If you are a therapist who is blogging for your business, you are likely ahead of your peers who are not. 
There’s really nothing else that equals the speed and breadth of blogging when it comes to building your reputation as a mental health professional. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t polish up the blogging that you are already doing . . . .
I’m gearing up to teach another 4-week series of BlogStart for Therapists next month and thought I might share some of the common mistakes all bloggers make when first starting out.
- Calling the articles on your blog “blogs.” (My personal pet peeve.) They aren’t “blogs.” They are “posts.”
- Not adding images to your posts. Research shows that adding appropriate images to each post increases the number of folks who stop by to read your blog, increases the length of time they hang out there, and increases how often your posts get shared online.
- Only linking to your own posts. Internal linking is a really smart thing to do but so is external linking i.e. linking to sites other than your own.
- Failing to tag and categorize your posts. Tags and categories make your site more user-friendly by allowing readers (and search engines) to search more easily for the precise information they are looking for.
- Not inviting other bloggers in to guest post on your blog. By hosting other bloggers on your website, you are give the appearance of being generous, confident, and collaborative as well as being able to share a greater depth of information and perspectives with your readers.
- Preventing readers from commenting. No one want you to simply push information out there to them. They want to engage, be seen, and be heard.
- Ignoring the comments you receive. Blogging for business is about building relationships. If your readers are talking to you, it’s rude to not talk back.
- Not commenting on other bloggers’ blogs. This is the equivalent of hanging out your tiny shingle on a busy road (without any other effort on your part) and expecting the masses of clients to find and choose you. It’s not going to happen. Commenting on other blogs is how you build your visibility, how you build your online community, and how you get seen.
- Waiting for the perfect . . . [You fill in the blank.] I’ve mentioned before that perfect is the enemy of good enough. Waiting for the perfect time to blog, the perfect title, the perfect content, etc. is just fear in disguise. Just do it. If it’s not good enough, it will get better (and quicker) as you do it more often.
- Publishing too often. There’s no need to publish a new post every day. You’ll just overwhelm your audience. If you are brand new to blogging, aim initially for once / month. Then, as you are able, increase the frequency to twice / month. For an optimum balance (between being remembered and being forgotten), aim for once or twice weekly.
- Copying content, images, video, or podcasts onto your blog. The same copy right laws apply online as they do in print. If you didn’t create it, you don’t own it and you do not have permission to use it . . . Unless you obtain (written) permission to do so. Bottom line is, if you don’t own it, you need to ask permission to use it.
- Being too general in your focus. No one will follow your blog if you are writing a great generalist’s psychotherapy blog. Not one of your colleagues has ever asked for a recommendation for a generalist’s blog. Instead, they are asking for a great blog on suicide or psychodrama or surrogacy.
- Making it difficult (or nearly impossible!) for your readers to share your posts elsewhere. There are a lot of plugins for blogs that allow your readers to Tweet your posts, share them on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google +, and pin them on Pinterest. Do your homework. Find a plugin for sharing and encourage your readers to use it.
- Using too many words (and not enough white space). We read differently online than we read in print. If your posts are too long and the breaks in your text are too infrequent, your readers will drop by briefly and move on rather than think of your site as a destination to hang out in.
- Outsourcing your content. Yes, I know I’ve talked with you about my fabulous Virtual Assistant, Mindy, but this is different. Outsourcing your blog content is like outsourcing your relationship with your family. Having someone else take care of their physical and emotional needs is certainly dangerous to your blog (and your business) and might well be fatal. You are responsible for your relationships . . . with your family, with your clients, and with your readers. If you aren’t interested in (or up for) the job, then don’t do it.
Care to share the mistakes you’ve made as a new blogger? Or whatever advice you might have for those who are interested in learning to blog?
Do you want to improve the quality of the blogs you are already reading? Share this post now so that other therapists can learn how to do it better.
(And, if you are interested in learning how to blog effectively to get seen, get known, and get clients while hanging out in your pajamas, you can sign up for BlogStart for Therapists right now! We start our next round on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. Would love to have you join me!)
I have read a lot of tips about blogging and that if you have a private practice you should be blogging. But not one ever mentions that you also have to know how to write. I have been trying to blog, however I don’t feel my writing skills are up to par and it makes writing blog posts excruciating for me. Will this get easier???
Hi, Jennifer! Welcome to Private Practice from the Inside Out! I love that you are starting to blog. It’s by far the quickest way to get seen, get known, get liked, and get trusted . . . All of which is necessary before that phone call from a desperate client ever gets made to you. BUT, there are LOTS of great ways to build a private practice. Blogging can be a great shortcut in that marketing cycle but I won’t go so far as to say you “should” be blogging because there are always exceptions. If you happen to be the therapist who has no use of her hands OR you are the therapist with Dyslexia that scrambles your letter beyond recognition OR you have as many clients as you already want OR are willing to get seen, get known, get liked, and get trusted in other ways to get that phone to ring and to get that client in the office . . . ALL of those are great reasons to st least consider the return on your investment (ROI) of blogging.
However, Jennifer, you are new to blogging, I think, and have only 4 posts under your belt. Yes, I have dropped in just now to your website to see what you’re up to. If I had found that your writing skills were insufficient, I would have dropped you a note back channel and, in private, have said so. On the contrary, your writing is just fine. Consider that it may be your confidence in your writing skills that is suffering more than not being able to write well. And, yes, it can get easier for you. There are lots of tricks to make blogging less painful, more effective, and even pleasurable. ( I didn’t have a clue what to say in the beginning – don’t laugh – and certainly didn’t find it fun. And, now . . . You can’t shut me up!)
If you are going to pursue blogging for the next year, consider hiring a blogging coach or taking a class for beginning bloggers. You’ll learn tips and tricks and shorcuts, too, to help you smooth out the bumps. And, of course, if you’re learning with others who are also beginning bloggers, you’ll also find support and resources from them, too – at least that’s how it works with BlogStart for Therapists. (And, yes, if you prefer to learn 1:1, I’m happy to work with you that way, too.)
The bottom line is that you’ve still got your training wheels on and I would expect blogging to be a bit bumpy. Invest in the guidance you need – with me or elsewhere – so that you’ll know what you are doing, feel more confident in doing it, and reap faster results. And, when those new clients are calling you every week, I’m betting that little 30 minute chunk of time that you spend crafting a blog post won’t phase you at all!
Can anyone else whose blogging speak to Jennifer’s question?
Thank you for the reply, feedback and advise! I will look into getting help and support from other new bloggers.
Jennifer, that’s a great attitude! Feel free to drop back in here to get your support. Feel free to leave your questions about blogging here. You’ll find lots of folks able to guide you on your journey!
As ever, great and relevant content, Tamara!
Question: Can you expand on why to link externally in your blog. I am a huge believer in this and was recently on a “blogging for therapists” training call and the expert said the exact opposite.
Their rational…you want to keep your potential client on YOUR website and not follow the virtual bread crumb trail away from your site. I’ve always been an external linker — my rational…I cannot claim credit for everything on my blog. My posts often are a reflection of what is happening globally, in the media, spurred by other relationship experts and research, etc…when I externally link, it connects me to others and, I think, broadens the conversation.
Although I’m not an SEO guru…I believe that external links can help my website’s rankings as well.
As a side note…when I externally link, I always ensure that I select the option for a new window to open so the viewer does not have to back-button-back-button-back-button to find me again.
Thanks T!
Hi, Jenny! It’s always a treat to have you here and I absolutely speak to this. However, it’s something that I have to address all the time so I hope you don’t mind that I take this to the front of my blog in a new blog post. I’ll try to get this up in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for the question!
Glad the question is worth of a post on its own! I will look forward to reading it. 🙂
Hi Tamara – Yes, thanks for the always relevant content! I was happy to see that I am not too “guilty” given this list. For me, the most difficult parts have been keeping enough white space in my posts, and continuing to define my niche, and therefore my content. The SEO part continues to be sort of a challenge too. It’s hard to know if I am doing a good job at it or not.
Thanks again,
Amy
Hi, Amy! Thanks for dropping in this morning! Optimizing your website for the search engines to find isn’t really the big mystery that some would folks would have you believe. Let’s start with . . . what are the S.M.A.R.T. goals that you have for your website?
HI Tamara:
I know we talked about this in the class, but I still struggle with even knowing what I should be aiming for. My ultimate goal is to get my ideal clients in the door. My ideal client is: a creative, smart, young woman who despite her strengths and talents in some areas of her life, tends to people please, bottle her feelings, and get into the wrong relationships. My goal is to help her with self-care (often through creative and mindful techniques), putting her needs first, managing her emotions more effectively, and looking at what she really wants and needs from her relationships with everyone. Does that mean I need more comments? Does that mean I need more FB likes, more shares on Pinterest? I have no idea! How do I know?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Amy
Nope and nope, Amy. The marketing cycle goes like this . . . . KNOW –> LIKE –> TRUST –> CALL –> BOOK APPOINTMENT –> INITIAL APPOINTMENT –> REPEAT APPOINTMENTS. So, you have to determine where the earliest point is that you are getting tripped up.
So, I work this pipeline in reverse.
– Once I get clients, are they coming back? If not, are most of the clients I talk to showing up for their an initial appointment?
– Are most potential clients I talk to booking an initial appointment?
– Is my phone ringing enough?
– Do potential clients and referral sources trust me?
– Am I liked enough for potential clients to even consider me as a resource?
– Do enough people even know who I am and what services I offer?
Those are the questions I ask myself every time I am offering something new. Those answers inform the choices I make about my marketing, in general – on and off line.
Amy, I suggest that you consider what your goal is for your website. It’s not realistic to expect your website alone to get your ideal clients in the door. It is more realistic to use your website to get seen, get known, and, to a lesser extent, get liked and get trusted. If you are finding that your website isn’t getting those ideal clients to show up and make repeated appointments with you, you may have set yourself up with the wrong expectations.
Yet another great post – Thank-you Tamara – I really appreciate and enjoy reading your blog (Just Kidding) and the interaction/comments from others..I really meant reading your post. “Best Regards”
Dr. Neal! You are cracking me up – and I’m not kidding!
Hi Tamara,
I would say that I have been aware of most of these mistakes and have tried to avoid as many as possible. I’ve been blogging for four years and have found a pretty good rhythm for myself. A “recovering perfectionist”, I can relate to #9. I sometimes fear that if I don’t write the “right” thing or even if I write something somewhat provocative or controversial, that I might stir up the pot. But that’s sometimes what is what gets you noticed! So that also involves knowing and embracing who I am and what I have to offer that is unique (just like in your blog post earlier this week) and being confident in putting it out there.
Thanks for this reminder, Tamara 🙂
Oooooh, Kate! I love your honesty . . . Not just in talking about your fear hear but in your own consistent transparency on your blog and elsewhere online! You may be afraid but still you persist in being so transparent . . . so real! And, that transparency is like glue for attracting (and keeping) clients. And, those provocative blog posts are magnets for getting shared, read, commented on and, in general, hitting home runs. Yeah . . . sometimes they make me nervous, too . . . to write and publish them or just to comment on them.
So . . . I’ll just remind you (the way that I sometimes have to remind myself) . . . what’s the goal for your blogging? Are you trying to touch / change lives? Are you trying to attract more clients? Are you trying to tell the truth as you know it? Or, are you trying to feed your ego by appearing perfect (as if any of us ever could be perfect)? If it’s not the latter, then that uniqueness / quirkiness / or whatever you call it that each one of us has . . . . That really is the gold in marketing a practice and in practicing our craft of counseling, social work, psychology or whatever.
Thanks Tamara — some really good questions for me to ponder!
I have one more question for you — I love when people comment on my blog. However, I have noticed that if I leave comments ‘open’, then I get hit with lots and lots of spam. I have since ‘closed’ comments after two weeks as that initial period seems to be when most ‘real’ people would comment and the spammers come after a few weeks. Any thoughts or strategies to how you’ve been able to leave your comments ‘open’ so that you can interact with folks on your blog and not get bombarded with spam every day? Thanks!
Kate, I went to your site twice this week and got really frustrated that I couldn’t leave a comment for you so I’m glad that you’re trying to figure this out.
WordPress has some pretty good spam-catching plugins but I can’t remember and can’t tell which plugin I use to catch spam but my favorite geek Michelle Panulla will know. I’ll ask her and let you know. However, even though I have that in place, I do get a little spam every day and occasionally get massive amounts of spam (like this week when it’s driving me crazy).
As you know, it looks terrible for spam to slip through and get published on your comments so I’m pretty heavy-handed in monitoring for it. If I can’t tell if a comment is legit, I look back to the email address / URL the commenter provided. And, if I still can’t tell, I trash the comment rather than post it – another reason why folks who comment should leave thoughtful comments that add to the conversations rather than just a quick “Atta-girl.” (Those of you who have attended BlogStart for Therapists already know that it’s rude to leave that type of comment anyway.)
When I do get bombarded by spam, I do have to spend more time sifting through the junk to find the real comments to publish. You know, Kate, there is a setting in the dashboard of your blog that allows you to automatically publish blogs from an email address once you have approved a comment from that same address before. That may be one way to cut down on your time spent sifting through the spam. I don’t use that setting (but that’s because I tend to be controlling when it comes to my blog).
Another option is to hire someone to monitor your comments for you. You could train a high schooler to do that type of work and pay them by the comment:) or a detail-focused Virtual Assistant.
Mistakes I made as a beginner, and sometimes still,
1.nit starting an email list until now and I’ve been logging for five years, so when I moved my website I didn’t know who to tell! In the beginning I didn’t know to use an email service, later it was,” that’s not for me, I’m just a little blog” Mig Mistake
# 9 is a boggy for me I have many posts started and not finished bc I didn’t think they were good enough
Also I’m fairly sporadic I will write consistent for. Time and then get busy w life and forget about it.
Oh, yes! We talk about ways to keep this from happening, Jill, in BlogStart for Therapists. It’s always important to under commit and over deliver . . . .
I wish you had blogstart for therapists then! But you live and learn, although there was something simpler about the simple blogger.com setup before I got a big girl wordpress site 🙂 I’m beginning to think though it matters less about the platform and more about the content. Btw I just read how many typos in my previous post ( I’ll blame autocorrect) and it drove my perfectionism nuts
Jill, the reason WordPress sites ROCK is that WP does several things in the design phase that actually make them more search engine friendly. And, when you combine that with some of the awesome-but-free plugins that further optimize the sites and other that are phenomenal spam-catchers, I absolutely don’t think that all platforms are equal. I wouldn’t trade my WP themes for anything (other than another WP theme – which is exactly what I’m in the process of doing!).
I really do like wordpress. I attempted to change my theme to another on (tried several actually) and decided I was trying to make it look like my old one so I ended up going back to the original one I had bc it’s just more user friendly, that and I need to pay someone to fix the new one and I’m not in the position to do that right now so it was lesson learned for me.
Tamara, You continue to be such a resource for all us! I love how you address fear around waiting for that perfect blog. Your blogging is and will always be an inspiration to many. I VERY much appreciate you willingness to share you experience and expertize with us.
Hi, Jocelyn! Thank you so much for your kind words!
Guess what? I was at a meeting for Mental Health First Aid this week and sat next to one of your protegees who was singing your praises! Looks like you’ve got your own fan club brewing in town! 🙂
Such a helpful post Tamara! I will definitely read it again before I write another post.
My goal after reading it is to work on my tags and categories. Thank you!
Hi, Marta! It’s such a nice surprise to find you here! And, I love that you’ve made a public commitment to work on your tags and categories on your blog. Both your readers and the search engines will love you for that!
Hi Tamara!
Thank you so much for this very useful and helpful post. You answered all of my questions yet I now have one more to add as I was reading through. I have a sign up for anyone who would like to get my posts to their in-box and I also share them online via FaceBook from my business page and also on Instagram [I post the image I use in the post then give a quick one to three sentence description or quote from the post to hopefully get people to take the steps to go to my website. Is there a “best” time of day to be sharing my weekly posts? I typically do it around 5pm on Mondays as I’ve heard that 2pm and on is when most people are on FB.
Thank you so much for being a great resource and support to all of us in the private practice world!
Lily
Hi, Lily! Welcome to Private Practice from the Inside Out! I do love having the voice of sex therapists here in our community! The short answer is “no.” Every website is different. While there are trends, every website’s audience is unique. A really good way to take the pulse on the visits to your own website is to set up Google Analytics. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to do that. It’s easy and it’s free.
If you aren’t getting enough visitors to your site, you may want to sign up for BlogStart for Therapists (my beginning blogger series) or join my advanced blogging class that will launch around the end of the year. Both classes will address how to get people to your website. The latter will, of course, be much more in depth.
I hope you’ll be back to join the conversations here often, Lily. We have over 11,000 mental health professionals that drop in each month to chat, share resources, find information, and support each other other on their journeys to building their ideal practices!
Your website, by the way, is lovely!
Thanks Tamara!
One last question: since you were able to look at my website, what did you think about the blogs? You stated that my website was “lovely” [reading that put a huge grin on my face!], can you tell me what solicited that compliment? It’s nice to get feedback from professionals in the field!
I hope to join one of your groups soon. I’m doing my dissertation with a deadline of January 15th so life is somewhat on hold until after I present. I’ll keep checking back for info!
Again, so much gratitude!
Lily A. Zehner, MA
Do you mean your blog “posts”? (Reference #1 in this blog post) I only saw one blog on your site and (sheepishly) didn’t take time to read your individual posts. What I liked was your landing page, the organization of your site, and the content on your resource page.
If I were going to change anything it would be to increase the size of the images on your blog. They are too small for the amount of text that you are using and too small for the size of your theme. Images are great to attract readers and to keep readers on your website. These are some of the things that we talk about in BlogStart for Therapists.
Good luck with your dissertation! I know you have more than enough on your plate with that! Looking forward to networking with you here and to working with you in the future! Thanks for dropping in today, Lily!
Thanks again Tamara!
Gosh darn it, yes I mean my posts [I’m working on using that in place of “blog”] 🙂 I’m not sure why it only showed one post, I currently have 12. I’ll look into increasing size for the images, the size I’ve used is what I was instructed to use to ensure it would fit.
I look forward to learning more and connecting with you as well!
Warmly!
Lily A. Zehner
LOL, I am sooo guilty of #1. I think I have trained my brain to only call them blogs and vlogs.
Happy Sunday, Camille! It’s always good to have your voice here!
The good thing about your trained brain is that you can RE-TRAIN it! I got lucky and (irritatingly) had my geek correcting me (over and over again) in the beginning so I got it drilled into my head. I’m grateful for that in hindsight. It’s important to get it right, though, so that we’re actually passing on the correct info and actually sound like we know what we’re talking about!
Thank you! So far the Sunday is going well. You are right bout re-training!
🙂
Lily, I should have been clearer. I saw 1 blog that had 12 posts:)
Ok phew 🙂 Thanks for clarifying!
Tamara,
What a great list of mistakes! I can see myself in some of them. I had to laugh because after hearing you talk just the other day, your list has grown from 15 to 26! Ouch!
I was curious to know if you have a similar list of mistakes therapists make for video posts? I am just getting started in creating video for my blog and wanted to be proactive in avoiding some of the mistakes.
Oh, Kim! I love this memory of yours! And, how you see it informing the work that you do and the woman you’ve become! That is a gift – to be able to connect those dots and to understand a little part of how you’ve come to be you!
Thank you so much for taking time to drop in this evening and share this with us! Not only does it help us “see” a little part of you but I think that it helps other therapists who may not yet have connected their own “dots” to see what that might look like.
I hope you’ll drop back in soon to join the conversations here!
Hi, Alex! Thanks so much for dropping in and for coming to the Denver Therapists Network to talk about social media! You guys were a terrific group to talk with ! The truth is that I have way way more than just 26 mistakes to talk about! Could have spent a whole day talking about the mistakes therapists make on social media! I just didn’t want to scare you!
I don’t have a list of mistakes that therapists make for video posts but that’s a great idea! I do know who to ask about this so let me see if I can get a guest post on this topic up for you. 🙂
This is a nice list of guidelines. I love writing my blog, and I’m looking forward to continuing to building my list and seeing what it can do in terms of benefitting readers.
One thing I have not done yet is have a guest blogger. Do you have any suggestions for getting this started? Obviously, reach out to other bloggers, but in addition to that – in terms of what the objective is other than bringing diversity to readers… and how to execute it so that it both builds my list and benefits my current followers.
I’d want to thank all of the staff members who took such good care of me during my trips. I felt more self-reliant after seeing the therapist. Keep up the excellent work!
That’s so encouraging to hear! Thank you for taking time to let other professionals know that therapy can help!