If you’ve ever hit publish on a blog and then wondered whether anyone actually saw it, you’re definitely not on your own. It’s easy to start questioning whether blogging is really worth it for counsellors, especially when things feel quiet.
In this post, I want to talk honestly about that silence, what might actually be happening underneath it, and why it still matters.
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Is blogging worth it for counsellors?
Let me begin with a confession.
There have absolutely been moments where I’ve pressed “publish”, sat back, stared at the screen and thought, “Well… that disappeared into the void.”
You know the feeling?
With social media, you get instant reactions. Little pings. Hearts. Comments. Evidence that somewhere out there, a human being registered your existence.
Blogging is different. You press publish and… nothing happens. No applause. No fireworks. Not even a polite cough.
Just your words sitting quietly on your website while you wonder if anyone, anywhere, has actually read them.
And in that silence, the brain likes to dive in with its greatest hits album:
Maybe this isn’t working.
Maybe nobody cares.
Maybe I’m kidding myself.
But here’s what I’ve learned, and I want you to hold onto this the next time your mind goes there:
Silence doesn’t mean failure.
Sometimes silence just means people are reading quietly, thinking quietly, and taking what they need without announcing it to the world.
And that still counts. A lot.
Why blogging can feel slow (and why that doesn’t mean it isn’t working)
The online world loves speed. Post the thing. Watch the numbers. Decide whether you’re “winning at life”.
But counselling doesn’t work like that and neither does blogging for counsellors.
People don’t read one blog post and immediately think, “Wonderful, let me bare my soul to this stranger at 3pm next Tuesday.” They take their time. They sit with it. They edge closer then back away. They test how your words feel in their body.
Your blog becomes part of that slow warming-up process. Nothing dramatic. No flashing lights. Just the quiet drip of safety, familiarity and understanding.
It’s not loud marketing. It’s gentle companionship.
And that’s still helping - even if it doesn’t show up as enquiries straight away.
If you’re wondering how blogging helps counsellors become more visible over time, you might find this helpful: Why Blogging is One of the Most Powerful Ways for Counsellors to Get Found.
Your counselling blog may be helping people you never hear from
I often picture someone finding your blog late at night. They’re tired and slightly frayed round the edges, scrolling with that mixture of hope and resignation we all know too well. Something in your title makes them pause. They read a little. Their shoulders drop a fraction. Something inside whispers,
“Oh… that’s me.”
Then they close the page and get on with their evening.
No comment. No email. No “this changed my life” testimonial.
But they go to bed feeling just a bit less like they’re the only one who feels this way.
You don’t see that moment - but it still happened. Your words were part of it. And you don’t need an analytics graph to tell you it mattered.
This is one of the quiet reasons the question to "is blogging worth it for counsellors?" is so often yes.
When your blog becomes a bridge, not a sales tool
For some people, one blog post is exactly what they needed in that moment and off they go. Job done. That’s success.
For others, your blog becomes part of a longer meandering path. They find you, vanish, return, read something else, disappear again, then turn up six months later saying, “So… I’ve been reading your stuff for a while.”
Your words quietly made the idea of talking to someone feel slightly less terrifying.
That’s why I often think of blogging as a bridge. It doesn’t drag anyone over. It simply offers a way across when they’re ready to take a step from:
“I could never talk about this”
to
“Maybe, one day, I might.”
If you want to wander further into that idea, I’ve written more about it here:
Episode 232: How Your Blog Helps Clients Take the First Step Towards Counselling
Your blog doesn’t always have to be the final step. Sometimes its whole job is just to be one of the first safe ones.
The quiet readers still matter
Every so often someone will tell me a story about a client who arrived saying they’d been reading their blogs for ages. And suddenly all those “wasted posts” stop looking wasted.
But even if nobody has said that to you (yet), it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Lots of people move through your world quietly. They read. They think. They try an idea on for size. They put it down again. They lurk. They return.
Behind the scenes, they’re doing emotional prep work. And your writing may have been the steady presence that helped them feel a fraction braver.
So if your brain pipes up with, “This isn’t working,” try countering it with:
“Or… it IS working - I just don’t get to see all of it.”
Because quite often, that’s the truth.
Not everyone who reads your blog is meant to become a client
This is the bit that feels uncomfortable and freeing all at once.
Not everyone who reads your blog is meant to work with you. Some already have support. Some aren’t ready yet. Some simply needed reassurance for that one wobble of a day. Some aren’t the right fit and you’re not the right fit for them.
And that’s not a failure. That’s healthy.
Your role isn’t to chase, convince or impress. Your role is to help. To offer clarity. To normalise humanity. To say, “You’re not broken. You’re just going through something hard.” What someone does next is up to them, in their own time.
And again - this is one more reason the answer to "is blogging worth it for counsellors?" is usually yes.
A kinder way to think about your blog (and how it changes how you write)
So next time you sit down to write, instead of tightening up and thinking, “Right, I must prove I’m knowledgeable and wildly impressive,” try asking:
Who might this help today?
Notice what happens in your body when that becomes your starting point. Your shoulders drop a little. Your jaw unclenches. You’re not performing anymore. You’re not oversharing to sound “relatable”. You’re simply offering something useful from a grounded place.
And the tone of your writing changes.
Your warmth sneaks through.
Your humour reappears.
You sound like a human again, not a walking textbook in sensible shoes.
Readers can feel the difference. They don’t sense pressure or panic. They sense steadiness. Compassion. Space. Someone who isn’t desperate - but is genuinely here to help.
And the lovely irony?
That’s exactly what builds trust.
So even when it feels quiet, keep going.
Keep writing.
Keep helping.
Keep planting small seeds, even when you don’t get to watch them grow.
Because yes - blogging really is worth it for counsellors.
Your blog may be doing more good than you will ever know and that absolutely counts.
Transcript of episode 233: Is Blogging Worth It for Counsellors? (Why Not Everyone Who Reads Needs to Become a Client)
If you prefer to read or want to skim through what I've talked about, here’s the full transcript below.
Did you ever hit publish on a blog post and immediately wonder if anybody anywhere is actually going to read it? Well, yeah, me too. So today I want to unravel why that silence might not be a sign of failure at all, but about something else entirely.
Hi, and welcome to the Grow Your Private Practice Show. I'm Jane Travis, and I help counsellors to get found by more of the right clients, mainly using blogging, but also by keeping things simple, doable, and maybe even a little bit of fun along the way. So let's get started.
So hello, hello, hello and welcome back and if this is your first visit, it's really great to have you here.
So let me start with this. There have been times when I've pressed publish and then just stared at the screen and those doubts start to raise their heads. You know, that waiting, that hoping, and that wondering if anything's gonna happen and well. Truthfully, nothing did. You know, sometimes there's no comments, there's no messages, no polite little nod from the universe that somebody was out there listening.
And maybe you know that feeling too, because it can feel really, really discouraging to say the absolute least. And that little voice in your head, you know, the one, the one that can sound so convincing, it starts up with its normal chorus.
Saying things like, maybe this isn't working, or maybe nobody cares, or maybe I'm just talking to myself. Look, sometimes silence doesn't mean that your words didn't land, because sometimes it just means that they landed in a different way. They landed with somebody who needed to hear them, but didn't quite have the words or the energy to say so.
So I often picture somebody coming across a blog that you write late at night. You know, maybe they're curled up on the sofa after a long day, or maybe they've been holding onto something that's really heavy and they just dunno where to put it. So they might scroll, they might look up on Google and they might pause on a title, and then they read it and somewhere in their body, something shifts, so their shoulders drop something inside of them whispers “oh, that's me” and then they close the tab and they go to bed and there's no comment.
You don't get to hear anything. There's no email. They don't send you a testimonial talking about how fabulous you are. But what does happen is that person might just sleep a little bit easier, and you were a part of that.
Because not every blog post becomes a client, and not every reader is meant to, you know, let's think about this for a minute. So some people already have some support. Some people they're just not ready to reach out and go to counselling. And some people just need a little bit of reassurance in that one moment on that one wobbly day. And you know, the thing is that that's okay. You know, that's more than okay because your blog isn't a huge sign that's out there with, you know, lights flashing or something like that. It's not a pitch deck. It's actually a place where someone can come in. And read and feel a little bit more human and leave with something that they didn't have before, and that matters. Now, I know that we're taught, especially in the online world, that it's all about chasing numbers and conversions and outcomes, di da, all of that stuff.
But generally that's not how it works. For marketing, for counsellors, you know, the kind of work that you do, it's gonna be different to that. It's gonna be slower, it's gonna be softer, it's gonna be deeper because people generally don't go from, “oh that was an interesting blog post” to “please let me bear my soul to you next Thursday at two o'clock.” You know, that's not what happens. They'll read something, they'll sit with it. They might disappear, they might come back and they test how your words feel in them.
So your writing becomes part of that slow warming up process. It's not meant to be loud and flashy, that's not the way we work as therapists, but it is steady and it is safe, and that's where trust starts to grow. So look, if you've been feeling discouraged, like the effort that you are making isn't paying off, or like you are not making a difference, look, I want you to hear this and really understand that you don't always get to see the impact of your words, but that does not mean that those words aren't working.
Your blog might just be the stepping stone that helps someone to feel a little bit less alone. You know that bridge from, I could never talk about this to maybe one day. I might, and that is very powerful work. So the next time you sit down to write, maybe don't start with the idea that you have to be really impressive or you need to prove that you are good at this or even how can I, someone that's only been working as a therapist for six months sound like an expert because look, you don't need to try this.
Instead, just think, who might this help today? You'll feel it when that shift happens. You know it's gonna feel so much better. You are not gonna feel as though you are performing and have to be somebody other than you. You just have to let that warm, compassionate version of you that you are in the counselling room out. Into the blog and weirdly, that's when people start to trust you more when they feel like you're just being you.
You know when you're not trying to sell or you're not chasing new clients, you are just showing up gently and honestly with something that's going to be really helpful for people. Even if it's quiet, especially if it's quiet, please keep going. Keep writing, keep helping, and keep offering what you can from where you are because your blog might just be doing far more good than you'll ever realise.
And my goodness, that absolutely counts. So look, if you are sitting with this today and you are feeling a little bit more seen or a little bit more grounded, I'm so glad because look, that's why I do this. And if writing has ever felt like a lonely part of your practice, or if you are not even sure where to begin with things like blogging or messaging or making it easier for people to actually find you, then look, that's exactly what we work on inside the Grow Your Private Practice membership. It's a space for practitioners just like you.
You know, thoughtful human beings that aren't there to shout louder than everybody else, but that still want to show up and get found by the people that need help so that you can find those people, that you can work with them and make the income that you deserve. Now, the support for you in your writing.
Yes. But also for your visibility, for your systems, for your confidence, and all the behind the same things that are gonna help your practice feel more sustainable. So you can come and take a look at growyourprivatepractice.co.uk, or just keep it in your back pocket for when you're ready. But up until then, look, please just keep writing, keep helping, and keep trusting that your quiet voice will still carry because it really will.
So that's it for today. So I do hope that this has helped you, that it's you know, just made you feel a little bit less alone. And if you do want a little bit more help, go and check out the show notes in there. You'll find the start here page that's got details of all the different free and paid resources that I have that's going to help you out.
And so that's it for this week and until next time, have a fantastic week. Take care. Bye-bye.
