Transcript
A (0:00)
Foreign welcome to Ask Allison.
B (0:09)
Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can Access that@AbundancePracticeBuilding.com links where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too. If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library.
A (0:36)
Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I left group practice to start my solo practice in early 2023 and at the time I was making a lot of decisions quickly, such as picking a practice name for getting my PLLC domain name, email address, et cetera. I'm transitioning my practice again and in 2025 I'll be private pay and I'm working on my niche ideal client and marketing plan. Does the name of my practice matter? I picked my initials because my first name can be misspelled, though I'm wondering if for networking and other therapists my first and last name would be better? Or is this a non issue and more about SEO for a Google search. So I'm excited to answer this one. First, we're going to thank Therapy Notes for sponsoring Ask Allison. They are the number one rated electronic health record system available today with live telephone support seven days a week. It's clear why TherapyNotes is rated 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot and has a 5 star rating on Google. Therapy Notes makes billing, scheduling, note taking and telehealth incredibly easy and they also offer E prescribe if you're coming from another EHR. TherapyNotes makes the transition incredibly easy, importing your demographic data free of charge so you can get going right away. Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know. Use promo code abundanttherapynotes.com and you can get two free months. All right, so first of all, really great question and kudos for thinking ahead as you transition to private pay. It's really exciting time and I love that you're being really thoughtful about the details. So does the name of your practice matter? Here is the short answer. Not a whole lot, as long as the people who might refer to you can remember it. It's more about functionality and memorability than it is having the perfect name. So let's break it down. You mentioned your first name has an uncommon spelling, which I totally get. It's a valid hesitation, especially when it comes to things like domain names and emails. But as somebody who refers, people often Let me share this I find it a lot easier to remember somebody's name than a practice name. Your name is uniquely you, whereas a practice name, unless it's really clever or distinct, can sometimes just blend into the sea of therapisty names that are out there. We all know those ones, right? I'm not going to call them out. No one needs to feel bad about their choice, but they often involve, you know, like the same exact words in different orders. They're not inherently bad, far from it, but they're common enough that they might not stick in someone's mind. Or I might accidentally refer to one person when I meant to refer to the other, because the names are similar enough. So if you already have one of those names, no worries. Just make sure your website is optimized so that if somebody Googles a phrase close to your practice name or your name plus your state, it pops up as a result. Now about using initials. I'd say they're about as memorable as a generic practice name. They're functional, but they don't create much connection. If you're already using your initials, it might be worth considering transitioning to your full name for networking purposes, especially since referrals from other therapists. They're probably going to be pretty key.