Building your private consulting practice: Get noticed online with backlinks

Building your private consulting practice: Get noticed online with backlinks

Every month more and more customers go online to search for a therapist. In fact, people now go to the Internet more than the Yellow Pages for information. This can be either finding a therapist in general or finding out more information about YOU if they have already received a referral to you.

So not only is it important to have a website, but it is also important that your website gets noticed. This means that search engines (like Google, Yahoo and Bing) will list you in search results, preferably on the first page. But this doesn't happen by chance. Psychotherapists, counselors and psychologists must announce their presence on the Internet in order to be listed in search results. If you're trying to attract new clients to your practice, market your private practice, or start a new private practice, you need to understand the importance of backlinks.

First, what is a backlink? A backlink is another website that provides a link to your website. Basically, someone else listing your web address on their website.

Second, why is this important? The more backlinks you have, the more credible your website is. If you have several hundred other websites all listing your site, the search engines will rank you higher. (Yes, this is more complex, but I'll keep it simple here.)

Third, how do you get backlinks? There are two ways to get backlinks to your website. You may work out arrangements with other professionals to provide links to each other's websites. For example, if you contact a psychiatrist, ask them to link to your website. The same goes for lawyers, doctors, and other therapists in your network. Offer to provide a link in return and you'll both benefit. This is also an added benefit for your customers as they can find the resources you recommend in one easy, consolidated place. Therapists can build successful private practices by providing this type of value to clients.

Once you have established these cross-connections, it starts to be fun... In order to further market your own private psychotherapeutic practice, you start talking on the Internet. Look for forums and blogs where you can post comments and include your website. Start by posting on almost every blog so you can get the hang of the practice. Make sure your post is interesting and relevant, otherwise the blog owner will probably throw it in the trash.

Use your full name and add some keywords as part of your name. For example, when I comment on a blog, I write my name as “Jennifer Sneeden, Boca Raton Therapist.” I do this because “Boca Raton therapist” are the key words I want associated with my name.

Look for websites that allow you to provide your website address. Therapists can try including their private practice websites in the body of the post, but it's better to look for blogs that allow you to enter them with your name and email address.

That's it. Aim to get at least 10 to 15 backlinks per week and watch how quickly you start attracting new clients to your private practice. Do you want to get started right away? Check out my blog, find an article you like and post a comment: www.thrivingtherapypractice.com

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