If you’ve ever wondered how you can (really) build trust on your private practice website, then keep reading.
This March, I was a featured guest on the Selling The Couch podcast with Melvin Varghese, a podcast dedicated to helping therapists become better business owners. Marvin interviews people from all around the therapy community on how to build and improve your private practice. If you haven’t listened to any of his podcasts, I highly recommend doing so.
In my featured episode, Melvin and I talked about ways to build more trust on your website. Because…let’s face it…if you can’t instill confidence in your potential clients on your website, then you are missing out on getting new clients.
During the interview, we dive deeper into what it really means to “build trust” on your website, and how to do it in a way that is authentic. Some of the topics we discussed were:
- What on your website you really should be focusing on in order to build trust
- If you have several different specialties (which most of us do!), how to layout your website so that Google can find and rank you
- The most common mistakes therapists make on their website, which unfortunately tend to send website visitors on their way to a different website
- The best people to get testimonials from for your practice website
- And, I share some examples of effective testimonials (that work!)
Some really important things that I want to highlight from our interview about building trust on your website include:
1. Building trust on your website takes time!
One of the most important things to think about when we talk about building trust on your website is that it takes time. The moment someone visits your website, you cannot expect them to trust immediately. Naturally, trust is something that is built over time. On your website, you will want to grab your website visitors attention, have them stay on your website, feel impacted by what you have to say, and then eventually build trust.
2. Your website layout can help you build trust
Surprisingly, the way your website is laid out can have an impact on whether or not someone will stay on your website, and in turn begin to build a sense of trust. In the interview, I share my recommendations for how your website should be laid out to ensure you are setting yourself up for trust-development. Hint: it involves specialty pages!
3. The way your website content is written is vital for trust building
The content on your website (your homepage and more importantly, your specialty pages) is another key part of building trust on your website. Content rich with research terms, listed symptoms, and general information on therapy will not build the trust needed to turn a potential client into a client. Instead, you should put yourself in your client’s shoes and express the pain they are feeling, and how you are the right person to help. In the interview with Melvin, I talk more in depth about this strategy, and share our dig-deep exercise.
In the interview, Melvin and I go more in depth about all the above strategies. You can listen to the podcast episode for free by clicking here.
Does your website have all the necessities to build trust with your potential clients? If not, what are your goals for improving your website in the future?