How to write for your website: Copywriting for Psychologists and Therapists with Allie Linn

Today I am talking to Allie Linn, who has joined us all the way from Philadelphia in the US. Allie used to be a therapist, got burned out and found writing. Now she helps other therapists to write the copy for their websites and I am thrilled to have her here to give us some top tips today.

The highlights

• I announce that we are running the Find Your Specialism webinar again on 1st April 2021 at 7:30 00:01
• Allie tells us about her journey, and how she found herself where she is today 02:53 
• Allie talks about why it’s helpful to be a therapist when writing for therapists, and finding the right fit 05:26
• We discuss the importance of knowing your own voice and how to find it 09:47
• Allie tells us the biggest mistakes she tends to see us making on our websites 13:22
• Allie tells us what bits of our websites are most important to work on, including how to rank in a google search 15:35
• We talk about crafting a good story, and where to use storytelling on our website 23:25
• Allie takes us through how we can tell if our writing is working for our audience 27:34
• Allie talks about when it’s the right time to use a copywriter 32:59
• We discuss some of the tools available to help with your writing 40:12
• Allie tells us the two action step she wants us to go away and do now 43:20
• Allie tells us where to find her if we want to connect with her 46:04
• I give a reminder about the Find Your Specialism webinar 46:35

Links to find Allie

https://www.allielinnwrites.com

Instagram: @allielinnwrites

https://www.instagram.com/allielinnwrites/

LinkedIn: Allie Linn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allielinn/

I really wanted to take a moment to tell you about something very exciting that's coming up soon. On Thursday, the 1st of April at 7:30 we are running our Find Your Specialism webinar. This was a big hit when we ran it back in January, and lots of you got in touch to ask if we were going to be running it again, and I'm very pleased to say that we are. So in the webinar we are going to cover why you need to specialise, the secret of a successful specialism, and then we're going to help you figure out what your specialism can be. And I really encourage you, if you are feeling overwhelmed in your private practice, if you're struggling with all the things that you could do, all the shiny objects that are out there, and you need a bit of clarity to move you forward, this is the webinar for you. I'd really encourage anybody who's starting out on their private practice journey to join us for an hour of free training. I'll be there as well to answer any questions that you might have about getting started in private practice. And there will be a special offer at the end for anybody who's thinking about joining our next cohort of Psychology Business School in April. So that is the 1st of April 2021 at 7:30. I hope to see as many of you as possible there.

Link: https://psychologybusinessschool.com/webinar

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TRANSCRIPT

SPEAKERS

Allie Linn, Rosie Gilderthorp

Rosie Gilderthorp  00:01

Welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast, the show that helps you to reach more people, help more people and build the life you want to live by doing more than therapy. Before we get started with today's show, I really wanted to take a moment to tell you about something very exciting that's coming up soon. On Thursday, the 1st of April at 7:30 we are running our Find Your Specialism webinar. This was a big hit when we ran it back in January, and lots of you got in touch to ask if we could, if we were going to be running it again. And I'm very pleased to say that we are. So in the webinar, we're going to cover why you need to specialise, the secret of a successful specialism. And then we're going to help you figure out what your specialism can be. And I really encourage you, if you are feeling overwhelmed in your private practice, if you're struggling with all the things that you could do, all the shiny objects that are out there, and you need a bit of clarity to move you forward, this is the webinar for you. I'd really encourage anybody who's starting out on their private practice journey to join us for an hour of free training. I'll be there as well to answer any questions that you might have about getting started in private practice. And there will be a special offer at the end for anybody who's thinking about joining our next cohort of Psychology Business School in April. So that is the 1st of April at 7:30. And that's 2021 for anyone who's listening in the future. And I hope to see as many of you as possible there. All the links that you need are in the show notes. So on with the show. 

Rosie Gilderthorp  01:41

Today, I'm talking to Allie Lynn. Allie's joined us all the way from Philadelphia in the US, so we're really lucky to have her. And we're extra lucky because Allie used to be a therapist, got burnt out and then found writing. And now she helps other therapists to write the copy for their websites. And I'm really thrilled to have her here to give us some top tips today. So hi Allie, welcome to the podcast.

Allie Linn  02:03

Hi Rosie, thank you so much for having me.

Rosie Gilderthorp  02:06

So I can't wait to talk about writing, because I am a writer at heart. I've written my whole life. But I know it's something that so many of the students on Psychology Business School, particularly struggle with, because it's not something that you have to be good at to be a therapist or a psychologist. And it's a real skill in itself to be able to communicate with the, with your audience through writing. So I'm really looking forward to getting your top tips. And I'm sure there's going to be loads of notes that people are going to want to take. So top tip go and get yourself a notepad if you haven't got one already. I've got mine. And I'm expecting to be making some notes today. But before we dive into that, let's find out a little bit more about you and your journey. So how did you find yourself where you are today?

Allie Linn  02:53

Yeah, so I was a therapist for five years. Primarily, I was a dance movement therapist, although I did a lot of other types of therapy. And I worked mostly in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, which really burnt me out. I just am not built for that kind of setting. And I kept trying, and I kept trying, and it just wasn't working. And I started getting sick. And I was getting stress migraines, and I couldn't do a job. And it was just, you know, anxiety attacks. And I finally decided to step back. And around that time, I met a freelance writer, she writes for lawyers. But she told me what freelance writing was, I started looking into it. I've always been a writer myself, but, you know, I was more of a researcher in grad school, so copywriting is a completely different set of skills. It's a completely different set of skills from writing books to and so, um, I found a course about a year ago, yeah, about a year ago now. And I, it's very comprehensive, it kind of walked me through like, you know, what SEO is and how to write for, you know, marketing and how to use your writing in a storytelling way and how to write the way you talk. So once I found that it really helped me guide myself into being a business owner,  which I hadn't thought of myself for a while I kind of was like, I'm going to write I'm going to be a writer, but I don't really know what that means. So once I found copywriting, it gave me a lane to go down.

Rosie Gilderthorp  04:44

Because I think a lot of people listening to this might have an interest in writing, you know, maybe they enjoyed writing academic papers, maybe they've written journal articles. But like you say, it's such a different thing when you sit down you're trying to sell yourself through your writing, I think a lot of people, they look at the cursor and it blinks at them. And it's just a total blank. I know that's how I felt when I came to write my first website. I just had no idea what to say about myself or communicate as me on there. So yeah, it's great to hear that, that you managed to kind of find a way to channel your existing talent into that and learn that skill set.

Allie Linn  05:26

Yeah. And also, I think, you know, you don't have to be a therapist to write for therapists, but I think it helps a lot.

Rosie Gilderthorp  05:34

And why do you think that's so helpful? 

Allie Linn  05:36

Well, because I understand the world of therapy. I have done CBT I have done DBT. I have done Creative Arts therapy, I've worked in different settings. So I know, what am I, I, I've studied, you know, different types of therapy. So when I'm talking to a therapist, for the first time I, I have a base knowledge of what their, what they want.

Rosie Gilderthorp  06:01

And that sounds so valuable, because I think our biggest fear often when we think about outsourcing anything in our businesses, is, you know, what, if I'm misrepresented in some way, or what if what I do is misrepresented, because you do see, you know, people making sort of unscrupulous claims, especially on social media. We're like actually you can't say that. I mean, the worst one I've seen was around EMDR, actually had to report it, saying that you could be cured from trauma in just three sessions. And it yeah, yeah, you're doing the face. Allie is doing the face we're all doing right now, where you're like, no, that is not a promise that I want to make. And it, and it would be the worst nightmare, I think of any therapist that somebody might write for their website in that kind of way. Whereas I guess, with all your knowledge about what therapy is, what it isn't, what the process is like, you can infuse that into the way that you write for people.

Allie Linn  07:01

Definitely. And I will say I've had someone reach out to me who did claim that they could cure of trauma in, wasn't EMDR I forget what it was, but that's... so Rosie's now making the face that I was. Yeah, and it was definitely like, I don't want to write for this person. And you know, that's the great thing about being a freelance writer is you can choose who you work with. Just like they can choose to work with you, everyone is, you know, has agency in there.

Rosie Gilderthorp  07:33

I imagine that is really important in that relationship, you have to fit. Because I don't do copywriting, the writing that I do for other people is blogs, usually psychoeducation stuff, and I won't work with an organisation that isn't a good fit, because neither of you is going to be happy. Because you know, your rights, what you believe in, what fits with your values, and if your values don't align, then you're just gonna get pushback, it's not going to be fun. I imagine that's even more so when you're writing for somebody's business and what they do in the world.

Allie Linn  08:07

It is, and it's, it's funny, because, you know, just like, as therapists, you decide who you want to work with, who's your ideal client? I have my version of that, too. So, you know, in the beginning, you're trying to just work for as many people as possible, and then you start to realise, oh, wait, if I'm writing for everyone, I'm writing for no one.

Rosie Gilderthorp  08:29

Yeah, that's such a useful message in, in lots of ways, I think. And actually a lot of people listening to this, I run a business school, Psychology Business School for psychologists and therapists, and I often have to have that conversation with people at the beginning. Like, you don't have to work with everybody. And actually, it puts you in a stronger position, if you say no, to some people who are not the right client for you. But that's so hard to do at the beginning. Did you struggle with that at the beginning?

Allie Linn  08:57

Um, yeah, in the beginning, I was definitely taking on clients who weren't necessarily a good fit for me, value-wise, but also culturally, I was getting clients, which was great for other countries. And it just wasn't, it was really difficult to cross-culturally write in the way that they in their voice and the way that they needed.

Rosie Gilderthorp  09:20

Yeah, I can imagine that's really difficult in what you do, because you're literally trying to get into people's heads and speak as them, so you need quite a high level of understanding, I would think between you and the client. 

Allie Linn  09:31

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to only write for people who are exactly like me, but at the same time, you do need to figure out where your lane is and what's best for the client and am I going to sound like you and fully represent you.

Rosie Gilderthorp  09:47

And you know, thinking about what, what makes a good client like what you need as a person, as a business owner to work with a copywriter, I guess you really have to know your own voice first. Would that be fair to say? 

Allie Linn  10:02

Yeah, I think that's a really good point. And I think, you know, I know I started out writing blogs for myself. So just kind of practising. And then I, you know, I write my own blog on my website every week. So that's something that helps me, yeah, find my voice and then realise how my voice is different from this client's voice. And it takes a little while to get their voice, right. I mean, it's, you know, it's a working relationship, that takes a little bit of time.

Rosie Gilderthorp  10:35

Yeah, I can imagine because I think often, through like challenges and things that I run in the wider Do More Than Therapy community, we do things like blogging challenges sometimes. And the difficulty there is often finding that voice that you're comfortable with. Because we all know how we speak, but we speak differently with different groups of people, and trying to find the way of communicating which feels right for an audience of potential clients is actually really difficult. Even though I feel like if you, if you sit down a psychologist or a therapist with their ideal client, they will just naturally talk and they'll be warm and communicative and they won't use jargon, usually. Tapping into that in the written word is really difficult for a lot of people. Have you got any tips to how people can, can find that voice?

Allie Linn  11:29

How therapists can find that voice? 

Rosie Gilderthorp  11:31

Yeah.

Allie Linn  11:33

I think that it's important to think about who you're speaking to the most. So who is your audience? Are you writing to your ideal client? Are you writing to people who you want to be clients? Maybe you're doing both if you're trying to reach your ideal client. So I think that that's the first step is knowing who you're talking to. Because like I said before, if you're talking to everyone you're talking to no one. So figure out who you're talking to. And then talk out loud, record yourself. Write things and read them out loud. And also, don't be afraid to write something that's not good at first. I mean, that's the big that's the first thing, right? Sit down and write the crappy first draft, before you get to the polished step.

Rosie Gilderthorp  12:25

That is so important. Because we're such perfectionists, I think as a profession, that often that's what holds us back that we won't put out that thing that's going to flop. But with the blogs, if I go back to the first blog I ever wrote, that was not particularly good. But I learned so much from hitting publish, and getting feedback from people. And even just, once you've published it, weirdly, you look at it differently as well. And I noticed things about it once it was out there that I want wanted to change and adapt. So I really feel, I think you're really onto something there getting something out there. And I love the idea of recording yourself as well. And seeing kind of how you naturally do speak. That sounds straightforward, but I imagine a lot of people really struggle with it still. So what are the biggest mistakes you tend to see psychologists and therapists making on their websites?

Allie Linn  13:22

I think a big use of jargon is the first one. I think writing the way you write for research paper is a big one. As a therapist, obviously you want to show authority in your field, you want to show that you have expertise. But I think there's a way to do that, that comes across as user friendly to your clients and potential clients. So you need to really think about what are they cannot understand, what are they going to connect to? It's all about them. And I think that's another problem too. I see a lot of websites, for example and it's like your About Me page is not actually about you. It's about your clients and potential clients. So that's something that I think, you know, sometimes people read like a resume. And that doesn't engage people.

Rosie Gilderthorp  14:16

That is a really good point. I think I often say that really good marketing is actually really good listening. And it's just about reflecting back what people need from you when you've gotten to know them a bit. But I think what I hear from people a lot is that people's fear when they write their website copy is not what their ideal clients might think. It's what other psychologists and therapists might think, that peer judgement fear. And I often wonder if that's behind the massive list of qualifications, if it's kind of screaming, I am good enough. I am, don't judge me. Yeah, speaking from personal experience, it's quite hard to let go of listing out all of your qualifications.

Allie Linn  14:59

Absolutely. And I think there's a way to show your qualifications and show you're qualified without it being a list of a resume, because every page of your website should engage your clients, you want them to stay on your website, you want them to read about your services, your them to read about you. And the About You really needs to shine through who you are as a therapist, and what you could do for them, rather than a list of this...