WP136 | SEO Changes You Need To Know with Daniel Fava
If you've ever felt overwhelmed by Google's ever-changing algorithm and wondered what it really takes to get your website to rank in 2025, this episode is a must-listen. Daniel Fava breaks down the major shifts in SEO that started back in 2024 and what they actually mean for private practice owners. Spoiler: it’s not about keyword stuffing anymore — it’s about creating meaningful, experience-driven content that connects with your ideal clients. From demystifying Google’s EEAT guidelines to explaining how engagement metrics and user experience now impact your rankings, Daniel makes SEO approachable and even (dare we say) exciting. Whether you're a DIY marketer or working with an SEO pro, this conversation will change the way you think about your website — and your content strategy. Ready to future-proof your practice online? Let’s dive in.
EEAT: The New SEO Gold Standard
One of the biggest updates is the introduction of the EEAT framework:
Experience
Expertise
Authoritativeness
Trustworthiness
Daniel emphasizes that showcasing your lived experience, professional training, and client impact helps Google—and potential clients—see you as a trusted resource. This could mean telling transformation stories, writing about specific client issues (while preserving confidentiality), or highlighting your specializations.
A Mindset Shift: It’s About the Right Traffic
SEO isn’t just about getting more traffic—it’s about getting the right traffic. Daniel uses a great analogy: Imagine a purse store that draws in tons of foot traffic from people who never actually buy purses. Wouldn’t it be better to attract fewer visitors, but ones who are ready to purchase?
That’s the new SEO mindset. When you focus your content on the specific needs, pain points, and questions of your ideal clients, you might see lower traffic overall, but higher conversions and more meaningful engagement.
Blogging with Intention
This is where blogging becomes a powerful tool. Daniel encourages private practice owners to blog consistently—not to chase trends or stuff in keywords, but to answer real questions that your clients are Googling.
Think:
“How does Christian couples therapy work?”
“How to reconnect in a marriage after having kids?”
“What happens in your first trauma therapy session?”
These kinds of blog posts build trust and show potential clients that you “get” them before they ever pick up the phone.
User Experience: The Overlooked SEO Factor
Google is now tracking how people interact with your website. If users click through to your site but bounce off quickly, Google takes note—and may rank other sites higher instead.
This is why Daniel and his team often help clients clean up site navigation, improve loading speeds, and rethink how content is structured. A good user experience means:
Fast loading pages (ideally under 3 seconds)
Clear, intuitive menus
Content that's easy to scan
Clear calls to action
Sometimes, this even means redesigning the site for clarity and performance.
Siloed Content: Build Depth, Not Just Breadth
Another major concept Daniel explains is the idea of siloed content. Rather than creating one page about a service like “couples therapy,” you build a collection of related content around that topic.
For example:
A main service page explaining what couples therapy is
Blog posts answering FAQs
Articles about communication tips or navigating infidelity
Resources specific to Christian couples or LGBTQ+ partners
All of these work together to show your authority and give Google a clear picture of what your site is about.
The Takeaway: Help First, Optimize Second
SEO in 2025 isn’t about gaming the system. It’s about serving your clients better online. When you focus on clarity, usefulness, and consistency, the algorithm is more likely to work with you—not against you.
Daniel’s advice is simple: “Be as helpful as possible.” Write with your ideal clients in mind, organize your site so they can find what they need, and let your experience and expertise shine through. That’s what builds trust. And ultimately, that’s what gets you found.
Show Sponsor Simplified SEO Consulting
Are you tired of struggling to keep up with SEO and social media while running your practice? At Simplified SEO Consulting, we get it—because our entire team has degrees in mental health or real-world experience in the field. That means we understand your ideal clients, the ethical concerns of marketing therapy services, and how to craft content that truly connects. And now, we’re offering 10% off our brand-new Social Media Management Package for select clients in June—a savings of up to $480! With flexible pricing options to fit any budget, we’ll create a custom plan that meets your needs. Learn more and join our soft launch today!
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Are you tired of struggling to keep up with SEO and social media while running your practice? At Simplified SEO Consulting, they get it. Their entire team has degrees in mental health or real world experience in the field. That means they understand your ideal clients, the ethical concerns of marketing therapy services, and how to craft content that truly connects.
And now they're offering 10% off their brand new social media management package for select clients in the month of June. That's a savings of $480. With flexible pricing options to fit any budget, they will create a custom plan that meets your needs. Learn more and join their soft launch today.
Simplified. SE consulting.com. Hi, I am Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time.
Now, let's get started.
[00:01:10] Jingle: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice
[00:01:26] Whitney Owens: Podcast. Hello friends, Whitney Owens here. Welcome to the Wise Practice Podcast. I'm so glad that you're joining me today.
I have got a great episode ready for you with expert Daniel Fava on website design and SEO. We're gonna chat through SEO changes that occurred in 2025. So you are in for a treat and I personally walked away. I. Learning so much. I also personally work with private practice elevation where they do my website for me and also manage my SEO services, so I cannot recommend them more.
So if you are looking for that type of service in your private practice, I. I highly recommend that you reach out to private practice Elevation. They'll jump on a call, talk about your website, give you recommendations, and I can personally say that my website continues to increase in traffic from the work that they're doing on it.
It's been fantastic. Plus it's really pretty website, so it's really awesome. But before we jump into the episode. I wanna speak directly to those that are running medium sized group practices. So I'm talking about those of you that have about four to maybe 10 or 12 therapists. You are not a startup anymore.
I. And I know that it feels messy. You're managing people, putting out fires, trying to grow. You're not sure what processes to use, what platforms you need. People all over the place are telling you, do this service. Do that service. Put your money here, y'all. It is. Challenging. I have been there. I work with practice owners every day that have been there.
You're feeling stuck in those day-to-day operations. You know there's a better way to run your business, but you're not really sure how to get there. This is why I created the Wise Practice Group Mastermind. I regularly invest in coaching and consulting services myself. You've heard me talk about that on the show because I know that when you get expert guidance and a space to process and plan for your business, you make better decisions, lead more effectively, and grow faster.
And that's exactly what I have done for myself, and that's the kind of space that I wanna create for you. In this mastermind group, I'm not only cheering you on, I am teaching you exactly how to do it in your practice. Each session I walk through specific strategies, helping you create structure, improving your leadership, building your systems delegation, increasing profit, and aligning your business with your long-term goals.
Yes, it is a supportive group, but I'm also gonna kick your butt in the best way possible because I want this Mastermind to be worth your dollar and worth every minute of your time. You're finally gonna move from chaos to clarity and feel confident in the business you're building. This mastermind group is starting next week, and I have just a couple of seats left.
So if you're wanting to stop spinning and start leading with strategy and purpose. I want you to head to wise practice consulting.com and use the dropdown to see the Wise Group Practice Mastermind. I'm looking forward to working with you, and if you have questions, you're unsure, shoot me an email, Whitney at Wise Practice Consulting and say, Hey, I'm thinking about the group here are a couple of things because I don't want anyone joining this group that doesn't feel like it's the best fit for them.
I'm really excited about it. Looking forward to working with these practice owners. It's a six month group and we meet on Tuesdays. If you end up missing something, no problem. We send it to you afterwards. So head to wise practice consulting.com. Get more information and join today. All right, well we are gonna head on into the episode where I speak with expert Daniel Fava on the SEO Challenges and changes in 2025.
Today on The Wise Practice Podcast, I have my good friend Daniel Fava. He is a digital business consultant and the founder of Private Practice Elevation, a website design and SEO Agency focused on helping busy practice owners attract the clients they love. They can scale their business and create the life they desire.
After building a website for his wife's profit practice and seeing the impact it had on her business, he became passionate about helping others achieve the same profit Practice Elevation offers web design services, SEO, search Engine optimization, which we're gonna talk about today, and WordPress support to help practice owners grow their business through online marketing.
And Daniel lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Liz, and two energetic boys. When he is not working, he enjoys hiking on the river, watching hockey, and enjoying a pour of bourbon. Welcome to the show, Daniel.
[00:06:06] Daniel Fava: Hello, Whitney. Thanks so much for having me back on.
[00:06:09] Whitney Owens: Yes, so really excited to talk about SEO services, website design, all that kind of stuff, and we were kind of talking through some topics today.
One of the things that you had presented that I thought was such a good topic was the changes with SEO that have happened in 2025. Yeah. So I am stoked to get into that concept today, but is there anything that I left out in your bio that you wanted to share with us?
[00:06:33] Daniel Fava: No, I don't, I don't think so. I think that pretty much sums it up.
Maybe, maybe just honing in on the energetic boys, because that's been Whew. They've been, their energy just has been on the rise and so we're, we're, my 4-year-old just had his last day of school yesterday and our 8-year-old will have his last day of school next week. So we are like on the, on the cusp of summary here.
Always interesting to see. How that's gonna be when you're balancing a business. And my wife has her private practice too, so you know, we tag team with the boys and so it's fun 'cause we have more time with them. But it's also, you know, it's a lot to juggle when you're running two businesses. So we'll see how it goes.
We'll see how it goes.
[00:07:11] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with those boys and yes, they are a lot of fun and a lot of energy, so Yes. That's so great. Yeah. And that whole balance of being a practice owner, entrepreneurs having kids. Same. I look forward to the summer because I don't have to get up so early.
[00:07:28] Daniel Fava: Yeah,
[00:07:29] Whitney Owens: yeah. But hey, you know, honey, who do you wanna go to work with today? I have a 12-year-old, so she, she can come to work. Yeah, that's
[00:07:35] Daniel Fava: good.
[00:07:35] Whitney Owens: But it's the juggle, that's for sure.
[00:07:37] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.
[00:07:39] Whitney Owens: Cool. All right, well let's chat SCO today. And so, go ahead Dana. What is it that's changed for 2025?
[00:07:47] Daniel Fava: Yeah, well there's, there's been a lot that's changed and you know, honestly this really started back in 2024 really, you know, it's kind of slowly happening over time.
You can kind of see the changes that Google's been making and, you know, I will kind of take a step back too, that a lot of you know, this stuff. I am also learning with Michael is our SEO specialist and he is like super in the weeds of all this stuff. And so I feel like I'm learning something new from him every week.
So. Some of this was really coming outta conversations and just my own learning with him, with, with, with what's been changing. But back in 2024, Google released like a major update to their algorithm, and, and they do that periodically and usually it's, it's smaller updates, things that they're tweaking.
But this was kind of a, a major shift in kind of how they're viewing search engine optimization, which I think is a, it's a good shift. I think overall you can kind of, hopefully, you know, through this conversation I can kinda share why this is good. It doesn't mean that. Oh, we're never gonna be, people are just never gonna be able to find us.
'cause they just keep changing the algorithm. We gotta try to kind of, you know, figure this all out and they just make it harder for us. But I think really Google wants to get their users to the answers of their, to their questions as quickly as possible and to the best answers of their questions. And so if you can kind of keep that in mind with how you do your website and how you create content.
And do that consistently. That's really gonna help. The, the way the things that they changed or kind of how they honed in on the, on these changes is they're calling it the EAT update. It's EEAT, I don't know if you've heard that term before. I, that before I, okay. So it, it was EAT, but then they extended it.
There's an extra E now, EEAT, which stands for experience, expertise, authorit, and trust. And so when you're creating content for your website, you need to make sure that you are. Putting that front and center, sharing your experience, sharing, you know, how have you helped folks in the past, you know, with your private practice, how are you an expert?
Like what trainings do you have? You know what, how. You know, your background, all that stuff. Authorit also kind of goes along with that experience because you become an authority in what you do, if you showcase that on your website, how you're helping folks. And that really builds trust, you know, over time.
And so we wanna be as helpful as possible. I. To those ideal clients that we're trying to serve, which I think to me means, you know, if we're being helpful, we're really thinking about those ideal clients and we're creating content with them in mind. So, kind of back to what I said, like I think these are good updates because it's no longer really just focused on the keyword, and we'll talk a little bit more about that.
But it's really, how can I serve my ideal clients, you know, before they even become clients. And so it's kind of a, it's a bit of a mindset shift because. It's really not about the quantity of content anymore, it's really about the quality and making sure that we're getting clients, potential clients to the answers to their question, uh, as quickly as possible with clear, helpful content.
Does that make sense? Mm-hmm.
[00:10:54] Whitney Owens: Yes. That's definitely a different way to think about it. So I'm glad we're having this conversation because I, I always, and I'm sure this stuff is still important, like I kind of go back to the simplicity of. The pain point, the transformation, the outcome, right. That I write my stuff like that when I'm speaking to people.
Yeah. But I'm also kind of hearing you say, maybe I need to sprinkle in some more why I am an expert at helping with that pain. How I am gonna help you with your transformation. I'm gonna get you to your outcome more so than we have been doing maybe.
[00:11:26] Daniel Fava: Right. Yeah. And you know, that kind of to showcase your, your experience, your expertise, you know, that might mean sharing more, maybe stories of transformation, you know, obviously keeping confidentiality in place.
But I think that when you get into. You know, blogging, consistent blogging, you're, you're sharing your expertise and you're sharing your experience over time. And so if you're doing that and your, your website is, is really turning into a helpful resource for current clients and potential clients, Google's gonna reward that over time.
So some of it is a little bit of the consistency piece, and a lot of it is just that being helpful and sharing your expertise over time. That really builds trust.
[00:12:13] Whitney Owens: Yeah, this really sounds to me like we're showcasing the importance of blogging.
[00:12:18] Daniel Fava: Yes. And that is one of my key points on my notes here.
Wonderful. Yeah, I mean all of these, I've got points here, but they all kind of really overlap. And you know, I think kind of the next thing that's really important to talk about is the shift in how we do keywords. Because historically it was, you know, it was all about keyword research. And let me find a keyword such as couples therapy.
Oh, 30,000 people search for couples therapy in Georgia each month. That must be a great keyword. So now I'm going to create a couple's therapy page and sprinkle that keyword. Couples therapy, couples therapy in like all these different places. It's not really about that anymore. It's really about the intent that the user has.
So are they looking for more information about, how does couples therapy work? Are they looking for like specifically Christian couples therapy in Atlanta? Maybe they're looking for resources to help with communication in their marriage. You know, it can get really nuanced and really specific. And so we're, we're trying to think about what's the state that someone's in when they're searching for something?
And that might mean, and I think this is really the biggest shift, that might mean I. Less. Less traffic, because this actually just came up with last week, came up last week. There was a client who was like, I I, I feel like I'm getting less traffic right now. Actually, when we looked at the numbers, it wasn't less traffic, but sometimes this does happen.
There's less traffic coming to the website after we've been doing a few months of SEO and the client starts freaking out. Like, how come there's less traffic? Well, because. This is a great analogy that, that Michael, my SEO guy had is it's a kind of picture. You have a storefront and you sell purses. I'll try to nail this analogy.
He did it so well. You have a storefront and you sell purses, and over the last year, who's been coming into your store? Well, it's been. Kids age eight to 15, and both women and men age 20 to 45. But really you're only selling purses. The only people who are buying those purses are maybe women age 30 to 40.
That's kind of like your ideal client. So what do we need to change in kind of how you're marketing or how you're putting yourself out there that's going to keep away those. Kids or men and focus in on only the people who are really have the intention of working with you to get them into your website and or into that store and per, you know, purchasing those purses.
So that's, that's kind of the, the mindset we have to take is that we need to think about who are the specific ideal clients that we want to come to our website. And it's not really about just going into Google Analytics and seeing, oh, I'm getting. You know, 500 users a month. Like, well, are those 500 users who are coming to your website and just bouncing off?
'cause they're not finding what they're looking for? Or are those 500 users really intent on working with you or the services that you and your practice offer. So, you know, with that kind of tips is like get really specific and, and kind of back to blogging. This is really. Where that can become really valuable because you can really focus in on those specific questions that those ideal clients are asking.
Even if it means a little bit less traffic, you're building up your website with those resources that are focused on those specific questions that people are asking, you know, that you and your team or your services can really help them with.
[00:15:44] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. That's, that's so great. Yeah. I was talking to someone the other day about.
How long people are on your website.
[00:15:51] Jingle: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:15:52] Whitney Owens: That used to be a metric that was watched a lot, you know, and, and they were saying, I'm not sure if that's as important as it used to be. It's more about how are they interacting on your site and are they actually calling? I. You know, that's what we're really looking more at than we used to.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah,
[00:16:07] Daniel Fava: I mean the, the engagement that's kind of part of an engagement metric, that's something that we're still, we wanna make sure, you know, that people are staying at on the website. Like if they are staying on it, that means they're probably consuming the content and looking through it. But then you can kind of get into even more details and kind of track where are they going after they're reading a blog post or a service page, if they're just dropping off and not.
Actually converting well then that gives you just more information to think about, oh, are, are my calls to action clear? Are, am I giving them the opportunity to convert? You know, that sort of thing. So that's kind of marrying SEO and conversion optimization together. But yeah, it's all, it's all data, it's all geeky, it's all, you know, little things for us to put on our detective hats and dig into.
[00:16:51] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Now is there a way to really track that conversion from your website to follow up? Or is that more something you have to kind of track on the intake side?
[00:17:03] Daniel Fava: It is a little bit of both. I mean, you can get, you can get really nuanced. I mean, you can set up specific links. I mean, there's, there's different, I know there's different softwares that can do it, but I, I always encourage people just to keep it, keep it simple.
It's always great to ask, you know, on the, on the intake site, intake side of things, you know, how did you, how did you hear about us? And you know, some people might say, I found you in Google. But you can also just, I mean, keep track of your numbers if you're. If you're actually investing time or money into SEO and you're seeing.
The amount of people hitting your website rise, and then also the amount of people who are calling or filling out an email. You know, it, it might not be one-to-one, not all those people may have came through Google, but you can start to kind of hone in a little bit and start tracking the trends, at least if you, instead of getting like, so, like in the weeds of it.
'cause that can be pretty overwhelming too.
[00:17:54] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Definitely. That's why you hire somebody to do it for you.
[00:17:57] Daniel Fava: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And. No, you, you talked about, well, let me pause there. Do you have any other, like, questions? I don't wanna just throw out a bunch of information. No, this is,
[00:18:07] Whitney Owens: no, this is great information.
I, I'll interrupt you when I have a question.
[00:18:10] Daniel Fava: Okay, good. I know sometimes I do that on my webinars. I can be just like a fire hose of information sometimes. Mm-hmm. Well, you mentioned, uh, like engagement, like time on the website, and that's also part of. User experience, what we call user experience, and this is, this is another shift that Google has really been making over the last year or two is, you know, they're able to know if people are interacting with your website and if they're not having a good experience with your website.
That goes back to, well, is this website actually helpful? So if people are bouncing off of your website, you know, they might click on your, your Google search results, you know, on that page. And then. Hit your website and then bounce off. You know, Google's tracking that and seeing that. And if that's a trend, then it understands, well, I guess this website isn't that helpful.
Let me show this other private practice in the search results a little bit higher. So we also wanna think about how people are engaging with your website, and some of that really comes down to like performance. Like does it load quickly as you click through the pages? Does each page load in less than three seconds?
Is, is. Typically what we shoot for less is always better. Of course. Is it easy to find what they're looking for? And so a, a lot of the work that we're doing now as we're starting our work with new SEO clients is really cleaning up the menu, like making sure that there's not, I. 8, 9, 10 menu items, you know that those first initial menu items you see on a website and making sure that all those pages are organized well, we're kind of creating these structures of, of content, you know, even breaking things up like we just did this on my wife's website.
She's really focused on relationships. So there's relationships with self is kind of typically like the individual. Counseling is usually what you see on a website. But it's a little bit more nuanced than that because there's also like dating therapy for individuals. I don't know. It sounds like a little bit more of how people talk to say like, Hey, this is a, this is an issue, like a relationship with myself, things I want to grow in.
And then there's relationships with others is where couples therapy or dating. Therapy for couples can go under that. There's also family therapy, can be relationships with others, you know, stuff like that. So we're, we're trying to use these terms that people may be using a little more conversational, but also keeping those silos of where can people go to get what, you know, what they're, what they're looking for as quickly as possible.
So we want them to have a good experience on the website and. Sometimes that might mean redesigning a website because sometimes things get just clunky over time, or it just hasn't been laid out in a way that people can find what they're looking for. Able to skim through the content quickly and easily.
It doesn't load, that sort of thing. So, you know, that's something to think about too, if you've just kind of hit that point where you're really trying to. Force so much of this stuff in, you might have to think holistically and, and re redesign the website. Work with someone who can, who can do that in such a way that you're hitting these user experience factors.
[00:21:21] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well that's a good point. I, I guess I would've thought about it if I thought enough about it, but this idea that the websites have the most. Engagement are the ones they keep ranking higher. That that makes a lot of sense. So you used this word, and I've heard it from Michael because I also work with y'all silo.
Yeah. Would you like to talk about what Silo is?
[00:21:44] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good question. Yeah. So when we talk about like silo content, it's really thinking about kind of back to that sort of shift in keywords. It's almost like we're not so focused on that. Specific keywords such as couples therapy, but we're, we're focusing more on the topic of couples therapy.
Mm-hmm. Or, you know, the topic of maybe trauma therapy. And we're creating these silos of content that all lead to that service. So this might mean you have a landing page on your website that's devoted to couples therapy. You know, it, it should be detailed really. Hone in on the challenges that someone's facing when they'd come to you for couples therapy, answer frequently asked questions, stuff like that.
But then we also want to start building that, that expertise, that trustworthiness, and so that's where we might have 5, 6, 7 blog posts that are all. Kind of related to couples therapy, but they're, they're a little more nuanced. They're more specific about those, those questions that that ideal client might be asking.
And so those pages are linking back to that, excuse me, back to that, that landing page for couples therapy. And then this way, if someone lands on that blog post, they're. They're getting answers to their questions. You're being helpful, and then they're finding more information about how you work with someone Similar to them.
If they wanted to go deeper, they wanted to connect with you and start, you know, start working with you. Mm-hmm. And so we're really just, we're, we're kind of undergirding that landing page with more content that really showcases that expertise. That, that trustworthiness, you know, that piece and, and one thing that we also love to do, kind of from that user experience engagement perspective is once you have those blog posts, put those on that landing page.
You know, there could be a section on that couple's therapy page that says, you know, I. Read more articles about couples therapy or articles related to couples therapy. So if someone is not ready to really take that next step, you know, they might see a headline that interests them and they can, they can stay on your site longer.
You're being helpful. You know, you're giving them resources in the meantime.
[00:23:56] Whitney Owens: Yeah. That's great. It's so it's a little similar to pillar based marketing.
[00:23:59] Daniel Fava: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's concept. Yeah.
[00:24:02] Whitney Owens: Okay.
[00:24:02] Daniel Fava: Yeah, exactly. You can kind of interchange those. We just call 'em silos. So,
[00:24:06] Jingle: yeah. Wonderful.
[00:24:08] Daniel Fava: Yeah, so I think, you know, we've been touching on blogging and as you know, I'll say that that is, I think, becoming more, more, more and more important because of, you know what, you know, what we're talking about here is creating that trustworthiness, and it's just been proven that, you know, those websites that really become just great resources for those ideal clients, they've got a bulk of content, and I know that that can be.
Kind of scary to hear or frustrating. 'cause I know there's, there's still plenty of people that, you know, when I consult with, they're like. They'll literally, literally say, are you gonna tell me that I need to do blogging? I'm like, well, yeah. If you want to really excel, you know, in SEO and get folks to your website, then yeah.
I'm sorry. You, you, you're gonna have to, I. Find a way to do that. And you know, honestly, that doesn't mean that you write every single blog post. It could mean working with someone you know at like, like private practice elevation to help write those blog posts if you have a team. I think this is, this is the best if you, if you have a team, if find a way that works for you and your team to contribute.
Articles, you know, maybe you, you have your team do one article each month and put that on the website. 'cause you know they're gonna have specific expertise that you don't have, or another team member might not have. You could have one team member as the only one who does Christian trauma therapy. So you want to really showcase that, that, that a clinician on your website and blogging is a great way to do this and.
I know my wife has had multiple new clients come to them and want to work with one of her team members because they read her blog posts and were like, I found that so helpful. I wanna work with so and so. You know? And that was part of the intake and why they reached out. 'cause they decided to work with that individual therapist and, and it all points back to that expertise, that being helpful, you know, because she was just sharing her expertise and her experience and.
It worked. You know, that person trusted, trusted them from that content. And it's really, you know, it comes down to like, you know, really showcasing that, that expertise.
[00:26:15] Whitney Owens: I do think blocking is one of those things that we think is gonna be really challenging, difficult, and therapists just get all up in their heads about it, when really if you just sit down Yeah.
Solid. Really. Maybe even 30 minutes. Like you can nail it out. Yeah. I remember one day I was like, oh, I got this idea, but I gotta go get my hair. And so, mm-hmm. I was walk, actually, I get my hair cut down the road from my office, so I get to walk to get my hair in the middle of it. That's great. Yeah. It's really great.
But I was like, okay, I wanna write a blog post on the five reasons why you should be a private pay practice, or why you shouldn't be on insurance panel.
[00:26:49] Jingle: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:50] Whitney Owens: And I just like pulled out my phone and dictated the whole thing. You know? Mm-hmm. Had a, I had a whole page.
[00:26:56] Daniel Fava: Yeah.
[00:26:57] Whitney Owens: By the time I got down the street, sent it to my admin, I said, make this look prettier.
It's like it doesn't have to be so complicated and really, therapist, we're so knowledgeable. We like to share what we know we share with our clients every day. Just keep an iPad, write it down, and you have voice. Message it right after the session and you'll have blogs.
[00:27:15] Daniel Fava: Yeah, absolutely. I think that.
Therapists carry just so much expertise and so much experience. Mm-hmm. If you can find a way that works for you, you know, I love that, like, like doing voice memos and, and things like that. Obviously we can't talk about blogging without talking about AI now. You know, I think that that's, that's really been so helpful.
You know, and I will kind of caveat, caveat that with. Don't just tell chat GPT to create a blog post for you. Start use it as a, you know, as a resource to create outlines. You know, I, I do this all the time for, for my podcast now, you know, create an outline and then I fill in the gaps. I speak to the key points, you know, or if it gives me points that, oh, I wanna talk about this more, you know, you can refine that outline, but you have.
Something that you can then fill in the gaps with your expertise and speak to. And that way it becomes unique. It becomes, you know, just, yeah, just unique to you and your experience, and that helps you share that experience. But I think AI has been fantastic because you could say, give me 10. 10 topics. You know, you can give it your website and say, here's my website, here's my ideal client.
Give me 10 topics that I can write articles about. And then, so that could be your starting point. And then your next point is schedule that time to actually write and do it. You know, you sit down and you say, oh, this is what I used to do. It's like, I'm, I'm excited to talk about, to write about this topic and then, you know, get started on.
Putting that blog post together. And I'd say just be consistent with it is really the biggest thing. Like find a practice that works for you because over time it's just gonna get more keywords on your website. It's gonna help you showcase that expertise we've been talking about. And, and you're gonna, you're gonna see results.
It just, it sometimes takes a little bit of time, you know, really. But really I think it's so helpful. And that was really my story with my own website. When I started working with therapists back in 2016. It was like. I think for two years I did a blog post once a week and I just filled up my website with all this content and there's still, there's posts to this day that still rank high for some searches and still bring in people to the website.
A similar story for my wife and her private practice. There's still blog posts that she's written, I think back in like 2018. That. I think her number one blog post as far as Traffic, new Year's users to the website was this detailed blog post about Prepare Enrich, and I think last time I checked that blog post ranks underneath the Prepare Enrich website.
It's like this, it's like the number two spot. Last time I checked, that was a few months ago, but. All that to say, it's like you could write a blog post that just does really well, and then you can also revise that blog post years later as we have to make sure that we have more calls to action. We're driving people where we want them to go.
You know, you can just, you never know what's gonna happen, but if you're consistent, you'll see those. Some blog posts will rise to the top and then it just gives you more data to work with, things to optimize further in the future, and you know, just keeps you on that growth trajectory.
[00:30:20] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's great.
You have any other things there on your list?
[00:30:25] Daniel Fava: I think that's it. We kind of, we hopped around a little bit, but I think those are really the main, the main points. Yeah.
[00:30:31] Whitney Owens: Great. 'cause I have a question. I wanted to make sure we got all your
[00:30:33] Daniel Fava: points first. Great. Yes.
[00:30:34] Whitney Owens: So with the increase of like. Corporate mental health platforms and I mean, look, they got a lot more money and ability to invest CO than mm-hmm.
A lot of therapists. So I was just curious if you had anything to say about kind of that new paradigm that we're dealing with.
[00:30:51] Daniel Fava: Yeah, I think it's definitely a challenge. Uh, those folks are obviously throwing a lot of money behind, you know, the sponsored links, you know, the sponsored Google search results.
But I think. And this is maybe a little hopeful. And maybe just the way that I think about it is at the end of the day, we are, we're defaulting back to that like being as helpful as possible to those ideal clients and providing unique and good quality content and services. And I think that over time that'll, that is still gonna rise to the top.
And yes, as far as like. People's attention spans. Sometimes those sponsored links might win out, but I think people are also smart too, and they see those kind of pop up first and maybe some of the people who are looking for those platforms that are cheaper and, and will think, provide as greatest services to the the, the audience that we're talking to here.
You know? So I think that. People who are still providing excellent services and content on their website and helpful content are still gonna rise to the top. It might just take a little bit of time, but you know, I think back to that analogy of like, we don't want everyone coming to the website. We just want mm-hmm.
Those specific people coming to the website, so. Really just start getting specific to the, the questions that you're answering with your blogs and, and, and start that consistency piece. And I think you'll, you'll still rise to the top and if you're investing in this stuff too and putting the time in, you'll hopefully start appearing in, in the AI results as well.
You know, so it's, it might take some time, but yeah, it is. It is a factor, but I still think that, you know, the people that we're working with, we just provide great services and I, I think that those great services are gonna rise to the top over time.
[00:32:42] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you saying that. And you've mentioned a few times time, you know, and, and I, I feel really grateful as I look back, I'm like, I started my practice in 2014, you know, and then, yeah, I made my first website, but ultimately it's just improved over time.
And so I think, I guess what I'm saying is if a therapist is listening right now thinking, oh, you know, I haven't really invested in my website, it's like, go ahead and do it now. Yeah. Because you're losing time. Yeah. And that's, yeah. An authority that you can gain mm-hmm. Will really put you ahead later and like you never know what's gonna happen.
Yeah. Like with our world, with other therapists, with these big companies, the more you can get ahead, the better.
[00:33:24] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:33:25] Whitney Owens: So you've got that.
[00:33:26] Daniel Fava: Yeah. I use the analogy of like investing in a 401k like all the time, because if you're, if you're putting one blog post on your website each month, that's great.
That's a startup. That's all you can do. But if you can put four blog posts each month on your website. That's just more content and you're having that time factor work with you to compound those results of traffic. Mm-hmm. And yeah, it's always great if you do have a website that's, it's been established for a long time and that is definitely helpful.
[00:33:57] Whitney Owens: That was a really good analogy right there. Thank you. Yes. All the time. How often they should blog, so now I'm gonna be like, look, Daniel Fava says,
[00:34:07] Daniel Fava: great. Yeah. I say it all the awesome. I say it all the time. All the time. Great. Because everybody wants just like a specific number. It's really not a specific number.
There's also, there's also the factor of just how much time do you have to invest in this, and you have to balance that in your business too.
[00:34:22] Whitney Owens: Totally. Totally. Well, I'm excited 'cause you will be at the WAS Practice summit. Yes. So that's gonna be October 9th through the 11th in Greenville, South Carolina.
So. Private practice elevation will be there with a table. Are you gonna have a spinning wheel again? Maybe.
[00:34:37] Daniel Fava: We'll see, I did that the last two years, right? Two, three, I don't know. Yeah, we'll see. I, I always wanna do something fun, but then it's, yeah. Sometimes life gets a, gets away from me, but we'll see.
[00:34:48] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, y'all always also have the best swag.
[00:34:51] Daniel Fava: Thank you. So
[00:34:52] Whitney Owens: we always talk about that, and I, I'm thinking about bringing
[00:34:54] Daniel Fava: back the mugs.
[00:34:56] Whitney Owens: Oh my gosh. Bring the mugs like
[00:34:57] Daniel Fava: a new, like a new color so people can start collecting like the colors.
[00:35:01] Whitney Owens: Wow. I still, I still need to just take your logo and make my own sweatpants.
It's like my goal is to wear sweatpants with my private practice elevation. The T-shirts are just so comfortable. Awesome.
[00:35:12] Daniel Fava: But yeah, we'll
[00:35:12] Whitney Owens: have to, I've got my fed of mugs at home and I use them every single day.
[00:35:16] Daniel Fava: We, we use 'em all the time too. I got one in the background. That's it. I think that's the last one that I'm not, I'm not like using it.
It's just more of a display in my office.
[00:35:24] Whitney Owens: That's perfect. Alright, well we're excited about having you at the summit. So for those of you listening, if you don't have your ticket for the summit or you're interested and connecting with faith-based practice owners. Please come and meet more people. And then what I also just really love is we get these great sponsors all in one room.
You know these experts in different areas that can really help people with their private practice. So you can go talk to a website expert at the conference, learn more about improving your website and all the good stuff, all in one spot. So it's really lovely. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Daniel, thank you.
You always are a wealth of information. I appreciate you and your friendship and of course Liz and looking forward to seeing y'all in person in October.
[00:36:08] Daniel Fava: Yeah, thanks so much, Whitney. Appreciate it. It's, it's always fun to chat with you and hang out.
[00:36:15] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice
[00:36:29] Whitney Owens: Podcast. Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
