How do potential clients conduct their search for a counsellor when they're looking through a directory such as Psychology Today or Counselling Directory? And how can counsellors and psychotherapists optimise their profiles to appeal to different types of search behaviour?

In this episode:

• How different types of search behaviour can influence choice of therapist
• How counsellors can improve the likelihood of being noticed
• What type of content to include to appeal to different types of people
• How to structure content to reach more potential clients

Chapters

00:00 Understanding Client Search Behaviour

03:33 Different Client Behaviours

05:55 Writing for "Idle Scrollers"

07:21 Attracting Clients with Clear Communication

09:13 Helping Emotional Searchers

11:31 Putting Yourself in the Shoes of Potential Clients

Keywords

directory profiles, therapist search behaviour, optimising profiles, attracting clients, clear communication

Setting up in private practice? Download my free checklist HERE

Need ideas for how to get clients? Download my free handout 21 Ways for Counsellors to Attract New Clients HERE

You can also find me here:

The Good Enough Counsellors Facebook Group

Josephine Hughes on Facebook

Josephine Hughes on YouTube

My website: josephinehughes.com

The information contained in Good Enough Counsellors is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this podcast are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this podcast.

Josephine Hughes disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this podcast.

Speaker: 00:00:01

I know it's difficult enough to write your

directory profile, but when you've sat

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: 00:00:05

down in front of your laptop to start,

have you ever considered what people do

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: 00:00:10

when they search through directories of

therapists?

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: 00:00:12

How do they actually go about refining and

choosing a counsellor?

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: 00:00:17

In today's episode of Good Enough

Counsellors, let's think about people's

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: 00:00:22

search behaviour, what it tells us and how

we can use this knowledge to improve the

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likelihood of them choosing you.

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: 00:00:40

Welcome back to the Good Enough Counselors

podcast.

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: 00:00:43

And today I'm continuing my series on

writing your directory profile.

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: 00:00:48

If you'd like to catch up on what I've

already said about this before, please do

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check out episode 14 called Directory

Profiles Ditch the Jargon and episode

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three, How do Clients Choose Their

Therapist.

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To start this episode, I'd love to ask you

a question.

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: 00:01:05

What do you search for regularly on the

internet?

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Are you into travel or clothes or

something else?

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Being as you're a therapist, I think you

may well be searching for new courses to

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study or books to read.

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I see you in your CPD.

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Don't hide now.

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I hate to admit it, but I don't actually

spend much time researching new therapy

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approaches.

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I'm going to be honest and tell you about

some of my evening doom scrolling.

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The first thing to say is that I'm on my

sofa on...

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My phone.

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Somewhere, like 50 to 60 % of people

actually use their smartphones to access

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the internet.

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So it's really important that whatever you

publish is optimized for mobile usage.

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That might be something worth checking if

you've got a website.

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When I'm scrolling, I might start with

social media and then move on to the

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headlines.

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When I've had my fill of those, I might

then turn to my vintage app and see if

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there are any secondhand clothes I'd like

to buy.

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On other occasions, I might search the

internet more purposefully.

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This might be to choose a holiday

destination or a holiday cottage.

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Or I might be looking for a trader to do

some work on the house.

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I don't think I'm very unusual in what I

search for on the internet or how I go

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about it.

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Let's see if there are any lessons to draw

from this.

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To me, what it says is that at any time

the directories may be searched by people.

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in very different ways.

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I'm sure there are people who search

purposefully like me when I'm looking for

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a holiday cottage.

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I have some clear ideas about what I want

and I'm trying to find the cottage that

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meets those needs.

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Other times, I know I want a holiday, but

I'm not sure where.

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So I may spend more time looking at the

options, but sometimes the task seems too

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big and I'll go away.

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because the choice is overwhelming.

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And still other times, I'm just looking

for something to distract me.

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I have a vague idea about what I need

clothing -wise.

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Go on to Vinted and just have a look.

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I might be lucky and find something I

really like, or I might put the app down

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and go and do something else instead.

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Now, I think each of those different user

behaviours can be realistically applied to

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people who are searching for counsellors

and psychotherapists.

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Let's start with what I'd like to call,

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the vintage search behaviour.

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It may not be very serious.

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Someone may have clicked through on a link

from somewhere like the Happyful blog,

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just from the viewpoint of curiosity.

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They may be thinking, well, what's

counselling about then?

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They may idly pop something into the

search box and scroll through to see what

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comes up.

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At this point, it's worth noting that if

you're one of the therapists on that

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directory, you're not only competing with

other therapists,

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You're also competing with a host of other

distractions.

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This might be the TV, another app that's

sending notifications and interruptions

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from children and partners.

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The person may not be concentrating very

hard on the search.

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So what can you do about what I'd like to

call the idle scroller?

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Is it even worth thinking about them?

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If you listened to last week's episode on

social media,

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You'll know that I talked about the

contemplation stage of change.

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Your idle scroller is starting to

contemplate therapy and if you stand out,

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they may notice you and return at a later

date.

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They may have decided to take action.

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Have you ever done that?

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Looked at something, gone away to have a

think about it and then come back later?

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I've certainly experienced that in my

practice with my niche for unintended

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childlessness.

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When clients have told me that they

noticed me a year or so before they

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actually contacted me, but they weren't

ready to see me then, but they've come

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back to me at a later date, I think if

you're clear and consistent in your

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communication, your message will yield

results over time.

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Here's a few tips to help you write for

our idle scrollers.

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Please remember that I offer a lot more

help to people who choose to work with me.

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either in my group coaching programme,

Therapy Growth Group, or in a one -to -one

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session.

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It's so much easier for me to help you

when I can work with you to identify what

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will make you stand out personally.

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But for the purposes of the podcast, I'll

give you my top three tips for our

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distracted scroller.

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What I suggest you do is have headlines

that catch the eye.

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This would be something like, feeling

anxious?

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Therapy can help.

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Next.

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Focus on how therapy can help rather than

your modality and above all, make it easy

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to read scannable content.

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No long paragraphs, please.

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Let's move on and imagine now the person

who has decided they were like a therapist

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and let's think about their search

behaviour.

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They'll probably land on a page that asks

them for their location and their problem

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to be able to refine their search.

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And then they'll be confronted by...

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pages and pages of suitably qualified

therapists.

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I'm sure I'm not the only one who has

heard the directories described as Tinder

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for therapists.

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And just like Tinder, your photograph may

be very important in helping someone to

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choose you.

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In the absence of any other clues, a

therapist may get chosen because they look

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like someone the client feels they'll be

able to talk to.

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Your photograph is so important.

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I'll return to the subject in a future

episode in this series.

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But just like me, when I'm confronted by a

plethora of holiday destinations, your

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potential client may feel so overwhelmed

by the choice, they walk away.

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Let's see what you can do about it.

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The first few sentences of your profile

are crucial.

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If you're on Counselling Directory,

consider using the search paragraph

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function.

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And if you're on the BACP directory, take

care with the start of the section called

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Me and My Practice, as this is where your

sentences are drawn from.

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Just remember, I'm recording this episode

in June,: 2024

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So if you're listening at a later date, do

check as it may have changed.

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Let's go back to another of my internet

searches.

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If I'm using CheckerTrader, I'll be

looking for a particular type of person.

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For example, a plumber or a decorator.

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I won't want an electrician to be clearing

a blocked pipe.

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And the directories actually encourage

clients to look for specialists.

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They'll ask clients to name their problem,

which implies that there are some people

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who can help with that problem and others

who don't.

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It can be confusing and frustrating for

clients to name their problem and then be

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confronted with a list of people that

don't seem to fit.

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Let me give you an example.

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and in passing tell you that when I told

my daughter who edits the podcast what I

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was doing and how this exercise brought

out my inner nerd, she said, aha, a Hughes

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episode for sure.

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We do love a bit of research.

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I've just done a quick search for baby

loss on the BACP directory.

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And while I found someone who included

pregnancy issues in their profile, I was

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also offered an addiction specialist and

mysteriously,

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someone with nothing written in their

blurb at all.

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Presumably, they ticked a box with loss in

it.

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The addiction specialist had talked about

the inner child, so maybe that's why the

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search engine thought it was relevant.

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Who knows?

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But if I'd been a client, I think I would

have been quite discouraged.

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There seemed to be a lot of false

positives.

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Therapists who were coming up that didn't

seem to meet my needs.

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and there was hardly anything to go on to

help me choose which ones to look at more

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closely.

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How much easier it would have been if

someone had clearly stated that they work

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with this issue in their first sentence or

two.

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I clicked through on the person who had

included pregnancy loss, not because she'd

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said anything specific about stillbirth,

but yes, you've guessed it, because she

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had a friendly face.

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And then the next thing I did was to check

out what she said about her experience so

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I could see if she'd be able to help me.

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If indeed she did work with baby loss.

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This is where I'd found she'd ticked the

box on pregnancy issues.

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And if I were a real client, that might

have been enough to make me contact her.

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Well, if I couldn't find anyone else who

was more specific.

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Honestly, this is what made my niche

working with parents who had experienced

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baby loss or was struggling to conceive.

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so successful.

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There was no one else advertising that

they helped with this issue.

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Thankfully, there are now many more

counsellors who are trained to work with

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this.

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And if that's you, aren't you making it

obvious?

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Think about what you're saying in your

initial opening sentences.

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Think about what you're saying about your

type of work and the words you use to

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describe them.

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and make sure you include a description of

your experience and why you're a good

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person for the client to choose.

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It's also useful to think about if you

have anything extra to offer that might

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make you stand out.

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This could be anything from an additional

language skill to experience in working

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with a specific diverse population.

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Now let's move on to think about another

type of search behaviour that we haven't

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considered yet.

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That's the person...

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who may be turning to the directories

because they're feeling upset and are

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looking for help.

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They may not be searching in the same

logical way that I've just described.

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Their emotions will be involved and they

may well be desperately looking for help

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that they can access as quickly as

possible.

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If you're someone who's trying to attract

clients who may be feeling quite

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emotional, here's some tips on what to do

to help them.

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First,

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They may have a limited attention span

because they're upset and their logical

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brain isn't fully involved.

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Their primary focus may be to get help

now, and this can lead to impulsivity.

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Ever checked your phone in the morning and

found that someone's tried to contact you

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at midnight?

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That could well be your very emotional

client.

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Although I've also had emails from people

on Christmas Day who wrote and said, I

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thought I'd get in touch now while I was

thinking about it.

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Potential clients with a limited attention

span may scan your entry rather than read

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it in any depth.

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So to help them, don't have long

paragraphs with long sentences.

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This is too dense and they won't bother.

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Keep it simple.

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They may be focused on their feelings.

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So it's helpful to use keywords about

their symptoms.

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For example, crying for no reason, feeling

overwhelmed, panic attack.

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This can also help if they're doing a

Google search.

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If you have relevant keywords in your

profile, Google may take them straight

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through to your entry.

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And in that case, the impulsivity may mean

that they contact you straight away.

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However, they're also susceptible to

decision fatigue.

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You probably know how hard it is to make a

decision when you're feeling upset.

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So remember to use a call to action that

will speak to them and their need for

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help, such as get help now.

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Sadly, many people have become accustomed

to long waiting lists and I've certainly

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experienced clients being quite surprised

that I can fit them in quickly.

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So if you have space available now, tell

them.

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In all of this talk of writing

directories, what I'd like you to do most

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of all is to put yourself in the shoes of

your potential client.

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Imagine what will they be looking for when

they pick up their phone to search?

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What do they need and how can you?

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It can be a whole lot easier to imagine

this when you have a clear idea about the

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people you'd like to reach with your

service.

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And this is something I'd love to help you

discover.

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If you need help with writing your

directory, please do get in touch with me

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to find out how I can help.

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And that means that more clients will get

the therapy that they so desperately need.

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Thanks for listening.

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do come and join my Facebook community,

Good Enough Counsellors.

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And for more information about how I can

help you develop your private practice,

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please visit my website, JosephineHughes

.com.

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If you found this episode helpful, I'd

love it if you could share it with a

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fellow therapist or leave a review on your

podcast app.

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And in closing, I'd love to remind you

that every single step you make gets you

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closer.

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to your dream.

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I really believe you can do it.