Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast and I’m your host Kayla Das.

In today’s episode, Simon Turnock from Start Your Practice, will share steps prospective clients should take when they land on your practice website.

Hi, Simon. Welcome to the show. I’m so glad to have you here today.

Simon: Well, thank you very much for having me. I’m quite excited to have a little chat with you today.

Kayla: Simon, before we dive into today’s episode, please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about you and start your practice.

Simon: So, my name is Simon Turnock. I live in Calgary. I had worked for a web development company for over 20 years. My wife is also in private practice, and when she went private, I figured I would help her get everything going.

So, with that, I figured I could help other therapists, mental health professionals in getting their practices started online or just completely from scratch. So that’s the main thing that I do. I help therapists start their practices.

Kayla: So, first of all, what are the benefits of having a website for a therapy practice?

Simon: Well, the biggest thing is that your website is most often the first thing a potential client will see of you. If you don’t have a website, I think you’re leaving a lot of potential clients on the table. It is your primary marketing vehicle. In some cases, it might be your only marketing vehicle. So, you need to give people the ability to access you and your practice. That’s the way to do it.

So, the website allows you to speak to who you are, why you do what you do, obviously your services, your modalities, all those basic things that you need to basically market yourself and your services, because you’re running a business.

Running a practice is two parts. People get really hung up on I’m an excellent practitioner. Well, you need to be an excellent business person as well.

Kayla: I love that. So, what are the steps that prospective clients should take when they land on your website?

Simon: So basically, when somebody comes to your website, that’s where you have the ability to direct that person. So, a website always, in my opinion, is the five W’s. Who you are. Why you do it. Where you do it. When you do it. And what you actually do. Those are the big things.

So, when somebody comes to your website, they should be getting an immediate positive impression, right off the bat, on the design, the aesthetic, the wording, the function of it. And they should quickly, very quickly understand what it is that you do. Your average time on a website for a potential client, probably less than a minute. So you need to grab them, and you need to point them in the right direction. They need to be able to go, okay, I like it, now I want to do something. That’s the key thing.

You need a call to action. And the call to action might simply be, Look at my about page. Have a look at my professionally done picture. Read a little bit about me. Go from there. Or obviously the best case is book an appointment, make a phone call, drop an email, fill out a form, any of those things.

My experience is that people come to your website for a couple of reasons. One, they don’t know anything about you. They want to learn in general. The other one is they understand a little bit about you and a little bit about what you do. And they just need a reinforcement of, oh, I heard from my friend about you. I went to your website. Oh, it looks professionally done. I get what I’m getting. All my kind of check boxes are being completed. Excellent. I’m going to get a hold of this therapist. So, they need to be able to learn all that they can, all by themselves if they want. Or you’d have to direct them through because it’s really important to remember that somebody coming into your website is not necessarily always going to be coming in through the front. They’re going to be entering potentially on an about page, contact page, services page. You don’t know, so you need to make sure that your website addresses all of their needs. And the big ones obviously are contact, book, because at the end of the day, that is the goal of your website.

And the other really important part of that, you have to assume that they’re coming in potentially on a desktop or their phone, most likely their phone, quite honestly, for that first kind of hit. So, your website has to work across the board, and that’s a functional piece that your developer, something like me, wouldn’t sure happens, because you don’t want somebody coming to your website, who’s maybe very tech savvy, and something doesn’t quite work.

That’s an immediate negative impression, and then they’ll bail out, and then you’re done. Which is unfortunate. The key thing is you got them to your site. You wanted to get them to do something.

Kayla: I find it really interesting, because when we think about people landing on a practice website, people often land on your website from therapist directories, Google business pages, social media, and so many other places. When we think of therapist directories specifically, how important is it for potential clients who may have found a therapist through a therapist directory, like Psychology Today, for example, to have a website linked in their profiles?  

Simon: Well, it’s critical because a directory is great, but you’re one of thousands.

So, your website, if you’re on psychology today, for example, and they click to your site, it’s critical that your website reflects your Psychology Today, and vice versa. They need to have the same messaging and need to have the same information. There needs to be a very strong connection between the two.

So, your website needs to again reinforce your professionalism. And your capabilities to that end user. They already know a little bit about you. Your website has to reinforce all of that information and basically compel them to do something about it.

It’s a bit of a poor analogy, but if you’re on Psychology Today you’re kicking tires. And you’re like, oh, okay, that one looks interesting. That one looks interesting. And, even if you get past the first couple of pages, which is probably very rare. You’re going to go with the person that has a professional photograph, maybe a video, maybe not, depending on what you like, and they’re going to touch on the things that you actually need.

So, the one thing that I have seen is that a lot of people, not just therapists, anybody with websites, they get really hung up on what they want to put on the website, which is very nice. But it doesn’t matter. It’s what does your potential client want? That’s the key piece. Because, oh, I want to put 10 pages about EMDR. Well, that’s very interesting to you and to other therapists. Your client might not have a clue what that is. So, it’s really, really important to focus on your end user. That’s the key piece. It’s very easy when you’re creating your content is to get stuck on what you think is important. You always have to turn it to the other side.

Kayla: That was really great advice. So, thinking of steps you mentioned previously, what are things that therapists should focus on or ensure are on their website so that prospective clients actually go through the steps that you had outlined?

Simon: Well, the biggest thing is to always focus on what your potential client is there for. They have a need. So, they might have a need to get more information about you. They might have a very specific need. I’m really anxious or my kid needs some help. You need to focus on that. That’s the biggest thing.

Coming back to also your site time, it’s short. Their attention spans are tiny. You need to make sure that you’re providing that quickly, concisely, and succinctly. Nobody wants to read two paragraphs on the homepage. You want to go, I’m depressed, I need help. Oh, they do depression, click, off you go.

Within the actual content of your website, less is more. Less is always more. People don’t read all that stuff. So, there’s no point in spending all that time and energy to generate all of this content. Yeah, Google likes it to a degree. But somebody who you want to book, click. A couple of paragraphs, keep them short, keep them to the point. And, again, what is that client looking for? What do they want?

I always say this, is the end user or the visitor they want to know how you’re going to help them specifically. They want to make sure how you provide your services, virtual, in person, all that other stuff. When they can book, all the basic information. What is it going to cost? Can I put it on my insurance? All of those things should be there in an FAQ or resources, anything like that.

So those are the things that you really need to focus on within your website. I see a lot of websites that are kind of scattershot. My services are five points, but my modalities are 10 pages. It shouldn’t be either. Should be a mix of both, in my opinion. So, the key to just focus on those five W’s. Who you are. What you do. When you do it. Why you do it. Where you do it. Those are the big ones.

The other thing that I really think is really important for all therapists is you should allow your potential clients to book online. If you go to a website and a client, it looks at your website, then they can’t, and another website that they can, and everything is the same. The majority of clients are going to book that. So, most of the therapists I’ve dealt with have a practice management software, Jane, Owl all the usual stuff. Get that on your website. It might be a little bit daunting at first, but get it in place. If it’s not already there, get it. It’s critical.

The other thing is, and. I really stress on this with my clients is it’s really important to have a good photograph of yourself. As much as that potentially might be a little bit uncomfortable, that’s okay. Get it well done. Get it shot correctly. Don’t just do a selfie and put it on your website. This is your marketing tool. This is a reflection of you and your business. Everything on that website should reflect that. Go spend a little bit of money or if you know somebody can take a good photograph with good lighting, get it done. It will make a difference.

If you are going to do video on your website, learn how to do it correctly. Good sound, good lighting, all of those things. Just remember that this is the key. People are not looking for a reason to contact you. A lot of the time they’re looking for a reason to not contact you. Which is kind of harsh, but it’s true. If I go to a website, I’m a very technical person, I build websites. And there’s funky stuff in the functionality of their site, and I’m out because I’m like, okay, well, if I was on the website for 30 seconds and I noticed this, why didn’t they notice this? Why didn’t they fix it? Why didn’t they take the pride in this piece that’s them. So again, that’s just me. Everybody has their own little things. But yeah, just make sure everything works.

I see so many websites where something simple like, oh, I’m on my phone. I want to push the phone number and I can’t, it’s a very simple little tiny piece of code, but I’m not going to remember your phone number to key it into my phone. Who knows how to do that anymore? I sure don’t. So that’s the thing for me. Always think that your website is your first point of contact. If you walk to somebody in a room, you’re going to give them your best. Your website should do exactly the same thing.

Kayla: I love everything you just said there because the truth is, is your website is your virtual office and as a result it should reflect that. When it comes to your website you should put in just as much effort, if not more, than you would when setting up your own office space for your clients.

So, I love blogging. What are your thoughts about blogging on a therapy website specifically as it relates to getting potential clients?

Simon: I kind of put blogging in with the social media side as well. I think it can be very, very successful with a major caveat. And that caveat is you need to put the effort into it to do it right. Like to have, oh, I have a blog on my website and I put something up in June and then in December. Well, that’s kind of pointless, in my opinion.

If you’re doing it daily, or every couple of days, or a few times a week, now you’re giving a reason for your visitors to come back into your website. From a standpoint of is it successful to get clients? That’s a little bit more difficult one in my opinion because you don’t have a really good grasp of actually who is coming to your website. It’s going to be potential clients, it’s going to be tire kickers, it’s going to be other therapists, developers, you have no idea where they’re coming from.

So, it’s important to create content that the goal of the content is to actually attract a potential client, not just go, Oh, I took an EMDR course. Here’s all the cool stuff I learned. Well, that’s very nice. It’s not going to get you a client. But again, the other caveat of that caveat is that all of that content, Google loves it. Right? So, your website ranking might go up. You might show up better in the engines. All of that is good from a functional standpoint and good for your website and good for your marketing. So, if you have the ability and the time to do it right, do it. If you’re not sure, then that means you don’t. Don’t do it. And when you do set up those systems, ensure they’re set up correctly. So, if you’re going to have a blog and you’re going to let people comment on it, pay attention. Make sure it’s moderated correctly. I don’t like to say, but I’ve seen blogs and social media pieces that People leave at five o’clock on Friday, and chaos happens over the weekend. Like, you cannot have that.

So, if you want the ability to host quickly, easily, but you don’t have the time for blogging, I think that’s where social media, Instagram, can be really helpful. Because you don’t need a ton. You can say, oh, I really saw this cool thing, I put a little comment on it, or I’m walking the dog, I’m going to shoot a little clip, put a little reel up. All of those things are great. Are they going to get your clients? It’s very difficult to know.

Unless, on your intakes, you specifically ask. Which is what I would recommend, heavily. Because you want to know where it’s working. You don’t want to spend ten hours a week making all this content for nothing. But, if you’re making ten hours a week and you’re getting four referrals, right?

So, if you have a really good idea of how your client funnel is working, where your clients are coming from, are they referral from doctor’s offices? Are they friend referrals? Are they coming from your website? Is it psychology today? Is it X, Y, Z? If you have a really good idea of where that’s going on, I always suggest from a sales standpoint, Focus on that, right?

Or you’re like, oh, I’m getting tons of referrals, but I want to try something else. Absolutely. Give it a go. And if you are going to go social media, again, make sure then that is integrated into your website automatically. If you post on Instagram, shows up on your website. Post on Facebook, shows up on your website.

Kayla: I love that, and I agree with you that there’s a balance between is blogging going to get me clients versus is it going to help me rank higher on Google? Because there’s really two sides there. Now it is possible for it to do both, however, and different blogs may have different purposes as well.

So, you might write one specific blog for the purpose of attracting clients into your practice when the next blog might be focused on search engine optimization. And it is okay to mix it up that way too, I think.

Simon: and another point of that is people coming to your website aren’t always just potential clients, it might be existing clients. And if your client base is heavily referral based, excellent, right? Show your existing clients, well, I learned this today, or this is another breakthrough I’ve had here, or this or that or the other. Those are really good, because then people go, Oh, yeah, well, my therapist is doing this really cool stuff, I think it might help you.  

Kayla: Simon, if listeners would like help with developing their website and to work with you at Start Your Practice, what can you help them with and how can they reach you?

Simon: Well, I can help you, let’s say I’ve left AHS, for example, or I’m just starting from scratch. I can help you basically from, I don’t know what to do. I can get you branding, logo, colors, tagline, collateral. I don’t take photos, but I know a person who does. I can point you in the right direction for your fee schedule, insurance, all that kind of business-y stuff.

And then most importantly, your website. I can design it. I can build it. I can get it hosted. I can set up your email. If you want a blog, I can do that. I can help you with your practice management software, Jane, Owl. Brand it appropriately. Integrate it. I can help you maintain your website when it’s done.

If you already have something that’s existing, the one thing that I do not do, I don’t redo existing websites. I can redesign your website from scratch. I can change the hosting if you need it changed. I can help you with your email. Oh, if you need email marketing, I can do that too.

And when I design your website, I basically design it for you. I talk to you. I find out what you want to do with it. The things that you like, the things you don’t like, get examples of sites. You don’t have to therapy websites. I design it. You generate the content for me. I give you basically some, I wouldn’t say tips, but more like advice on how to generate your content. Put it all together, test it, troubleshoot it, give it back to you. All the websites that I build come with a content management system that will allow you to maintain your website yourself. And I show you how to use it. Basically, if you can use Word, you can do it. So that way, if you are running a blog, or just changing your content, or you have multiple people, you can handle it yourself. If you want me to help you with that, I can do that too. If you want a bit of both, shoot me an email, I’ll take care of you.

All of this is at my website, startyourpractice.ca. If you want to get a hold of me, you can just email me, it’s just Simon, startyourpractice.ca. And my phone number is on my website too, you’ll get right to my cell phone, if you want to get a hold of me that way.

Kayla: Amazing. So, to connect with Simon at Start Your Practice, head to startyourpractice.ca

Or you can simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Simon, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today to discuss steps prospective clients should take when they land on your practice website.

Simon: Well, thank you very much for this opportunity. I had a lot of fun. Again, if anybody needs anything, let me know and I can help you out.

Kayla: And thank you everyone for tuning into today’s episode, and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now!

Credits & Disclaimers

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