Content Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Simplified SEO Consulting

Why Do Blog Posts Matter so Much in SEO Marketing for Therapists?

As a private practice owner or a therapist working for a larger practice, you know having an online presence is important. With everything becoming more digitized, having a website that has up-to-date information and resources along with possibly having social media can help you reach more clients. However, having a super informational website, even with the best keywords, is insufficient. You also need content.

This is where blogging comes into play! Blogs have so much value when it comes to SEO marketing. They allow you to provide helpful, informative content that can be used as resources for your current clients but also potential ones. These blogs can also help to boost your website’s SEO ranking by helping search engines, like Google, to recognize that you are knowledgeable about your field. In this blog, we will talk more about why blog posts matter so much in SEO marketing for therapists.

What Exactly is SEO Marketing for Therapists?

SEO marketing is a way for therapists to optimize their websites and content, such as blogs and service pages, to make them rank higher on search engine result pages, think Google! Search engines have algorithms that they use to analyze websites and their content to determine what is the most relevant to search inquiries being made by users.

This is why it is important for therapists to invest in SEO marketing for their practice, or themselves. Having SEO training or having an SEO Specialist optimize your website with relevant keywords, and helpful, targeted content can make the difference in making sure your practice and services are more visible on the first few pages of the search engine’s result pages. Especially when it comes to potential clients being the ones searching for services that you provide.

Why Do Blog Posts Matter So Much in SEO Marketing For Therapists?

Blog posts are a multi-faceted SEO tool that can help establish your credibility and your visibility. Your blogs can establish your credibility and that you are an expert in your field. Having blogs on many topics that revolve around your services, questions people may ask Google or in therapy, as well as any other topics that revolve around mental health and what you are passionate about can make the difference. The difference between you being found versus another therapist.

Your blogs, whether written by you, an intern, a colleague, or a copywriter, can be written with keywords incorporated. This will help Google or another search engine to identify that your blog is relevant to what people are searching for. It will also boost your credibility for those keywords as you have service pages about them and now you are writing in-depth blogs about the topics as well.

Additionally, these blogs, putting purely SEO aside, can help potential clients find you. They can look on Google for resources about anxiety, burnout, or even being a highly sensitive person then find your blogs. When potential clients find your blog and read them, it can help build that connection between a client and therapist. One that is based on information, facts, and trust. They are using your blog as a resource to calm their fears at the same time as getting to know you as a therapist and your practice.

As a Therapist, This is What You Should Include in Your Blog Posts

Writing blogs can feel easy for some as writing can come naturally as talking about the weather, while for some it can be a challenge. No matter if writing is a struggle for you or not, there are some key elements that should always be included in SEO marketing for therapists.

Relevant Keywords

The keywords that you include in your blogs need to be relevant to what you are writing about but also to what your niche is. Otherwise, you can write about these keywords but they will not be helping you if you don’t regularly write about them or provide this service. Google will see that you know something about something but that you’re not an expert on this topic. It would prefer to show another therapist’s website that is an expert on that topic or service.

Call to Action

Have you ever read a blog by someone knowing they want you to do something as a result of reading it? That is a call to action! However, if you don’t include it in your writing, your potential client is not going to know what to do or how to go about setting up an appointment. So, more than likely, they will move on. Therefore, include a call to action in your blog! Tell them what their next step should be.

Make sure to tell them how to reach you and what the steps in the process of beginning the therapy are. Do you offer a 15-minute free consultation? Do you have a form to fill out? How do they reach you if they have questions? Include this information so your potential clients know exactly what to do when they feel inspired to do it!

Optimize Your Blog Posts

Optimization is a must. When you’re writing your blogs you can try to keep keywords and SEO in mind, but for some, the words just flow from your brain to the page. In moments like those, there is no sense in forcing yourself to add these elements. However, that doesn’t mean you let yourself off the hook afterward! Reviewing your writing and adding SEO keywords and location elements can help your blog bring a valuable SEO element to your website and content.

I mean, you are taking the time to write these blogs or outsource them, so you definitely want to make sure they are reaching the right people. You also want to make sure they are drawing these potential clients in! Having the SEO element makes sure it reaches your target audience in their search engine results and in the areas you are targeting.

How Often Should Therapists Post Blog Content?

There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on multiple factors: what your goals are, where you are located, and your target audience. Plus, do you have the time? There are questions and factors you need to keep in mind. At Simplified SEO, we tell our clients that at a bare minimum, they need to write or post two blogs a month to keep their SEO maintained.

However, to increase it, it needs to be more than this. Especially, if you are wanting to increase your client load, and are in a more competitive area that is very concentrated with other therapists, and you want to be at the top of the list. In these cases, we recommend a blog or two a week.

This May Seem Crazy, But it is in fact, Doable!

For example, do you have interns? Have them write some of your blogs! Do you have a colleague that loves to write? Utilize them and their passion! If you have time, try writing some blogs in your spare time about your services, questions that come up in therapy, or something you feel potential clients need to know. But, if you don’t have time, look into outsourcing by looking into a copywriter.

I suggest these options because having and maintaining a consistent blog schedule helps Google recognize that you are an expert in this area. This then leads Google to make your website more visible when potential clients search for providers in your area. Leading them to find your blogs, your services, and ultimately, YOU!

Blog posts matter so much in SEO marketing for therapists because they ultimately help boost your SEO and help your potential clients find you. Plus, they are great resources to refer clients or even potential clients to when they have questions about topics you are an expert in! Blogging is powerful, and it being combined with SEO tactics is even more powerful. Use that power to reach your ideal clients and grow your business!

So Let’s Get Started Growing Your SEO Ranking with SEO Marketing for Therapists

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we want to support you with your blogs and SEO marketing for therapists. We put together a series of SEO packages to help you with your SEO journey. No matter what stage you are in, from starting out to already having a well-optimized website but needing help with creating content. By investing in your website you are also investing in your and your practice’s future. Want to learn about SEO? Sign up for our SEO Course for Therapists and learn how to use the power of blogs and SEO to reach more clients and grow your practice! Or want to outsource it? Check out our SEO Consulting packages here and apply to work with us! Ready to get started?

Please apply to work with us
Learn about our team
Begin utilizing the power of SEO marketing for therapists!

Other SEO Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

If you feel as if you have blogging handled or are outsourcing it, there are other services you can use as well! We offer options such as our 12-week training, small group intensives, and courses. Our strategy session can be a great option if you need support getting started with SEO or doing a site move or redesign. These can also be helpful to find better keywords, evaluating your current SEO performance, and more. Or, if you’re ready to work with a passionate and skilled team, our Done for You Program may be a great following approach.

About the Author:

As an SEO Content Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting, Lynsey has a passion for creating exceptional content that reflects her clients’ unique brand voice and practice. With a focus on mental health-related topics, she understands how high-quality content can improve therapists’ search engine rankings and attract their ideal clients. Lynsey’s ultimate goal is to utilize her copywriting expertise to help therapists maximize their return on investment. Through her work, she takes pride in helping therapists learn more about blogs and how they can be powerful tools in SEO marketing.

Apply to work with us if you’re ready to see how Simplified can serve you!

April 6, 2023/0 Comments/by Lynsey Heskett

Content, SEO Basics, SEO Tips, Training

Resources for Inclusive Photos + Alt Text Examples

Resource Guide: Photo Alt Text and Title Examples + Inclusive Resources for Photos

I have been very passionate for a while on creating impactful and effective alt text, alt titles, and having inclusive and accurately representative photos. Truly, I really hate looking at a website that has stereotypical and offensive photos that don’t accurately depict people’s struggles, needs, and identity. I know it can be hard to find the right photos at times, but we still have a duty to create content on our websites that allow clients to see themselves and their experiences.

Photo Alt Text, Optimizing Photos, & Titles Examples

Within couples therapy websites there are so many keywords you can use. This is an example of how I would formulate photo text in general. The general format I am looking at is as follows:

Know that you can do 3-5 zip codes and keywords. Make sure not to over optimize or keyword stuff.

Photo Alt Text: Semi-longer photo description ( *not denoting mental health). Sentence with keyword about struggle. A sentence with keyword establishing hope. Sentence with keyword establishing next steps.

*When it comes to some websites, their policies include making sure not to negatively attribute the photo or the person in the photo to some “negative” mental health stigma. This is the rules of some websites, not necessarily ours, so make sure to read the fine print when you are getting paid or free photos from sites.

Couples Therapy Website

Alt Title: Couple holding on to each other noses touching | Marriage Counseling and Couples Therapy in Chicago, IL | EFT therapy | Relationship Therapist | 60602 |60603 |60604

Alt Text: A couple with noses touching embracing while in love. Marriage counseling and couples therapy in Chicago, IL is not a place where relationships go to die. Working with a relationship therapist means you care and want to work on your relationship. Connect emotionally once again in EFT therapy in Illinois today!

Child and Teen Therapist

Photo Alt Text: Child curled up into a ball with parent comforting them. You never want to see your child hurting. Maybe you’ve tried child therapy or therapy for teens in Tampa, Fl before and felt it wasn’t helpful, but with the right child therapist or teen therapist, it can be. We encourage you to reach out soon!

Addiction Treatment Center

Alt Title: Disabled father hugging daughter | Substance Abuse Therapy | Substance Abuse Counseling in Los Angeles, CA | Drug Abuse Counselor | 90040 | 90058 | 90201 | 90220

Alt Text: Father in wheelchair hugging smiling daughter in yellow. Our Drug abuse and addictions counselors understand how hard substance abuse is to overcome alone. Substance abuse counseling in Los Angles, CA doesn’t need to be a lonely journey. Let our team help you in substance abuse therapy soon!

Private Medical Practice

Photo Alt Title: Client talking to medical professional | Pain Doctor in Denver, CO| Pain Management Doctors | Chronic Illness Management | 80001 | 80002 | 80003

Photo Alt Text: Woman in black sweater and pink hair talking with doctor on laptop. A pain doctor in Denver, CO can help you with pain and chronic illness management. Our pain management doctors are some of the best in their field. Call now and get support.

Speech and Language Pathologist

Alt Title: A man with his hands up in the air | Speech Therapist in Westchester, NY | SLP Therapy | Speech Therapist for Adults |10701 |10801 | 10573

Alt Text: Man with his hands up in the air. We all communicate differently, and sometimes with need a speech therapist for adults in Westchester, NY. You are not alone! SLP therapy is meant to help you connect again and feel safe in how you communicate. Start working with a speech therapist in New York today!

Dietician

Photo Alt Title: Man in the background with plant | Medical nutrition therapy | Registered Dietician in Austin, Texas | Nutrition Therapy | 78613 | 78610 | 78613

Photo Alt Text: Plant in foreground and black man in the background. Our team of registered dieticians in Austin, Texas can help you navigate nutritional concerns, eating disordered, health concerns, and more. We offer nutrition therapy and medical nutrition therapy in Texas both in-person or online.

Eating Disorder Therapist

Alt Text: Woman with chocolates on table and hands in head distressed. Sometimes we struggle to manage food and body on our own. An eating disorder therapist in Atlanta, GA who offers eating disorder therapy, anorexia treatment, and bulimia treatment can help. Call now and book a free consultation.

One great website you can use is alt text generator. It doesn’t add in keywords, but if you struggle to come up with the initial photo description, this is a good resource.

Photo Sites and Their Algorithm

One issue that really gets under my skin is how algorithms on websites are created. For example, when I am trying to find natural curly hair or hair routines on Pinterest, usually what happens is that people who look nothing like me show up. Typing in natural on a site often alludes to POC, but algorithms are often white washed by the majority.

So imagine creating a therapy website where photos “appear” diverse enough, but actually don’t show the realistic side of some ones experience. Likewise, if you are an ED therapist and all your photos show angry plus sized people or a black woman eating a salad, or stereotypical person “overeating” photos, that often stigmatized and adds to the stereotype.

One problem with the algorithm is often in order to find representative photos, you have to type in offensive or rude texts in order to find the right content. Honestly, as a therapist that infuriates me. Plus, if you as a mental health professional have a deeper attachment to the issues you work with that can also be triggering to you.

So, how do we get inclusive and representative photos without having work with the algorithm on certain sites? I have created a list of websites that you can use for finding photos that are more inclusive and real.

Where and How to Find Representative, Inclusive, and Diverse Photos ( Free + Paid)

Open AI

This is a great resource if you want to have AI create your photos. Coming up with descriptions for this is hit or miss, but its a great up and coming option.

https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2 25 free photos per month

Creative Market

If you like a mix of cartoon animations and site aesthetics, this is a great option. The photos are affordable for a set and once you purchase a commercial license the content can be used in many areas.

https://creativemarket.com/ArtOlB/5946532-CURVY-GIRLS-FLOWERS-LINE-ART

Tonl

This is a paid service, but has a group of wonderfully diverse photos. The categories are based on topics like trust, tradition, tone, and travel, among others.

https://tonl.co/

Gender Spectrum Vice

Let’s face it, finding photos that accurately represent the LGBTQIA+ community are sparse, this is a free site that offers many different options for you to add to your site.

https://genderspectrum.vice.com/

Nappy

Finding diversity in photos for black and BIPOC individuals is complicated. Luckily nappy is working to make this more accessible.

https://nappy.co/

Iwaria

Black and African culture are not the same, therefore, if you work with African clients, this site is for you. Likewise, being nationally and internationally inclusive is necessary for any clinician.

https://iwaria.com/

Big Stock Photos

This is a site the Simplified SEO Consulting using personally and for our Done for you clients. Now, I will admit, it does take a specific strategy to find the photos you need without being stereotypical or stigmatizing. I often say, don’t search for the thing you are looking for and you will find what you need.

So if I type in native women, I am likely to get tribal representations, however if I type in business woman ethic, or indigenous, or sometime similar it will narrow the results. Its unfortunately we have to find what we need inversely, but it is possible.

https://www.bigstockphoto.com/

Flickr (Women in Tech)

Looking for fierce women in tech of all ethnicities, races, religions, and so on? You have found the right site.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wocintechchat/

CreateHERStock

This is a paid service with some options for freebies ( which is currently being updated). If you are looking for more representative photos of men, non-binary, and women. Then this is for you.

https://createherstock.com/

Wrap Up on Private Practice SEO

You are responsible for allowing clients to see themselves in your website message, photos, and design. User experience and design play a big role on our brand. Try your hands at photo descriptions. Be intentional about the descriptions, and check out these resources, especially if you are struggling to find sites that represent your ideal clients.

Learn How to Begin Optimizing Photos, Descriptions and Choose Inclusive Photos with Our Webinar!

We are hosting a webinar on April 7th for Alt Text and Diversity. We’d love to have you attend. You can also purchase the recording from our website afterwards. In the meantime, if you want support with your SEO, our team of experts will work with you every step of the way. Simplified SEO Consulting can help you begin developing content and best practices for your online and in-person presence. So don’t let confusion stop you from having an effective website – contact us today by following these simple steps:

Apply to work with our team
Once approved schedule your 45-minute consultation
Learn about our team!
Start adding intentional photos and alt text to your site.

Other Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

If you’re looking for other forms of support, we can help! We offer options such as our 12-week training, small group intensives, and courses. Our strategy session can be a great option if you need support getting started with SEO or doing a site move or redesign. Or, if you’re ready to work with a passionate and skilled team, our Done for You Program may be a great following approach.

About the Author

Jasmine is the SEO Training Coordinator and offers free consultations for Simplified’s SEO Consulting on our services. Jasmine is a Clinical Mental Health Counselor and recently earned her degree from Northwestern University. She works to help people with a strategy with national rankings, eating disorder specialties, trauma, sports psychology, postpartum/pregnancy/parenting, high achievers, and much more. Schedule a consult soon!

April 3, 2023/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

Content, SEO Basics, SEO Tips

4 Tips for Growing Your Private Practice SEO

As a private practice owner, I’m sure you have heard about SEO, otherwise known as search engine optimization. SEO can be used to help your ideal clients find you, your practice, and your services on search engines. When I say search engines, I mostly mean Google. Using private practice SEO should be an important part of any therapist’s marketing strategy in this time of digitalization.

Investing in your private practice SEO is one way of investing in your business and your future. As I mentioned that most things are digitized, and most people search for therapists via Google. By using SEO strategies, your ideal clients will be able to find you. This will be due to your rankings on Google and other search engines. In this blog, I will talk about 5 tips you should utilize to grow your private practice SEO.

Learn About or Conduct Keyword Research

If you’re new to SEO or new to doing it yourself, you may not have heard about “keyword research”. Keyword research is an SEO term where you learn what terms users are using to look for services. This will look at the terms in the area you are targeting and how hard it is to rank for them. For example, if you are a therapist that provides anxiety therapy in Little Rock, Arkansas you’re going to need to see what terms are easiest to rank for in your area. Luckily, this area may not be as saturated with competition as somewhere like Los Angeles, CA. But it is still very important to know what you are up against.

To Start Off, You Will Need to Look at the Variations of “anxiety therapy in Little Rock, AR”.

Sometimes, your first search will be the easiest to rank for and the highest searched for. Other times, you will need to look at different variations. Like “anxiety treatment in Little Rock, AR”, “treatment for anxiety in Little Rock, AR” or “therapy for anxiety in Little Rock, AR”. All of these terms you will look at then decide which one has the most searches and can be achievable for you to rank for. But also has the least competition.

Some tips for finding great keywords for private practice SEO purposes are:

Use a Keyword Research Tool such as Mangools/KWfinder or Google Keyword Planner
Make sure the keywords you use are relevant to your practice and the services you provide
See what inquiries people are making on Google about your relevant services
Research your competitors to see what keywords they may be using

Optimize Your Practice’s Website for Private Practice SEO

After you have keywords that will help increase your visibility on Google, optimizing your practice’s website to incorporate them will be important. This process is known as “on-page optimization”. This involves adding those chosen keywords into your content. This is your page titles, meta descriptions, alt-text and titles on photos, and the headings on your service pages.

Doing this allows Google to pick up that you are trying to target these keywords and rank your website appropriately. It will then keep an eye on your website and the content. This is to decide if you’re just knowledgeable about your niche or an expert. This is where content citing locations and content talking about your keywords targeting your services can be helpful.

Things to Keep in Mind

When you are optimizing your website, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Website speed, mobile-friendliness, and security are important to your SEO. But so is the ability of your potential clients being able to navigate your site. If your website is slow, this is where you will lose the most people. Because they know they can find another therapist’s website with a better user experience.

Testing out content and your website for how it runs and looks on mobile devices is crucial as well. When people are searching for a therapist or resources in the wee hours of the morning, they are more than likely doing this from their phone or a tablet. If it’s not compatible or the design isn’t user-friendly on mobile devices, the chances are they will leave your website.

Lastly, making sure your website is secure is not only for your potential client’s benefit but also for your own. Having your website using HTTPS is not only secure but Google rewards websites for it. It also ensures your website is mobile-friendly, so that is a built-in bonus!

Using Locations Near You and Building Local Citations

When it comes to private practice SEO, name-dropping locations near you such as colleges, schools, or even popular parks can come as a benefit to your SEO. It shows Google that you know the area that you are claiming to be in or are targeting. It can also help you build local citations. Local citations can become your best friend when it comes to reaching potential clients.

Local citations are pages on directories like Google My Business or even Yelp. These have your practice’s information such as the name, address, phone number, and hours that you are open. These can help your visibility when potential clients search for anything related to your niche. Or even for a therapist, or for a private practice in their area. The location citations are incredibly helpful for helping you be found if someone searches for ” a therapist near me”, “anxiety therapist near me”, or “anxiety therapist Ohio”.

Create Quality Content to Benefit Your Private Practice SEO

Having quality, SEO content can make a difference when it comes to private practice SEO. Not only will it help your rankings on Google but your content can be used as a resource for established and potential clients. When you have quality content on your website, especially about your niche, it shows Google that you are an expert on the subject. This will lead the search engine to increase your visibility to users searching for relevant content, leading to potential client engagement.

As I mentioned before, content is a great place to incorporate the keywords you researched and picked according to your area along with the relevance to your practice. You can drop these keywords in places such as headings, titles, or in the call to action. However, you want to make sure that you do not overdo this as Google will consider it keyword stuffing and penalize your website for it. Google loves to see you prove you’re an expert but when you overdo it, Google can’t tell which keywords are relevant to your content, leading it to penalize you.

Growing your private practice’s SEO can seem intimidating as the jargon is ever-changing and Google is constantly updating its algorithms as well. However, by using these private practice SEO tips, you will have a better understanding and a head start on growing your business. Remember, investing in your SEO is not only investing in your business but also your future.

Get Started Today and Start Seeing the Difference with Private Practice SEO

If you’re a private practice therapist looking to improve your online visibility and attract more clients, Simplified SEO Consulting is here to help. We specialize in private practice SEO and offer various SEO packages to support you at every stage of your journey. Investing in your website and optimizing it for SEO can have a significant impact on the growth of your practice. Our SEO Course for Therapists can teach you how to use blogs and SEO to your advantage, or you can outsource your SEO needs with our consulting packages. Apply to work with us and start seeing results today! Ready to get started?

Please apply to work with us
Learn about our team
Begin growing your private practice through private practice SEO!

Other SEO Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

If you feel as if you need additional SEO help, we have other options available! We offer options such as our 12-week training, small group intensives, and courses. Our strategy session can be a great option if you need support getting started with SEO or doing a site move or redesign. These can also be helpful to find better keywords, evaluating your current SEO performance, and more. Or, if you’re ready to work with a passionate and skilled team, our Done for You Program may be a great following approach.

About the Author:

Lynsey, our SEO Content Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting, takes pride in creating quality content that reflects her clients’ brand voice and practice. With a focus on mental health, she understands the impact of high-quality content on SEO rankings and attracting ideal clients. Lynsey’s goal is to utilize her copywriting expertise to help private practice owners grow their businesses through effective SEO and quality content. She is passionate about educating private practice owners on the power of blogs as a tool for SEO marketing.

Apply to work with us if you’re ready to see how Simplified can serve you!

March 30, 2023/0 Comments/by Lynsey Heskett

Business Tips, Content

The Power of Focusing on a Niche for Effective SEO & Website Marketing

The Danger of Scarcity Mindset in the Mental Health Field

“Scarcity Mindset” refers to the belief that there is never enough – whether it’s time, money, resources, or clients. This type of mindset can lead to anxiety and burnout in mental health professionals, especially those in private practice.

Honestly, there’s no need for a scarcity mindset in the mental health field. There’s no shortage of people needing our services. The key is to specialize. Focusing on a niche allows us to utilize our most valuable asset – our expertise. By specializing, private practice owners can become experts in their niche and provide the absolute best care for their clients.

It also means being more selective when it comes to taking clients. Recognizing that not every single client is a good fit is an important step in growing a practice. The simple truth is, we generally have certain groups of client populations we do better with than others. And that’s ok.

By recognizing and overcoming the scarcity mindset, private practice owners can focus on providing the absolute highest level of care by niche specialization. This is a key to growing a successful private practice that provides quality mental health services for those who need it.

Breaking free from a scarcity mindset can lead to a more fulfilling career, higher-quality care for clients, and a more successful and sustainable private practice.

Why it’s important to specialize

Clients are more likely to seek out therapists who specialize in their specific needs. By specializing, therapists can position themselves as experts in their field, and they can offer targeted solutions to their clients’ unique challenges. It also allows them to tailor their approach and utilize specific techniques that are best suited for their client’s needs.

Think of it like this – a general practitioner doctor is a great start for some medical needs, but if you need specialty care for your heart or brain, you want to see a cardiologist or neurologist who understands the complexities of those systems. It’s the same concept in mental health. A specialist has a more in-depth understanding of a specific area and is more equipped to provide targeted treatment.

Specializing can also help you stand out in a crowded market. It allows you to focus on niche topics and be creative with marketing strategies. By being clear about the niche that you specialize in, clients are better able to determine if you’re a good fit for them, increasing the likelihood of them seeking you out.

Choosing your counseling niche

When considering which niche to specialize in, the most important factor is what interests you. Think about your own experiences and life, then consider what you have a passion for treating.

It’s also important to research niche trends and areas of need in your community. This will give you insight into whether or not there’s a demand for the niche and provide direction on how to best position yourself.

I also like to encourage therapists to ask themselves, who do I do my best work with? Try this right now. Think of the last couple of clients you feel like you did really amazing work with. What did they have in common? What did it feel like to work with those clients? And then importantly for marketing purposes, what made you uniquely qualified to help those clients?

There are a lot of different niches out there. Lots of options for the direction you might go with choosing a niche. But ultimately, niche selection is really an individual process. You have to take the time to research and reflect on your strengths and passions in order to find the niche that is most suitable for you.

Once you have a clear niche

Once you’ve developed a clear niche, make sure it’s reflected in your marketing efforts and communication with potential clients. Communicate in a way that resonates with your niche audience, so they know you understand their specific needs.

Additional investments in niche-specific training and niche-specific decorations for your office (or telehealth background) can help support the niche you specialize in.

Optimizing your private practice website for SEO

It’s also important to optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO). Including niche specific keywords in your website content, blog posts and even social media bios can help you reach the right clients.

A niche comes into play when optimizing a website in so, so many ways. Our done-for-you team loves working with clients who have a specific niche. Why? Because we often get them the best results.

On our recent cruise retreat we took as a group in January, the first night I asked everyone to speak about the clients they felt like they had done their absolute best work on. Who was getting the best ROI from our services?

A number of themes emerged. But one was that some of the clients we feel have gotten the best ROI have been therapists with a niche. Having a niche that was clear, specific and well researched allowed for a narrower focus, better targeting of services and thus better results. Sometimes, it was a solo practice that later grew into a group practice. Often, it was a smaller group practice with a clear vision of who they serve. And sometimes it’s even larger group practices that may have multiple specialties but are willing to invest in really optimizing for the populations their clinicians serve.

So if you’re considering Search Engine Optimization, I think this getting to know the ideal client for your practice is an important place to start. It will influence the keyword you target, the way you design and navigate your page, the content you create, the photos you add to your website and so much more.

Why is it easier to get a niched website ranking?

So, why did private practices with a clear vision or clear population they serve more often come up in our discussion about practices who get the best ROI from our Done for You services?

Simply put, niche websites have less competition. There are fewer clinicians out there that are targeting the same niche keyword and niche services as you. If you’re a clinician who specializes in working with teens with anxiety, for example, then your website has a higher chance of ranking than if you simply list all areas of mental health services you provide, as it would have more competition.

So niche selection doesn’t just help with patient attraction and retention – it can help your website’s SEO efforts too! So if you’re planing on using your website to market to a counseling niche (or niche within a related field such as speech or psychiatry), make sure to do some research into the niche keywords that are most relevant to your niche of choice.

Creating content around your therapy niche and speaks directly to your ideal client

Content is an important part of using Search Engine Optimization or more generally using your website to market to a counseling niche. And when you have a clear population that you serve, you can create content that speaks directly to that niche.

Whether it’s blog posts, social media posts, or videos – creating niche-specific content is a great way to showcase your expertise and attract more clients that fit who you most want to serve.

Creating niche-specific content allows you to be laser-focused in speaking directly to the population you serve. It’s important to use language and examples that resonate with your niche. It’s also important to share stories, case studies and resources that are relevant to your niche.

I encourage you to be genuine in your content creation. Be authentic. Be you. And try to provide real value to your clients and potential clients. If you are a psychiatrist, share helpful information about common prescribed medications OR create content that busts common myths around psychiatric medicine. An eating disorder specialist or dietician can share all kinds of helpful information and tips and skills for clients. Or, a trauma therapist can share grounding skills. The point is this: create content based on your unique expertise that is truly helpful for your ideal clients.

Even more simply put, people come to our website looking for answers. Do I need therapy? How do I feel better? Do I have a problem? How can I talk to my family about my mental health? Can this person really help me? How do I get started?

Our job as therapists, as business owners, as bloggers is to answer those questions. To provide real information.

If you’re just adding content to your website solely for the purpose of SEO, it’s easy to fall into the keyword trap or create content that is not interesting and engaging. But if you focus on providing real value, then your niche-specific content will be a great way to attract people who best match who you want to serve.

Choosing a niche empowers you to do your best work AND reach more potential clients

In the end, niche selection is about doing your best work and has the added benefit of helping you grow your practice.

As mental health professionals, we can choose to view our field through a scarcity mindset, or we can embrace niche specialization and focus on providing quality care for those that need it, while also growing our practices.

By specializing in a counseling niche and optimizing your website for SEO, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and attract more ideal clients. Remember to choose a niche that aligns with your interests and strengths, and create content that speaks to your target audience. With the right strategies, you can build a successful private practice that helps people in need.

Help using your website to market to a counseling niche

Ok, so you know who your ideal clients are. And you’re ready to using your website to market to a counseling niche. But what’s the next step? That is where the Simplified SEO Consulting team comes in! Our team of mental health SEO professionals understands mental health, private practice and how to communicate your value to Google. We are here to help you reach your ideal clients.

Our team has a proven program that helps private practices, especially those with a clear vision of the population they serve, get to the top of Google. We take the time to get to know you, your practice and (through talking to you and lots of keyword research), your specific counseling niche. Then, we walk you step by step through the process of climbing up the ranks of Google.

Don’t let the term “Done for you” completely fool you. You’re still very involved in the process. You meet with your SEO specialist every month and give them tons of feedback as they optimize. But we do the bulk of the optimizing on your website. In fact, we spend hours on each website we’re optimizing every month. And we make sure at least two of our team members is looking at every page of your site that is optimized.

We don’t just care about getting you ranking on Google. We care about getting you in front of the RIGHT clients. And while we work with most practices for 6-9 months intensely before moving to our less intensive alumni/maintenance services, we don’t consider our job “done” until you have a steady stream of those ideal clients coming in.

Prefer not to outsource for this one? No worries. We can also train you or another member of your team to optimize your private practice website for search engines.

March 18, 2023/0 Comments/by Jessica

Content, SEO Tools

ChatGPT: The AI-Powered Writing Assistant for SEO-Friendly Content

Having SEO and client-friendly content on your website is essential for any therapist or private practice. It helps potential clients find resources and see what kind of therapies you provide. Additionally, it helps keep you ranking on Google for the services you provide. However, not every therapist, private practice, or private practice owner is going to have time or someone to write this SEO-friendly content. This is why AI-powered writing assistants, like ChatGPT, were created.

Between clients, certifications/trainings, and your life outside of being a therapist, it can be hard to find the time to write content. It can also be challenging to write content if you’re not familiar with SEO practices or have a background in digital marketing. That’s why AI-powered writing assistants such as ChatGPT are becoming popular.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered writing assistant that will allow you to write quality SEO content. By using prompts, you can ask ChatGPT to write content in seconds and write about a variety of topics. For example, the ones that you come across in therapy, and would make a perfect blog.

It has access to a variety of sources, such as articles; research papers; databases, etc., only up until 2021. But as a language model, it does tend to fabricate information or will pull false information from a source. However, you can ask it to only use peer-review research. You can also ask it to only use correct, and factual information.

How Does ChatGPT Work?

When you are wanting ChatGPT to produce content for you, you have to give it a prompt. In this instance, a prompt is telling ChatGPT what you want it to do. For example, you can say “Please write a 700+ word blog about ‘What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?’ with an informational tone. Include detailed content.” This gives ChatGPT an idea of what you are wanting it to write about. Then it writes based on the information given and its understanding of the language.

The more information and prompts you give to ChatGPT the more it will alter your content to those specifications. Plus, the more you use ChatGPT, the better it will become at creating content that is tailored to you and your needs. That’s how it learns!

How Can ChatGPT Help with Writing SEO Content?

ChatGPT is capable of writing many forms of content like blogs, social media posts, meta descriptions, photo captions, about-the-author sections, and more. These are just a few of the ones I use for writing SEO content! It can help you optimize your content based on your goals for your SEO by suggesting relevant keywords and phrases based on your prompts. It can also provide you with keywords based on the content you had generated.

However, if you already have keywords in mind, you can ask it to include specific keywords and phrases that you are targeting. This can be keywords such as “EMDR” or “Anxiety Treatment in Utah”. ChatGPT can include your keywords in suggested headings and subheadings along with including them in the content it generates for you.

What are the Benefits of ChatGPT Writing My SEO-Friendly Content?

As a busy therapist, business owner, and someone who is wanting to better their SEO: ChatGPT has many benefits. It can assist you in improving your rankings on Google to creating quality content. It can be used as a tool in many aspects of your writing process to help you create SEO content that benefits your site.

Your Google Rankings Can Improve

Allowing you to incorporate keywords into your content more effectively and efficiently will help to draw more organic traffic to your website. ChatGPT will also help you to write unique and interesting content that will be helpful to your potential clients. Additionally, it will help capture your voice more effectively so it portrays your practice the way you want it to.

It Will Help With Faster SEO Content Creation

You may write your own content and love it, but notice you’re not able to write as much as you would like. It’s time-consuming as you have to be intentional about what you say as this content is for SEO purposes and for potential clients to use as a resource. However, with ChatGPT, it only takes minutes to have SEO content ready for you to edit and put on your website.

This will allow you to produce more content for your website which will increase your rankings on Google. It will also allow you to focus on other aspects of your practice, such as your clients. This way you don’t have to take time out of your schedule to create content that could be used to see clients.

You Can Have the Quality of Your Content Improved

Since ChatGPT has access to resources such as books, peer-reviewed articles, journals, and more, your content will have more unique and quality information. It can create content that is not only engaging for your target audience but also incorporate SEO elements so that it is beneficial to your SEO.

The Limitations of ChatGPT

As with anything, ChatGPT is not perfect. It will occasionally include errors with grammar, syntax, or misunderstanding prompts and tones that are given. However, it is constantly learning from its mistakes and it can be corrected by you prompting it again with an updated prompt such as “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was misspelled. Please correct it.” or asking it to fix any grammatical mistakes made.

OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, is constantly updating ChatGPT. They are also always trying to improve upon their limitations as they arise while they are still in beta. This way they can improve ChatGPT to be a better tool for writing quality content.

ChatGPT is an AI-powered assistant that allows you to create SEO-friendly content in a matter of minutes. It takes away the challenge for those who do not have a background in digital marketing or find that they are too busy to sit down and write all their content themselves. It’s a powerful tool that can benefit you and your practice’s SEO in many ways.

Learn More About ChatGPT with Our Private Practice SEO Services

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we want to provide you with the best SEO tools that can help make your job as a private practice owner easier. That’s why we have looked into and tested ChatGPT to see how it can benefit you as a private practice owner but also benefit clients who utilize our private practice SEO services. No matter your writing skill, ChatGPT can support you with writing SEO-friendly content to help boost your website’s rankings. Ready to get writing with ChatGPT?

Please apply to work with us
Learn about our team
Begin utilizing the power of SEO marketing for therapists!

Other SEO Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

If you feel as if you need more support, we are here to help! We offer options such as our 12-week training, small group intensives, and courses. Our strategy session can be a great option if you need support getting started with SEO or doing a site move or redesign. These can also be helpful to find better keywords, evaluating your current SEO performance, and more. Or, if you’re ready to work with a passionate and skilled team, our Done for You Program may be a great following approach.

About the Author:

Lynsey is an SEO Content Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting, where she takes pleasure in creating exceptional content for clients that reflects their unique brand voice and practice. She understands that high-quality content can significantly benefit her clients by improving their search engine rankings and attracting their ideal clients. Her ultimate objective is to employ the most advantageous copywriting tools to help clients maximize their return on investment. Lynsey’s passion lies in providing copywriting services, especially for mental health-related topics.

Apply to work with us if you’re ready to see how Simplified can serve you!

March 2, 2023/0 Comments/by Lynsey Heskett

Content, Training

In The World of YouTube is Blogging Still Worth it From an SEO Perspective?

In this day and age where we are bombarded with YouTube videos and Instagram reels, some of you may be wondering if blogging is still a worthwhile endeavor. Sometimes it seems so much easier to just record a quick video than commit the time to sit down and create new content by writing a blog.

The truth is, blogging is more important now than ever. Google wants to see new content that demonstrates your expertise and knowledge and blogging accomplishes this far better than a YouTube video.

With that being said, it is not to say that YouTubing is not important. Realistically the two platforms work together in sync to reach the widest audience possible. Let’s take a look at the importance of blogging and how it can work in conjunction with YouTube to grow your exposure on the web exponentially!

Is blogging still worth it from an SEO perspective?

Blogging Provides Content For Search Engines

Blogging provides content that search engines can index and use to understand the topic and context of a website. Regularly publishing high-quality, relevant blog posts can help increase a website’s visibility in search engine results, attract more traffic, and establish a website as a credible source of information in its niche.

Blogging Allows You to Perform On-Page SEO

In addition, blog posts can target specific keywords and provide opportunities for internal linking to other pages on a website, both of which can improve a website’s SEO.

Allows You to Attract and Engage Users

Overall, blogging can still play an important role in a comprehensive SEO strategy, providing valuable content that can attract and engage users, and improve a website’s visibility in search engines.

Blogging is also a valuable tool for content creators in the YouTube world because it offers the following:

Increased visibility:

Blogging allows creators to reach a wider audience beyond just their YouTube subscribers. People who stumble upon a blog post can then discover the creator’s YouTube channel.

Better search engine optimization (SEO): Blog posts allow for more specific keywords to be targeted, which can increase a content creator’s visibility on search engines such as Google.

Deeper engagement with the audience:

Blogs provide an opportunity for creators to share longer-form content and dive deeper into topics they cover on YouTube. This can help foster a deeper connection with their audience and keep them engaged.

Monetization opportunities:

Blogs can be used to promote products and services, including those related to the YouTube channel. This can provide an additional revenue stream for creators.

Improved brand image:

Blogging can help establish a content creator as a thought leader in their niche, improving their brand image and reputation.

Now You May Be Wondering… Is blogging more important than posting YouTube videos?

It depends on the goals and target audience of the content creator.

Blogging and posting YouTube videos both have their own unique benefits and drawbacks.

Blogging allows for longer-form, in-depth content and can provide better SEO benefits. However, video content is often more engaging and can reach a wider audience.

For content creators whose goal is to build a strong personal brand and establish themselves as a thought leader in their niche, blogging might be more important. However, for a content creator whose goal is to entertain and engage with a wider audience, posting YouTube videos might be more important.

Blogging is important to maintain SEO for several reasons:

Fresh content:

Search engines favor websites that regularly publish fresh, relevant content. Blogging provides an opportunity to publish new content on a consistent basis.

Relevance:

Blogging allows for targeting specific keywords and topics relevant to a website, improving its relevance in search engine results.

Long-tail keywords:

Blogging provides an opportunity to target long-tail keywords, which are more specific and have less competition, improving a website’s visibility in search results.

Internal linking:

Blogging provides opportunities for internal linking, which can help distribute link equity and improve the overall SEO of a website.

Engagement:

A blog provides an opportunity to engage with users and build a community, which can improve a website’s relevance and visibility in search results.

Regularly publishing high-quality blog posts can play an important role in maintaining and improving a website’s SEO. It provides fresh content, relevance, opportunities to target long-tail keywords, internal linking, and engagement with users.

On the other hand…

YouTube can be important for SEO for several reasons:

Video content:

Video content is highly engaging and can attract a large audience. This can drive traffic to a website and improve its visibility in search results.

Relevance:

YouTube videos can be optimized with relevant keywords and descriptions to improve their relevance in search engine results.

Backlinks:

YouTube videos can include links back to a website, providing valuable backlinks that can improve a website’s SEO.

Social signals:

YouTube is a social platform, and the engagement and shares a video receives can provide valuable social signals that search engines take into account when ranking a website.

User engagement:

Engaging and relevant YouTube videos can encourage users to spend more time on a website, which can improve its relevance and visibility in search results.

While YouTube is primarily a video platform, it can play an important role in a comprehensive SEO strategy. By providing engaging video content, relevant keywords, backlinks, social signals, and user engagement, YouTube can help improve a website’s visibility in search engine results.

Ultimately, both blogging and posting YouTube videos have value!

The most effective content strategy is likely to involve a combination of both. It’s important for content creators to assess their goals, target audience, and strengths, and then develop a content strategy that leverages both blogging and video content.

Here are a few ways to effectively use blogging and YouTube together:

Cross-promotion:

Promote each other’s content on both the blog and YouTube channels. For example, include a call-to-action in a YouTube video encouraging viewers to check out a related blog post.

Repurpose content: Convert popular blog posts into YouTube videos, or take key points from YouTube videos and expand upon them in a blog post.

Use blog posts to complement videos:

Use blog posts to provide additional information, background, or context for a topic covered in a YouTube video. You can take this one step further and embed your YouTube video at the top or bottom of the page. And then create a blog on the same page that summarizes the video. With this method, you get twice the return on your investment and twice the exposure!

Optimize for SEO:

Optimize both blog posts and YouTube videos with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and tags to improve search engine visibility.

Build a community:

Encourage audience engagement through blog post comments and YouTube video comments, and respond to comments on both platforms to build a loyal community.

By using blogging and YouTube together, content creators can reach a wider audience, provide deeper engagement with their audience, and improve their overall online presence.

In Conclusion, Blogging is Still a Key Piece of the SEO Puzzle!

Blogging is still definitely a key factor in the success of your business and its growth. Creating new content for Google and other search engines to index demonstrates your expertise, knowledge, site structure, and visibility on the web.

Blogging may seem like a huge time investment, but it really can be made easy! At Simplified SEO Consulting, we have blogging courses, blogs about blogging, and blogging retreats all geared toward making the process as painless as possible! Reach out to us to learn how these services and resources can help you become the best blogger you can be.

Be The Best Blogger Possible with Simplified SEO Consulting

Our team works closely with therapists nationwide to optimize their SEO based on analytical metrics! We offer support and resources to help you understand the need for blogging, which topics are relevant based on data, and how to harness your knowledge to create fantastic blogs. Our wonderful team of mental health SEO specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting would love to talk strategy with you and help you get connected with the best service for you. To get started with our service follow these simple steps:

Apply to Start SEO Services
Learn more about our talented team of mental health SEO Specialists
Start learning SEO for Mental Health Professionals!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO consulting offers a wide range of services that can help you begin working with your people. We offer Done for You SEO Service packages, online courses, and SEO training opportunities. Our most popular course includes our “Top of Google” online course, and we have 12 weeks of intensive SEO for those who want to learn with a guide. For those looking for a more specialized package, we also offer an SEO strategy package. To get started, fill out our application to start SEO services today!

About Mary, the Author of this SEO Article!

Mary is one of the members of our dedicated and knowledgeable SEO Specialists here at Simplified SEO Consulting. She brings with her certification in Google Analytics (Google Analytics IQ Certification). And she also understands the importance of analytics and their application. She loves working with our clients to create content that is relevant to their individual needs and especially loves watching them reap the rewards of their hard work!

If you are ready to start your analytical SEO journey with us, fill out our application to start SEO services with us now. Mary and the rest of our team are ready to support you!

February 9, 2023/0 Comments/by Mary Miller

Content, SEO Tools

New Copywriting Option: Basic Copywriting Versus Traditional

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we are now offering a new copywriting package option. It is for our clients that want to add helpful content to their websites. But more quickly and for less than the traditional copywriting package. As I’m sure you have heard, there is a new tool called Chat GPT. An AI tool that can be used to create content quickly. So, what does this mean for you and your options?

How are Our Copywriting Options Different?

We will now be offering a Basic Copywriting Package. This will only cost ½ a point per blog versus 1 point. It also utilizes Chat GPT with about 15 minutes of individualized by me, the copywriter. This is a faster and more affordable way for us to provide you with content. Content that can help you build your website and offer helpful content to your ideal clients.

This basic copywriting package will include limited customization in the writing stage. For example, it will only allow one round of edits. Using this AI technology, such as Chat GPT is a way to write content with a clear and simple message. However, it is not as customizable as our traditional copywriting package.

For instance, you will not receive a questionnaire as you would for a traditional copywriting package blog. You will inform your SEO specialist of a topic you would like us to write about. Then once the blog is written, you will be able to give feedback and edits. However, your SEO Specialist will still incorporate keywords and other helpful phrases your ideal clients are looking for. This is to ensure you won’t be penalized by search engines such as Google. This requires more in-depth optimization. This is why we will only be offering this new package to clients who are currently using our Done-For-You optimization services.

Traditional Copywriting Package

Our traditional copywriting package will still be available with the customization and editing you are used to. In this package, we will still do multiple rounds of edits and implementations of feedback. We want to ensure the content aligns with the voice of you and your practice. Our goal is to also make sure the content is what will be most helpful. Not only for you but for your practice to reach your target audience and ideal clients.

In this process, we will make sure that any keywords or phrases that you are wanting are included in the content. This way they will help you rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). This is why we will continue to send out blog post questionnaires via 17hats and email our clients to check their content before it goes live on their websites. So that you can be sure that you are getting the most out of your copywriting package and that your content is tailored to you.

Traditional copywriting will continue to have the optimization process involved. But with the traditional copywriting package you will have more control over the content and its outcome. Your SEO Specialist will still be responsible for incorporating keywords and other helpful phrases into your content, but you have the opportunity to give more feedback on how it should be done.

Does Chat GPT Really Work?

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we have taken the time to test Chat GPT by making content with it. And it does work. Not only have we been able to make content quickly but it has been accurate and meaningful. We had it write multiple blog posts. It was able to craft them in a way that was not only understandable but helpful as well. Along with having it answer questions that we would normally ask you in your questionnaires. This was to get a better understanding of its grasp of the material.

We were able to have it target specific topics such as a blog about anxiety treatment emphasizing the effectiveness of exposure therapy and exposure-based interventions. Chat GPT was able to write meaningful and accurate content. I was also able to customize the content by using our keywords. I was also able to tell Chat GPT what grade reading level to use and how long the content should be. It was able to change the way it wrote to match the specifications that I gave it.

The goal of offering the basic copywriting package is to make content creation more affordable and accessible to our clients while still giving them quality content. With this package, you can still have access to the same optimization process that comes with more traditional copywriting packages but at a more affordable rate.

Why You Should Use a Copywriter

You may be wondering why you should choose Simplified SEO Consulting to do your copywriting instead of doing it yourself. The answer is simple: we are experts in the field. You will have a professional copywriter who knows how to specify Chat GPT to write content. Content that is effective and interesting. As the copywriter, I will make sure Chat GPT produces quality work. I will also make sure that any keywords or phrases you want to be incorporated are done so accurately.

Furthermore, a copywriter has experience in writing content to meet the needs of your practice.

I have written for a lot of clients. I have also seen firsthand how effective good quality content can be in helping you rank higher on Google. But also reach your ideal clients. Having a professional copywriter supervise Chat GPT is a benefit. I will make sure it is producing quality content. But, you can be sure that the content you put on your website will be the best it can be but within a budget.

ChatGPT also has a feature where it can analyze writing to tell you what tone is being used. This feature can be implemented when I use ChatGPT to ensure it encompasses your voice when writing your content. Of course, like with any content, review and edits will be needed but this is another way I as a copywriter can use this tool to make your blogs sound more like your voice without you doing as much work.

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we are passionate about helping our clients. From reaching their goals in terms of ranking higher on Google and finding their ideal clients. We look forward to providing you with the copywriting package that will benefit you and your practice the most. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the copywriting packages further, please feel free to reach out. We look forward to working with you!

Learn More About Our Copywriting Packages

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we’re dedicated to providing you with the best tools to make managing your private practice easier. One of the ways we do this is through our copywriting packages. We offer two options: Basic and Traditional. If you’re looking for an easy, hassle-free way to create SEO-friendly content for your website, our Basic package is perfect for you. However, if you’re looking for a more personalized approach to copywriting, our Traditional package offers customized content tailored to your unique practice. No matter which package you choose, we’ve got you covered. So why not take the first step toward improving your website’s rankings? Try out our copywriting packages today!

Please apply to work with us
Learn about our team
Begin utilizing the power of SEO marketing for therapists!

Other SEO Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

About the Author:

Lynsey is an SEO Content Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting. At Simplified, Lynsey enjoys writing unique content for clients. Content that embodies the voice of the client and their practice. She knows that the quality content that she writes benefits her clients in many ways. From boosting their SEO to helping their ideal clients find them. Her goal is to utilize the most beneficial copywriting tools to help her clients get the most ROI out of their copywriting. She is passionate about providing copywriting services for mental

Apply to work with us if you’re ready to see how Simplified can serve you!

January 18, 2023/0 Comments/by Lynsey Heskett

Content, SEO Tools

Should a Private Practice Owner Use ChatGPT to Write Blogs?

Have you tried ChatGPT yet? It’s an interesting open-source AI tool that was released in November 2022 and has taken the world by storm. Chat GPT has been coming up in many of the recent conversations we’ve had, including with other therapists in the United States. And, our team has been “all hands on deck” investigating this tool. Furthermore, we’ve been internally discussing the pros/cons of suggesting people use this and how to mitigate any risks.

I Asked ChatGPT to Write A Blog Post About Pros/Cons of Using AI for Blog Writing

We’ll share a little bit more about what we’ve come up with in another upcoming blog post. In the meantime, I asked ChatGPT to write a sample blog post for me to discuss this topic. My goal in posting ChatGPT’s response below is two-fold: 1) I want you to see an example of the kind of work ChatGPT can do with a carefully selected prompt. 2) This is truly good content that we want to share.

A couple of things to note when it comes to using GPT….

Typically, if our Simplified SEO Consulting were going to use ChatGPT to write a blog post for our own site, we would do a decent amount of personalizing, rewriting, adding, etc. I have not done this below. The only change I made to the content below was to add headings/subheadings so you get a pretty clear picture of what this tool can provide and a couple of minor tweaks for clarity. However, I have read through the content for accuracy/relevance.

Also, I want to emphasize the point about reading through the content for accuracy/relevance. We’ve spoken with people using this new tool (ChatGPT) who have found it creating misinformation (which can happen with other AI tools as well) and sometimes writing things with some bias. In this particular blog post, I didn’t find any misinformation.

In fact, ChatGPT currently has a message on its site reading, “While we have safeguards in place, the system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content. It is not intended to give advice.” So, if you’re going to use ChatGPT, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of checking your content for accuracy and making sure it fully represents you and your brand.

Chat GPT’s Blog Post on Pros/Cons of Using AI to Write Blog Posts

(From here to the next H2 subheading, ChatGPT did the copywriting with Jessica providing careful instructions and reading carefully for the quality of the content before posting.)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way in recent years and has the potential to revolutionize the way we do things, including writing blog posts. While AI-generated content can save time and effort, it’s important to consider the potential drawbacks and the impact on search engine optimization (SEO).

Pros of Using AI Such as ChatGPT to Write Blog Posts:

Time-saving: One of the biggest advantages of using AI to write blog posts is the time-saving aspect. AI algorithms can analyze a large amount of data and generate content in a matter of seconds, whereas a human writer would take significantly longer to research and write a similar piece.
Consistency: Another benefit of AI-generated content is the ability to maintain a high level of consistency in terms of tone, style, and formatting. AI algorithms can be programmed to follow specific guidelines, ensuring that the content produced adheres to brand standards.
Cost-effective: In addition to saving time, using AI to write blog posts can also be cost-effective. AI algorithms don’t require breaks, vacation time, or sick leave, and they can work 24/7 without any additional costs.

Cons of Using AI to Write Blog Posts:

Lack of creativity: One of the main drawbacks of using AI to write blog posts is the lack of creativity. AI algorithms are designed to follow specific rules and guidelines, which means they may not be able to come up with original ideas or produce content that stands out.
Quality: Another concern with AI-generated content is the quality of the writing. While AI algorithms have come a long way, they still may not be able to produce content that is as well-written or engaging as content produced by a human writer.
Legal issues: There may also be legal issues to consider when using AI to write blog posts. In some countries, it is not clear who owns the copyright of AI-generated content. This could potentially lead to disputes over ownership and the right to use the content.

Impact of using ChatGPT & Other AI Resources on SEO:

The use of AI to write blog posts could have a significant impact on SEO. Search engines like Google use algorithms to rank websites based on the quality and relevance of the content. If AI-generated content is not up to par, it could negatively affect the ranking of a website.

Additionally, search engines are designed to identify and penalize websites that engage in spammy or low-quality practices. If search engines determine that a website is using AI-generated content in an attempt to manipulate the ranking, it could result in a penalty or even a ban from the search results.

Potential Solutions to Mitigating Risks of Using AI

One potential solution to the quality and creativity issues with AI-generated content is to use it as a starting point and have a human writer edit and refine the content. This way, the time-saving benefits of AI can be leveraged while still ensuring the final product is of high quality and meets the necessary standards. This approach could also help mitigate concerns about the impact on SEO and potential legal issues. However, it’s important to carefully consider the resources and budget required to implement this hybrid approach.

In conclusion, the use of AI to write blog posts has both pros and cons. While it can save time and effort, and provide a level of consistency, it may lack creativity and the quality may not be up to par with human-generated content. It’s also important to consider the potential impact on SEO and the potential legal issues. Ultimately, it’s important to carefully weigh the pros and cons before deciding to use AI to write blog posts.

Other Ways to Use ChatGPT for Blogging

(This is back to Jessica writing, not Chat GPT)

If you don’t want to take the risk of asking ChatGPT to write a blog for you (or don’t want to have it write one you then have to individualize), there are other ways ChatGPT can be helpful for you as a private practice owner who blogs. A few ideas include:

Ask ChatGPT to give you a list of blogging ideas related to a topic you want to rank better for. My team and I have found that some of the ideas it gives are really good. In fact, our copywriter said she likes this better that some of the other tools we use to get blog post ideas.
Ask ChatGPT to write an outline for a blog post you’d like to write. So far, I think this is my personal favorite use. The outlines it’s given me have been pretty good. It usually suggests a couple paragraphs I don’t end up writing and I add in a few of my own. But it’s a great way to at least get started!
Have ChatGPT to give you several possible ideas for a title for a blog post you’ve written. Another great use as I’ve found the title ideas it gives pretty good!
Ask it to write a meta description for you. I’ve done this a few times and have personally chosen to rewrite the meta descriptions to be even better. But it has given a basic meta description, so if you’re just starting to optimize your own metas you may find this really useful.

About the Author(s)

First, let’s acknowledge that much of this post (as disclosed above) was written by ChatGPT. That said, Jessica Tappana was very careful in making sure even that content was high quality and helpful to you as a practice owner. She gave it carefully crafted instructions. Then, she read over the post for accuracy. She also added subheadings and made just a couple minor changes for clarity so the content would be useful and applicable for private practice owners. Even when ChatGPT is our second author, we want to emphasize that we’re only posting content that we believe will truly help private practice owners get in front of their ideal clients and add true value for their audience. Jessica, and our entire team, believe in doing SEO and website content in a responsible, ethical way and seek to share content with you that you will find helpful.

January 16, 2023/9 Comments/by Jessica

Content

A Four Month Plan to Create Well Ranking Website Copy

If you’re like most therapists, you may feel overwhelmed when it comes to creating quality content for your website. You may not even know where to start! In this blog post, we will give you a step-by-step plan that will help improve your website’s SEO over the next four months. Having quality content is one of the most important factors in getting Google to notice your website, so following this plan is essential if you want to see results!

It’s hard for Google to rank your website well if it doesn’t fully understand what you’re website is about. So, creating quality, meaningful content is an important step in optimizing your website.

Furthermore, if your website doesn’t have much copy, Google is likely to think that other websites are going to be more useful to website visitors searching for answers to their mental health questions. So, having a lot of fresh content on your website that addresses the specific things clients are searching for in a comprehensive, direct way will go a long way toward convincing Google to share your website with people searching.

A Plan to Build Well-Ranking Content

Over the next four months, we suggest you follow this copywriting plan to systematically build up your content and visibility.

Month One

Rewrite your home page, a personalized FAQ page about page and an “our office” page. We recommend using the Storybrand website page wireframe at least on the home page and potentially for some of your service pages. If you’re getting really stuck writing these, you can use Empathy Copy for a first draft of these pages to get you going quickly. Then, continue personalizing it to make sure your website is speaking directly to your clients’ needs.

Months 2, 3 & 4

Create one service page (example: Addiction Counseling or Couples Therapy), publish one blog post each week related to that topic & also post weekly on Google My Business about that topic.

Our SEO Content Strategy is Evolving

This is a little bit different than the strategy we used to recommend. I used to have great success helping therapists write and optimize several service pages per month. And, we sometimes still recommend this.

However, more and more we’re finding ourselves recommending instead that private practices focus on building up their authority and trust with Google by creating content around one topic at a time. As the world of SEO for mental health providers becomes more competitive, we’re constantly researching, experimenting and tweaking our strategy to keep offering you the advice that will get you the best possible ROI.

A Sample Plan for a Group Practice Specializing in Couples Therapy

Here is how this plan might look for a small group practice with an in person office that specializes in couples therapy. Below I’ve made a bullet point list of what content you’d write each month and post on the website for four months.

Month 1

Rewrite the home page (if needed)
Write a custom FAQ page with photos
Write an “Our Office” page with pictures of the office
Write a simple “Our Couples Counselors” page introducing each clinician

Month 2

Write a Premarital Counseling Page
Write four blog posts about premarital counseling
- 10 Questions Every Couple Should Discuss Before Marriage
- All Your Premarital Counseling Questions Answered
- 3 Surprising Benefits to Premarital Counseling
- How to Find a Great Premarital Counselor
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

Month 3

Write a Discernment Counseling Page
Write four blog posts about discernment counseling
- What is discernment counseling?
- What can I expect from discernment counseling?
- Can Discernment counseling save my marriage?
- Everything You Need to Know About Discernment Counseling (this one can very briefly describe the answers to the other questions and link back to those blog posts for more detailed information)
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

Month 4

Write a Marriage Counseling Page
Write four blog posts about Marriage counseling
- 5 basic relationship tips from a marriage counselor
- A local marriage counselor recommends 3 great date spots
- How long does marriage counseling take?
- Do I have to be married to benefit from couples counseling?
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

A Sample Copywriting Plan for a Private Pay Psychiatry & Medication Management Practice

This plan is going to look a little different for each practice, so I wanted to give you at least two examples. Here is how this plan might look for a private pay psychiatry and medication management practice with one medication provider providing online medication management services.

Month 1

Rewrite the home page (if needed)
A “Service” page (describing the initial evaluation, follow up appointments, telehealth, etc)
A personalized FAQ page
An “Online Psychiatric Medication Management” page describing the benefits of online appointments

Month 2

Start a new tab for “Conditions Treated”
Write a “Depression” page describing your approach to medication management for depression & common medications that might be prescribed
Write blog posts related to depression
- Can medicine really help with depression?
- Should I see a therapist or a psychiatrist for my depression?
- What are the most common antidepressants?
- How does my psychiatrist decide which antidepressant to prescribe for me?
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

Month 3

Write a “Anxiety” page describing your approach to medication management for anxiety & common medications that might be prescribed
Write blog posts related to anxiety
- Can medicine really help with anxiety?
- Benzodiazapines: The good and the bad
- PRNs for Anxiety: What they are and when to use them
- I thought SSRIs were an antidepressant, so why did my psychiatrist prescribe them for anxiety?
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

Month 4

Write a “Bipolar Disorder” page describing your approach to medication management for bipolar disorder & common medications that might be prescribed
Write blog posts related to bipolar disorder
- What’s the difference between Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2?
- Will I have to take medication for Bipolar Disorder forever?
- Everything You Need to Know About Mood Stabilizers
- Common Medications Prescribed for Bipolar Disorder
Post the new blog as an “update” on Google My Business each week

Stuck on what to include in your copywriting plan?

Writer’s block is so very real. Here are some other blog posts from our team about copywriting:

It’s Time to Get Writing

We hope this four-month copywriting plan gives you the confidence and structure to get started with improving your website’s SEO. Just remember that quality content is key and it takes time for Google to recognize your efforts. Good luck!

More Help for SEO & Your CopywritingPlan

If you’re looking for more help creating a personalized copywriting plan and/or optimizing your website for SEO, our team would love to help. We have a copywriter who can help you create amazing content. Then, we have a great Done for You Team who can help optimize the pages you’ve written. OR, we have several options to help you optimize the pages you’ve written yourself including affordable DIY courses, a small group training intensive (Danica is great about giving you structure and accountability so you get the optimizing done!), a 12 week individual training program tailored totally to your needs or an upcoming Hawaii July 2023 cruise where we’ll sit next to you and give you optimizing support while also soaking up some sun!

About the Author

Jessica Tappana is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, owner of a group practice in Missouri and the founder of Simplified SEO Consulting. She’s passionate about helping therapists attract their ideal clients by utilizing organic SEO, copywriting and marketing skills.

January 5, 2023/0 Comments/by Jessica

Content, SEO Basics

The Perils of Pre-Written Blog Posts: Why Therapists Should Write Their Own Blog Posts

Therapists are often told they should maintain their blogs. To not only market themselves and their services, but to share their knowledge. As a therapist, you may get behind on blogging due to being busy at your practice. Or you struggle with blogging because you can’t find the inspiration. It all makes sense. However, this creates opportunities for therapists to turn to pre-written therapist content and pre-written social media posts.

This pre-written therapist content may be convenient but comes with perils. Ones that can directly affect your SEO and cost you clients. In this blog, I will talk about the perils that come with pre-written therapist content and pre-written social media posts for therapists.

Duplicate Content

First, I want to put it out there that I understand why a therapist would want to choose pre-written therapist content. It’s convenient and makes it easy for a therapist who is busy, doesn’t like writing, or isn’t good at it. However, when you choose services that provide you with pre-written blogs, pre-written social media posts, or just pre-written therapist content in general, you risk the odds of having the same material as someone else. This is called duplicate content. Duplicate content is when content is similar or even the exact same content on other websites or even your own.

These services don’t take away options once someone chooses them. The services tell the clients they can personalize them and hope that some will. So maybe the posts will be less identical. But, why did you choose a pre-written blog or social media post in the first place? So you didn’t have to write it yourself. So, the odds of someone personalizing the pre-written content to where they are not even a sliver of the same is very slim. Which means there is duplicate content on your and another person’s page. This also means Google will notice there is duplicate content and there can be consequences.

Google Will Find Out

Why should you worry about duplicate content and Google finding it? Google states in their terms of service, “We want to maintain a respectful environment for everyone, which means you must follow these basic rules of conduct: – comply with applicable laws, including export control, sanctions, and human trafficking laws -respect the rights of others, including privacy and intellectual property rights”. Google then goes on to say “Your content remains yours, which means that you retain any intellectual property rights that you have in your content.

For example, you have intellectual property rights in the creative content you make, such as reviews you write. Or you may have the right to share someone else’s creative content if they’ve given you their permission. We need your permission if your intellectual property rights restrict our use of your content. You provide Google with that permission through this license.” Google clearly states that they need your permission to share your content. Just like you need permission to share others’ content. This is why the license to use Google is the agreement to share your content with them. So they can use it to track patterns of data along with preventing spam, malware, and illegal content.

Google also goes on to define your content as “Your content: Some of our services give you the opportunity to make your content publicly available — for example, you might post a product or restaurant review that you wrote, or you might upload a blog post that you created”. So, to specifically highlight that Google even points out that blog posts that people write and share are covered by intellectual property rights. This means if the owner of the original content finds out you’re sharing their content without their permission, you can be sued.

Ownership of Pre-Written Content

So having large amounts of duplicate content can have some negative impact on Google rankings. They claim it is highly unlikely but can happen. But, Google will also not be sure who the original content’s owner is. Unless you submit a DMCA request to claim ownership of the content. A DMCA is a legal request also sent to the infringing website owner requesting the content to be removed. Also, Google will also be unsure of which version of the pre-written content to keep in its indices. This will lead to Google having to decide which version of the content is the most trustworthy and which will be linked to during search results.

The trouble for you as the website owner with the duplicate pre-written therapist content, this means you might not be getting recognition or credit for the content. Google will have to choose one site to be the authority on this blog post’s content. They will divert all search traffic from Google searches to the one they deem the most trustworthy and less to the duplicates. This means, if Google does not deem you the original content provider or the authority on this topic, you will not get any search results for it. It can also negatively impact your rankings.

Google Penalties

Google has also stated that in some circumstances, that duplicate content can lead to penalties. Or, the complete deindexing of a website. However, there is no specific duplicate content penalty, and mostly happens to websites that scrape content from other sites. But, this means that if your website has an excessive amount of duplicate content, Google may completely deindex your website where it will not come up in search results at all.

It is rare but if Google notices that you are continuously posting pre-written content that is posted on other sites, it could be a cause for concern. It could put your website and all of your hard work in harm’s way. Also, it could also damage your credibility. However, as stated above, the original owner of the content can submit a DCMA request to have the content removed from your website.

This Affects Your SEO

As I mentioned above, Google won’t know who wrote your content originally. It will just see that the pre-written content is duplicated on multiple pages. It will have to choose out of all the duplicate content who receives the authority, and trust. Along with getting the Google search results rankings. This means that if you’re not the authority or main page, you can really lower your rankings if you continuously use pre-written content that is also used by others.

However, if you are the main page or the authority, it can also have a negative impact. Your rankings may be strong at first but as more people duplicate the same pre-written content, it will slowly impact your rankings. This will also lead to people finding your website and content less and less, which leads to fewer clients. No therapist or private practice wants that.

How Does Pre-Written Content Affect Your SEO?

Besides leading to fewer rankings, duplicate content can result in less organic traffic as Google likes to avoid ranking pages that use duplicate content found on other websites and pages. This can be from someone scraping your content, having multiple of the same pages on your website, or even having printable versions of your URL.

Sometimes Google doesn’t want to rank it at all and will even refuse to index your pages with duplicate content. Which means your content isn’t even searchable on Google. Which can burn your website’s crawl budget on all your duplicate content. For the person who wrote the original content, it can lead to a dilution of backlinks. It can even look as if they purchased backlinks, which is a way to lessen credibility.

Ethics

Now, not only can it affect your website and rankings, but it’s not ethical. Some services will take content from other sites where the content is original and use them for pre-written content services. This not only will affect you by having duplicate content on your site but affect the original content’s owner because their authority on the topic will be questioned. It also will appear as if they have duplicate content when they wrote the post. It also will hurt their SEO.

Which is an unfair byproduct of this process. However, the original content that they expertly wrote where can end up on the website of a therapist who is not an expert on that topic. It leads to the therapist who chose the pre-written content advertising they are an expert. When in reality, it was content pulled from an expert’s website.

As a Copywriter, I Would Prefer You Wrote Your Own Blogs

I am the copywriter for Simplified SEO Consulting and I write for our clients by request. I absolutely love my job as I get to write about interesting topics and tailor all content to the client’s voice. I’m saying this because I would rather you, a therapist or mental health professional, write your own blogs and social media posts over using pre-written, canned content. If you’re struggling with writing for your website, consider hiring a copywriter. Because a copywriter will be able to individualize your content and you won’t have to worry about it being a duplicate.

Here are some of our favorite SEO Sources and what they say about duplicate content:

Begin Writing Your Own Content Today!

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we understand that crafting high-quality content can be a daunting task for private practice owners. While pre-written content may seem like an easy solution, it can actually be detrimental to your online presence. Duplicate content can hurt your search engine rankings and make it difficult for potential clients to find you. Hiring a copywriter or utilizing tools like ChatGPT can help you create original, SEO-friendly content that showcases your unique expertise and practice. Don’t let pre-written content hold you back. Let Simplified SEO Consulting help you develop a content strategy that will set you apart from the rest. Ready to begin?

Please apply to work with us
Learn about our team
Begin writing original content today!

Other SEO Services At Simplified SEO Consulting

If you feel as if you want to learn more, there are other services you can use as well! We offer options such as our 12-week training, small group intensives, and courses. Our strategy session can be a great option if you need support getting started with SEO or doing a site move or redesign. These can also be helpful to find better keywords, evaluating your current SEO performance, and more. Or, if you’re ready to work with a passionate and skilled team, our Done for You Program may be a great following approach

About the Author:

Lynsey is an SEO Content Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting. At Simplified, Lynsey enjoys writing original content for clients and their practices. She realizes that writing quality, original content is important not only to her clients but to their practice and the clients that go there too! Especially, with the content being used as a resource or even just to boost a client’s SEO. Her goal is to always create content that resonates with the client and learn as much as she can along the way. She is passionate about providing copywriting services for psychiatrists and therapists.

Apply to work with us if you’re ready to see how Simplified can serve you!

December 1, 2022/0 Comments/by Danica Wolf