If you started your own private practice you’re no longer just a therapist or counselor, you’re now a business owner.
And being a business owner comes with a lot of responsibilities and challenges.
One of the hardest things about running your own business is figuring out what to invest in that will help your business grow, and what to stay away from.
In this video, we’re going to talk about one of the most important investments that you should be making in your private practice.
Let’s talk about one of the more important investments you should be making in your private practice.
When you run a business you must invest in your business if you want it to grow. For therapists, this can be getting additional training to build your skills, or even investing in a good electronic health record system to help run your practice smoothly.
If you try to build your practice without spending money, you’re going to limit your ability to grow and in turn, this can send a poor message to your potential clients.
The #1 area I see the most frequent lack of investment in is website development.
Most therapists resist spending the money to develop a strong website that will showcase their skills and help them gain more clients to build a website that looks cookie-cutter or homemade.
So why is investing money in a GOOD website so important? To understand this, you need to first understand the impacts that a poorly built website can have on you and your practice.
How a Poorly Built Website Can Negatively Affect Your Private Practice
1. A poorly built website is a liability, not an asset.
If your website isn’t helping you attract or convert potential clients, then it’s only going to cost you money in the long run. You have to pay to have your website hosted on the internet. If you aren’t bringing in new clients from your website, then you’re losing money.
2. It creates a horrible first impression
Nowadays, most people do their research before making a decision on whether or not to do business with someone. And choosing a therapist is a massive decision. You only get a few seconds to convince your potential clients to stay on your website and learn more about you, before they click away to your competition. If your website looks outdated and thrown together, I guarantee they will leave almost immediately without giving you a chance and go with another therapist who has a better website.
3. It makes you look unprofessional
If potential clients are coming to your website to consider hiring and learning more about you, the last thing you want is for your website to be hard to navigate or look cheap and unfinished. If you aren’t willing to invest time and money into your website, what kind of message do you think this will communicate about the quality of your services? Value is all about perception. You could be a world-renowned therapist, but if your website doesn’t clearly paint you in that light, your potential clients will never know. And they will never be convinced to work with you.
These are only a handful of the negative impacts that a poorly built website can have on you and your private practice.
Now that we’ve highlighted what a lack of investing in your website can cause, let’s talk about the opposite:
Why investing in a quality, well-built website is one of the smartest investments you can make in your private practice
1. The right website will be a tool in your business
It will help you attract, convert and streamline clients. If your website is properly optimized with SEO or search engine optimization, it will allow clients to find you online when searching for the services that you provide. If your website has professional copywriting, it will speak directly to your target audience and make them want to book a call or learn more about you. And if you really want to take your business to the next level, you can integrate your electronic health record system with your website to make booking, forms, and taking payments a breeze. If done right, your website can literally be like your own personal assistant committed to helping your practice grow and run smoothly. And it’s cheaper than hiring someone!
2. A good website creates a great first impression
When someone comes to your website you want them to be impressed with the design so much that they want to keep scrolling and clicking to learn more about you. When your website is clean, well-designed and put together, it immediately builds trust and positions you as the expert. Again, value is all about perception. If you have a high-quality, luxurious looking website, it will make people perceive that you have the skills and ability to help them.
3. The right website will actually make you money
Yes, you heard me right. And I’m not just talking about making your money back. I’m talking about paying for the price of the website and then some. A GOOD website will help you gain more clients, which means more money in your pocket. The average cost of a therapy session is 90 dollars. And the typical client does therapy once a week for six months. This means, on average, one new client is worth $2160.00. If your website helps you gain just one new client per month, that’s an extra $12,960.00 you would have in just 6 months, than if you didn’t have a website, or if your website was poorly designed.
I get it. Good web design can seem expensive, but when you look at it from the eyes of a business owner, it just makes sense.
You can choose to spend little to nothing on your website that will cost you money for hosting regardless, or you can choose to spend a little extra on a website that will bring in new clients and more cash flow to your private practice.
Do your business a favor and choose to invest wisely in things that will help you thrive.
If you’re ready to make a smart investment in your private practice, click the link ‘Start Your Website‘ in our menu and let us build an amazing website for your business.
And if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more tips and tricks on how to grow your private practice.
