Q&A was part of Next Level Practice, the most supportive community for therapists starting a private practice. In this video, Joe answers the question based on tips to improve your website.
Question
Cole: I’m rebranding. I’m in a small town right now, just north of Omaha, and I’m sharing an office space in Omaha with someone. So ‘Blair Community Counseling’ doesn’t really work for Omaha. So I’m rebranding, renaming, and building a new website, and I’m interested to get some input on how to improve on my website.
Answer
Joe: Sure, let’s look at your old website. So for some reason your logo’s not coming up for me, so you’d want to figure out why that’s happening. I like that your phone number is here, but because it’s a little smaller, it doesn’t pop as much. We definitely want to just make it very clear. Then, we want your ‘Contact’ to be what really pulls your eye. So, if we can have ‘Schedule an Intake’ be that blue color, that would be helpful. When you think about the main call-to-action on a website, it’s not usually your address. People know if they’re on ‘Blair Community Counseling’ that you do counseling. So, I’d really want to think about who is it that’s attracted to coming to your practice? I’m guessing you maybe help families? Tell me what kind of families you help?
Cole: I don’t know yet. I’ve only been in practice for about six months, so I’ve had maybe 20 clients. I’m still trying to find my niche I guess.
Joe: When you think of families that you’ve worked with, that you really enjoyed, what’s one area that you really enjoyed?
Cole: So I’ve worked two families so far, and I really enjoyed the the family counseling aspect of it. There was an angry teenager who was sneaking out of house and and sleeping around.
Joe: Okay, so maybe you’re helping families that are in chaos. So what happens by the end of counseling families and chaos?
Cole: They get along more, they’re happier and healthier.
Joe: Okay, so you help families in chaos to come up with a plan to feel happier and healthier. So you might have an image that illustrates that visible above the fold on your homepage. Also, the font that’s used with this theme is definitely more of a dated font, so I’d want to see more modern fonts. I’d want you to use one of these cleaner fonts. Also, when you’re doing your name, one thing you’ll probably start to notice is that signs are almost always in all caps, it just looks a little bit cleaner.
I would move your headshot higher as well – this, to me, screams modern, approachable guy. I can picture him working with me and my family. Also move your video a little bit higher too. I wouldn’t have the same, big header on ever page. People will get confused as to whether they are on the right page or not. You also don’t need to have the dates on your blog posts, people are less likely to read it if it’s old they think it no longer applies to them when, in reality, it still does. So I would definitely build out the blogs. Where do you think you’d get stuck moving forward?
Cole: Finding an ideal client. I enjoy working with families, but I enjoy working with individuals too. I’ve done a lot of couples counseling in my practicum, but I’m finding out that that’s not where I’m passionate.
Joe: I would just start in a couple areas and, even if you help everybody, even if you don’t say ‘no’ to somebody, to be known for a couple of different areas is going to help you stand out a lot faster. Omaha’s a fairly competitive market, so if you be known as the guy that helps families who have pissed-off teenagers, or angry boys, or video game addiction, you may differentiate yourself. Even if you help people in a lot of different areas, that’s going to help you attract more clients quickly.
I would say get some blogs out and, if you feel comfortable, do a Facebook Live to talk about your ideal client and what they’re dealing with. Just bite-sized things, i.e.: three to five minutes where you have just a couple points. For example: what to do about cell phones at dinnertime, or what to do about cell phones in your house, all those kind of simple questions that parents have. The more content you can be creating, the more that’s going to get shared, and you’ll get picked up locally. Then, you can share some of that on local radio and newspapers and things like.
Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC
Joe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling, but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .
