We always suggest writing your own content for your website to offer a unique perspective on your practice and also to give your clients a personal glimpse into how you think and work as a mental health professional. However, we also realize that as a private practitioner (many of you working full time at a different practice while you set up your private practice on the side), free time is scarce and sometimes that blog schedule is not so easy to maintain.

The good news is, you can still setup a resource page with regular new content even if you don’t have the time to write your own posts. We have set up RSS feeds for our clients from Psychology Today to show relevant, well-written articles on their own sites to act as a resource. Today, we’re showing you how that works.

What is an RSS feed & how can it help my Private Practice website?

An RSS (Rich Site Summary) feed is a format to deliver regularly changing website content—think new sites, blogs and online publishing. If you use any sort of online reader as a way to subscribe to a blog or a news site such as the sadly discontinued Google Reader, Digg Reader, Feedly, or Feedstop (among many, many others), you are reading those posts through an RSS reader. If you subscribe to any blogs or news sites via email, that post is also coming to you through an RSS feed.

How can I make RSS work for my site?

Not only are RSS feeds a great way to keep up to date on your favorites blogs and news sites, but you can also use them to pull content onto your own site as we mentioned above.

So, for example, let’s say you are a mental health professional who mostly provides marriage therapy or couples therapy. If one of your favorite mental health resources is Psychology Today, you might want to pull an RSS feed from Psychology Today onto your site to lists all the articles concerning relationships.

How to add a Psychology Today RSS feed to your WordPress website

1. We recommend the WP RSS Aggregator plugin for this task, but there are plenty of RSS plugins out there. We utilize that plugin for all our clients.
2. Find the category you would like to use from Psychology Today and add /feed to the end of the URL  
     

   Don’t panic, this is what the page is supposed to look like:

     
   

3. Go to “RSS Agregator” in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard and click “Add New”
4. Add the URL of the RSS feed and decide how many posts from that feed you would like to show on your site at any given time.
5. Go to the page on which you will display your RSS articles and click the RSS icon in the toolbar to implement the code.

Check out this beautiful website to see what the feeds look like from your potential clients’ perspective: http://www.michaelsessions.com/articles/

How else can I use this information?

Most websites have RSS feeds…even your own! To determine the URL of a website’s RSS, it’s often as simple as adding /feed or /rss to the end of their blog or news page. Many websites have an RSS icon (similar to the orange icon at the top of this post) that links to the correct feed.

Use this tutorial to add an RSS feed to your site from any of your favorite sources. You can also add your own RSS icon to your website so that visitors can easily find your own feed. Or you can also add your RSS feed to your newsletter so that your subscribers automatically get an email when you publish a new blog post.

If you are an existing Brighter Vision client, this is a great use of our lifetime support. Simply let us know you would like to add an RSS feed to your site and we can help you out!

What Has Your Website Done For YOU Lately?

If you’re interested in a professional presence for your practice, and want your website to bring in new clients, let us show you how we can help.

The post How to Add a Psychology Today News (RSS) Feed to Your Therapy Website appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

Part of what we do is not just providing these therapist with a beautiful new design, but also determining how to create a website that will help their practice grow.

How do I make a strong private practice website?

There are a number of key elements that make up a strong and successful private practice therapy website that draws in visitors to convert them into clients. Here are six important qualities of top therapy websites:

Has a clear outline of the services he/she provides

While it may seem obvious what a potential client approaching a therapist for therapy wants, many times the client truly has no idea. They will want to look to your website before they contact you for guidance about what they can expect in each session. This means having a “Services” page that indicates which types of sessions you offer, and more importantly, how your services can help them.

Bill Arigi has a services drop down menu

These services should be on a separate, easy-to-find page so as not to clutter the homepage with too much text. Not only will separate pages make it easier for visitors to find important information, but it will give you a leg-up on search engine optimization with more opportunity to include important service keywords on each page as well as within the URL itself.

Provides resources

Yes, you are an expert in your field, so share that wealth of knowledge with the world! An excellent therapy website has a list of resources to provide in-depth information about mental health issues, services, the latest research and/or a blog about the type of therapy they provide.

These elements show potential clients that you know what you’re talking about and you care about helping other people understand. And it shows peers and potential conferences/seminars that you care to stay up-to-date with your knowledge and that you care about spreading that knowledge (hello, speaking invitations!).

One of the ways we help our clients with this is adding a feed from Psychology Today to share relevant articles by a valued and trusted source concerning topics related to their services. Check out Michael Sessions’ articles page which pulls in articles concerning relationships because he is a family and marriage counselor.

Stacey Nuune uses her links page to connect visitors to local resources for further guidance and help.

Has an excellent design

A website is your online business card. It should be clean, professional, and most importantly, be clear to a visitor what it is you do within one second of arriving on your page. This means an excellent use of navigation, an excellent use of headlines, and a great layout to draw the eye to key elements of the page.

If we look at J. Blair Cano’s site, in one second we can determine what her title is/what she does, two key approaches she takes, and a brief summary of her approach. It is extremely easy to see what kind of practice she provides,

Includes clear calls to action

Just like a well laid out public space with clear signs that point you in the direction of the restroom or the exit, your website should guide visitors to the most important pages and features. This means having clear buttons that urge visitors to “Make an Appointment,” or “Schedule Your Free Consultation”, as well as having clear contact information (phone numbers and/or contact forms) clearly visible on each page.

In Patricia Burnett’s site, you can immediately and clearly see where you would need to go to schedule an appointment, learn more information about insurance options, or immediately contact her with her phone and email listed and linked to automatically call or create a new email if you click them.

Expresses what makes them unique

While maintaining a professional appearance, your therapy website should express what makes you unique and even give the visitor a glimpse of your personality. Include a photo of yourself, information about what sets you apart in your field, and create a custom look and feel that sets the tone of your unique practice.

Our Solopreneur theme does a great job with this and is one of the reasons why this theme is so popular amongst Brighter Vision clients.

Their website is mobile responsive

We’ve already outlined the reasons why it’s important to have a mobile-friendly website, but we’re including it here again because it’s so important. Not only for search engine optimization purposes (remember how Google now adds tags to mobile-friendly sites in search results?), but it makes it easier for potential clients to view and find information on your website as well as contact you for more information or to make an appointment.

Let’s Chat!

Are you ready to make some positive changes to your private practice therapy website? Give us a call today and your new and improved website could be up and running in just two weeks!

The post 6 Qualities of the Best Therapy Websites appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

5 Strategies to Grow Your Therapy Practice

Many of our clients are therapists, especially therapists who are just starting their practices, and while we believe our web services help fulfill a variety of purposes, we thought we’d share some New Year’s resolutions for therapists to make your therapy practice the best it’s ever been in 2015.

Keep Learning!

It’s always a good idea to be on top of the latest research, but when the year starts getting busy, it’s easy to push furthering your education to the back burner. Start off the New Year by…

• Sign yourself up for a conference or seminar
• Subscribe to blogs and online article sources that regularly post new studies in your field
• Sign yourself up for some part-time (or online) post-degree coursework.

Do one thing each month to further your marketing efforts

Marketing yourself is one of the most intimidating things about starting a therapy practice, but the “M” word isn’t as terrifying as it seems. Break up your marketing efforts into smaller, more manageable chunks.

• Create a blogging content plan
• Set up a Facebook page (if that’s something you’d like to do for your practice)
• Make a list of conferences in your area that you’d like to attend or even speak at
• Reach out to other professionals in your area that compliment your services for referrals.

Learn more about your unique passions

Push yourself to educate yourself more and be more vocal about niche elements of your practice that set you apart. It’s easy to retreat to the safety of textbook therapy practices to find success, especially when you’re just beginning your own practice. But remember, those unique passions that set your practice apart from others are not only going to keep you interested and excited about your practice, but they will help you attract the types of clients you enjoy working with.

So whether you’re passionate about holistic, natural treatment, about infusing your practice with movement, or whether you want to become an online resource to reach people all over the world, find what makes you excited about what you do and learn how you can make it an integrative part of your practice.

Take your own advice

You can talk the talk, but make sure you also walk the walk. If you’re telling your clients to physically take care of themselves, make sure you’re getting in your 5 servings of leafy greens and 30 minutes of exercise each day as well. If you’re asking your clients to be present in your sessions, make sure you’re leaving your own baggage at your office door as well.

Your clients’ well-being depends on your own well-being too, so devote the time each day to meet your own needs so that you can provide the best care to others (this includes taking time off!).

Stop trying to do it all yourself!

We know, we know, easier said than done when you’re just starting out (and—ahem—are low on funds), but handing off tasks that aren’t directly related to your clients will allow you more time and quality energy to focusing on the clients you currently have and reaching out to new clients.

Find people who can help you set your practice up for success whether that’s hiring a real estate agent to find you the perfect space for your practice, an accountant to handle all your bookkeeping, or a really awesome web service company to help you gain some professional-level exposure with a new website (may we direct you to our portfolio?).

Ultimately, as with any goal or resolution, set yourself a realistic and specific time frame and break each goal down into manageable pieces. Map out the steps you need for success this year, and don’t be afraid to revise, revisit, and take a new course if things change down the road.

Check off your first resolution today and call us for a free consultation to see if we can help you grow your practice with a new website.

The post 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Therapy Practice appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

As we enter the holiday season, many therapists and health professionals come face to face with the issue of giving and receiving gifts for patients.

While gift giving often comes from the pure desire to show appreciation, gratitude and follow holiday ritual, when it comes to the relationship between a doctor and patient, there are boundaries to consider before giving and accepting gifts. Gift giving (especially this time of year) is often connected to deep emotional aspects of guilt, generosity, sacrifice, reciprocity, and self-value, so depending on the nature of your sessions, this process may be delicate.

Consider your rules ahead of time

As a therapist, it’s a good idea to consider your rules for gift giving and receiving beforehand so that you can craft an appropriate response.

A blanket rule of no gifts may be unnecessarily cold for many of your patients. With that said, try to map out some rules you can follow on a case by case basis of whether or not it’s appropriate to give or receive a gift from your patients.

The issue of receiving

Many therapists are taught the rule that they should not accept anything from a client other than session fees to avoid fostering any sort of conflict of interest.

For many patients, a gift can mean a cry for acceptance of self value. As a therapist, it’s important to set these boundaries beforehand and if a patient shows up with a gift, to discuss the meaning of the gift before accepting it. If the gift has strong emotional ties stemming from a desire to gain acceptance, favor, or value, it may be more appropriate to decline the gift after discussing the reason why it is not appropriate in this instance.

If the gift is given out of holiday tradition and custom with the desire to show gratitude and appreciation and does not have the potential to damage your working relationship, you may decide it’s appropriate to accept.

It is up to you to determine as a mental health professional whether such gift giving is an opportunity to strengthen a warm, working relationship or encourage reflection and insight as to what the motives behind the gift might be.

The issue of giving

On the other hand, giving gifts presents a similar set of questions. If you choose to give gifts to your patients, be prepared to express the reasoning behind your gift as well as a firm understanding that your client should not feel bad if they did not in turn give a gift to you.

Some appropriate gifts you might consider giving to clients:

• A meaningful card
• A rock as a transitional gift (if you have an office rock collection)
• A therapy-related book or CD that you think might resonate especially well with a client
• A token to serve as a reminder or support

Ultimately it is up to you to read the context of the gift-giving situation. For most people, gift giving is a positive experience and it can strengthen your bond between yourself and your client as long as you are mindful of the context of the situation.

What are your tips on handling gift giving and receiving for therapists? Share with us in the comment section below!

The post Giving and Receiving Gifts as a Therapist appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

Now, whenever you perform a search on a mobile device, the list of search results will include whether or not each site is mobile-friendly.

Now, instead of enduring the frustration of scrolling, pinching, zooming, and generally having a difficult time viewing a non-mobile-friendly website on their smart phones or tablets, users can choose not to visit those sites at all.

Additionally, many people believe that Google’s algorithm for displaying search results will begin to demote sites that do not qualify for the mobile-friendly tag.

Criteria for receiving a mobile-friendly tag in search results

• Websites that avoid software that is not common on mobile devices (flash)
• Websites that have readable text on mobile devices without the need to zoom
• Websites that reformat to fit the screen so that users do not have to scroll horizontally to view the entire site
• Links are far enough apart and are size so that they are easily tapped

Check if your website is mobile-friendly

Enter your website address in the URL bar provided at studiopress.com to see how your website appears across mobile devices or go to Google’s Mobile Friendly Test where it will tell you whether or not your site is mobile friendly.

What if my site is not mobile-friendly?

If your website is not mobile-friendly and you (wisely) wish to give your site an update for the modern age, contact us at Brighter Vision and we can help you out!

All of our websites are mobile responsive, so you can ensure that mobile users will be able to see that “Mobile-friendly” tag and view your website easily on any device.

The post Google Unveils Mobile Friendly Tag in Searches appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

You’ve started getting more potential clients arriving at your website and when they find that your services are perfect for their needs, they arrive at your contact page to email you and see: myperfecttherapydomain@yahoo.com (email address and website are just examples).

Can you see the problem here? This is a missed opportunity for converting potential clients into actual clients because even after you have gone through the trouble to set up a professional website for yourself, an email address that does not end in your domain can force your credibility level to take a step back. When potential clients come to your site, they are looking for information to begin to trust you and your practice.

An email address such as DrAwesome@myperfecttherapydomain.com makes your entire practice feel more established and professional. What’s more, you can drive more traffic to your website if you’re in email contact with someone who wants to learn more about your practice because most users know they can simply take the @myperfecttherapydomain.com section of your email address and type it into their address bar to arrive at your website.

How do you get an email address with your domain?

There are many ways to do this and it depends on how you wish to use your email. It takes a bit more setup than it does when creating a normal email account, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run (and if you’re a client of Brighter Vision, we can handle this process for you).

Google Apps

This is actually the email of choice for us at Brighter Vision. We find Google Apps/Gmail to be extremely user-friendly, and it’s hard to beat the multiple functions Google provides (Calendar, Spreadsheet and Document Sharing, chat features, etc.). This service starts at $5 per user per month.

Zoho

Often small businesses aren’t ready to pay an extra fee for a personalized email, and we definitely understand that. For these businesses, we suggest Zoho. While this service doesn’t offer as much functionality as Gmail, it’s easy enough to integrate with your existing email account so that all of your emails arrive in one inbox.

Hosting

Check with your website hosting account to see what their email policies are. Often, website hosting includes a limited number of email addresses that are bundled into the cost. The service and setup varies per host, so check with them to see what your options are.

If you are a Brighter Vision client (or want to become one) and desire a professional email address, then we set you up on Zoho or Google Apps.

Creating your email

For each of these options, there will be slight discrepancies, but overall there are three main steps:

Just to re-emphasize: Brighter Vision does ALL of this for you. Things are a little technical and geeky below, but if you want a professional therapist website with Brighter Vision, you don’t need to do a single thing beyond tell us what email address you want.

1. Create your account

Either create a Google Apps account or a Zoho mail account using the website address you already own as your domain. You will receive a confirmation email to the existing email address you already use, and from there you can move on to step #2.

2. Verify your domain

This is to prove that you actually own the website address for which you are trying to create an email address. There are three methods to verify a website domain:

• TXT Method: Sign into your hosting account. Go to the DNS editor in your domain management section of your cpanel. Copy the txt code (in Google Apps, select the “Alternative Methods” tab and then the Domain name provider option. In Zoho, select the verify by txt method option) and add a new record, selecting TXT from the record type dropdown menu. Paste the copied text in the “Address” field. Note the instructions in Google Apps or Zoho for what to put in the “Host” field, but it will most often be black. Return to Google Apps or Zoho and click “verify.”

• CNAME Method: Sign into your hosting account. Go to the DNS editor in your domain management section of your cpanel. Add a new CNAME record using the unique code in Zoho as the name, and zmverify.zoho.com as the CNAME or your unique code from Google as the name and the code ending in domainverify.googlehosted.com as the CNAME.

• HTML Method: Download the HTML verification file. For Zoho, create a folder in the root folder of your site called “zohoverify” and upload there. For Google Apps, upload the file directly to the root folder.

3. Change the MX Records

The MX records specify which email host should be accepting emails on behalf of the domain. If you are setting up an email that is not through your host, it’s important to change these records so that you can receive your emails.

To do this, login to your cpanel and search for MX Entry. Once there, add the MX records from the Google Apps or Zoho Verfication page.

**Note: you will have to remove any existing MX entries first. If you are doing this, please be sure that there are no other emails being used for your domain other than the one(s) you are currently setting up.

For Zoho, you will add both mx.zohomail.com and mx2.zohomail.com, and for Google, you will add the following mx records:

Once your domain is verified and your MX records are changed, send a couple of emails to confirm that everything is working properly. Then, begin to use your new, professional email for your business!

Got your domain and email setup, but need help with a professional website? We’ve got you covered!

Contact us today to learn how you can grow your practice through Brighter Vision’s web services.

The post How to Setup an Email Account to Match Your Private Practice Domain appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

When it comes to marketing and self-promotion, one of the things we most often recommend for health professionals is to start a blog on their website.

A blog on a private practice website gives you a leg up on competition and provides a number of benefits both for your website and business as well as your clients.

Top 5 Reasons All Therapists Should Be Blogging

Improve your credibility

Build trust with your clients and other professionals in your industry by using your blog as a resource to share information and answer frequently asked questions that come up with your clients. Use it as a supplement to the services you provide and a way to share relevant information and new research in your field.

Creating content that is helpful shows that you care about your target clients and that you are passionate about what you do.

Improve your SEO

Search engines favor websites that update frequently, so having a blog is an excellent way to regularly add new content to your website, and therefore remain fresh and active to show search engines that they should be continually checking in on your site. Each of these new posts or pages is another opportunity you have for showing up in a potential client’s searches.

A blog is also an excellent way to naturally boost your ranking for various search queries that your clients might be searching.

For example, if one of your therapy specialties is depression, you might write a blog post about how to determine what kind of treatment you might need to handle your Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Increase website traffic

With each new blog post, link to it from social media or your newsletter. This new content will drive more traffic to your website. AND with that SEO working on your side (example: keyword of “Seasonal Affective Disorder”), you’ll be getting new traffic to your site which translates directly to new potential clients.

Not only does it increase traffic to your website, but regularly having interested blog posts to share on social media and in newsletters will increase your following across social networks and subscribers to your blog and newsletters.

Book more clients

You’ve written a fantastic post about Seasonal Affective Disorder, giving your website new content for search engines to check in on, helping your site reach new visitors who might be searching for information about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and now this post can convert those new visitors who have just read your post into clients. How? Simply create a call to action at the end of each post: a link to your services page, a button that says “book an appointment now” linking to your scheduling page, a newsletter subscribe form, or a click to call phone number where they can reach you directly.

Sign up for a new website today with Brighter Vision and we can help you integrate a blog into your website.

The post Top 5 Reasons for Therapists to Start a Blog for their Private Practice appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

Now more than ever before, people are turning to their mobile devices to find businesses and services, which means that if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, you will quickly be falling behind the competition.

What does ‘mobile-friendly’ mean?

Websites that are mobile friendly—also known as responsive design—don’t just mean websites that are able to be viewed on a phone or mobile device. Virtually all websites can be viewed on mobiles devices, but the term “mobile-friendly” has more to do with how they’re viewed on mobile devices.

A non-mobile-friendly website requires zooming and scrolling to find and read information. Text either appears way too small to read or it runs off the page, images are hard to see correctly, and links are hard to find and harder to click.

A mobile-friendly website reformats according to the type of device a viewer is using. The texts adjusts itself to fit within the screen and resizes to become easy to read. The navigation menu compresses into an easy-to-manage dropdown menu and the buttons become bigger for an easier click. Everything becomes a single, easy-to-navigate column that effortlessly takes you town the page.

See it for yourself by going to StudioPress.com. Enter a website in the bar at the top of the menu and see how it looks across multiple devices. If the text runs off the page or if the navigation menu doesn’t condense, the site is not mobile-friendly.

How do I know my clients are using mobile devices to view my site?

Trust us, they are. Mobile usage is undeniably increasing. We have officially reached an age of mobile internet traffic surpassing desktop traffic. At the beginning of 2014, 60% of internet access was made on a mobile device.

What’s more, the behavior of mobile devices users is different than that of desktop users. Mobile device users are looking to make an action. They go to a website with a goal to buy something, search for a location or specific information about something, or for a quick way to call or contact you. And because of that sense of urgency and purpose, 40% of mobile users will leave a website if it is not mobile friendly.

That’s about 25% of potential clients you’re losing simply from having a non-mobile-friendly website.

And while those are some impressive numbers and statistics we presented you, here are some other great reasons why mobile-friendly websites are a must:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google announced last year with its Hummingbird update that it will be favoring sites with responsive design, meaning that if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, it could actually hurt your SEO and your search result rankings.
• Increased Conversions: Whether it’s putting a button front and center to “Schedule an Appointment Now!” or putting a click-to-call phone number front and center on your page, sites that are mobile friendly and that utilize these simple calls to action see a dramatic increase in results. At Brighter Vision, our clients actually see an average of a 28% increase in potential clients calling them just from this alone.
• Mobile users spend more time on your site: This means that especially if your site has an excellent blog or resource page, users will be more willing to spend time reading your site on their phone (if your site is mobile-friendly) than they would on a desktop.

At Brighter Vision, every website we create is mobile-friendly because we understand that this is the design of the future and want to give our clients a leg-up on the competition now and set them up for success far into the future. Call us today for a free consultation to find out if our web services are right for you.

The post The Importance of Having a Mobile-Friendly Website appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

We’ve had some exciting things going on behind the scenes here at Brighter Vision and we’ve decided it’s about time we clue in the masses as to what we’re doing over here!

A little over three years ago you knew us as SEO Sherpas. We primarily worked with pre-existing websites who were looking for a little boost in their search engine rankings to better reach their targeted audience.

We also started dabbling in web design because web design and search engine optimization are so tightly linked. If your website looks awful, honestly, there’s not much that search engine optimization can do for you.

But with the introduction of that web design element as well as our popular bVIP program, somehow the name “SEO Sherpas” didn’t seem to encompass all that we were doing. So, in February 2014 we decided to rebrand ourselves as Brighter because that’s what we did—we helped businesses execute a brighter vision for their websites whether that was through a search engine optimization audit, through monthly website support, through a complete overhaul web design, or through a lighter vision of that web design.

We took on more employees growing from one…to two…to three…to five! And as we grew, we realized that our services were especially resonating with a certain type of business, one that truly needs a crisp, clean, informative, and approachable website that is custom to the service they provide, and that comes with all the support they need so they can focus on their practice: health professionals.

We love working with health professionals and our clients frequently tell us how much they love working with us. So here we are, a Brighter Vision for health professionals working through their practice to provide a brighter vision to the world.

Take a tour of what we offer to see what we’re all about!

The post Exciting Changes at Brighter Vision appeared first on BrighterVision.com.

About Us:

We are a fast growing web solutions company that works hard, plays hard and enjoys life.

We have found that it’s best to have our developers working alongside us, in our beautiful Louisville office. This allows us to collaborate better on projects, share ideas more quickly and kick back and enjoy a beer at the end of a day.

If you love WordPress and are looking to join a small, nimble team that’s rocking the boat in terms of SEO, content development, website development and more, than we’d love to hear from you!

What The Job Entails:

- Be able to take a WordPress theme, customize it to a business’s needs and aesthetics/branding, and make it look beautiful
- Comprehensive understanding of CSS
- You must be able to build a 100%, fully responsive website

Bonus Points:

- Able to build wireframe mockups of a site
- Love developing PSD mockups
- Comprehensive understanding of the Genesis Framework

(The above three aren’t necessary, but if you can do it and enjoy doing that type of work than you get to the top of the list).

This is a contract to start position with the possibility of going full-time after a 3 month review.

**Important**

This is how you avoid the trash bin:

A. Send at least 3 samples as URLs. I don’t want to have to go view your portfolio page before having to view samples. Just send samples.

B. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile

C. Attach your resume as a PDF

D. Answer the following 4 questions:

1. Are you willing to work at our office in downtown Louisville?
2. How familiar are you with the Genesis framework?
3. What’s your favorite color and why?
4. What is your desired hourly rate?

Please apply by emailing hiring@brightervision.com

The post Hiring a WordPress Developer appeared first on BrighterVision.com.