If I Build (And Maintain It) They Will Come: 5 Tips for Keeping Your Therapist Website From Going Stale
So, you have a solid therapist website and have built your web presence into a great foundation, but that’s only half the battle. Now, the key to your private practice’s growth success will largely come from maintaining your site.
Having a well-built site is a wonderful — yes, essential — starting point. It’s where the rubber meets the digital road. But what if you’re not getting the traffic or the conversions you’d hoped for… or you’d like to increase its impact to supercharge your practice growth. See, owning a website is not the end goal. Rather, it is the beginning step. If you believe the former, you’ll fall into a state of confusion or complacency. This may manifest as one of these challenges:
- You thought that if you owned a great website, people would flock to you like moths to a flame and instantly book appointments. They’re not.
- You’re getting noticed — a little, at least — but you’re not significantly expanding your influence. You’re not reaching the masses or converting many visitors into clients.
- You know your website is sturdy but you’re aware that it feels somewhat stale. But you’re not sure what to do; how to up your game?
If you own a professional, functional website, the first step is likely not the problem. It’s the next and most important stride. The one that requires the ongoing work of maintaining your cyber patch. For the sake of your practice that famous quote needs to be tweaked a little to the more apt, “If I build and maintain it they will come.”
Wait! You Don’t Have A Therapist Website Yet?
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Website maintenance needs to take place on a number of fronts. For example, you need to ensure functionality. If there are apps or large images slowing your load speed, this needs to be fixed.
However, in this article you’ll learn how to keep your site relevant and worthy of visiting. How to attract more eyeballs and convert more visitors into clients. These approaches can explode your practice growth and bottom line. Because, truthfully, the purpose of a website is simple for most therapists: to increase reach, impact and profits.
To do this, you must remain current, enticing, and fresh. Which brings us to our…
5 Tips to Keep Your Therapist Website From Going Stale
1. Keep your website’s content fresh
Why does fresh content matter? Let’s look at two primary reasons: search engine rankings and your reputation.
Search Engine Rankings
The search engines constantly seek incredible content to deliver searchers exactly what they want. Great articles allow an engine to fulfill their duty: to provide a searcher with top notch information. By doing this, searchers are less likely to switch to another engine. So, you will be rewarded…
By regularly producing high-quality, in-depth and original blog posts, your site will rank well. This is essential if you are to be found. Being “findable” is the first step because it allows you to begin a relationship with a visitor.
Search engine rankings are complex — there is an entire industry dedicated to this field — but simply know this: producing incredible pieces will often boost your rankings.
Your Reputation
Fresh, well-penned content let’s your visitors (and potential clients) know that you are:
- Up-to-date with current research
- Well educated and articulate
- Know a topic so well that you can translate it into understandable terms and provide actionable steps that work
- Are interested in, and able to, help others
If your pieces are good enough, visitors may subscribe or sign up to receive emails. This is a first step towards trust and provides you with a way to prove yourself, enhance your reputation further, and convert someone into a client.
Creating fresh content does take work. But if you want people to connect with you via cyberspace, this is key.
Tip: If you struggle to create content, Brighter Vision offers an incredible tool called Social Genie. You’ll be able to seamlessly and effortlessly produce enticing blog and social posts! As Stephany Wolsieffer said, “You make posting fun! I am thrilled to have this additional tool to help me improve my marketing skills!”
2. Repurpose old content to save time and propel results
The idea of creating content from scratch can be overwhelming. It can be enough to stop you from taking action in the first place. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. But there are shortcuts to this process. Ways to repurpose what has already been created; to turn something old into something new.
Here are 5 powerful ways to repurpose old content…
- If you have aged articles that are out-of-date or not written well, spruce them up with recent research or better phrasing.
- If your jurisdiction allows it, use client testimonials to create meaningful social media posts.
- Use content that you’ve already created as handouts for current clients and people they know. This will build trust with your current tribe and allow them to share your expertise with non-clients, increasing the chance that they’ll book in too.
- If you have already produced video content, have it transcribed. Then tidy up the message and you have a blog post.
- Take a quality blog post and transform it into:
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- A video. Then add it to your YouTube and Facebook accounts.
- Audio; podcasts are all the rage!
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Plus, use this time saving tip for future pieces…
Strategically consider articles before you begin to write. A series can be linked together. A book can be created by combining the content. Snippets can be extracted for social media content.
For inspiration, let’s use depression as an example. Ask yourself:
- What are the symptoms that someone might experience?
- What types of depression exist?
- What factors may contribute to its development?
- What food or lifestyle approaches can be supportive?
- What therapies or techniques can provide relief and aid recovery?
- What particular approaches do I use in therapy and what insights and advice can I share?
Each of these topics could become a post or other content.
Need help keeping your blog updated with fresh content?
Sign up for a free 14-day trial of our social media & blogging automation tool, Social Genie!
If you’d like to learn more about reusing content, read our post, Out With The Old, In With The Reused: Repurposing Evergreen Content For Your Therapist Blog.
3. Monitor your keyword data
Keyword, or keyword phrases, are the search terms someone types into a search engine’s search box to find the information they seek. Websites are ranked, in part, according to keywords. So, understanding the keywords that you rank for is important. As is knowing which keywords you should chase.
Improving the volume of quality keywords that your site scores for will increase your website’s position in the search engines.
But how do you know your keyword data?
With the Brighter Insights dashboard, you can track and measure your website’s performance, including keyword data. This helps place you in the driver’s seat! This powerful tool offers a host of additional benefits.
4. Revise your ‘about’ page
If people are to believe what you say and begin to trust you, they need to know who you are. For example:
- What education have you completed? What degrees do you hold and postgraduate studies have you finished?
- How long have you been practicing?
- What is your vision?
- Why do you do what you do?
- What therapeutic approaches do you use?
- What conditions are you an expert at treating?
Notice something here: the number of times we used the word “you.” Visitors want to understand who you are; why you are the right person to treat them.
If your current ‘about’ page is beige, uninviting, unappealing, it needs to be revised. Yes, of course remain professional. But don’t be afraid to infuse your passion and personality.
But there’s a counterintuitive catch. A “must know” tip we share in our article, Find out 5 Things Your “About Me” Page Is Likely Missing… And It’s Losing You Potential Clients. It’s an insightful read!
Need help writing your About Me page?
Sign up for our How to Write an About Me Page E-Course!
5. Update your homepage
Don’t make the mistake of assuming once your homepage has been created, it should stand still. This will likely be one of your most visited, and so important, website pages.
Consider carefully what to include. This page can make a wonderful first impression… or trigger a visitor to flee.
As a leading website growth platform, HubSpot, says, “Remember, your home page is the first step of the journey — not the final destination. The copy, design, and visuals should guide the visitor to their next step, or the call-to-action.”
That’s why specials and offers, information about a new service, or an optin for your eBook should be positioned on your homepage.
The takeaway
Owning a practice website is wonderful. But remember; it’s the maintenance that provides the true power.
By keeping your website’s content fresh, repurposing old content, monitoring and acting on keyword data, revising your ‘about’ page, and updating your homepage, you will supercharge the influx of visitors to your site as well as increase the number of people who convert into paying clients. It’s well worth the effort.
Want the beautiful therapist website you deserve? Then you’re in the perfect place.
Brighter Vision is the ultimate marketing package for therapists, centered around the best therapist website you’ve ever had. Fill out the form below to learn more about our team of professionals who can’t wait to help your practice grow like never before 🙂