A Website

Now, this one should be pretty obvious. If you have a website, don't skip over this section as I'll cover some conversion-optimizations you should consider.

But scanning through Yelp therapist, psychologist & psychiatrist listings, I see many actually without websites.

There's no excuse for that nowadays- it's way too easy and cheap to create one.

Your website will be the central hub of your online and even offline presence- you will link to it from your Facebook profile, from your Facebook business page, you will link your AdWords Ads to it, it will appear on your business cards and any fliers that you create, and should be etched onto your storefront in big, bold letters!

When it comes to creating a website, the two main providers that I'm familiar with are Weebly and WordPress. Weebly has a very intuitive, drag-and-drop functionality designed for beginners to create attractive and elegant sites without a ton of advanced options. WordPress, on the other hand, is a more advanced option. If you enjoy tinkering with websites and require more control over the look and feel, go with WordPress.

If you just want to create something basic and attractive that's easy to modify and update- go with Weebly. Another way of visualizing it is Weebly is like driving an automatic transmission car, while WordPress is a manual. Essentially, WordPress gives you greater control and manuverability, while Weebly does most of the heavy-lifting for you.

Elements of a conversion-optimized website 

Live example (margaretnelson.me)

Choosing a domain name

Now, if you have an existing business, you'll likely want to incorporate that brand name into the website itself.

You'll, of course, want to see if the Exact Match domain name is available. Meaning, if your business is called Therapy By Maria, check if TherapyByMaria.com is available. (Ideally, you'll want a domain name that is 2 words. 3 max.) 

If it is, buy it. If it isn't, try using Shopify's Business Name Generator- the generator will produce some quality variations that are highly brandable and have ".coms" available.

Business names example

If you don't have a business name, or want a new one, you can play around with this Business Name Generator and find something that sounds catchy.

Trust me, I've spent dozens and dozens of hours trying to figure out interesting domain names and using this tool is by far the easiest way to discover something catchy but simple.

Why do you want something catchy and simple? This sort of brandable, moniker makes it easy for your site to be remembered. Imagine if your website was TherapyInBrooklynByMariaMSW.com. Much harder to remember, right?

Plus, this site will be appearing on your business cards, on your office pamphlets, on your social media profiles, and if you choose to use it as an email, [email protected] looks a lot better than [email protected]. 

Mobile optimized (live example)

​The above is an example of my mother's site displaying on a mobile device. As you can see, even on a small device, the call to action is prominently displayed. Her email and phone number are also prominent. 

Plus, I'm using a WordPress plugin that adds a green phone icon in the bottom right corner. When clicked, it actually calls her business. 

Mobile optimization basically this means that the theme adapts the content of your site to display on narrower smartphone and tablet screens.

So, just be sure that your site is mobile optimized.

You can use this tool to check. Nowadays, 99% of WordPress & Weebly themes are mobile optimized. If you're using an old theme, you'll want to update your theme to something that is mobile optimized.

Google prioritizes mobile-optimized sites in organic search, plus it's more difficult for mobile device users to navigate your website, contributing to higher bounce rates (people visiting your site and quickly leaving). 

Contact info

Make it easy for clients to find your contact info! I can't tell you how often I see this mistake- websites that make you hunt for the phone number, email address, or physical address.

Nowadays, if someone can't find your contact number, they just 'bounce', leaving your site and depriving you of a potential client.

So, make sure your phone number and address is prominently displayed.​ Many sites have options for including your phone number and email address directly in the top-most header portion of the site so that it's always present on every page of your website. 

Site Content

Thoughtfully write website content that reflects your personality and answers the most common questions your clients have. ​

Add a FAQs section to your website- perhaps it's a menu item called FAQs, for example, that leads to a separate page. Or you can use tabs (see example below).

WordPress sites have plugins that allow you to create dynamic graphic elements like below, where I have created a sample FAQ element with dummy text. This makes it easy for users to navigate and discover the answers to their questions. 

List out EVERY single question customers have EVER asked you and provide clear answers. This content is invaluable for Google Search- but even better, the more questions you can answer the better you can pre-sell users on your services.

Calls To Action

Create a clear call to action. This could be a telephone number you want users to call or a submission form you want them to fill out. Their should be striking visual elements on your website that tell the user what you want them to do.

See example below:​

As well, you should create multiple means of contact. Different people have different communication preferences. Some love picking up the phone, while others find it a disagreeable chore. Others prefer shooting off a quick email, or even texting!

Provide contact forms on the site that submit to your email address.

Provide an email address that users can copy and paste into their email provider.

Obviously a phone number is important, as well.

If you've created social media profiles, include links to those, as well!

Analytics

It is indispensable to enable Google Analytics on your website. Google Analytics reports a host of valuable information to you, the website owner. I use the 

It will let you know how many visitors you get, how long they stay, where they navigate to on your site, where they are coming from. If you integrate AdWords and Analytics (highly recommended), it will provide additional information concerning how your Keywords are performing that AdWords doesn't.

Remember- your website is never finished. That shouldn't be depressing- it should be inspiring. You will want to keep working to improve it, adding new content, optimizing it for the best user experience. Too often, businesses pay an agency to create a webpage, they make a 5 page site, and then it isn't modified for the next decade. You're better than that! The goal is to create an online resource you're proud of- that you can brag about.

Creating a logo

Admittedly, my mother's site doesn't have a logo. It's definitely on the agenda, however. I've been using icons for her social media profiles. You can check out some free, attractive icons here. 

If you need a customized logo, there are a couple of routes you can take. You can try your hand at designing it yourself using some free online tools.

Or you can use a firm like 99designs to get it done for you. In all honesty, I've tried doing designs myself and they have always come out horribly.

A logo is, in a way, the linchpin that visually unites your brand across the different online platforms you will be active, or at least present on.

This logo will appear on your Facebook business page, your Twitter profile, your LinkedIn Company Page, your business cards, your website, etc.

Creating Content

The dream of every business owner is free leads, right? In order to acquire organic (free) search engine or social-media traffic, you will need to create content.

Broadly speaking, the goal of content is to attract and interest an audience.

Whether you are attracting interest in your video content via YouTube, written content on your blog via search engines, inspirational graphic quotes on Instagram and Twitter, you will need to find the medium that best suits you and begin regularly pumping out quality content. 

That said, you don't need to create content to start getting new clients! You can run AdWords Ads to your website and keep your practice stocked full of therapy and psychiatry patients that way.​

However, if you'd like to experiment with attracting organic (free) traffic, the key is in creating content that attracts search traffic to your website through either search engines (Google + Bing), or social media channels.

If you plan on being active on social media, you'll need to build and interest an audience with content that compels them to click and visit your site's blog.  

Attracting organic search traffic

If you want to attract organic traffic, the best course of action is to write content around topics that are less competitive.

Think of each piece of written content you create as creating an entryway for users to discover your website. I'll provide an example of this strategy below. 

An example

For example, writing an article about "the symptoms of depression", you will discover enormous competition from both Advertisers as well as WedMD.com and MayoClinic.org.

You're never going to outrank them. 

But, if you pursue keywords that have less or inferior publishers competing to rank for them, you have a shot at getting some free, organic traffic.

I use a keyword research tool called LongTailPro- the way it works is that you input certain 'seed' keywords and it returns tons of related searches that actual people have entered into Google.

I input "depression", "mental health", "psychology" and "anxiety" and it returned 2,479 search keywords, along with the number of searches for those terms.

For example, the term "mental health charities" has 590 searches a month and LongTailPro assigned it an Average Keyword Competitiveness Score (their proprietary assessment) of 39.

Basically, anything below a score of 40 they advise you to 'pursue'. "symptoms of depression" has a score of 52. Much harder to rank for.

In the case of "mental health charities", you could publish a post that lists 25 mental health charities, provides 200 word write-ups of each, links to each of them, all assembled in a neat and organized manner- this would be an organic content strategy that could attract traffic to your site.

If you really wanted to kick it up a notch, you could email or tweet, etc., every one of the charities that they are on your list, and have them link back to your write-up. This is a HUGE component of ranking. After content, Google prioritizes 'backlinks', which is to say, links back to your site from other reputable websites. 

The more original and in-depth the content you publish to your site the more likely it will, over time, begin to rise in the search rankings. Google drools over this unique and rich content, so you should either produce it yourself, or hire a firm to produce it for you.

One last bit of advice on this topic- when you publish content, always 'interlink'. That is, link to other areas of your site- this is a highly valuable practice that helps Google understand your site's architecture, and has proven useful for increasing average visit duration, lowering bounce rates (people landing on your webpage and leaving without going to another page), increasing page visits, and endorsing the utility of the page being linked to.

AdWords

What is Google AdWords?

The top results at the top of the page for any Google search you perform are likely Ads. Individuals and companies bid on certain search terms (keywords) that users are searching for and display their Ads.

As you can imagine, if you are a private practice psychologist or therapist, occupying this valuable real estate could be an incredible opportunity for you and your business. Now, it only makes sense to use AdWords if you have a website that the Ads send traffic to. And the website does have to be good (see the above section for more on that).

But this is certainly worth experimenting with, especially considering the average order value (AOV) and lifetime order value (LTV) of a client.

I'm going to walk you through a super-basic, and super-conservative, AdWords setup that is easy to implement and optimize.The components of a succesful AdWords Campaign are the keywords that you bid on, the text Ads that you run, and the website that you link to. This is the ecosystem of an AdWords account.

Many individuals and businesses over-complicate AdWords by bidding on hundreds of keywords, but the good news for you if you are a therapist is that you only really need to bid on one to get started: "therapist". As well, with geographical targeting capabilities, you can ensure that you only serve your Ad to people in the regions relevant to your business.

Watch the setup video above as I walk you through creating this first Campaign and Ad Group and you'll see how simple it is. Once your account is up running, with a daily budget, you will need to monitor its performance. Specifically you'll want to pay attention to adding more Negative Keywords to the Campaign so that your Ads aren't triggeregrd by inappropriate keywords.

Bing Ads

Bing Ads is very similar to AdWords- so similar that Bing enables you to import your entire AdWords account into it and get it up and running with a few clicks.

That's really handy, but is it worth running Ads on Bing? It does give you broader exposure and in my own experience using it, the clicks are cheaper, but the Impression volume (the number of searches for Keywords you're bidding on) is much lower.

I would recommend that once you get comfortable using AdWords that you experiment with Bing and set aside some time each week to evaluate the performance of both.

Google My Business

Google My Business is another indispensable and free way of managing your business' presence online in Google Search and, importantly, in Google Maps.

Many people use their Google Maps smartphone app to locate local mental-health providers.

The way you appear for that Map query is by creating a free Google My Business account.

But you shouldn't just stop there- you should spend an hour optimizing the account.

What does optimizing it mean?

Verify the physical location of your business- Google will send you a postcard with a code on it to use to verify that you actually are at that physical address.

Craigslist

Craigslist was founded in 1996 by Craig Newmark. The site gets a mind-blowing 10 million unique visitors per day.

It organizes online classified by either region or city and connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities. And, generally, the whole thing is free!

If you search for "psychologist" on Craigslist, it returns a sorted list of keyword-relevant listings, organized by most recent date. This means that it's imperative to keep your Ad fresh- deleting old Ads and reposting new ones, with an emphasis on adapting to seasonal needs, if relevant.

Imagine, for example, posting an Ad in December- you probably are familiar with the sort of issues your customers run into in winter, so writing Ad Copy, with relevant keywords and images, that is adapted to that particular seasonal need could be a real winner.

To go a step farther, instead of just pasting in your Home Page URL- experiment with creating a separate landing page on your site specifically for Craigslist users.

Now, Craigslist might not be the best strategy for your private practice. Craigslist is notorious for attracting a somewhat 'odd' user base- but in the interest of being thorough, I thought it made sense to include. 

Bing places for business

Yelp

Another great, and free, resource is Yelp. (Though you can experiment with Yelp's advertising platform.)

You've probably heard of it, and likely even have a listing. Maybe even one that was created by someone else!

If you don't have one, create one. If you one already exists, make sure you claim it. Regardless, do, make sure that you have optimized it!

If you have a website, have you included it in the profile?

YouTube

YouTube can be a valuable component of your marketing toolchest. While there are many service providers who make a living on YouTube by monetizing interesting and useful videos, that's probably not what you will use it for.

1. YouTube can be a place to host videos that are primarily designed to 'live' on your website and introduce yourself to new clients. 

2. ​YouTube can also be a place where you generate traffic to your site from people on YouTube discovering your content and clicking through to your site. 

Indeed, creating a few videos that you host on YouTube and insert on your site can help convert (ie, convince) people who have landed on your webpage to give you a call or shoot you an email. As well, having a YouTube Channel is another ranking signal for Google (who also owns YouTube).

One other thing- Google has begun to show YouTube videos at the top of the Search Results Page for certain queries- so this is an interesting way to get premium placement for certain queries.

These needn't be super-long or in depth videos- perhaps you assemble several short videos speaking about psychological topics like depression, anxiety, or grief.

It's likely you have a smartphone- and if so, it's not too difficult to shoot a halfway decent video.

Twitter

Twitter is probably another low-priority option, but it can still be useful, especially if you're interested in practicing influencer marketing. 

Honestly, the people who have great success on Twitter are those who spend several hours a day engaging on the platform- and if you are a psychologist, it's probably not the best place for you to be hanging out.

However, setting up a Twitter profile is a great way to capture space in the Search Engine Results Page for your business' name. Say, for example, your business is called "Margo's Psychotherapy", having a Twitter profile that contains those keywords, and a modicum of activity on it, it will eventually rank on the first page for users searching for your business by name.

It is, in essence, a valuable ranking signal and something that boosts the authority and credibility of your business in the eyes of Google and users searching for it on the internet.

Who knows, though...perhaps you begin using and enjoying it and it becomes your primary means of interacting with customers? I wouldn't rule it out- set it up and play around with it and see how it can be of use to you.

You can begin by searching out users and other area businesses that are in your service area and interact with them.

In my experience, it's best to at least set up these platforms, automate some content on them for ranking signal purposes, but choose 1-2 to truly 'live' on.

It probably makes most sense to focus on creating a top-notch website that you can run AdWords Ads to, as opposed to spending your scarce downtime Tweeting.

Client Testimonials

Getting customer reviews is invaluable. Customers can leave reviews on Google for your business, on Facebook, on Yelp, and a variety of other platforms.

Reviews heighten your discoverability on Google Search, Google Maps, FaceBook & Yelp. At the same time, considering the nature of your mental health practice, it's not exactly ethically kosher to solicit reviews. 

You will want to encourage your customers to leave a review. Imagine you have just successfully completed a job, the customer is happy, you hand them a business card that in addition to all the usual information, also contains your Yelp page URL.

It's highly likely that you'll get a positive review from this customer. In turn, this has dramatic benefits for ranking in Google, but it also helps other consumers who are on the fence choosing a provider on Yelp to pick you! You can also, with a few provisos, republish your Yelp reviews on your website.You can also experiment offering incentives for reviews- perhaps discounting an invoice, or some other rebate. Now, admittedly, these review sites can be a bit of a battleground- perhaps someone has left a review you feel is unfair. You'll want to respond to all of your reviews, both positive and negative- it is crucial that you always present a positive and engaged face to consumers and searchers. Especially when responding to negative feedback.Another interesting idea I've heard about is getting a video review from a customer. Say you've just finished a job, the customer's pleased, you've done a stellar job- try getting permission to shoot a short video, interviewing the customer, demonstrating the work that was done- you can post this on your website- tentative customers love this sort of social proof.Whatever and however you do it- make sure to incorporate this as part of your routine so that over time you build up a roster of pleased customers testifying to your quality workmanship. This will pay enormous dividends in the search engines. I really like the idea of adding the URLs to your business card- that way it's super-easy for customers to locate the review sites and it's convenient for you to solicit their feedback.

Blog Commenting

The strategy here is to find some local area websites that discuss the service you provide.

If they have a comments section you can (tastefully) link back to your website after providing a robust contribution to the article you are commenting on.

If/when the comment is approved by moderators, you can expect a trickle of traffic from this webpage, plus this is another quality ranking signal for Google. Google will observe that a local area media website has linked back to you, a local area service provider- a solid win.

As well, Googling your service in your area will acquaint you with what other providers are doing in the area. If the Commenting system doesn't provide a field for the URL, you can always paste the URL in.

Make sure you're not too 'spammy', as oftentimes these Comment areas are manually moderated- so your comment will be disapproved if it's not a strong enough contribution.

Question & Answer Sites

Sites like Reddit and Quora provide a space to flaunt your expertise.

If you find a question you can answer or a thread you can contribute to, provide a robust contribution and if it makes sense you can include a link back to your site.

You should be careful not to spam these sites with your links- but if you can link back to additional resources that flesh out your answer, this is definitely acceptable.

Again, participating in these sites provides valuable ranking signals to Google and your site will get referral traffic as users check out your website.

It could be that the next time someone needs a therapist, they'll remember you from the site and become your customer.

Google Calendar

Another handy tool from our friends at Google- most people are undoubtedly familiar with Google Calendar.

For your purposes, Google Calendar provides a convenient way to schedule time to work on your marketing initiatives.

For example, as I previously mentioned, I used it to setting recurring reminders for myself, every Sunday, to scour Eventbrite for useful networking activities.

You could also use it to remind yourself to check in on your AdWords account every week, to audit your website every month (make sure there are no broken links, missing images, or other embarrassing errors), or to schedule time during the week that you will work on content creation.

Keep Track Of Everything

Long ago in my digital marketing career, I learned to keep track of all of my online marketing activities.

Every blog comment, every competitor website, etc. In your case, it would make sense to create a Google Sheet (essentially a cloud spreadsheet associated with a Gmail account) and create a collaborative space for yourself to keep track of your marketing initiatives.

For example, it's a great place to store passwords for your website, to make note of competitor websites, to list out local-area directories for future reference, to keep track of all the blog comments you've made, etc. You'll find yourself returning to this Sheet time and again to monitor your progress and to recover useful of information you have stored there.

I've found that it's better to use a cloud-based Sheet rather than an Excel spreadsheet because, if it's on the cloud, you can access it from any computer and if one computer crashes it doesn't take your spreadsheet down with you. If you're especially security conscious, you can always keep important passwords stored offline.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another fruitful strategy. And it's not too difficult to get off the ground. You may already have an email list of customers- you can use this to begin establishing customer loyalty by sending out weekly, biweekly or even seasonal emails.

You don't need to beseige customers with salesy emails or blaring discount notices. Perhaps you send an email out announcing the hire of a new employee with a picture of said employee grinning outside your store. Or perhaps you send out a Christmas greeting in December from your friends at {business name}.

This is a great way to stay top of your customers' mind, engender some good feelings, without being aggressive promoting services they might not need at the moment. Indeed, it opens the door to promoting an offer when the time is right- then, your subscribers will be more familiar with you and your business, and more likely to listen to your pitch.

A great way to get started is to use MailChimp's free email service- it will get pricier as your list grows, but it's an easy drag-and-drop email builder, great for creating visually pleasing emails, and it's Reporting capabilities (open rate, bounce rate, etc.) are also intuitive to interpret.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the trendier options on the advertising market.

Influencer marketing refers to marketing to specific key individuals rather than the target market as a whole. In essence, if you are a private practice social worker or a pyschologist, an influencer could be a mega-celebrity like Oprah, Dr. Oz, or perhaps a local health columnist for your town newspaper.

The idea of influencer marketing is to leverage that individual's relationship with their audience to bring awareness to your existence (and mental health services). It's easy to imagine what appearing on Oprah would mean for your business. You'd need to hire a call center to handle the flood of inquiries if you connect with her and her audience.

Granted, getting on Oprah might not seem feasible, but in this digital age it's easier than ever to forge relationships with more regional influencers that could provide invaluable exposure to your business. How would this work? Essentially, you'll want to identify the people you wish to target, figure out where they 'live' online (Twitter, Facebook, comment sections of their articles, etc.) and begin interacting with them, sharing your ideas, gently exposing them to your existence.

Gary Vaynerchuck, an awesome marketer who runs Vayner Media in Manhattan, New York, talks of the Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook approach. What he means, is that you are 'jabbing' your target with genuine and helpful content, before eventually landing a right hook, which is the Ask.

In practice, imagine you target a Psychologist influencer on Twitter who writes a mental health column for Psychology Today. You will want to infiltrate his world, be the best response to his recently published article, let him know that you have shared it with your audience, reach out to them directly every so often with an interesting mental-health article or study you think they would appreciate, perhaps something you've written yourself. Give, give, give! Eventually you can make an ask- the timing of this is completely up to you.

And, it's important to say, you might not get what you want! This doesn't mean you cower away in failure. Persistence is key. Remain positive and giving and eventually an influencer will gladly accept you to publish an article on their site, begin sharing the content you produce, somehow endorse you to their audience. Yes, it's a lot of work. The rewards, however, can be fantastic.

For example, imagine you get featured on HuffingtonPost- you earn an invaluable backlink to your site that boosts your search rankings, you receive referral traffic from the article that was published, your authority in the mental health space is immediately embellished.

The next time you reach out to an influencer, you'll have greater credibility once they notice that you aren't some random yahoo, but someone reputable that has been published by a prestigious internet property. Perhaps you're savvy enough to parlay that publication into a recurring column. That would be big-league. All of a sudden you're the influencer.

LinkedIn

As a private practice therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist, maintaining a professional presence on the world's largest business-networking site is important.

When people Google your name, LinkedIn will also rank high in organic search- so it has value beyond its own social networking capabailities. On its own, LinkedIn can be a valuable way to be discovered as a private mental-health practitioner.

Because LinkedIn has very granular search functions, it's easy for a user to search for the Keyword "therapist" or "social worker" and then specify the location, easily discovering a list of those people. From that perspective, it makes sense to optimize your LinkedIn profile as much as possible.

Elements of a good profile include a high-quality head shot, that is between 200 the dimensions: 200 x 200 to 500 x 500. You can always use Canva to resize an existing image. Spend time to carefully fill out all of the fields, including inputting your phone #, your website, and writing an engaging Summary that describes who you are you are looking for from LinkedIn. Optimizing your profile this way will help it to rank in LinkedIn's Search. It will also help you when you reach out to others on the platform individually or join LinkedIn Groups to participate in group dialogues. LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals in your field to share content, find answers, contribute posts and make business contacts, establishing themselves as mental-health industry experts.

LinkedIn Company Pages

Like Twitter, creating a LinkedIn Company page for your business can be another valuable ranking signal. While people with flooded basements won't be flocking to Twitter to source a psychologist or psychiatrist, it's another free online resource for you to capitalize on to build up your brand's online name recognition. Plus, if you use IFTT, you can publish content to the page automatically.

Eventbrite Networking

Evenbrite is a tool to discover local-area events. People and organizations can list their events and Evenbrite makes it easy to find them and register for them.

This one is pretty cool- because while it is digital strategy, you will be pressing the flesh with real, live people. You can use it in a variety of different ways.

First, you can just click Search on the homepage and browse through the events that are occurring nearby Today, Tomorrow, This Week, This Weekend, Next Week, Next Month, and even a Custom Date Range.

Take a look around and see what's happening- you can filter by Business events, for example, and pan around the map to see events displayed on the map. Another way to use it is to do keyword searches. Try "chamber of commerce", "small business", "therapy", "mental health", etc.

Once you find something that looks good, register for it (some events are paid), and you will be prompted to create an account if you don't have one. Definitely create an account. And if you have a smartphone- download the Eventbrite app. It will keep track of your events for you and provide important location/address information.

The goal of doing this is to begin routinely attending networking and community events, spreading the word about your business, making casual friendships. Trust me, even an event that is seemingly irrelevant to your business, if it 's decently attended, can be amazingly fruitful networking opportunity.

Once you find an event that you like, in my case I like going to WeWork events in New York City, where I live, you can keyword search for it and register for all their upcoming events in advance- this way you don't miss out if they get sold out.

The way I have organized this in the past is I set a Google Calendar reminder to peruse Eventbrite every Sunday for 45 minutes, looking for interesting local activities and registering them. Try it out- you'll figure out a strategy that works for you. While digital marketing is great- there's nothing quite like meeting people in the flesh and selling them on your service face-to-face.I haven't touched on backlinking in this guide yet (the practice of acquiring links to your site)- but it is 2nd to content in terms of the best way to rank in Google for important terms.

As any digital marketer will tell you, getting another webmaster to link to your site is arduous, tedious work. I have found, however, that an alternative to begging and enticing webmasters by email for backlinks is to make a positive impression on people in the real world and acquire backlinks from this good will. This is another reason why networking can be part of an integrated on and offline marketing strategy for your business

Use Meetup.com

Meetup.com is a website dedicated facilitating offline group meetings in various locations around the world. The site enables its members to locate and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies.

To my mind, there are 3 valuable ways to use Meetup if you are a mental health professional.

1. You can attend Meetups that are specific to your profession, i.e. psychologist networking nights.

2. You can attend 'general interest' Meetups that are unrelated to mental health. This will grant you broad exposure to a local audience of individuals who may or may not need your services,, but perhaps their friends or family might in the future. Regardless, just getting in front of people, meeting them, handing out business, is so much cheaper (and more fun) than running paid advertising campaigns! In this context you can truly shine as a sociable professional.

3. For the intrepid, you can even create your own Meetup! Perhaps if you specialize in social anxiety support you could start a monthly Meetup to provide support to anyone that wants to come. Find a local space that will host you- sometimes you can meet at a bar or restaurant.

Discover a bar on a Monday or Tuesday and they'll probably be elated to host you. These businesses are often hard-hit during the weekdays and would be thrilled if you could bring in some foot traffic. That said, a 'dive bar' wouldn't be an appropriate venue- obviously you'll have your own instinct about where you can host a Meetup in your area.

The goal isn't necessarily to sell people on your services, but to provide a supportive and valuable community. This sort of outreach can pay you back in spades down the line as the people you have freely helped refer themselves or their friends and family to you down the line.

Office Pamphlets

Office pamphlets are basically print versions of your website.

They're a handy way to advertise and teach your patients about all the mental health conditions you can help treat.

Fill them with all the relevant information your clients require- make sure to satisfy those frequently asked questions in this pamphlet.