2013 Therapist Blog Challenge

Build your practice and attract more clients to your practice by creating regular content on your private practice website. I'll make it easy for you!

Welcome 2013! I tell my private practice consulting clients is to have an integrated blog on their private practice website and become a regular online content creator. Potential clients are searching online for your services and I want them to be able to find you more easily. Here's how blogging can help.

Why is blogging on your private practice website important?

• Fresh website content boosts search engine rankings/SEO (remember Google is my #1 referral source)
• It add value to your website visitors and give them a reason to come back to your site
• It gives you valuable content to share on social media that direct people back to your website
• It helps you to strengthen your online presence as an expert
• It allows potential clients get to know you and your practice philosophy

Why are some therapists hesitant to start blogging?

• They don't know what to write about
• They think they have to write totally original content
• They think they have to write a "dissertation" (blogs posts only need to be 300-600 words)
• They haven't found their "blogging voice"
• They don't have the "time"
• They're scared

To participate in the 2013 Therapist Blog Challenge:

• Post your practice website link in the comments below.
• Watch for my suggested blog topic twice each month. I'll come up with the content idea so you don't have to. I'll title and number the posts "Blog challenge #1" ... so you can keep track.
• Write your 300-600 work blog article that week for your private practice website.
• Post your blog article link in the comment section on the corresponding post here on this Toolbox blog.
• Read and share other therapists articles.

Pretty easy, huh? So, are you IN? By the end of the year you'll have at least 24 articles on your website!

Blog challenge #1 coming soon....

Remember to post your practice website below and any questions you have. And please invite colleagues to join in. This will be fun!

(c) Can Stock Photo

5 Social Media Marketing Lessons From My Top Traffic Sources

Do you know where your website visitors come from? If not, it probably a good idea to start. I use Google Analytics to find out which sites are the top referrers to my private practice website WasatchFamilyTherapy.com.

The following statistics reinforce what I've already known. They illustrate that:

1. A website is crucial for private practice growth.
2. Google is king. Most people find my website through Google searches.
3. Creating valuable content that can be shared on Facebook is definitely worth the investment.
4. Guest blogging on larger sites does increase website traffic.
5. It's worth a monthly fee price to get listed in online directories.

Take a look at my year-to-date website traffic stats.

2012 Top Traffic Sources To WasatchFamilyTherapy.com | Create infographics

Do you know where your website traffic comes from? Who are your top online referral sources?

5 Steps To Resigning From Insurance Panels

One of the most common questions that private practice therapists ask me is "How do I get off of insurance panels?" This question just came up today in my Private Practice Toolbox Facebook Group so I thought it would be a great topic for a blog post. In previous posts I've written about why I broke up with managed care (part 1) & (part 2), but this post will focus on how to do it.

The thought of letting go of the comfort of being on insurance panels can create a lot of anxiety for private practice therapists. After all, if we don't have clients, we don't get paid. Find comfort in knowing this equation. You only need about half the number of clients in a self-pay practice to make the same income (or more) than you made in an insurance based practice. Once I realized this fact, I felt a lot more comfortable resigning from insurance panels. Let's do the math...

Insurance:

Say you are seeing 20 managed care clients per week and you are reimbursed an average of $70 per client.

20 clients x $70 session = $1,400

20 clients x $70 session x 4 weeks = $5,600 per month

(then subtract your time or money spent in billing and paperwork)

Fee-for-service:

2o clients x $125 = $2500/wk

20 clients x $125 session x 4 weeks = $10,000 per month

10 clients x $125 session x 4 weeks = $5,000 per month

(with NO extra paperwork, NO delay in payment, NO denied claims, NO required diagnosis...)

So often we focus on number of clients instead of the quality of clients and the amount collected per client.

5 Steps To Resigning From Health Insurance Panels

1) Rank the insurance companies

Make a list of insurance panels and rank them from your most favorite to least favorite based on:

• reimbursement rates
• paper work requirements
• how quickly you're paid
• number of clients you see from each panel
• the type of clients generally referred
• your general feeling working with each panel

2) Resign in waves starting with your least favorite

Generally, I recommend to my consulting clients to resign in waves over the course of a year. Resign first from the panels with the lowest ranking - the ones that pay the least and are the most difficult to work with.

3) Check your contract for resignation requirements

Review your contract to check on the resignation process that you agreed to. Look at the time frame required. Do you need to give them 30, 60, or 90 days notice? Do you need to send in a written letter?

4) Beef up your web presence

As part of your plan to resign from insurance panels, it critical to invest in creating other referral sources. The most important being your web presence. Google is my #1 referral source. The majority of our clients who come to my clinic Wasatch Family Therapy find us online. The benefit of clients finding you online is that they've already read about you, your services, and your philosophy on your website and have chosen to contact you. This increases the likelihood that they will be willing to pay your full fee.

• Website - If you don't have a website, make that a top priority. If you have a website, make sure it's effective. Here are some common website mistakes and how to fix them.
• Blog - If you don't have a blog on your site, add one and start blogging weekly.
• Therapist finder sites - join PsychologyToday.com, GoodTherapy.org, and your professional organization's "find a therapist" site to help potential clients find you.

5) Know the benefits of self-pay and be prepared to educate clients

There are benefits to the client for paying out of pocket, instead of going through their insurance company, that they may not be aware of. As you make the transition away from managed care to a fee-for-service practice it's important to familiarize yourself with these benefits so you can educate your clients. A few of those benefits are: control over which provider you choose to work with, the course of treatment decided on by client and therapist instead of insurance company, and no diagnosis requirement.

Here's an example of how a provider educates her patients on the benefits of self-pay. Utah Psychiatrist Kelli Hyland, MD my colleague and consultation client, shares her philosophy in this blog post "Why Self-pay?"

(c) Can Stock Photo

The 3-Letter Word That Gets More Clients

(c) Can Stock Photo

A simple practice-building skill that many private practice therapists overlook is to ASK directly for new clients referrals. Some shrinks assume that if they're skilled clinically colleagues, clients, and acquaintances will automatically refer clients to them. While that may be true for some therapists, in my consulting experience, building a thriving private practice takes conscious effort and deliberate action.

Asking for referrals is important so you are on the "top of mind" for your referrals sources. Potential referral sources may assume that you're too busy, that you're not taking new clients, they don't remember your name or contact information, or it just didn't occur to them to refer a client to you.

Here are a few ways you can ask for referrals when you need to fill some of your appointment slots without seeming desperate.

1) Send A Note Or Email

Get some nice note cards and periodically send a personal note to referral sources. Let them know that you'd love to work with their clients, that you have openings, and include some business cards.

Shoot off an email to referral sources who've sent clients your way in the past. Make sure that you include all of your contact information in the email to make it easy for someone to contact you. Here's an example of what I have said in an email to a relationship coach.

Dear __________,

I hope all is well with you. I hear great things about your coaching practice and have sent a few clients to your marriage classes. I wanted to let you know that I currently have a few openings for individual or couples clients who need some help with with deeper issues that may need to be addressed in therapy. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you want to discuss how I can help any of your coaching clients who are "stuck."

Warmly,

Julie

(detailed contact info here, including website, phone, etc.)

2) Ask Over Lunch

Invite a referral source to lunch on you and ask for referrals then. Everyone needs to eat. I've found that people, especially professionals, are more likely to meet with you if you feed them. When you meet, remember to bring something to the table (no pun intended) to offer to them.

Consider ways that you can spread the word about their practice or business, offer a free training to their staff on your area of expertise, or make yourself available for free consultations or coaching on mental health issues.

3) Ask For Referrals In Casual Conversation

Number of client hours can vary greatly in private practice. There is an art to keeping consistent direct care numbers.  If your client numbers are down, don't be afraid to mention your openings in casual conversations with colleagues, doctors, friends, and other associates that you have openings in your practice. It's your job to remind people that you are in private practice and that you'd appreciate more business.

How comfortable are you asking for new referrals from colleagues, associates, professionals, and friends?

Simplify Your Social Media Life With HootSuite

I have wholeheartedly embraced social media to build my therapy practice and to educate the public on important emotional health and family relationship topics. Technology and social media have allowed me to grow my private practice free of managed care during difficult economic times. Facebook is the #2 referral source to my private practice website, topped only by Google. A common  challenge for private practice therapists is learning to effectively manage social networks in a way that maximizes their time and draws people to their practice.

People often ask how I stay on top of posting and interacting regularly on my social media networks. Just to give you an idea, I manage  3 Twitter accounts, 8 Facebook pages/profiles, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Ping.fm, 3 Ning accounts. One of my favorite social network management systems is HootSuite, a social media dashboard. Although I can't manage all of my accounts from HootSuite, I can manage the largest networks. I pay only $5.99 per month which includes the ability to add one "team member" to can access and manage my social network accounts.

Here's a list of social networks that you can manage from Hootsuite:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Foursquare
• Ping.fm
• WordPress
• MySpace
• Mixi

I'm hoping they'll add Facebook groups, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest very soon.

Here's my 5 minute tutorial walk through of HootSuite's basic functions so you can see the dashboard, functions, and how easy it is to use.

Here are some of the reasons I like HootSuite:

1) Save drafts

You can save drafts of updates, posts, links, etc. to post at a later time, or to repost which saves time.

2) Schedule posts

If you find an article link , quote, or other resource that you want to share on any or all of your social media networks, you can schedule a post in the future by setting the day and time. You can set aside a certain amount of time every week and schedule your posts for the week on all of your networks.

3) Interact directly from the dashboard

Not only can you post updates, photos, links, etc. for HootSuite, you can interact, comment, "like", retweet, and many other options on several networks from one place. You don't have to login to each site separately which saves time.

4) Selectively post to networks

You can send or schedule an update to specific social media pages and not to others. For example, one of my Facebook Pages is a "Music/Band" page for my performing and songwriting. I post more music related links, stories, etc. there and I don't post those on my  private practice Facebook page. You can select which updates to send to each social network depending on the interests of your audience on any specific account.

5) Add team members

HootSuite allows you to add team members to your accounts to help manage your social media. I recently added a team member to assist me. The dashboard shows which team member responded to certain social media posts so you can track the other member's interaction and avoid duplicating responses.

How do you manage your social media networks to build your therapy practice?