Lisa
I'm setting up a private psychotherapy practice. I've been building my website on and off for the past year or so whilst I'm training. I've used Astra on WordPress. I'm a complete and utter novice re website design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and just getting to grips with building the website alone has been challenging but I think I've done okay! I have enjoyed learning about WP and being in control of the process (it's not completely finished). I bought a book on SEO called ‘How to get to the top of google' by Tim Cameron-Kitchen. I've no idea if it's any good. What I'm wondering is, what would your advice be to somebody who wants to do SEO themselves from scratch? I'm thinking I'd like to get the website & SEO to a point where I feel I can't do anymore and then maybe pay a professional to review what I've done and improve. Any advice is well-received. TIA. 😊
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14 👍🏽1 💟15 19 💬🗨
Content, content, content! Focus on portraying your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness through your content. It sounds like your niche could be considered Your Money Your Life website, so Google will hold you to a higher standard because the contents of your site could affect someone's life or wellbeing. Also, really focus on keyword research before you being writing. Having a plan of what phrases you want to rank for before you start writing will help you. With planning and great writing, you can win visibility even when the competitors are stiff.
Ashturk
Focus on your content be focused on one topic at the time, and give it all the research and info you got, be an expert on your topic and reflect that on all your platforms
Also think about how to increase the trust, show your credentials, and your employees credential. Never publish bad quality content or fake reviews. Make sure u get real reviews on every job u do
Yes, and to add to what Ash said, each blog post should answer one question.
Mike 🎩
I've done quite a bit of work in the mental health sector. I'm not taking on any new local SEO clients right now, but as long as you are not in the DC/MD/VA area, I would be happy to chat and make sure you are heading in the right direction.
Mew 👑🎩
Hey Lisa,
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an all-in type of career. Similar to psychotherapy, if someone here wanted to become a therapist, we probably couldn't pick up a book and flesh it out on our own in less than a few years with adequate practice, hundreds of hours of reading, and of course implementation.
With that said, focus on getting content on your page and connecting with your audience. Imagine you were in their shoes looking for your services and write from that perspective to connect with them emotionally. Discuss how you will help them solve their problems, and give them your roadmap and proven results.
In addition, if you're a local service, get a Google My Business up ASAP and start soliciting reviews from past or present clients. This will serve as a conduit for "rank attribution". In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), we see that companies with the best reviews, that address their client's concerns get to the top as long as they have the basic conventions of SEO on the website its self.
Without years of reading and practicing SEO, the smaller details matter less, as you may not have the time to invest in learning the micro techniques involved in our practice, but from a macro-scale, all you need to remember is three things: Authority, Trustworthiness, and User End Solutions!
Good luck, and feel free to ask as many questions as you need to in-group – we are all here to help 🙂
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Kathy
Lisa, Schieler just gave you the best advice you could ever hope to receive. And in case you missed the most important, stop thinking about "doing" Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Let it evolve naturally on its own as you provide stellar content and a stellar service for your clients.
Think of it this way. If you had someone call you who would be interested in family therapy, you would switch up the conversation to talk about their family problem and need.
If someone called because they were depressed, the conversation would take another turn.
For every conversation you engage in for every inquiry you get, create a separate page for it in your website. And there speak to them on that page as if they were sitting in front of you exactly as Schieler suggests. You will naturally weave keywords in so don't even concern yourself with that. Google will figure it out. Then continue to write articles that connect with your audience's pain and demonstrate that you are an authority and that you care. As your readers/clients begin to appreciate your worth, so will Google.
Final thought: I ditto what Schieler said about your GMB too!
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Lee
Facebook has a ton of SEO groups. Great places to post questions and just read what the those who work in the field talk about. It will give you cookie crumbs to follow for more research. So much to learn and eventually you will hit a wall on what you can do yourself unless you want to devote yourself to becoming an SEO expert.
The great thing about doing SEO yourself when first starting is when you decide to hire someone you can have a better insight on to what's going on and if they are doing what they should be doing. Also the problem I have found with hiring my SEO work out if the SEO not understanding my niche. If they suggest keywords that I know are not money makers I tell them nope. It's also helpful to understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so if lazy SEO users try and use black hat tactics that will eventually tank your site and Google My Business (GMB).
Also find an SEO you like and follow their You Tube channel. Ton of Good videos on SEO basics.
Buth
SEO is the part of marketing. Who is your client? Where does it live? What does it do? Which pain does it have? Focus on your clients. There are many people who doesn't even know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) drive more traffic than "professionaly optimized sites".
How can you atract people? Content.
How can you help search engines? Internal linking.
Do you need linkbuilding? No, you don't need that. If you create a great content, people will share it (and they will steal it).
Lisa ✍️
I'm just in taking in what everyone has posted here! Need to re-read, digest and then respond properly lol. Just wanted to quickly say a big thanks to you all for taking the time to reply to me though. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Umair
Hey Lisa, let me share few tips for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
1. first you should research on your niche. check your niche/main focus keyword/topic volume and check that topic trend in google.
2.check what sites are ranking and if high DA sites are ranking then you get high competition.
3. do keyword research around your topic.
4. most important thing in SEO is content. write unique and simple content and cover everything about topic and do optimization.
5. in last create backlinks.
for these steps you can take help from YouTube in detail. thanks
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Daniel
Let me give you a few pointers in general. Know that there is two kinds at least of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You have on site SEO and off-site SEO. You then have local SEO and national or international SEO.
On site SEO is the easier of the two. "Off/on" Aside from schema markup and tech SEO on site SEO is all really about logic. If you ever went to University it's really simple, each page needs to resemble a college essay. The same congruency and synergy of content and the same way you would lay it out on an essay is the same way you build a page, and more but it's a general point.
Off site SEO has infinitely more possibilities and should be looked at as an ongoing never-ending business expense. So once your initial on site optimization is done that which will further drive on site development will always have to do with something you're trying to do off-site. Usually anyways.
Lastly I highly recommend if you want to immediately set yourself apart from a lot of SEO users that you study in depth schema markup and how one strategically uses the technology. I can tell you it's more powerful than even backlinks are because the relevance Factor is through the roof and will therefore drive a lot of interested relevant traffic that will set off a lot of you User Experience (UX) factors for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). So while in bulk backlinks will be more powerful one backlink compared to one position zero well there's no comparison.
So there's quite a few terms, concepts, and a very stripped down general look at what SEO is all about. It just all starts getting more and more granularly segmented from here.
Yogita
Try writing interesting meta description and tittle tag – lines which have max 2-3 keywords and are interesting . Keeping in mind the number of characters .
Kirsten Patricio 🎓
I can tell you right now that it's easier to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) than the codes of the DSM-V lmao actually, I'd say SEO is easier than clinical psychology.
I once helped out a psychologist based in Virginia that had a YouTube channel and wanted to offer a specific and experimental type of treatment. I happen to have a clinical psychology degree so we both sat down and looked at his website in a clinician's perspective and also from a perspective of what we have heard from his former clients, feedback from present clients and questions from potential clients. We also wanted the website delivered in a way that is understandable and would cater to the 18-29 age group, as he is near Virginia Tech, without losing the professional flair that would make it legit. I have left that project now but definitely learned from it.
There are many things that people seem to be looking for in a therapist: their availability online, reputation, certification/license, the insurance they take/affordability and what kind of mental health issues they cater to – the seemingly most searched for being (in general) depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and developmental disorders. Therapy techniques are also highly searched for like CBT, psychotherapy and couples counseling.
Reviews are incredibly important so getting a GMB is absolutely necessary not only for reviews, but also for helping your clients locate your office or call your office to ask for directions, especially if you offer face-to-face counseling. You should also specify if you offer online counseling.
I think your website will definitely benefit on having content catered specifically to what you specialize in. Depending on location, it might happen that your clientele might be Millennials and Gen Zs and they seek information in a scale. They want to know as much as they can before they give you a call. They want to know how well you have treated your former patients and clients.
They also want to know the process – what to do before an appointment, a sort of confirmation that they are not "crazy" and if therapy is best for them – this is best explained through an FAQ page. Transparency at how much your services would cost per hour would definitely help in their decision making process.
If you can write a 10 page psychological evaluation – you can write content for 10 pages. It is challenging but it is rewarding. While you can definitely hire someone to do your SEO, knowing how to do it yourself definitely would be an advantage.
Best of luck to your private practice and if you feel stuck on something, you have a group of 50k SEO users willing to help! 🙂
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