Josephine (She/Her)
Although online counseling forums are a great source of support and information, sometimes the questions that are asked fill you with fear because you’ve no idea what someone is talking about. Search engine optimization is one of those terms that makes people want to run for the hills.
Either you don’t know what the term means, or you do know what it means, but you’ve no idea what to do about it. And when you want more clients, it can really trigger anxious feelings of not being good enough. Welcome to the Good Enough Counsellors Podcast.
I’m Josephine Hughes and today I’m going to help you with something that sounds really scary. Search engine optimization, or SEO for short.
We’re going to take a look at it from a practical point of view, but also discuss why it isn’t the be all and end all of your private practice marketing. So if you’re someone for whom anything technical sounds really scary. Hang on in there. I know, and I’m with you. We can do this.
Now, I’m going to start the episode with a little bit of a mum boast. And this is that my eldest daughter is a real geek.
And I think when you don’t really understand what someone does, you tend to find something that sounds amazing. In actual fact, it’s probably something that’s really small.
But for me, I just thought this was incredible that at one point she had every website in the world listed on her computer. It was a piece of work she was doing to do with the backbone of the Internet. But actually that probably isn’t very impressive.
But another thing that she used to do is she worked for a company that had robots. And the robots would crawl around company websites to check whether or not their sales were working properly.
So the robots would find a particular online shop and they’d crawl around the shop and they’d test a few things out.
And my daughter said every now and then some parcel would arrive at the company headquarters and it would be something that one of these bots had ordered just to test whether a company website was working properly.
And if you think about it, think about those little bots that are going around the Internet and they’re searching around and they’re seeing if they can make things work, which is what my daughter was working on. Well, search engine optimization is a bit like that.
It’s thinking about there’s all these little robots that are crawling around the Internet and they’re sent out by places like Google because. Because what Google wants to do is it wants to index the whole of the Internet to make it nice and easy for you to find things.
But obviously with thousands and thousands and thousands, well, probably billions of pages on the Internet, they somehow have to sort out what’s the most important thing. How do they go about making sure that what you get is really relevant to your search? So that’s what Google’s doing.
And then on the other side of the equation are people like us who are wanting our clients to be able to find us easily. So what we need to do is we need to optimize our website for those search engines like Google.
We’re going to make our website more easily understandable to robots. And if you think about it, robots aren’t incredibly clever. They’re just programs and they’re very, very simple.
So we have to make things very easy for them on our websites in order for them to understand what we’re doing and what we’re about. So what we’re going to do is I’m going to give you a few tips that will help you with some basic search engine optimization.
But also I think it’s really, really important to bear something else in mind. And we’ll move on to talk about this in a little bit. And that is that SEO isn’t the be all and end all of your marketing.
So if you’re somebody for whom this sounds complete gobbledygook, or you haven’t got a website yet, just hold on, listen to the first section, but also hold on to listen to some more information that I’ve got that will help you even if you aren’t at the stage where you’re engaged in search engine optimization, because there’s other aspects of our marketing that are really important too. So search engine optimization is a really useful thing to put in place on our websites because it helps people to find us easily.
And although I think many of us as therapists are thinking all things will be slowing down for Christmas, what I’d really like to remind you of is that people will be looking for therapy at the moment because Christmas can be a time of high anxiety for people. They may be facing having to go home for Christmas and they don’t really want to.
There might be awkward family dynamics or they seem to be surrounded by people who are enjoying the festive season and for some reason they don’t feel a part of it. It might be due to grief or it may be due to cultural influences.
So there’s lots of reasons why people may not be feeling in a very festive mood at the moment. And I think it’s really important for us to be making ourselves as available to people as possible so that they can find us at this time of year.
And search engine optimization is something that can help you get found online, and it particularly applies to when you have a website.
So what I’m going to do now is I’m going to run through some SEO basics just to help you put things in place and make sure that you’re making the most of the work that you’ve already put in on your website. So let’s have a quick run through of things that you can think about to help those little robots from Google find you more easily.
So the first thing I wanted to talk about is your URL. This is your domain name.
So for example, my domain name is josephinehughes.com and if you haven’t actually chosen your domain name yet, it might be worth thinking about choosing a name that has your name and what you do in it, because that makes it very, very clear. So if I was setting up a new domain for my counselling, I could say Josephine Hughes, counselling.
Having something in your domain name that makes it really clear what you do can help people to find you more easily because people will be looking for those sorts of words. And the other place where your URL works really well. So your URL is the title. So it’s the title of your overall website.
But also each page has a title as well. And when people go to a particular page, if you’ve got a tab open, you can see what people’s pages are.
So I’ve just published a blog post on making your therapy directory profile irresistible, and I’ve made sure that that is in the title. So when the tab is open, you can just hover over it and it’ll say how to make your therapy directory profile irresistible.
And that helps Google when it’s searching.
So if someone was to put in therapy profile or therapist directory profile, it would make it more easy for Google to find because I’ve made it very clear that that’s what the page is about. So think about what you are calling your pages and when you’re building your website, you can make sure that that’s included.
If you’re getting someone else to build your website, really helpful to talk with them about the sorts of keywords that might be really useful for the people who are going to be looking for your therapy service. So let’s talk a little bit about keywords. Keywords are really important and you can have both keywords and key phrases.
So what happens is that websites are ranked. What can help you rank more highly is if you use the keywords that people are searching.
And there’s both commercial keyword searching programs available, plus some free ones as well.
Now, one of the things that I do that can really help me is when I’m doing searches on Google, quite often you can just put a natural language search in, and then if you scroll down the page, you’ll see Google, say, other people search for, and it will list the other searches that people are doing. And that can give you an idea as to what people are looking for and what keywords you can use.
So using the correct keywords, using the best keywords that you can think of that apply to you, and what you’re doing can really help to improve the ranking of your website. When I first started blogging, I made the mistake of doing headings just by bolding them and underlining them.
And then when I spoke to my web designer, she said, hang on a minute, that’s not quite how you do it. And if you look on your website, you can actually set your titles and your subtitles as heading 1, heading 2, heading 3.
And that’s really important to do. Remember what I said about the web crawlers are little robots, they don’t think for themselves.
So you need to make it really obvious to them about what’s important on your website. And you can do this with your headings.
So if you’re blogging, you’d want your main title of your blog to be your heading one, and then the subtitles would be heading two. And that just helps your web crawler know what it is that you’re talking about. And it’ll help your blogs to be more easily findable as well.
And while we’re on the subject of blogs, I’d just like to say that blogs are a great way to improve your ranking and your search engine optimization. Because one of the things that the web crawlers really like is fresh content.
It shows that your website is actually up and running, that you’re using it, that it’s actually current, and it’s more likely to send people to websites that are being updated regularly. And so blogs really do two things. They not only let the web crawlers know that this is a blog that’s active, it’s a website that’s active.
It also lets the web crawlers know that you are dealing with particular areas. So if you’re using keywords that your clients will be searching for, that helps your website to be more likely to be found by them.
So blogs are a really useful way of showing the web crawlers that your website is worth ranking. And the other aspect of that, she adds, is that if you’re very authoritative in terms of what you write about.
So if you really know your stuff, which you do, because you’re a therapist and you’ve spent time learning this stuff, and you’ve got quite a lot of experience and you’ve worked with clients and you do understand what clients need to hear about, you can speak with your authority, with your knowledge, and that helps the web crawlers to know as well that this is a reputable site. Another little quick fix that you can do is if you have pictures, photos, images on your website, is to actually use the alt text function.
So normally with alt text, we’d use that for people who can’t see very well to describe what their picture is or what the image is. But you can also use it as a handy way to improve your SEO. So you describe what’s on the photo, but relate it to whatever it is that’s on the page.
So, for example, you might have a photograph of yourself. So the alt text would be, for example, Josephine Hughes, counsellor working in Southend on Sea in Essex.
Because the location there is also important, having location specific keywords is really helpful. But there you’ve got my name, you’ve got what I do, and you’ve got my location, and you can put that all into the alt text of an image.
And that helps to improve your search engine optimization as well. Now, the other thing that can really help is to have links. And there’s two types of links to think about.
There’s your internal links, so you might, for example, be talking about grief, and you’ve got several blogs that talk about different aspects of grief.
So say you’ve got a section on your website that talks about grief, and then you can provide internal links to the different blogs about different aspects of grief. And that will help to improve your SEO as well. And it’s also really helpful, and this is slightly more difficult, is to get what we call backlinks.
So this is where other people pop your URL into their website. It’s really helpful if you could get a website to quote you to use your blogs. That isn’t always a very easy thing to do.
But if you can get websites to link to you, that really does help you to climb up the website ranking.
One of the ways that you can make this happen is to make sure that you appear in various directories, especially local directories, for example, so you can make sure that you appear in Directories of councillors, also directories of local businesses. That all helps as well. It also helps to be listed on social media too.
So again, if you’re using social media sites such as local Facebook groups, that’s one way of making sure that you get listed on other sites. And also make sure that you include your website in your Facebook page if you’ve got a bio there or on Instagram.
And this is something that I talked about last week in the episode 39 on doing your marketing audit.
So do listen to that if you haven’t heard it already, because there’s quite a few ideas there to help you make sure that you’re getting enlisted in as many places as possible. And just before we move on from talking about SEO, I’m just going to say a couple of other really important things.
When you first set up your website, you do have to submit it to the Google Search console so that it can start indexing you and it asks for your sitemap. So that’s something that you need to do when you set up your website or make sure that your web designer has done that for you.
And then the other thing to talk about is the fact that you need to keep an eye on what’s happening and whether or not your keywords are working and how you rank. So what you can do is you can register with Google Analytics.
And I’ve got quite a lot of information all about this in a therapy growth group training, which is all about SEO.
So if SEO is something that you would like to build on and you need to know more about it, why not think about joining therapy growth group, where I’ve got some information all about it and where I can help you more. So hopefully those few key ideas will help you get started on your search engine optimization.
But really what I’d like you to think about is although SEO is helpful and important, it’s only one piece of the puzzle of your marketing. Now, there’s another aspect that’s really important.
And I think one of the things that really struck me when I was doing some training on marketing, your private practice, was the idea that when we are working with people, we’re building a relationship.
Now, relationships to a certain extent can be built over the computer, they can be built online, but actually there’s nothing like getting out from behind your computer and meeting people face to face. It makes you very much more real to people. And people are much more likely to trust those people they’ve met than people they see online.
And this is why sometimes it can be difficult to market yourself online, because you never know who you’re going to come across online. You don’t know if these people are trustworthy.
And while SEO does help to build up that trustworthiness, especially if you’ve got blogs that demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about, it’s still really difficult for people to trust you. And actually, one of the greatest ways for people to trust you is by word of mouth recommendation.
And I think this is something that we so often overlook when we’re thinking about our marketing, because a lot of us are introverts and we’d much prefer to sit at home behind a laptop than we would to go out and meet strangers. But the fact is that the more visible we can be in our community, the more likely we are to get referrals.
And an example of someone who’s really good at this is Emma Radway Bright.
And if you want to listen to what Emma did, go back in the Good Enough Counsel podcast and listen to episode 19 where Emma talks about how she reached out to people in her community with her coffee habit.
And it’s just a wonderful example of someone who worked on relationships in the long term, and it resulted in her getting very much more visible and well known in her local community, ensuring that she got more referrals. It takes time for people to trust you.
If you’re online, for example, if you’re building a social media profile or you’re building your blogs, it just takes time for you to produce enough that people will begin to trust you.
And when it comes to contacting people online, quite often it’s said as a rule of thumb that you need to have at least seven interactions before people will think about contacting you. And that’s quite a low estimate. Some people say it can be up to 14 interactions before people are prepared to trust you online.
Whereas if someone meets you and they get to know you, it’s just much easier for them to make a referral recommend you. And when you’re just starting out in private practice, you do actually have a network of people who already know, like, and trust you.
And these are your friends, your family, your work colleagues. And I know the objection there is that, well, I can’t see any of those people. But what you’re doing is you’re not expecting to see them.
But what you can do is you can ask them to make referrals to you.
You can let them know what you’re doing and that you’ve finally got set up in your private practice after all these Years of study and practice and placements, and you’re now at this stage where you’ve got set up in private practice.
It’s really exciting and you would love it if anybody knows of anyone who’s looking for counselling at the moment, if they could take your details and pass your details on. That’s one way in which you can get referrals, especially when you’re just starting out.
But there’s lots of other ways that you can get known in your community too. Now, I know that for those of you who feel introvert, the thought of going into a room full of strangers can feel really scary.
So it’s thinking about, you know, what would I feel comfortable doing?
And that might be reaching out initially to other therapists in your area, seeing if there’s anybody locally who’s also a therapist, finding people who perhaps would be interested in having a chat with you, just to find out how their practice is going, how your practice is going, and see if you can set up mutual referrals.
Counsellors are great sources of referrals because they’re always getting inquiries from people they can’t work with because they’re too well known to them, or there’s dual relationships and often they want to pass people on, or it might be that they’re looking for someone with a particular specialism, and that might be your specialism.
So getting to know other counsellors in your local community can be a really great way of increasing your networking, and that could just be by attending some local cpd.
For example, even if you work online, think about people locally, because a lot of recommendations do come by words of mouth, and it’s much easier to recommend someone who you’ve actually met than it is somebody who you’ve just heard about online. One of the questions that often comes up is, how can I get my local GP to recommend me?
And always when this question comes up in Facebook groups, The answer is, GPs aren’t allowed to refer to private practitioners, but you’ll always find someone who also says, I get referrals from my local gp, so how do you make that happen? And often it’s by knowing people, by having connections within your community and just chatting to people and letting them know what you’re doing.
And if you’re somebody who’s sort of thinking, it would be really useful to be able to be getting recommendations, just think to yourself, who do I know who is there in my network who I could talk to? Or is there anyone in my network who might be able to connect Me with someone who works in the health service locally.
And quite often utilizing those word of mouth networks can be a great way for people to get to know you so that they feel more comfortable in recommending you. It’s very difficult to recommend someone who you don’t know, so it’s really helpful for you to make those connections.
And this is why search engine optimization isn’t the be all and end all of marketing. Because for people who make recommendations, they really want to recommend people that they know who are trustworthy.
So have a think about your network. Who do you know? Who could you talk to?
And I know it’s a really scary thing to do to reach out to people, but often a really good way to reach out and talk to people is to say, I’ve set up in a counselling practice and I’d just be really interested to hear. What sort of problems do you come across a doctor? Or what sort of problems do you come across as a teacher?
What issues are going on in the community for you? Is there anything you think I could do to help people? What are the main things that are coming up? What do you think is needed?
And when you put it like that, it’s not that you’re saying, hey, will you recommend me, please? You’re actually engaging in conversation and the feedback could be really, really helpful to you.
So often you could just say, you know, would it be possible for us to have a short conversation? It’ll take about 15 minutes. I just want to find out a bit more about the local community and what’s going on for people.
And one thing might lead to another, and by being there, by showing that you’re interested, that helps to pave the way for people to think. Oh yeah, I met a counselor the other day. They seemed really switched on. I think I could probably recommend them.
So as we reach the end of the episode, I’d just like to do a little recap.
Search engine optimization is a really helpful way of making sure that your website appears higher up in the rankings on Google or any search engine that people are using.
And the way you can make sure that people are finding you is to do things like using effective keywords, effective page titles, using your alt text, writing blogs, using the correct headings and using links. So that’s a very, very brief recap on the SEO section of the podcast.
But it’s also really important to make sure that you’re visible in your local community. Make sure that you’re networking with people, you’re getting to know people. Networking doesn’t have to be a scary thing.
It can just involve talking to one person at a time and I’ve given you some tips about that.
And you may also like to think about what else you could do in your community, such as giving talks or going out to groups and meeting people and just having little chats with people who you meet at various groups. So it doesn’t have to be scary. And it can be something that you just do step by step. I hope you don’t feel too bamboozled by this episode.
If you’re somebody for whom Search Engine Optimization sounds really scary, remember I’ve got some information about it in Therapy Growth Group and I’ve also got help there to help you with all sorts of other ways of marketing yourself.
Now, if you’re interested in joining Therapy Growth Group, I do have a special offer that’s running from the 22nd of November to Monday the 25th of November. So it’s running from Friday the 22nd of November to Monday 25th of November.
Now this is supposed to be a Black Friday deal, but because I’m English I got the wrong date for Black Friday, which is actually happening the week after. So it’s my special November offer. And what it does is it actually offers you a 30% discount on the price of membership if you join for a year.
So normally that would cost you £600, but you get a fantastic discount and it costs 420. So if that’s something that you’re interested in doing, just go along to my website, JosephineHughes.com Therapy Growth Group Offer.
Just press on the button and it will take you through to join up and you can be working with me. We’ve got some great things coming up.
I’ve just confirmed that I’m going to be doing a Vision Board workshop in December with a fellow coach, Jane Gray, and that’s just a fantastic opportunity to think about the year ahead. And before we finish, I’d just like to read this fantastic testimonial that I’ve received from Lisa.
My name is Lisa and I’m an accredited psychotherapist. Before starting work with Josephine, I was feeling quite isolated and lonely with a lack of direction to how I wanted to build my practice.
Since then I have built up a network of other therapists and by joining in the different calls each week I’ve learned a wealth of information, rebranded my practice and rewrote my profile. More importantly, I’ve built friendships along the way. It has been an eye opening year and long may it continue. This past year.
I’ve now got a full private practice. I love what I do. I’ve got a group of people to motivate me when I’m struggling and I have Josephine who is like a guiding light.
Whatever the issue, my biggest fear was that other therapists would laugh at my questions. But being part of the Therapy Growth Group, there is never such thing as a silly question.
There’s no competition, just we’re all there to support and encourage each other. If you’re on the fence about joining, just do it. It will be one of the best decisions you make. Thank you Lisa so much for that lovely testimonial.
I hope that you would like to come and be part of Therapy Growth Group as well. There’s a big welcome for you if you’d like to join and I do my utmost to support you in the group.
So thanks so much for listening to this episode and enjoy getting out there, meeting up with people, making the most of all your resources. Remember episode 39. Last week’s episode has some great ideas for helping you audit your marketing at the moment. I hope this episode has been helpful.
Remember, just take it step by step. Even search engine optimization doesn’t have to be too tricky if you break it down and just try one thing at a time.
And I hope this episode has helped you to feel more confident to do so. Thanks for listening.
Do come and join my Facebook community, Good Enough Counsellors, and for more information about how I can help you develop your private practice, please visit my website, JosephineHughes.com. If you found this episode helpful, I’d love it if you could share it with a fellow therapist or leave a review on your podcast app. And in closing, I’d love to remind you that every single step you make gets you closer to your dream. I really believe you can do it.