Q&A was part of Next Level Practice, the most supportive community for therapists starting a private practice. In this video, Alison answers the question based on using Yelp in private practice.
Question
Is it worth it to market on Yelp in private practice?
Answer
My opinion of Yelp is that it seems like not the first place people would typically go to find a psychologist or a counselor. I think people go onto Yelp to find a restaurant or something like that. People are much more likely to go to Google and type something in rather than go to Yelp.
If I had a limited marketing budget, I’m not so sure I would spend it on Yelp. I would probably try to get on one of the therapist directories. Or, if you have a good chunk of change to spend, and you want to try Google Adwords, you could try that. But, I don’t think people are going onto Yelp to find a psychologist. I could be wrong, but I just don’t hear of that happening too often. I think it would also rather make more sense to spend money on improving the SEO of your website. After word of mouth, that’s my number one source of referrals; we come up on page one of Google.
Alison Pidgeon is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Pennsylvania. In 18 months she went from starting a solo private practice to building a insurance-based group practice. She now employs 3 clinicians and a virtual assistant. In her spare time she is often seen running after her two small children and her therapy is cooking.
