I am so excited to see what 2007 brings. We have so many exciting programs in the works to help you build your practice! We will be partnering with some extraordinary people this year in ways that will teach us a lot more about marketing, attracting clients, and reclaiming our private practice dream.

Did you submit a practice-building question at http://www.AskCaseyTruffo.com ?

If so, I really want to thank you.
It will help me to know better how to serve you.

One question that several submitted was:

How do I get more people to my website?

This is a great question! I love it that more and more therapists are considering using technology to attract more clients. I believe the internet will be the number one way clinicians will build their practices in the coming decade. In fact, our theme at BeAWealthyTherapist.com for 2007 is: “How You Can Use Technology to Attract More Clients even for Technophobes!”

Back to the question .. There are really two questions here. One is how to get clients to the website. But, I believe, an even more important question is “How do I turn website visitors into clients?”

To get prospective clients to your website, you can do it for fr.ee by putting your web address on everything and offering an “ethical bribe” in terms of a free audio or report - to invite them to visit. For example “To learn the 5 simple steps to get your child to listen to you, visit (your website here.)”

You can put that simple one-liner on the back of your business card, your stationery and your email signature. If you write articles, put that information in the “resource box” at the end of your article.

You can also do paid advertising, for example, with Google Ad words. With this feature, you pay Google a small amount each time your website advertisement is clicked on. If you decide to use this type of pay-per-click advertising, make sure you learn how it works first. Be sure you visit the Google Ad words Learning Center and take the tutorials along with the quizzes. Believe me, this will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Now to the question: “How do I turn website visitors into clients?”

Most people expect (or hope) that website visitors will read about their experience and credentials on the website and will want to make an appointment.

But let’s get back to the basics of marketing. People need to get a sense of you first. They need to decide if they can trust you and to see if you have the solution to their problem.

How do you do that? I alluded to it before. It involves sharing your wisdom over time with your prospects.

First, you want to capture their information in a way that is non-threatening. You do this by offering a free report or free audio in return.

My coach calls this a “pink spoon.” At a Baskin and Robbins ice cream store, you can get a taste of ice cream in a tiny pink spoon in order to determine if you like it. After that taste, you can decide if you want more.

By offering a “pink spoon” free report or free audio recording, people can get to know you better. You can then keep in touch with them over time offering more “pink spoon” wisdom treats. I do this with this newsletter.

Make sure that any content you send to your list contains value to them. They will get to know you better and your name will be the one they think of when they are ready to hire a therapist!

Happy practice building!

1) Looking for a way to stay motivated with your marketing efforts? Judy Gifford, from Find-A-Therapist.com and I have teamed up this year to offer a new program: Practice Building Group Coaching Modules to help you learn new skills and stay on track with your practice building goals.

These Group Coaching Modules will be offered monthly - each month on a different topic. You can sign up for the series or pick and choose the ones you like. Each monthly group module will consist of one lecture call and two coaching calls where I help the group to implement the techniques learned. Plus Coach Cynthia McKenna will be offering 3 hours of laser coaching each month just for the Coaching Group participants. (Laser coaching is where participants can call in with individual questions on a first-come-first-serve basis.)

Don’t be left out! You can’t afford to miss this!

For more information, please visit:
http://www.BeaWealthyTherapist.com/coachinggroup.html

Here are the monthly group topics:

• February: Goal Setting Boot Camp.
• March: Money 101 for Therapists.
• April: Marketing “Quick Start” Guide.
• May: How to Expand Your Client Base with Target Marketing.
• June: How to use Technology to Market Your Practice - Part I - How to Use Find-A-Therapist to attract clients.
• July: How To Use Technology to Market Your Practice - Part 2 Ð Websites and Blogs.
• September: How To Use Technology to Market Your Practice - Part 3 - Turning Web Prospects into Clients.
• October: Group Q&A and Hot Seat Coaching

If you have been procrastinating on your marketing or need to brush up, consider joining us at http://www.BeaWealthyTherapist.com/coachinggroup.html

2) No-Charge Teleseminar: How To Increase Your Income by Accepting Credit-Cards

I am so excited to offer this free teleclass. I have found a great resource for offering credit cards that is perfect for most therapists! No swipe machine - no long term contracts - no more creating billing statements for clients at the end of the month. How cool is that?

I will share this resource and show you how you can use credit cards in your practice in this teleclass. (A teleclass is a class taught over the phone in a conference call setting.)

This one-hour teleclass will be held on: Thursday, January 18, 2007

4 PM Pacific Time
5 PM Mountain Time
6 PM Central Time
7 PM Eastern Time

To register, please visit:
http://www.beawealthytherapist.com/creditcardsclass.html

Again, if you asked a question at: http://www.AskCaseyTruffo.com - thank you. While I can’t answer each one individually I will do my best in upcoming articles and classes.

And I hope you will be joining us on the live call (or via the recording where I answer the 7 most important questions I receive. If you’d like to register for this call for $29.95 (that is $50 off the regular price), please visit: http://www.AskCaseyTruffo.com/call.html

I hope 2007 brings you many blessings and great joy.

All good wishes,