-Joe Borders, MFT -March 9, 2018
If you’re considering listing on SacWellness you’re likely thinking “how is this different from sites like Psychology Today and how do I know this directory is going to help me?” This page is here to answer those questions. If you have other questions, feel free to contact us at info@sacwellness.com and/or visit our FAQs for therapists.
How is this different from other directory sites?
I talked about this part a little bit in my first blog post: Why I made SacWellness. There are some subtle nuances in SacWellness that are different from other therapist directories, but the main difference lies in the fact that it is local. I have spent A LOT of time learning the ins and outs of how search engines like google decide what to show users. SacWellness has the potential to eventually outperform big sites like Psychology Today in searches for therapists in the greater Sacramento area because of the fact that it is local. A simple way to think of it is this: In the eyes of a search engine, SacWellness is like a local phone book. In comparison, big sites like psychology today are giant national phone books that have sections dedicated to the Sacramento area. The primary goal of any search engine is to give its users relevant information that they are looking for. So. What would you find more useful, a giant phone book with a Sacramento area section or a book dedicated to the greater Sacramento area?
But other websites have been around longer and have lots of money!
True! but we’re going to compete through a couple key strategies: local marketing, a competitive AdWords campaign, and good search engine optimization (SEO). I have extensive experience in SEO and I am a tenacious marketer.
SEO
Search engine optimization is the stuff you do to show search engines that pages on your site are relevant and authoritative sources on a particular search query. Its the kind of stuff that makes you rank higher in Google searches. At the time of my writing this, my website currently appears on page 1 on Google for the following search terms:
-Roseville codependency counseling
-Roseville codependency therapist
-Roseville codependency
-Roseville attachment therapist
-Roseville teen counseling
-Roseville LGBTQ counselor
-Roseville poly therapist
-Roseville transgender therapist
-Roseville LGBTQ therapist
-Roseville gender therapist
-Roseville trans therapist
-Roseville trans affirming therapist
-Roseville sex positive therapist
-Roseville kink friendly therapist
-Roseville non binary therapist
-Roseville polyamory therapist
-Sacramento gender therapist
-Sacramento teen counseling
-Sacramento kink friendly therapist
-Sacramento non binary therapist
-Sacramento polyamory therapist
-Sacramento poly therapist
-Sacramento trans therapist
-Sacramento trans affirming therapist
-Sacramento LGBTQ therapist
-Sacramento LGBTQ counselor
and oddly enough,
Sacramento misophonia
Roseville misophonia
(this is a weird one. I wrote a blog post about misophonia a couple of years ago and because there isn’t much else that has been written in our area I get misophonia clients about once every 6 months).
Why am I telling you all of this? So that I can demonstrate the value of SEO and my ability to get SacWellness to rank in search engines. I am going to use all of the SEO knowledge and experience I have gained over the past several years to get SacWellness on the front pages where potential clients will see it and look for therapists like you.
AdWords
If you’ve ever done any online marketing you’re probably familiar with google AdWords. AdWords is basically google’s version of paid classified ads. For a price, google will place a link to your website at the top of search results. These are the results you typically see at the top of the page when you search for something.
Here’s the kicker with AdWords. It can be very expensive! with AdWords Google charges you a certain amount every time somebody clicks your AdWord link. The one you see above usually costs me around $4-$5 every time someone clicks on it. In the Sacramento area the highest costing keyword I’ve run into so far is “drug rehab” which at the time of writing this blog is running for $78-$125 each time somebody clicks on that link!
Why am I telling you this? Because there are strategies you can implement to use AdWords wisely and effectively. I am going to use all of my AdWords experience to implement a well thought out, strategic AdWords campaign for SacWellness. I don’t know how much other companies spend on AdWords, but part of my business plan for SacWellness is to spend no less than 50% of revenue on advertising in the first year, which will likely primarily consist of AdWord campaigns. I am planning to taper that spending down over time as SacWellness begins to rank in search engines. I’m picturing 40% the second year, 30% the third, and so on. We will never spend less than 10% of SacWellness revenue on advertising, because the primary purpose of SacWellness is to connect potential clients to you, and advertising is a key component of that.
So there you have it! the ins and outs of how this whole thing is going to work! If you have any questions or comments please reach out to me and let me know! ^_^
If you’re a therapist in the greater Sacramento area, please think about listing your practice on SacWellness.com! It’s free for the first 6 months, and then only $17 per month after that. Help us grow this local resource!
About the Author
Joe Borders is a marriage and family therapist located in Roseville and Sacramento. He is primarily a sex positive gender therapist, but also specializes in working with couples, teens, addiction, and the LGBTQ community. Joe is also the owner and founder of SacWellness. You can find out more about him by visiting his sacwellness listing or by visiting his website: therapy and counseling in Roseville and Sacramento
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