Web Marketing for Therapists – Predictions for 2012

 So it’s that time of year – predictions time! What does Your Google Guy see in his crystal ball? Besides a lot of political ads on TV? OK, here we go…

Many Trends Continue – Video, WordPress and Twitter will continue to all grow and become a normal part of web marketing this year. The bleeding-edge and leading-edge marketers have blazed a trail, and the middle of the pack will follow. #JustDoIt

Google+ Straggles Along – Remember all that noise in the middle of 2011, when everyone was SO excited about Google+? Yeah, now it’s crickets. I believe Google+ will be one of those things you do solely for SEO purposes (a +1 page for your business, a +1 button on your website) but don’t spend a lot of time on. But I would spend the time to do those two things, folks.

Facebook – Ch-ch-ch-changes! Facebook continues to change, and the question is whether they will manage it well (and continue to be the “stickiest” site on the Internet) or whether some combination of privacy issues, “spooky” or invasive advertisements, Timeline-backlash, or the depressing impacts of its use will cause the kingdom to start to crumble. I’m not saying it’s going anywhere, folks, just that the win-streak will end at some point.

Facebook Ads – will come of age, as marketers really learn how to take advantage of the treasure trove of demographic data they are sitting on. First adopters will learn lessons, and others will build on them. (Oh yes, keep an eye on YourGoogleGuy.com – you might see something on this soon).

Google – three solid, non-glamorous predictions. First, Google’s classic search engine (the core that most people think of as Google) will only change incrementally. They are too smart to mess with success too much, especially with no one currently nipping at their heels. Second, I predict the same for Google Adwords. Adwords is the “Golden Egg” for Google – it’s where the money is made. They won’t mess with it. What you created in 2008 should still work (with some increased bids). But prediction #3 is – ORGANIC results will continue to change rapidly. They’ll become more personalized. SEO will continue to become more difficult to predict & control. It will be harder to hold onto ranking, and you’ll need more attention on it, if organic rankings are what drive your web traffic.

Smart Phones – since they have become a center of human activity, it will be interesting how it will impact their use. I personally use mine to find things like restaurants, movie theaters, stores, etc. I still use the trusty computer when I am doing more in-depth research. In 2012, I would start making sure your website shows up to some degree on smart-phone browsers.

Siri – Danger, Google, Danger! What some wise people have noticed is that Siri now jumps in where a search engine might have been before. And chooses the results, editing them down for you. This might be the year we start seeing S.R.O. – Siri Results Optimization.

All the best, Peter

P.S. – Superbowl XLVI – Saints over Texans (since my Seahawks are out)

P.P.S. – 2012 Election – Obama over Romney (not politicking, just predicting, folks)

Revisiting My Predictions for Therapist Web Marketing - 2011

I rarely read or see pundits (political, financial or otherwise) go back and review their predictions. I'm going to try (and maybe see why those others don't!) :-)

So here's what I predicted on January 2, 2011, with my view of what really happened.

1) Google Stays #1, But Something Lurks in the Shadows
What Really Happened: I predicted others would try to eat away at Google's supremacy. But no one has truly come close: not Bing/Yahoo, not Yelp, not Groupon, not even Facebook (yet). I pondered Bing/Yahoo combining with Facebook to have FB be a place you search, too. Didn't happen. We still see three giants with three rather distinct kingdoms: Twitter for microblogging, Facebook for social, and Google for search.

2) The Therapist Directory Wars Continue
What Really Happened: Well, it was more an evolution than a revolution. Psychology Today brought in a new feature that tracked people calling you from their directory - helping prove their value (that the referral came from PT). Despite this, the murmurs I've heard from many therapists is that PT doesn't provide enough value for the higher cost. What I've really noticed is an upstart quality of smaller directories aimed at using video technology (doing the filming, editing and posting themselves). Examples include Therapick and NW Therapy Finder. This, by the way, plays into Prediction #3.

3) Video Takes Off
What Really Happened: It's finally happening, folks. When I go Google a therapist in my city and find new people ahead of ME each month in the video results you see on many search results pages. With the advent of Flip cameras, iPads, iPods, HD webcams and the like, the thing I've been waiting for is finally here (in my estimation). What do you think?

4) Dynamic Website Technology Takes Over
What Really Happened: I'd say I was right on this one. If you built a website in 2011, or started looking into it, I would bet you came across WordPress. Most of the new sites I see are WordPress now (if they are being done as a custom gig, not through GoDaddy, etc.).

5) Reputation Management/Social Media Optimization Becomes a New Focus
What Really Happened: I don't think the reputation management idea really took hold (though if you have gotten a bad review on Yelp or InsiderPages, you have painfully been initiated into it). Social Media? Well, hell yeah it bloomed in 2011. Look at all the Twitter handles you see on every TV show now. Look at the prevalence of "hashtags" now. I'll give myself a point on this one. #selfcongratulation

6) Mobile & How to Deal With It Enters the Conversation

What Really Happened: While the smartphone became ubiquitous, it's impact on therapy was less on marketing than on what happens in the room (from it disrupting families and marriages, to every gosh-darn client pulling out their phone when it's time to schedule the next appointment). But read my upcoming posts to see a NEW twist on this point in 2012.

7) Local! Local! Local!

What Really Happened: I'll give myself points here. The Google Places map took even more prominence in the search engine results. Google Places optimization is much hotter right now than engineering the organic results below. This has driven some people MORE towards Adwords, as the ability to show up for multiple city searches (especially a city you are not located in) did get harder in 2011.

8) Bing + Yahoo = Yawn

What Really Happened: Points, again. Have *you* been all hot and bothered over Bing or Yahoo? I didn't think so. Have you "Binged" anything lately? Have you "Yahoo'ed"? Yeah, me neither. But I Google things every day. Every. Day. Many times a day,

9) Twitter. OK, I Relent.

What Really Happened: From an SEO perspective, a marketing perspective, and a real-life use perspective (for news, fantasy football, breaking stories and the like), I really adopted Twitter in 2011. OK, so I was not a first adopter here. Give me a break, I have a toddler. And perhaps the kick-ass Android phone I got in mid-2011 helped me get into true Twitter-user mode. It's a fun way to kill 2 minutes waiting for a client. After I post this to my blog, I'll Tweet out the news of the post. #isurrender

9) More Use of Paid SEO Consultants

What Really Happened: I would give myself more points if I had said "more %&#@*% cold calls from SEO companies". Really, I get at least one a week, usually with some pseudo-truth about being "Google-authorized" or a "Google Partner". Ha! I've also, in selling SEO services myself, found myself competing against more people this year than ever before. I would bet a dollar you got a cold call from an SEO company this year, too.

OVERALL, I will give myself a solid "B+" grade on my predictions for 2011. But just you wait, I am cooking up a new set of predictions for 2012, that should come out sometime in early January.

Until then, happy marketing!

Sincerely, Peter Hannah

Your Oh-So-Googley Guy

Web Marketing Consulting for Therapists, Counselors and Psychologists

More SEO Cold Calls

Hi folks,

Got an email from a colleague today, saying "Google had called her". She was a bit upset, as the person on the phone got irate when she told them she didn't think she was interested.

I replied that I was pretty sure this wasn't Google calling. I want *you* to hear that, too, and let any of your friends know. Google *rarely* if *ever* calls people like us. We are small fish.

Who does call us? Salesmen making cold calls. And they use confusion and obfuscation as a tool. I had a voicemail last week from a man who said "he was from Google". He said he could get "get me on the search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing." That was a good clue. Google would *never* mention, or try to help, Yahoo and Bing. Never, ever, ever. It was pretty bold-faced lying on his part.

Terms companies can used, which would be confusing, but not a lie, include:
- Google-certified
- Google-qualified
- Google-listed

They do *NOT* work for Google.

Finally, here is a strategy for getting true info and getting them off the phone (if they reach you in person).

1) Act nice, but say you have someone (a webmaster, a marketing coach, a spouse) who does your webmarketing for you, so you'll need to run this by them.
2) Ask for callback info (name, company, phone #) or to have them email you info.
3) Get the heck off the phone!
4) If you wonder who they are, Google the phone # you gave them. I'll be you a dollar it ain't Google!

OK, remember don't take the snake oil!

Best, Peter
Google SEO Help for Therapists

Yowza! Google Local Search Results Show Big Change!

Hi folks,

If you've Googled any local business in the last 3 days, you've seen a RADICALLY different results page on Google. This has all of us in the SEO & SEM (Search Engine Marketing) field in reaction mode, trying to figure out exactly how Google is figuring its new results, and what it means to our clients, both in terms of Organic rankings, as well as Google Adwords pay-per-click.

What I can tell you in the simplest terms is that Google has *combined* the old map results (known as the "7-pack" or "3-pack" depending on how dense an area you searched) with the organic search listings that were below the map.

This has a big impact on Adwords, too. Ads that are not in the top 3 results (showing in the lightly colored box on top), now get pushed down by the map, which is on the right side at the top of the screen now. Not only that, but the map stays in its place as you scroll down, blocking the view of ads on the right side of the screen. Google has, perhaps on purpose and in a not-very-nice way, made it so people will REALLY try to bid to be top 3 in the ads now.

I'll have more on this as my colleagues and I gauge the impacts on all of our efforts. In the meantime, fellow therapists, hold on to your hats!

Happy Halloween, Peter

Folks, it is NOT Google calling you!

Hello fellow therapists,

So I was talking to a wonderful colleague in another state today, who told me that "Google called her to offer paid placement on page 1 for a particular phrase".

She seemed confused by my fervent reply, that it was certainly not Google calling her. Folks, there are a lot of not-so-ethical SEO companies out there who will drop Google's name as they explain who they are. But trust me - THEY ARE NOT GOOGLE.

How do I know? Well, first the ethical issue of Google selling results space (this was *not* Adwords, according to the caller) - sort of like the NY Times selling you the ability to get an article written about you. Secondly, our advertising budgets as therapists are not even a drop in Google's bucket (they took in $2.2 billion last quarter). Finally, this ones been known in my world for some time (we SEOs talk).

Anyways folks, if someone calls and offers you something to good to be true - it is. And if they say they are from Google, ask them to send you an email to prove it. They won't be able to.

Stay safe! Best, Peter

New Update to Google Search Results

You might have noticed today, a major update to Google's results pages.

Opinions and feedback varies, but Google is known for stringently (some would say obsessively) testing every small change to its core search engine page. So, I'd expect the usual discomfort with the changes will fade as users get used to them.

As far as how this impacts all of you out there, it looks to be more of an impact to you as a user of Google (in how the results *look*), rather than in how results are calculated (which is what impacts where your site shows up).

I personally don't like the look of it, but I too will likely just get used to it in a few weeks.

All the best, Peter

Something to Ponder If You're Trying Adwords Alone

Oh folks, Google changes so often. It gets more complex, and less transparent as we go along. Both on the Adwords and SEO side.

Right now, I am embroiled a handful of accounts where the people had tried (either alone or with another Google-Person) to do Adwords. And here's the rub - the results from the old campaigns are making trouble for the new campaigns I am creating. The problem stems from something called "Quality Score".

Now, Quality Score used to be rather straightforward, and it was about "relevance". Is *this* website and *this* ad really relevant to this search term? Makes sense, doesn't it! A good thing to weed out people who are mistakenly advertising at the wrong crowd, or whose ad doesn't really match the website's content.

But now it ALSO get's affected by the history of the account. Basically, if you start out crappy, it is an uphill battle to get back in Google's good graces. The end result is *much* higher click costs, and sometimes your ad not being seen for various keywords. It's a pain in the neck.

So, before you think "I'll try this first, THEN call Peter".....well, I'd really prefer you just call me first. Oh yeah, here's Google's official list of items that make up Quality Score....(the whole page can be seen here)

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While we continue to refine our Quality Score formulas for Google and the Search Network, the core components remain more or less the same:

*The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on Google; note that *CTR on the Google Network only ever impacts Quality Score on the Google Network -- not on Google
*Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
*The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
*The quality of your landing page
*The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
*The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
*Your account's performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown
*Other relevance factors

Search-Placement.com Goes Trolling For Customers

I'm writing after getting two emails from therapists, in different parts of the country, who got unsolicited emails from a company called search-placement.com.

Basically, the problem with their pitch is this: no one can guarantee where you will land on Google's organic listings, at least not without an unlimited budget (and then, it might require some serious black-hat trickery).

When you do SEO, you influence the search engines. But that's it, you can influence them, you cannot control them. Google *hates* to be played, and if it thinks you are playing them (rigging the game) or trying to, it *will* punish you on the search engine rankings.

I have written to these guys to try to find out what the cost model is - I figure they have a high monthly fee involved. Will write more as I find out.

Best, Peter

First Thoughts on Bing

If you've been busy doing other things, you might have missed the launch of Bing.com, Microsoft's latest attempt at taking on Google.

A few first impressions and thoughts:

- while it has some improvements over Google, I don't yet see anything groundbreaking.

- it's going to take something big to overcome Google's mindshare in the community of web users. To "Google" someone is a verb now, like to "Xerox" something used to be.

- in my search of Seattle counselors, I got ads for a California therapist, as well as an Indiana one and an Atlanta one. Might be an end-used mistake, but seems like a lot.

- if you want some impressions, might be a good place to advertise on in the short term as people try it out. I'll withhold bothering with it until I see more.

- I haven't yet gone out on the SEO blogs and seen how people are tuning for this particular search engine, but I bet there is already some speculation and results.

OK, back to work! Best, Peter

Clients Googling You (in a Different Way)

At the Casey Truffo conference I spoke at a few weeks back, there was another very interesting fellow presenting on therapeutic boundaries, partly on how they are changing in the age of the Internet.

One of his points was we should expect that our clients (and potential clients) will Google us and find out various things about us – not necessarily from our practice websites. I thought it was an interesting idea, and then it was proven true in my own caseload.

A fairly new client, upon hearing me sing in my office before I came out to greet him said “I read that you sing and dance between clients, and I now I see it is true.” This was something I wrote on a blog that is not linked from my therapy practice site.

This does lead me to believe it has happened to more than just this one client, and that it will happen more and more. The analytic “blank slate” will be harder and harder to come by (not something I rely on, but something I know many like). And the “resonance niche” as I’ve come to put it – that people will choose you to be their therapist based on small facts (you are from Boston, you were a nurse, you play rugby) or just your general personality (how you come across in a web video) will come more and more into play.


For those of us who enter the Internet age with some maturity and discretion, it will be fine. I feel bad for those counselors who are 18 now and posting pictures of themselves drunk, stoned and/or naked. Or maybe it will give them “street cred”.



My best to you, Peter

Interesting Annual Trend in Counseling Searches

So the baby is *still* sleeping, and thus I am wandering around the Internet looking for new information to use (and to share, too).

Found an interesting trend I hadn't realized was there. If you look at each year, you see a huge crater in searches for "counseling" in November and December. This makes intuitive sense - people are too busy with holidays, vacations, shopping & family to delve into their own psyches. I don't think I expected it to be so sharp and so regular though.

The lesson from this is, of course, don't be counting on big additions to your client ranks during November and December. One oddity in the stats is that in 2008, and only in 2008, there was a large spike in marriage counseling searches in late December. The economy? That would be my guess.

More on trends later! Best, Peter

Twitter Part 2: Choosing a Use, and Choosing a Username

OK, folks, these are going to be free lessons that I have learned the hard way (so don't ding me for hypocrisy) on two fundamental issues of Twitter. How you choose to use it, and the username you choose. The two are linked.

First and foremost, its use. I have chosen, and would advise others, to use Twitter as a business tool. To be your business-self while on it. To think of it that way - as a business mini-blog. This means, since I assume you are a therapist like me and like some boundaries and privacy, that you don't twitter your personal matters on it (that great date you had, the annoying client you had, etc. etc.).

I would contrast this to Facebook. I made a decision at one point to make Facebook a business-free zone. Since I work with a lot of therapists, I actually had to de-friend some people (there was some sadness on both sides about this, but it felt like a good move). Facebook is built to allow privacy, and really is not a great business resource (for therapists, at this point), and I think we therapists need a place where we can be silly and stupid and just people and not have to watch what we say/think/post.

OK, back off my soapbox. Since Twitter is going to be business tool, I suggest you pick a username that is either 1) your name (Peter Hannah), or 2) your service + your city (SeattleTherapist). I established my username before I had figured out how I was going to use Twitter. Don't make my mistake. But do realize that Google is now adding Twitter into it's search engine results. For instance, go search Google for gratefulguy. Guess what's the first entry? Moi.

Oh yeah, and to show the power of this thing - guess where I first found out about this new (it's quite new) Google/Twitter thing? From http://twitter.com/jeanlucr @jeanlucr on Twitter. Here's the actual news item - http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10203095-2.html

Best, Peter

Why Your Adwords Might Not Be Working Like It Used To

I've been setting up Google Adwords campaigns for therapists for over 2 years now. In the last couple of months, I've had some people come back and say "hey, my ads aren't working like they once were." And it's true. Google has made the whole Adwords business a lot more complex - and the main cause is an innocuous phrase - Quality Score.

Back in the old days, where your ad showed up was based on only two things: your bid ($) and how often your ad got clicked (click-thru-rate, or CTR). But during 2008 Google started adding in more and more criteria for whether your ad showed, how high it showed, and what the minimum bid was. For some people, they found that their minimum bid had gone from 25 cents to $5 or $10! (That's what is known in the biz as a "Google Slap").

Google is as mysterious as the Wizard of Oz, so while they do point and describe some of the things that go into Quality Score, they never come out and tell you exactly what it is based on. So, as usual, cottage industries have been born to figure it out and read the tea-leaves. It's really quite similar to SEO.

That said, dear reader, do not panic. This is all based on relevancy (as seen by Google's computer). If your ads are relevant to the search, and the site is relevant to the ads, then it'll all work fine. But there are times when it goes haywire.

The hardest times for me have been telling people who just invested in a gorgeous Flash-based site, or a frames-based site, that Adwords was going to be a nightmare for them, because the spiders couldn't see their content. Then there is the issue of getting out of a hole, because Google includes your history as part of the Quality Score.

This is not meant to dissuade you from pursuing Adwords, I still think it's the best mechanism I know for marketing. It is meant to explain the growing complexity of it, and why what you did in 2006 and 2007 might not work as we enter 2009.

But if you need a consultant, I know this one guy....... :-)

Best, Peter
Your Google Guy - Web Marketing for Therapists

Visitor Demographics Info - GoodTherapy.org

NEW INFO ADDED 12/1/08! - Please see this post for more accurate stats from GoodTherapy themselves......Peter

Continuing our visit to Google's statistics about therapy directory sites - here's their take on GoodTherapy.org.

Google reports 11,000 unique monthly visitors (US) with 83,000 pageviews.

Here's the rest of the info! Best, Peter

Google Demographics Info on Psychology Today

Hi everyone,

I went to a killer Adwords class last week - and one of the sections was on a new Adwords tool called AdPlanner. It has all sorts of demographics data on major websites.

Since I know a lot of us advertise on PsychologyToday.com - I thought I'd let you see what Google has to say about their visitors. Please note this is Google's data - not mine - and is all based on U.S. data.

They estimate 240,000 unique visitors a month come to PT, and accumulate 1.3 million page views.

And I've pasted the other info below - enjoy! Best, Peter

Latest Search Engine Market Share Results

Hi folks,

Search Engine Watch has reported the latest news on search engine market share - for July 2008.

Who is #1? Google, of course. Of all searches done in the US, 61.9% were done on Google or Google-fed sites. The next highest is Yahoo at 20.5%. MSN comes in third at 8.9%.

Best, Peter
Your Google Guy
Get Clicks, Get Clients

Welcome to the Google for Therapists Blog!

Hi folks,

Many therapists around the US know me as "Your Google Guy", because of my site YourGoogleGuy.com. I'm a busy guy, having helped well over 100 therapists, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists and coaches around the country with their web marketing.

I'm launching this blog to help you understand a bit more about this whole web marketing business. It gets more and more complex each day (really, and I was a computer guy before I was a therapist).

To launch this, I wanted to link to a video from the man at Google named Matt Cutts. He's Google's chief "Spam fighter". You might think of Spam as that annoying bunch of unwanted email you get. It is, but it also now means tricks people try to do to get their website listed higher on search engines.



I know there are do-it-yourselfers out there. If you're not one of them, give me a call - 206-799-6566.

Best, Peter Hannah
Your Google Guy
Get Clicks, Get Clients