Staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike. Trying to “get the juices flowing.” Banging your head against the desk because you just can’t seem to get the words out. Sound familiar?

Writer’s block affects everyone at some point. The key is not to give it power. The only way to beat writer’s block is to write through it.

You may be thinking “how can I write when I’m stuck and don’t have the words?” The answer is- do it anyway! Write words. Any words. They don’t have to make sense. Your sentences and paragraphs don’t have to be good. They just need to exist.

It’s always easier to write when you already have words on a page. I like to start with outlines and brain dumps. When I brain dump, I just type everything and anything that pops into my head related to the topic I’m writing about. Then I go in and organize my thoughts into bullets and an outline appears.

Every writer gets writer’s block. But as someone who writes for a living, there’s no way I can let it run my life, day, or hour. Because If I give in to writer’s block, nothing will get written. I won’t have anything to deliver to my clients.

We’re going to talk about how to overcome writer’s block and what causes writer’s block. But keep in mind that everyone is different and has their own way of doing things. What works for me may not work for you, but I’m going to give you a few tips about how to overcome writer’s block.

Where Do You Find Inspiration?

Everyone thinks they need to be inspired to write. Sometimes you just have to write whether inspiration hits you or not. There are a few places to start when you’re feeling uninspired.

The first place to turn, as with everything, is Google. Look up writers, blogs, or articles that you find inspiring. Visit people’s websites. Surf the internet. Writer’s block be damned, you are going to get words onto that page, even if you have to scour the internet to find the inspiration to do it!

When you’re really stuck, it’s always helpful to find articles that resonate with you. Find blogs or articles that express what you’re trying to say, and then write a better version of that. If you’re writing it in your own words you’re not plagiarizing, you’re just finding inspiration from others. 

Think about the topics you care about. What could you talk about all day? If you’re looking for blog ideas, think about the types of things your clients are struggling with. What would be helpful for them to read from you? For example, what thoughts do you have about depression and anxiety in teenagers recovering from adverse childhood events that are worth putting out into the world?

How Do You Write When You Feel Stuck?

I mentioned that when I feel stuck I like to “brain dump.” Some people prefer pen and paper when doing this, others like to type. Whatever works for you is what you should do. The way to overcome writer’s block is to write through it. Jot down any and all ideas that come into your head. You may find that you thought you were writing about one thing but it turned into something completely different. And that’s ok!

Freewriting is one of my favorite ways to overcome writer’s block. This is when you just write non-stop for a certain amount of time. Set a timer and either take out a pen and paper or get your computer ready and just write until the timer goes off. If you don’t know what to say you can literally write “I don’t know what to say” over and over again until an idea pops into your head.

Sometimes ideas come out of freewriting and make it to the piece you’re working on. A lot of times that doesn’t happen. Either way, it’s ok. The whole point of freewriting is to get you out of your head and into a state of flow.

When you do start writing, don’t edit as you go. Commit to writing the shitty first draft. Don’t get bogged down in trying to make it good right away. Just write as much as you can and then walk away from it. 

I like to give myself a few days to write a piece. I write the outline and brain dump, then I walk away. The next day I write the shitty first draft and walk away. After that, I’ll come back and edit it. Sometimes I even take another day and do a second pass at editing, depending on how much work the piece needs. 

If you’re writing about something you care about, the ideas will eventually flow. Writer’s block doesn’t have to stand in the way of you writing the piece you want to write. Whenever you get writer’s block it’s annoying, but it’s no excuse not to write. You just have to power through in order to overcome writer’s block.

Aside from walking away and coming back the next day, it’s also a good idea to take breaks while you’re writing. Listen to music, take a walk, have a bite to eat, or just do something else. Arrange your space so that you feel comfortable. Sit in an area that feels good and is conducive to getting the creative juices flowing.

What Causes Writer’s Block?

Perfectionism causes writer’s block. We have this idea that we have to get everything right the first time. But I mentioned brain dumps, freewriting, outlining, and writing a shitty first draft. None of that is perfect. None of it is what the finished product will be. But it’s how you get started and overcome writer’s block.

Another cause of writer’s block is lack of motivation. If you’re procrastinating writing the thing, you’re probably not motivated to do it. When you just don’t want to, it feels like it’ll never get done.

When you’re writing, you need to limit distractions. Distractions get in the way of creating your best work and can be another cause of writer’s block. 

How To Overcome Writer’s Block

By now this will come as no surprise to you that my answer to the question “how do I overcome writer’s block?” is to write anyway. Set a timer, starting writing, and don’t stop until it goes off. It could be a 15 or 30-minute timer- it doesn’t have to be hours. But you have to start somewhere.

Make sure not to edit as you go. That’s what the next phase is for. Your task is just to get all your ideas onto the page. Later you can go back and move them around, get rid of the stuff that doesn’t make sense, and add new thoughts that gel with the piece.

Let go of the idea that what you’re writing has to be perfect or even good. Just write!

What To Do If You Don’t Want To Worry About Writing

All of this is well and good if you want to write or have the time for it, but most of you don’t. That’s why you should hire a mental health copywriter to do the writing for you. I know how to work through writer’s block- I do it every day. Contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll discuss how I can take the burden of writing off of your hands and shield you from the dreaded writer’s block.

Your copy is old and stale. You don’t have a clear voice. Winging it with your writing isn’t working anymore. You don’t know how to write compelling and fresh copy. You hate writing. You just don’t have the time. Enter a mental health copywriter to rejuvenate your copy.

We know how to write fresh copy so you don’t have to.  But there are a couple of ways you can acknowledge that your copy needs some new life. With a mental health copywriter, you don’t have to write good copy alone. But these tips will help you have a clearer idea of how to know you need to write compelling copy.

Here are 5 ways to know that your copy needs a refresh:

1. Your Website Copy Doesn’t Reflect Your Ideal Client

One of the most important things when it comes to writing good copy is that you’re speaking to your ideal client. If you don’t have an identified ideal client, it’s time to clarify what you do and who you do it for. 

If you don’t know who your ideal client is, now is a great time to figure it out. Think about who you want to work with, how old they are, their gender, their ethnicity, their sexual orientation, their race, their socioeconomic status, their profession, if they have a family, if they’re in a relationship, etc.

If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one. You need to make sure your copy, whether it’s on your website, in your blogs, or in your emails, speaks directly to your ideal client. If your copy doesn’t reflect your ideal client, you won’t connect with your audience. You’ll lose out on potential clients.

Your website should 100% speak to your ideal client. Maybe you’ve recently changed your ideal client. That needs to be reflected in your copy. If you don’t know who your ideal client is, create an ideal client avatar. 

2. People Are Opening Your Emails But You’re Not Getting Inquiries Or Conversions

You’re taking the time to write weekly emails to your subscribers. You send monthly newsletters. You think your email game is strong. And then- crickets.

It’s time to think about how to convert your audience into clients. If your emails are falling on deaf ears, it’s time for writing fresh copy. You need to inject some life into your emails in order for people to do something when they read them.

If you’re tracking your open rates and can see that people are opening them but then not doing anything, it’s time to think about how to write compelling copy that converts. Writing fresh copy for your emails and newsletters is one way to light a fire in your audience and make them want to work with you.

If you’re putting time into crafting emails that promote your services and you’re not seeing a return on investment, it’s time to learn how to write good email copy. Or hire a mental health copywriter to do the work for you.

3. Your Current Copy Isn’t Clear Or Strategic

If there’s no clear direction in any of your copy, people won’t know what to do. You always need a call to action (CTA). People need to be told what to do. If you want them to sign up for your email list, that needs to be super clear. If you want them to book a consult call, make sure they know it.

If your CTAs aren’t clear, people won’t come back and read your blog, open your emails, or view your website. They definitely won’t sign up for your services. 

Without a clear strategy for your copy, people won’t stay on your website. They need to know what you do, how you help, and what they can expect. You’ll have a high bounce rate if this isn’t clear. A bounce rate is when someone comes to your website and leaves without clicking around or engaging with your site.

4. Your Current Copy Doesn’t Reflect Your Personality

If your copy doesn’t sound like you, people won’t be able to relate. That’s one way you know you need to write fresh copy. Additionally, if your copy is boring, people won’t stick around. You need to grab the attention of your audience in a tone that matches your personality.

As a mental health copywriter, I work hard to write compelling copy for my clients in their unique voices. Copywriters are like chameleons. We’re constantly writing to sound like the people we write for.

Your voice should come through in your copy to make it fresh and exciting. You want people to get to know you as a therapist. That needs to be reflected in all of your copy, not just your website. 

5. Writing Fresh Copy Is Too Much

If you don’t know where to start, it’s time to hire a copywriter. If you’re overwhelmed by writing, you need to outsource. If you don’t have time or hate writing, think about hiring a mental health copywriter. You won’t be sorry.

Your job is time-consuming. You simply don’t have the time to write all the copy you need. Websites, blogs, emails, newsletters, Psychology Today profiles, social media posts, landing page, oh my! There’s so much to do and not enough time to do it.

The thought of writing it all, or even just one part, can be overwhelming. Maybe it all just seems like too much, so you don’t do it and your copy stays old and stale rather than writing fresh copy.

It’s also possible that you don’t like writing! A lot of my clients and the therapists I talk to say they simply hate writing and don’t’ want to be bothered with it. It’s hard to write compelling copy when you hate it. This is why you hire a mental health copywriter to do the heavy lifting for you.

What To Do Next

Now that we’ve identified ways to know that your copy needs some rejuvenation, it’s time to go ahead and hire a mental health copywriter to offload the burden of writing fresh copy.

If you’re looking for a copywriter who speaks your language, look no further. I used to be a therapist and I understand how to write fresh, compelling copy in your voice. Together we’ll breathe some life back into your copy. Contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll discuss how I can take the burden of writing off of your hands. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to the success of any blog or website. Blogs boost your SEO if they’re written consistently and about relevant topics. Whenever you write, you’re always writing for people who skim, people who really dig into the piece, and Google. We’re going to go over how to write a well-optimized blog using SEO.

Google recognizes consistency. I recommend updating your blog once a week. But it’s not just enough to slap 500 words on a page and post it. You need to be strategic. Your posts should be over 1,000 words or else Google won’t recognize them. You need to use keywords. You should have meta descriptions and alt text for images that include your keywords. The blog should be formatted using H1s and H2s. 

Wanna know more about what I’m talking about? Read on!

What Is SEO?

As I mentioned, SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s how you rank in a Google search. There are a lot of components to writing a well-optimized blog. One of them is knowing how to use SEO keywords.

Keywords are the words that people type into Google when conducting a search. Most people type in phrases and questions, not just one word. You should use long-tail keywords, which are the phrases people might be using.

The tricky part is knowing what keywords you should use. Try Googling a keyword or long-tail keyword and see what pops up. You can go to the bottom of a search page and see what other people are searching for. It will give you ideas for how to optimize a blog for SEO using keywords.

How Does SEO Work?

SEO is a difficult thing to understand because Google doesn’t release any information about its algorithms. Even the experts, like Neil Patel, don’t know exactly how SEO works. 

There are a lot of components to an SEO-optimized website copy. Let’s focus on blogs. A well-optimized blog includes keywords, but it also includes other things like meta-descriptions and alt text for images. 

Meta descriptions are the 2-3 lines of text that show up under the title tag of a website or blog. The meta description describes what the page is about. It should include keywords relevant to your blog.

You should also be including at least one image in your blog. That image has what’s called alt text. This describes the image and should also include keywords.

It’s also important to use your keywords a few times each throughout the blog. One way to use SEO keywords is to make sure they’re organically placed in the text. Be careful not to overuse a keyword. That’s known as keyword stuffing, and Google doesn’t like it.

You also need to have H1s and H2s. Those are headers. The H1 is your title and the H2 is your subheader. Your keywords should show up in your H1s and H2s. That tells Google they’re important.

Why Is It Important To Have a Well-Optimized Blog Using SEO?

There’s no point in writing a blog these days if it’s not SEO-optimized. A well-optimized blog includes all the things I mentioned above. But writing in this way isn’t just about Google. It streamlines your writing and makes you a stronger writer. 

Yes, SEO is important. If you want to get found in a Google search, you need to know how to use SEO keywords and how to optimize a blog for SEO. Writing with SEO in mind makes your writing stronger and more relatable. 

Copywriting is fueled by SEO. It’s also all about writing the way you talk. If you’re writing blog copy in a conversational tone, you’ll come off as approachable. Your personality will shine through.

At the end of the day, you’re writing blogs as resources for clients and potential clients. Don’t you want them to feel like they know a little bit more about you and how you work? I write weekly blogs not just to boost my SEO, but to connect to my audience (you)! My blogs are for you, my wonderful mental health professional friends. 

How To Optimize a Blog For SEO

It’s ok if you don’t know how to write a well-optimized blog. That’s why you hire a copywriter who can do it for you. Your mental health copywriter will understand how to optimize a blog for SEO and how to use SEO keywords. We know how SEO works. We also know how to do all this so you don’t have to.

But if you do want to take a stab at writing a well-optimized blog, you need to know how to optimize it. We covered a lot of this earlier in this blog, so some of this may be repetitive. However, I can’t stress enough the importance of these things. I think it’s important to mention them again.

When you write with keywords, they should be keywords that people are searching for. Get in the mind of your audience. For example, when writing this blog I thought about what people might be searching for when it comes to writing an SEO-optimized blog. So I’m using keywords like “how to optimize a blog for SEO” and “how does SEO work?” You’ll notice that these keywords show up in the text and in the title. They’re also going to show up in my meta description and my alt text.

I’m sure there are more websites out there that do this, but if you use WordPress there’s a plugin called Yoast that allows you to check your SEO. You type in the keywords you want to rank for and it goes through your blog and tells you how to optimize the blog for SEO. I’m pretty sure Squarespace has its own version of this.

What You Can Do To Optimize a Blog For SEO Without Doing It Yourself

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the idea of writing an SEO-optimized blog or, like many of you, you just don’t have time, have no fear. That’s what I’m here for. If you’re ready to take the leap and hire a mental health copywriter to write well-optimized blogs for you, contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll work together to create some SEO magic and write well-optimized blogs tailored to your needs.

If you’re a mental health professional reading this, you already know how to write. You’ve gotten several degrees that required research papers, a thesis, and possibly even a dissertation. But you probably never learned how to write for your business.

Copywriting for mental health professionals is a lot different than academic writing. It’s also different from writing a book. 

Today we’re going to focus specifically on what makes a good blog and how to rank a blog in a Google search. But first, it’s important to understand why you need a blog.

If you follow me, you know that I’m a strong believer in writing blogs for your business. They provide clients and potential clients with online resources. Blogs allow people to understand what you care about. They establish you as an authority in your field. Your audience learns more about you and your work from a blog. Blogs also rank you higher in a Google search if you update them consistently.

Not all blogs are created equal. So let’s talk about what makes a good blog. Here are 7 ways to know that your blogs are good.

1. Your Blog Is SEO-Optimized

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s what ranks your website in a Google search. Consistently updated blogs get noticed by Google. Using SEO in the text is how to rank a blog.

The first thing to know about SEO is that you need to use keywords. These are the words and phrases that people type into Google when they’re conducting a search. Long-tail keywords are short phrases that often get typed into searches. Using keywords and long-tail keywords for SEO optimization is one way to write a good blog.

You also should consider using internal and external links. Use internal links in your blogs to link to other blogs you’ve written. It brings the reader to another page on your website, so it’s linking internally. External links go to other sources. You want to use both for SEO optimization.

Another thing to think about is the length of your blog. One way to rank a blog in a Google search is to write blogs that are over 1000 words. Google doesn’t recognize anything less than that.

SEO-optimized blogs are an inbound marketing strategy. SEO expert Neil Patel says that “You can generate more qualified leads through blogging. Recent statistics reveal that marketers who blog consistently will acquire 126% more leads than those who do not.” [1]

Another thing that makes a good blog is writing for several different audiences, including your target audience. What I mean by that is that you need to write for the skimmer, the digger, and Google. Some people will find your page and skim while others will read every word. A good blog is written for both. And in order to rank a blog, you’re always writing for Google. But above all, write to your ideal client.

2. Your Blog Is Relevant To Your Audience

Because you’re always writing for three types of people, you need to make sure that your topics are relevant to your audience. Which means you have to know your audience.

If you’re a therapist who specializes in marital and premarital therapy, you’re probably not going to write about eating disorder triggers unless it pertains to the couples you work with. Instead, you’ll write about communication and intimacy, for example.

Besides boosting your SEO, the purpose of a blog is to provide resources to your clients and potential clients, as I mentioned before. I can’t stress enough how important it is to write topics that are relevant to those people, because otherwise, why have a blog? Relevancy is what makes a good blog.

There are a lot of ways you can rank a blog. Relevant blogs are just one of those ways. You can tell stories, use examples of how you would tackle a subject in your practice, or share ideas that have been on your mind as you work with your clients.

3. You’re Writing To Your Ideal Client

You have to know your ideal client when you write a blog. Always write with your ideal client in mind. Blogs are a good way to get clear on who you’re talking to and who your ideal clients are.

Again, blogs are resources for your audience, and your audience is your ideal client. Current clients should read your blogs and come away with new information that they can bring into therapy with you. A good blog should make a potential client want to work with you.

Share your thoughts and views in a professional way. People will be more likely to know more about what you think about topics, how you approach therapy, and what you believe in. Ultimately, your blog will help potential clients know if you’re someone they want to work with.

4. Your Blog Is Updated Consistently

Another thing besides relevancy that makes a good blog is consistency. Google rewards blogs that are updated consistently. Ideally, you want to update your blog at least once a week. This has to do with SEO. You’re probably tired of hearing about those three magic letters, but they’re so important in how to rank a blog.

Writing consistently also allows you to focus on a topic for a period of time. You can create a series of related topics. Maybe your whole month is centered around a specific idea. This could be mental health awareness month or autism awareness month, for example. Each blog could be about a different aspect of autism or mental health in general. You can create little mini-series with your blogs. Again, this provides more resources for your audience.

5. Your Blog Is Correctly Formatted

Formatting includes length. We already covered that your blogs should be over 1000 words. But it’s not just length that makes a well-formatted blog.

You need to use headers. Titles should be H1s and subheaders should be H2s. For example, the title of this blog is an H1. Each numbered section is started with an H2. You can also use H3s if you want to get a little more specific, but I don’t recommend using anything below an H3.

You also want to make sure that you’re writing short paragraphs. You’ll notice that I’ve split up my paragraphs into smaller bites. It’s easier to read and appeals to the skimmer.

Bold and italicize your writing to emphasize your points. Be conservative with how often you do this because if you do it too much it becomes ineffective. If everything is bolded or italicized, then nothing stands out.

6. Your Blog Is Well-Researched

How do you know that your blogs are good? For starters, they include good research.

You know from your training that research is important. It’s not enough to write whatever comes to mind. You need to put in the work to find statistics, quotes, and information to back up your claims.

As a mental health copywriter, I’m constantly researching. I research types of therapy and techniques and what neurodivergence is. I make sure I understand trauma-informed therapeutic interventions. My search engine is overloaded with researching different techniques used in different types of therapy.

7. You’re Linking Your Blog To Credible Sources

It’s not enough to type things into Google and call it research. You need to make sure that the sources you’re using are credible. Don’t just use any external link for the sake of having one. Use a relevant, credible source. Look for the most recently written and updated articles. Try not to use articles that are old or research that’s out of date.

I always try to find scholarly articles relevant to the topic I’m writing for my clients. It’s not always possible. Do the best you can. The more credible the sources are, the more credible your blog is.

How Do You Know That Your Blogs Are Good? Hire a Mental Health Copywriter To Write Them For You

Now that you understand the nuts and bolts of what makes a good blog, it’s time to put these steps into action. You can do it yourself, but if you hire a mental health copywriter to take your blogs off your plate, you free yourself up to do the rest of your job.

As a former therapist, I speak your language. And as a copywriter, I know how to write a good blog. Writing blogs is one of the main parts of my job. Contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll discuss your blogging needs and how I can take the burden of writing blogs off of your hands. 

References

[1]https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-writing-blog-posts-that-rank-in-googles-top-10/

When you started your business you probably learned quickly that you need a website. But how did you know how to write a good website? Writing copy for websites is something that not everyone can do, and that’s ok. That’s why you’re the mental health professional and I’m the copywriter!

Good website content is one of the most important parts of having a good website, but it isn’t everything. You also need to think about all the back-end stuff, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

We’re going to unpack some of the ways to write a good website. Not everyone is a writer, and that’s ok. That’s why copywriters exist. But I have a few tips and tricks up my sleeve that can help you understand what makes good website content. 

SEO Optimization

The most important part about writing copy for websites is SEO. If you don’t already know, SEO determines how you rank in a Google search. There are lots of ways to use SEO, but let’s go over a couple that matter when you write a good website.

The first is to use keywords and long-tail keywords. These are what people are typing into Google. You want to rank for as many of these as possible so that people can find your site. Because let’s face it, what’s the point of having good website content if no one’s reading it?

A great way to find keywords is to just start typing words and phrases into Google. See what pops up on the first page. But more importantly, scroll down to the bottom of the search page. You’ll see a bunch of related search terms. Start checking those out and before you know it you’ll have your keywords.

One of those back-end things I was talking about is something called a meta description. This is the text that shows up under the title tag when you Google something. It’s a great place to add keywords. For example, one of the long-tail keywords I rank for is “mental health copywriter.” I made sure to put that phrase in my meta description. If you’re on this site because you Googled me, go back and take a look at what popped up.

Meta descriptions, title tags, and URLs need to be a certain length. You control how long those are. You want to make sure they’re long enough that they give all the information but not too long that they lose people. Also, Google will penalize you for writing things are too long or too short.

One of the most important ways to optimize your website for SEO is to write consistent blogs that are also SEO-optimized. Writing copy for websites isn’t complete unless you have blogs written at least once a week. When I first created my website I was all the way in the back of Google searches, past page five (no one looks past page one or two, so that wasn’t good). Once I started writing weekly blogs I moved up to page one within a few months. That may seem like a long time, but not in the world of SEO. A couple of months to rank a website with good content isn’t that long. SEO is a long game.

Flow

Good website content flows nicely. I’ve seen a lot of websites that are beautifully designed but don’t make any sense in the way that they’re written. Writing copy for websites can be difficult when it comes to finding the right flow.

This isn’t always true and there are probably people who disagree with me, but the key to good website content is to write the words first and then add the design. You can have a pretty website that makes no sense. People will catch on in about five seconds and “bounce.” 

A good website has a low bounce rate, which means that people stayed on your site long enough to click around. People will bounce if they’re not incentivized to click on another page or otherwise engage in more than one page of your website, so make it impossible for them NOT to click on that page. 

“Learn more” buttons are great to keep the flow going because you can include a bunch of different things on your homepage. If there’s a “learn more” button it’ll take you to the next page that makes the most sense for what you’re trying to accomplish.

Write About Relevant Content

If you want good website content, you have to write relevant content. Every aspect of your website should be relevant to your therapy practice and who you are as a therapist. It should be clear who and what you do.

That means you need to know who your ideal client is. If you haven’t already, create an ideal client avatar. This is a person you create in your mind that checks all the boxes of the people you hope to work with. Your ideal client is your target audience.

When writing copy for websites you absolutely should be including blogs. Your blogs should be relevant to your target audience. In order to write relevant content, you need to know your ideal audience. What areas of treatment do they need that you can provide? How old are they? Can they afford you? What are their biggest pain points?

Create An Email List

Email lists are great because they give you the opportunity to build and maintain relationships with your clients through regular emails and newsletters. 

Good websites include an opt-in with a freebie that adds the person to your email list. When you came to my site you saw my opt-in pop up right away. If you sign up for my email list you’ll get the freebie I’m offering plus emails about me and what I do and an exclusive offer just for you. That’s the kind of thing I recommend to my clients.

Your freebie could be an ebook with tips on how to manage stress or a guide to managing your child’s tantrums. Make sure that people can only get the freebie if they sign up for your email list. Your copywriter will write an automated email sequence that includes the exclusive offer that gets people in the door. 

For example, my exclusive offer is a version of an SEO consultation and audit service. In my exclusive offer, I provide a less in-depth version of that for $100 less than my usual rate for the full experience. You can play around with what your offer would be, but it should be something that gets people to act.

Must-Have Pages On Your Website

You don’t need a lot of pages to write a good website. But there are some key pages that you need to have. These are:

• Homepage
• About page
• Services page
• FAQ page
• Blog
• Contact page

If you have a podcast or have appeared as a speaker or were featured in a magazine, you could also have a “media” or “resources” page. This would highlight your accomplishments and is great PR.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

We just went over a lot of ways to write good website content in a very short period of time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t, because I got you covered. 
As a former therapist, I speak your language. And as a copywriter, I know how to write a good website. Writing copy for websites is one of the main parts of my job. Contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll discuss your website needs and how I can take the burden of writing copy for your website off your plate.

One of the reasons you hire a mental health copywriter is because it’s so damn hard to bring traffic to your website. Copywriters know how to increase traffic to your website because we know a thing or two about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO increases traffic to your website in a big way.

But why is it so hard to figure it out?

There are a few reasons why bringing traffic to your website is difficult:

• Your site is not SEO-optimized
• No one can find you in a Google search
• You have a high bounce rate

If your website isn’t SEO-optimized, no one will find you in a Google search. SEO is what puts you on the map, so to speak. 

Bounce rate refers to how long someone stays on your website. More importantly, it refers to what they do when they’re on your site. If they land on your website and only stay on the homepage and leave, that’s considered a bounce. If they stay and click around, your bounce rate will be lower. So you want to engage people from the beginning, starting with your homepage.

How Do You Increase Traffic To Your Website?

The biggest way to increase traffic to your website is by boosting your SEO. You can do this in a bunch of different ways:

• Optimize for keywords
• Write a consistently updated blog
• Don’t write pages that are too thin
• Make sure you have unique meta descriptions for every page
• Get backlinks
• Increase your domain authority
• Make sure your URLs aren’t too long
• Make sure your title tags are between 30-65 characters

You’ve heard of keywords. They’re those words that people type into Google searches. You need to make sure your website is ranking for appropriate keywords that will bring you traffic for what you want them to be searching for. Using long-tail keywords will boost your SEO significantly. Long-tail keywords are phrases that people type into Google to find you.

Another way to boost your SEO is to write relevant, consistent blogs. Google rewards websites that update themselves consistently and SEO-optimized blogs are ways to do that. They’re also another opportunity to use keywords.

Google considers a page to be “thin” if it’s less than 300 words. Sometimes it’s unavoidable to have a page that’s longer than that. Say you’re a therapist in private practice and you want to include a page about fees and insurance. There’s only so much to write about those things. One or two pages, like a contact page, with a lower word count, is fine, but the whole website shouldn’t be that thin.

Meta descriptions are a couple of lines of text that show up in a Google search beneath your title tag. They describe the page that someone is about to click on. Meta descriptions are a great place to use keywords. They also need to be short, between 50-100 characters. [1]

Backlinks refer to links to your website from another website. They establish authority for your website and significantly boost your SEO. I suggest making a deal with colleagues to feature each other on your blogs and link to each other’s websites as a place to start getting backlinks.

Domain authority refers to the number of backlinks you have. It can be useful in determining how much organic traffic your site is getting. New websites have domain authorities of 1, on a scale from 1-100. [2] Don’t be worried if your domain authority is low in the beginning. It will grow the more you optimize your site.

You also want to make sure that your URLs aren’t too long and that your title tags are between 50-60 characters. [3] Title tags are the title or name that pops up when you Google something. They hold the link to the site.

Another way to send people to your website is through social media. As a mental health professional, you’re most likely at least on LinkedIn. Posting your blogs and anything that drives people to your site on LinkedIn is a great way to increase traffic to your website. Using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are also great ways to optimize your social media use for increasing traffic to your website.

Other Ways To Increase Bring More People To Your Website

As you know, SEO increases traffic to your website. But it’s not the only way to get people to visit your site. Here is an additional list of ways to increase traffic to your website. [4]

• Paid ads 
• Use different lengths of texts, videos, and other ways of mixing up your content on your site
• Catchy headlines
• Have guest bloggers
• Internal links
• Interview leaders in the industry and post these interviews to your blog (I wouldn’t recommend doing this very often)
• Email marketing- get people to your site through freebies, links to blogs and services
• Have a site that loads quickly
• Build and manage a community on your website
• Engage with other people’s sites- comment on their blogs and articles with thoughtful posts
• Use Google Analytics
• Be active on social media- post regularly and engage with other’s posts
• Use videos
• Research your competitors
• Host webinars 
• Network

The Next Steps

That was a lot of information to take in. My guess is that not all of it made sense. That’s ok. That’s why you hire a mental health copywriter to sort through everything I just talked about. 

Copywriters use SEO to increase traffic to your website. That’s my bread and butter. That’s where I live, is in the land of SEO, blogs, and websites. So if you want to increase traffic to your website, contact me and let’s figure out how I can help boost your traffic and increase site engagement. Because ultimately, if your website gets found in a Google search you’re much more likely to attract more clients. They can’t sign up for your services if they can’t find you.

References

[1]https://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description#:~:text=Meta%20descriptions%20can%20be%20any,descriptions%20between%2050%E2%80%93160%20characters

[2]https://neilpatel.com/blog/boost-your-domain-authority/  

[3]https://unamo.com/blog/seo/title-tags-best-practices#:~:text=Length,cut%20off%20in%20the%20middle 

[4]https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/14/increase-traffic-to-my-website 

Finding your voice is one of the hardest parts of writing. Style and tone are important. They set the foundation for what your reader will consume. What is voice in writing? What do I mean when I talking about “finding your voice?”

Everyone has their own style of writing. If you do research you engage in a lot of academic writing. Your style is probably formal and grammatically perfect.

This style of writing is hard to translate into copywriting. In copywriting, the tone is informal and the style is usually conversational. The style and tone of writing for an audience who potentially might buy your services are different than academic writing because you’re’ trying to get people to do something in copywriting. 

I’m referring to tone, style, and format when talking about finding your writing voice, but the words matter, too. You need to know what kinds of words you do and don’t like to use. Do you like a lot of text in one block or do you break up your writing into small paragraphs? Are bolding and italicizing things you like to do, or do you feel like you’re yelling at your audience? 

Finding Your Voice

It’s important to know your voice in every aspect of your life. How do you sound when you’re with your family? What words do you use when talking to your friends? What vocabulary have you adopted when you meet with clients? What is your style and tone of writing?

When it comes to copywriting, no one expects you to do it all yourself. I’ll start this blog off by recommending that if you’re a mental health professional running a business, you should hire a mental health copywriter who writes for therapists and other mental health professionals. Copywriters take your voice and run with it. They write as you. In order to do that, they need to know your voice. Which means you need to know your voice.

Finding your voice as a therapist probably took some time. You figured your therapist voice out while you were in school. It may have taken a few years into your professional career to really find your voice as a therapist. Maybe you’re still developing it.

As you learn your therapist’s voice, you figure out your style of working and the words you use when you talk to clients. You know that the words and tone you use as a therapist are important. The way you talk is a big part of how you present yourself. If you want to be taken seriously as a professional, you need to use words that reflect your knowledge. 

You also want to be accessible to your clients. Just like in copywriting, when you’re talking to your clients you don’t use a lot of jargon. You save that for when you’re talking to your therapist friends or writing detailed notes. The way you talk in your notes is certainly not the way you talk in any other part of your life, including your copywriting.

Once you’ve been practicing for a little while, you become familiar with the way you talk as a therapist. You know how to talk to clients. Your demeanor, your tone of voice, and your word choice are a big part of how you present yourself to your clients. You want to be professional but also relatable. A lot of therapists use humor when appropriate. It’s important to know your voice as a therapist.

What Is Voice In Writing?

Voice refers to the style and tone of writing. It refers to the vocabulary you use. Your writing voice determines how you use punctuation, even.

It’s often easier to find your writing voice once you know your therapist’s voice because a lot of therapists write like they talk, or at least their copywriters do. This is why when I write for someone it’s so important to me to talk with them and really get a feel for who they are as a person and as a therapist. What words do they use? Are they more casual or formal when they talk? Do they use a lot of jargon?

If you like to write you can test out different styles of writing until you find the one that makes sense to you. If writing is scary to you, pick a topic that you could write about and record yourself talking about that topic. 

Working With a Copywriter

If you don’t know your own voice and style of writing, you can’t expect a copywriter to get it right. If I’m working with a mental health professional who doesn’t know their voice or their brand’s voice, it’s really hard to create something that makes the client happy. They know what they don’t want but can’t tell me what they do want.

I’ve worked with people who were all over the place and confused about what their voice was. I didn’t make them happy when I gave them the copy that I wrote for them because they said “it doesn’t sound like me.” But they weren’t able to tell me what they do sound like. All I have to go off of is what you give me.

Finding your voice as your copywriter is easier the more you know your voice as a therapist. If you know your voice as a writer, too, that’s even better! Often when I start working with someone we find and refine their voice throughout our time working together. It also takes me a little while to nail your voice, so it’s always a collaborative process. But the clearer you are about your style and tone of writing, the easier it is for me to capture it when I work with you.

Hire a Mental Health Copywriter if You’re a Therapist Who Wants to Write

If you’re going to outsource your writing, you need to be both clear on how you want the piece to sound and open to interpretation. Sometimes your copywriter picks up on things you say or the way you say them that you didn’t realize yourself and you learn something new. It’s a good surprise. Many of my clients have told me that it wasn’t until they started working with me that they feel like they really found their voice.

I write for a lot of different mental health professionals, including therapists. Many of my clients are great writers themselves, whether they know it or not. Usually, people come to me because they don’t have time to do their own copywriting. Sometimes, though, I see a lack of confidence in their ability to do their own writing. This is where it can be hard to make sure we’re all on the same page if they don’t know their own voice.

But I specialize in working with therapists and other mental health professionals because I was a therapist. I know the jargon and types of therapies out there. I’ve had to practice finding my own voice as a therapist and as a writer. Now I spend my time finding your voice.

If you’re ready to hire a mental health copywriter to work with you to find your voice, contact me. You can book a free consultation call to discuss how I can help you put your best writing forward in your unique voice.

Are you trying to do all your marketing yourself? Many therapists try to white-knuckle through writing. This is one of many common writing mistakes therapists make.

The thing is, you didn’t learn copywriting in grad school. I see a lot of copywriting mistakes when therapists try to do it themselves.

There’s nothing wrong with doing your own writing, but you don’t have to. If you outsource your copywriting to a mental health copywriter you can cut down on the headache of writing all the time and focus on your work and your personal life. You know, that thing that people talk about, it’s real!

Your background is most likely academic, which is a different kind of writing than copywriting and writing for marketing. No one expects you to know how to do it all yourself. That’s why you hire a copywriter who writes in your voice for all of your writing needs.

I’ve been around the block enough to know mistakes when I see them. Here are five common mistakes I see therapists make when doing their own writing.

1. Using Jargon

There’s a lot of words in your world that only you and your colleagues use. Your clients don’t use that language and they don’t know it. Since they’re your audience, they need to know what you’re talking about. You don’t want to make writing mistakes by using a lot of words that aren’t accessible to your audience.

Too much jargon can turn a reader off, especially in copywriting. Copywriting needs to be accessible to everyone.

There’s a tool called the Hemingway App that you copy and paste your words into and it will scan for passive voice, adverbs, if there’s a word that has a simpler phrase, and 2 levels of hard-to-read sentences. It’ll also tell you what grade reading level you’re at. You’re aiming for middle school level, usually 6-8. Anything above is not accessible.

That may seem counterintuitive. You want to show your training. You want to establish yourself as an authority in the field. How can you do that when you’re writing at a 6th-grade reading level?

Trust me, it’s possible. Just because the writing is simple doesn’t mean the thoughts are. You can get your point across in fewer words that are more accessible to your readers. You can write in shorter sentences with pedestrian words that convey what you’re trying to say. Yes, it can be done.

2. Using a Formal Tone 

Using a formal tone is a common mistake therapists make. Copywriters write like they talk. For instance, a tool I use for spell-checking and grammar-checking, Grammarly, is telling me that that sentence should read “write as they talk.” But that’s not what I would say.

It’s not that grammar isn’t important in copywriting, it is. The thing to keep in mind is that a formal, academic tone isn’t accessible to your audience. You want to make therapy that seems inaccessible to a lot of people accessible, and you need to do that through your tone and word choice.

3. Not Optimizing For SEO

This one’s tricky. You never learned Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in school, so no one expects you to know it now. Hire a mental health copywriter to do the heavy lifting for you.

You may have heard what SEO is, you may know that keywords are important, but you don’t know what those keywords should be. You don’t have the knowledge to write something SEO-optimized. You don’t have the time to learn everything there is to know about SEO (which is a lot!) so don’t try to do it yourself.

SEO is so important for your online presence. However, it’s not something you need to figure out on your own. This is why you hire a mental health copywriter who knows SEO and how to get you found in a Google search.

4. Not Speaking to Your Ideal Client 

I know a lot of you struggle to niche down your practice. You don’t want to miss opportunities to work with people who want your services, even if they’re not in your ideal niche. The problem is, if you’re speaking to everyone, you’re speaking to no one.

Identify who your ideal client is and get really specific. It’s ok to be specific. That doesn’t mean you can’t see clients who don’t match your ideal client avatar, which is the fictional person you make up who fits your ideal client’s demographics and characteristics. It just means you focus your energy and writing on one specific demographic.

Speaking to one specific client or group will focus your writing. It’ll also help you figure out what you’re writing about if you know who you’re writing to.

Just like you meet clients where they are in sessions, you want to do that in your writing. Always use “I” (unless your practice has multiple therapists). Remember, you want people who land on your website to come to you for therapy, a vulnerable thing for people to do. Often people seeking therapy are going through difficult times in their lives, and they want to feel seen and heard. You do that in session, but you need to do it in your copy as well. [1]

5. Writing About Topics That Aren’t Relevant

It’s not enough to write blogs consistently, you need to also write about things that are relevant.

This is probably a “duh” for you, because why waste your time and money on a copywriter to have them write things that aren’t relevant? But it happens.

Sometimes therapists lose sight of what matters to their clients and write about what matters to them. [2] It’s an easy trap to fall into, writing for yourself, and not thinking about your audience and what they want to read about.

Remember that you’re also always writing to Google. Google scans your page to make sure it’s relevant to searches. [3] 

Make Sure Not To Make The Common Writing Mistakes That Many Therapists Make

These mistakes are easy to make and easy to fix. Hire a mental health copywriter who understands your audience, knows how to write conversationally without jargon, knows your ideal client, and understands what topics are relevant to that audience.

No one expects you to be good at copywriting. It takes practice and skill, just like any occupation. You don’t need to be a copywriter and a therapist, you can outsource your copywriting. Easy!

If you’re ready to hire a mental health copywriter to take the burden of copywriting off your hands and give you time back in your day, contact me. You can book a free consultation call to discuss how I can help you avoid these common writing mistakes.

References

[1]https://familytherapybasics.com/blog/2017/1/17/common-mistakes-therapists-make-when-designing-their-private-practice-websites-and-how-to-avoid-them 

[2]https://www.relevance.com/10-copywriting-mistakes-to-avoid/ 

[3]https://neilpatel.com/blog/stop-keyword-research-for-blogging/

You talk about self-care and the importance of looking after yourself with your clients all day long. But what about your own self-care? 

Do you:

• Find yourself running from appointment to appointment with no breaks?
• Scrambling to write notes in between sessions or at the end of the day?
• Forget or don’t have time to eat lunch or take a much-needed break?
• Spend your precious time worrying about your website copy, writing a weekly blog, sending out emails, writing a newsletter, and posting on social media?

If you answered yes to that last one, you need to outsource your copywriting. This gives you time back in your day. It won’t fix the fact that you have back-to-back appointments or have to write notes, but it will take the time you spend writing and doing your social media off your plate. Your copywriter will provide you with time for self-care that you didn’t have before.

Why Do You Need to Practice Self-Care?

You probably spend a good majority of your day talking about self-care with your clients. Many of us have trouble walking the walk.  Is it hard to do for yourself? Maybe you say you don’t have time. But time always exists, you just have to find it.

When I was practicing therapy I didn’t engage in self-care at all. I woke up and went to work, maybe I ate lunch, maybe I didn’t. I’d come home and collapse on the couch and watch mindless TV while eating hummus, pass out on the sofa, and then do it all again the next day. 

My focus wasn’t on how stressed I was and what effect the stress was having on my body. I ended up burning out so much that I got sick and had to leave my job on short notice. I don’t want to see this happen to you. The whole reason I became a mental health and wellness copywriter to help other mental health and wellness professionals. I wanted to give back.

If I had practiced good sleep hygiene, exercised, took time during the day for breaks and lunch, and made myself dinner without mindlessly watching TV, maybe I wouldn’t have left the field after only five years. It’s so important to engage in self-care to prevent burnout. Hire a copywriter as a form of self-care. Outsource your copywriting.

How Is Hiring a Copywriter a Form of Self-Care?

No longer having to worry about writing copy gives you time back in your day. You can do things like eat lunch, take a break, and take a walk. Get outside and clear your head. Spend time in nature if you can. Or simply sit for 10-15 minutes and listen to calming music with a diffuser going. Do whatever form of self-care you can easily do at work throughout the day. If you’re working from home, make sure to take breaks here and there and do something else. 

By hiring a mental health copywriter you’ll also have a better work-life balance because you’re not spending extra time writing. You can leave work when work is done. You can be with your family and do things you like such as exercising, yoga, knitting, movie nights in, cooking, etc. Outsourcing your copywriting promotes increased self-care.

If you’re not worried about writing your website, blogging every week, scheduling emails, writing and sending newsletters, posting on social media, and helping your clients, you’re going to feel lighter. It’ll also make you better at your job. Especially if you’re practicing self-care throughout your day with all that time you freed up hiring a copywriter.

Therapist Burnout

Here are the most common telltale symptoms of therapist burnout:

• Anxiety
• Apathy
• Compassion fatigue*
• Depersonalization of your clients (you start referring to clients as “cases” and not people)
• Depression
• Feelings of isolation
• Mental exhaustion
• Physical exhaustion
• Trouble concentrating

*According to Dr. Charles Figley, “Compassion Fatigue is a state experienced by those helping people or animals in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper.” [1]

Outsourcing Your Copywriting Is Crucial

Not only do you not have time for copywriting, but your team doesn’t have time to do all the writing either. Some therapists write blogs themselves or have other therapists in their practice write the blogs. This takes time away from what your team should be focusing on, which is working with your clients.

When you have to do it all in-house and no one is a copywriter, you’re spending a lot of time on writing that isn’t going to get you results. You never learned SEO in school. I bet your colleagues or employees didn’t either. How will you know how to write in a way that gets you results? 

You may know that regular, relevant blogs are a great way to drive traffic to your site but you don’t necessarily know how it works. That’s why you hire a copywriter. Outsourcing your copywriting is key to getting time back in your day for self-care. It also sets you and your business up for success by having someone on your team who knows how to write copy that converts. This way you don’t have to learn it!

Freed Up Time For Self-Care

As a mental health and wellness copywriter, I’m here to help. I help therapists reach a wider audience. My work increases traffic to their website, which in turn, if it’s a well-written website, converts readers to clients.

I provide resources for clients so they’re getting more from your online presence. I free up time by writing social media posts. Everything I write is in your voice. You can rest easy knowing that I’ve got your back, especially because I’m a former therapist.

Self-care and copywriting really do go together. With all the time you’re saving on writing copy, you can do the things that fuel you. 

You also can take on more clients because you have more time in your day. Only do this if it serves you. If you’re trying to build your practice and you’re spending all your time writing and marketing, there’s less time for the clients you’re trying to attract.

If you’re a writer, it’s still to your advantage to hire a copywriter because you don’t need to learn SEO or worry about the marketing side of writing for your business. Instead, you can practice self-care because you outsourced your copy to a mental health copywriter.

Hire a Copywriter and Practice Self-Care

Hiring a copywriter as a mental health and wellness professional is a form of self-care. It will help decrease burnout. Outsourcing also gives you more time to meet with more clients. You can focus on your actual job and being there for yourself rather than trying to do it all. 

If you’re ready to hire a mental health copywriter to take the burden of copywriting off your hands and give you time back in your day, contact me. You can book a free consultation call to discuss how I can give you back time in your day for self-care.

References

[1]https://theranest.com/blog/self-care-tips-for-therapists/ 

There’s no point in writing anything if it doesn’t connect with people. Whenever you write something you should always ask yourself “What do I want my readers to feel when they read this?” We’re going to talk about how to write with emotion and about writing for an audience.

Your audience is your ideal client. Always write to them. If you’re a marriage and family counselor who works primarily with married couples, write about relationship issues specific to them.

Copywriting is great for reaching people and getting them to do something, like sign up for your services, because it uses a conversational tone. Using an informal tone means you can speak directly to your audience as if you were talking to them. You want them to feel like you’re in the room with them. This is all about how to write with emotion that connects to your audience.

What Do You Want Your Audience to Feel?

One thing to always ask yourself when you’re putting a piece of copywriting into the world is “What do I want my audience to take away from what I’ve written?” That goes back to knowing that you’re writing for a specific audience.

What’s the purpose of your writing? Are you writing to inform? Educate? Dispense advice? Sell? Get super clear on what the takeaways are from your writing. What do you want your readers to feel? What do you want them to do?

When you’re writing for an audience, you need to decide what the takeaways are. Maybe you want your audience to have a better understanding of what you do as a mental health professional. Do you want your audience to know more about you and the way you work? Do you want people to feel more connected to you? If so, you need to know how to write with emotion.

Choose topics that people already have strong feelings about and make them, through your writing, feel something different. Change their mind or help them view the topic through a different lens. What do you want your readers to feel at the end of your piece?

Offer resources online to your clients by writing blogs that inform but also give them action steps. You could provide parents with tools they can use to help their children handle big feelings. Focus on preventing tantrums and meltdowns before they happen. If you’re writing for an audience of parents, you’re speaking directly to their pain points. You’re giving them resources and making them feel seen and heard at the same time. You’ve figured out what you want your readers to feel and how to write with emotion.

If you’re a licensed therapist who works primarily with high-powered millennials working their tails off to be the best, write about issues you see in this field. Give them tools to make changes.

Obviously, Writing Isn’t Therapy

It may sound like what I’m telling you to do is provide therapy through your writing, but I most definitely am not. The copy you write isn’t a replacement for therapy, but it gives people another tool in their toolbox. There’s a huge difference between providing online written resources that make your demographic both feel something and want to take action and trying to provide therapy through the written word. You and I both know that’s not how it works. But there’s still a way to write with emotion and write for your audience without it becoming a one-way therapy session. 

People should walk away from your writing feeling something. You get to decide what you want your readers to feel. When you hire a mental health copywriter to do the heavy lifting for you, you’re hiring someone who knows how to write with emotion.

When you collaborate with your copywriter, you need to determine what the point of the piece of copy is and what you want your audience to feel when they read it. Then you can decide what you want them to do next, and that’ll dictate the way the copy is written.

Empathetic Writing

One of the best ways to write with emotion and write for a specific audience is using empathy. You tap into your empathetic side all day every day when you work with your clients. Copywriters do the same thing when they write for an audience (which is always).

You should hire a copywriter who understands how people feel about certain topics and how to get them to feel differently about them. There are lots of types of copy out there that are focused on selling. The number one way to write copy that sells is to understand who the client is and what their pain points are.

As a mental health professional, you’re most likely not as focused on selling as say an eco-friendly cosmetics brand. But you do have things you want your audience to feel and do. Maybe you want them to sign up for your services or book a workshop you’re hosting. Perhaps you want to increase engagement on your social media or blogs. You might want people to walk away from reading your copy with a new perspective about the topic.

Whatever your motivation, you’re always writing for an audience. The key is how to write with emotion and figure out what you want your readers to feel. You’re an empathetic person or you wouldn’t be doing the work you’re doing. Use your empathy to reach your audience. Write emotion-driven copy and I guarantee you that you’ll reach your readers.

With Our Empathetic Powers Combined…

If you’re struggling to come up with the words yourself, don’t worry, because I know just the mental health copywriter who can write for an audience with emotion and understand what you want your readers to feel. Contact me today to combine our empathetic powers and translate them to the written word. Let’s reach your target audience one piece of well-written copy at a time!