entirely different blog post also.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading, so until next time... 

Bye for now, 

Ann 

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A very personal mission...

Hello, and thanks for stopping by on my page.

Where to begin?

Well, this blog is the coming together of many years experience supporting individual therapists, as well as a long-established psychotherapy practice, to build their client base.

I'm a huge advocate for (good quality) psychotherapy, and believe that most (if not all of us) could benefit from it at some time or another. Not only to explore ways to solve life's 'problems', but to further increase our resilience, our levels of consciousness and to help us develop spiritually, as we face the challenges of our evolving world.

In my experience, people who have received therapy are often kinder to themselves and other people too, making the experience of day-to-day life just that little bit easier.

It's hard being a human sometimes and the more support, help, understanding and kindness there is out there, the better.

A very personal mission...

This is why I am on a personal mission to help therapists to share what they do with the world: so that they can help more people. The more people we reach, the better the world feels for everyone.

Often however, the people who are gifted with the ability to truly help people are also the ones who shy away from telling the world how great they are! 

Marketing is a bit of a ‘dirty word’ in the therapy world, and so the purpose of this blog is to share guidance and techniques on how to promote psychotherapy and counselling services in an ethical, congruent AND effective way.

I hope you enjoy reading. And if you want to give feedback or contribute ideas that have worked for you, then please get in touch!

Bye for now,

Ann