262: Improving Your Private Practice Website with Daniel Fava

Like many of you, I’m looking forward to a different 2021, but I am grateful for what we’ve learned about ourselves, our businesses, and our resilience. Today’s topic is more relevant than ever, as we all want to learn more about improving our private practice website. Join us to learn more! Our Featured GuestDaniel FavaDaniel Fava, from Private Practice Elevation, is my friend and an expert in website design. I trust his insight and advice, and I rely heavily on him for everything website-related. Daniel is here to share what is working for private practice websites post-pandemic. Much of what we think about our private practice websites has shifted greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what used to serve us well may not be working now. As many of us are transitioning to full-time online counseling or at least some increased element of online therapy, Daniel’s advice is relevant and timely.WebsiteROI ReportWebsite AuditYou'll Learn:What has changed about websites and online traffic since the pandemic beganThree things that are working well for private practice websites:A professional website is more important than ever.People are searching online, so you need to have a presence there that stands out.Content is the foundation for getting found online.Foundational content includes your home page, service pages, and specialty pages.Online therapy has become an essential part of private practice.Your website audience is now expanded throughout your entire state, instead of just your local vicinity. How to incorporate non-written content, like videos and podcasts, into your websiteWhy you should take this opportunity to view your website through new eyesTranscript:Melvin:Hello, welcome to session 262 of Selling the Couch. I hope you are having a good start to the New Year. Man after the fun adventure that was 2020 I am really looking forward to a different 2021. At the same time, I feel like I'm so grateful. As hard as this has been that in some ways that we were able to go through this because I think it's definitely taught all of us just how resilient we are; especially if you have been able to manage a business and during a pandemic, you're pretty legit.So today's podcast session is with my good friend Daniel Fava from Private Practice Elevation. Daniel is an expert when it comes to website design. It's someone I rely on for both STC and my private practice website. And Daniel is here to share three of the things that are working for private practice websites post-pandemic. I know that how we think about private practice and even how we think about our private practice websites has shifted in the midst of this pandemic.There are just things that were working in the past that are not working as well now and we've learned a lot of insights and key things in terms of what could work and what will be working going forward. Especially as many of us transition either fully to online counseling or maintain some element of online counseling in our practices. I think there are just a lot of different things there. So we'll get right to today's conversation. Here is my conversation with Daniel Fava from privatepracticeelevation.com.Hey, Daniel, welcome back to Selling the Couch.Daniel:Hey Melvin, how's it going? Thanks so much for having me back.Melvin:You're welcome. And Happy New Year, because by the time this releases, it'll be the New Year.Daniel:That's right. That's always the interesting and strange part of recording podcasts is the timing bit because we're recording before Christmas, but we're saying Happy New Year.Melvin:Yes, absolutely. We have to get it all in our mind.Daniel:Yeah.Melvin:I'm really excited for our conversation because this pandemic this past year has up ended so many things. Even I think about like just across but especially in the mental health field. Many of us have had to transition to telehealth, think differently about marketing, and think differently about our websites. Even as we record this right now, we've had one vaccine that's I guess been approved for emergency use, but looks like a second and potentially third and fourth ones on the way. So we see the dim light at the end of the tunnel.But I do feel like this is definitely going to change our field and how we see private practice. And I'm grateful for this conversation because you're my friend, first of all, and second here, someone that I really trust when it comes to just learning about what's working for private practice websites and websites in general. So I’m grateful for this time together.Daniel:Yeah, thank you so much. I'm grateful for it too. I really appreciate you having me on and it's always fun to chat about this stuff. I know that we tend to geek out a bit and so you're kind of like an equal with me as we nerd out on some of this stuff and dig into it. It's a lot of fun.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! About you, I would say you're probably a little bit more. I love websites, but when it comes to at least a website, I think you take it to a level that’s more than I can go. So perhaps you’re my nerdy friend.We were thinking about the topic for this podcast conversation, and one of the things we just realized is, websites are changing, and how we think about websites are changing in the midst of this pandemic, and even afterwards, and what I asked Daniel to share was the three things that are working for private practice websites post-pandemic. So we'll just jump right in.Daniel, what would you say is like-- well, I guess maybe even before we get into those three things, if you could sort of give a big picture overview, how did people look at websites pre-pandemic and what do you think has changed since the pandemic?Daniel:Yeah. Well, I think that for a while, I kind of noticed, and I've been doing websites for therapists and private practice owners for little over four years now. And so I have seen sort of a shift and it's been kind of slow going from people were like, “Oh, maybe I need a website, maybe I don't. I've got referral networks going on. Maybe just having really basic website is enough and it's just a place that I can send people to.”But then over the years as platforms like Squarespace have evolved and they've become more popular People are starting to see really the importance or have been seeing the importance of having a website and how it can be really an asset in their business to get more clients. That shift has really been happening slowly over the years that I've been noticing.I remember when I first began this work and kind of just talking to people and looking at in like social media and Facebook groups and stuff like that. A lot of people there are still in this mix of like, “Oh, I'm thinking about starting a website, do I really need a website?” That sort of thing, but I feel like people have kind of really grabbed hold of; yes. “Yes, I do. I do need a website.” And especially with the shift to more online therapy, and not being able to do in person marketing and networking and stuff like that; it's become more important than ever.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! I forgot who mentioned this. But this phrase has always resonated with me that, website is the modern day business card and I feel like that that statement is true now more than ever. Like you said, because of like, so many restrictions and having a presence online is just really important, especially because telehealth was growing, and it's definitely not going away post-pandemics.Daniel:Yeah, absolutely, and that's really my point number one was kind of just starting at the beginning. And I wrote down in my notes here, a professional website is more important than ever, because so many people are turning to online, so many people are turning to searching- clients are searching for these services in Google and if you're not able to do in person networking, and you don't have a number of different streams for your marketing, you could be missing out on a lot of potential clients there.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! So you said a professional website is more important than ever. So what's the difference between a regular website and a professional website?Daniel:Well, with the shift that's been happening is that a lot more people are as we said, getting smart to the fact that you need to have that presence online, especially if you're doing online therapy, you can reach more and more people and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. So many people really hustled