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

My Predictions for Therapist Web Marketing in 2011

I’ve been a webmaster since the term was coined (1996 @ Citizens Utilities in Stamford CT). I lived through the dot-com/dot-bomb era (ah, the mess that was ShopLocal.com), and doing PPC and SEO for therapists since 2005. The rate of change in 2010 in terms of search engines and overall web marketing, was astounding, and I expect that to continue in 2011.

Marketing for our particular business continues to be tricky, due to the ethical constraints of being a psychotherapist. We can’t (ethically) solicit for online reviews or testimonials from clients. We are even hamstrung in responding *to* poor reviews on Yelp, etc. (been there, and it hurts!). Heck, even having our office as a Facebook Place to be checked into is probably not something we should do. That said, here are some trends I see for 2011:


Google Stays #1, But Something Lurks in the Shadows: Google is still where to be at, folks. Some in the search engine community say the actual percentage of searches that goes on at Google is over 80%, not the 70% that is usually reported. The Bing/Yahoo combination hasn’t made much of a dent yet. Adwords continues to pour in money. (By the way, Adwords will continue to work for therapists, but get more and more expensive, complex and difficult – to me the ROI is really beginning to turn for SEO over Adwords in many cases). Google is taking on Yelp with its new HotPot offering. They pull off huge changes every month or so (Google Instant, the Local results integration that took place around Halloween, etc).

What Lurks in the Shadows is Facebook: Just imagine this – if instead of leaving Facebook to do your searches, you did them *from* your Facebook page. You’ve just entered Google’s worst nightmare. Of course, it wouldn’t be Google search. Likely Microsoft/Bing/Yahoo. This could be a game-changer. I’ve been wondering when Facebook would really change things for therapists (right now, Fan Pages, and FB ads are nice, but really not a big driver of therapy clients). This might be it. Watch Facebook in 2011, folks.

The Therapist Directory Wars Continue: For so long, PsychologyToday and AAMFT’s TherapistLocator.net had the directory business mainly to themselves. Not so anymore. Hungry upstarts have started eating their lunches. The most aggressive, and most impressive to me is GoodTherapy.org. They’ve rocketed to #2, and are much more innovative than PT, offering CEU’s, marketing webinars, media relations, audio and video, and lots more. I also see innovation in niche-related directories (for various communities or therapy approaches) which can provide good ROI. Directories continue to provide an easy, passive way of marketing your practice. They are not usually barn-burners as far as call volume, but usually more than pay for themselves.

Video – Get off the sidelines in 2011, folks! There are more and more inexpensive ways of creating videos (including some where it’s just your voice over images, like Jing, which I use extensively for Your Google Guy). Flip HD cameras can make some beautiful images. Just like headshots became more and more expected, video will be too. People will choose someone they get to see and get a feel of over a therapist who they only can measure by their written words.

Dynamic Website Technology Takes Over: More and more therapists will be moving their websites to platforms like WordPress and Joomla, or increasingly sophisticated templates on their ISPs. This both with be for practical reasons (the ability to update content without paying/waiting for a web designer) as well the very beautiful visual design aspects, and the ability to integrate social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc). If it’s time to update your site in 2011, I suggest looking at WordPress.

Reputation Mgmt/SMO: You’ll hear the acronym SMO a lot in 2011, it stands for “Social Media Optimization”. Pretty much SEO for Social Media. With review sites like Yelp and InsiderPages having a bigger influence, and with Twitter and Facebook the two dominant players in social media, it makes sense to pay attention to how other therapists in your markets are using these mediums. It also makes sense to check out what is being said about *you* - this is the idea of Reputation Management. Setting a Google Alerts to watch for your name is a good place to start.

Mobile: Smartphones are here to stay, folks (and iPads and other tablets). More and more people are doing more and more of their web-surfing from them. But at the same time, the browsers and screens are improving so much, that customizing a site for these devices is *not* something you need to be concerned with. So just do what you need to do for Local, and the carryover should be enough.

Local: I did a workshop here in Seattle a couple of months ago. One slide just said “LOCAL! LOCAL! LOCAL!” and for 2011 I’d just add a couple more exclamation points. The changes Google made in fall of 2010 (basically combining the map and non-map listings for searches they deem to be for local businesses) made it MUCH harder to rank in a city in which you do *not* have an office. This trend will continue in 2011.

Bing/Yahoo: See my Facebook comments. Otherwise, not much on my radar. I was initially excited by the combination, but have found running ads on their networks to be difficult and underwhelming. How do you beat Google? I just don't see it.

Twitter? OK, I Relent: So I have pooh-poohed Twitter for a long time. I still do from the standpoint of it being a place where your clients live – I still don’t believe that! But what is now obvious is that Twitter is weighing more and more heavily on SEO. If you write blog entries, or articles, or otherwise have news, you should be posting it on Twitter, for the search engines to find.

More Use of Paid SEO Consultants: 2010 was the year where I could see other SEO firms work showing up in the local search results for therapists (though many using tactics I think are unethical, like posting multiple fake reviews). I can only see this continuing and increasing in 2011. It’s a complex, ever-changing world out there on the Internet. I’ve always thought most therapists didn’t want to have to be marketing experts OR high-tech experts – they just want to do good therapy work with as many clients as they’d like. The smart and hungry will be hiring out – expect the rankings in your area to be very, very dynamic in 2011.

All the best, Peter