Q:

“I also am trained in EMDR and would like to highlight and include this somehow in my site. There are very few therapists who practice this in my area so would like this to be noticed. Any ideas where to include that? I can write some copy that explains EMDR and there are several excellent videos from EMDRIA that I would like to include that really speak to the client’s experience in EMDR. Any thoughts/ideas about this?”

A:

So cool that you are trained in EMDR. I know from personally doing EMDR to heal from my trauma that it’s effective and awesome.

And I love this question. If you read our blog or any content about copywriting, you’ll notice that the common advice is to shift the focus away from your trainings or modalities and towards the specific pain points and desired transformation instead.

That said, it’s important with a specialization like EMDR to also make that information available in the case that someone is specifically looking for it.

First Consider Where Your Best Fit Client Is In Their Healing

Before you start sprinkling “EMDR” everywhere, it would be a good thing to think about where your best fit client is in their healing journey.

Continuing on with an EMDR client in mind:

  • Do they know they need to heal from trauma or are they suffering from symptoms without really knowing they are trauma related?
  • Have they already tried talk therapy and come to the realization that they need something else?
  • Are they someone who might specifically come to your site seeking EMDR specifically? Would they know what it is without you telling them what it is?

For example, when I was looking for a therapist to do my deeper healing work around 2007, I was seeking out EMDR as part of what I would have liked my therapist to be specialized in.

In my case, I had been in and out of therapy for years, but always as a crisis management vs. deep healing work. But at some point, I decided to dedicate more time to truly healing and started doing my own research through which I discovered EMDR.

Depending on what your best fit client might know coming into therapy will influence how you include information about offering it on your site.

The following 4 suggestions are meant to be tailored to your unique best fit.

1. Specialization Page

Mostly EMDR is to treat trauma, right? So the best place to put information about your offer to do EMDR is on the specialization page that speaks to the challenge that EMDR helps with.

2. About Page “Professional Background” Paragraph

Every therapist about page should include a paragraph (preferably towards the bottom) where you discuss your professional background.

This would be an ideal place to mention any EMDR training that you might have as it’s a priority spot that people “in the know” about therapist specialized skills would look for them: on an about page and in a section dedicated to discussing your professional skills.

3. FAQ Item

In addition to including information about your professional background on your About Page, you can also include similar information on your FAQ page too.

Answer a question like, “What are your certifications?” or “What is your professional background” and you can insert information about EMDR there.

Concerned about repeating the same information you might have on your About page in two places? Don’t be. Repeating yourself is a good thing. It shows you are consistent and always keep in mind that website visitors rarely read every last word on our websites anyway. Giving your visitor ample opportunity to dig into this information is not a bad thing at all.

4. In The Blog

Be careful not to mix education into your sales copy. Educational content educates and inspires whereas sales copy helps a reader match themselves to your service and motivates them to reach out.

You said, “I can write some copy that explains EMDR and there are several excellent videos from EMDRIA that I would like to include that really speak to the client’s experience in EMDR.” and this is perfect in the context of blog posts!

From your sales copy, you can always link to blog posts and vice versa. But I wouldn’t try to “sell” EMDR as much as I would sell the benefits of your unique EMDR services when it comes to what you put within your sales copy. It’s not the purpose of sales copy educate or sell the modality, so keep the educational stuff separate.

Including Information About Your Training: Important To Get Right

Before you sit down to incorporate information about your specialized modality on your website, first consider who you are even speaking to.

Knowing who your best fit client is and what they may be seeking can help set the tone for how you speak about the how behind the help you provide.

Once you’ve done the discovery on that, you can consider adding sales copy on a specialization page that pairs exactly with the modality on offer. That way, you’re speaking to the pains and benefits of what the specialization helps with, and the modality you use is a strong aside.

Have a question about your therapist website copy that you’d like me to answer? Email me your question anytime for it to be considered for an upcoming Q&A blog post.

Posted in Website Copy