Take the Blah out of Blogging: How to Build a Great Private Practice Blog

When it comes to online marketing and self-promotion for mental health professionals, something we often recommend is to start blogging on their website.

A private practice blog gives you a leg up on your competition and provides a number of benefits for both your business as well as your clients.

But, in our experience, the concept of blogging tends to be viewed by therapists in one of two ways:

1. it evokes feelings of inspiration and excitement
2. it elicits a sense of fear and apprehension

If you fall into the first category, you’re likely already off to a great start with your private practice blog. But if you find yourself in the latter, this post is for you!

In this post, we’ll talk about how to blog for your private practice in a way that’s not only effective at growing your online presence and building a brand but is also, dare we say, even a little fun.

But before we get to the “how”, let’s talk about the “why” – why should you even make time for blogging? Isn’t it enough to have a great website for your private practice?

Why Blogging Works

You Get the Upper Hand

Let’s hop into a potential client’s shoes for just a moment and consider things from their point-of-view.

You’re looking for a therapist and you’ve been given 3 different recommendations by someone you trust.

Therapist #1 doesn’t have a website – just a contact phone number – so there’s not much to base your decision off of.

Therapist #2 has a website that talks about helping people just like you, with the same problems you’ve been dealing with.

You might be thinking that therapist #2 has got this one in the bag, am I right? Normally, that would probably be true but then…

Therapist #3 not only has a website that also speaks directly to your needs – this website also has a blog with multiple posts written about specific issues you’ve been struggling with. They even wrote about that one thing you’ve never talked about with anyone else – that thing you’ll barely admit is an issue in your own head.

Now, which therapist do you think is going to get contacted?

Ding, ding, ding! It’s therapist #3!

By blogging about topics that speak directly to your ideal client, you’re showing them that you care about their needs and that you’re passionate about what you do.

You Get an SEO Boost

One of the top questions we hear from therapists is “how can I get my website to rank higher with Google?”

While we do everything we can on the back end of your website to ensure Google understands what your site is all about and the keywords you should be ranking for, there are things that can be done on the front end of your website to help as well – and blogging is definitely one of them!

Regularly posting to your website’s blog tells Google a couple of things:

1. It tells them that your website is still active and hasn’t been abandoned. Google understands that its users don’t want outdated, inaccurate information and they consider your website’s “last updated” time stamp in determining your ranking. Every new blog post is another opportunity to have your website show up in a new potential client’s search results.
2. It tells them more about all of the different services you provide and the keywords your site should be shown for. Googlers often type questions into a search box like “trauma therapist near me” or “child therapy in Denver.” By repeatedly providing Google (and your website visitors) with content containing your most important keywords, you’ll increase the likelihood of being ranked much higher.

How to Blog

Start Keeping a List of Possible Topics

For many therapists, the most difficult part of blogging is coming up with the topic for the post itself.

To help with this, keep a notepad nearby throughout the day. You could also start a list on your cell phone using an app like Evernote or Todoist.

Take note of any particular questions that you notice multiple clients asking you throughout the day. Are you able to answer any of these questions by writing a blog post about them?

Inspiration may hit at the most random of times so it’s a good idea to make sure you’re ready.

Provide Value for Your Ideal Client

Don’t write a blog post just to write one. Make sure that the content you’re writing for your private practice blog is something your ideal client will want to read.

Think of the clients you’ve been working with or those you’d like to begin working with. What would they want to hear or learn more about in between their therapy sessions? What questions might they still have about what they’re going through? How can you further educate them on their diagnosis or treatment? How could you help better explain their pathway to healing?

Schedule & Batch Your Blog Posts

Did you know that multitasking can steal up to 40% of your productivity? It’s been proven that each time you move from one task to another, it takes your brain time to switch gears. So, it makes the most sense to only focus on one thing at a time. That’s where task batching comes into play.

Task batching consists of scheduling similar tasks together so you can do them more efficiently. Elon Musk has become famous for using task batching (or, as he calls it, time blocking) to run multiple highly successful companies and still have time to spare for his family, hobbies, and fitness routine.

So, try to dedicate a certain amount of time to writing only. Prioritize this as an essential, regular appointment on your schedule and treat it as such. Just as you wouldn’t walk out of a client consultation to make a cup of coffee, don’t do this here either. Grab your java beforehand, turn off your phone (yes, completely), ban distractions, and get to work.

Scheduling in writing time ensures that it gets done. Batch writing your posts ensures that you stay ahead of the game. Depending on how long your posts are and how much time you schedule to write, it’s extremely possible to roll out 2-5 posts all in one sitting. How awesome would it be to invest a few hours and have blog posts scheduled out for the next 2-3 months?

Create a Post Template

To really streamline your entire blogging process and make batch writing easier, consider creating a simple template to follow for all your blog posts.

Here’s an example to get you started:

• Start out by introducing the topic
• Outline your supporting information (or subtopics)
• Now go back in and expand on each of those subtopics
• Briefly summarize everything you covered in the post
• End with a CTA (call-to-action) such as a “Contact Me” button linking to your website’s Contact page

Creating and following your own blog post template (similar to the one above) can dramatically speed up the process of writing new posts because you won’t have to spend time thinking about its structure or any other technical elements that may slow down your creative process.

What Are You Waiting For?

Now that you know the basics of how to blog and how you’ll benefit from it, it’s time to get started.

And the best way to get started blogging for your private practice is to literally just start blogging for your private practice 🙂

Still not interested in writing, but value the importance of blogging? We’ve got you covered.

Brighter Vision’s Growth Platform allows you to choose from hundreds of pre-written blog posts on various mental health topics and choose 2 articles to publish each month to your private practice website.

Pretty awesome, right?

To make this deal even sweeter, we’ll give you 1 month absolutely free to test out the platform and see if it’s a good fit!

Get started with your free month of already written blog posts right here:

About Wyatt Megla