The Power of Online Presence: Facebook Brings Australian Parenting Expert Elly Taylor International Opportunities

 

Discover how some very successful mental health professionals use blogging, social media, and other technologies as powerful tools for their therapy practices.

Elly Taylor, AARC, is an Australian Relationship Counsellor, Parenthood Researcher and advocate for emotional health. She teaches parents and professionals about the eight stages of early parenthood following pregnancy so families can bed down solid foundations for psychological, emotional and relational growth. You can learn more about Elly’s work at www.ellytaylor.com.

When and how did you first start putting time and effort into maintaining a strong online presence?

With two teenagers at home, "Facebook" was a dirty word in our house a few years ago! Then, after my book Becoming Us was published here by Harper Collins in Australia, I met up with a very successful author friend who was giving me tips on marketing and how social media had made all the difference for her. I squirmed awkwardly in my seat and said something like “I really want my book to spread through word of mouth." She looked at me straight and said “Elly, these days that’s called social media.” So I reluctantly hopped on Facebook and found it completely overwhelming! Until I found there were groups. I love groups; part of my job is leading them. After a few months of participating in conversations in a couple of different groups about birthing, I received my first invitation to present my research in the United States... through a Facebook message!

Please describe what social platforms you currently use. 

I would use more if I could get off Facebook! I’m on LinkedIn and will be more active on there when I start my group for Family Focused Perinatal Professionals early next year. I’m also on Twitter, but don’t find it as warm and fuzzy as Facebook. I like seeing people’s kid pics. I did start a couple of Pinterest boards, but I’m worried I will get completely lost in there and weeks will pass and I’ll forget to eat…

About how much time do you devote to your online presence? How do you balance it with your other work responsibilities? 

Far too much at the moment! The plan for next year is to spend two days face-to-face with clients, one in my office and one via Skype for interstate and overseas clients. That leaves three days for writing and social media-ing. And the weekend to recover from my online hangover!

What kinds of things do you use to inspire your content creation; what do you write about?

I try to write about the stuff that’s unspoken, and with expecting and new parents, there’s plenty to cover! I write about the ways parenthood changes life and love and how to work with the changes and support your partner to do the same so you both grow together through them. So many relationships come undone through lack of awareness. In this information age, that shouldn’t be happening.

I also have found in my research that so many aspects of our culture set new families up for failure, that there’s a huge information gap between therapy and birth professionals, and therefore such a massive gap between expectation and reality for parents. I’ll be starting my regular blog soon, one for professionals to cross-pollinate their expertise and one for parents so they get the benefits of that. I’d like to do what I can to help cross the divide.

How do you best balance personal and professional in your online activities? Please give examples.

I have two FB accounts, one in my professional name and one in my married name, which is private. I don’t share family stuff on my professional page, although I know many who do and I’m probably being over-cautious. I do share some stories from my own life my talk for the Parenting 2.0 conference in Dublin is a good example!), but I check with my hubby that he’s OK with that beforehand…or maybe just afterwards!

What is some tangible evidence that your online presence has grown your business?

All my speaking invitations in the US and UK have come through social media contacts. My Facebook friends were also the ones who encouraged me to develop trainings based on the content in my book. I’ll be rolling out Becoming Us webinar trainings next year so that birth, health and therapy professionals have ideas, direction, and support to work with the expecting and new parents in their care.

What other ways has your strong online presence helped you?

Oh gosh, in lots of ways! If I have an idea I’m not sure about (logo, tag lines, etc), I’ll run it by my online friends. I’ve asked for feedback on my book and website and taken it all on board so when I finally launch my webinar series early next year, it’s been given a really thorough test run first.

A lovely birth professional friend referred to me as a “Parenthood Tour Guide” the other day, and then another one said she thought of me as “The Family Whisperer." I was so touched and thrilled! I love the support and validation I receive through Facebook groups; so many wonderful, engaged, enlightened souls who are all there to lift and help each other. I remember in the years before I got on social media, I was often lacking the support and collaboration I needed to get my work off the ground. I teared up just yesterday when a FB friend offered to be an administrator for a FB group I’m starting up next year and another offered to do a video testimonial for my book.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered creating and maintaining your online presence?

Trying not to get sucked into the Facebook vortex and get other stuff done, like actually develop the content! I get so carried away by seeing everyone's pictures and news and cute videos. I made the mistake of announced the Becoming Us training courses just the other day at the same time I was supposed to be picking up my daughter from school.

How have you overcome those challenges?

I keep telling myself I’m going to get an egg timer…

What tips or resources can you recommend to help therapists who are new to the online world of blogging, social media, SEO, etc.?

Start slowly, observe at first to see what others are doing while you get your bearings, take your time, and build your confidence. See what ignites your passion – that’s where your best writing will come from. See where the gaps are. When I first got on FB and joined a bunch of birth professional groups, I noticed that fathers (and partners) were often left out of the conversations completely. I feel strongly that from an adult attachment perspective, including and supporting dads/partners during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood has major long-term benefits for the whole family. That's where I began my journey, and it was worked out well so far!

Elly Taylor, AARC

Australian Relationship Counsellor, Parenthood Researcher Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/BecomingUs Website: www.ellytaylor.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ellytaylor

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5 Steps to Finding Your Professional Blogging Style

Here are 5 steps to getting more comfortable blogging on your private practice website

Maintaining a blog is an important part of your therapy practice's online presence.  A blog is a great way to show that you are knowledgeable about current topics in the field, but it's also a way to personally connect with your clients.  When it comes to blogging tone and style conversational is the new "professional"

Some therapists who are new to the blogging scene can have a tough time understanding how to write in this format.    Here are 5 steps to help you find your professional blogging style:

1)  Be Yourself

The way you create your blog is completely up to you.  You might look at other blogs to get an idea, but remember that this is your endeavor, and you have the freedom to use whatever structure or style best fits your professional style and practice.

We are often conditioned to avoid using first-person pronouns in our writing.  But a blog is an appropriate medium to say something like, "My years as a therapist have taught me ______," or "We often place unnecessary burdens on ourselves by  _________." Don't be afraid to let you shine through your writing.  This makes your content more approachable and helps you build trust with your readers.  The key is to balance your professional tone with a personalized voice.

2)  Know Your Audience

Remember who you want reading your blog.  It's not for a professor.  It's not a personal journal. It's not a scholarly publication.  It is to attract ideal clients and/or existing clients.  You don't need to include lots of percentages and numbers (although a well-placed, relevant statistic every now and then could work).  On the flip-side, don't write about yourself too much.  Although you are drawing from your own personal and professional experiences as inspiration for writing, make sure everything you put out has value for your intended readers.

3)  Practice, Practice, Practice.

This might be your first experience with this type of writing.  Maybe you're struggling to articulate what it is you are trying to say or you're not yet sure how to use certain formatting tools.  Whatever it is, know it will take some time to get the hang of things.  Everyone starts somewhere.  And one of the great things about a blog is that you can go back and change something at any time .  If there's something you want to rephrase or add to, you can edit any past post.

4)  Make it Appealing

Using images and graphics can be visually appealing and can also help break up text and make your blog post easier to read.  And don't be afraid to include pictures of you every now and then!  It's good to show you're readers that you aren't just a therapist; you're a human being, too!  The aesthetics of your blog needn't be over the top or gimmicky; instead, a well-placed image relating to your topic can really add to the overall look of the post.  Simple is often better.

5)  Blog Often

When it comes to blogging, you need to regularly produce fresh content.  Not necessarily everyday, but you should aim to publish on a consistent basis.  This is good for your SEO, it helps brand you as a relevant source, and it gives your clients reasons to return to your site.  If you're brand new to blogging, twice a month is a good place to start. Once you've gotten more comfortable I recommend  post a new blog article each week.

Some might worry they will run out of things to write about.  Ironically, though, the more you write, the more topics you discover, and the more you have to write about!

Because you'll be blogging regularly and for laypeople (instead of other professionals), you should make each post short. Keep it to a length that someone could read in one sitting: 400-600 words is pretty standard.

What is YOUR experience blogging so far?

How can you use these tips to help find your own blogging style?

How to Create and Sell Your First E-book (part 1)

In this guest post counselor and consultant Clinton Power shares how to create your first E-Book

There's no doubt that creating and selling your own digital product is a great way to increase your online exposure, credibility, expertise, and earn some money while doing so.

And the creation of an e-book to sell through your own website or an online bookstore like Amazon or iBooks is the quickest and easiest product to create to get started.

I wrote my own e-book called 31 Days to Build a Better Relationship and published using the Kindle platform on Amazon. It's been a great way to increase my online presence and credibility as a specialist in relationships and has now been downloaded over 2000 times and received 19 five star reviews in Amazon.

With a $2.99 price tag, I didn't write it to make money (though the checks from Amazon are very nice), but more to reach thousands of people that I never could have on my own, through the power of the Amazon Marketplace.

Selling an e-book through your own website is also a very good idea, and the good news is you can charge much more than Amazon e-book prices.

So let's dive in and look at the steps you need to get started.

Select a topic that will sell

It's important to do some research at the beginning to check there’s a market for your e-book and people looking for the information you want to write about.

As a therapist you are well positioned to create an information product because you have years of training, knowledge and experience about good mental health, the change process, and self-improvement. These information products are often in high demand because they are providing a solution to a pain or problem.

So to get your research underway I suggest you start with Google and Amazon. Search for keywords that are related to the e-book you're considering writing.

For example, if you're a specialist in child ADD/ADHD, search for combinations of keywords in Amazon and Google such as "How to overcome child ADD", or "I think my child has ADHD", or "best ideas for dealing with ADD". The idea is you want to see how many people already have products for sale that are similar to your idea.

If you find similar products, but your idea has a particulate angle that is not covered by other e-books, then this is a good thing.

There are hundreds of books on relationships in the Amazon store, but I didn't find one that used my approach of a tip a day for 31 days, so I knew I was bringing in a different angle that might help with sales.

Create an outline

The next step in the creation process is to create an outline for your e-book.

Start by writing down the headline or theme for each chapter. This helps you organise your thinking and then you can flesh out the content later.

Here's a tip: 50% of my e-book used blog posts I had previously written, so if you have been already been writing on a regular basis, don't discount that you may have some of your e-book written already.

This was a huge time-saver that added 15,000 words to my e-book, and I then wrote the remaining 10,000 words in 10 days.

Choose a writing platform

One of the simplest ways to write your e-book is to write it directly into Microsoft Word. This is a good option if you're going to turn it into a PDF for your own website.

I used the free platform Press Books, which is like writing in WordPress, but it converts it into the .mobi file, which you need to upload to Amazon.

I found this software easy to use and enjoyable to write in. You can then make as many changes as you want and quickly upload the latest version to Amazon within minutes.

Write clearly and simply for your audience

It's important that you write in an informal and conversational way, so you can connect with you reader.

Try to avoid writing in an academic voice as it will turn off your readers. The challenge here is to let go of your college training and write as if you're speaking to a close friend.

Use calls to action and hyperlinks

The great thing about writing an e-book, either for Kindle or a PDF for your website, is you can use hyperlinks to link to websites and other online resources.

So take advantage of this and include hyperlinks to link to other websites, or your own. This makes your e-book and more valuable resource.

Also use clear calls to action, so you tell the reader what actions you want them to take.

My e-book had a tip at the end of each chapter, so I told the reader exactly what to do for the next 24 hours. This then helps the reader feel they are getting something from the e-book because they are taking action.

Watch for part 2 on how to sell your e-book!

Clinton Power is a Sydney-based Gestalt therapist and the owner of Clinton Power + Associates- a private practice dedicated to helping singles and couples move out of relationship pain. He is also the founder of Australia Counselling Directory, a free directory for find counsellors and psychologists in Australia. Clinton is also a passionate coach and consultant for healthcare professionals. Find him on Twitter or Google+.