Recently I have been inundated with requests, on the hypnotherapy websites that I look after, from www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk for links to their sites. It is a very nicely worded email asking (very politely) for a link from your site to theirs.
Firstly there is nothing illegal or even immoral about what they are doing, but it does have an adverse effect on your website, not to mention your practice – at the very least it is very cheeky and at the worst it is pernicious.
If you have a website for your practice, Google gives you a score depending on the quality, how many people visit it, what it looks like and, most importantly of all, how many people link to it and the quality of those links.
Lets call it “Google juice”.
If you have a professional website with good content and some relevant INBOUND links (i.e. links to your website) there is a good chance that you will rank reasonably well on Google, which in turn means you will get more potential clients coming to your site and hopefully get some new clients for your practice.
So how does putting a link to the Hypnotherapy-Directory cause a problem to your website and your practice?
There are several reasons why I would advise you not to link to them and remove the link if you have already done so.
By linking to the Hypnotherapy-Directory you give away some of your hard earned “Google juice” to them for free and in doing so you help the hypnotherapy-directory get higher in the ranking of Google, because if lots of people give them little bits of their “Google juice”, pretty soon they end up with lots of “Google juice”.
I can almost hear you saying that’s okay because they are nice people. However, in doing so it pushes them up the rankings which in turn pushes you down the rankings. This simple fact then has two immediate effects on your website and ultimately your practice.
- If you’re further down the list. By definition, less people are likely to click on your website which can equal significantly less visitors.
- If they are going to the hypnotherapy-directory they are then offered a list of competing hypnotherapists.
Now to add insult to injury
So having knocked you down the list on Google by getting you to give them a link for free, they then call you up and suggest that you advertise with them as they are on the top of Google (bear in mind you put them there!) and then they have the barefaced cheek to ask £140 a year, or whatever it is, to put a link back to you and that link is worthless as it has no “Google juice”.
Here is what I suggest you do urgently:-
- Remove immediately any links you have on your website to the Hypnotherapy-Directory.
- Contact the Hypnotherapy-Directory and tell them that if they want a link from your site to theirs that you are happy to do it providing they send you a cheque for £5 or £10 per year or whatever you think it’s worth.
- Look at your website and the OUTBOUND links you have; i.e. links to other websites. Do they give you anything back? If it’s a fair exchange then keep the links, otherwise remove them.
- Links to your professional associations are a good thing as they promote a website that actively promotes you and gives the public reassurance.
Lastly please pass this on to as many of your fellow hypnotherapists, and in fact other therapists, as they have directories for many different therapies.
To sum up, guard your “Google juice”, it’s worth money. Look out for the people who would take it and do not give you anything back.
Kind regards
Paul Howard
NCH Marketing Director
I never put their link on my website but unfortunately I have had to join them because they do get the top Google ad words spot.
I do have top spot on the organic Google listings for my area but the hypnotherapy-directory shows up before mine because of their Google ad. So I had no choice but to join them. I have had some bookings through them but it is hard to judge whether I would have had the bookings anyway if their good ad was not there.
Is there a chance that the NCH could copy what this organization does. I would prefer to give the NCH my subscription fee of £10 per month rather then these.
Hi Gary
I would be more than happy to place google ads but the problem is to do this we would have to raise the membership fee by £120 a year and there are many members that would not be happy about this. It would mean that we would have to have a special class of member that opted in to the advertising plan. We do of course already pass leads on to members and we are currently making efforts to increase our ranking on many keywords. If you want to help put links on your site to us as you get something out of that.
It may be possible what keyword are they bidding on.
Hi Paul,
Your comments would apply to any directory or organisation to which we choose to permit a link. The reality is that we cannot all as individual therapists be on the first page of Google in our areas, even though we may work hard to improve organic Google listings for our websites. I would prefer to market my practice through the NCH, but in my area, the NCH website does not currently have an effective Google presence, so I am glad to hear that the NCH is making efforts to improve its organic Google ranking. In the meantime, the Hypnotherapy Directory is more cost effective than many marketing options and more efficient in attracting clients because of its high organic ranking. I agree it makes no sense for NCH members to add a link to the Hypnotherapy Directory unless they are actually subscribers. However, it does enable hypnotherapists to market their businesses very fully in a way that most directories do not. We all have careful choices to make as to how we spend our marketing budgets in ways that work for us, and personally, I have been happy with the business generated through my subscription to the Hypnotherapy Directory. I do have a link to the NCH, and a link to the Hypnotherapy Directory which will remain, at least until the NCH achieves a comparable Google presence.
Hi Fay
Thanks for your comments. It is important to get things into perspective. The Hypnotherapy Directory is an organisation that works for profit. It does no work for the profession it just markets therapists for profit. For that it charges twice what the NCH does per year. Incidentally you have had 89 people view your individual profile on the NCH website (You can see this by logging in to your members area). By linking to the NCH, which of course is a members organisation run by the members for the members, you are increasing the importance of the NCH within Google thereby helping you and the other NCH members who are validated, insured, qualified etc etc.
Let me be quite clear. I am not saying that you or any member should not advertise with the Hypnotherapy Directory. What I am saying is that by putting a link to them, does you, and every other member a disservice because it points potential clients to therapists that
a) You have no idea how well qualified they are.
b) They could be in competition with you.
c) Potentially completely unregulated.
And further more by linking to this company you artificially increase their importance with Google.
I hope this helps.
I have to say that I concur fully with Fay’s comments.
I too have been happy with the cost effectiveness of marketing with the directory: especially as I joined them when they first set up and had a years free advertising with them. I get a good proportion of my enquiries from there.
Whichever directory you choose to be with be it a specialised one, a general business directory, or even one of the free listings you will always appear on there alongside others who are in competition with you. So in that case you need to make sure that you present an excellent marketing image (or at least one that works).
It makes sense to join a directory / register that has a good web-ranking. That is why I left my previous register and joined the NCH. Although the NCH may debate this point it is nonetheless a form of paid advertising and as such needs to show a return.
As for paying for Google Ads, there really is no need to. Look after the back-office parts of your website that the Google Bots “look at” and the rest just happens automatically. Also dont forget that Google’s are not the only Bots. Make sure you register your site with Bing as well.
Hi Paul
Re your comment on 4th Oct, how do I go about seeing how many times my profile’s been viewed? I’ve looked in my member area but can’t see anything.
Thanks
Juliette
Hi Juliette – when you login to the members area, just below the ‘What would you like to do’ section, there is a box with listings and stats.