I need advice about my online identity please

13 years ago

Hi Tyler,

I have a long history in the helping profession myself (clinical psychology) so have some idea of where you are coming from. However, I'm not sure it really needs to be a dilemma (although maybe I am missing something).

Potential clients for your private practice (assuming that is what you meant by your "brick and mortar" business as a therapist) will most likely not be searching for you by your name. They will find you by searching for things like "yourtown therapists" or "counselors in yourtown", and so on. So, they are not going to see the search results related to your online business.

Are you concerned that they will Google your name after they have heard about you (perhaps from a referral) or after they've already had a session with you, and then they see the posts regarding your online business?

When I googled your name (with LCSW behind it), your personal site came up first. The second result had the WF threads, including this one.

If your online business is the same as what you have written in your signature, then it makes sense for you to use your real name and credentials, IMO, as you will have first hand experience marketing your practice online and can help others do the same. If your online business is something entirely different (e.g. you're selling Forex-related products) then the differentiation might be more important.

You might also consider preserving "Tyler Horn, LCSW" for your offline branding, and "Tyler Horn" for your online endeavors. There are probably a few hundred (or more) Tyler Horn's in the U.S., so potential clients aren't automatically going to assume all the results for "Tyler Horn" (if they search your name) are going to be you.

Also, IF an offline client mentions or asks you about your online endeavors, you could simply acknowledge that yes, you also have an online business that is separate from your practice, and then avert the focus of the session back to your client's reason for being there (which is where it should always be). Therapy sessions can get off track, but it's the therapist's responsibility to get them back on track.

Those are just my thoughts. There are a lot of far more experienced marketers here who may have a completely different and more helpful perspective.

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TopLevelGeek

13 years ago

Thank you for the replies I have received so far, a few thoughts.

Originally Posted by Cali16

Are you concerned that they will Google your name after they have heard about you (perhaps from a referral) or after they've already had a session with you, and then they see the posts regarding your online business?

Yes, this is my concern primarily. I don't want to scare off potential referrals who Google my name (considering that is the first thing I do when someone refers me to someone. I would certainly try my best to control the results, and to "behave myself" in my online endeavors, however there are many unsavory folks who would put up ads that say "Tyler Horn Scam?" etc. Plus, people complain about online marketers simply because they can.

Originally Posted by Cali16

You might also consider preserving "Tyler Horn, LCSW" for your offline branding, and "Tyler Horn" for your online endeavors. There are probably a few hundred (or more) Tyler Horn's in the U.S., so potential clients aren't automatically going to assume all the results for "Tyler Horn" (if they search your name) are going to be you.

Also, IF an offline client mentions or asks you about your online endeavors, you could simply acknowledge that yes, you also have an online business that is separate from your practice, and then avert the focus of the session back to your client's reason for being there (which is where it should always be). Therapy sessions can get off track, but it's the therapist's responsibility to get them back on track.

You are very right about this, and it is very much a good idea. I have been providing web design services under my full credentials, and I think it is important to continue doing that.

Perhaps I am overcomplicating this, and I will continue to give it thought. If all of my efforts are offline than I think it matters little. However, I am interested in an online internet marketing presence.

Thanks
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Tyler Horn, LCSW
I am a child and family therapist, and internet marketer who specializes in small targeted internet presences for people in the helping professions. If your mission is to enhance the lives of the people around you PM me

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Lloyd Buchinski 13 years ago

One thing you could do about the wf results, is to change your wf user name. If you explain the situation to a mod, you might be able to change it to Tyler.Horn or some small variant like that.

Then it wouldn't come up in a search for Tyler Horn. Harvey.Segal is an example, and I always thought that was why he uses that around here.

But it might be just an incorrect assumption.
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ronaldmd 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Cali16

When I googled your name (with LCSW behind it), your personal site came up first. The second result had the WF threads, including this one.

Strange, here's my result:
Attachment 10435

@Tyler, maybe you shouldn't write here that you're child and family therapist and don't use the "lcsw" behind it. If you do this maybe the search result will change. How many people have the name "Tyler Horn" anyway?
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lastreporter

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tyler Horn

Hi everyone,

I need some advice today. I have been off and on in Internet Marketing for YEARS, and thankfully around here most of that time. About 4 years ago I started using my real name, and even listed my offline profession on the forum.

I am in a bit of a dilemma now. I need to establish TWO online presences. One is to brand myself offline for potential clients to come into my offline business, under my name, Tyler Horn, LCSW. The long-term plan is for me to have brick and mortar business about this.

Now, ethically, I cannot and would not sell my clients anything from my online business, in fact, I don't even want my offline clients to bring it up! These are families coming in asking for help in solving problems, pretty much completely different than any of my online goals.

The problem is, right now when you google my name, posts from the warrior forum outrank my personal site

I don't think I can market online under my real name, when I want to "perserve" my real name for offline purposes.

The truth is: That breaks my heart. My favorite marketers are those who use their real name. It makes me like them, it makes me trust them. And I wanted to do that.

Does anyone have any advice for me, is anyone in a simular situation?

Thank you (sorry it was a long post)

This may sound strange, but I have always found that difficult decisions occur when deep down I really know what it is I should do to resolve a particular conflict.

I might add that the answer is not always to my liking, which is probably why I have trouble acknowledging it.

Now, I am not saying that's the case with your situation, but it always seems to be with me.

Why not take a minute or two and search your own mind for the answer to your conflict.

Just my thoughts.

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Johnny Optimo 13 years ago

I think it's completely fine as long as there's nothing unsavory to find. Just do some SEO work to get the pages you want at the top of the results.
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TopLevelGeek

13 years ago

Llyod, perhaps I owe you big. Indeed, I did a google search for Harvey Segal and did not find any WF results. However, that could be because he has other ranking results, or because there are other's named Harvey Segal ...

Thanks for the observation

Thanks
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Tyler Horn, LCSW
I am a child and family therapist, and internet marketer who specializes in small targeted internet presences for people in the helping professions. If your mission is to enhance the lives of the people around you PM me

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Tina Golden

13 years ago

I always thought the dot wouldn't be counted by Google? So wouldn't the search engines see Tyler.Horn the same as Tyler Horn?

Edited to add: I just tried it and get the same exact search results so don't bother with this particular suggestion. Your website comes up #6 for me, btw, and nothing on the first page about the WF.

Search results "adjust" themselves to you and your search preferences. There is a way around that but I can't think of what it was at the moment... lol.

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Terry Hatfield 13 years ago

You could put a different pic up on the warrior forum and then build back links to your main site so it ranks better for your name.

If someone asks about the warrior forum posts say yep that guy is not me.
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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Tina Golden

I always thought the dot wouldn't be counted by Google? So wouldn't the search engines see Tyler.Horn the same as Tyler Horn?

Edited to add: I just tried it and get the same exact search results so don't bother with this particular suggestion. Your website comes up #6 for me, btw, and nothing on the first page about the WF.

Search results "adjust" themselves to you and your search preferences. There is a way around that but I can't think of what it was at the moment... lol.

Tina, the easiest way is to just click your browser to 'private browsing' or whatever your browser calls it.

Tyler, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I just ran a search and your site came up #10, behind a bunch of news stories about a college football player at Miami you share a name with. I live in Florida, so geography colored my search results. No mention of WF...

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Harvey Segal

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Lloyd Buchinski

Harvey.Segal is an example, and I always thought that was why he uses that around here.

But it might be just an incorrect assumption.

Originally Posted by Tyler Horn

Indeed, I did a google search for Harvey Segal and did not find any WF results. However, that could be because he has other ranking results, or because there are other's named Harvey Segal ...

Online identity ?

Rankings ?

In truth the actual reason is far simpler.

In the old forum there was a software bug (which
just seemed to affect myself and another Warrior)
whereby at random intervals an error message would
stop us making further posts. The only solution was
to start another account.

I ended up with about 6 accounts but I got super mod
Thomas to combine them into the one with the largest
posts viz 'Harvey.Segal'

But reading your observation above makes me realise
that anyone else searching on my name might not find
me. So to prevent further bitter disappointment I've now
had it changed to 'Harvey Segal'

.

Thanks

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dadamson

13 years ago

As long as your online methods are completely ethical and you are a trustworthy guy I don't think your name will have much effect of what people think of you.

I am sure you will gain loads of positive reviews based on your service rather than your persona.

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TopLevelGeek

13 years ago

Thanks everyone,
Some excellent points here. I think I will go with ethical, quality marketing techniques, whilst removing my credentials from the forum and keeping my name, while doing some SEO work on my sites to determine how they show

Thanks

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Tyler Horn, LCSW
I am a child and family therapist, and internet marketer who specializes in small targeted internet presences for people in the helping professions. If your mission is to enhance the lives of the people around you PM me

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I need advice about my online identity please

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