Are You About to Lose 50% of Your Website Customers?

I know that the majority of therapists out there pay very little attention to what is going on with search engine optimisation and Google updates. In general hypnotherapists ask someone to create a website for them, they add their content and then forget about it. This strategy isn’t something I would recommend as without tweaking your website regularly you are going to get left behind. In some instances you will be able to get away with it but in July a big change is coming and it is going to impact visitors to your website big time!

SSL Certificates and Google Chrome

If you have never heard about SSL certificates then pay attention as in a months time not having one is going to cause you a whole world of trouble!

An SSL certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) is basically an additional layer of security on your website. When you have an SSL certificate you have a file which means that sensitive information is encrypted. This means that if a customer puts in their credit card information on your website nobody else can read that information as it moves across the internet. When you have an SSL certificate your web address changes from http:// to https:// to show that your site has the relevant encryption.

Ok, so I know some of you are thinking so what? I don’t sell products on my website. Ah but here comes the problem. Google has been pushing for people to update to secure websites for a long time and they have now decided that July 2018 is the date when enough is enough. From now on if somebody looks at your website on Google Chrome and you don’t have a certificate they are going to get a warning sign to say that your website isn’t secure.

The Power of Google Chrome

Currently, Google Chrome has over a 50% share of the internet browser market. Think about it over 50% of the people who search and find your website find it through Chrome. Now imagine that half of your customers who come across your website see a message saying that your site isn’t secure.

Your customers certainly have no idea about SSL certificates, https or in fact anything related to encryption on the net. They do however know that when they see a big red non-secure message when they come across your website that they quickly backpedal and get rid of your site from their screen as fast as they can. Now you can see the importance of making sure that your site complies over the next month or you are going to wave goodbye to a ton of customers.

What to do Next

As most of you will probably have web developers or designers I suggest that you contact them as soon as possible and get them to help you to address the problem. Yes, it will cost you but not as much as losing a bunch of customers over the next few months. For those of you that understand coding head on over to YouTube where there are a ton of videos showing you how to purchase a certificate and make the required modifications to your website.

How Pandas, Penguins and Possums Are Impacting your Hypnosis Marketing!

hypnosis marketing google pandaOk you probably think that I have lost the plot by talking about animals and marketing but I can assure you that these creatures are highly important to your hypnosis marketing and to Google. So what the hell am I on about? Lets start from the top. When you enter a search query into the Google search bar to ask to get information the results that get returned to you are based around a sophisticated algorithm. Just some of the factors that determine which websites you get to see include:

  • Mobile Friendliness
  • Location and Proximity to you
  • Backlinks
  • Synonyms
  • Site and page quality
  • Web history
  • Keywords
  • Content
  • SSL Certificates  and on and on the list goes.

In fact there are around 200 different ways in which google decides what they want to show you not including the information they show you in their ads. Having a basic understanding of the algorithm is essential as without this knowledge it can be hard to create a website that gets found. Most therapists just create a website they like the look of with a web designer but this is a perfect way to disappear and never be found by the general public. My online course How to Turn Your Therapy Website Into a Client Magnet gives you many of the basics so that you can start to optimise your website to get found.

The Google Zoo

So what has this got to do with animals? Well Google has a mission to give searchers the most useful information they can and that means that they are always tweaking and adjusting search results so that their users get the best experience. They also work on ways to close loopholes that allow spammy or low quality websites into the search results. In recent times these updates have been given code names and you guessed it Panda, Penguin and Possum are the names given to some of the major changes that have happened in the past few years.

Having a basic understanding of these changes is essential because if your website is on the wrong side of the changes then your business could vanish overnight from the search engines. A perfect example of this was the company Interflora in 2013 who paid for newspaper advertorials to link to their company so they could get a boost in the search engines. Google found out and the next thing Interflora disappeared from the search results. Imagine how many millions they lost whilst they frantically tried to recover their website.

Just as with Interflora the same things are happening to your websites and in many cases you are probably unaware that your hypnosis marketing efforts are being destroyed because of things you or your website developer has done to your site. So here are some of the basics that you need to consider before creating content or links to your website.

Panda

The Panda updates revolve around demoting websites which are of poor quality. This could mean websites that contain lots of spam or sites that simply have very little unique information to offer. It also penalises websites that contain duplicate content. That means if you have two websites you cannot repeat any of the information from one and place it on another.

Penguin

The Penguin updates tend to concern themselves with links created by spammers to give their websites a boost. Now if you have outsourced your SEO work to someone else how do you know what they are doing is actually helping or hindering your website. I have come across many companies who have paid for SEO services and the person doing the work has built a lot of rubbish links to their sites that could get them penalised. Also never be tempted to buy backlinks from one of the companies that I regularly see advertising on the web. This is a perfect way to destroy your website.

Possum

Possum is an update which has happened in only the last month and impacted how local search results were shown. Previously a business really needed a central location in a town or city for it to appear highly in Google maps or the organic search results. Since Possum you can rank for an area if you are outside the town centre provided your website shows that you are offering services to people in that location. This update is ongoing as we speak so the full impact is still not known.

It is worth noting that many of these code word updates have a number of revisions. Which means you will see a Panda 1, 2, 3 and 4 as Google becomes more sophisticated. There are also other codewords including Hummingbird which is the code word for the Google algorithm itself and Pigeon for local SEO results.

Keep Yourself Informed

Having a basic understanding of search engine optimisation and how Google decides to show your website is vital if you have a website. Without this knowledge you could find your business impacted overnight simply because you got some of the basics wrong. Whilst you may not be an Interflora it could be enough to significantly harm your income.

Oh and for those of you who still have not got a Mobile website I suggest you do so asap. Rumours are that at some point in the near future Google may simply stop showing non mobile friendly websites in the search results at all. Over 50% of searches are currently done on mobile devices so it is obvious why they are thinking of making this change. Don’t bury your head in the sand, ignore hypnosis marketing and hope the problem will go away. My online course has information on where to create a new website for under $200 which is a small price to pay to avoid vanishing from your potential customers.

 

 

Citation Building for Therapists – The Complete Guide

Citation Building for TherapistsMarketing a therapy business well should involve creating a great local presence for your services. One of the best ways of doing this is building citations to your business. So what exactly is a citation? In short it is a mention of your name, address and phone number on another website page. The citation does not have to link back to your website. In some cases you will find that people use the term NAP to refer to this name, address and phone number. Citation building for therapists is a crucial marketing strategy that should not be ignored.

Building a local list of citations is hugely important for a local business as it is a key ranking factor in Google and Bing. Both these search engines use citations in their ranking algorithm and the more you have the more likely you are to rank over your competitors. Most people believe that a citation needs to be built in a directory but they can also be created in forums, blog posts, press releases and social media links. A citation is telling the search engines that your business is genuine and in the local region. The more citations you have from good quality webpages the more trust you build around your business. Location specific citations from local newspapers, your chamber of commerce or local directory links can make a big difference to your website rankings in Google and Bing.

Claiming your Therapy Business Listing

I will supply a list of some of the most best citation sites on the web at the end of this post but once you have found the site what do you do next?

  1. Before most sites allow you to create a listing you may be asked if your business has already been added to their website. This is important for a number of reasons. Firstly it prevents duplicate listings of your business and secondly it allows you to check if other businesses are registered at the same address. Many therapists may work out of therapy centres where there are a number of people working so you would expect to see many other businesses registered at your address. If however you have taken over a premises and an old competitor is registered it is worth flagging this to prevent them benefiting from your advertising.
  2. If you don’t have a duplicate business listed you will be asked to fill out details about your company. Obviously the name, address and phone number but in many cases you might also be asked for pictures, website details, social media links, hours of operation, products sold and so on. Fill out as many of the details as you can.
  3. Some websites try and persuade you to pay money in order to get a listing on their website. Where possible simply opt for the free option. The purpose of your adding your details is for the citation alone. In many cases paying to be added to a directory is a pointless exercise unless they appear extremely highly in the search engines for your keyword.
  4. Be aware that some people will add a different email for their citation links than their usual business email. This is because adding your details to these forms of sites tends to generate spam marketing.
  5. After adding your details you will usually be asked to verify a link to finalise the process. Google + Local however sends you a postcard which may not appear until weeks later. Some other websites will ask for your phone number and then call you with a pin number to confirm that you really are at that phone number.
  6. In many cases your listing may appear live after only a few minutes but in some cases the citation websites will have a review process of up to six months! Obviously if you paid them for the listing this would be up and running in a day or so.

Consistency and Citations for Therapy Marketing

One of the most important points to remember when building citations is to keep consistency. That means using exactly the same name, address and phone number on each link that you are building. Even more importantly the ones you choose should be in exactly the same format as your Google + Local page and Website address. Having different phone numbers or variations of your trading name can confuse search engine algorithms and raise red flags. You do not want any doubt to be created around your business listing so make sure that everything is written exactly the same. Moz local is a system that can be used to track your citations online and ensure that you do not have duplicates, listings that are incomplete or have inconsistencies.

Build a Booming Therapy Business with Citations

A great way of finding out what citations to use is by searching for what your competitors are doing. If you are hiding away on page three or four of the search engines then it is worth looking at the citations that your competitors are using in order to trank. Although at the end of this post I have included a great list to start you off there may be many local listings that you may miss without looking to see what your fellow therapists are using. I know that this method helped me to find a number of local newspaper listings that I would never have even known about when I moved into my new location six months ago.

The Top Twenty List of Citations You Need to Use in Your Marketing

  1. 192.com
  2. Yelp.com
  3. Brownbook.net
  4. Facebook.com
  5. Local.Yahoo.com
  6. Thomsonlocal.com
  7. Citylocal.co.uk
  8. Cylex-uk.co.uk
  9. Freeindex.co.uk
  10. Hotfrog.co.uk
  11. Locallife.co.uk
  12. MisterWhat.co.uk
  13. Scoot.co.uk
  14. TouchLocal.com
  15. Yalwa.co.uk
  16. 118.com
  17. directory.thesun.co.uk
  18. directory.independent.co.uk
  19. Approvedbusiness.co.uk
  20. Opendi.co.uk

The list I have given is based around the UK however I know that I have a number of blog readers from the US and in Australia. You can find the best lists for your regions here:

US Citations

Australia Citations

Not Getting Professional Help Is Costing You Money

Obviously citation building for therapists is just one small step in getting your business found online and getting customers in through your door. If you were unaware of its importance and had not begun the process of building your citations you could have potentially lost thousands of pounds in revenue in the past year. Thousands of pounds that you could have reinvested in your business, used to pay for a holiday or simply saved for a rainy day. My therapy marketing coaching sessions help my clients to get ahead of the competition and stop burning money following strategies that are not working for their business. Even better the cost of my business training is easily offset by just a couple of new clients. For more details simply contact for more information.