Many therapists understand that blogging can be beneficial for their practice. It improves your search rankings, it shows that you’re active and engaged in your industry, and it gives your website share-ibility. Blog posts are a great thing not just for you to share, but for other people with their friends and followers.
All of this is well and good, but how do you actually do it?
You could hire someone else.
There are plenty of freelancers available in the digital world, and some of them are quite good. Many of them, however, are pretty terrible. And a few linger in between, producing generic filler that will likely pick up some search traffic without accomplishing much else.
Side note: you’ll also find companies that offer a library of pre-written posts you can use, or they’ll use the same blog post across 100 different client’s websites. Avoid these. Not only does the content tend to be mediocre, but they will do little to nothing for your website because the same information is on other websites too. You always want original content.
Getting back to the point…
Therapy, counseling, and psychology are very complex subjects. You’re well aware of this thanks to your many years of schooling and certifications. Add Christianity into the mix, and the subject matter becomes even more complicated.
Unless the writer has studied in the field, they’re going to be seriously lacking in understanding compared to you. The truth is, the most ideal person to blog for your practice is, well, you.
What do I blog about?
If you’ve never blogged before, it’s easy to make it more difficult than it is. As a psychologist or counselor, you likely wrote some very lengthy papers on some very complex subject matter during your schooling.
This is not what your blog should be like.
Your practice’s blog should be for your clients and potential clients. Therefore, simplicity is critical. Think about the topics you regularly encounter. The questions you receive during your first sessions. Write about these things.
Every day, people are asking search engines about their problems:
Why do I feel so unmotivated?
Am I depressed or just sad?
Is my marriage worth saving?
How do I stop?
These people are looking for help, and by blogging regularly, you just might be the answer that shows up. Provide useful information while also sharing your viewpoint and how you can help. Being a Christian counselor, you can also blog about faith and how it interacts with mental health.
How to blog.
As I mentioned before, blogs are less formal. They should be personable. You should talk like yourself, as if you were speaking directly to the person reading it. You should also format it properly. Blog posts should never contain massive paragraphs of 5-10 sentences.
The everyday person on the internet is easily frightened away by densely structured writing.
Instead, break your paragraphs up. Give stand-out sentences their own line. Use sub-headers. If you’re still unsure, just look at the formatting of this post. For those in a hurry, or anyone who is trying to judge the post’s relevancy, it allows them to quickly skim through and get the general idea.
As far as length goes, a blog post should be more 300 words but generally fewer than 900.
That’s not to say you can’t go longer, but the quantity of quality information needs to justify it. Generally, if you give the post a quick read through, you’ll find some superfluous sentences to cut.
But I don’t have time to blog.
As a therapist, you’re likely aware that saying “I don’t have time” tends to mean “it’s not a priority”. And so, you need to ask yourself whether or not expanding your website’s reach through the act of blogging is a priority for you.
There are, of course, other ways to gain new clients, but blogging is one of the simplest, most affordable, and most effective methods of driving visitors to your website and increasing your appearance in search engines.
One way you may be able to improve efficiency in blogging is by combining the two methods listed above. Start by choosing a topic and writing out some raw thoughts about it, like a rough outline. Then give that to an experienced blog writer to fill it out, format it properly, and post it online.
This approach utilizes your professional knowledge without forcing you to become something you’re not.
Of course, to even start a blog, you’ll need a professional looking, blog ready website. We can help with that. For a fast and affordable, yet visually appealing website, use Torrch. We work exclusively with Christian counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, so we know exactly what you need.