5 FREE Ways to Get More People to Read Your Therapy Blog

by | Sep 5, 2018 | Get More Traffic, How To & Tips

Blogging can be one of the best ways to boost traffic to your private practice website. But simply putting a post on your website isn’t enough to ensure people actually read it. So what can you do?

Blogging can be one of the best ways to boost traffic to your private practice website. But simply putting a post on your website isn’t enough to ensure people actually read it. So what can you do? In this article we’ll go over five ways you can boost your traffic with blogging while ensuring that visitors stick around and actually read your posts.

In this article we’ll go over five ways you can boost your traffic with blogging while ensuring that visitors stick around and actually read your posts.

1: Write Content Your Ideal Clients Actually Want To Read

5 ways to get more readers therapy blog 1

The first step in increasing your blog readership is to write posts that actually serve your ideal clients.

Your blog should not be a repository of “deep thoughts” or vague reflections.

I certainly encourage you to use your experiences and reflections to inspire your blog posts.

But a blog post titled “My Morning Hike” will get faaaaaar less views than one titled “How A Simple Walk Can Help You Set Goals and Decrease Anxiety About The New Year.”

When we use vague titles and long ramblings, it’s extremely unclear to the reader what’s actually in it for them.

Starting with your headline, you give your website visitors a reason to read each blog post.

Don’t know where to begin?

Start by thinking about why clients come to you.

Make a list of the challenges their facing and the topics you’ve been discussing in your sessions.

Then write about it!

Think of your blog as a way of serving your current clients as well as website visitors that may not even become your clients.

Over time, this will help increase connection with your readers, foster a positive perception of you and your practice, highlight your expertise and hopefully turn into more clients.

2: Be Consistent When Publishing New Blog Posts on Your Private Practice Website

more readers therapist blogging counseling calendar

Google loves seeing fresh content on your private practice website.

When you consistently add new blog posts, this lets Google know that your website is growing.

It says, “Now here’s a website that is constantly growing in resources. I like that!”

Plus, the more you write, the more words are on your website.

This means that your chances for ranking for new keywords is increasing constantly, so your ability to rank higher in Google for various phrases goes up and up over time.

When we first launched my wife’s website back in 2011, we saw her traffic double after she began blogging.

She added one new blog post each week for a few months.

And she didn’t even use social media to share the posts!

So, if you want to increase traffic to your blog, find a schedule that works for you and stick to it.

For tips on how to maintain a consistent blogging schedule, check out this post.

3: Use Social Media To Drive More Traffic to Your Blog Posts

5 ways to get more blog readers therapist marketing social media

If your clients don’t know your blog post exists, how will they ever read it?

Plus, your blog posts may or may not be ranking well in Google, making it hard to even find some of that great content you’ve been working on.

So, another way you can get your blog posts in front of potential clients is to use social media.

When you use social media to create a following, it’s another way to get your content in front of people.

And if people are liking your private practice Facebook page or following you on Pinterest, then they’ve already expressed some interest in what you’re doing.

This makes them more likely to read your posts when they show up in their feed.

Heck, even if it’s your friends and family that see your blog posts on Facebook, you never know who will read it, share it and get it in front of your next client.

My favorite social network for driving traffic is DEFINITELY Pinterest.

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Did you know that Pinterest is the second largest driver of traffic, second only to Facebook?

Because of its traffic-building potential and nature of finding helpful articles on the platform, I believe it can be a powerful marketing tool for any therapist with a blog.

Related article: Why Your Private Practice Needs To Be On Pinterest.

But no matter what platform you love to use, social media is a great way to take your blog post a bit further and drive a little more traffic to it.

Some tips for using social media to promote your blog posts:

  • If you’re just starting out, choose ONE network and learn how to use it effectively before adding another
  • Be consistent. Just like how you should frequently publish new blog posts on your website, you should frequently be sharing on social media
  • Try and balance 1 post about your business to every 4 posts that are not promotional, such as quotes and helpful articles from others
  • Use Google Analytics to check in from time to time and see which platform is bringing in the most traffic and then focus on that platform to drive even more traffic

4: Use Email Marketing to Let People Know When You’ve Published a New Post

5 ways to get more blog readers therapists email marketing

Just like social media above, using email marketing is a great way to send your blog posts to potential clients who have already expressed interest in your work.

One of the first questions I hear from people starting out with email marketing is “what do I say to people on my email list?”

Letting people on your email list know that you’ve published a new blog post is a great way to keep in touch with your list.

Once your blog post is published, you can write an email summarizing it and include the link back to your website.

I encourage you to link to your website, rather than just send the blog post in an email.

This way, people can visit other pages on your website if they want to – continually learning more about your services – and hopefully lead to scheduling a session with you.

Your email list should be filled with people who have already enjoyed your content enough to even give you their email address… so this audience is really the best target for reading your blog posts.

When they continue to get helpful and insightful articles a couple times a month, it warms them up to you, creates trust and helps remind them that you can help them.

You never know when someone will respond to one of those emails asking when they can schedule their next session!

5: Include Images in Your Blog Posts

private practice blogging tips

So here is a stat that is pretty crazy:

Blog articles with images get 94% more views. (source)

94%!! Wow!

In our fast-paced world, photos help get our attention and drive engagement.

If you want to increase the amount of views your blog posts get, be sure to include at least one photo with each one.

This will help your posts stand out, especially when shared on social media.

Including images can also help you optimize your post better for search engines.

To learn more about how to optimize images for SEO, click here.

Conclusion

If you’re wondering why more people aren’t reading your blog posts, I encourage to give the five tips above a shot.

Test it out over time and see if your traffic is increasing.

Remember, just publishing blog posts is not always enough to increase your traffic.

You just may need to give people a reminder that your new blog posts exist. The more chances people get to hear about your post, the more clicks over to your website there will be.

And the best part about all the tips above is that they’re totally free for you to try!

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