What are the key things that you as a solo practice owner need to do with your website when you transition to a group practice?
I am by no means a website or copywriting expert, but I do know the important basics when moving from a solo to a group practice website.
As a solo practice owner, your website is probably based on your personality, your specialty areas, and how you practice therapy (or whatever service(s) you provide). There are pictures of you posted throughout your website, and you are your business’s brand. There may be many references to “I” on your website – after all, your website is a marketing tool for you as a counselor.
When moving to a group practice, regardless of who you hire (interns, contractors, employees), here are some simple tips to get you started on transitioning your website to more of a group practice vibe.
Change “I” to “We” on Your Group Practice Website
Although simple, going through all the wording on your website and changing all the references to “I” to “we” can be time consuming. It is worth it. It will be a hard sell for you to convince a potential client to see someone other than you if you’re still advertising that it’s all about you. For example, instead of “Contact Me” it will be “Contact Us”; instead of “Book an Appointment” you may change it to “Schedule a Phone Consultation to Discuss Therapist Options”.
Change Your Branding From You to Your Group
As a group practice owner, you are now trying to promote not just you and your services, but your practice as a whole. Before, you were your practice’s brand. Now, your brand is your entire practice, not just you. You may want to consider adding a practice tagline or redoing your mission and vision statements that are more reflective of your practice as a whole instead of just you.
Change Your Name or Add a DBA
If the business name of your practice is your own name, you’ll want to adjust it when you bring on another counselor. You can opt to change your entire name to something more generalized (e.g., instead of Shannon Heers Counseling, Lotus Flower Counseling). Or you can create a DBA, which stands for Doing Business As. This may look something like changing your name to Shannon Heers and Associates Counseling, or something entirely different (again, Lotus Flower Counseling).
Add Specialty Pages For Your Counselors’ Specialty Areas on Your Group Practice Website
Unless your new therapist is an exact clone of yourself, it’s likely that he/she/they will have at least one different specialty area/interest than you do. Consider adding between 1-3 additional specialty pages to your website that reflect your new therapist’s areas of interest.
Create a Bio Page for Each of Your Therapists
As a solo practitioner, you may not have an entire page on your website devoted to you and your bio. Or maybe you do, which is great! If you don’t, now is the time to carve out an “About Us” or “Therapist Bio” page on your group practice website. If you have multiple therapists it may make sense to have a separate page for each therapist, but if you only have between 1-3, you can put all of you on one page as long as it’s not too long.
Moving from a solo to group practice is a natural step for many therapists who become full and want to keep serving your community by bringing on other counselors. But it can also be a lot of work. By planning ahead and making these small changes on your website, you’ll be well on your way to marketing your group practice to your community and filling your new therapists’ caseloads!
Previous Articles by Shannon Heers
How to Find Good Therapists to Hire for Your Group Practice
How to Hire Your First Therapist When You’ve Never Hired Before
Don’t Settle When Hiring Clinicians
Shannon Heers
Shannon Heers is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado. She owns the private-pay group practice Catalyss Counseling in the Denver metro area, focusing on helping adults manage their anxiety, grief, and trauma. Shannon is also an experienced clinical supervisor and manager who offers business consultation services to other therapists. She balances working with raising her two young children.
Group practice ownership is daunting but can be done easily if you do your homework, prepare, and learn all you can about the process!
