Questions
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Does A Local Therapist Need A Blog, or Should They Focus on Main Service Pages?
Hi Onitamara! Good discussion going on here. I'll add a few big picture thoughts: How much content (whether in the form of pages or posts) the therapist will want to build should be determined by 3 things: How much she enjoys sharing what she knows and how much time she has to devote to writing How helpful this will be to the public both in terms of informing them, and transforming them into clients How competitive her market is If she likes to write, this is a good start, and if she is a good writer, it's an even better one. And, of course, she needs to have the time. The true usefulness of the content will determine how much it impacts both the lives of the readers and the financial bottom line of the therapist. The true usefulness will also gradually impact Google's perception of the website as an authoritative source on its topics. The happy medium being aimed for is to publish enough content to attain the bookings and rankings the therapist ideally desires, but not going overboard beyond that. So, for example, if the therapist is located in a small, rural area, she may discover that writing two blog posts a month is all it takes for her to become competitively ranked and to have a full patient roster. But, if her practice is in a metropolis, the effort she'll need to put into being ranked and booked is likely to be much, much greater. Because of this, it's smart to assess the competitive landscape the therapist is entering, and to implement as much tracking as possible to help determine how much content (pages or posts) is needed to meet goals, and how that content is assisting in those goals being met. Finally, as Ed is mentioning, it's important that your most important pages are the easiest to find, by means of your internal linking structure. In other words, the therapist's page on "Couples Therapy" will likely be one you're internally linking to more prominently than a single article she wrote about "How to Apologize Sincerely" or something like that. In the long run, though, the decision to create a blog or a library of static articles should be based on the therapist's desire to share, the need to use content as a vehicle for client education and conversion, and the unique competitive landscape in which the practice is operating.
Local Website Optimization | | MiriamEllis0