Uncommon Conversations » private practice success

Website Success Strategies – Next Program Starts April 4th

Joe Bavonese — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:32:34 +0000

The innovative Website Success Strategies Personal Program is available anytime for registration. Participants learn the most essential concepts and strategies for generating local referrals to your practice. All program information is presented in online webinar format – so you can learn online or download to your own computer to review whenever you want – with a very comprehensive list of resources.

Program information is supported by weekly Group Conference Calls and ongoing support via our private Basecamp Forum.

For more information go to:

Website Success Strategies; call 800 940 0185 or email
info@uncommonpractices.com

Feedback from recent participants:

“This program was INCREDIBLE. I should say at the outset that I am NOT technically saavy at all. In fact, I was a bit phobic about creating a website. The program allowed me to move past my inertia and fear. I felt the program was very practical, user-friendly and very focused on what we need to do to be successful in the current Internet environment. One of the bonuses of the program was the remarkably comprehensive list of online resources and tips. I am deeply grateful to Uncommon Practices for their willingness to share their knowledge with me and others. I would recommend this program to anyone who wants to create a website – it has been easy, fun and a pleasure to work with the staff.” -Sandy Jardine, M.S. LPC, Phoenix AZ

“I would highly recommend this program for anyone who is interested in not only developing a website but also learning how to best utilize the internet for marketing his/her practice. Utilizing the tools and suggestions offered in this program, my website comes up consistently on the first page when marriage counseling is googled in my geographic area (and at no cost). The support and patience offered by Joe and his staff for therapists like myself who are novices at websites and the internet is fantastic.” -Victor J. Goldman, LCSW, New York

“I took the Website Success Strategies course at a time when I already had a website that was producing referrals, but my practice had dropped to half-full. I needed a quick way to convert the attention my website was getting into phone calls from people who were motivated and serious about seeing me for psychotherapy. I didn’t really think that this would happen by the end of the course, but it did, and my practice has been full ever since. I attribute that to the experience Joe and Mel have as psychotherapists combined with their knowledge of the marketing skills most relevant to private practice.” – Kyle Dennis, PhD, Missouri

www.uncommonpractices.com

Meet Mark Anderson, Ed.D.

Joe Bavonese — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:00:22 +0000

Here is a fourteen minute audio of Michigan child psychologist Mark Anderson, discussing how his website generates a combination of psychological testing and therapy clients every month, generating over $11,000 of revenue. Click on the Play button below his picture to listen:

Key quotation: “The amount of money my website is generating is staggering when I think about it, and very satisfying.”

You can see his site at: http://www.AndersonPsychologyCenter.com

Summary:
Lifetime Value of a Referral (one session of Psychological Testing): $1200
Lifetime Value of a Referral (Therapy): $2185
(using estimates of $115 per session and 19 session length of treatment)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $6,555
(4 testing referrals [$4800] + 3 therapy referrals [$6,555] = $11,355).

Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $136,260
(12 months x $11,355 = $136,260)

Meet Tammy Daniele, LCSW

Joe Bavonese — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:00:58 +0000

Here is a 4 minute audio of Illinois psychotherapist Tammy Daniele, discussing how she developed a website that is now generating 12 – 15 referrals a month, in about six months. Click on the Play button below her picture to listen:

Key quotation: “If you don’t have a website, you’re missing out on the potential of having a lot of referrals.”

Tammy’s website is a great example of someone succeeding online by creating a lot of solid content.
You can see her site at: http://www.counsel-mediate.com

Summary:

Time to seeing results: Six Months

Lifetime Value of a Referral: $800
(using very conservative estimates of $80 per session and 10 session length of treatment – her actual numbers are higher than this)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $9600
(12 referrals x $800 = $9600).

Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $115,200
(12 months x $9600 = $115,200)

You Web It or We Web It

Joe Bavonese — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:37:32 +0000

No, this is not a plug for Elmer Fudd, but a fun way to describe how we can help you get more consistent Internet referrals. Check out my 3 minute video which explains this in more detail:

We Web It – Start Anytime: We Do Internet Marketing For You

You Web It, Starts Friday, February 10th: Website Success Strategies Program

Meet Suzie Wolfer, LCSW

Joe Bavonese — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:22:39 +0000

Here is a ten minute audio of Oregon Psychotherapist Suzie Wolfer. Learn how Suzie’s website optimization and rewrite of her website content has enabled her to triple her practice in one year. Click on the Play button below her picture to listen:

Key quotation: “My website is generating so many referrals that I’m starting a group practice – and I’m not even advertising…”
You can see her site at: http://www.counseling-portlandoregon.com/

Summary:

Lifetime Value of a Referral: $1000
(using estimate of $100 per session and 10 session length of treatment)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $7,000
(7 referrals x $1000 = $7,000).
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $84,000
(12 months x $7,000 = $84,000)

www.uncommonpractices.com

Meet Dan Klein, PsyD

Joe Bavonese — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:36:36 +0000

Here is a nine minute audio of Michigan Child Psychologist Dan Klein, discussing how a website helped him fill up his practice after moving to a new area with a where he had no clients and no contacts, and the economy was in a severe slump. His website is now generating 5-10 referrals a month. Click on the Play button below his picture to listen:

Key quotation: “No investment – even in my financial life – has paid the dividends that my website has in getting my practice to grow.”
You can see his site at: www.childandfamilysolutionscenter.com

Summary:

Lifetime Value of a Referral: $1250
(using conservative estimates of $125 per session and 10 session length of treatment – his actual numbers are higher than this)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $6,250
(5 referrals x $1250 = $6,250).

Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $75,000
(12 months x $6,250 = $75,000)

www.uncommonpractices.com

What are Meta Tags and How Can They Help Me Get to Google Nirvana?

Joe Bavonese — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:24:55 +0000

Meta tags are a confusing part of websites – but doing them right can make a HUGE difference in your free organic search results.

Two steps:

1) Find top keywords for your areas of specialization using the free Google Keyword Tool:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

2) Insert new meta tags, or edit ones you have (or have your programmer do this for you). Here’s a video to explain exactly what meta tags are; what they do and how to find them on any website.

Note: if the video does not display, you may need to install Adobe Flash Player

www.uncommonpractices.com

Meet Carrie Merscham, PsyD

Joe Bavonese — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:12:54 +0000

Here is a 15 minute audio of Colorado psychotherapist Carrie Merscham, discussing with Mel Restum, PhD how she developed a website that is now generating 20 referrals a month. Click on the Play button below her picture to listen:

Key quotation: “I find the online piece to be critical…it gives people lots of different options to take a look at, to find out more information about who you are and what you do.”

Carrie’s website is a great example of someone succeeding online by diversifying her presence online.
You can see her site at: http://www.coloradotherapycare.com

Note: Carrie’s site is NOT an example of the template websites that we create as part of our Website Success Strategies program; this is a custom design.

Summary:

Lifetime Value of a Referral: $1000
(using conservative estimates of $100 per session and 10 session length of treatment – her actual numbers are higher than this)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $20,000
(20 referrals x $1000 = $20,000).

Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $240,000
(12 months x $20,000 = $240,000)

www.uncommonpractices.com

Meet Marti Peck, PhD

Joe Bavonese — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:00:42 +0000

Here is a seven minute audio of California Psychologist Marti Peck. Learn how Marti has used her website to quadruple the number of inquiries she gets for her psychoanalytic practice. Click on the Play button below her picture to listen:

Key quotation: “This is how people communicate now – through the Internet. You need to start driving a car, and not a horse and buggy!”
You can see her site at: http://www.san-diego-depression-anxiety-treatment.com/

Summary:

Lifetime Value of a Referral: $1500
(using conservative estimate of $125 per session and 12 session length of treatment)
Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Month: $12,000
(8 referrals x $1,500 = $12,000).

Lifetime Value of Website Referrals Per Year: $144,000
(12 months x $12,000 = $144,000)

The Truth About Increasing Traffic to Your Website

Joe Bavonese — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:00:54 +0000

Many people have asked about how to increase traffic to their website. Obviously a very important question, but one unfortunately that typically gets answered with a lot of hype and distortion. So in this post, I have tried to cut to the chase and discuss the core factors in increasing website traffic. This is not the entire answer to the traffic question, but it does lay out the most important factors for increasing visitors to your site.

Before I answer this, let me review that the Website Marketing game consists of doing well at two distinct tasks:

getting traffic (visitors) to your website and
converting those visitors to clients

A site that has excellent conversion capabilities but little traffic will generate few referrals. Similarly, a site with lots of traffic but poor conversion capabilities will also perform poorly in the referral department.

There are two ways to get more visitors to your site. I like to characterize them not by their content but rather by their speed, because many people are very impatient and speed of results is most important. You can increase traffic:

The S L O W Way, or
The Fast Way.

It really depends upon which resource(s) you find yourself possessing more of: money, time, and/or patience. Let’s review each Way.

The Slow Way: this method relies primarily on what is traditionally called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Depending on who you talk to, SEO is either a mystical teaching inaccessible to mere mortals or a set of ever-changing principles that only expensive consultants can really understand. Despite these ubiquitous attempts at digital obfuscation, I will summarize the key points of SEO here. The main goal of SEO is to figure out what the wizards of Google want, the elixir de jour if you will [de jour because it's always changing], and to please them. The lament goes something like this: Oh wizards of Google, discover my site and give me a high rating in what’s called Page Rank [a 1-10 scale in which most therapist sites rate 0 - 2]. A high Page Rank ensures admission to the promised land of Page One Search Results, the Holy Grail of SEO. [You're either on page one - or you do not exist in this world]. And so how is this accomplished?

Each page of the website is optimized for top keywords in the internal meta tags. There are tools to help you discover top keywords [Examples of top keywords might be depression, anxiety, marriage counseling and your city and state. They are consider "top" keywords because they are words that are frequently searched for by web searchers seeking therapy, on top search engines such as Google and Yahoo].
These same keywords are repeated in important parts of the page: in headlines which have bold type or a larger font; and several times on each page [especially in the first 3 paragraphs of the page]. The more pages of valuable content that are created – each containing these top keywords – the better the chances of the search engines rating your site highly.
In addition, the SEO perspective encourages you to get as many other websites to link to your site as a resource or reference. The guys who started Google, after all, were in a PhD program at Stanford when they starting this fun little project on the side, and they were very influenced by the fact the references in dissertations were deemed to be more valuable the more they were cited. So the more other sites recognize your site’s existence, the more valuable Google thinks your site is. You even want to make as many links within your site to other pages on your site, because you get points for each link.
Some SEO experts still emphasize submitting your site to search engines, though this has become an area of disagreement among SEO gurus. [However, no one says it hurts your chances of reaching the Holy Grail to do so, it just may not help].
Lastly, it’s a great idea to submit your site to some other online directories, such as Google Local; Yahoo Local; DMOZ; Infousa; Zoominfo; and LocalEze. Many of these directories serve as seed directories for other online lists, so they can really improve your chances of being found on a search.

There! You have it! It’s not rocket science or witches’ brew after all. Everything a high-priced consultant will tell you falls into one of the above items. INTERMISSION: And for getting this far, here’s a funny story to tell at your next party: Way back in the Dark Ages of the Internet, oh say 1999, some people – who thought they were VERY clever – used to engage in what was called ‘Keyword Bombing’ – they would sneak in 30 or more instances of a top keyword on each page by making the text the same color as the background of the page – so the words were invisible to the viewer but the search engines saw every one. Unfortunately, this oh-so-clever scheme ended in disaster when Google got wind of it and banished all purveyors of this craft from their database for all eternity].

So SEO sounds pretty cool. But not so fast. All is not wonderful in SEO world for the following reasons:

Even if you do all of the above, there’s no guarantee that it will work! [That's right, the search engines change the rules regularly, so the cat and mouse game between search engines and SEO consultants results in consultants always being at least one step behind.] No one can predict search engine results with exact certainly! Anyone who says they can is lying to you! If anyone tells you this, hold onto your money and run the other way as fast as you can!
There is strong evidence that Google puts all new sites on a sort of probation called the Google Sandbox for at least six months, even if you do all this SEO stuff perfectly! [see my article on the Google Sandox]
The SEO approach tends to work better and better the longer you do it. Plus, if you have lots of time and patience [and plan to be in practice more than five years], you can do most of this stuff yourself for very little cost. Hence the S L O W approach can also be the less expensive approach. The basic principles are solid, and they tend to work over time…but they offer precious little doses of the Instant Gratification that we all crave.

Ok, so what about…

The Fast Way: there IS a way to appear on the first page of Google, in one day. That’s the good news. The bad news? You have to pay to get there. The Fast Way is Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising, which truly is the most unique form of advertising to emerge in the Internet Age. With PPC Advertising, you create small 3 line text ads that show up on the right column of the search results pages. The ads look like this:

Depressed? Sad?
Stop whining already.
I can help. Free consult.
www.drstrangelove.com

You choose keywords that you think people who are depressed will search for, and whenever someone uses those keywords, your ad shows up on the right column of the search engine results page. Even then you don’t pay any money. If someone sees your ad on the page and clicks on it, you pay for that one click – at a an amount that you choose. The trick is the more you are willing to pay, the higher you show up on the search results page. Once the viewer clicks on your ad, they are transported to a page on your website. Then it’s up to that page to convert them to a new client of yours.

So you’re totally in charge of the expenses for this service: you decide how much you’ll pay each time someone clicks on your ad, and how much you’re willing to pay per day for the service. Sound confusing? It is.

Google’s version, AdWords, is the 600 pound gorilla in the field. It’s how Google makes most of its billions. But buyer beware: simply stated, AdWords is NOT for the faint of heart. If you try to implement AdWords on your own, prepare for a steep learning curve. Expect to feel foolish. Prepare to waste some money. That’s no reflection of your intelligence – it’s just what countless therapists who have tackled AdWords on their own have experienced.

BUT there is a silver lining to this steep learning curve: once you figure it out, AdWords will reward you handsomely for a long time, with very little effort. It is the closest thing to automatic pilot I’ve ever found for referrals to your practice. I have been keeping track of therapists using AdWords for over three years now, and here’s my findings:

Most people who stick with AdWords and are willing to test it out, revise their campaigns and try different ads and keywords, end up getting 1 new referral for about every 70 clicks on average.
Average click costs about $2 – 3, give or take $0.50, depending on your location and geographic location.
Average ROI (Return on Investment) on AdWords (after you learn how to use it wisely) is 900%. That’s right, 900, not 100. Not everyone does this well, and some do much better than that. For most people the first session or two pays for the ad, and the rest is pure profit.

With AdWords, you literally control the amount of visitors to your site based on how much you’re willing to pay and how well your ads are performing. Google rewards better ads with higher position on the page and lower cost per click. And if you have a need for Instant Gratification, it’s satisfied very quickly.

And you can also create simlar ads on Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook, to further diversify your advertising.

So there you have it. The Truth about Website Traffic. Which Way is best for you? It’s your choice. And it’s not an either-or decision: I have been doing both the Slow and Fast Ways for several years. My philosophy has always been: The more clicks, the more clients. I’ll take ‘em any way I can get ‘em.

Post your reactions on the comments below.

Joe