Hello, I realized I have gotten behind in producing my newsletter, it comes with adjusting some priorities in my life. Some of this is explained in my newly launched blog, Psychotherapist-Blog.com . I realized I had spread myself too thin and was working too much, so my post is about finding balance, a process in motion. Working as a psychotherapist comes with long hours and wearing many hats. So how do you find balance?

CAMFT Conference Workshop

Last week was the Annual CAMFT Conference, here in Los Angeles. I presented my workshop on marketing and was pleased with the response I got from the attendees. I know so many people are looking for help in how to start or expand their private practices. I must confess I don't think I had been to a CAMFT conference in over 15 years. They are currently inviting proposals for next years conference in San Francisco and I encourage all of you looking for a marketing event to submit your workshop. It is a painless process to submit a proposal and costs nothing to present. So If you have been thinking about a presentation go for it. Whenever I leave a presentation I always think about what I missed or could have done differently. Most often I forget to let people know my services, go figure. I had too many things going on at the same time and did not completely focus on the presentation and I let a few things slip away. On all my handouts I include links to my website which gives all my information about workshops and services and I realized I should have included a page about them in my handouts. I always talk about making it easy for people to do business with you and I didn't follow my own rule. It was a great experience and I always say the energy you put out today you may see return in 6 months.

More Marketing Thoughts

I am still surprised at how many people do not have websites in this day and age and still many are not properly optimized to be found with search engines. I was talking with a marketing expert who works with large corporations and they were sharing with me how important it is to find the newest marketing tool so they can get a jump on their competition. For them, websites are passe, twitter, and all the other social media is old news. Yet, it seems like the private health practice world is light years behind. It just seems to be how we work. I think part of it has to do with how few think of a private practice as a small business.

I don't see websites as the only marketing tool, you should have numerous avenues active as to how you receive referrals. Since a larger part of our population does not use phone books for finding businesses or people it is important to have some online presence.

SEO (search engine optimization) has to do with how your website is designed, the content on your website and keywords that you use. You don't have to pay for advertising to have your website show up on the first 3 pages of search engine search. It is important that your website be found not by your name but your location, specialty or services. The people who know my name already have found me I am interested in reaching those who don't know me yet. Which is also why I encourage people to have a domain name that is not their name but some form of location and specialty. I am actually selling several great domain names if you live in the Santa Cruz or Silicon Valley area, contact me if you are interested.

How active are you in the therapeutic community? Referrals will often come from other therapists so how big is your referral network. Joining list-serves is one way, CAMFT has one, my psychoanalytic institute offers one as well. People are always looking for therapists in other cities and with different areas of specialty. Participating in your local CAMFT, APA or LCSW chapter or network is another great way to develop your referral network.

I truly encourage you to write me with your questions, comments and feedback. It always helps to hear what you think about the newsletter, websites and now blog.

Sincerely,
Licia

email
310) 828-1256