Websites and More: Do Therapists Need an Online Presence?

 Written by: Kelsey Someliana-Lauer, Therapy Practice Solutions Virtual Assistant


Picture this: you’ve graduated from your Mental Health Counseling Master’s program.  You’ve spent a few years in agency-type settings and felt it wasn’t for you.  You’ve even tried your hand in someone else’s group practice, but you feel like you have some ideas and specialty areas that would really work well in a solo setting.  It’s finally time - you want to take the leap to a solo mental health therapy private practice!  After Googling endlessly about PLLC’s and taxes and business bank accounts, you’re left with one thing - making your social media presence.  Uh oh.


The idea of making weekly social media graphics and designing a whole website may have you thinking - do I even need a website? What does social media even do for me?  Is it worth it as a mental health therapist?  Therapy Practice Solutions is here to tell you - an online presence is everything!  Check out these three ways having a presence online will drive clients to your practice:


Websites Make Everything More Official … And More Findable!

Websites are just one way to make your practice look not only more established, but more present when a client searches you on Google.  Let’s face it - if you only have a Psychology Today page, you’re not likely to pop up when someone searches for “mental health counseling near me”.  However, having a website, especially one with your specialty area in the title, can help clients find you far easier.  For example, if you specialize in counseling for women with anxiety, having a website called “The Anxious Woman Counselor” is almost sure to pop up when someone Googles “counseling for women anxiety” in their search bar.  If you need some website inspiration, check out these examples.


Blogs Boost your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you want to add more keywords to your website, having a blog is the way to go.  Blogs boost your rankings in Google, especially when they’re loaded for keywords.  For example, if you’re a relationship counselor, having a blog with the words “relationship counseling,” “fighting,” “conflict,” “marriage,” and “spouse” will key in Google to include you in searches about relationship counseling.  If you’re interested in learning more about Search Engine Optimization and what that could look like for you, check this out.


Instagram, Facebook, and Podcasts, Oh My!

While social media doesn’t tend to be clinician’s number one source of gaining referrals, these modes of communication, just like blogs and websites, help you to get found online.  Podcasts or videos on YouTube are especially findable when a potential client Googles your name or subject area.  Infographics can be used on other forms of social media to further prove your expertise in an area, not to mention to reach a wider audience than just counseling would provide.  Visual social media, like Instagram and Facebook, are most effective when hashtags are properly employed.  For the best chance of reaching potential clients, you should include about 30 hashtags at the bottom of your posts.  If hashtags make you #confused, check out this post about maximizing your social media efforts.


Regardless of your chosen form of social media (we suggest all three!), it’s important to cultivate your social media presence in a day and age when most clients are finding their mental health therapist online.  At Therapy Practice Solutions, we are offering free website mockups in the month of March.  If this is what you’ve been waiting for, don’t hesitate to reach out to us about your free website mockup.  We can also help with blogs and social media - after we get that website up and running, that is!  We look forward to hearing from you!


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