Top 10 Blogging Mistakes Therapists Make On Their Private Practice Website
Blogging can take a lot of time and energy but when it’s done right it can make a difference in the number and type of clients you have coming into your therapy business. In my personal therapy practice, over time blogging has increased the number of people on my website which not only helps people who are looking for information but also brings more private pay clients into my business. On top of that, my blogging shows off my expertise and has allowed me to add consultation to my practice. I have also been able to increase my visibility by being sought out for quotations in the media.
These people came to me. Through blogging for SEO and content, you allow Google to direct the people who are looking for you to your services. You help them decide if you are the right fit and help people who can’t afford your services. But there is a strategy behind blogging that makes it effective, otherwise you are just writing into the wind.
Your therapist blog will grow your visibility and expertise without having to do anything more than write. But just like every other marketing strategy, there is a right way to do it that will pay off and a wrong way that is not going to give you the return on the investment that you are hoping for.
I often see these mistakes on other therapists’ websites and they keep their blogs from helping them reach their goals.
Together we will look at the top 10 mistakes I see therapists make on their blogs. Whether you are a group practice owner or a solo practitioner, this article is for you. These tips can be used to help more ideal clients find your site.
1. Writing About Whatever You Want/Avoiding Audience Research
When I talk to therapists about how they pick their topics, they often write about what they are interested in. Treating your blog like a place to vent or write about personal interests can be tempting. Or treat it like it is your personal journal.
Your blog isn’t either of these. It’s a marketing tool that helps you reach your ideal clients while you sleep. It might be most interesting to write rants or about your most recent interest, but often this isn’t what your potential clients are looking for on the internet.
Your blog needs to be about what your ideal clients are interested in. The topics that they are searching for online.
To do this you need to understand your ideal client and where they are when they are looking for your services.
An example of this is you might be tempted to write about the effects of trauma on marital relationships. Still, if your ideal clients don’t recognize they have experienced trauma until they have worked with you for a bit they aren’t going to search that topic or even read about it when it comes up. They are more likely to search for communication skills or when to get couples therapy.
For a therapist currently seeing clients, the solution is simple; pay attention to what your clients seek when they come to therapy. Review their complaints in their consultation and intake, and look closely at those documents. Using their words is important.
If you aren’t seeing your ideal clients then it’s time to research. Find out where your ideal clients hang out online. Maybe it’s a Mother’s of Multiple’s Facebook page or a Reddit for men who have been cheating on their wives.
When you find where they are you can find descriptions of what they are going through and the words they use to describe their experience. You can also learn about the questions they are searching for online.
Another possible approach is finding a therapist who sees your ideal clients and, reach out for a consultation. They can help you identify what your clients are experiencing when they seek therapy.
Focus on what these clients are experiencing when they reach out for help.
Wherever you find your ideal clients pay attention to the exact words they are using.
Using their words, you can create blogs that connect with your ideal clients and attract more of them into your practice.
2. Not Doing SEO Research for Your Therapist Blog
So now that you have a good idea of what your clients are looking for online you might think you know some possible keywords. But often SEO research can give you some surprising information.
Unfortunately, your blogs won’t be found online if you are not targeting SEO keywords.
Keyword research feels overwhelming and confusing, because of this many therapists avoid it. This ends up with amazing blogs that never get found.
Many of the SEO keyword search tools will also provide you with potential questions and problems as well as other related words that you clients are searching for.
So if you think your clients might be searching for “Depression” you might find that your clients are searching for “symptoms of depression”, or “high-functioning depression”. Both apply to your ideal clients and are topics you would like to write about. This helps your clients to find you more easily.
It also helps you target your writing.
3. Writing Too Little
Both your ideal client and Google are looking for content that provides in-depth information, establishes expertise, and is therefore valuable to the reader. Posts under a certain number of words don’t display expertisel or cover the topic well enough for Google to see your site as helpful.
Try your best to cover the topic as well as possible by writing at least 1200 words but if you can, aim for 2000.
This allows you to;
Explain concepts thoroughly
Include helpful examples
Address questions
Give helpful steps
Show off your expertise and personality
Search engines are prioritizing original, helpful content from experts. Quality articles will always rank higher and will be more attractive to your ideal clients.
Don’t worry about giving too much information and focus on explaining each concept thoroughly.
4. Leaving Out Headers and Bold/Italics
Unbroken, uniform text that is the same throughout, is hard to read and won’t keep the reader's attention.
Often therapists forget to add headers that break the text up and don’t see the importance of adding bold/italics on important points.
Both headers and bold/italics keep the reading interesting and helps the reader orient themselves.
Headers help;
Break it up into small digestible chunks
Add scannability for people who don’t need all the details
Guide readers who only need certain information
Improve SEO by displaying content structure
Using headers that help the reader understand how the content is organized makes it more likely they will get the information they seek.
5. Neglecting Pictures on Your Therapy Blog
The pictures and images in your blogs aren’t just for decoration. They help maintain interest in the blog and break up text. Many therapists don’t utilize images in their blogs, and this can impact how much time a reader spends on the page.
Strategic image placement can;
Break up text and make your blog more readable
Demonstrate visually the concepts described in the blog
Make the blog easier to market on social media
Improve the amount of time the reader spends on the blog
Help readers remember what they read
Basically, adding quality visuals helps the reader understand the content better. Which, means that it helps your blog be more helpful.
Don’t forget to optimize images with alt text for accessibility and SEO.
6. Writing a Research Paper/Using Clinical Speak
As therapists, we are all used to writing research papers and clinical notes. Filled with academic style writing and clinical terminology.
Your blog isn’t a term paper or a clinical note. It’s a way to build a connection with and help potential clients.
Pay attention to the words that you use. Instead of using clinical jargon that only other therapists will understand focus on using everyday English to explain these concepts. This doesn’t make you appear unprofessional it makes you approachable and relatable.
Write your blogs using the language you use to explain concepts to your clients when they first come to therapy.
Your job here is to focus on translating your knowledge into understandable words and concepts your ideal client can understand. Share the examples you would use if you were in session with an ideal client.
7. Not Using Your Therapist Blog to the Fullest (Social Media)
So writing your blog is the first step. Often therapists neglect opportunities to get the word out about the helpful resource they have created. As well as using the content they have created in other helpful ways.
You can use each blog to create multiple social media posts across multiple platforms. You can do this by;
Pulling out key quotes and insights
Create visuals with actionable steps
Carousel posts with main points
When you are ready to plan your social media content pull out quotes and shareable tips that you can reuse in multiple ways. Also, consider creating custom images sized for each platform.
8. Posting Whenever on Your Blog
As therapists we’re busy. A lot goes into running a private solo or group practice. And marketing of any kind often becomes last on the list until we need clients.
However inconsistent posting can hurt your standing with Google and engagement from possible clients.
If you are a solo practice you only need so many clients so posting consistently once a month and then once a quarter when you are established can keep the traffic (i.e. clients) coming. As a group practice, a good rule of thumb is at least twice a month or weekly.
Create a schedule that is realistic so that you can maintain it as long as you need to;
Choose the frequency that will meet your needs and that you can maintain
Create an ongoing list of topics as they come to you
Batch social media posts and blogging
Use a scheduler to post automatically
Consistency is more important than how often you post. It’s better to post one quality blog consistently than sporadic posting of content that isn’t valuable.
9. Letting Perfectionism Get in the Way
Blogging can feel vulnerable. We often set ourselves up to high standards thinking our clients won’t want to work with us if we have typos or misspelled words. But these things show that we are human and approachable.
Our perfectionism can get in the way of posting consistently and prevent us from putting out helpful information that could make a difference in a potential client's life.
Once you get the post out you can always update it later if you aren’t happy with it. Getting it done is just the first step.
The information you can give to the people reading your blog whether they turn into clients or not is important and helpful. Your possible clients value your authenticity over perfection. It also models acceptance for those clients when everything isn’t completely perfect.
Also, we are often harder on ourselves and more likely to notice mistakes than someone who’s just reading the article for the first time.
Writing is like many other things in life you can fiddle with it forever trying to make it perfect. Set reasonable standards for yourself and don’t let yourself get stuck. Use Grammarly and spell check and be okay with good enough.
10. Neglecting a Strong Call-To-Action (CTA)
Many therapists assume that your blog's readers understand that your blog's purpose is to bring clients into your practice or help them learn more about you. But your readers won’t know the next step and will leave your site if you don’t give them clear directions.
Every post should include a clear, call to action
Many therapy blogs end without clear direction for readers, missing valuable opportunities to convert readers into clients. Every post should include a clear, relevant call-to-action (CTA) that guides readers on what to do next.
A call to action doesn’t have to ask the reader to schedule a consultation. It can be sending them to your About Me page, directing them to a free resource, or asking them to explore the issue further in another post.
Make sure that your CTA is clear, relevant, and doable. What is the logical next step on their path to becoming your client?
That is your call to action
Conclusion
Many of these mistakes we talked about today are rooted in misunderstanding why we post blogs on our website. There are 3 purposes to our blogs:
Be helpful out loud
Increase visibility through content marketing which improves our SEO
Help our clients get to know us
Keeping all 3 of these in mind when you are writing your blog will help you get the best return on the time investment you put into your blogging.
I have some resources (free and paid) to help you be more successful in blogging. You can find those resources here.
If you like the idea of blogging but would like someone else to do it for you, we offer that too. Click the button below to schedule a free consultation to learn about our done-for-you blogging services to increase your traffic and get more of the right clients into your business.