One Entrepreneur On Web Marketing: Stefanie Luna

This is part of a series called "The Entrepreneurs on Web Marketing."  This interview is with Stefanie Luna, co-founder of Wallin and Luna Counseling Associates.

What are your primary ways of promoting yourself and your business online?

We have had a wonderful experience using Google Adwords. It's great because we can set our budget and adjust it as often as we want. We also have the ability to tailor our ads so they show up for our target demographic. We also have found it helpful to develop profile pages with websites specific to our field of mental health. This is a way to get our company name on a site with a high volume of people looking for your exact product or service. We use Goodtherapy.org and psychologytoday.com and feel we get a great return on investment. More and more people are looking for goods an services on the internet.

Do you use social networking? If so, how is that working for you?

We have a Facebook Page where we link to our blog or announce new services or events. I don't think we've quite mastered how to make that work to our benefit yet but we're still interested in exploring this as a possibility. Primarily it's been a way of connecting with other business owners in our community. We have not seen much in the way of new business from these efforts. We also have a Twitter account but to date have not actively used it as a means of promoting our business.

What have been your keys to success when it comes to growing your web presence?

It seems to be a combination of things. Since we started the blog it has really helped move our site up in search engines. One piece of advice we got was that the search engines are continuously indexing sites and new content is important in that process. That coupled with the use of paid advertising and getting our site linked to by other larger websites with good SEO processes such as psychology today has given us more of a presence online.

Do you have any techniques or routines that help you succeed with web marketing?

Having a quality website and good, pertinent content has been important to ensure we get our "ideal customer". We were clear from the beginning that we had a specific vision for our practice and that really helped us tailor our web presence to speak directly to that demographic. All our web marketing has been with the intention of giving the reader a sense of who we are so they can make an informed decision about working with us.

How important is web marketing to your business?

About 80% of our client's find us on the internet so it's huge for us. We tried joining local networking groups, advertising in the yellow pages, posting flyers and sending mailers, all with very little return for our time and money. The internet has taken our business from a part-time endeavor to a full-time business.

What percentage of your customers or clients would you say come from your web marketing efforts?

80%. Maybe more.

Any final thoughts on web marketing?

The internet is here to stay and many people now judge a business' credibility by their web presence or lack there of. Having an appealing, quality website gives your business the image of being qualified, current and progressive. I think a business may seem more "legitimate" if they have a good website (whether or not this is true is another issue).

Many of our client's have stated that they chose our practice for their counseling needs based on our website. So we are given opportunities we might not otherwise get based on our website or profile. Then it's our job, as professionals, to keep their business by delivering high quality services, as advertised.

Wallin and Luna Counseling Associates is a private counseling practice in Albuquerque, NM with a specialized focus on Reproductive Health Issues such as infertility, postpartum depression and miscarriage. We are licensed marriage and family therapists. We also provide individual and couples counseling.

More info: About Stefanie Luna | Psychology Today Profile