Getting good search engine results for your website can take a very long time.  One way to get listed much more quickly near the top of Google’s listings is by registering with the Google Local Business Center.

You can go there right now and enter your business details easily:

Go To Google Local Business Center

Within a couple of short weeks, you should find yourself much more visible in the search engines for many of your chosen keywords.

This also adds you automatically to Google Maps so that potential clients can find your services by searching for you geographically.

Start 2010 With A Search Engine Results Boost!

The key to getting high up in the Google Local Business Center search results and getting lots of FREE traffic, is to give as much information as you can when you sign up.  Make sure you add lots of information about your practice, clinic or business, your opening hours, address, some images, logo etc.  The more information you give the better results you will get

If you haven’t already registered with this service I highly recommend that you do so straightaway. It takes a while to become visible so if you do it today you will be getting free website traffic and new clients by early 2010!

On that note, I’d just like to wish you all the very best for the festive season and for 2010. It’s been a great pleasure and a privilege to learn, share and get to know so many of you!

Go To Google Local Business Center

If this is you, then consider this a wake up call.  Missing the opportunity to have your photo on your website is the equivalent of running a convenience store and hiding behind the counter every time a customer walks in.

You must never use a website as an excuse to hide yourself.  Your face offers your site visitors all of the benefits of dealing with a real person.  It is a very powerful form of connection, and not putting into practice this basic online principle will severely impede your chances of turning web visitors into clients.

When choosing that all important image of yourself to use on your website, here are some important points to consider:

• Your photo should make a connection with potential clients.  It should be authentic and show the ‘real you’ while maintaining your own brand of professionalism.
• Think about the sorts of qualities you want to portray as someone who helps others – for example friendly, approachable, competent, intelligent, kind and happy .
• Make sure it is a recent photo.  Yes, you want to appear at your best but also need to maintain your integrity.  That photo from the 1980s might make you feel younger, but it’s not exactly an accurate portrait of who you are now.  You also don’t want to appear dated.
• The photo itself should be of good quality – not grainy, out of focus, poorly edited or proportioned.
• Consider using the services of a professional photographer.  They will be able to put you at your ease and take a range of shots, and be able to edit or tweak your photo afterwards.
• Get a third party opinion of which is the best shot to use.  It’s often really hard to be objective about your own appearance.
• Once you have your chosen image, crop it to focus mainly on your face, which is the most expressive part of you and the part that potential clients will be interested in.

I’ve been speaking to dozens of hypnotherapists over the last couple of weeks, and working hard to help them overcome their current constraints and obstacles to achieve success in their practices.

Two of the most pressing and urgent problems in our profession are:

1. Practitioners not getting enough client enquiries and struggling to fill the diary

2. Practitioners not getting enough of the kind of clients they really enjoy working with and can really connect with to achieve the best results

Having spent so much time helping hypnotherapists with their personal action plans, I can now tell you categorically where the simple answer lies for 99% of you.

IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE AND GET BETTER AT ONLINE MARKETING!

I’m absolutely serious here guys, and I hope you don’t mind me being frank and honest with you. Most of your websites are a long way from achieving the quality and impact that they easily could.

Once again, I think it is symptomatic that those of us in the business of helping others so often fall short in selling ourselves and our services, and nowhere am I seeing this more clearly than in online marketing.

Let’s get something very clear here. The internet represents the ‘Gold Rush’ of our time. The statistics are absolutely frightening. Every day, a higher percentage of people are making the internet their primary research tool to find help for their problems.

This represents a fantastic opportunity for you to quickly find more ideal clients for your practice than you could ever handle. If you’ve recently found new client enquiries dwindling with no apparent explanation, then you need to look at your online efforts very closely, because:

Your competition is getting smarter and the chances are that the clients who would once have found you in the Yellow Pages book, are now busy signing up online with Toastmasters or Weight Watchers. Even your local medical practices are starting to get a lot cuter online.

A lot of you guys seem to be in denial about just how serious this problem is going to become if you don’t take action very quickly.

Here Is the Good News

There is still a huge opportunity for you online, and will be for a long time to come. It is by far the easiest way for you to quickly build your practice in the way you have always wanted to.

Online advertising is very cheap and measurable. This means that for the thousands of dollars you used to spend on ‘hit and hope’ ad campaigns in the Yellow Pages or on leaflet drops, can now be used for laser-focused online ad campaigns that reach the exact people you can help the most.

There is far less competition online, because many people are making the same mistakes as you and failing to capitalize on the opportunity. This means that your online competition is not very strong. You don’t actually need to become world class at online marketing. You just need to get 20% or 30% better than you are right now in order to fill your client diary rapidly.

There are low barriers to entry. If you wanted to build a successful retail business in your local city center, it would cost you an absolute fortune. However, building a website and successfully advertising it online is relatively cheap. Competing with the big boys is far more achievable online than it ever was offline.

Like I said, as a hypnotherapist, the internet gives you the practice building opportunity of the milenium, but you have got to act right now, or you will keep putting it off and over time it will just slip away, like sand through your fingers.

Here are the 7 fundamental steps you need to take

1. Have control of your website/s

Are you able to go into your website right now and make changes? Could you add some content or images, update your contact information or change headlines?

If the answer is no, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage. Unquestionably, you MUST ensure that your website is either a blog structure or a CMS (Content Management System), and that you are regularly updating it, adding new content, optimising for maximum client enquiries and generally keeping the content fresh and dynamic.

2. Have a clear goal for your website/s

What do you actually want people on your website to DO? It seems like an obvious question, but it’s one that most people never ask themselves.

I have one goal for people who land on my hypnotherapy website, and that is for them to get in touch with a question or to request a brochure. For that reason, every call to action (be it a text link, or a big shiny graphical button) recommends the site visitor to do just that.

There are many ways to bring more of the right kind of visitors to your website, all easily learned. However, if your website is not optimised for conversion (ie getting the visitor to take the next step), then simply bringing in more visitors is a waste of time.

3. Your site must look, communicate and feel FANTASTIC

Back to the metaphor of the successful retail business. How would you feel if you walked into a store and you couldn’t find anything, the store was messy and dirty, the staff appeared to be in hiding and when you could find an assistant, they were unhelpful and couldn’t answer your questions? That’s right, you wouldn’t stay in there for 5 minutes.

The average web visitor won’t stay on a low quality website for more than 5 seconds.

I’m not suggesting here that you need to spend a fortune on fancy graphics or gimmicks, in fact quite the opposite – simple is often better online but professional is a must.

4. Make sure people can find you

Again, if you were a retail store, it wouldn’t matter how wonderful the store was, if you were located in an obscure back street that no one could find, you would never sell a thing.

Clearly you need to get your website perfect in terms of its potential to convert visitors into client enquiries as a first priority, but then the big question is:

How are those people actually going to find you?

There are dozens and dozens of ways that you can get visitors to your website. Think about the ways that you find different websites when you are searching online. Some of the most successful approaches are:

• SEO (or Search Engine Optimisation). This means getting your website optimised for maximum search engine success.
• PPC (or Pay-Per-Click advertising). This involves getting your ad seen next to the main search engine results.
• Advertising your services on other people’s websites
• Posting in blogs and forums
• Writing expert articles on third party websites
• Online press releases
• Etc etc

Any combination of the above can propel your practice to higher levels of success. Pay-per-click advertising for instance can, by itself, create a successful business in no time at all.

6. Make your website the perfect meeting point between you and your potential clients

I’d like you to imagine two circles. One represents you (your experience, training, beliefs etc). The second circle represents your potential client (their problems, goals, values etc).

Now imagine the point at which these two circles overlap – the meeting point between everything that your client wants and needs to improve their life, and everything that you bring to the table that can help them get there.

Your website and your marketing should be a clear representation of that meeting point or ’sweet spot’ where the two circles overlap. I strongly suggest you enlist the help of a friend or fellow professional to go through your website with the mindset of being your client. Are you clearly answering all of their potential questions? If not, it’s time to get to work and start making improvements.

When you engage with your potential clients in this professional yet intimate way, you will create incredibly powerful rapport with them, and your results will improve dramatically.

7. Establish trust with your potential clients

Think about businesses that you trust, and websites that you feel secure in buying from.

What is it that makes you trust those people? Two of the most important things are honesty and openness. I am amazed by how many hypnotherapy websites I have visited recently which do not have a photo of the hypnotherapist clearly displayed.

This is a big mistake! Your visitors are looking for help and a powerful connection. The easiest way you can achieve this is by speaking to them as yourself, and in a way that clearly articulates that you understand where they are at and that you are able to help them.

Another thing that will help you greatly is powerful testimonials. I know that for some practitioners, using client testimonials is an ethical challenge, however there are many other ways you can achieve the same result. Something I find to be extremely powerful, yet nobody ever teaches it, is to secure testimonials from fellow practitioners, even from your original training instructors.

The way forward

Ultimately, you are in a position to address these 7 steps right now, and if you get this right, you will rapidly increase your enquiries and will see more and more of the type of clients and issues that you passionately enjoy working with. This means that your revenues will explode, you will get a lot more enjoyment from what you are doing, and your professional energy levels will be sky high.

All of this means that you could soon be running the hypnotherapy practice that you always dreamed of, helping literally hundreds of clients to make powerful changes and overcome their problems. You will then be able to use your website in other ways, and build countless opportunities in the future such as selling physical products and CDs, doing more group and corporate work – the possibilities are endless.

If all of this just feels too difficult or overwhelming, then please just take my word for it – it needn’t be. One step at a time is fine. An object in motion is on its way towards its target. You just need to get moving.

One other thing. I have never had problems with online success. I have always been more successful than others in my local vicinity, and some of my hypnotherapy and life coaching websites have been amongst the busiest in the world.

However, I am far from being a technical person. Quite the opposite! The reason I am telling you this is that I don’t want you to use the excuse of not being ‘technical’; none of that stuff really matters. At the end of the day, you can do what I always do – ask your 12 year old nephew to help you.

Here’s to your future success, and please don’t let the Online Gold Rush pass you by!

Ed Lester

PS I know I can only help you so much through my email and blog tips and advice. However, I’d love to work with you personally to help you build the hypnotherapy business of your dreams. If you think that the ideas and guidance on this blog and in The Hypnotherapy Report have been useful then I want you to understand that it is just the starter. What I’m offering in my private training and coaching program is going to be the full 7 Course Celebrity Banquet!

We still have a few places left in the Elite Hypnotherapy Coaching Club. These places will not be available for long, and because of the enormous time commitment myself and my team are making to this program, once we get to 15 members, the doors definitely have to close.

So seriously, if you need help getting to the next stage, don’t delay. You owe it to yourself and to your future clients to break through into the 5% who truly understand how to market a hypnotherapy practice online.

Becoming super successful online is one of the key components of the program. That is why I chose to include a free professional website as part of the package you will receive. All in all, we are offering over $4000 worth of training, personal consultations and other materials, for a ridiculously low figure, but only for this small pilot group.

Over the course of the next few weeks you will learn how to build a powerful online presence for your practice and to achieve high levels of personal success and respect by dramatically improving your website and web marketing.

To read more about what’s on offer and to secure one of the remaining spots, go to the following link:

HOW TO JOIN THE ELITE HYPNOTHERAPY COACHING CLUB

And if you have any questions about the program – how it works, what it includes etc – please don’t hesitate to contact us through this website.

Here is the basic idea behind The Elite Hypnotherapy Coaching Club

I have broken the goals down into 3 steps. This is what I have planned for you.

Step 1 – Revenues – Get your marketing and business skills drastically improved so that you have more client enquiries and bookings than you can possibly handle. Within weeks, it’s my intention that you will be enjoying higher practice revenues than ever before.

Step 2 – Enjoyment – Start building your strengths and specialisms so that you are seeing more and more of the clients you passionately enjoy working with. This is when you start to enjoy your work more than you ever thought possible.

Step 3 – Sustainability – Making sure that your practice is set up for long term sustainable success. Most hypnotherapy businesses are simply “promotions” based. In other words, when the advertising stops, so do the client bookings. I want so much more than this for you guys. I want you to have more referrals and more revenue streams than you know what to do with.

HOW TO JOIN THE ELITE HYPNOTHERAPY COACHING CLUB

What do you actually get when you sign up for the coaching club?

A New Website

For a start you get a professional website which is worth considerably more than the cost of the program. This website (or blog) will be built for maximum success.

Most of you who I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks are struggling to get as many clients from online marketing as you’d like. This is easily fixed. The first priority is getting a website that draws in your ideal client and converts effortlessly into paying clients for you.

There are many other critical reasons why you should create a powerful web presence for yourself – More enquiries, more clients, more opportunities for training work and countless other benefits.

I understand what it takes to create a successful website that will give you a big competitive advantage in your local area and this is why I’ve added this service as part of the package.

Intensive Live Business and Marketing Training

Practice building skills are key to short and long term success and most hypnotherapy schools just don’t understand what it takes to achieve this. I am shocked at how many of you don’t have the necessary business and marketing knowledge. It honestly doesn’t take that long to learn.

The live training will be conducted by online video starting in just over a week’s time. You don’t need to watch it live. If you can’t make the live broadcasts you will simply be able to
watch them later on at your own leisure.

3 X 45 Minute One-on-one Personal Phone Consultations

I will personally coach and support you on these 3 calls to make sure that everything you are learning in the course is being correctly applied to your hypnotherapy business. This will be personal attention and focus on your success like nothing before. If you think you need a more powerful business and marketing plan with simple actionable steps to move you forward then this is what you’ve been waiting for…

Imagine having a simple roadmap leading from where you are now to your ideal practice and lifestyle. Imagine knowing at any time, exactly what the next step is and having the skills and resources to make it happen.

Professional Life Coaching Training

This is really a bonus aspect of the program but I’ve included it for very good reasons. Most hypnotherapists I’ve coached have problems knowing what to do with clients after just 3 or 4 sessions. A life coaching framework overcomes this and gives you so many options, not just with one-on-one client work but also in offering corporate and group training workshops.

This training course will give you a whole new set of tools for your professional toolkit.

I’d love to have you join the coaching club!

I hope this helps answer some of your questions regarding whether the Elite Hypnotherapy Coaching Club is for you.

If you have any other questions I’d love to hear from you. Just get in touch via the contact page of this site.

There are still some places left on this program but there won’t be for long. As a pilot program it is being offered at a fraction of its true value. And don’t forget, I’m offering a rock solid personal guarantee so that you can join without taking on any of the risk.

If you have any doubt as to my intentions in making this offer, let me be very clear what they are…

To help you become wildly successful and build the practice of your dreams. Simple as that.

If you need some help and support in getting your hypnotherapy business to the next level then you owe it to yourself to take a closer look. You really don’t want to miss out on this.

HOW TO JOIN THE ELITE HYPNOTHERAPY COACHING CLUB

Do you sometimes feel that you’re selling yourself a little short or that there must be more success and fulfillment right under your nose?

If you worry about these things or if you spend significant time worrying about:

• Whether you’re doing it right
• Whether you have enough knowledge and skills
• What your clients think about you
• How to explain things properly
• What you are going to do next

then the chances are you are just not playing to your strengths.

When you learn to really play to your strengths, everything starts to change.

• You look forward to your work day with renewed passion.
• You start to feel more confident in your abilities than ever before.
• You start getting too many enquiries and new clients to handle.
• You spend far more of your time in amazing flow states where you just know you’re performing at your absolute potential

You see, it’s just way too easy to set things up in the wrong way.

To play the game to somebody else’s rules!
When you really work out what you are supposed to be great at, and when you really figure out the right way to do things for YOU, then amazing improvements take place and life, work and everything become a whole lot easier.

The key to finding your true strengths and potential lies in clues from your past. Consider the following:

• What was the most enjoyable day at work you had in the last few months?
• What are the achievements in your life that you are most proud of? (go all the way back, not just recent)
• When did you last find yourself in a flow state or “in the highest performance zone” ?
• What kind of ideas or possibilities get you so excited that they keep you up at night or wake you in the morning?
• What do you wish you could do? (That maybe not everyone would wish for)
• What kind of clients do you love working with?
• What kinds of issues or goals do you love working with?

The biggest tragedy I see on a daily basis is practitioners who have things set up all wrong for themselves and are missing opportunities to truly self-actualize.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the famous rock/pop musician Phil Collins…

Was Phil fully playing to his strengths when he was the drummer in the band Genesis and hardly anyone from the general public could tell you his name?

What about when he became the lead singer and then went on to a solo career where he sold 150 million records, won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes?

Benjamin Franklin famously said:

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?”

Are you currently hiding in the shade when your true place is out thriving in the sunshine? How much more are you capable of than you are currently achieving?

I bet it’s a whole lot more than you’re currently settling for!

Please do share your feedback below. It will help you to crystalize your thoughts and where you’re at and will be of great value to all of us.

So, here it is – An absolutely fantastic way for you as a hypnotherapist to increase your energy levels in rapid time.

But the key is you’ve got to act on this information right now. What I don’t want is for you to read this post, agree it’s a good idea, but never actually do anything about it.

So get ready to take action RIGHT NOW!

Step 1

Think about what it would be like to have the perfect hypnotherapy practice. What does that mean to you? Imagine how it’s going to feel; visualise it in minute detail. That’s right – you know the drill, you do it with your clients all the time.

Now, I want you to list all the reasons you’re not at that goal yet. What is currently happening that’s preventing you from having that perfect hypnotherapy business?

Your list will be unique to you, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• I’m not working with the right type of clients
• I’m not working with the right type of issues
• I’m not comfortable with my work space
• I don’t enjoy the hours I’m working
• I often feel outside of my comfort zone with clients
• Professionally, I often feel low on confidence or doubt myself
• I’m not getting enough new clients
• I worry about getting enough revenues in

Step 2

All of these problems or ‘energy drains’ can be flipped around so that their opposite becomes a goal in itself.

Remember the quote from Illusions by Richard Bach?

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it however.”

(It’s quite amazing how often you see this quote reproduced and people conveniently forget the second sentence!)

Anyway, make a list of your new energy boosting goals. Just writing them out is going to ignite your energy and motivation. Again, it will be a unique list for you, but here are a few to get you started:

• I only work with clients I enjoy working with
• My workspace/practice rooms are perfect
• I work the hours I am comfortable with and clients need to fit in with that
• I have significantly built up my professional skills
• I have built up my self-confidence
• I am getting more clients than I can handle. I have a long waiting list
• I have put up my charges, and I am seeing clients for more sessions
• And so on…

Step 3

Now, in order to fully prove the Richard Bach quote to be accurate, you need to get to work on the list.

Just writing the list out should give you the immediate energy boost I promised you, but now you need to make it happen.

Give yourself at least one simple and powerful ‘breakthrough’ task for each of your goals.

Remember each goal is a pathway, and each pathway begins with one step.

All the best
Ed

A quick side note

With many of the hypnotherapists I speak to, one of the fundamental problems underlying their ‘energy drain’ issues is a lack of self belief. In other words, they say to me “If I could just get more clients, more training, more scripts, more help etc, then I will have more self-belief and confidence.” And if this is you, then I have only one thing to say to you:

You’ve got to believe in yourself first, and then take care of the other things. Once you’ve built your self-belief up, all other problems become significantly easier to deal with.

Tell me this; did you ever have weight loss clients say to you “If I could just lose weight, then I would have higher self esteem”?

Well, I don’t know about you, but when I hear that statement, I immediately know that the client needs to build up their self-esteem first, and then the weight loss will quickly and easily follow.

Anyway, good luck. I really hope this post is helpful to you, and if you do feel that self-belief might be at the heart of some of the problems you’re currently experiencing, then let me seriously suggest that you find yourself a high level coach or professional mentor. It really will make all the difference for you.

I’m not just saying this because I’m launching my own coaching program this weekend. I actually believe it 100%. Personally, I’ve always had coaches and mentors, and it’s one of the key reasons I’ve enjoyed the success I have.

If you think you might be interested in having me and my team help you to reach your personal and professional goals, as well as training you in a powerful and unique life coaching method, then keep an eye on the following page where further details will soon be announced:

More Information on The Elite Hypnotherapy Coaching Club

Just a sentence or two that sums up exactly what you believe with a passion and an energy that drives you to go beyond what is considered ordinary achievement?

When you design the rules the way you want them and you learn to play to your unique strengths you really can achieve that.

I would strongly suggest that if you aren’t currently waking in the morning before the alarm clock goes off and literally running to get started, then a vision statement could be the single most valuable thing you do today.

Here’s what I believe:

If enough “change agents” are fully resourced with powerful and effective coaching and personal development tools, as well as being fully competent in business skills,  then they will have incredibly joyful, rewarding and sustainable careers. The resulting drip down effect to the general public will be so profound that many of our biggest individual and social problems will start to rapidly decline almost overnight.

If you spent just half an hour today starting to put together a driving personal vision, I think you will become very excited in the potential that starts to unfold in your mind. You don’t need to get it perfect in one go. Once again, it’s all about just getting started guys.

This could be a defining moment for you and the size of the goals you start to set for yourself.

Please post your thoughts in the blog here afterwards, it will really help you to get things out clearly.

This Video is Amazing!

If you have never watched this video of Fred Rogers addressing the US senate in 1969, I suggest you spend the time now. Even if you have watched it before, watch it again now with fresh eyes.

Mr Rogers believed that TV done the right way could be a nurturing, educating and extremely positive experience for children. In the video he is arguing for 20 million dollars of funding.

It’s a breathtaking example of how someone with a driving personal vision can literally move mountains.

And this could be YOU…

Seriously, when you believe something with this kind of passion and authenticity you will be able to move mountains.

Have you heard of the Knowing-Doing Gap?

It basically means that you know what you NEED to do but you AREN’T actually doing it.

It seems to be a big issue in the world of hypnotherapy. It’s like we all know what we need to do to improve our business, our marketing, our systems, our resources but for some strange reason we don’t actually do it!

Well this is where it all changes.

Get a pen and some paper and start making notes as you follow this simple 5 point action plan.

All you need to do it make those notes, put together your thoughts and ideas and then commit to taking action TODAY! That’s right, no excuses. It’s time to build the hypnotherapy business you always wanted but for some reason keep putting off.

A – Where do you want to be 12 months from now?

What would your ideal hypnosis business look like?

How many new clients a week?
Annual Revenues?
Improvements to practice?
New Projects/ Specialisms?
Personal Success Level?

B – Where are you right now?

Now that you know exactly where you want to get to…

How does your current reality compare?

You may need to be very honest and blunt with yourself here.
It doesn’t matter, the truth is that once you get real clarity about where you are compared to where you want to be, a roadmap will already start to write itself.

All that matters is clarity!

C – What resources do you need to get from A to B?

Do you need to invest more time in certain activities?
Do you need to improve your business skills?
Do you need to improve your marketing?
Do you need more training?
Do you need more mentoring or support?

D – What do you need to get over?

What’s really holding you back now?

Do you need to change some beliefs about the world or about yourself?
Do you need to let go of perfectionism?
Do you need to stop worrying what others think of you?
Do you need to increase your own feeling of self-value?
Are you trying to do too much?
Are you making everything too confusing?
Do you not trust yourself or your level of knowledge?

E. What to do now?

Once you end up with some individual goals you need a step-by-step plan to get to each one.

Ultimately, so long as you are moving forwards any action is better than nothing because you can always course correct.

What is the most achievable goal for you on your list that also feels very motivating?
What is the next step you can take to move you closer to it?

If you commit to putting all your energy into getting there it’s going to be much easier than you think!

Each day commit to at least one major action that will move you closer and you’ll be there before you know it.

How about as your first step, post a comment right here now letting us know exactly what action you’re going to take first!

“It Was The Greatest Decision I Ever Made In My Life…”

Do you think sharing this video and information with people via the stop smoking section of your website might help you get more stop smoking clients?

Yes, of course it would.

And what about the following?

Popstar Lily Allen, quoted in the UK’s Daily Mail in October 2007, credited hypnosis with helping her drop from a UK size 12 to size 8, saying “After the hypnotism, I want to go to the gym every day, otherwise I feel really bad…I just want to get more toned and healthy. I’m really good about everything at the moment – I’ve never been happier.” http://bit.ly/AAhEC

The wonderful and positive experience that Ms Allen reports here is almost exactly the same as feedback I get from my weight loss hypnosis clients regularly.

Do you think that the above story, professionally sourced with an exact quote, would serve you well on your weight loss marketing materials?

Again, a resounding YES – of course it would.

I have had a few raised eyebrows from people reading The Hypnotherapy Report (to say the very least)

A few people have contacted me recently to question my advice on advertising. They say it’s too strong and could get people into trouble with the advertising authorities.

So, I really think I need to set the record straight on a few things.

1. I have now added the following disclaimer to the Hypnotherapy Report:

‘The information in this report is presented to you free of charge and with the best possible intentions.  However, any ideas that you choose to integrate into your practice must be undertaken at your own risk.  For instance, if you choose to implement any of the recommendations regarding advertising, it is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the laws, regulations and codes of your home country, region, state or territory.’

2. Using powerful advertising messages DOES NOT and NEVER SHOULD entail lying, exaggerating, hyping or misinforming.

Hypnosis is such a powerful, effective, well researched and popular tool that we as practitioners are profoundly privileged to be able to educate others about it.  Unlike many other solutions to people’s problems, it does not need hyping up.  We don’t need to show beautiful young bodies on the beach, tell funny jokes or use clever slogans, and we certainly don’t need to lie. Described accurately and passionately in terms of benefits it sells itself.

3. I still stand by all of my advice.

You see there are two ends of the scale.  One is the over the top, hyped up claims for the magic of hypnosis, ‘the miracle cure’. The other end of the scale is the kind of dry, feature based, boring, often boastful advertising that will make your potential clients fall asleep.

And in my experience the vast majority of us are guilty of pitching our marketing and advertising way too far to the boring end of the scale. And if you do this it will HURT you.
I obviously recommend you have a full understanding of advertising laws in your area and exercise caution. But that said, for goodness sake make your advertising exciting, passionate and irresistible to your market. If in doubt think about the alternatives they have (the BIG names in all the different niches) and look at how they advertise. You will learn an awful lot.

Ways in which you can use third party sources to ignite your marketing messages

Read both of these carefully because there are rules and you have to exercise the appropriate caution, but used properly both will help you to achieve buzz and excitement from your marketing and to get way more clients than you know what to do with.

1. Research

Hypnosis comes with so much positive research it’s outrageous that the vast majority of the population aren’t frantically banging on our doors all day long.

Here is a page on Wiki Answers where someone has kindly provided a list of popular and positive hypnosis research.

http://bit.ly/DgJWM

VERY IMPORTANT – Research is your friend and will supercharge your marketing but you must never misrepresent it. Understand very clearly, compelling evidence is still NOT PROOF. Never claim it is, it is just evidence and if you claim it as PROOF or ABSOLUTE you can get in a lot of trouble.
ALSO VERY IMPORTANT – Source the evidence. This takes a bit more work but you really must do it if you’re going to go this route. A friend of mine does a lot of his academic research on Wikipedia but only as a starting point. The web is notoriously unreliable. If you find research that backs up a service you offer, don’t blindly trust it is official research. Go to the source and double check before quoting it!

There is an abundance of positive research on websites such as bbc.co.uk in the UK, that can be quoted as “A popular story on the BBC website suggests that Hypnosis ‘reduces cancer pain’” http://bit.ly/ZAqaB

Just be very careful that you are quoting a source in a transparent manner, because the minute YOU start suggesting that hypnosis reduces cancer pain, you may find yourself in very hot water.
2. Well known people

I am going to embed the Matt Damon video above on my stop smoking page, complete with his quote about how effective he found hypnosis for stopping smoking. Why not? It’s an official source and it’s definitely him saying it. So long as I use quotation marks and don’t take anything out of context or misrepresent, then I’m sure all is well.

You can use these kinds of marketing tactics too. There’s nothing more powerful for a potential client that a passionate testimonial from a famous client recommending a service that YOU provide.

And if you go look, you’ll find there are countless examples of quotable testimonials for hypnosis from countless public figures.

What are you guys going to do to sharpen up your advertising and bring in more new clients? It would be great if you’d share your ideas and thoughts here…

The one thing that is preventing most professional hypnotherapists from enjoying the success they deserve and are capable of

The market for what we do is unlimited, yet I’ve lost count of the number of times a professional therapist has told me they are thinking of packing up because too many new competitors are coming along. This belief is totally and utterly flawed in its logic.

As far as I’m concerned, the biggest opening for success in business now is for people who are professional, skilled and committed to helping others find effective solutions for a happy, successful, fulfilled life.

The great contradiction is that people who have a great capacity for helping others just don’t know how to build their business the right way or how to effectively communicate to the marketplace that needs their services the most.

If you are a practicing hypnotherapist or even just considering entering this exciting and rewarding profession then please keep in touch and keep visiting this blog. I’ve got so much to share with you!

If you’ve read The Hypnotherapy Report then I’d love for you to leave your comments and questions here.