If you’re in the early stages of launching your practice, there’s a good chance you’ve spent more time thinking about your practice name than you’d like to admit.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to choose a practice name without getting stuck. Because while your name matters, it is not what’s making or breaking your marketing. Clients are not choosing you because your name is poetic or clever. They’re choosing you because they feel connected, confident, and clear about what you offer.

We’ll talk about how to think long-term when naming your practice, how to avoid unnecessary rebrands, what role your domain plays in SEO (and what’s a myth), and how to stop letting this decision stall the rest of your progress. If you’ve been spinning here, this episode will help you make a thoughtful choice—and move forward.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ Why your practice name isn’t your brand—and what actually drives client decisions

2️⃣ How to choose a name that supports longevity (location-based, niche-based, or personal names)

3️⃣ What to consider if you might grow into a group practice

4️⃣ The truth about domains and SEO—and how to choose one that builds trust

Resources & Links Mentioned:

1. Learn more about Confident Copy:
2. https://walkerstrategyco.com/confident-copy
3. The Walker Strategy Co website:
4. https://walkerstrategyco.com

Connect + Subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice.

Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hey y'all.

2

Welcome back to Marketing

Therapy episode 55.

3

Today might be a little

bit of a shorter one.

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I'm not actually sure.

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I guess we'll see where we land, but I

wanna talk about something that I get

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asked about a lot, and so anytime I notice

a theme and the questions that I ask, it

7

represents potentially a really good topic

for the podcast naming your practice.

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Anna, what do I name my practice?

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This is a topic that.

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Full stop causes way more

stress than it needs to.

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So if nothing else, I hope this episode

gives you a little bit of sense of

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relief, but I've seen clinicians

spend weeks or months even stuck here.

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Well, I have to figure out

this before I can do anything.

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And in some ways you do, right?

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We need to file for your legal

documents and things like that,

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but it feels incredibly permanent.

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When you are in the stage of

launching your practice, the

18

practice name can feel like the

thing that you've gotta get, right?

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Right.

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And let me be clear.

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Your practice name matters, but

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it is not what is making

or breaking your marketing.

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Okay.

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Whatever you choose is

probably gonna be fine.

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I in this episode, want to guide

you through how I think about

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approaching, naming a practice.

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Some tips I have, depending on

where you're at now, where you see

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yourself going, what matters to you.

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But ultimately, I want you to end

up choosing a name that supports

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the longevity of your practice, and

stop overthinking the darn thing.

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Make a decision, commit

to it, and move forward.

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If this decision has been holding you up,

I hope this episode can help you choose

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something solid and then get on with it.

34

Get on to building the practice

that you actually want.

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Okay?

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Don't let this keep you stuck now.

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I always tell clinicians when I'm talking

to them about this, clients are not

38

choosing you because of your practice

name, so the marinating and stewing you're

39

doing on the meaning of the name and what

it says and what it represents about you.

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Those are all good things.

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Clients are not going to

choose you because of that.

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Okay?

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It matters more to you

than it does to them.

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Sorry if that's a little bit

of a hard truth, but it's true.

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Ultimately, your clients are going

to decide that you are the therapist

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for them because they feel connected

to you, because they view you as an

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expert because you have communicated

a level of value and experience that

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your clients are seeking, right?

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Because they're confident

you can actually help them.

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Your practice name can't do

all that heavy lifting for you.

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None of that comes from name alone.

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Okay?

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No one is getting on a consultation with

you and saying, I picked you 'cause the

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name of your practice was really creative.

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That's just not what's happening.

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Okay?

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Now your practice name is not the

same as your brand, and this is

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where I see some confusion as well.

59

Well, my practice name is

the heart of my practice.

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Is it really?

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Is it really?

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Your practice name is an identifier.

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Your brand, and we've talked

about this in past episodes.

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Your brand is your voice.

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It is your niche.

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It is the experience you create for

folks, particularly on your website,

67

but also the experience they have with

you in session and on consultations

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and in other parts of your marketing.

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That is your brand.

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The practice name is just

the identifier for it.

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So if you have really, really strong

branding, if you have great copy

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and a clear niche and a premium

level website that communicates the

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experience your clients are seeking,

that's gonna carry a lackluster or

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average name every day of the week.

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A beautiful name cannot

compensate for unclear marketing.

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Okay?

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So let's be clear about that.

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Like what a brand is and where

the practice name fits in that.

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'cause they're not the same.

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The other thing I wanna remind you, not

every practice name needs to have poetry

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or symbolism or a metaphor If there is

one that's powerful to you, awesome.

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In Confident Copy, we actually have an

entire section where we guide clinicians

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through how to share the heart behind

their practice name if it's something

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that is worth sharing and resonates with

how you work or who your clients are.

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So it's not that they can't have those

things, but not every name needs them.

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A clear, professional, neutral name

is a feature of your practice, but

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when you are a premium private pay

practice your work yourself, your brand.

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Does the differentiating and

the name just kind of needs to

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stay outta the way a little bit.

90

Again, no one's calling you saying,

I called you because of your name.

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So if you feel stuck in this or it

feels like there are other people

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around you that have picked the name

that you wanted, and so you're feeling

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like you have to go back to the

drawing board, maybe it doesn't need

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to carry so much weight and meaning.

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Okay.

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All right.

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I'm gonna get into some tips for how

to choose a name, but before I do

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that, I just wanna call one thing out

here too, because I have the luxury of

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talking to and supporting hundreds of

clinicians every single year, right in

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one-on-one calls, in our confident copy,

live calls, whatever that might be.

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And sometimes I can spot a

clinician overthinking their name

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as a way to avoid the other stuff.

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There's a little bit of avoidance here

sometimes 'cause it feels safer to keep

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deciding and thinking about this than to

commit and actually start taking action.

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Thinking about your name feels

like it's productive 'cause it's

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something on your to-do list.

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But what you really should be

doing is launching your website,

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writing your copy, getting visible.

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So I just wanna call that out a

little nudge if maybe you've been

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spinning here, when really you need

to just commit and move forward.

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At some point, the refining and

the overthinking becomes stalling.

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And in this market we can't

afford to be doing that, right?

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We need to be taking action.

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So just calling that out

there, offering that.

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If perhaps you need to be called

out a little bit here today, and

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now let's get into some tips for

actually how to choose a name.

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Now, your practice name lives

in a lot of places, right?

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It's associated with your

domain, and we're gonna talk

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about how to choose a domain.

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Ideally.

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It's also in your emails, it's on

your directories, it's in your legal

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docs, it's on your hr, it's on your

websites in a lot of places, right?

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When you change your practice name, we

call that a rebrand or a rename, right?

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You have to end up changing all

those other places, and so rebrands

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are possible, but they're incredibly

disruptive, and sometimes you need to,

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sometimes a rebrand is just necessary.

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What I want to do is walk you

through how to hopefully avoid that

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and to minimize the unnecessary

rebrands that I see having to happen.

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Okay.

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So in order to choose a name, we have to

be thinking about the future, not just the

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practice you're creating right now, but is

this practice name going to be relevant?

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A year from now, five years, 10 years.

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Of course, we can't know for sure.

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We can't see the future, but

location-based names is an example.

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Sometimes a location-based

name is awesome.

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We have, I think there's Nashville Trauma

Recovery Center or something here in town.

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There's lots of really great

location-based names out there, and

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maybe that's a good fit for you.

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If you're confident you're gonna stay

in the location you're in, awesome.

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Then maybe that's a good fit.

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However, are you gonna move states?

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Are you gonna expand into

multi-state or pact, right?

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We have the counseling compact.

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Like we need to be

keeping that in mind too.

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So again, location-based

names I actually really like.

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They're incredibly descriptive.

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They focus you somewhere, but it's

worth thinking on if you're considering

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something that brings in location, whether

or not you're actually gonna only be

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targeting that location in the future.

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Her.

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Same with population or

issue specific names.

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I walked through this with a confident

copy live student last year who had a

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practice name specific to trauma and

then was realizing her clients weren't

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necessarily coming to her for trauma.

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She wanted to expand outside of that,

and so was really wrestling with

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what to do and ultimately did end up

deciding on a rename and a rebrand.

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So if you're gonna choose something

that references population.

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That references a certain issue.

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Then ask yourself, is this something

I can see myself doing long term?

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Will I feel boxed in

by this in five years?

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We talk often about the fact that your

therapy work is going to evolve, that

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that's incredibly normal and allowed, and

so I suggest, as you consider keywords

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in your practice name, consider whether

you're getting a little bit too narrow.

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Maybe you feel incredibly

anchored there and you know

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that's what you're gonna be doing.

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Awesome.

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Lean into that.

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'cause again, it's very descriptive.

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It is going to immediately let someone

know if they're in the right place or not.

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But maybe we need to think a

little bit broader to support

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the longevity again of the name.

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Okay.

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The most common way that most solo

practices name their practice.

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Is their name.

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And you know what?

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I love that when someone comes looking for

therapy, they are looking for connection

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to a person, not a practice a person.

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A great way to facilitate that

connection is for the name of

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that practice to be a person.

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So this works best.

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If you are a solo practice with no plans

to move beyond that, if there is even a

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glimmer of interest in a group practice

for you, if you think ahead five or 10

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years and you're like, man, it could

be really cool to bring on a team to

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expand, do not choose your full name.

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It is incredibly difficult to brand an

entire team under a solo practitioner's

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name, and it can cause a lot of the

tension that many group practice

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owners feel where people come in

wanting them and not their team.

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So again, if that's on your vision

board, if that is on the horizon

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in any regard, I would recommend

against choosing your full name.

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Now, you could choose your last name.

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You could choose a riff on your name

that isn't necessarily Anna Walker

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Therapy or whatever that might be, but

don't choose that full name if a group

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practice is on the horizon for you.

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If you know that you're gonna

stick with just you moving

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forward, then I love that for you.

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And like I said, it facilitates

that person, person connection that

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people are ultimately looking for.

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If you are someone who does plan

to go to a group, then like I

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said, you can do a riff on your.

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Actual name or that's when you

can start considering some of

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those kind of metaphorical names.

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If you're someone who's not comfortable

using your personal name as your

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practice name, which is totally feasible

as well, again, then it's time to

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think about practice names that have a

little bit of that meaning behind them.

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This does not have to be groundbreaking.

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This does not have to be a unicorn.

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Chances are someone else in this country.

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Maybe even in your

state has that name too.

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That's okay.

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You're probably not gonna come up with

something that is completely unique.

211

But the goal is that it would align with

how you work, what you do, how you treat,

212

what you want your clients to accomplish.

213

And so thinking on those things, landing

on something that again, has a little

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bit of that meaning, and maybe we even

share that meaning in your marketing,

215

like I was mentioning we do in Confident

Copy would be a great fit for you.

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One more thing on practice naming

before we get into the idea of domains,

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which it ties in really closely with,

is the length of your practice name.

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The length of your practice name

is also gonna tie in likely to

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the length of your domain name.

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But we wanna stay away from

anything that is super, super long.

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Not only is it difficult to pack it into

a logo or to put it on your website,

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but it just becomes a bit cumbersome.

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So I recommend keeping your practice

name to four words ideally or shorter.

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You don't need to include therapy and

consulting and coaching and supervision.

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You don't need to see

therapy and counseling.

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Maybe choose a single descriptive

word, psychotherapy, therapy,

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counseling, whatever that might be.

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Maybe you don't need that at all,

depending on the name that you've chosen.

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But do keep length in mind for the

benefit of brevity and for easier

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branding opportunities moving forward.

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Alright, now let's talk

about domain names.

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So.

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An important thing to know is that your

SEO authority, so how authoritative

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Google Views you is tied to your domain.

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So if I, right now, our website

is walker strategy code.com,

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if I decided we are rebranding to

Simplified Therapy Marketing, and I

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decided willy-nilly to just change

my domain name away from Walker

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Strategy Code to Simplified Therapy

Marketing, then the hundreds and

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hundreds and hundreds of visits that

we get from Google every single month.

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Would essentially go away because all of a

sudden Google would be like, who are you?

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Simplified therapy marketing.com.

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I've never met you before.

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Now there are some tools available

to us if you need to change your

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domain name that Google provides,

where you can essentially say,

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Hey, Google, I changed my address.

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Please carry over some of my SEO.

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But it can still be

detrimental to make that shift.

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So that's an important thing to keep

in mind because that's tied really

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closely to your practice name.

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In an ideal world, your practice name.

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And your domain, right?

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Walker strategy code.com,

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whatever you land on, should be aligned.

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They might not be exactly matching,

especially as more and more people snatch

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up domains every single day, but they

need to be aligned with one another.

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And changing one usually means

we have to change the other.

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And so your SEO authorities

tied to that domain.

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We have to be really mindful,

which is just another example of

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why we wanna keep longevity in

mind when naming your practice.

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However, there did used to be a big push

to put keywords in your domain that if

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you put in Nashville therapy or trauma

counseling or whatever in your practice

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name, that that was an automatic SEO boot.

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Exact match domains no longer

meaningfully impact rankings.

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Google has moved beyond that.

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So trauma therapy, texas.com

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is not a shortcut to ranking

for trauma therapy in Texas.

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Okay?

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So don't stress about that.

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Don't feel like you have to pack

keywords into your practice name or

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your domain name for this purpose.

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Okay?

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So again, your domain

matters for SEO, but the.

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Keywords in your domain are not

going to be skyrocketing you to

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the top of search engine results.

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Okay.

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Now, what do domains impact?

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Domains impact, trust and click behavior.

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We've all seen domains that are worded

really strangely or something that

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we automatically give a side eye to.

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Right?

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Domains actually do have a way of

influencing someone's trust in you

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and ultimately whether or not they

click in or navigate to your website.

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So a clean professional domain

is going to get clicked more.

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It's going to feel credible.

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It that does actually

influence your SEO over time.

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So does your domain impact SEO

indirectly for that reason?

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In an ideal world, we want a

domain that matches or closely

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aligns with your practice name.

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That's critical, right?

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We're working with a clinician right

now who has long practiced under her

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name, but also has a tagline that

she's known for, and she wanted to

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keep her practice name as her name,

but have the domain be her tagline.

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I recommended it against that 'cause

we want those to be in alignment.

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The more alignment, the more we

can reinforce the same thing, the

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more trust we ultimately cultivate.

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So we wanna make sure that

your domain matches or closely

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aligns with your practice name.

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Now, like I said, finding a domain that

exactly matches your individual practice

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name, unless you have a very unique

personal name and that's the name of

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your practice, it might be challenging.

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So you might have to get a

little bit, you know, creative.

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But in an ideal world,

that's what would happen.

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Ideally, under 15 characters, there's

nothing worse than a domain name

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that is literally a dissertation.com,

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right?

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So in an ideal world, we'd

stick under 15 characters, fewer

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than three words if possible.

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So Nashville trauma

therapy and consulting.com

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too long and ending in.com

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if you can get it, it is absolutely

okay if your domain is.net

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way back in the day, to choose.org

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meant you were a nonprofit and to choose.

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This meant you were this.

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If you have something that is

user friendly and doesn't imply

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that you work for the government,

it's probably okay that you choose

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that extension of your domain.

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Okay.

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Now what if you go to GoDaddy or

Squarespace domains and you're looking for

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a domain and it's taken, what can you do?

320

You could add or remove a word

like therapy or counseling,

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something descriptive about

the work that you do, right?

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You could add a state abbreviation.

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If it's likely to stay true,

so tn, tx, something like that.

324

Again, if that's where you plan

to continue practicing, you

325

can play around with hyphens.

326

Not ideal because we're used to

just typing in domains without

327

hyphens, but it is an option,

so worth playing around with.

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Just when you're deciding on

this, avoid really clever or

329

ultimately confusing workarounds.

330

Keep it clear, keep it explicit.

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If you have your heart set on a certain

practice name and can't find a domain

332

name that fits, I'm going to encourage

you to revisit the practice name, not

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to choose a domain that doesn't match.

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That's how strongly I

recommend that these two align.

335

Okay, so this whole myth

around domains and SEO.

336

Your domain matters for SEO, not directly,

and that whatever you choose for your

337

domain name is going to cause you to rank.

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But in the trust, in the click

behavior, the bulk of your SEO that

339

lives inside of the website, that's

the stuff we teach you in Confident.

340

Copy the specialty pages,

your location pages.

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Really clear client-centered copy in this.

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Day and age mattering more than ever

ranking on both SEO and also in AI tools.

343

So your domain is supporting

SEO, but it's not driving it.

344

Okay.

345

So any myths you see out there about that?

346

We can make sure we've debunked here.

347

But your domain does matter.

348

And again, we have to be in

alignment with your practice name.

349

I mentioned in Confident copy that we

will guide folks through how to share

350

the meaning behind your practice name.

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So if you've thought long and

hard about something, if it

352

means something to you, awesome.

353

That's so good.

354

And it is okay to share it.

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It's not required.

356

It should not lead your marketing.

357

When I land, especially on a group

practice website and they have some

358

really creative name, and then the first

thing on your homepage is describing

359

the meaning behind their name.

360

That is not what people

are looking for, right?

361

Like we talked about at the beginning

of the episode, people are not choosing

362

you because of your practice name.

363

We suggest placing it on your about page.

364

It being a fairly short block,

you know, in confident copy.

365

You show you how to approach sharing this,

but we're talking three to four sentences

366

max about the heart behind it and

ultimately how it ties into how you serve

367

your clients and how it benefits them.

368

So we're not over-emphasizing it.

369

We're not making it the star of the

show, but we are sharing it in context

370

as it relates to why you are a good

fit for this client and what they

371

can experience in working with you.

372

Right.

373

It's like a value add, but not an actual

selling point for the work that you do.

374

Alright.

375

So that's what I have to

say about practice names.

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If you are early on in your practice

and you have been wrestling with

377

this, may, this episode give you some

practical guidance and also some kind

378

of important reminders around how to

approach this and how to think about it.

379

No one's gonna call you because you

picked the perfect practice name.

380

If you have been spinning and

staying stuck here, pick something.

381

Pick it mindfully.

382

Pick it with longevity in

mind, and then keep moving.

383

Okay?

384

A good enough decision.

385

Made today is gonna be a

perfect one, never made.

386

All right.

387

If this is what's been keeping you

stuck, make a decision and move

388

forward, make sure it can grow with

you and then go ahead and shift

389

your energy into things that are

actually gonna bring those clients in.

390

Okay?

391

I hope this one was helpful for you.

392

If you are ready to actually

put this into action.

393

To write about the meaning of your

practice, but more than that, to

394

use your marketing to actually be

drawing in those right fit folks.

395

Confident Copy would be

a great place for you.

396

We love thinking about practice

names, but we love more.

397

When you create a website that actually

shows people, this is what they've been

398

looking for, this is how you can help.

399

This is what makes you different,

and that's exactly what we

400

teach you in Confident Copy.

401

You can get all the details, walk

a strategy code.com/confident-copy,

402

but go forth, pick a name, make sure

it's gonna last you and move on.

403

I'll see you next week.