59. How to Write an About Page That Builds Instant Trust

Welcome to Marketing Therapy, the podcast where we treat the self-doubt, anxiety, and imposter syndrome that so often show up when marketing your private practice. I'm your host Anna Walker. I've helped over 3,000 therapists grow their practices in ways that are effective, authentic, and actually feel good. This podcast isn't about chasing trends, slimy sales tactics, or forcing yourself to be someone you're not. It's about building real confidence, learning what actually works, and finding your voice. So your marketing finally feels like you, and starts connecting with the clients you are meant to serve. Here we serve out the breakthroughs that lead to a full, feel-good caseload. Ready to dive in? Marketing Therapy is now in session. Hey, hey, welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode 59. Before we get into this one, I want to let you know that our most popular workshop we have ever held, we RedSightful K-Load is now available on demand. So previously this was only hosted live, and it now available for you to walk whenever you would like. In clear website full caseload, we ran this workshop in January, and got incredible feedback on it. I dive into the four websites that I see therapists making, and that are keeping them from getting premium fee clients, specifically in the skeptical saturated market that we're in right now. They're really, they're the four mistakes that are the most prolific when I look at websites, and I look at probably between 16, 20, maybe more a week. And in the workshop, I walk you through what those mistakes are, what they're costing you, but also what you can do to start changing them. So in this episode, they were talking about the about page, but you'll find, if you'd choose to join the workshop, that a lot of what we discussed there applies not just to the about page, but truly to your entire website. So if you haven't been relying too much on AI, you know who you are, if you are interested in why you have a website, but why it's not converting, then this workshop could totally allow that for you. Like I said, on demand access, it's 100% free. If you're jumping at any time, walkershrigytho.com/cwfc, we'll pop that in the show notes, but do know that that is now officially available whenever you'd like to watch it. So let me mention, we're talking today about the about page, the about page of your website. That, believe it or not, is not about you. What's interesting is that your about pages also often the second most visited page on your website. If you pull up your analytics right now, chances are very good that you're going to see the about page right there under the whole page, if not very, very close to the top. So it's important, after someone reads your whole page, that they're clicking over to the about page, that tells us something. When they click over, they are telling us that they are interested in you. They're considering you, they're evaluating you. And ultimately, they're deciding whether to trust you or not. And that's a big deal, okay? I see a lot of clinicians treating their about page like an afterthought. When in backed, it is one of the most powerful opportunities for connection on your entire website. Now we've been thinking recently about how things have really shifted when it comes to the power of your website in this market. Our state of the industry survey showed us the most significant relationship between a website ability to convert and a full caseload than we have ever seen in the data. The strongest relationship between a website that converts and a full caseload. It showed us that you are over two times more likely to have a full caseload if your website converts. All right, so that highlights that your website has a massive job to do right now. And trust, especially in this era of what we're calling the trust recession, where there is less of it to go around than there has ever been, where your clients are more discerning and more skeptical than they've ever been, than your website, your marketing, has to build trust on contact. We cannot be waiting until the consultation call or the intake session for that trust to begin, okay? It has to happen now, and your about pages one of the richest places that that can begin to be built. Often, your about page is what determines whether or not someone books a console or closes your tab and moves on, okay? It's a big deal. This isn't just filler, this isn't just a check the box page you got to have. It's not an afterthought. It's not the place where you should be throwing up just a headshot of you and what you like to do on the weekends, okay? This is a conversion page. It's not when used well is very, very powerful, but I see still many clinicians misusing it, which is exactly why I decided to do this episode today. Now I mentioned at the top of the episode that your about page, despite the name, is not about you. Ultimately, there's two jobs that this about page has to do, okay? One, it has to set expectations about what it's like to work with you. I need to get a sense here of one flight to be in the room with you. The process we're going to go through together, what we're going to be addressing, how we're going to be addressing it. But it also has to build that trust. This is an opportunity for genuine connection where people can actually feel like they have a little bit of a relationship with you before that relates to even starts, right? Before they ever get on console or sit across from you in an intake. The wrong question to be asking yourself when you write your about page is what do I want people to know about me? That is the wrong headspace. The right question to be asking is what does my idea client need to know about me to feel safe reaching out? Okay, that is in wildly different lens on the same question. So we are sharing about you, but it is the about page through the lens of what matters to your client in order to make a decision about whether or not you're the right pair of his for them. When clients come to your about page, really when they come to your website in general, specifically about page, they are looking for signals that you understand what they're going through that your approach aligns with what they want or what they're expecting. They're not going to feel judged or talked down to, right? If this is going to feel collaborative, this is a chance to give a little taste of what that experience with you is my. So even though your work is clinical and evidence based and deeply skilled and requiring so much training and expertise, here, it must feel approachable. And relational and non intimidating. And that's where a lot of clinicians struggle. Because you got through grad school writing about therapy, right? Writing grants full papers, not about your therapeutic approach in a way that a late person is going to understand, right? Not in a way that normal people can read and say, Oh, yeah, that makes sense to me back what I'm looking for. So many clinicians defaults to the super clinical jargon and it ends up coming back to bite them. Because when some look decides to reach out to you, no matter how they reach you out to you aware, they have to cross a certain barrier. So I want you to imagine someone standing on one side of a really tall wall. That person has to get over that barrier to decide to work with you. So on the other side of the wall is becoming a paying client of yours. Your marketing's job is to lower that barrier as much as you possibly can. We cannot eliminate it. We'll always be one, but when many clinicians don't realize that they are intentionally doing on their about page for really like we talk about in their website, full cable in your entire website, they're unintentionally increasing the height of that barrier. They're making that wall taller. They're making it harder and more challenging for people to decide they want to reach out. They're introducing hesitation or doubt or uncertainty when they should be decreasing those things. Lowering that barrier. Like making it like this six-inch step that this person has to step over rather than this wall or mountain that they have to climb. Are you following me? That's what a good about page can do is lower that barrier. Now, at this point, I have supported over a thousand clinicians specifically on their about pages between our COVID-19 COVID-19 program where I get to actually see what people are developing and weigh in on it, provide feedback, and are done for you services where I'm reading literally every single word that we ever provide to a client. I've seen a lot of these pages in action. And especially when I see a COVID-19 COVID life student wrestling with it, I realize that in order to create a successful about page, there are two explorations you have to go through. You've got to be clear on two things. And the first is your client. Right? Your about page isn't about you. It is about your client. And we cannot know how to write to your client if we don't know who they are. That sounds like a no-brainer, but people skip over this. You cannot know how to write to your client if you don't know who they are. So what's really important, prior to engaging in your about page, to consider what expectations your client does have about therapy. One of the most common questions we ask are done for you clients in our kickoff call is has your ideal client been to therapy before? If they have, they're probably coming in with certain expectations or ideas about therapy. If they haven't and you often are with people who are new to therapy, then they might have some connotations or some expectations about what this is, whether or not they are correct. But we have to be really clear about what they're thinking therapy is or isn't and what they're needing from you. What misconceptions they have, what they want out of this experience, what fears they might have about it. Right? That vary or higher for your clients. Are they worried about whether or not it's going to work? Are they worried about being judged? Are they worried about being awkward or being hard work, which spoiler alert probably will be? And what if they already tried? If not therapy, maybe they're a self-help guru. Maybe they'd listen to every possible podcast about it. Maybe they're a yogi or mindfulness person. But what they have tried so far hasn't worked, or at least not as well as they need it to. And what are they helping is going to feel different this time. What are they needing out of you to know that therapy was a success? These are the types of things you have to know about your client in order to write something strong about that expectation setting that you're about paid for. Now it's also really important to reflect on what can be built trust with this type of client. Maybe you work with someone who's super academic. They're probably going to appreciate certain things about your background and your language and the way you present yourself. Maybe someone who is really creative and looking for something worth that part of their identity is honored in the therapy experience. Maybe that's your client. So what can it be? They'll trust with this person. Is it lived experience? And we'll get into that in this episode a little bit. How to decide what you share about your own experience. But we've got to really explore how to share your approach in a way that can make sense to them. What can they expect in the first part of therapy? What can they expect in individual sessions? Or are they someone who doesn't necessarily care about the nitty-gritty that they are interested in the overall picture? What does this person value in a therapist? Do they value directness? Do they want to be challenged? We've got to know what's bringing this client in and what they're going to value in this experience to really make sure that what you're writing is aligning with that. So as for yourself this, what would reassure your client? What would help them feel understood or reduce hesitation? What could we do here to lower that barrier? Now so often, therapists default to slapping their degrees up there. I mean the number of about pages I have read that read like a literal resume, countless, absolutely countless. So you list your degrees, you list your modalities, how your side-boat analytically trained, and it's just a long list of acronyms for all the methods you use or all of your certifications. But are these really the things that are going to reduce that hesitation? Lower that barrier, increase that trust? Rarely is your client asking where do you go to school? Often they're asking, "Can you help me?" That's the job of your about page. So defaulting to the degree, the modalities, certifications, or what you like to do on the weekend and how you take your coffee or tea, neither of those things are answering the fundamental question you're trying to come here with, which is, "Can you help me? Can I trust you right now?" So that's the first exploration that you have to go through in order to write and affect it about page. The other one, the other exploration you've got to do here, and spoiler alert, it is the harder one, is you. Is yourself? Is your approach? Is what you bring to the room? And this is where I see a lot of our complicated coffee students get kind of uncomfortable, because they're having to look at the mirror and say out loud why they're good at what they do. Often they're reflecting on it for the very first time. They never actually thought about why they are such a talented clinician. It can be a little bit uncomfortable. What do you consistently bring into the room? One of my favorite journal prompts we have in our coffee program is inviting clinicians to imagine they are leaving a really wonderful session. You know those sessions, the one that just light you up, you're like, "Oh, this is exactly why I do what I do." What did you bring to the room for that session for it to go so well? Because it wasn't just your client doing the work, right? You brought something to the room. So what do you do consistently in session or outside of session that results in those incredible outcomes for your clients? And what feedback do you get about it? Always a great thing to reflect on. No, we're not going to slap up quiet, cold, plunge your website. But we can reflect on when it comes to feedback you've gotten after clients move on, graduate to Renate because they're doing so well, what are you hearing? Or in the middle of the relationship when they come in and they say, "I thought of you this week." What feedback are you getting? And what's actually changing for your clients when they work with you? Jamfons are, you're not just about symptom management, right? You're about something more, something deeper, bigger. So what's actually changing for your truly ideal clients when you call to mind the people you absolutely love to work with? What is happening in their lives that make therapy with you so successful? So again, maybe think back to a powerful session. Maybe you've had them unresolated, you just have a really great memory of one from long ago and ask yourself, "What did I actually do there? What perspective did I offer? What environment did I create? What question did I ask? Or observation did I make that really unlocked something for my client? What did I notice that others might not have?" Okay, this is an uncomfortable one, but what do you bring to the table that other clinicians may not? This isn't a better or worse thing, right? This is about a special sauce thing because there is a reason clients choose you. There is a reason that you are the right fit for some people and not the right for others. You do offer something different, but you've got to figure out what that is and that get comfortable with it. So that's the second exploration. Your about page when it comes to this one is about sharing how you sink and how you work and what it feels like to sit across from you. Not to mention why that experience has so much potential for the type of transformation that your client is seeking. And this is about ego, right? Like this isn't about inflating yourself and feeling like the absolute best clinician in the whole world. But if you can't name your value, you cannot expect your clients to see it either. Let me say that again, if you can't name your value, you can't expect your clients to see it either. So I guess that a little bit harder when it comes to that second exploration, but why are you so good at the work that you do? What do you bring to the room? What do your clients appreciate about you and how can you be bringing that into how you talk about your work? Now I mentioned that one of the worst things you can do on your about pages to slap up a head shot and what you like to do on the weekends or how you take your coffee or tea. And often when I look at about pages that are struggling, they fall into sort of two camps. One is the uber formal camp. And then one is the super casual all about me camp. Okay, so when it comes to the all about me camp, I see clinicians sharing things like their favorite drink or their hiking hobby where they grew up, their dog's name, random trivia about their personality. And yeah, there is a time and place to share this and in a moment, I'm going to go through the kind of self-disclosure filter that we guide our clients through. But do your clients actually care about that? Is that the reason they're choosing you? Your about page is that you're dating profile, right? It's about building trust. It's about reducing hesitation. So it's not that these things can't belong. It's not that a great about page can't also include some notes about you as a human. But we've got to be really careful about edging into territory that makes your about page all about you and what you like to do when that information isn't actually relevant to your clients. So let me start a guide just through what we call the self-disclosure filter. This is what we walk our copy students through. If you go through our program, you'll be guided through this as you write your own about page. But there's three questions to ask when it comes to deciding whether or not to share something about your history, background, lived experience, lifestyle, whatever that might be. So this would be used for how you take your coffee or tea. It can also be used for your own trauma history or your identity as a mother, whatever that might be, because there are opportunities for self-disclosure in your marketing that are very, very powerful. So this filter can walk you through whether or not what you're thinking about is worth sharing. Question number one, am I comfortable sharing this? If the answer is no, stop here. You do not owe the internet anything when it comes to your story. You do not have to share anything about yourself. Comfort comes first. So if your answer is like, oh, this absolutely gives me the key to these to share, don't share it. Period. End of the discussion. Move on. If the answer is yes, maybe you're thinking about when or not to share the fact, for instance, that you're the parent of adult children. Okay, yeah, I think I might be comfortable sharing that. Then the next question is, is this a meaningful connection point for your clients? Is this something that if they knew it about you, they would feel more inclined to feel like you're the right fit? If you do faith-based work, for instance, including your faith-based education, if you went to a faith-based school, that could be an interesting, you know, good thing to share. If you're a therapist who works with moms and you are a mom, I'm going to encourage you to share that. I personally chose my clinician because I knew that I wanted someone who was a mom of multiple children. If you're a second career clinician, maybe you have a corporate background or you book with professionals. That's probably a powerful connection point. Or if you have a multicultural background, have worked overseas or bilingual and use their clients who are also multicultural or bilingual, again, another powerful connection point. Can you see what I'm doing here? If what you're thinking about sharing is actually a reason this person might choose you, then share it. Because this is creating recognition. This is creating a sense of, oh, I'm not going to have to explain myself here, which is huge when it comes to building trusted connection, right? But if it's just trivia, then we're going to remove it. If it's just fluff, then that's where I'm going to encourage you to share that elsewhere. Maybe that goes on your social media in an individual post. But I wouldn't recommend that it live on your about page where the stakes are a bit higher. All right, so if the effort to one am I comfortable sharing this in the S? If the EFIRT to two is this a meaningful connection point is yes, then the final question is do clients need to know this right now? There are certain things that are absolutely fabulous and pack full to disclose about yourself, but are best done in the context of your therapeutic relationship? Right best shared inside the therapy room not necessarily on your website Not everything about your story belongs there So this third question is about asking yourself is this lowering that barrier to reaching out to me now or will this be more powerful once we feel trust? So maybe you're sharing higher level details that you know are relevant to someone deciding if you're the right fit on your website and then other elements of your lived experience other things that you would be comfortable self-disclosing those belong in that sacred space that is the therapy room, okay? So be intentional about what you choose here You may or may not need to share your entire background or the entire story that led you to choose therapy right now You can use these three questions to decide that So again, those three questions for the self-disclosure filter one am I comfortable sharing this? Two is this a meaningful connection point and then three do clients mean to know this right now or would it be better shared later? All right, have I convinced you that your about paid matters? Let me give you some red flags that I run into when I'm reviewing websites Specifically those that are interested in working with us or already have a website. I feel like it's not converting The about page is often the second place I go right so I'm seeing a lot of these So some red flags here one that is reading life a resume, okay? That it is just way more about you your credentials your training There's more acronyms than there are actual words That is not effective for connection or expectation setting Which are the two things that this page needs to do? Two if it read like your chronological life story I have landed on many about pages that start with I grew up in X You know where they grew up and what their family life was like and you know what? That story is probably relevant to wider therapists, but it's not the job of the about page And if that's what I'm being introduced to when I come to the about page as a potential client chances are I'm just gonna click away, okay? Another huge red flags that you have written your about page and third person if you have done this my friend we have an issue If you are a solo clinician that about page needs to be written in first person I not Anna is a psychoanalytic therapist based in that Phil Tennessee. No, no I'm a therapist who believes that when we do the deeper work of looking at where your patterns came from we unlock the power to change them Which one would you call okay? Do not write in third person If you are a group practice then you should be writing in we language and each of your clinicians should have individual bio pages that are written in first person I language, okay? So a little bit of different approach for group practice but still never ever ever write in third person when referencing a single clinician Next do not overload your about page with modalities Now there's a fine line here these days if you were to check out and done for your sites that we've done in the last year or so You will often see a modalities or methods section of the about page and in confident copy We have an entire walk for that so nothing you shouldn't be sharing your modalities in this day and age Actually, AI is Looking for authority that you're credible and you know what you're doing So it's absolutely worth it to share about your modalities, but we cannot be overloading the page with those things If also very important if and when you share about your methods and modalities that you are doing so in very very client-friendly language So EMDR how would you describe this to a client? ISX how would you describe that to a client? Making really sure that you're not getting into that clinical jargon territory that you're staying away from that You're keeping things really focused on how your clients would actually understand something And then I think the other two red flag are a little bit more general But one is that you write so clinically that you feel intimidating Now sometimes when you talk about clinical stuff or provide psycho education on your website, it's building credibility It makes me feel like you know what you're talking about But if that's all you do is right in this appolished academic way I can feel like I don't belong here in my sweatshirt and leggings, right? It actually can become intimidating Or on the flip side clinicians who are so flowery and vey that it builds no trust at all Because I feel like you're not actually writing to anyone in particular You're not hitting on anything specific to me and so that trust doesn't really go anywhere It sounds nice. It sounds fine, but it doesn't really do anything And as we talk about in our clear website full caseload workshop, Wemphalone does not command premium fees You probably are a compassionate therapist That's not what is going to lead someone to decide to book you at your full fee The primary gut chef I often suggest for clinicians is if your about page starts with the word I instead of you Then you might be centering yourself too much That's not the end it felt that check I like to be thinking about Now what does the good about page actually do and look like right by the end of your about page A client should feel deeply seen by you. They should feel like they belong here like you're talking to them They should be seeing things specific to their experience reflected back to them on the page They should be getting a sense of you and of your voice your approach your vibe, right? We're not writing this like a grad school paper. We're writing this in the type of language that you would say out loud Your clients should also feel very clear by the end of this page on what to expect in working with you And that again might be on a really granular level like a session to session level or it might just be kind of a larger process You take them through but they should feel like they understand what could be coming next when they decide to reach out And hopefully your client does feel comfortable reaching out, right? They should feel like they've been built a level of trust or insight into you enough To say hey, I think I want to reach out to this therapist This feels aligned this person could get me I could see myself sitting down and talking to them Not wow they sure have a lot of certifications. That's not the feeling for going for okay Now let me guide our folks that come to copy true writing in about page or when we write it for our clients If I'll kind of a primary structure where first we're going to capture the attention of the client If the top of your about page starts at the word about we are missing out on an opportunity to really form connection So we have a thought and attention getting headline will really draw that person in Then we do a little bit of what we call empathizing We want to acknowledge what brought this person here The other things they maybe have tried the tipping point that led them to decide to seek out a therapist, right? And I want the labor and this isn't a super long section But again, we're starting with you. We're reflecting back to the client Hey, essentially does this sound like you? The cool thing about this when done well is that we can start to do some of the filtering We can start to be calling in client who are the right fit for you Who have the level of motivation or insight or awareness that you need And as we call blessing and releasing filtering out the people who don't have that yet So when done well this empathizing session can start to qualify people who are the best fit for you Then we get into expectation setting. So this is where we are using really plain language explanation of your approach What if like to be in the room with you what your help your clients address or overcome And then we focus on trust building That's where we're going to share a little bit more about why your clients trust you if you have lived experience That's likely where we'll weave in the self-disclosure piece We're going to talk more about why clients appreciate you We're releaning more on that feedback that you've often gotten from clients and things like that Then we'll get into methods and modalities So with only after we really focused on connection and trust building do we really start to share those things And like I said, we're doing that more and more and it's really beneficial to do so as long as it's in that very client-friendly language Next we're absolutely going to have a section for training and certification, right? I want to be clear while I've been poo-cuing the entire page about this This still belongs on your website So absolutely make sure that people know how well you're trained all the things you can do Definitely put it in there. Just not right at the top of the page, okay? So we're going to share your training and education and then we're always going to include an invitation to take the next step, right? We often end this page with a really compelling headline that kind of communicates the philosophy of that clinician Followed of course by a call to action button And there should be a handful of calls to act throughout this page. We don't have to wait until the end A couple other things we sometimes add to this page is a guided principles or core value section We have some guidance and templates for that in confident copy But if you're guided by some really particular ideas or philosophies This is a great way to share that in a compelling way that clients can still feel like they really relate to They really might sink their teeth into one or two of those values and feel especially seen or connected to you in that way If you're a group practice, we almost always include this section Because it's so powerful for giving your team kind of some language for what it is that you do And helping clients see you as a destination that is sort of centered around folks ideas And then if you're a group practice, we often also include a letter from Foundry where you as the owner get to share a little bit more about why you created this practice and your vision around it. So that you're still highlighted on the page, but you're also really chave-ning your team and the ultimate vision behind the work that you do. So that's kind of a framework that we use when developing about pages for our clients and are done for you services or in the company copy framework that you get access to when you join. So like I said, you're about pages not about you and actually has to do a ton of other heavy lifting in your marketing. But if you do a well, you can be qualifying the right that clients and blessing and releasing those who are going to be a good fit. All just from your website. So you're not sitting down in session with someone who is completely misaligned with your approach. It can muscle set expectations about what I'd like to be with you. It can build trust and truly become the page that leads people to call and say, I already know you're the therapist for me. Like this can be the page that does that when you do a well. This isn't about proving you're impressive or listing every single thing you've ever been trained in. It's not about sharing your life story, but it's about ultimately helping someone feel safe enough to reach out and to realize holy cow, I didn't know there was a therapist like this out there. That's what I want for you. Now, like I mentioned at the top of the episode are most popular workshop clear website full pay load is now available on demand where I dive more deeply into a lot of the mistakes that I'm seeing clinicians make right now specifically when it comes to attracting premium clients. You can jump in at wapershredgco.com slash C WFC and if you're interested in working with us in our dumb for your services or if you want to jump into coffee and get access to these frameworks on your own. Well, I'll include the links to that in the show notes as well. So go for it. Right strong about pages focus on trust building and expectation setting and watch this page start to do some heavy lifting for you and your practice. I'm cheering you on. I'll see you next week. That's it for this episode of marketing therapy. Thanks for being here today. If you found it helpful, pass it along to a fellow therapist who's serious about brewing a full fee feel good practice just like you. And if you're liking marketing therapy, you will love our exclusive podcast series today's full caseload where I dive deep and I mean deep into what it takes to get clients right now in this market. So I'm going to head to wapershredgco.com slash TFC drop in your email and we will send you the private invite. One more thing before you go, please consider dropping a quick rating or review. This helps more therapists find this show and ultimately to stay out of the marketing spiral that too many therapists get caught in. Thanks for being here. See you next time.