Psychology Today is the number one online marketing tool to attract new clients to your private practice. By optimizing your profile, you can maximize your reach, attract more clients and stand out.
Step 1: Catch the Attention of Prospective Clients
There are hundreds (even thousands) of therapists using Psychology Today. So to stand out on the platform you need to catch your ideal prospective clients attention. To do this, you need to create a powerful statement that resonates with your prospective clients in the first few sentences of your profile. Powerful statements stop prospective clients in their tracks so they click on your profile to learn more. The most effective way to create a powerful statement is by using “You” statements that accurately describe your prospective client’s current situation.
Psychology Today shows the first 200 characters for your profile statement in the results view page. So your powerful statement should reflect your ideal prospective clients’ feelings, experiences and current situation.
As Psychology Today rotates therapist profiles regularly on the results page, you may not show for every prospective client. This is because prospective clients typically only view the first few pages, especially when there are 10 or more pages of therapist listings. So, it’s that much more important to ensure that when you do show up, prospective clients are compelled to click on your profile to read more
Step 2: Create Connection through your Profile
When you create connection through your profile, you also demonstrate empathy. Creating connection means that you’re highlighting your prospective clients current struggles and their desired solutions. When I say solutions, I’m not talking about the therapeutic approaches that you use, but instead the actual outcome(s) or result(s) that your ideal prospective client wants by working with a therapist. Such solutions may include coping strategies, communication skills or having someone ‘neutral’ to speak with.
When you create connection through your profile, the main goal is for your ideal prospective clients’ initial thought to be, “Wow! This person gets me! I need to reach out to them.” Clients who feel connection towards a profile are much more likely to take the next step and contact you.
When creating connection, your Psychology Today profile should speak more about your prospective client than it does about you. Profile’s that more about the therapist often do not get as many referrals than profiles that directly directly to and about the client.
But don’t worry because you’ll still be able to share information about yourself as Psychology Today provides opportunities on the side bar of your profile for you to highlight your credentials, skills and approaches so that your ideal prospective client will see your unique skills easily.
Step 3: Expand Your Profile’s Client Reach
When you optimize your Psychology Today profile’s client reach, you reach more prospective clients. There are two ways to expand your profile’s reach:
Use the “Target Your Listing” feature to add additional Listing areas
If you haven’t already, you can add additional towns/cities to the Target Your Listing feature on your dashboard. This allows you to show up in more searches in these areas.
Add a video to your profile
When you add a video to your profile, it’s shown more often on the results page of the searches. If you haven’t noticed, Psychology Today lists profiles that have videos on the middle of each results page. This means that even if your main profile is on page 100, your video may be shown on pages before that – allowing you to show up more frequently for prospective clients.
Step 4: Know your Profile Metrics
Is your Psychology Today profile actually attracting clients? It’s important to track your Psychology Today metrics to determine if your profile is performing well (or not).
On your Psychology Today dashboard, you’ll notice a box with the number of searches your profile has shown up, the number of times your profile was clicked on, and how many contacts you’ve gotten (whether it be a call, email or website click). When you track your metrics you can determine the conversion rate for your profile, which is the rate at which a prospective client clicks on your profile and contacts you. Knowing your conversion rate can give you a better idea if your profile is performing well.
Step 5: Make Changes When Needed
Don’t be afraid to make changes to your Psychology Today profile when needed. The great thing about your Psychology Today profile is that you can easily change it up at any time. If your profile is not performing well, change it up. If you’ve changed your private practice niche, change it up. If you’re just bored and want something to do, change it up. You can never update it too many times.
I believe your Psychology Today profile is your strongest passive marketing tool. It simply sits there and gets you client referrals!
So, why not make the most out it? Go ahead! 🙂
What Next?
Join our free Boosting Business: Therapists Private Practice Community on Facebook so that you’re a part of a like-minded therapist community that provides resources, networking opportunities, and a community who’s always there to cheer you on at every stage of private practice growth!
Have You Optimized Your Psychology Today Profile?
Optimizing your profile’s performance is essential in order to increase your client contacts. But many therapists underutilize their profile and they don’t even know it.
In this 28-minute webinar, you’ll learn 5 ways to optimize your Psychology Today profile so that your profile receives the attention that it deserves.
Discover your private practice stage with this free quiz!
When you take this quiz, you’ll discover your private practice stage, identify the challenges you’re currently facing in your practice, and gain steps and strategies for overcoming these challenges with a personalized playlist of episodes from the Designer Practice Podcast that discusses topics about your specific stage.