Website stats are even worse. So much worse, in fact, that there are virtually no standards by which they are measured, that are shared amongst all of the different analytic tools available. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics#Key_definitions for some basic definitions).

If you have the time, read my earlier article about “buying internet advertising and the truth behind website statistics.” The Family & Marriage Counseling Directory (http://family-marriage-counseling.com) has never used website statistics as a way to sell our advertising because our traffic is much different than many of our competitors. Our traffic is focused on two things:

1. People searching for “marriage counseling” and similar phrases – my personal experience in running therapists’ search engine marketing campaigns has shown that nothing converts better into therapist referrals than people actively typing these search phrases into Google.
2. Consumers who are seeking help in their marriages and relationships. We operate two very successful consumer-oriented websites, that direct visitors to our directory when they are  seeking a therapist: The Marriage Counseling Blog and Talk About Marriage which is currently averaging between 15k – 16k unique visitors per day.

Other factors that weigh into the effectiveness of directory listings are the competitiveness of the directory in your particular area (how many therapists are listed in my city?) and how much exposure a particular directory has in a particular area.

So how should we evaluate advertising in directories?

I always recommend that therapists evaluate their advertising the same way that I evaluate any advertising I buy: put all of your traffic sources on a level playing field by tracking your own website stats and referrals.

This can be easier than you might think, especially if you have your own website. Sign up for Google Analytics, and have your web designer put their tracking code on your web pages (it’s free, and it’s one of the most trusted analytics tools on the web). If you have a “contact form” on your website (and you should get one if you don’t), you can go a step further by adding a “Goal” in Google Analytics, that will track which traffic to your site actually fills out that form!

My experience has been that therapists’ websites  that display a phone number prominently on every page and have contact forms, generate the most referrals for their practice. Your website should make it as easy as possible for visitors to contact you and go from “visitor” to “referral.”

For phone calls, always ask how the referral found you, and keep a log of the information so you can evaluate it in the future.

That Being Said

Are therapist directories trying to “fool us” with their stats? No. They are just trying to give advertisers the information they are asking for. It’s the same reason I’m writing this article (I got asked again this morning). Those directories that do are only trying to show that they get a lot of traffic, which they probably do in some cases.

As an experienced professional in the internet marketing business, I recommend to therapists that they try out as many different marketing techniques and directory listings as their budget allows, but measure the results carefully so that money is spent on the advertising that produces the best results.

As the owner of The Family & Marriage Counseling Directory, I want therapists to know how successful advertising on our site can be, but at the same time I realize that sometimes it may not work as well for certain therapists in certain areas, which is why I don’t usually push testimonials. I know we get a lot of great feedback from advertisers, but regardless, every now and then one tells me it didn’t work and they cancel.

I want therapists to be successful in their online marketing regardless of whether it involves my websites (you should try out our competitors, in fact). I’ve seen way too much misinformation out there over the years, and I’m not going to promote it. My success online is only the result of experience, trial, and error. Sometimes you have to spend money to make it, and I’ve tried just about every internet marketing gimick known to man.

I’ve no doubt thrown away thousands of dollars on advertising that produced little to no return on investment over the years, and I will keep doing it again and again in the future. It’s that small percentage I find that works, which makes it all worthwhile.

So measure your own results and make better informed decisions when it comes to advertising your practice. Don’t trust what others tell you just because they cite numbers.

• First and foremost, make sure you can track conversions so you know how your Adwords campaign is performing. Start by getting a cheap 1-800 number from Kall8.com and forward it to your regular number. Replace your phone number on your website or Adwords landing pages with this one so you can check your call detail to see which calls came from your Adwords campaign.
  
  Then make sure you set up conversion tracking in Adwords, this usually only requires putting a small bit of code on your “thank you” page.
  
  It also helps to have Google Analytics installed on your website, with “Goals” setup properly. With “goals” in Google Analytics, you can easily track conversions whether it be a lead submitted through a contact form or purchase through an online shopping cart, and Analytics allows you to see quite a bit of information about the different types of traffic your website receives, much more than what you will get form the Adwords interface.
  


• Second, make sure that your site is conversion-friendly. Internet users have short attention spans, and some may not visit more than one page of your website. Since you are spending your hard-earned money to get these people to your site, it’s of utmost importance that you can turn a visitor into a conversion on that first page.
  
  This may mean setting up landing pages that are targeted for each type of ad you’re running in Google. For shopping carts, the ads should send the visitor to the specific product page or category that they are targeting. For lead generation sites, the ads should send the visitor to a page that deals specifically with the ad and keywords you’re targeting. Most importantly, web pages should have your 1-800 number displayed prominently on the website, and if it’s a lead generation site, there should be a contact form on every page.
  
• Next, create specific ads that match up with the keywords you’re targeting. For example, if your company sells red, white, and blue widgets, make a separate ad group for each type of widget. You can always test out a general “widgets” ad group, but your success will more likely come from specific keywords targeted to highly relevant searches, that send the user to a highly relevant landing page. This also helps out your Adwords “quality score” and reduces click prices.
  
  
  
  So the ad above should target “blue widgets” keywords and send visitors to the best possible landing page for “blue widgets” on your website.
  


• Last but not least, use different match types of each keyword to help find what converts best for you. Google has 3 different match types: broad, “phrase,” and [exact]. In order to use different match types you will have to add your keywords, once by themselves (ex. blue widgets), once in parenthesis (ex. “blue widgets”), and once in brackets (ex. [blue widgets]). This controls which searches Google will show your ad for.
  
  By using [exact match] your ad will get shown only to people who type in the exact keywords as you have them in the brackets. This usually brings in the least amount of traffic, but can be some of the most well-targeted keywords in a campaign.
  
  By using “phrase match” your ad will get shown when someone types in the keywords you specified, in that order, but with other keywords in the search as well. For example, the phrase match “blue widgets” can trigger your ad when someone types in Google “buy blue widgets,” or “sell blue widgets.” The fact that you will get unintended searches triggering your ads can be good and bad. Good because some will bring in conversions, and bad because some will cost you money and not convert. You can run a “search query report” or set an Analytics filter to show you what searches are resulting in your ad being clicked. This will help you to exclude certain searches by adding “negative keywords” into your Adwords campaign.
  
  By using broad match you really put your faith in Google by letting Google pick which keywords to trigger your ad for. My experience has been that a broad matched “blue widgets” keyword (without the quotes of course), can trigger your blue widgets ad for searches like “red widgets,” “widgets that are blue,” “buy widgets,” and even searches that have synonyms or related words that aren’t your actual keyword. This can be a double-edged sword. Broad matched keywords can bring in the most traffic. They can also help you find new keywords you hadn’t thought of before that convert well for you. But the downside is that they can wind up costing you a lot of money if you’re showing up for keyword phrases that aren’t relevant enough to produce conversions on your website.