Got A Goal To Grow Your Practice This Year? Let's Get Real.

I want to get real with you. Because I want you to succeed.

This is the year to embrace your role as an entrepreneur and grow your business into a unique and profitable machine.

That means looking at your business in a totally new way.

Are you ready?

Here’s an area you need to prioritize: Write killer copy for your website that doesn't blend into what everyone else has on their websites.

Most therapists write website copy that does a mediocre job of converting visitors into clients. If you improve your conversion rate even just a tiny bit, it will make a big difference in filling your practice. When you turn more visitors into clients, you increase your income substantially, even before you increase traffic to your site.

We’ll start with your About page. It’s probably the hardest page on your site to write, and it’s one of the very most important.

Next week I’ll share my new free training on how to create a better About page. I’ll provide step-by-step instructions on how to write and edit your About page in a way that helps your right-fit clients decide to hire you. 

How To Write (Ridiculously Effective) Pages For Your Therapy Website, Part 2

In my last post I went through the first 2 keys to writing ridiculously effective pages for your website. Let’s tackle 4 more. First, here's the whole list. 

1. Identify your Superpowers
2. Find your authentic writing style
3. Write to a person (or a small group of people)
4. Identify their pain
5. Identify their hope
6. Express what you believe about therapy
7. Make each page simple
8. Use headlines, not greetings
9. Give a clear call to action
10. Create a logical structure for your site
11. Edit out any professional jargon

Now I’ll focus on the keys 3 through 6.

Write to a person (or a small group of people)

You’re trying to speak to everyone and you have to cut it out. When you write to everyone, you reach no one.

You invite an entire imaginary committee into your head as you write your website. You’ve got past clients, current clients, imaginary future clients, colleagues, mentors, family, friends, and even frenemies, all in your head, voicing their opinions about everything you write. You’re trying to please all of them and offend none of them.

You’ve got to write to a person or a very small group of people every time you write, and you’ve got to be willing NOT to please everyone else.

It’s ok if some of your friends or family members read your site and say “this site would really put me off.”

When my mother looked at my therapy site with its mention of “cutting edge therapy,” she said it would scare her away. That’s ok! She is different from my right-fit client. My center works with couples in the Bay Area who insist on the cutting edge for just about everything in their lives. My mom lives in a small town in Wisconsin, and she’d be looking for a different therapist.

Please ask your committee to leave your head. Instead, try writing to just one person or a very small group. In my Superpower program I take you through an in depth process called “the right-fit client exercise” to identify exactly who you need to be speaking to and how to speak their language. In that process, you choose actual people to design your business around and write your web copy for.

You may worry that you risk limiting yourself and excluding important potential clients if you get too specific.

That’s not likely. You are at risk though: for standing out. (See what I did there?)

Once you’ve figured out exactly who you’re writing to, and you’ve kicked everyone less helpful out of your head, you can try the next keys.

Identify their pain

Your right-fit client is asking: Does this therapist understand what I’m struggling with?

Write down what your right-fit client is struggling with. Don’t name every problem you can think of. Choose the things they are most distressed about when they choose to call you.

Describe that struggle in the words the client would use.

Let’s imagine a client named Becca. She’s in the middle of a break up and she’s in a depressive episode for the first time in her life. She’s feeling alone and hopeless.

Becca looks at 2 websites.

Website A names depression among a long list of other issues and then focuses on the methods the therapist uses.  Becca may keep searching and plan to come back later.

Website B talks about about what depression feels like and gets it right. Becca may go ahead and take the next step to make an appointment.

Take some time to sit with and write about the pain your right-fit client experiences when they are getting ready to make their first appointment with you. Use the words they would be likely to use.

Identify their hope

What’s on the other side of therapy? If the pain you’ve described is the before, what’s the after?

We’ll use Becca and her depression as our example again. If she’s struggling with depression now, what’s the hope? It’s not just a lack of depression.

Maybe she hopes to feel alive again. Maybe she hopes to enjoy the simple moments of life that feel flat for her right now. Maybe she hopes to find motivation to get important things done.

Think about the people you’ve helped work through their pain and come out the other side.  Write about the relief your work brought them.

Never oversell or guarantee results. Describe what is likely and possible.

Express what you believe about therapy

You’ve got strong opinions about therapy. You’ve got stuff to say about why therapy works and how your clients get better. Grab your laptop and write about one of those beliefs. This doesn’t have to be ground-breaking, and you don’t have to be the only person who holds this belief. Brene Brown wasn’t the first person who thought vulnerability was an important aspect of mental health. (Not that you have to be as compelling as Brene Brown. You really don’t.)

Make it simple and focus on one belief or opinion rather than several.

For example, perhaps you believe that one key to recovering from depression and awakening health is to speak one’s truth. In therapy, you give a lot of attention to helping your clients find and speak their truth. Name that.

I’m not done! Next time I’ll cover the final keys. If you ignore the last 5 keys, your copy might be pretty terrible. That’s not a scare tactic. I’m telling you because I love you and I want you to reach the clients who need you.

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10 Tips To Get Motivated To Write

You know writing is important to building your therapy practice. You need to write and rewrite your website copy so that it speaks directly to your ideal clients and helps them understand how you can help. Writing articles can help establish your expert status, improve your search engine optimization, and most importantly let your potential clients understand how you think and how you are different from other therapists.

It’s hard to get motivated to write, even if you like writing. As I sit here right now, I’m aware of how much I felt pulled to procrastinate a few minutes ago. I wanted to take out the recycling, check my email, look at the blogs I like to read, maybe even start my taxes. One of the hardest things about writing is getting started. In fact I’m feeling better already now that I’ve started. 

I’m going to share what has worked for a lot of therapists I’ve worked with. As you look through these tips, notice that some of them are mutually exclusive. That’s because different tactics work for different writers. Many of these tips pretty much work for every therapist. 

Create a deadline.

Many of us need to create somewhat arbitrary deadlines. Maybe this comes from our school training. When your writing will be “due,” you do what it takes to get it done. I have a weekly deadline. With few exceptions, I publish a blog post (one for each business actually) every week.

Write at a particular time every week.

When you have a routine, there’s less planning to do. You get into a habit or writing at that particular time and you don’t schedule anything else that could tempt you away from the task. You also don’t have to worry about writing at any other time

Keep a list of possible topics or titles.

If you have to come up with things to write about, start storing them up. Keep a list somewhere handy, probably on your phone, so that you can write down topics as they occur to you. I recently pulled over my car and parked for a minute because an idea had struck me.

Write nonsense to warm up.

If you’re ready to start but nothing is coming out, get your mind and fingers working by free-associating for a few minutes. You can toss that writing later.

Have an accountability group or partner or coach.

You’re not alone in your struggle to write. When you are accountable to someone, you know you’re going to have to report what you’ve done or haven’t done. You can also lean on the support of that group or person. When you think your ideas are stupid or that no one cares what you have to say, your accountability person or people can remind you of the value of your writing.

Have a writing spot.

I’ve got a spot. Right here in my kitchen. One of my colleagues has a beautiful spot where she lights a candle before she starts writing. I rarely sit in my spot when I’m not writing, so I transition into writing as I set up there. If you choose to have a dedicated writing spot, make sure there are fewer distractions there, such as bills to pay or piles of paper to sort.

Write at a café. 

Maybe you need to get out of your house to write. Perhaps treating yourself to a cup of something is motivation to write. If you choose this option, I suggest not leaving until you’ve done a significant chunk of writing.

Write to the right people.

You might get self-conscious and find it’s difficult to get the words out because your inner critic is too harsh. You’re writing as a therapist, so you’re only writing to your ideal potential clients, the people who need your help the most. Think about those people and the pain they are in or the hope they have to feel better. Block out everyone else

Remember that it’s really no big deal.

Do you fear that your writing is not clever enough, or that you’re going to say something that’s been said before? It really is no big deal. You do not need to create new or earth shattering ideas every time you write. You only have to be honest, share your voice, your message, and some information you think will be helpful.

Don’t try to perfect your writing.

If you’re writing copy for your website, you can go in and edit any time. If you’re writing blog articles, don’t spend too much time making them perfect. Once your post is good enough, your time will be better spent on the other marketing activities in your marketing plan.

Writing is just one part of a good practice building strategy. Is it time to create a great strategy that fits your strengths? Is it time to build your practice in a big way? Apply for a free consultation now. I’ve got group and individual programs to help you meet and perhaps surpass your goals.