If you have no interest in blogging, you should quit now and go find another job. Go work for BetterHelp and make nothing.
They didn’t tell you this in school but …. *shocker* You have to write.
There. I said it. I mean it. If you can’t see the obvious power behind blogging you should go get a job working for a group practice. Even if you work for a group practice you should be blogging. You are building your own authority.
Hear me out.
Every Mental Health Professional Should Be Blogging – No Exceptions
Do you have anything important to say?
I bet you do! But if you aren’t blogging who outside of your office will hear it?
Every major website platform has the ability to let you write a blog post and publish it. You already have the platform. You just have to utilize it.
Blogging gives you a way to provide valuable information to your clients outside of your sessions. An effective blog strategy can align with the themes of your practice and your therapy sessions – enhancing client outcomes.
A comprehensive blogging plan that is well thought out and consistent also helps establish authority and trust with potential patients. A well-designed blog content plan also helps you attract more traffic to your website for FREE.
I’ll tell you a secret – Google loves a website that adds valuable content on a regular basis that gives value to the site visitor.
I’ll give you an example of how a single blog post can drive thousands of website visits for free every single month for years.
A Tale of the Parasite Post
A client wrote a blog post several years ago about how her client was experiencing a host of mental health problems that all seemed to be related to a chemical imbalance. Traditional therapy methods were not working. The client was also losing weight at an alarming rate so the therapist worked with the client’s primary care doctor to do a round of test. Tests showed that the client had an intestinal parasite that was robbing her of nutrients. She had critically low levels of several key vitamins. This was in turn causing various mental health issues as her brain was trying to cope with a system that was entirely out of control. After the doctor identified and corrected the problem the client’s issues began to resolve. The mental health counselor that wrote this blog post was focused on communicating her practice’s holistic nature and the brain-gut connection.
That blog post drives thousands of posts to her website a month. We utilized this traffic by putting a Call to Action on that page to get her Lead Magnet eBook on the Brain-Gut Connection in Mental Health. She’s grown her email list by over 5,000 subscribers and has been asked to appear on TV shows and provide quotes to multiple news outlets. The mental health counselor did not plan this when she wrote the blog post but the outcomes are clear. She answered a question and provided valuable information. Google recognized this and now shows her site and that article for multiple searches. She established authority, grew her list, and opportunities opened up.
Establishing Credibility
Blogging lets you showcase your expertise. Regular posts on relevant topics help establish you as a leader in your field, fostering trust with potential clients and colleagues alike. This is valuable and the only cost to you is your time. You’re building trust to all those potential clients who visit your website. No matter how they found you, Psychology Today, Therapy Den, a Google search, a paid ad… they are checking out your website and making a judgement about your expertise and your ability to help them with their issues.
Sharing insights and your unique perspective on issues and care, practice tips and advice about various areas of practice, and relatable stories you can showcase your depth of knowledge, unique position and voice, and understanding of the mental health field. Over time, you will be recognized as an expert on certain topics in your field. This will help you attract new clients and new opportunities.
Building Trust
As you know, consistency is key in any relationship. This includes the digital one between you and your client (or potential client). By regularly creating and posting valuable content, you as the counselor build trust with your audience. Readers may even begin to rely on your content knowing that you are going to provide regular thought provoking and insightful posts around issues that matter to them.
Engagement and Interaction
Consistent blogging gives you an opportunity to engage with your readers outside of your sessions. Your reader may share your content with a person that it would help or speak to. They may share it on their social media accounts because they think their friends will find it useful. All of this grows your audience and increases the awareness of you and your practice. That is a great thing! More awareness means more clients. You’re cementing your authority by addressing questions, concerns, and providing insights into things that matter to your clients and their friends.
Show Your Current with Your Field
Mental Health changes just like any other field. New techniques, new research, technological innovations. You have an opinion on a lot of these things. You may chat about them with coworkers. Blogging gives you a chance to put your own spin on the latest industry news, the latest research article or the latest trend in mental health care. Do you have ideas about ketamine therapy (a current trend on Google as of this article)? Well tell the world! If your clients or perspective clients are searching for it and you have spoken about it then you will win the game whe compared to people who are radio silent on the topic.
Search Engine Optimization
From a digital marketing perspective, consistent blogging is crucial. It helps improve your website’s rankings. Google loves a site that adds fresh content and provides value. When individuals search for mental health topics or advice, they’re more likely to find a counselor’s site if it is updated regularly with high-quality relevant content. This not only boosts the counselor’s visibility but also positions them as an authority. You must write your own content or purchase unique content. Content provided by a company that gives the same content to many sites does you no good as far as your rankings. It is a scam.
Finding Topics
A great way to find blog post topics (and social media topics) as well as keep up with what is on the minds of the public is to use Google Trends. This tool can show you the search volume for any search term over various time periods. Check it out. We provide our clients with monthly reports and topic ideas!
Build a Digital Library
Over time, a consistent blog becomes a substantial digital content library that you can use in your client treatment. You can refer them to specific blog posts for additional information and education. New clients or colleagues can easily review past posts to find information. It also shows your expertise, perspectives, and communication style. If a potential client sees you have 20 blog posts about their area of concern you will be seen as more likely to be capable of helping them with that concern.
Networking and Building Your Brand
Consistent blogging can lead to professional opportunities. You may be asked to collaborate on a project, write a guest post for another website, be on TV or a Podcast, or even get a paid speaking engagement. As your authority grows, so does your professional network. Any externally referenceable post or work that links back to your own website and uses your name has a significant positive impact on your Search Engine Optimization score. Trust me it is worth the time and energy. It is a cumulative effect that builds over time.
Personal Brand Development
Consistent blogging helps in carving out a personal brand. Trust me a brand is not a logo. Over time, readers will not only recognize your expertise but also your unique voice, approach, and philosophy towards mental health. If I owned a group practice, I would require at least one blog post a month from each associate therapist because it is what is best for them and the group.
Remember that blogging is a less formal form of writing than an academic paper. You don’t have to fret as much about grammar, style, voice, etc. It is more important to blog often on a variety of topics than it is to antagonize yourself over the level of perfection in your post.
Book a session now!
Ready to work on your blogging plan? I’m here for you! I have expert execution plans and content calendars just waiting to take your brand to the next level!
