Creating an authentic website that works
A few clients of mine have recently done a complete overhaul of their websites with incredible results. I’m going to share the process I lead them through with you. Here we go!
Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat. Your website as well as any advertising/marketing you do is effective when it does two things:
Attracts your dream clients. The people who you love to work with and make your practice a pleasure to show up to every day.
Is a turn-off to the people you do not want to work with.
You are not supposed to work with everyone. This is one of the major mistakes that therapists make early in their practices. They try to appeal to everyone. In the end, therapists who do this just get lost in the shuffle of thousands of other therapists who also help people with depression, anxiety, trauma, and career changes, or relationships….
Imagine if your best friend came to you wanting help with their marriage. They want to go to couples counseling and are dealing with issues around finances. Would you send them to your buddy from grad school who works with anyone? Or would you send them to your friend who has been specializing in couples for the past few years?
When you’re clear on who you work with, you become the obvious choice when your right fit client is looking for a therapist.
If you’re not specialized yet, that’s fine too. You don’t have to find your specialty today. But let’s just start. Grab your notebook and pen. Take a look at your caseload. Think about who you most enjoy working with and who seems to get the most out of working with you. Are they adults? Kids? Couples? What do they say brings them into work with you? What do you end up working on once they’re there? How do you help them?
A client of mine began with what at first seemed like a broad focus. The copy (text) on their website was vague and not particularly engaging. It fell into the category of “a lot of people find it hard to find the right therapist,” “this is a brave first step,” “I have a warm and upfront manner.” This verbiage is not useful. I’m just gonna say it. If you have anything on your website like this, delete it right now. It is so vague and general that by offending no one it also inspires no one.
Back to this clinician. We started having a conversation about who they most enjoyed working with and who seemed to get the most out of what they had to offer. They had worked in several different agencies with totally different populations. We continued to hone in on who they most enjoyed working with, getting more and more clear. Finally, we discovered that my client was most inspired and energized when working with “questioning” folx. Suddenly the copy on their website wrote itself. It became much more clear. It’s much easier to write to and about the experience of being queer and questioning than it is to talk about people who are anxious, people who are depressed and dealing with trauma, and adults, and children, and couples, and families.
Level 1- I work with everyone. Anxiety, depression, trauma. I work with adults, kids, couples, families. I have an eclectic approach.
Level 2- I work with LGBTQI* adults.
Level 3- I work with young adults who are queer and questioning.
“But what if I’m not 100% sure that this is what I want to specialize in? What if I change my mind?!”
Okay, so another thing that therapists early in their practice get hung up on is believing they have to have things figured out. You don’t. Let’s go back to that same therapist. A few months after narrowing down their marketing to attract questioning folx, they actually noticed that they were working with people who were questioning/exploring their identity specifically around being nonbinary. So they updated the copy on their website and their psychology today profile. This is totally fine and normal. Developing your practice is an iterative process. You will learn as you go how to craft a practice and business that is right for you. You do not have to have it figured out right now. And it is important to start. Get a little more specific. Experiment. The reality is that people aren’t checking your website every day and monitoring your consistency. Your website is a living document. It gets to change.
The therapist I’ve been talking about chose to refine their website rather than start from scratch. I also have clients who have completely overhauled their websites. This is also okay. Please, please don’t see your edits as evidence that you’ve failed or wasted your time. That is not what this means. It just means that you are getting clearer. Making something gives you the opportunity to practice speaking and writing what you want. Then you take a step back and look at it again. Is that still just right? Maybe what you want has shifted and you need to update how you’re sharing your work with the world. Or maybe a block has been lifted and you’re a bit more clear. You get to play. In order to have the business you really deeply want, you will have to go through this process of refining. So your real choice is, when do you want to start?
So now we’ve talked about who you serve and how. Now we are going to talk about how to craft your presence online in a way that is authentic.
I ask everyone who worked with me to do the following assignment:
Look at 10 websites. Five are of people who have the same or similar specialty and five are of your choosing. When you look at these websites, imagine you are a potential client. Would you hire this therapist? Why or why not? If you do want to work with them, how easy would it be to book an appointment? Do you want to know their fee? Is it easy to find this information on their site? What about the aesthetic? Photos, fonts, colors? If you were a client wanting help with this particular issue, how much do you believe that this person can help you? Notice if you want to stay on the website and keep exploring? Or do you want to bounce? Take notes on everything you like and don’t like about each website. This will help guide you on how to build your own.
Now is where you get to choose your own adventure.
It’s time to start creating. I suggest you start with what’s the most fun. That can be exploring all the fun templates to choose from. Or maybe you want to start writing copy. I love organization, so I geek out on the structure of my website and what information will go where. Maybe you want to choose photos. Including scheduling a professional photo shoot?! (I’ll give you fav for headshots in another post.) Maybe you’re really excited about colors and want to explore pallets.
I want you to do what feels fun because you’re more likely to get it done. That said, I want you to develop habits of showing up for this work over and over again. So we’re going to integrate fun and commitment. Because the reality is even the most fun things aren’t going to be fun every day. So we need to learn how to show up even when it’s not fun. This is something many successful professional writers have gotten down. If you wait for inspiration for the perfect copy or the perfect logo to show up, it may never come. You have to court creativity. You have to show your creative force that you are invested and dedicated to it. Imagine you are dating your creative force. You aren’t gonna be pushy (we’re not doing that garbage Notebook bs) but you’re gonna show up.
My clients have made massive, tangible progress by doing what we’ve termed “My Morning 20.”
Every morning, they set a timer for 20 minutes and work on one project. You do this first thing. Or nearly. You still get to pee first and get your tea. But after that, your butt is in the chair and you are courting your creativity and showing up for your business and yourself. You can use this time to write copy, choose your website template, schedule your photoshoot, whatever. I am not kidding you. This stuff works. I’ve done it. My clients have done it. And you can get a lot done.
And here’s why- It’s not magic. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you are thinking you have to “build your website.” It can be so overwhelming that you don’t even start. But you don’t have to do that. You aren’t “building your website” today. You are working on some aspects of your website for 20 minutes. You set a timer and that’s it. When that timer goes off, you’re done. You did what you came to do and that gets to be enough. Do this Monday through Friday for a full 30 days. If you think you don’t have time in the morning, wake up 20 minutes earlier. Do this every single day. Notice if you come up with reasons not to do this and do it anyway. Because that is the whole point. It is too easy to put these things off. Here’s the thing, I love you whether you do this or not. You doing this isn't’ for me or anyone else. It’s for you. It’s for you and the business that you are going to love. I’m going to do for you what I do for all of my clients. If you are ready to make this commitment, this is me giving you that push to just start. Accountability usually helps. I love waking up to texts from my clients every day telling me they did their Morning 20. I’ve got your back. Tag me in your posts (@the_bad_therapist) and use the hashtag #mymorning20 to let me know what you’re up to.
In order to build the practice you want, you have to begin. You have to begin this interactive process of clearing, creating, refining. So the question is when will you start?
I hope the answer is right now. Even if that means that you read this blog. That might be enough for today. Or maybe you get the download and start to answer some of the questions. Or maybe you start #mymorning20 today. Whatever you decide, I’ve got your back. Don’t rush. Don’t stop.
