Private Practice Elevation with Daniel Fava

In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, you're going to learn step-by-step tips to optimize your Google My Business listing for your therapy practice. It's really step one of any SEO plan… make sure Google knows your business exists and where you're located. To help us understand how to use Google My Business for therapists and private practices, meet our guest, Craig Alsup. Craig has seen his practice grow month over month over the last several years and is seeing exponential traffic and conversions coming from his private practice's Google My Business listing. Grab your pen and paper because you're going to get easy and effective tips to bring your Google My Business listing up to scratch and help more clients find you!

We're wrapping up our 4-episode series on The Online Marketing Summit, a 3-phase marketing plan to establish your private practice online, get traffic and exponentially increase leads and clients in your business. If you missed the first three episodes of The Online Marketing Summit series, you can check them out here: Episode 74: A Complete Strategy for Marketing Your Private Practice Online Episode 75: Online Marketing Strategy for Private Practice: The Website Phase Episode 76 - Online Marketing for Private Practice: The Traffic Phase This week's episode is all about strategies that can be a major catalyst to getting traffic to your website, growing an audience and establishing you as an expert in your niche. Listen up as I break down the ways you can increase your authority and reach more of your ideal clients.

Today we're continuing our series based on The Online Marketing Summit, a 3-phase marketing plan to establish your private practice online, get traffic and exponentially increase leads and clients in your business. If you missed the first two episodes of this series, you can check them out here: Episode 74: A Complete Strategy for Marketing Your Private Practice Online Episode 75: Online Marketing Strategy for Private Practice: The Website Phase In this episode, we'll dig into the second phase of your online marketing plan: The Traffic Phase. Once you've successfully established your private practice online with a great website filled with the right content to attract and convert your clients, the time has come to amplify your traffic. So, let's dig into some strategies behind getting people to show up to your website.

In the last episode, I laid out my entire philosophy and strategy for marketing a private practice online and the order of events that will help you see exponential traffic and growth in your business. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, check it out here: Episode 74: A Complete Strategy for Marketing Your Private Practice Online In this week's episode, we're diving deep into the first phase of marketing your practice online: your website. And I'll go over the various tasks and strategies that go into creating a therapy website that speaks to your ideal client and converts traffic into warm leads and new clients. Listen in now!

Since 2016, when I began this business, the question I've heard the most is this: "There's so much I feel like I should be doing. What's the right thing?" As a business owner, it can often be difficult to understand what we should focus on and when in order to generate more revenue and reach our business goals. In this episode, I'm going to give you an overview of an entire online-marketing strategy that you can use to guide you as you grow your private practice.

In this episode you're going to learn how it's actually possible to know exactly what will make the biggest impact in growing your private practice. It can be easy to feel fully at home as a therapist and a total imposter as a business owner. But the truth is, your skills as a therapist is exactly what makes you qualified (even more than others!) to run and grow a successful private practice. That's what Kasey Compton, author of the book Fix This Next for Healthcare Providers, wants you to know. Join me in our conversation as we unpack the why behind her book and how it's going to help you gain more business confidence and create a plan for growth.

When it comes to business growth, knowing your numbers is extremely important. And that website can be the fuel for growth in your business. If you don't know what the real monetary impact of your investments is (whether that's money, time, marketing focus), you'll have trouble knowing what's working and what isn't. At Private Practice Elevation, we believe that a strategically designed therapy website is the foundation for all of your online marketing. In this episode, we're going to help you determine the actual return on investment you'll get from investing in an online marketing strategy for your private practice.

In our last episode, you got to listen to my conversation with Gordon Brewer, as we unpacked all the reasons why he wants to redesign the website he's built for his group practice. In this episode, I'll take Gordon through the more technical steps involved in redesigning a website and some of the things that really trip people up. I know many of you who listen to this podcast may be contemplating DIYing your therapy website. This episode is for you. We're going to geek out a little bit here, so buckle up!

In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation podcast, we're going behind the scenes on a therapy website redesign project to help you understand the key components that can help make these types of projects a success. Whether you've got an outdated private practice website that's just begging for a makeover or you just know that your current website could be better, this episode is going to help you prepare. And it will be extremely applicable because we'll be using a real-life example: my friend, Gordon Brewer, from The Practice of Therapy. Listen in now!

One of the first questions I get when someone decides they're going to build their therapy website using WordPress is, "what hosting company should I use?" With so many hosting companies out there, and at different price points, it can leave you confused when trying to choose the right one. In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, I'll share with you some of the key things you'll want to look for when choosing a reliable host for your WordPress website. So how can you avoid choosing a WordPress hosting company that sucks the life out of you and the money out of your wallet? Give a listen to this week's episode!

Have you ever asked yourself the question, "Who am I to…?" "Who am I to raise my therapy rates?" "Who am I to launch an online course?" "Who am I to build a group practice and lead a team?" In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're talking all about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is that little voice that pops up whenever you dare to do something creative or take bold action towards your dreams. It can keep you from moving forward in your private practice and it can keep you playing small, never stepping into those big dreams you've had for yourself. In this episode, I'm chatting with Ernesto Segismundo about all things imposter syndrome. From what it is, what it feels like, to practical ways you can overcome it.

What a roller coaster ride 2020 has been, amiright? I think this year was one of the hardest and emotional years for me in recent memory. From the pandemic, to racial injustice to the 2020 election… This year was a lot. But in the midst of all that, there were certainly beautiful and memorable moments for myself and my family. As we set our sights on 2021, I thought I'd share the podcast episodes from this year that I enjoyed the most. Listen in and enjoy as we ring in the new year!

Many business owners fail because they focus on the wrong things and struggle making the shift from working in their private practice to operating as business owner and CEO. In this week's episode, we're talking to Kayla Reilly. Kayla is a client that we recently worked with to redesign and optimize the website for her group practice, Evolution Wellness, in Wilmington, NC. Listen in as Kayla shares what's worked (and hasn't worked) to help grow her private practice and make the shift to business owner and leader.

In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, I'm discussing the WordPress plugins and the one WordPress theme that we use on all of our custom therapy website design projects. If you're building your own website for your practice, you can get quite overwhelmed quite fast when trying to narrow down what theme and plugins to use. So listen up as I share the very small list of plugins we install on each of our website builds and the theme we recommend!

In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, I'm discussing the WordPress plugins and the one WordPress theme that we use on all of our custom therapy website design projects. If you're building your own website for your practice, you can get quite overwhelmed quite fast when trying to narrow down what theme and plugins to use. So listen up as I share the very small list of plugins we install on each of our website builds and the theme we recommend!

In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, you're going to learn about the difference between a group practice owner with a 6-figure business and one with a 7-figure business. Most therapists begin in private practice without much training in business development. What are the things you should think about or do when you're just starting to build your group practice? My special guest this week is Maureen Werrbach from The Group Practice Exchange, where she helps healthcare owners learn how to successfully start and scale their businesses, so that they can have a larger impact on their communities. If you want some key lessons to help you can start and continue to grow your own group practice, listen up!

In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast we're talking with Uriah Guilford all about how busy therapists and private practice owners can get the help they need. Uriah Guilford is a group practice owner and the creator of Productive Therapist, a virtual assistant company that serves private practice therapists. If you find yourself overwhelmed, wearing every hat in your business, and struggling to keep up with all those administrative tasks, this one's for you. If you've ever thought about hiring a virtual assistant in your private practice and what that would look like, this one's for you too! Either way, this episode is all about scaling your business to hit those big goals!

In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation podcast, I'll be sharing my thoughts about how to navigate the relationship you have with your website designer/developer. Your private practice website should be your greatest marketing asset. Hiring a professional is the best way to ensure your website looks professional and also is set up correctly, functions well, and has all the pieces in place to get traffic from search engines. But what happens when you've worked with someone but it becomes clear that they're not a good fit? Finding the right person or agency to be your website partner could mean a huge weight off your shoulders as they help you fully utilize your website to grow your private practice. Listen in now to learn more!

In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're discussing what it looks like to pour your blood, sweat and tears into building the private practice you thought you wanted, only to discover it's sucking the life out of you. Annie Schuessler has been a therapist in private practice for 20 years, and a business coach for over 10 years. In our conversation, she unpacks her story about how she went from the realization that her practice wasn't working, crying in the fetal position, and walked through the changes that lead her to building a business she loves.

In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're answering YOUR questions. We put the call out to find out what was on your mind in your online marketing journey and the burning questions you wanted to hear more about on the podcast. So we will be unpacking a handful of questions ranging from website design, SEO to Facebook ads and keyword research.

If you're using WordPress to run and design your private practice website, then it's your responsibility to keep that website safe and secure. WordPress is like a car: if you don't take care of it and maintain it well, things can break down. So in this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we'll talk about 5 easy things you can do today to up your WordPress security and keep your therapy website safe.

Is it more important that your private practice website be optimized for search engines or is it more important that your website looks great? Many people think that SEO and great design are mutually exclusive. If you want your website to look stunning, well, you'll have to give up on SEO. But you need SEO in order for your clients to find you, right? In this week's episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're going to get to the bottom of the relationship between SEO and website design and usability.

Is it more important that your private practice website be optimized for search engines or is it more important that your website looks great? Many people think that SEO and great design are mutually exclusive. If you want your website to look stunning, well, you'll have to give up on SEO. But you need SEO in order for your clients to find you, right? In this week's episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're going to get to the bottom of the relationship between SEO and website design and usability.

In this week's episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're going to be talking all about content creation and organization. Anyone can have a website; but having the right content, organized in the right way, will really help you see momentum in marketing your private practice online. Listen in now and let us know what you think!

In this week's episode of The Private Practice Elevation podcast, we're talking about 5 mistakes you'll want to avoid when using WordPress. Are you using or trying to use WordPress for your private practice website? There are plenty of us that take on the learning curve in order to give your online marketing a solid foundation. There is a lot to learn-- but you don't have to do it on your own! In order to save you time, frustration and the use of a lot of swear words aimed at WordPress, I'll walk you through the 5 major mistakes you'll want to avoid.

In this week's episode, we're discussing things you can and should do AFTER you launch your therapy website. Oftentimes, therapists consider the launch of their private practice website as the finish line. Yes, it may have been a long road and big project for you to get your business online, but we should also recognize that this is now a new season for marketing your private practice. Let's keep the momentum going! So let's talk about what you can do to make sure you get the most traction out of your new website and use it as a marketing asset well into the future of your business.

In today's episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're discussing how to build an online group therapy practice. This is where you hire other clinicians underneath the umbrella of your own practice and essentially get a cut of the revenue they bring in. But usually, when we think of group practices, we think of a group of people in one physical location. Well, today we're talking with Dr. Lisa Lovelace, founder of Synergy eTherapy, a group practice that has been solely online since starting in 2016. Today, Lisa's group practice has 12 clinicians and is serving clients in 14 states. If you're curious - as you can hear I was when you listen to our conversation - in creating an online group therapy practice, I know this episode will be helpful to you.

COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we all do business. Recently on the podcast, we spoke about how COVID-19 has changed SEO strategy for therapy practices, how to do Google ads during the pandemic, and the new opportunities therapists can work on during quarantine. This week we're talking to Alison Pidgeon, a consultant from Practice of The Practice, all about the specific things she's done in her own group practice to keep her business growing and booking new clients during COVID-19. Listen in as we talk about what group practice owners can do to market their private practices during this pandemic!

In this week's Private Practice Elevation podcast episode, we're killing 5 major myths of having a faith-based therapy practice. This week, Whitney Owens joins us to squash some major myths around what it looks like to run a faith-based therapy practice. Whitney is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Private Practice Consultant who helps clinicians start and grow faith-based practices. If you're wondering how you can incorporate your faith into your practice in a way that feels right to you, listen up!

In today's episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast we're going to talk about the specific mindset shifts you need to make in order to massively scale your private practice. And if you've ever felt a little afraid of coming off as too "salesy" in your therapy practice or on your website, well we're gonna hit that too! To help us get to the bottom of this, I'm chatting with Amira Alvarez. Amira is the founder and CEO of The Unstoppable Woman, a global coaching company helping entrepreneurs, empire builders, athletes, creatives, and rising stars in all fields achieve their dreams and goals in record time.

Rather read than listen? This episode is based off an article I wrote here. I've seen this topic over and over in the Facebook groups… Therapists are starting their journey into private practice and they know they need a website. So the first question always seems to be… "what platform is best? Wix? Squarespace? WordPress?" And that question is frequently followed up with... they all give me the same thing, so why not just choose the cheapest and easiest one and call it a day? Because I know you're better than that, friend! In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, I share with you a new way to look at this old question of website platforms to help you find the best one for you and your situation.

I know most of you have had to fully transition your therapy practices online in the last months. Some therapists had already done some online therapy from home before and for others, this was all new territory. So in this episode, I'm going to share with you some of my best tips for being productive while working from home. Whether you're still trying to figure this new normal out, or perhaps you have enjoyed the flexibility that was forced upon you by social distancing and Coronavirus, this episode will help you get more out of your at-home work time.

If you've been monitoring your website traffic (and you should be!) then you may have noticed a big change over the last few months. As a result of Coronavirus, there has been a major shift in how your clients are using Google and the types of information they are searching for. Our guest today, Jessica Tappana, is going to help you understand the new landscape of SEO for therapists during COVID-19. Jessica not only runs her own group therapy practice, but she also runs an SEO consulting agency as well. If you've seen your search traffic and clients drop over the last few months, Jessica is here to help you understand the WHY and then unpack some great tips so you know WHAT to do about it.

Today's episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast is going to be right to the point. Many therapists build a website and put a lot of time and effort into it, only to wonder why it's not actually getting them any clients. They think, "if I build it, they'll come, right?" Not always. In this episode, I'll share 5 simple things that many therapists are missing on their websites. Things that will help you get more clients in your own private practice.

The Coronavirus pandemic has certainly changed the way we do business. Especially for therapists who have been used to seeing clients face to face. And if things are slowing down in your practice, you may be tempted to cut your marketing budget. But, if done right, this may actually be a great opportunity to reach even more of your ideal clients and continue to grow your practice. In this episode of The Private Practice Elevation Podcast, I invited John Sanders back on to talk about what he's seeing in keyword trends and how you can continue (or start) using Google Ads successfully, even during and after this pandemic.

Have you ever thought about adding coaching services to your private practice? In this week's podcast episode, you're going to learn the most important things to be aware of when transitioning from therapy to coaching. To help you navigate the waters of your coaching transition, we're speaking with Lee Chaix McDonough. After over a decade as a clinical social worker and public health professional, Lee became credentialed through the International Coach Federation and now provides ICF-accredited continuing coach education for intuitive, heart-centered coaches. Listen in now!

Have you ever thought about adding coaching services to your private practice? In this week's podcast episode, you're going to learn the most important things to be aware of when transitioning from therapy to coaching. To help you navigate the waters of your coaching transition, we're speaking with Lee Chaix McDonough. After over a decade as a clinical social worker and public health professional, Lee became credentialed through the International Coach Federation and now provides ICF-accredited continuing coach education for intuitive, heart-centered coaches. Listen in now!

A few weeks have now gone by since the first stay-at-home orders started being issued to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Most of us have taken heed and have shifted to a shelter-in-place lifestyle and adjusting to this strange new "normal'. With so much confusion and uncertainty it can be difficult to to remain steadfast in your private practice. In this episode I'm going to outline opportunities that you can be working on now to improve your private practice marketing in the future. Let's use this time as an opportunity to invest our businesses and make them more resilient, shall we?

In this episode, we'll discuss 13 things you can do before you even being creating a therapy website that will help set you up for success when your website project finally begins. At Private Practice Elevation, we believe the most successful projects are the ones we plan for. That especially includes the launch of your private practice website (or a redesign of your old one). One section of that task list is the number of things that needs to be done way before any design has even started. So in this episode, we'll discuss those tasks and what you can do before you build any page or even purchase a domain for your private practice.

In this episode, you're going to learn how to take the drudgery out of the admin work and enjoy more of what you do in private practice. Many of us think that if we just have enough willpower we can motivate ourselves, day-in and day-out, to get more done. But our guest, Hope Eden, is on a mission to change this. She's a therapist, mother, and entrepreneur with a passion for making documentation, systems development, organization and culture building available to therapists in all different phases and stages of their practices. Listen in now!

In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation Podcast, we're diving deep into Google Ads and how you can use them effectively to bring traffic to your private practice website and convert them into clients. To help us navigate the world of Google ads and get you everything you need to know to help you get a proper return on your investment, we're chatting with John Sanders from RevKey. If you've ever thought about using Google Ads to get more clients or have dipped your toe in the paid advertising waters and want to learn more, listen up!

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread around the world, destroying the economy and taking lives in its wake. If you're like most therapists, you probably have found yourself needing to transition your entire practice to an online one as we all work together to stem the spread of this virus. We're certainly not immune over here in the Fava household. The day I'm writing this, our county has issued a state of emergency and all non-essential businesses are closing by the hour. I just got a text from my mechanic saying they're cutting down their hours. Sorry, Rocco! My wife and I have been working out a schedule as we watch our 3-year-old son and balance keeping our businesses moving forward as best we can. What's been amazing though is the sense of community that has grown out of actually NOT being able to meet in person! Who would have thought? So many people have banded together to share resources and help you make some difficult transitions in order to continue providing great therapy services to your clients. Some of you may have already had a full or semi-online practice, so you may not have skipped a beat as you entered quarantine. For others, it may have been (or continues to be) a scramble. To help you out, we've collected many of the great resources out there to help your private practice survive the Coronavirus pandemic so that you can keep moving forward. Find them at http://privatepracticeelevation.com/covid 8 Private Practice Consultants Share Their Advice For How Therapists Can Succeed During the Coronavirus Pandemic I was so inspired by all the resources and support that so many folks have been putting out in order to help therapists weather this storm. So I reached out to a few private practice consultants and asked them to record their response to this one question: "What's one thing therapists can do to help them adjust/plan/succeed during COVID-19?" Listen to their responses in this bonus episode.

Do you ever feel like you want to see more growth in your private practice, but you're just not sure how to do it? How do you set goals that will actually move your business forward? And once you set those goals, well, how do you break that down into actual STEPS to reach them? Well, to help us navigate the challenge of focusing on the right things in private practice and reaching goals, we're chatting with Nicole Liloia. In this episode, Nicole pulls back the curtain on her own story where she went from complete burnout in her agency job, to mildly motivated therapist and coach, to a now successful business consultant.

In this episode, I'm getting a bit vulnerable and talking about something extremely near and dear to my heart: my family. In particular, I'm going to share what the world-rocking, life-changing transition of raising our boy, Samuel, has taught me about entrepreneurship. So join me as I share some of my biggest lessons from fatherhood and how my boy has made me a better entrepreneur. You may also get to hear a little bit from Samuel ;)

In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast, we're going to break down exactly what to expect at each stage of a website design project. If you're interested in having a therapy website created for your private practice, this episode will help you understand all that goes on before, during and after your website project. So we're going to break down our entire process to let you view behind the curtain of a typical website project here at Private Practice Elevation. You'll know exactly what to expect for jumping into any future therapy website project.

I've never been more excited about a podcast episode before! That's because I got to interview my favorite person of all time: my wife, Liz! If you've followed my journey for some time then you already know that I do what I do because of my wife and that first website we built for her therapy practice back in 2012. She was just getting started in private practice, heading out on her own and we knew nothing about marketing, ideal clients or how to get found in search engines. But we knew she needed a website and so I built her one in my free time. Fast forward to 2020 and Liz finds herself in her own office space with a full practice and a waiting list of clients. But it wasn't always that way, of course. In this week's episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast, we dig into the nitty-gritty of my wife's 8-year private practice journey from zero clients to a successful practice. Not only is she good-looking, but she's got a ton wisdom to share from being in the trenches, going from a stressful, low-paying agency with a 2-hour commute to launching and growing her private practice in Atlanta. She knows what it's like when the clients aren't calling and she knows what has worked to get her to where she is today and she's sharing her biggest lessons with you. I'm extremely proud of her (obviously) but I know that this episode is going to give you the freedom to grow your practice in a way that's authentic to YOU. In This Episode, You'll Learn: A bit of our crazy love story and how we met in Thailand The one thing you absolutely need in order to successfully market your private practice Why just having a therapy website isn't enough to build your caseload and what you can do about it How to find out what works for YOU in your private practice marketing so that you can avoid overwhelm and enjoy marketing your practice How to recognize the seasons of your therapy practice and manage anxiety in slow seasons Why tracking your progress is important and what analytics you can measure to keep you motivated and achieve your goals That you have permission to do what you love in your practice and it you can be successful!

In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast, you're going to learn all you need to know about using G Suite in a private practice. When building a therapy practice, it's important to have the right tools to help you create systems and be organized within your business. This helps keep you focused and not inventing the wheel every time you get a new client, need to send a form or perform other repetitive tasks in your business. The trouble is that practice organization software can be expensive, especially if your private practice is in the early stages of existence. G Suite (Googles suite of tools) can be an excellent way to get started with systems in your business. They offer a huge range of applications and tools you can use to make your therapy life much easier. Most people think that using Google services for their private practice will not be HIPAA compliant, but as our special guest explains, that's not the case. Gordon Brewer, Jr., MEd, LMFT is a licensed marital and family therapist and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Gordon is the person behind The Practice of Therapy Podcast and Blog. At The Practice of Therapy, Gordon provides information and resources for clinicians starting, growing or scaling private practices. Gordon has personally built his own private practice while relying heavily on G Suite in order to get it all done. He knows the ins and outs of G Suite tools and, as you'll hear in the interview, he loves to teach everything he knows. So if you're looking for the technical tools you need to run your practice, without breaking the bank, listen in to my conversation with Gordon. In This Episode, You'll Learn: How to set up an office management system within Google Suite to run your practice on about 5 bucks a month Using Gmail while still having an email address at your website's domain What you need in order to make Google Suite and Gmail HIPAA compliant so that you can use it in your therapy practice

In this episode, I share with you 10 things that I've learned from building over 50 therapist websites over the last three years. There's actually a lot more that goes into a successful private practice website. And if you're not careful, you could end up wasting a lot of money and not seeing the results that you hoped for when the project is over. I'm no expert, but with so many projects under my belt, I've surely learned a lot from my own mistakes and from working with many clients. So listen up and learn what you can do to make sure your therapy website project is a complete success.

In this week's episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast, you'll learn the truth about niching down your therapy practice and exactly how to go about it. "Niching down" tends to be a buzz word we hear a lot in Facebook groups, marketing articles and Instagram. But the truth is, there may be times where "niching down" may actually not be a good idea for your therapy practice. To help us unpack the niching myth and understand how we should go about the niche question, we have our special guest, John Clarke, LPC.

In this episode of the Private Practice Elevation podcast, I'm going to share with you the 5 most common reasons why your website doesn't rank for your keywords. Many therapists believe if they just have a few pages on their website with a few keywords on those pages that you should show up in search results. Unfortunately, SEO just isn't that simple. There are many factors that impact how well or how poorly your private practice website ranks. So give a listen or read on if you're wondering why your website isn't getting you any traffic from Google.