TYPES OF BLOG POST TO WRITE

Obviously, there’s lots of things to write on and lots of way to write, here a the 5 types of blog posts Lawton recommended:

1. Education. This is often the easiest blog post for therapists to write and most common. These have titles like, “5 ways to help your anxiety,” and “7 things you didn’t know about meditation.”
   

2. How To. This post is like an Education post but it only focuses on teaching one thing. These have titles like, “How to manage anxiety with meditation,” “How to handle depression through the holidays.”
   

3. Case Study. This post is where you walk someone through an experience, such as a typical therapy session with you. Then you insert links to your “How To” and “Education” posts. Confidentiality is a challenge when writing these posts. Be sure to change details and add a disclaimer to these posts.
   

4. Ultimate Guide. This post is where you dump as many strategies and resources to a particular topic as possible. These titles look like, “The Ultimate Gift Guide for Yoga Lovers,” and “The Ultimate Guide to A Healthy Relationship with Food.”
   

5. The List. This post the shortest and simplest. These titles look like, “The Best 10 Apps for Anxiety,” and “My 7 Go-To Self Care Strategies.”

EFFECTIVE WRITING FORMULA

Lawton was quick to explain that there are specific types of posts that tend to work best for therapists, but what is most important is knowing how to present your information in a way that positions you as an expert and guide to help readers live their best life. Here’s the formula she recommends:

1. Build Rapport. Always start with a universal truth so that readers can have an emotional connection with you right away. Normalize: “…it’s 3am again and you can’t sleep because you’re thinking about ______.”
   
   NOTE: Knowing your ideal client is crucial to being able to build rapport with your reader. For instance if you’re writing to a young woman climbing the corporate ladder who is trying to manage stress, talking about postpartum depression isn’t gonna make her want to read your post. You might still be talking about waking up at 3am, but one will be waking up to feed an infant while another will be spinning with everything she has or hasn’t done. Make sense?
   

2. Describe life with struggles your content will help them solve. For the career woman who is up at 3am, “…so you toss and turn, until finally it’s 5am so you get up. At work you burst into tears when you receive an email from your boss asking you to fix an error. It wouldn’t normally have made you cry, but anything will make you cry when you haven’t slept more than 5 hours the last three nights.”
   

3. Describe life after struggle has been solved with the content you offer. For the momma struggling with postpartum depression, “…after your baby’s 3am feeding you’re able to fall right back asleep. You even wake up before your alarm and sneak in a few seconds alone with your coffee. Before you know it you’re standing over the bassinet smiling as you scoop up your baby.”
   

4. Position yourself as the solution. Come in with your tips: “If you’re wanting _______ to go away try these 5 things….” Give an example with each tip of how you would do this in a session with a client; let them imagine what it will be like to work with you and establish yourself as expert).
   

5. Call to action. ALWAYS end with a call to action. This is where you tell your audience what to do to get help, “If you’re looking for ________ schedule a session HERE.”

   NOTE: Make your call to action whatever you can convert the best whether that’s through a free consultation, signing up for your email sequence, or sending them straight to your calendar.