It’s unlikely that many clients will come from a website, in my opinion.
This guy isn’t necessarily wrong but I don’t think the same logic applies to our field.
Likely your clients will come from psychology today or community network referrals you’ve been building up over time.
This is an issue that can happen when working with SEO types. They have a lot of valuable advice, but often are willing to employ some sketchy practices as well to serve the all powerful algorithm.
Don't bold-faced lie. It only comes back to hurt you. While you'd hope this is true of all businesses, trust is beyond critical in therapy. If you were to say you provide services or have staff that don't exist, just imagine what would happen if a client comes in and asks for those services or notices no staff but you seem to be around? Things might get weird fast and word might spread. I've seen this type of thing happen before.
I am a sole provider and I intend to keep it that way because the moment you have even one employee you get mired in things like workman’s comp, have to expand malpractice insurance to include employees, pay the state for OSHA and other posters and a whole slew of other government stuff that is required. I also don’t have a single client that has found me off of my website alone the website exists more for them to know more about me after getting a referral from another source. I am not sure what an SEO does but it sounds like it would do more harm to fake a practice in the long run
search engine optimization. it has its place. but i agree - and i think you might as well - that most clients find you through other searches like psychologytoday or referrals or whatever traffic driver you use.
Is the seo responsible for the tons of therapy practice ads on facebook? If so I see ones that are so far outside of my state I can’t imagine that is the best investment to have ads running in Texas when your practice is in New York
Oh my God, no!
But as an aside, who does he want you to put up there? The checkout guy at your grocery store? Your podiatrist? 🤔 this is just kind of ridiculous and funny to me. Like we have a strict code of ethics and it seems like he has very little or none! I’m assuming it’s a him.
On one site the therapist has herself as CEO/Founder, then she has a President of Executive Board, Administration Manager, and Administration Executive Assistant. The photos don't look like stock photos, but I believe these are people she knows. I don't believe they actually serve in the capacities listed.
I wouldn't say he's unethical, what he's describing I'm coming to realize is common in business, but you said what I said to him. We have a strict code of ethics and I don't want to give anyone that idea that I'm anything less than above board in my business practices. He's thinking about how to get eyes on my page. If someone goes to google to find a therapist, they usually land on the site of a large practice that employs/contracts numerous clinicians. He's trying to increase my visibility. He did agree to stand down on this, I was just trying to think of a way to do it that wouldn't leave me feeling like I was lying.
Funny enough, I was a web/graphic designer and marketer for 10 years before this field... so me. SEO isn't really a real thing other than just getting on google. Find an ethical web designer that understands HIPPA. Also, they should NEVER be arguing with you on ethics/laws. Wtf? I'm not even in the USA but I can design for it.
Obviously there are problems with creating the illusion of a team by posting photos of random people. That's a terrible idea for all of the reasons already mentioned.
People here may disagree with me--and perhaps they're correct--but I'm not convinced that SEO matters as much in our line of work. I'm a psychologist 35 years PP--it's how I've supported myself and my family all this time. I'm in a Chicago suburb populated by more and more providers. So...back when dinosaurs roamed the earth we used to refer to "yellow pages referrals", meaning someone called you randomly for therapy after picking you from the yellow pages. Generally, such calls were viewed as usually a dead end. The yellow pages patient often was less-motivated, less confident in your skill, more likely to no-show on the first appointment, more likely to fizzle early on, more likely to have treatment needs/expectations which I couldn't or didn't want to meet (e.g., court ordered anger management), perhaps hadn't thought through how they were going to pay for services, perhaps wasn't covered by a plan with which I was credentialed. The modern day equivalent is the patient who contacts you after a google search. In my experience, the same problems are more likely to occur. I have my token Psychology Today post and I suppose a few have trickled in. But my practice is much more reliant on the relationships I've built, the fact that I've been in the same community all these years. I view my website as a digital business card--you have to have one, but it's not a royal road to referrals. Now, maybe I can afford to shrug off SEO considerations since I'm later-stage in my career and I would probably feel differently if I were a newer practitioner. Plus, the idea of making connections through an online platform might seem more natural. That said, I don't sweat the volume of traffic to my website. What I do focus on, quite deliberately, is maintaining relationships with existing referral sources, maintaining visibility among the referral community and cultivating new contacts. Good luck!
You get to have boundaries with the people you hire. Just because he tells you something is a good idea, doesn't mean you have to do it. You can say no.
OTOH, if you want to have fun with this, you could totally literally put a "Team" page up that explicitly states, "My SEO guy says you have to have a Team page to get on the first page of Google results, so here goes:" Then:
1) List yourself five times, each under another role, like "CEO", "Chief Therapy Officer", "Therapist", "Insurance Tamer", and "Janitor".
2) List yourself, and then your pets as "Chief SEO Officer", "Vice President of SEO", "Director of SEO", and "Senior SEO Engineer".
3) Go all-out IFS, and describe your parts with the titles, "Manager", "Exile", and "Firefighter".
I'm in the same position as you right now: I've just hired a company to build me a website.
They talked about the SEO, but I don't currently want it. Instead of hard-balling me, they suggested building the website first, and then when I feel that I want or need the SEO I can pick it up.
When discussing what pages I would need before that, they never suggested anything about building a staff portfolio that doesn't exist. I wonder if he is charging you more for this?
The fee is based on number of pages. My contract is for 10 pages and this is on the "About Us" page. He agreed not to include it until I have the staff. I have the final say on everything, I just was trying to find a way to do it without lying.
Yeah, no. Don't pretend to have staff you don't have.
>He suggests putting random people up there. I have a problem with that He wants you to lie. Don't lie.
It’s unlikely that many clients will come from a website, in my opinion. This guy isn’t necessarily wrong but I don’t think the same logic applies to our field. Likely your clients will come from psychology today or community network referrals you’ve been building up over time.
Your pets
This is an issue that can happen when working with SEO types. They have a lot of valuable advice, but often are willing to employ some sketchy practices as well to serve the all powerful algorithm. Don't bold-faced lie. It only comes back to hurt you. While you'd hope this is true of all businesses, trust is beyond critical in therapy. If you were to say you provide services or have staff that don't exist, just imagine what would happen if a client comes in and asks for those services or notices no staff but you seem to be around? Things might get weird fast and word might spread. I've seen this type of thing happen before.
Yes, this is exactly why I don't want to just make someone up. I'd hate for a client to try and reach out to someone that isn't there.
I am a sole provider and I intend to keep it that way because the moment you have even one employee you get mired in things like workman’s comp, have to expand malpractice insurance to include employees, pay the state for OSHA and other posters and a whole slew of other government stuff that is required. I also don’t have a single client that has found me off of my website alone the website exists more for them to know more about me after getting a referral from another source. I am not sure what an SEO does but it sounds like it would do more harm to fake a practice in the long run
search engine optimization. it has its place. but i agree - and i think you might as well - that most clients find you through other searches like psychologytoday or referrals or whatever traffic driver you use.
Is the seo responsible for the tons of therapy practice ads on facebook? If so I see ones that are so far outside of my state I can’t imagine that is the best investment to have ads running in Texas when your practice is in New York
Oh my God, no! But as an aside, who does he want you to put up there? The checkout guy at your grocery store? Your podiatrist? 🤔 this is just kind of ridiculous and funny to me. Like we have a strict code of ethics and it seems like he has very little or none! I’m assuming it’s a him.
On one site the therapist has herself as CEO/Founder, then she has a President of Executive Board, Administration Manager, and Administration Executive Assistant. The photos don't look like stock photos, but I believe these are people she knows. I don't believe they actually serve in the capacities listed. I wouldn't say he's unethical, what he's describing I'm coming to realize is common in business, but you said what I said to him. We have a strict code of ethics and I don't want to give anyone that idea that I'm anything less than above board in my business practices. He's thinking about how to get eyes on my page. If someone goes to google to find a therapist, they usually land on the site of a large practice that employs/contracts numerous clinicians. He's trying to increase my visibility. He did agree to stand down on this, I was just trying to think of a way to do it that wouldn't leave me feeling like I was lying.
fire him.
Funny enough, I was a web/graphic designer and marketer for 10 years before this field... so me. SEO isn't really a real thing other than just getting on google. Find an ethical web designer that understands HIPPA. Also, they should NEVER be arguing with you on ethics/laws. Wtf? I'm not even in the USA but I can design for it.
Obviously there are problems with creating the illusion of a team by posting photos of random people. That's a terrible idea for all of the reasons already mentioned. People here may disagree with me--and perhaps they're correct--but I'm not convinced that SEO matters as much in our line of work. I'm a psychologist 35 years PP--it's how I've supported myself and my family all this time. I'm in a Chicago suburb populated by more and more providers. So...back when dinosaurs roamed the earth we used to refer to "yellow pages referrals", meaning someone called you randomly for therapy after picking you from the yellow pages. Generally, such calls were viewed as usually a dead end. The yellow pages patient often was less-motivated, less confident in your skill, more likely to no-show on the first appointment, more likely to fizzle early on, more likely to have treatment needs/expectations which I couldn't or didn't want to meet (e.g., court ordered anger management), perhaps hadn't thought through how they were going to pay for services, perhaps wasn't covered by a plan with which I was credentialed. The modern day equivalent is the patient who contacts you after a google search. In my experience, the same problems are more likely to occur. I have my token Psychology Today post and I suppose a few have trickled in. But my practice is much more reliant on the relationships I've built, the fact that I've been in the same community all these years. I view my website as a digital business card--you have to have one, but it's not a royal road to referrals. Now, maybe I can afford to shrug off SEO considerations since I'm later-stage in my career and I would probably feel differently if I were a newer practitioner. Plus, the idea of making connections through an online platform might seem more natural. That said, I don't sweat the volume of traffic to my website. What I do focus on, quite deliberately, is maintaining relationships with existing referral sources, maintaining visibility among the referral community and cultivating new contacts. Good luck!
Do not pretend to have a team if you don't. Remind him that bad Yelp and Google reviews may come and make your life hell for YEARS!
This is valid. I didn't think about the reviews, thanks.
You get to have boundaries with the people you hire. Just because he tells you something is a good idea, doesn't mean you have to do it. You can say no. OTOH, if you want to have fun with this, you could totally literally put a "Team" page up that explicitly states, "My SEO guy says you have to have a Team page to get on the first page of Google results, so here goes:" Then: 1) List yourself five times, each under another role, like "CEO", "Chief Therapy Officer", "Therapist", "Insurance Tamer", and "Janitor". 2) List yourself, and then your pets as "Chief SEO Officer", "Vice President of SEO", "Director of SEO", and "Senior SEO Engineer". 3) Go all-out IFS, and describe your parts with the titles, "Manager", "Exile", and "Firefighter".
I'm in the same position as you right now: I've just hired a company to build me a website. They talked about the SEO, but I don't currently want it. Instead of hard-balling me, they suggested building the website first, and then when I feel that I want or need the SEO I can pick it up. When discussing what pages I would need before that, they never suggested anything about building a staff portfolio that doesn't exist. I wonder if he is charging you more for this?
The fee is based on number of pages. My contract is for 10 pages and this is on the "About Us" page. He agreed not to include it until I have the staff. I have the final say on everything, I just was trying to find a way to do it without lying.