WP209 | It Might Be Your Website, Not Your Marketing with Daniel Fava
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You’re investing in SEO, running Google Ads, and trying to get your practice in front of more people. But the inquiries aren’t coming as consistently as you hoped.
Before you increase your marketing budget, there’s another question worth asking: What happens after someone lands on your website?
In this episode, Whitney Owens welcomes back Daniel Fava, founder of Private Practice Elevation, to discuss how your website could be limiting your marketing results. Together, they explore what helps visitors take the next step, which numbers deserve your attention, and how AI is changing the way potential clients find therapists.
More Traffic Won’t Fix Every Website Problem
It’s easy to assume that more visitors will mean more clients. But if your website leaves people confused about who you help or how to get started, increasing traffic may simply bring more people to the same obstacles.
Daniel encourages practice owners to look at the website itself before investing more heavily in traffic. Can visitors quickly tell whether your practice serves their needs? Does the language speak to the challenges they’re facing? Is the next step easy to find?
A website can look attractive and still make it difficult for someone to reach out. Design, messaging, and navigation all play a role in helping potential clients move from interest to inquiry.
Let Your Numbers Guide Your Next Investment
Marketing decisions often come with strong feelings. You might feel like you need more blog posts, better SEO, or a completely new website. Your data can help you figure out where to focus.
Daniel recommends tracking how many people visit your website and how many take action. Looking at those numbers together gives you more information than tracking inquiries alone.
For example, if 100 people visit your website and one reaches out, your visitor-to-inquiry conversion rate is 1%. If improvements help three people reach out from the same 100 visits, that rate becomes 3%. You’ve increased inquiries without needing additional traffic.
That’s why Daniel generally recommends addressing a website that needs a redesign before putting more money into SEO. Improving the experience for visitors can help you get more value from future marketing efforts.
Make the Next Step Clear
When Daniel’s team redesigned Whitney’s practice website, they built around a specific goal: encouraging potential clients to call.
That decision came from Whitney’s intake data. Her practice had found that phone inquiries were more likely to become clients than contact forms, emails, or online appointment requests.
The website’s calls to action reflected that information, making the phone number and invitation to call easy to find.
Your practice may have a different process. The important question is whether your website clearly guides visitors toward a next step your team can support.
Daniel also emphasizes what happens after someone reaches out. A clear call to action needs a responsive intake process behind it. Answering the phone or following up promptly can make a meaningful difference when someone is contacting multiple therapists.
Track How People Contact Your Practice
Whitney shares that her practice tracks conversion rates separately for different inquiry methods. In her experience, contact forms and emails converted at approximately 30%, online portal requests at 50–60%, and phone calls at 70–80%.
Those figures reflect her practice’s experience, rather than a benchmark every practice should expect. But they illustrate why separating your data matters.
If you only track total inquiries and new clients, you may miss patterns that could inform your website and staffing decisions. Knowing how people reach out—and what happens next—can help you build a more effective intake process.
Write Content Around Your Ideal Clients’ Questions
Daniel encourages practice owners to get specific about the questions potential clients ask before contacting a therapist.
A parent looking for help for their teenager may need different information than someone considering couples therapy or EMDR. Your content should reflect those differences.
Consider what visitors need to understand about your services, what might make them hesitate, and what would help them feel ready to reach out.
This also connects to the episode’s discussion of AI search. Daniel describes how people may use AI tools to research therapists and treatment options before visiting individual websites. He recommends creating clear, useful content that directly addresses your ideal clients’ concerns.
Look Beyond Website Traffic Alone
Whitney has an aha moment during the conversation: her website traffic hasn’t increased dramatically, but her conversions have improved.
Daniel explains that changes in how people search can complicate the picture. Website visits remain useful to track, but they don’t tell the whole story of how someone discovers your practice.
They discuss looking for referral traffic from AI tools in analytics and continuing to ask clients how they heard about the practice. Combining those sources can help you better understand the path from discovery to inquiry.
Build a Plan Before You Redesign
Daniel also introduces his Digital Trail Map session, a two-hour conversation exploring a practice’s story, ideal clients, brand voice, and website needs. The session produces a brand guide and recommendations that practice owners can use to plan their next steps.
The broader takeaway is to get clear about what your website needs to accomplish before investing in changes. Understanding your audience, your numbers, and your intake process gives you a stronger starting point.
Meet Daniel Fava
Daniel Fava is the owner and founder of Private Practice Elevation, a website and SEO agency focused on helping private practice owners create websites that increase their online visibility and attract more clients. Private Practice Elevation offers web design services, SEO (search engine optimization), website copywriting, and WordPress support to help private practice owners grow their businesses through online marketing.
Daniel lives in Atlanta, GA, with his wife Liz and two energetic boys. When he’s not working, he enjoys hiking by the river, watching hockey, and enjoying a pour of bourbon.
Daniel Fava’s Resources
Digital Trailmap Session (Get $50 off with the code WISE)
Links and Resources
The Ethical Google Reviews Checklist
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
Connect with Whitney Owens on Facebook
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Building a thriving faith-based private practice isn't easy. It takes courage, wisdom, and commitment to lead your business without compromising your faith and values. I'm Whitney Owens, the owner of a seven-figure multi-location group practice and founder of Wise Practice Consulting. Every week on the podcast, I share real strategies, lessons, and conversations that come from actively leading my own practice, helping practice owners across the country do the same.
Whether you're building a solo practice or growing a team, this podcast is here to equip you, empower you, and remind you, I believe in what God's called you to. You don't have to do it alone. Welcome to the Wise Practice podcast. Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome back to the show. Looking forward to introducing you again to Daniel Fava, who is our website expert, SEO, amazing person, and so knowledgeable.
And we're really gonna hone in on websites today because I think so many practice owners are putting all their time and energy into their marketing wondering why it's not working, and it might actually be their website that's not working. So Daniel's gonna hit on that today. Before we get into that, just something I've been thinking about as a practice owner, and you very likely can relate, or really as a business owner.
So often life can feel like you're taking so many steps backward, right? Like, we can think that we've gotten through something and that we're on the other side of it, and then all of a sudden we get hit in the gut and we say, "Oh gosh, maybe I really haven't dealt with that the way I thought I had." I think that can come in so many different ways, and we know that being an entrepreneur, it will really hit on some things very close to home.
So like the example of you think that you're not concerned about what your therapists think about you anymore, and then all of a sudden they say something and you care a lot. Or you think that you're confident in your ability as a clinician, and then something happens with a client and you're like, "Did I not get through that?
Am I not where I wanna be?" And I think a lot of times we can take these setbacks, and I use air quotes to say that, and think that that means that we haven't done the work or that God's not with us or why am I still in this place that I was in? And I wanna give a reframe to that, that sometimes what seems like a setback is actually movement forward.
And what I mean in that is not only the awareness that maybe we weren't where we thought we were, because it's been there, you just weren't aware of it, but that God has a greater place of healing he wants to bring you to. And it's only through going through those difficult moments that we can embrace that place of healing and move forward within it.
So yeah, maybe the thing that my therapist said to me really stung, but maybe that's how God's gonna use it to say, "Hey, Whitney, you're still looking for the praise of other people and you need to just look at me." Or maybe I have a discouraging moment in my clinical work and it's reminding me that I need to depend on God in my, in my work and in what I'm doing.
Or that I don't always have to have it together the way I thought I did So this is something that I have been chewing on. Recently had an experience where I thought I had already processed and worked through things in therapy years ago, and all of a sudden it came up again because something happened in my life, and that doesn't mean that I'm taking- going back.
I might take a small step back, but it really is gonna push me forward because now I'm gonna understand better how to do it. I love how Richard Rohr talks about healing and the idea of spiral dynamics, that healing is going upward, right? Like a spiral going up, but it kind of comes back around as it goes up.
So then we kind of come back to the same issue, but we process it faster and better, and we move on from it and learn from it faster than we did before, and I think that's a beautiful analogy. So I hope that brings someone a word of encouragement today, 'cause it's something that has been encouraging me, that I have been processing, thinking through, and so I hope it does for you, too.
So we are gonna head into the episode today. Uh, now that I've given you your little sermon for the day, we're gonna talk with Daniel Fava, and we're gonna talk about how your website might actually be the problem
[00:04:10] Daniel Fava: with your marketing
[00:04:14] Whitney Owens: Well, hello friends. I'm excited to have a guest back, and when I have a guest back that means that they have lots of great information to provide for y'all. And so we have Daniel Fava here. He's the owner and founder of Private Practice Elevation, a website and SEO agency focused on helping practice owners create websites that increase their online visibility and attract more clients.
Private Practice Elevation offers website design services, SEO, website copy, and WordPress support to help practice owners grow their business through online marketing. Daniel lives in Atlanta with his wife, Liz, and two energetic boys. When he's not working, he's hiking along the river, watching hockey, or enjoying a pour of bourbon.
Thanks for coming on the show today, Daniel.
[00:04:56] Daniel Fava: Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Whitney. It's good to be back.
[00:04:58] Whitney Owens: Of course. I can't remember how many times you've come on, but we can always talk because website stuff is always changing.
[00:05:06] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah, and I think this is maybe either the three or four- Mm-hmm ... fourth time that I've been on, and you've been on my podcast multiple times as well, so it's great we get...
Yeah, it keeps changing, so it's great that we get to keep connecting. It's like, what are you doing? What's working? What's not working? How are things changing? So yeah, great to be back.
[00:05:22] Whitney Owens: Totally. Totally. Well, I don't think I've had you on since you redid my website.
[00:05:27] Daniel Fava: No, I don't think so.
[00:05:28] Whitney Owens: So we should talk about that- Yeah
for just a minute because- Yeah ... I wanna, like, show it off. Um, and then we can kinda talk about- Websites and marketing, so we're gonna talk about that too. But, um, yeah, so I just wanted to let people know that y'all did my website a few years ago, and I know a lot of times people are worried, stressed, like, "Is it worth the investment?"
Because websites... I mean, I'm sure you hear that from practice owners all the time. Yeah. It's a huge investment. Yeah. But I am so pleased. I had started out bootstrapping, just like so many practice owners, right? Who don't know what I'm doing, made a website, then I hired somebody who had a master's degree and was like, "Here, you make my website.
You seem like you're legit." And then I had tons of people touch it along the way. And- Yeah ... and you can explain, Daniel, what did it look like?
[00:06:13] Daniel Fava: It looked good, and it was working. I know we had those conversations. It was working, but for where you were heading and, you know, and growing a team too, like an internal team, to have to touch it and update it, it was a big headache, you know, for you all.
And I know obviously, as most people, and what we're gonna talk about today, you want the website to really serve the business, both converting well, you know, new clients obviously. But two, if you're, if you have a team or you're growing a team and you're having other people update the website, you want it to be easy to use in the back end.
And, and I know our own team, when we were trying to do work on your website for you, we, we were hitting lots of walls, and we couldn't make it, you know, look as beautiful as we wanted it to. So, you know, we had that conversation like, "Hey, let, let's do a redesign. Let's really think through this and make sure it serves you."
[00:07:02] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, the redesign was not very challenging, at least as a practice owner. I mean, there were a few questions I had to answer along the way, but overall, I mean, y'all did all the work. And I was opening my second location, so I wanted to really specify- Right ... the different locations. And, uh, I guess it's now been almost a year.
Yeah, 'cause I think it was around- Yeah ... the summit last year- Yep, yep ... we recorded here in September. But, um, yeah, so it's been going really well, so I'm really happy to have made my investment, so
[00:07:29] Daniel Fava: yep. Yeah, it was a great project, and yeah, we really appreciate working with you and your support. And, uh, and I know w- we'll...
I plan to talk more about it, too, in our conversation here- Oh, great ... you know, because, you know, we're talking about, you know, conversion and optimizing for conversions on your website and stuff like that. I know that you... You're really big on numbers, and you teach about numbers, and so that's certainly a big aspect to it, and we can talk about some of the things that, you know, that we put into the project and that you thought through to really, you know, hit your goals.
[00:07:56] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Awesome. Wonderful. Well, this whole topic started because we were talking about websites offline, you and I, through email, and so many practice owners come to me and they say, "I don't know why I'm not getting clients." Because they're- Yeah ... investing in SEO, they're, you know, doing Google Ads, they're doing all the things, and it's not working, and so we wanna talk kind of about that.
So what would you say are the thing... What's the thing that's not working, actually?
[00:08:26] Daniel Fava: Yeah, well, I, I think, like, before we get into all that, it's even taking a step back, too. Um, because, yeah, like the same thing for, for us at Private Practice Elevation. You know, we have lots of people reach out. You know, we have a, a 15-minute quick call to just learn a little bit about the situation, and I hear a lot of people, you know, say, even before they're doing SEO or Google Ads, like, "I've heard I'm supposed to do this," you know?
Like, "I should do SEO," or "I'm not getting enough clients, so it's gotta be SEO," you know? Like, "Let's just turn on the tap of traffic coming to the website." You know, and same thing for ads. Like, y- you can... You know, there's two ways to get traffic. It's either you do SEO, which is a little bit more of a long-term strategy, or you can pay up front quickly to get traffic to the website.
You know, there's maybe more ways, but those are the two main sort of ways when we think about marketing for a website. You know, you could do those things. Well, what if it's the website, you know, itself is not really working? What if it's- You know, the fact that if you pay to get more people to the website, and then they're not able to find...
people are not able to find what they need, they're not able to take that next step with you, or it's not clear they're in the right place, and you serve them and their challenges that they're looking for help with, you know, well, then we need to even start there with the website itself and kind of plug up the leaks there, you know, before we go and invest in all these other things, because then it can end up being a waste of money.
And unfortunately, there has been a number of folks that we've worked with that, for whatever reasons, they say, "Yeah, let's go into SEO. Like, let's do that." You know, that's fine, and we can certainly see improvements and, you know, help them hit some of their goals. But there tends to be this place, you know, when we kind of inherit a website that we haven't built and really thought through holistically their ideal client and the messaging and all that stuff, you hit a ceiling, you know, eventually, and that could be six months, that could be two years.
But, you know, then it, it becomes this, "Okay, we've kind of done what we've known to do, but we believe you can get more conversions on this website, you know, same traffic coming through, but more conversions, meaning more clients, you know, if we take a step back, redesign the website, really focus in on, you know, what's gonna help improve this website and convert."
So, you know, like I mentioned for you, you- you're very big on numbers. That's really a good place to start before you even think about investing in anything. Understand the, the key, you know, the key- the KPIs of your website. You know, how much traffic are you getting? How many inquiries, phone calls, people reaching out?
A- and really be tracking that so that you can understand really where the gaps are.
[00:11:04] Whitney Owens: Most definitely I'm just thinking back as I was hearing you talk about the SEO part, and it was like I had done a lot of work on SEO. Yeah. But yeah, you're right. It was like the website needed something different to be able to best utilize the SEO, I guess, for a way.
[00:11:20] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, and that, you know, that's kind of just what happens. Like our websites become stale. A lot has changed in the last two years, so so many people are coming to us saying, "Hey, my website worked. I didn't need to do anything. You know, I was just getting clients." But so much has changed now, so even the same traffic, if you're getting the same traffic, is not converting the way that it used to.
So it's, it's really worth, you know, a fresh look at your website so that you can understand what are the ways that we can really connect with those ideal clients, answer specific questions. Um, we can certainly get into kind of like AI and making sure that's showing up in AI. But, you know, there's, there's a lot of nuance to this.
You know, not just send a bunch of people to a website, but then how do we make sure, excuse me, that we're connecting with folks and driving them towards that next step that we want them to take?
[00:12:13] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm thinking someone could be listening and thinking, uh, am I, I wouldn't say wasting my marketing dollars, don't know if it's quite wasted, but am I best not utilizing it 'cause my website's getting in the way?
And if that is the case, how do we know that?
[00:12:32] Daniel Fava: Uh, I think it comes down to really understanding your numbers and also too, like I always try to encourage people to kind of keep an open mind on this because numbers... It's one reason I love numbers, you know, because you can, you can have all these feelings when it comes to marketing.
Like- Yes ... I do it in, in my own business. Like, "Oh, I think I need to write more content about this, and this is what my clients need." You know, and that sort of thing. And while it's good to do that, ultimately looking at the numbers, you know, whether people are actually reading your blog posts. Are people engaging with your website?
How long are they staying on the pages? The webs- the, the numbers behind the website really tell the ultimate truth. And if you are doing SEO and, you know, and I don't think it's, it's wasted money. It's all information. Because if, especially if you're working with somebody who gets really clear on, you know, that starting point of those KPIs and those numbers, then we could start, like what we do in PPE, we do 90-day strategy sprints, you know?
And so we're, "Okay, here's where your numbers were. We could see that there's- people are landing on this page, but they're not taking action. So in the first 90 days we're gonna shore up, you know, how people are engaging with these certain pages." That's, you know, like a low-hanging fruit. So then after 90 days or, you know, six months of work, we have that much more information, you know, a- across the board of how many people are seeing your website on Google, how many people are visiting the website, how many people are then taking the next step.
So, you know, it's, I don't think it's ever wasted because it's all information, because that is what ultimately helps you decide and takes the sort of the subjective emotion out of it to say, "Okay, you know, it looks like people just aren't really finding what they're looking for, or they're bouncing off of our website.
I think it might be time to make this website more professional, cleaner, simplified, to streamline, you know, how this traffic is interacting with the website."
[00:14:28] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, a big question I also get from practice owners, and I never know how to answer this well, is they're needing SEO, but they're also needing a new website.
[00:14:40] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:40] Whitney Owens: And so how do, how do we navigate that? Which one do we go after first?
[00:14:46] Daniel Fava: I would always recommend going after the website first. And I think that, you know, too, just to preface that also is like, there's always things that we can do, you know, as far as SEO goes. It's kind of like you could optimize to the rest of your life, you know?
But there's certain things that are the lower hanging fruit or things that also too that you can, you can work on that are off of your website while your website is redesigned. But again, to like back to where we started is, you know, if you're just getting the same amount of traffic or increasing the traffic but your conversion rate stays the same, well, then you're, you're working harder to really convert that traffic.
But if you take a step back and say, "Okay, like let's think holistically about my website. Is it branded well? Is the, the voice-- does the voice really represent my practice as a brand and does it resonate with my ideal clients?" And then the next step, like does the design match up with the feeling I want people to have and do people...
Are people able to flow through all the content on the website in a way that's gonna get them to that next step? And then ultimately, can we get it to convert at a higher level? You know, because then if even if you're getting the same amount of traffic to the website, you're often seeing those conversions increase, you know.
So if you're getting 100 people to the website and one person converts a month, you know, it's 1%. So if you increase it to three people, you've increased it to 3%, you know. And then going back into those marketing tactics of SEO or ads, you're then getting more traffic, but you're carrying that 3% forward, you know what I mean?
So it's- Sure ... it's typical. We see it a lot too with, you know, folks who come to us and are like, "You know, my website is doing decent, but I know that, you know, we wanna grow, we wanna grow our team. I'm getting a lot of referrals from, you know, whatever it is," like a hospital or even people who are on insurance panels.
You know, they're, they're getting a lot of traffic from those insurance, uh, directories and websites. But when we then come in and we refine the process, the design, the copy, we often see an increase, you know, in conversions because everything, you know, the people are able to flow and find what they need, um, you know, more easily, and it converts at a higher level.
[00:16:57] Whitney Owens: I love this because so many people base their marketing on just inquiries, right? But they're missing this part.
[00:17:05] Daniel Fava: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:05] Whitney Owens: Um, so I think I looked this up one time, and I can't remember off the top of my head. Maybe you will. What's the percentage of people who reach out to people that come to your site? Like, what should I be aiming for?
[00:17:19] Daniel Fava: I think average is around, like, 3 to 5%. I think that's typically what we're, what we're shooting for, uh, with our, our SEO team is aiming for that. So anything below three is a little underperforming, and then above, you know, 5% you're, you're doing really good.
[00:17:34] Whitney Owens: Now I'm gonna think for a few minutes about where we're at.
I think we're getting... You know, I'm, I'm thinking about my website as we're talking.
[00:17:41] Daniel Fava: Yeah. I
[00:17:41] Whitney Owens: mean, our conversions are definitely better, and now I'm realizing it's because we spent a lot of time really honing in on the branding of Water's Edge and, like, communicating that better. Yeah. And the whole feel of the website is more of who we are- Yeah
in a lot of ways. And I wonder how much that's really contributing to the increased conversions we've had. But I would say we have about 10% inquiries for the number of people- Okay ... per week that come to the website. Yeah. So that's- That's great ... pretty amazing.
[00:18:09] Daniel Fava: Yeah. That's phenomenal. So great job. Thanks.
And I, I think there's, there's two... You know, there's things that we could also... I would love to talk about, you know, for your website, some of the things that people can think through-
[00:18:19] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm ...
[00:18:20] Daniel Fava: you know, on conversion. You know, I think obviously people are, "Okay, well, what can I do on my website now?" And I think one of the things that really stood out to me with your project, your website, is that you were so clear on what's the next step for someone to take.
You know, like, the clearest call to action, and because, you know, for you, you've got somebody who does all the intake. You try to be live on the phones. It's really ultimately the best thing they can do is call now, you know? And so for your website, even all the buttons, even on a desktop, say Call and then your number, you know, right there.
And so, you know, that was one of the things that we thought through, and I know we went back and forth on, okay, what happens on the desktop? Even though it says Call, you know, we ultimately send people to the contact page. But I think it also hones in, too, that- We want them to call. We want them to pick up the phone and call, and that's really gonna be the fastest way, you know, to, to get, you know, in touch with Water's Edge.
So I think that that was one great thing that we did on your website, was to really, you know, repeat that, make it clear this is the next step with us, is really pick up the phone and call. And so, you know, for folks listening, it's find out what is that one step, and also, too, how can you cut down any friction to get people to take that next step?
And then sort of the next part is you gotta respond. Really, like, the people who respond live or as quickly as possible are likely going to get that client, because a lot of people who are reaching out, they're reaching out to mult- multiple therapists. There's so many people that I hear that from that, like, "I got so many people who say, 'Oh, you're the first one to call me back,' or, 'You're the only one who picked up the phone.'"
You know, and so, you know, that's just kind of across the board, making sure that you have that process in place to really, you know, connect with people as quickly as possible.
[00:20:06] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're bringing that up. I, I'm big on the intake part. It's one of my favorite parts about running a practice is the intake team and meeting people in their place of need.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:16] Daniel Fava: You know?
[00:20:16] Whitney Owens: Hearing their stories. So we actually have two full-time intake people that answer the phone, and then our director of intake is a backup to those two. So we technically have three people answering the phone. That's great. I don't wanna miss a call.
[00:20:28] Daniel Fava: Yeah,
[00:20:28] Whitney Owens: yeah. Um, we still miss some calls, but, uh, but much better.
And then, um, how we figure it out with the website there- Was we started tracking our data and what converts best.
[00:20:41] Daniel Fava: Yeah.
[00:20:43] Whitney Owens: I have... I got your cough, Vernon.
[00:20:45] Daniel Fava: It's going around.
[00:20:46] Whitney Owens: It's go- it came all the way here. Um, and so yeah, so we were finding that people who filled out the contact form or sent an email, they converted at 30%.
Mm-hmm. And people who, uh, did a portal request and booked appointment right there online, 50 to 60%. Yeah. But people who pick up the phone and call, we convert them at 70, 80%. So that- Nice ... was part of it. And I think a lot of practice centers, they just track their conversions, but they don't track the method of conversion- Yeah
which really makes a big difference.
[00:21:15] Daniel Fava: Yeah. And so you came into that project when you were redesigning knowing you had those numbers- Yeah ... like, okay, this is really the main way, not that we don't have those other ways that people can get in touch, 'cause there's always gonna be people l- like myself, I'm more, you know, uh, yeah, I'm ready to just write an email than pick up a phone.
That's just my personality. Yeah. But you know, so we have those available, but ultimately knowing really what is, what is the, the, the key way that people convert, you know, and at the highest rate. And so if you didn't know those numbers, then it becomes like, "Well, I guess we'll just send people to the contact form," you know?
And so back to, you know, kinda where we started, know your numbers and track those things.
[00:21:52] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely. Well, is there anything else about the website that's important to mention?
[00:21:58] Daniel Fava: Um, I think really, like, thinking through just how you can connect with your ideal clients. Um, content is becoming... I mean, it's always been really important on a website.
Uh, but you know, nowadays we've got so many folks who are using AI, and rightfully so, you know, to, to write content. But w- we still need to make sure that that's also backed up by data, you know, really understanding what are the main questions that your ideal clients are asking. And that could look different for a couples therapy client versus a EMDR therapy client versus parent of a, you know, adolescent who's looking for a therapist.
So you have to get really clear on those ideal clients and really think through the challenges they're facing, what questions do they have before they even reach out, because that is becoming really the main way that- These AI agents are picking up websites because, you know, we-- I mentioned earlier just kind of like the shift of what's been happening with SEO and AI.
It means that far fewer people are actually landing on your website where, you know, whereas two years ago it might be, "I've got six tabs open of different therapists, let me read through their content." You know, now it's going to ChatGPT and saying, "Who's the best child therapist in Savannah?" And AI is pulling that in or, you know, "What should I expect?"
Or, "How should I find a child therapist in Savannah? What are some things to think about?" You know, they're doing that research with AI or, you know, in the, the AI mode in Google. They might not be landing on your website, or when they do finally land on your website, they've already gotten the information and your website's coming up, so they're already that much more trusting and primed because, well, the answer was already in, in ChatGPT.
It pulled it in. They must really trust this website. So, you know, really think through your content, structure your content in ways that are answering, uh, lots of questions for your ideal client, and that can be just another way that people are engaging with your information and your content, trusting you more quickly and then converting ultimately.
[00:24:08] Whitney Owens: You just blew my mind, Daniel. Had an aha moment, if you could tell. I was like, "Oh."
[00:24:12] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah. Uh- She's like, "What, what's Whitney thinking about?"
[00:24:15] Whitney Owens: Well, I've been watching my numbers, and I've been kinda like, I can't believe my website isn't a ton better. Not the website itself, I'm talking about the number of people visiting it.
Now, I think the number of people visiting it, I'm converting better. Right. But it's really not that many more than it did a couple of years ago. But what I- what you're saying is making sense. It's n- it's actually more people finding us, but they're finding us on AI. Right. So the numbers on the website haven't
You know, I'm gonna guess a lot of practices have probably dipped.
[00:24:44] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We're hearing that story a lot, and I think, uh ... I forget the exact number. I think it's around, like, 60-ish percent, 68% of searches, studies are showing, don't actually end in a website click. You know, because people are getting their information from Claude or ChatGPT or the, uh, AI mode in Google, and they're not clicking.
They're, they're getting the information- Oh ... and then going on their way. Now, I do think that, and this is something that I would love to dig into, not fully sure how to dig into, but I feel like therapists are kind of primed in a different way because people have the intent of actually working with a therapist rather than it's less informational, you know?
You go somewhere like, "What's the symptoms of anxiety?" Anyone can read that and be on their way. Yeah. Whereas if they're asking questions such as like, "How do I find a child therapist in my area?" You know, and then you're getting kind of sort of like a guide of things to think about that are ultimately tied to your website and the content you have, then, like I said, that's building that trust, and then hopefully they're more likely to click over or f- to find the contact information so that they can then reach out to you.
So that's just ki- and that's more of like a, a hunch and a feeling for me just because of just knowing, you know, how our clients' clients are searching, you know, for their services.
[00:26:03] Whitney Owens: So how do we know if people are searching on AI for our practice?
[00:26:08] Daniel Fava: You can start to track that now in, uh, Google Analytics. Oh.
And that's getting more, that's getting more technical. That's, I know that's something that our SEO team is doing more, like we, in our reports we are, uh, you know, when you're, you're, you can look at the acquisition of, uh, website traffic, you know, whether it's coming from other websites or people are directly typing your URL in.
Uh, you can track, you know, other websites, being ChatGPT or Claude, the AI agents.
[00:26:36] Whitney Owens: Oh, I'm gonna have to look at that. That's fun.
[00:26:37] Daniel Fava: Yeah. And you could also, I mean, it's also as simple as saying, you know, "How did you hear about us?" You know, in your intake and, uh- For sure ... we're, we're getting a lot of people too as well who are saying, "I found you in AI," uh, which is cool- Wow
cool to see. And, and, and it's also kind of funny too, because people are searching for AI optimization. You're like, "Well, you showed up on ChatGPT, Daniel, so I guess you're doing something right."
[00:26:57] Whitney Owens: Well, yeah, somebody told me yesterday they were searching for Christian practice consulting and I popped up as the number one.
I was like, "Yes."
[00:27:05] Daniel Fava: Yes.
[00:27:06] Whitney Owens: That's great. So check ChatGPT, so. Yeah,
[00:27:08] Daniel Fava: it's
[00:27:08] Whitney Owens: working. Um, okay, I think I have one more question while I got you on here. So I had a practice owner reach out to me who has their website through a company that owns their website, right?
[00:27:19] Daniel Fava: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:20] Whitney Owens: And she was like, "Where should I invest? Should I do SEO or should I do website?"
Let's say she had done SEO, would she lose that 'cause she didn't own her website or would she be able to keep that?
[00:27:34] Daniel Fava: You would mostly be able to keep it. I mean, that- Okay ... that could be, that could be a whole other podcast episode right there. I'm sure it could. Is, yeah, when, when you're changing websites, you know, there's, there's a lot of things to think through.
But ultimately, when you launch a new website and if any structure changes, meaning like URLs move to different places, or you drop certain pages 'cause you no longer need them, you want to let Google know where that content got moved to or where it can be found, if there's relevant content on the website.
So that's one of the things that we think through when we launch new websites, is making sure that we have a clear map of these are all the URLs on the website pre-launch, pre-redesign, and then these are all the URLs post-launch. And we set up redirect rules. What's called redirect- Right ... rules, the technical stuff in the back end, to make sure that people are ultimately landing on the, the correct pages.
Well- So you can, you can mitigate some of that. Uh, sometimes you might see a dip for a few days, but then, you know, it, it should likely come back up if it's, if it's thought through.
[00:28:35] Whitney Owens: Great. Great. Wonderful. And of course not... I mean, I owned my domain, but I'm a testament of the conversion from one host or one platform to ano- not platform, Akina website design.
[00:28:46] Daniel Fava: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:47] Whitney Owens: All right. So, um, you've got an offer for Wise Practice listeners about the trail, yeah?
[00:28:54] Daniel Fava: You can do it. The Digital Trail Map session. Yeah. So this is, this is really fun. I've really been enjoying this. We, we've kind of revamped a little bit of our process because, uh, you know, like we said, a website is a big investment.
There's lots of, um, you know, different aspects to, to the project to think through. And, you know, we were finding ourselves kinda- We'd get to the middle of a project and maybe some people are like, "I'm still not totally sure what, what I need or how to talk about my services," and, you know, whatever it is.
So, you know, we took a step back, and now what we're doing as part of our process for anyone who works with us, we do what's called a digital trail map session. And so this is a, a two-hour interview style meeting where I interview potential clients all about, tell me the story about your practice and how it was started.
Why did you start it? What did you want to be true in the world that wasn't even true yet, it wasn't true yet? Uh, and then we go, you know, deep dive into your ideal clients and, you know, like we just talked about content, like understanding, well, what are the questions that people are asking related to your services?
Or what are the reasons why somebody hesitates to reach out to you? And what's the tipping point that puts that client over the edge to say, "I need to contact Whitney and Water's Edge"? You know, so we really get deep into all those questions, uh, you know, stuff related to your website and what's working and what's not working.
Uh, and so from that two-hour, uh, session, we put together a 35-page brand guide that outlines everything that we spoke about. Uh, so you have, you know, whether you work with us or go somewhere else, you've got this document that you can hand to somebody so they can fully understand how to talk about your practice, you know, what's your brand voice, who your ideal clients are.
We even go into, um, content strategy and, you know, here are some topics that you can focus on and write blog posts about, all that good stuff. So, so yeah. So we are, we're giving 50% off, $50 off one of those sessions for your audience, so you can just use the coupon code WISE, and I guess we'll have the, the, uh, URL in the show notes for, for this episode.
[00:30:55] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. I, I love that because you're setting them up for success working with you, but if somebody gets to the point where I, this doesn't work for me or I wanna make my own site, you know, or maybe my brother makes sites, you know? Like-
[00:31:07] Daniel Fava: Yeah ...
[00:31:07] Whitney Owens: then you've got the advantage of working with someone who's an expert in understanding private practice and the content and language, which I, I always tell people, go with someone on your site that understands our unique way of being as therapists.
[00:31:19] Daniel Fava: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:31:19] Whitney Owens: But that they have that Yeah ... take with them, so I really love that.
[00:31:22] Daniel Fava: Yeah, it really helps us understand, you know, what is needed, you know, because sometimes back to our, where we started, again, like these people- Sure ... will come and say, "Oh, I need SEO." If we can understand better their ideal client, their current website, their goals for their business, then it allows me to kind of come back and present to them, "Okay, here's what I recommend.
Phase one, phase two, phase three, and you know what? Let's not start with SEO. Phase one is let's redesign the website and really key in on your ideal clients," you know, whatever it is. So, so yeah, it's been fantastic, and we also comp the cost of that trail map session if somebody decides to then work with us and have us, you know, en- enact the plan that we present.
[00:32:02] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. I love it. I love it. Well, this has been helpful. Obviously, I learned a few things today that I didn't know, and looking forward to using, especially going into chatG- going into my analytics and looking at all- Yeah ... the AI stuff will be really interesting. So thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show.
[00:32:17] Daniel Fava: Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me, Whitney.
[00:32:20] Whitney Owens: The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the SiteCraft 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 sitecraftnetwork.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.
