SEO Will Help Your Marketing! 

I’ve sung its praises before, but I do believe that SEO will help your marketing. Today, let’s talk SEO. And how it can solve all your problems.

Ok not all your life problems. But maybe SEO will help your marketing problems.

I’ve Been Quieter On The Subject

Lately I haven’t talked about SEO as much as I used to in my early days. I think some of that is because when I post about it, most people just don’t seem super interested in learning more. 

But recently I got reignited on the subject. One reason is that a few weeks back I sent out an email survey inviting you to tell me what topics you wanted me to focus on if I developed an affordable membership site. 

The winner (by a hair!) was: Marketing your private practice and keeping those referrals coming in consistently.

So that tells me I haven’t been singing the praises of SEO from the rooftops loudly enough lately. 

And we also know from one of my earlier videos that only 6% of therapists are getting most of their referrals from SEO. So there’s lots of opportunity for growth here. 

My goal in this article is to convince you of that opportunity.

What Is SEO?

If you’re having issues getting clients to your practice, SEO is your new friend.

I have some old articles and videos out there diving into SEO.  But today, let me recap some information about what SEO is and its benefits. 

• SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s all the strategies you can use to help your website show up higher in search engine results. 
• If you play your cards right, when your ideal client does a Google search for a therapist then your website shows up at the top of their search results.

Why Is SEO A Helpful Marketing Tool?

1) It’s Reliable

• SEO is not the only valid way to market your practice. Many therapists with a fulfilling, consistently full practice have zero website presence.
• But, I do believe it is one of the most reliable ways to generate consistent clients. As well as attract clients who specifically fit your interests.

2) Clients Are Searching Online

• If someone is looking for a therapist, the most likely place they will turn is Google.
• ‘Particularly with the stigma that still exists around mental health, many folks aren’t asking for recommendations from friends or mentors. Instead they go online to find a therapist. ‘Particularly with the stigma that still exists around mental health, many folks aren’t asking for recommendations from friends or mentors. Instead they go online to find a therapist. 

3) Forces You To Know Your Niche

• SEO forces you to know what your intended focus is. 
• Keep in mind: your niche can change. Mine has, many times! 
• The urge to find a focus and stand by it forever can be paralyzing. But focusing on SEO encourages you to pick a lane for today and stick by it. 
• And knowing your niche is super helpful when it comes to marketing your practice.

Where To Start With SEO?

So if I’ve sold you, here are some tips to begin having SEO help your marketing:

1) Make A Website

• If you don’t have a website, make a website! 
• It’s actually gotten so easy. You can set one up pretty quickly if you don’t want to fiddle around with it too much. 
• Unless you’re an artist or designer of some sort, I usually recommend using Squarespace. There you can pick a template and not mess around with the design of it much. It was developed by a professional designer, after all. 
• You can create your site on your own. Or if you’d like some help, I have a course teaching you how to build a website that represents you while also sending clients your way through search results.

2) Set Up Navigation Bar

• If you go the DIY route: start by seeing your navigation bar as chapters in a book.
• When you read a book, you don’t want every topic to be talked about in every chapter. There will be some natural overlaps, but each chapter has its own unique focus in connection to the book’s thesis statement.

3) Create Your “About Page” 

• I suggest seeing your “about” page as your thesis statement. 
• Who are you and what is your practice about? Why is this something you are so interested in? That is your thesis statement. 
• I suggest spending the longest on your “about” page. 
• Not only will potential clients be clicking that tab when choosing a therapist, but it will also inform the rest of the chapters of your “book” in the navigation bar. 

4) Design Homepage

• See your homepage as the table of contents. So save it for last.
• Build out your other pages first. 
• What is each chapter of this book about given your thesis statement? 
• For example: If you’re a therapist who’s passionate about serving folks navigating divorce or separation, you might have a few services you offer reflect that. Maybe one service is individual therapy for divorce, another might be therapy for divorced couples who are co-parenting. And maybe you also have group therapy for folks who are separated. Make a page for each of those and let each of them be a chapter in your book. 

You’re Now Using SEO!

When you take this approach of seeing each page as a standalone, you are already implementing SEO tools. This is true even if you haven’t done any of the fancy keyword research usually involved. 

You don’t even have to know what keyword research means and you’ll already be implementing SEO.

Is SEO Dead?

In an article on Neil Patel’s website titled “Is SEO dead in 2023?” The answer is a strong: “SEO is very much still alive and well.” 

But, SEO looks different.

The biggest difference? The Google algorithm is so savvy now. It thinks more like a real human. It’s now able to detect what great content looks like: relevant, user-friendly, and educational.

In other words: the highest priority when it comes to SEO is making a website that’s relevant to what folks are looking for. And that makes it easy for folks to get the information they need.

For therapists, that means we need to be super clear about who we are, who we serve, and how we help. Which is important to communicate to potential clients from a therapeutic perspective, even if SEO isn’t in the picture.

Do I Need To Do More Than That?

Of course, there are still specific, tactical tools beyond simply making great relevant user-friendly content in order to help you show up in search results.

But the truth is: VERY FEW THERAPISTS ARE USING THESE TOOLS. 

So if you put in just a little bit of effort, you can still pretty easily start showing up in search results. 

Check Out My Other Resources

And if you would like that extra bit of strategy, I cover some very user-friendly tools to help you with SEO in my course. Also, you can access some SEO deep-dive tools from my SEO playlist on Youtube, which is still very much relevant.

If you’re having trouble keeping reliable referrals that are a good fit for you and your practice, I hope SEO will help your marketing. 

And until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well!

-Marie

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