MHM#66 Does your website help people trust you?

When you're in the early stages of growing your private practice, it can be tempting to market yourself as a generalist, thinking this will give you the best chance of filling your practice.

But what you find is that when you try talking to everyone, you end up talking to no one.

And this is often why marketing doesn’t lead to consistent enquiries.

Why focusing on a niche helps to fill your caseload:

1) Connect more deeply with prospective clients
By choosing a niche or ideal client to work with, your messaging can speak directly to their pain and challenges, helping them feel deeply understood and that you truly “get them.” This builds trust and credibility, which is key to someone feeling safe to book an appointment with you.

2) Clients are looking for someone who understands their specific situation
When people look for a therapist, they’re usually seeking someone who works with what they’re going through. A niche signals that you have experience and expertise in that area.

3) Stronger referrer relationships
Referrers are more likely to send clients your way if they know exactly what you specialise in and who you work with. It also makes it clearer which referrers to build relationships with, for example, obstetricians if you work with new mums, or paediatricians if you work with children.

4) A more enjoyable business
Filling your practice with clients you genuinely want to work with creates a business that feels more sustainable and energising.

It’s not uncommon for me to review a therapist’s website and, when I first land on their homepage, have no idea who they work with or what they help people with.

Which means, if I were a prospective client looking for a therapist and considering a few options, I wouldn’t know if they help people like me. Maybe they do, but nothing in their messaging indicates which specific areas they focus on.

So I’m much more likely to book with a therapist whose website clearly shows that they support people just like me.

Prospective clients are looking for someone who specialises in working with people like them.

They want to be able to see straight away that you work with people like them, and that you get them.

Imagine landing on a website that says:

“I work with children, teens, and adults struggling with a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and ADHD.”

Compared to:

“I help neurodiverse, career-passionate young women navigate the workplace.”

If you were a career-oriented young woman with ADHD experiencing challenges at work, which therapist would you be more likely to book an appointment with?

This is the difference a clear niche makes.

But knowing this and actually figuring out your own niche are two different things.

If you’ve been going back and forth on this and finding it hard to narrow down your niche, I’m running a live workshop to help you work through it in a practical way.

Join Choose Your Niche Live Workshop

A 2-hour session to help you figure out who you actually want to work with and how to move forward with your marketing so it brings in more clients.