Dietitian Values
The Dietitian Values podcast is a space for conversations that go beyond lip speak, challenge the status quo and, bring us together to learn and unlearn in connection and community. Join me, Laura Jean Dietitian by trade and weirdo at heart, as I chat to insightful guests, brain dump my thoughts and start those kind of conversations where we'll probably end up with more questions than answers. Let's create a space for encouraging and inspiring accountable action.
Dietitian Values
Your website is a tool for connection with Whitney Bateson
Today I'm in conversation with Whitney Bateson, RD turned website coach supporting health and helping professionals to create beautiful, functional and profitable websites without the tech overwhelm.
At the centre of our conversation is the way that your websites can be a powerful tool for connection in your business.
We chat about:
- How Whitney went from school nutrition dietitian to website coach
- supporting dietitians and health professionals to be confident and competent around their websites
- the evolving nature of websites in business and how that's a good thing
- the must haves for a service provider website
- where and how to get started
- resources to support you and so much more....
Let's dive in.
Show notes, links, mentions & transcripts dietitianvalues.com/podcast
Continue the conversation on Instagram @dietitianvalues
Well, hello, hello, and welcome back to this week's episode of The dietitian Values Podcast. Today, I have a guest with me, Whitney Bateson, who is a dietitian, who is based all over the world, actually, you know, doing amazing things, traveling around. She's a dietitian turned website coach who believes that when wellness and nutrition professionals establish themselves establish themselves in their field, that we all win. The public receives accurate information. We get paid our worth, and we advance health. Whitney's created the wellness pro website live six week program that helps wellness entrepreneurs create beautiful, functional, profitable websites without the overwhelm of all the tech that generates more traffic and attracts more clients, Whitney's been in business since 2018 and has been doing some amazing stuff. And we actually connected via Hayley, a mutual acquaintance who had done your website program, as well, who she, yep, waxed lyrical about it and said it was a great tool for her, so, you know, so welcome Whitney. Thank you for being here.
Whitney Bateson:Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, excited to be here.
Laura Jean:No worries. So that's like the official line, of course. But is there anything you'd like to add or how you introduce yourself, or things that's worth people knowing about you?
Whitney Bateson:Sure a little bit, because I'm sure the dietitian to website coach is probably like, Hey, how'd you get into that?
Laura Jean:Not the usual pipeline.
Whitney Bateson:No, it's not. And I started my career in school nutrition. I was working at a food service management company and providing school meals to kids all over the country. It was very fulfilling. I loved being able to just help kids have access, a lot of kids that just don't have access to healthy meals on a regular basis, making sure that they had that. And at that time, because I was working at the national level, I had to really lean on like systems and communication and great marketing and graphic design and all of that to get our message out there in the nutrition department. But what was happening was we weren't necessarily getting like, as much support as I would like. So I was doing the graphic design. We had a marketing department, but we weren't necessarily getting like the budget or the understanding of what we wanted to communicate out there. And it just was this light bulb moment for me. I'd been thinking about where my next move was in my career, because I had been doing that work for a while, and i started realizing that, like you know, I just feel that in order for us as health and wellness professionals to really help people, it is about how people actually receive our information, because we can be the most knowledgeable people out there, but if it's not getting into the minds and hearts of people, then we're not really helping anyone. And so I started my business to ensure that wellness professionals, dietitians, therapists, health coaches, actually had like a trusted resource that they could rely on to connect with their customers and grow their businesses, but also really make sure that they are helping people and getting their message out. So that's kind of my my driving force and what I love doing. So yeah, I don't necessarily practice dietetics so much anymore, but I love seeing other dietitians and wellness professionals succeed.
Laura Jean:I love that, and I'm thinking date wise, like you were a graphic designer before Canva, so you actually, like, had to use Adobe or illustrator, or something like actually designing, not the easy way we have it now.
Whitney Bateson:converted over to Canva, because it is just so much faster and easier to use. But yeah, I still remember this is actually a story I've been told. I remember I was sitting in my apartment and taking back when lynda.com, I don't know if you ever learned from lynda.com but that also has gone away. That was like an e-learning training website. They were purchased by LinkedIn, but just tons of resources, and I used my library card to get free access to it. Still love the library cards, but I was taking a training on Adobe Illustrator, and this was still when I was in my other role, and I wanted to do some graphic design for a yogurt promotion that we were doing, and I wanted to make a parfait. And so I was doing this training and designing the thing, and I literally cried because I had finally learned how to do this thing. I've seen so many pretty, pretty things out there in the world, and never knew how to design it. And once I was doing that, it was kind of like, okay, I'm having such an emotional reaction to this right now. I think this is a sign that this is more in the direction I should be going, because I just was so excited and thrilled that I felt like I had been given the secret. And I was like, oh. And so that kind of led to other things, like learning how to build websites, and I started video editing because we wanted to do nutrition education videos. But of course, there was not a budget for videographers and all of that. So I bought a camera. I learned video editing. I used Premiere Pro. So also, before all the other like, you know, easy stuff, and I started editing videos and just learning all those behind the scenes things just empowered me so much. And I felt like I wanted to empower other dietitians, but in a, you know, not that every dietitian needs to learn how to edit videos. And, you know, professionally graphic design yogurt, but just having some a little bit more access and transparency and ownership and empowerment, because I just felt like I currently wasn't really getting that. So
Laura Jean:I love so much about that, from the library card, to that felt sense of like, knowing, Oh, wow. This is, in this moment, This is what I want to be doing. And that can change, of course, but you kind of had that connection to it, but I think, and also, like all of those seeds of, Whitney's definitely going to be an entrepreneur here. She's got the camera. She's diving into all the bits and pieces, yeah, and that recognizing, which I think, from what I know of what you're up to, I think your business really fills that space of not everyone wants to go do all the behind the scenes stuff. Like, I'm a bit of a self confessed DIY-er, behind the scenes I like to kind of know how everything works, and I know that not everyone does that, but I'm not the girl to kind of go and create the course to teach people how to do their website. So I'm glad there's you Whitney, because I think there's that thing, because for a lot of health and helping professionals, there is that real overwhelm of like, I know I've got to do all the things, and yes, we've got canva now, so that's great. We don't have to learn illustrator Pro or pay for graphic design stuff. But there's still things like the website, which is such an important piece of our businesses, but all of those kind of pieces. And so having somebody who has done all that kind of work for you, but also has that health professional lens, like the importance, like, knows, the importance of the message that, yes, the pretty pictures are important, but that without that message. So yes. So I think that. So what are you up to at the moment? Or where does, how does that kind of land for you?
Unknown:Yeah. So I think one of the other things too is that empowerment aspect of it. Because you mentioned, you know, that you're a bit of a DIY or and honestly, I feel like maybe it's just this profession. I feel like I've encountered a lot of of business owners where they do want to know how things work, like the whole point sometimes of starting a business is that you want to have control, right? You get to decide what you work on, and you get the inner workings you, you know, understand all that stuff, granted, yeah, you don't necessarily want to learn how to do everything. But I think
Laura Jean:there's an edge, there's an end to what we want
Whitney Bateson:yeah, exactly, right. So I think that empowerment piece is so big, and that's why I started my program, to learn and do and have been so passionate about, like, you said that edge, we'll set up the website, and we will install WordPress and connect it to the domain and do the DNS records and the SSL and the software maintenance and all of that. So that's like, that's the edge you don't need to handle that. Like, I don't think that that's a valuable skill, but up to that point, like, learning how to write really great copy for your website is something that's a valuable skill for a business owner to have, because you're going to be writing copy all the time for emails and communicating to your clients, and, yeah, we wanted to really connect. And I think you're going to learn a lot by learning the foundations of how to do it, and feel more connected to it too. You know, we we talk about, like, the just how you make sure that marketing doesn't feel icky, or that sales doesn't feel icky. And I think what could potentially happen is if you go and just outsource everything and say, Okay, go write the copy for my website. These are the services that I provide, and this is my ideal customer, but, you know, go write it. Um, if it doesn't have your heart in it, and you haven't thought through how is this reflecting me and my business and my customers, then you may not connect to it as much. And then it's a trickle down effect, that if you are not connecting to all these different parts of your business, you're not going to feel confident when you're going out there and presenting yourself and and asking for the sale, basically from a place of knowing that the value that you're about to give this person matches whatever you're asking them to pay you in return. But if you haven't like felt into that, that value and that core belief that like what you're doing is right and how you're connecting with people. It's just not, it's not going to work. It's not going to connect,
Laura Jean:yeah. And I think the extension of the website and stuff, there tends to be a binary of either you do it all yourself, or you outsource it, and then people find they have these websites that don't reflect them, that they don't want to share, that they don't want to use as a tool, or, even worse, that they can't ever update, and they can't add the new things that are going on without like, you know paying through the nose or we won't get into the dodginess of that kind of world. But yeah, that's what I love about your piece, removing that kind of smoke and mirrors piece and the trapping people into the ongoing stuff, and actually empowering people to be able to do it themselves. If you want to add a course or program that you've got coming up, you can do that. But also, yeah, supporting people at that edge, but you don't have to do all these things, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's really important our websites, because our businesses are always evolving like down even to the words that we're using to communicate about our business or communicate to our customers. Every time that you meet with one of your customers, your clients or have a new discovery call, there are new words that people are using to describe their problems or their goals, there are just new things that you're learning that you may want to incorporate into your website in some way, or there is a new service that you've discovered, hey, this is something that's really going to be valuable to people. And if you don't know how to update your website and add it to your website, then your website is really not serving your business as much as it could be. And I think there's been this myth that, Oh,you just need a landing page. Like, yeah, you know, I have a website, but it's not really doing very much. It's there. You know, if people Google me, they'll find it, they'll see I have a website. But then when you actually go and dig into the services, you know, maybe they're outdated, or there's no easy way to book a call, or the the copy is very generic, and it's not connecting to the customer, and all of those things, that's the reason why the website's not doing anything. It's because it's not yet been turned into that thing that is actually going to connect with customers, and that's both good for you as a business owner, but then it's also really important for your customers to feel like you have put the time and energy in to connect with them, and your website is one of those ways to do it, because we're not in front of our customers on a day to day basis, usually, you know, meeting in person. So how do we connect with them, how do we communicate what we're about, how we can help them, how we approach our business, how we approach supporting them. Our website is really one of those best ways to dothat. Yeah, I think that. I mean I'm sold on websites as a tool, but beyond that landing page, I think obviously when websites sort of first started to become more of a common thing, it was almost and extension of the phone book listing of just having a presence. But obviously a website is so much more than that. And from a values perspective, you know, when you were sharing around how our words change and things change. And I think then you know how we want to share things evolves, and as we get more comfortable with sharing who we are for people who are aligning with their values and bringing that into their business, then there's opportunity for us to continue to tweak things like our websites. And I really think websites are such a great way for us to share our values, to share and to signal those. so, beyond the website, just being the extension of the phone book, and apologies to people who don't even know what a phone book is, who are listening along. Yes, I am a geriatric millennial, but what are some of the other kind of pieces, or what do you see as the other ways our website can be a tool for our business,
Unknown:there's a few things. So I think one of those first things is the copy and making sure that the words that we're using are forming that connection with people, so that it's both attracting the people that are the right people that align with our values, and then it's also letting the people know who maybe don't align with our values andaren't going to be a good fit, kind of not wasting their time, right? I think the worst thing is, and probably all of us have experienced this, maybe early on in our businesses, where you get on the phone with someone and they're already just not the right fit, and you're just like, how did you even think that this was going to be a good thing? And it could be that your website didn't clearly kind of give a sense of who you are and what you stand for. And even just down to dietitians who are not about weight loss and are about intuitive eating and making sure that that's clear, so that you don't get on the phone and someone is just like, I just need to lose 10 pounds for my wedding. You know, it's like, that's clearly not the right fit, and your website can communicate that. But then, on a deeper level, of making your clients and your potential clients feel seen and heard. And I think that that's something that when we think about copywriting, we think about conversion focused copywriting, because conversion focused copywriting, which is the copy that we put on our website, is about wanting to get someone to take an action. But I think that it can have this like more negative connotation of feeling like, oh, it's misleading, or it's pushy or it's salesy, but really, all we're wanting to do is show our customers, our ideal customers, that we understand them, that we empathize with them, that they can trust us, and then just guide them to one of the ways that we can help them, and invite them to take that step to work with us. So I think viewing your copy as more a way to support your customers and let them feel like they're in a session with you, and getting the support from you and getting that empathy. And it can be challenging, I think, for any business owner, but maybe also more of the science focused ones where we can get very technical, or we can use jargon, and it can be tough to get ourselves out of that habit, but I think just thinking about using the words our customers are using to describe their problems, to describe their pains, to describe their goals. So like I said, anytime you're communicating with a customer, meeting with them, or someone has filled out a discovery call intake form and they told you what they're struggling with, keep a mental note and be thinking about how you can weave those words into your copy. And that can be just a great way to go about that. Another thing besides the copy, is that way for how people can actually take that next step to work with you and having that be a supportive process that is easy for them. And going back to values a little bit, if one of your values is to just make sure that things are easy and comfortable and that your customers have a great experience and they feel supported. If your first step for the sales process is for them to have to just call you or send you a cold email, because your website is just saying, like, if you want to know more, here's my phone number and here's my email address, but
Laura Jean:click away. I'm not calling you Sorry,
Whitney Bateson:yeah? Like, that's really not super supportive, that's not really very helpful to them, because that means that they either have to call you and worry that they're interrupting your dinner, or, you know, depending on what, or just calling you out of the blue. Like, I don't like calling people out of the blue these days and just having an awkward conversation.
Laura Jean:No one's picking up the phone, no one wants to make phone calls. Or, I mean, there's very specific people, so if they're the people that you're trying to reach, then great. But yes, I'm not, right,
Unknown:no. And, I mean, I guess that's the other thing too. Is if your business, my business, is very asynchronous, like, I don't really want to have a lot of calls and need for a lot of like live interaction with my customers. And honestly, I feel that that's a value that I both expect and value. But I think that my customers are probably my clients are pretty busy as well, and so I needed them to get on a call with me every time that they needed to tell me something that they wanted done to their website. I don't think that that's a very good experience. I think it's actually better if I can give them the support and tools to get what they need done, you know, on their own time and all of that. And so I think the way you're the beginning of your sales process is is indicative to what your client experience is going to be and what your values are in your business. So yeah, if you want people calling you out of the blue, picking up the phone all the time without an appointment, then leave that phone number and say so
Laura Jean:well, and I think too, it's a good example of how we want to show up in our values towards ourselves as well. Because if you know you don't like phone calls, that drains you to be on the call, but you've still got your phone number on there, because that's how you think you should do it, it's serving nobody. It's helping nobody, and definitely not helping yourself. So I love that about really thinking about how you want that process to start,what works for the humans you want to support, but also, how do you want to be interacted with. So thank you for sharing your like, you know how you do your business and how that aligns with both sides of it. Because I think health and helping professionals, we often just look outside, what works best for the clients? Like, well, it's most convenient for them to have a phone number to call, but also, nobody, nobody wants to pick up the phone anymore, so you can get rid of that. But also, without thinking about themselves and their own needs. So thank you for sharing how you have created what works for both you and them, because it can be both. It's not an either or,
Unknown:right? Yeah. And I think that sometimes we make these assumptions that, well, I need to give all of myself, I need to be completely available and all that and that that is going to be the best path for our customers when it turns out that that may not actually be the case. So a thing that I always tell people to have for your sales process is instead to have a spot for people to book a call on your calendar. And this doesn't mean that you have to have nine to five Monday through Friday open on your calendar for calls. You can set which spots you are available. You can be using tools, a lot of the practice management softwares, the HRs, like simple practice, practice better, all of them have the schedulers. But then also you can use acuity or Calendly. And you can say, I don't want anyone booking a call more than two days out, a week out, so you can set these boundaries of how you want to show up in your own business, and how you want to be interacted with. If you're saying, Okay, you can book a call four hours from now and I'll be available. I don't know that that's like, super healthy, you know? I think, yeah, I like planning ahead and all of that. I think it sends a message at the same time. So
Laura Jean:absolutely, and from that values point of view, you know, don't be surprised if the humans that start working with you are the ones that expect you to be responding to them out of hours all the time, and they're those, those humans that we you know, that do have a certain set of needs that they want to be met because you have started the process by meeting that need for them
Unknown:yep, and laying that foundation. So I think that allowing people to book that call is great because it's letting them know, like, Hey, I'm ready to help you take action, and they are having that opportunity to get on your calendar. And if you don't do calls, if you want to do an application instead that that's fine too, but I think for many folks, if you are starting into, like, a counseling relationship or some kind of one to one, you probably want to have some kind of conversation to just make sure it's the right fit and answer questions. It can even be 15 minutes. But I think by doing that and using an automated scheduler, as opposed to, like, oh, email me and we'll set up a time. You are putting systems in place that are going to respect the time of your customers and clients. It's going to give them reminders, it's going to put it on their calendar. All these things that you're kind of setting up the framework to say, I've got it together, this is going to be a good experience. I'm going to support you and and here's how we're going to do it, and that way you can focus on the real work and getting the work done, as opposed to back and forth emails and wasting people's time and energy on just
Laura Jean:And I think what you said before about the boundary the minutia. piece for you know, not that. I'm sure no one can identify with being a people pleasing person needing to work on their boundaries. The beauty of some of that tech is that it allows you to kind of put boundaries in place without you having to speak it. So you can have those kind of like these are the hours I see, and you have that, then you don't have to always communicate that. Because sometimes, even though you know that actions align with your values and is what you want to do if you're in that people pleasing history and recovering just communicating that can feel uncomfortable so having other ways. So I like that as a as almost a support tool for us on our follow through, of our commitment to our values and to ourselves in our businesses, as well as making like all of those other practical basis. But I think there's all those, those bits as well.
Unknown:Yeah. think just being open to the idea that these things are not just because they're good marketing or sales tactics or because they're great for you, there's deeper meaning that's actually imbued with them as well. And so it's a good thing to put these into place in your business, because then, of course, there's all the other benefits of being able to have more customers and leads coming in, because you're not having to manage a lot of emails back and forth. People can just schedule. And when they come to your website, they're seeing that. And just going back to even what you mentioned about how websites, you know in the past were kind of like this phone book thing and and now they're not. And one of the reasons that they're not is because now everyone has a website, like most businesses, have some kind of presence online, and so there's a lot of different options that our clients have when they are searching for a solution to their needs. And so if your website is not doing that work of connecting with them through the copy and all of that, and then also not making it easy for them to take the next step to begin working with you, then they can just go back to the Google search results and go to the next one on the list, and I've done that, I'll be honest, like I've been looking for service providers and ones that have because I've been burned before. I'll pour my heart and soul into a contact form, and it just goes into the ether, and, you know, there's no response or or there's no opportunity to really move forward at all on the website and, and so I'll go with the one that allows me to take action, and that has a system that I feel has the reminders, has the checks and balances, is set up because it's just sending me a signal that, okay, it's going to be a better relationship working with this person.
Laura Jean:Yeah, well, it shows this is, this is how they're going to operate. And if that's what aligns for how you operate, then that is going to, you know, it's that values piece coming through and coming through, and our actions of what's important. And I think that piece of taking action, you know, when you were sharing of like, because I think sometimes dietitians, health and helping professionals can feel some sort of way about the marketing stuff and like, that piece of like, you know, what's the first step in our sales process? But really what that is, is, what is, what do we want people to be able to do or like, if they've, they're coming to our website for a reason, right? They need some sort of we're asking them, we're sharing with them. Well, this is how you can take that next step. And I think that idea of, again, if we look through it, through that real transactional, kind of status quo business building kind of idea of like, gets the it's the way we make the sale and that. But we can, we can think of it through our lens of our own values of the taking action pieces is like, what is the next step, or how we can support them, making it really clear around how they can get support if they want to. The next step might be for them to click off your website, but if they have not, because you have been really clear about what you're up to, then we want that to be not confusing for them. Because, again, like you said, you know how we've reached them is how that kind of follow through is going to be. So if that's not how you roll in your sessions, you don't want that disconnect for people, right? Like that? Well, most people won't even get past that first step into knowing there's a disconnect, but if there is, then it's like, oh, something's like, kind of like, off,
Unknown:right? Yep, yeah, exactly. I think, thinking about the fact that, like, that great client experience that you've been working on, and the the resources and how you've structured your programs or your packages and the software you've set up. And you know, if you have a client portal, or you are using an app is for messaging and all of that, all of that work that you've done to make that really amazing. If you don't have the front end of your process before someone becomes a client also dialed in to feel just as good, then to your point, yeah, you're going to be losing people. People are not even going to get that chance to experience working with you, because it just, you know, kind of fell apart before it even started.
Laura Jean:Yeah, and we're trained for that establishing rapport piece, you know, in our counseling, like in our one to one space, and in a traditional model that began when you've had that first contact. But now, and particularly for people who are running their own businesses and running online businesses where you don't have that necessarily, the interface of human connection, like one to one, face to face, or virtual being the first point of call that rapport building starts as soon as somebody has their first contact with your service, whether it's your social media or your website. Like that, rapport building process has started in our current kind of, like, way we work.
Unknown:Yep, absolutely right. I think the other thing that's interesting to think about is like, I kind of think about it like a mall. Like, all of our websites are stores in a mall. And you may think, like, well, you know, I'm doing fine. I don't need a lot of people coming into my store, because I've got, you know, other stuff going on, and so I don't really spend any time in the store. But you don't know how many people are passing by your store every day who might be like, really, really great people, but because you have neglected the store. No one's coming in. And I think that that's just something else to keep in mind on with the online space, a lot of times we don't know, especially if we want to grow because we can rely on referrals. We can rely on some of these more like close connection networking things, where that person that came to us is referred by someone else. So there's some kind of connection. But if you want to start having strangers coming into your business, which is eventually what many of us need to do if we want our business to be growing and having more clients and and all of that, we need a way for strangers to be connecting with us. And so our websites are that that place. And so even if you are saying right now that your website isn't really doing a lot for you, it's possible that you just don't even know the opportunities that you're missing because people are just not stopping by.
Laura Jean:Yeah, I like that store analogy, like I was thinking of it when you mention it from that idea of because I often think of planting seeds because I'm about the garden. But it's like, you know, we've all had that example of you, you going around through the shopping center, or whatever, and you see a shop and you're like, Oh, what's that place? Or or something about it, it looks really nice, or the colors, or something invites you in. And you go in, and you don't need what's in that store today, but you're interested, your intrigued, and you're looking at stuff, but in a month's time, two months time, three months time, when you're like, you know, let's say it's a tea shop, and you're like, oh, I need some tea, or I'd love a new teapot. or That would be the perfect gift for this person, you know, if we were pulling the analogy bit. But if we extrapolate it to a lot of humans who might be in that pre contemplation stage, and they come across your website, and they see it, and they see it, and they're like, I'm not ready for it yet. They'll never come back if it doesn't align to them. But when they get towards that action stage of wherever they are on their kind of health experience, if your website has stood out or connected to them, or even if they don't need your services, but their aunties, cats, neighbors, you know, because somebody tells them about a story, and they're like, Oh, I saw this. You know, we all have those experiences like, How many times have have you had it when you're having a conversation with a friend and you're like, Oh, I saw a thing about that. It was this thing and that thing, if your website has made an impression, you know, it's planted that seed, then people are going to come back. Or if, you know, they've enjoyed your store, then they're going to come back to buy the present for somebody, or to to pick up, you know, whatever they need
Unknown:well. And I love that you brought that up too about the people that are not ready, because the truth is, most of the people that come to our website are not ready. They're not, like, raring to go. There will be people that are, but there's a lot that that aren't and, yeah, we want that connection to be happening. Another way that we can make sure that we stay in touch with those people and nurture them is by getting them on our email list in some way, so that we can then be just nurturing them and just sending them valuable information. And you may think like, oh man, you know, I just don't want to keep giving away stuff for free. I want people to pay me for these things. But, you know, it's about, I mean, at the end of the day, we want to help our customers, and we want them to succeed. And the best way to get someone to want to work with you is to get them to feel like you if you're giving away this much stuff for for free, or, as part of you know, just being on the email list, they're going to place so much value on, okay, well, when I go and work with her, I'm going to get even more, because this has been amazing, and this has been so helpful. So the the goal is not necessarily, I mean, obviously you're going to have people on your email list where they are those hyper DIY-ers, and they're just going to take your tips, and they're they're going to go off and do their own thing, and that's fine. But for most of the people that are going to be there, they are going to be just eating up what you're giving them, and you're going to be building that trust and that rapport, like you mentioned, like it's just continuing that conversation and your emails, if you're writing them in the voice of your business, and really staying true to like your personality and your values, they're going to just continue to be connecting with you. And that's the whole point. We want people to build the know, like and trust factor that's talked about in marketing. You know, first, people just need to know about us. So that's that visibility and being Google able, and, you know, all of that. And then they need to like us. And that is just again, coming to the website and feeling like, Okay, is there empathy? Here? Am I connecting with this person? And then the trust is really getting to that like, Okay, I trust that this person is the one to help me, because I've seen how they approach this problem. I'm getting some value from them and getting a taste of the kinds of things that they can help me with. And we really need that trust built before someone is ever going to want to work with you, especially in this field of health and wellness and all of that, there's a lot of trust that comes with it that we need
Laura Jean:Absolutley, I often talk about like, yeah, business, to build up. creating a business is really about creating trust. That's what we're always working on and trust for other people to feel like they could create a space to have trust in us, but also in themselves. So, you know, when we're sharing things, you know, that whole piece of like having an email list, or whatever people want to use for their content marketing, although, as you said, an email list is a great way to catch people who maybe aren't ready to book a call, but there's something about what you've shared that interests them, and by sharing your story or sharing what's front of mind for you, or sharing just who you are via your email list, then they can get that opportunity to build that over time, or to cultivate that, versus if it's just like, call me on the phone now or ever, and then that's like, literally all that can happen. It's only really going to work for a very small subset. But then there's not that opportunity to to get to know each other, to build trust similarly, like, you know, whether you liken it to dating or friends. Whatever. Yeah, we want to text. We want to like Facebook, stalk people, not Facebook, probably anymore, you know, Instagram, so like we want to look and lurk and see Google. Yeah, all of those take some time, because it's just a different type of relationship. So people are acting the same way and but they but as business owners, we can give them opportunities to find that information, you know, we don't want stalkers finding us in a personal realm, but as a professional, we want to be stalked. We want people to be able to find us, find what we do, and to know who we are. So yeah, I think that those pieces of Yeah, kind of following it up. And there will be some people who never, who don't want an email list thing. So having, like, different things, like you said, for people, was just maybe one of my kind of bug bears, I suppose, with websites, particularly now, is like, when you can't, because I like people, so like, when you can't find out who a person is, like, their name, oh, yes, who are you?
Unknown:Yeah, I think. And that's an interesting one, because I've gotten the question like, how, how many photos of myself should be on the website? And, you know, I don't really want the website to be about me. And I totally get that. But your clients are buying from you or hiring you, or, you know they want, they're going to be working with you most of the time, and so to just have, I mean, like, unless it's, I'm trying to think of like a faceless company, but even, even like a comp, like Nike, it's like, who, who founded this? Or, you know, who? But like, for many of us, service based business, or you're doing a program, or even if you're selling some templates or something like that, people who's behind the scenes and so have a photo or two of you on the site say who you are, a little bit of why you started the business. And I think one thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to just tell every single story of your life and give a bunch of information about yourself that you don't want to give your website is predominantly about your clients and your customers, and it should be speaking to them. So speak to stories or background pieces of information from yourself that are going to resonate with your customers and that are going to be relevant to the kind of work that they're wanting to work with you about. So you don't need to talk about how you broke your ankle in fifth grade at a gymnastics party, if it has nothing to do with what it is, you're helping people about but maybe you are focusing on pediatric, pediatric nutrition and sharing the story of how you dealt with that with your own child. And you know that inspired you to ensure that mothers and fathers don't have to go through that same struggle, and like, those kinds of anecdotes and things to connect with people, and again, share what you feel is comfortable, because this is, I think, going back to your values as well, and how much you want to connect with people. And I know in the past, when I was working in a corporate position, I felt very like closed off, don't share too much about yourself, even like that. You you know like to travel or go on trips or anything like that. And I've since realized that it's much more fun to just have relation, like personal relationships, and know what people are doing, what their interests are, and all of that. And so I think if, if you want that kind of relationship with your customers and clients, so that they can feel comfortable sharing parts of their life with you and just, you know, human to human connection. Then put that on your website so they know that, that they can connect with you.
Laura Jean:Yeah, that relating piece. And so I think then, or I was just thinking as you were chatting, when we sharing ourselves and sharing those things, and as we've moved beyond just the landing page is kind of like, what to to a two part question. So do you think a landing page is enough? And if it is, then like, what? What should we have on there? And if it's not like, what are kind of, I know there's no like one, and there's definitely never an absolute. And people who listen along here know how to filter that through. But like, what are the kind of bare minimum, kind of pages people should have on their websites? Do you think? Yeah, what's kind of working or creating like that in that opportunity for people to know, like trust?
Unknown:I think it can be super simple. I think a one page website maybe can be good, like when you're just getting started and you only have one service, but I generally like to have at least a few pages, so that we don't have too much stuff all on one page. And because, remember, because we're not yet having the opportunity to be face to face in front of someone the amount of content, and we have to be mindful about the content that we put on the site, but the amount of content is what allows us to form that connection. And so if we are kind of keeping ourselves to only a few pieces, a few sections on one page, that may not be enough to really connect. With someone and and build that rapport. So I think at a minimum, if you're a service based business, you're having a home page, you're having an about page. The about page does not have to be long, but then you have a services page, you have a page for people to book a call. So I prefer to embed the scheduler on a page on your site, so that we're not sending people just to another spot, and it's super easy to do all of the platforms allow you to embed. I do like having a contact form and a contact page. I think that the booking and the contact should be separate, because not everyone wants to book a call. Maybe they have a question, and I want to give people an option. I think that's, you know, you mentioned, like, one of your bugaboos is like, who are you? I think another one is like, how do I reach you? And you know, again, we don't need to put the phone number or the email if that's not how you want people to reach you, but I think we should still give some people some option to reach out to you with a question before getting on a call. So I think those are the basics. And then I think a blog is really helpful for a few reasons. Now, many of us, maybe we don't feel that we have the time to blog, or we don't feel we're great writers and all of that. I don't think that you need to set out with the goal of becoming like this high, you know, traffic, super blogger or anything like that. I think even putting out one article a month can help you do a few things so you can share with your customers, the people that are visiting the site, a little bit more of your perspective on topics that are relevant to whatever they are dealing with, so you can be unpacking more about the problem that they're having, or maybe there are some objections that you know they're going to have to hiring a professional like you, and you can talk about what to know before working with a dietitian, or what to know about or how to choose the right therapist, or what is it? What is a family therapist? Like? What's the kind of like? You can unpack those things a lot more. And those aren't things that really you're going to have a lot of space to do on your services page, for example. So I think they're really great blog articles to just allow people to dive into more about your perspective, and you're educating them. You're giving them value, and all of that. Also, when you put out a blog article, that is a great thing to email your list about. So it also gives you and you could even break that blog article into a few different emails. Maybe each month, you're repurposing that content to just a few emails that are just giving some different tips and all of that. So I think it allows you to give that value to people that are visiting the site or that are already in your audience. And then, of course, it allows you to be even more searchable on Google, because the one thing we want to do is we want to optimize our website and our pages for the terms that our customers are searching for when they're looking for a service provider like us. So very typical, like IBS nutritionist near me. Like those broad terms are good for, like our home page, our services page, for example. But then our blog is really where we do something called long tail keywords, and those are ones where it's a little bit easier to rank for them because they're not as popular. There's not as many people searching for them, but there's still people searching for them, and the more it's like a cumulative effort, the more of those articles you put out, the higher amount of traffic you can be getting, and then that's going to help you appear higher in search results as well, and and so you're just going to be at very basic sense thinking about the questions that your customers would be typing into Google to try and find answers to and write articles that that are those answers. So I think those are, like, the big areas that I would cover in terms of that, and I the last thing I would say is make sure that none of the pages on your site are a dead end. And what I mean is your about page should then be inviting people, after you've talked a little bit about yourself and maybe a little bit about your your background, why you started your business, all of that, invite people to go explore other parts of your site, invite them to go to your services page or check out your blog or download. So getting people on your email list, I would recommend having a freebie or a lead magnet, is what it's called, so people don't generally just join email lists anymore. You really want to coax them a little bit with something valuable, some PDF or resource or workshop or something that they'll give you their email for. And so having that on your about page maybe, and then on your services page too, having, of course, the calls to action, like on your home page, on your services page should be sending people to that booking page. So we never want people to, like, get to a spot. And, you know, obviously you have the navigation and in your footer, but otherwise it's just kind of like, well, where do I go from here? So, having the different sections kind of talk to each other is is a good thing to try and do.
Laura Jean:Yeah, I think that's helpful, and it's not. I liken it to a bit of a choose your own adventure. So it's not like people must choose that next thing, but particularly when our website is that sharing of ourselves, or not us, just ourselves, but sharing like a story, like it's a bit of a like a path where you might have shared your story, like a little bit of it, and then you link to a blog post that you've written about your story, about how you became this dietitian, or you link to your services. Like, interested in working together, yeah, so where people can kind of wander around, people can always get to the end of your blog, you know, whatever the page is, see that kind of next step, and that's not the one they want to take. If you've built that connection. Then they can look at the navigation bar, or they can go back and think, oh, there was a blog post that this person talked about, or there was this thing, or just be able to for the people who get your website and just want to find the booking form so it's, it's kind of meeting people where they're at, right? So like the people who are in the pre contemplation and maybe just want to read a blog post about something, or the people who are Googling, specifically, yeah, IBS, dietitian, in this location, they go to your booking form, and they book straight in, right? Or somebody who's searched a question, they come to your website, you answer that question, and then you show them how you might have this other question that you could go or there's this other blog post that I'd go more in, deep in it, or if you need help with that, so,
Unknown:yeah, or there's a download to help you
Laura Jean:Because sometimes I think when we think of it through the website lens, we're like thinking of it through that real mechanistic of like, this step, then this step. But if you think of it like I'm a human sitting at a computer or my phone, and I'm Googled this thing, and I land here, I read this thing, like that experience. And we can think of our own experience. You got a website, and you read this thing, and you're like, Oh, that was really interesting. And they have a link to another website, which is like, oh, yeah, I'm interested in that thing. You know, we have these experiences ourselves, I think sometimes as as health and helping professionals, because when it's presented to us on the business end, it's like, these are, these are strategies, these are systems. These are tools. This is, yeah, a thing we're doing to a person versus when we think about our own experiences of like, how do you interact with a website? What do you want to do for your next steps? How do you and and creating opportunities for our website to like? Obviously, not everyone's going to it's not like being like, well, I want, I think everyone's going to act like I do on a website, so I want it to cater that, but it's just remembering that, yes, we use these jargon and we use these like we can have these things, but it's really ways of offering connection to people like humans. It's humans that are interacting with our site.
Whitney Bateson:Yeah, I completely agree,
Laura Jean:yeah, just that way to kind of like, yeah, not get so overwhelmed by the idea that our website has to do something more than connect. I mean, there are all these things that they do, but they're all in the kind of the service of connecting, connecting to people, allowing people to connect to us, whether that's a physical connection or book a call, or whether that's just connect to an idea, connect to our way that we've shared a thing. It's all about that connection. I think if we can think about our websites as tools for connection that can feel more accessible for some people,
Unknown:yep, and just you know, every time you hear a tactic or a strategy that you should be applying to your website, just then also thinking back, like, Okay, this is about forming connection, and this is in service of forming connection. And, yeah, it also happens to be a marketing or sales strategy, but the the end goal is just to connect, because absolutely right like as consumers ourselves of products and services out there, we are just looking to connect with people and trust the people that we are about to hire and put our trust in and put our our money in, and all of that. And that's all we're trying to do for our own customers, is just make them feel confident and comfortable that this is going to be the right choice for them and and let them know that there's a real human on the other side who just wants the best for them, and just make sure that that connection can happen. But unfortunately, if your website and the online presence, which is sometimes the only way that people are going to know about you, if that's not really reflecting who you are and the value you give and all of that, unfortunately, people are just going to go somewhere else, and that's unfortunate for both of you.
Laura Jean:Yeah, and I think we can see that as as just an as an opportunity, like we don't have to think of it as another perfectionist like self flagellation point. Oh, I missed it again. But you know that, like each of those times somebody comes to your website, so it's an opportunity for connection. And are we using that opportunity in a way that aligns with our values, in a way that takes us where we want to go in our business. And yeah, I think that's a. A way, you know, most people, I think, can be honest about the you know, if we've done the Quickie lensing page, which, as you said, is great when we're getting started, but we know that there's more we could do, that there's more of those opportunities. You know, we, when we're honest with ourselves, we can often know that, like, it's not a Yeah, it's not a right or wrong or binary, it's just like, yeah, probably, maybe there are ways I can actually broaden those opportunities for connection.
Unknown:Yeah, and one thing that happens with websites is that, you know, they're, they're a big project to put together, and they require a lot of decisions. What are you going to call your service? What are you going to price it as? What tool are you going to use for scheduling or practice management? What's your lead magnet going to be, what's your headline going to be like? So I get too that, It's not just about, you know, knowing what's right, but also it's just, it's a it's a lot of work to move from either no website or a simple landing page to a multi page site, and it takes a lot of confidence too, and clarity and Okay, these are my values. These are the customers that I'm serving. These are my services. And so I just want to acknowledge that I understand that the process of creating a website because it is this tool for connection. What I've also found in working with so many business owners is that it can be a very emotional process and time and stressful, because you are putting yourself out there in so many ways, onto your website, and you want to make sure that you do the best job. And it's it's unfamiliar, a lot of it too. You know how writing about myself, or how to word this thing or or whatever the case may be. So it can be, it can be tough, but it is worth it. And it's one of those things where I also really like reminding people, and this is something for myself as well, that it is always evolving, so you don't need to have it be perfect from day one, and also it's never going to just be done. It's as we learn about our customers, introduce new services, kind of what we were saying before. It's always going to be evolving. There's never going to be a time where it's like, I have figured out my website and it is now done, and, you know, I don't need to think about it anymore, or whatever it's, it's always going to be evolving. And I think that that's a good thing to think about, instead of thinking about, like, oh, man, it's something I always have to do. It's, it's something that can always shift. And you, you're never going to, but I forget how they say it exactly, but you're, you're never going to get it this isn't the right way. But like, you're never going to get it right. You can't get right. You can't get it wrong because you're never going to get it right or something. There's no There's no right way. You're always adapting and and changing and and figuring stuff out. So don't feel like you have to have the perfect headline put what you feel is good at the time, and then as time goes on, you can keep changing and moving things around and just growing, because that's just the nature of owning a business. Is that the market is changing. Our customers are changing. What other options people have are changing. So it's just being cognizant of that as well, and knowing that that's something that you can always do, is change.
Laura Jean:Yes, change is the only constant, right? So, yeah, we can keep changing it. We can do it in bit by bit. And yeah, I like that lens to look at as an opportunity to get started, because we can't get it wrong, as opposed to a thing of, like, yeah, like, Oh, I gotta go be doing this forever. Nobody wants the same words on their website that they would have written five years ago, you know, 10 years ago, because it wouldn't represent who you are. So I like that, right? But yeah, and thank you for that acknowledgement. I think that's important to remember that it is tiring, we're sharing pieces of ourselves. And so yeah, a lot of the things we do in business, and including creating a website, does take time and take effort and take energy, takes resourcing, and so, yeah, knowing our values around that can be really helpful. I think I imagine from your end, and from when I've talked to people and even doing my own website, like knowing our values actually just makes that process so much that bring it's still tiring, it's still all those things, but there is an ease around it that can come from that.
Unknown:Yeah, for sure. I think the more clarity you can get on that foundational aspect of your business and who you want to show up as, and how you want to relate to your customers and all of that, because that just flows into everything. And so yeah, I think when you have that, that helps a lot.
Laura Jean:Cool. Well, thanks so much Whitney for sharing that, because I think you know your experience and that perspective is, I think it helps to Yeah, for us to be able to see our websites for the the tools they can be and those opportunities they can create for connection. And for for us as well, and how they can be another space of us feeling at home in our business, as opposed to feeling disconnected or feeling like our business is this other thing outside of ourselves. So yeah, thank you for that, sometimes not the perspective we always get. So I appreciate that. Yeah, a question that I often ask. I've got a favorite quote that we are planting seeds for a forest that we may never get to spend time in. So I'd love to offer if you have a seed to plant for fellow business owners and entrepreneurs.
Unknown:Oh, man. Okay, we've covered so many like great things today already, but I would, I would say that don't discount yourself. I know that marketing and sales and putting yourself out there and saying, Okay, I'm going to spend more time figuring this stuff out and and pushing myself forward, whether it's starting your email list or maybe reviving your email list, or getting a lead magnet out for the first time, or investing in getting a website professionally done. I think that we can have this doubt of whether these things are going to work. And a little bit of like, well, the more I invest and it's the more real it is, and the more I'm kind of saying, like, Okay, I believe that this is all going to work out. Or, you know, just You're, you're kind of, like, making everything more real. I don't know that that was kind of a feeling every, every investment I make in my business, sometimes I I'm like, Oh man, we're really doing this. Like, we're going to the next level now, and it can be really scary. And so I think just my words of encouragement are that these kinds of things, projects, like investing in a website, investing in tools, investing in help and support for your business, you are worth it. You do have something valuable to offer people, and it can be challenging to get to that decision point, it could be challenging to, like, see it all the way through, but just know that we're all in that same boat. We're all here doing it. And there's a lot of, I think, commonality amongst entrepreneurs and business owners in that sense of just, you know, just one foot in front of the other. After you solve one challenge, the next one comes up. But I think the more that you can really believe in yourself and and put put yourself forward, the better it can be, because you do have value, even if you're not feeling like that every day. And and it's important to kind of get that out into the world through things like your website.
Laura Jean:Thank you. Yeah. I think sometimes we yeah, we can it can feel tricky. It feel harder. We can doubt that. So knowing yes and knowing that we had that shared experience, that common humanity, we all have those moments. But like you said, yeah, that next step, and once we've taken that next step, then we can know what the next step is, and we can just start with the next step, as opposed to having to be like 40,000 steps ahead or be somewhere where we're not, we could just start with that next step, whatever that looks like. Yeah, if people want to connect more or learn a little bit more about what you're up to, where is the best places for them to go, what can they we'll obviously drop all your links, but what's a good starting point? Entry Point?
Unknown:Probably a good spot is my website, Whitney bateson.com, because that's where I have a podcast. Your will. Our episodes will be dropping at around the same time, so you can check out the podcast and learn more about marketing. And it's called the growth show. So it's just about growing in general in your business. And that is where you can also find out about our website program, the wellness pro website system, and see what's involved there, and see if that might be something that's right for you. And then I'm on Instagram too. You can connect with me there. So yeah, I think those are all good spots.
Laura Jean:awesome. And also I know when this episode drops is going to be around the time of your you've got a great free resource for entrepreneurs. So I just like, if you want to share that as well, because I think it, yeah, I think people can find what I loved about it when you sort of shared it with me, is that there's that opportunity, like, I'm always about values, but it doesn't have to be my values. So I think there's that opportunity for people to connect to the support spaces and places that align with their values, that align with what next step they're on. So something like what you're offering I think, gives people that choice, you know, and but also, you've done a bit of that hard work for the beginning of pulling stuff together in one spot. So yeah, if you want to chat about that,
Unknown:yeah, that's a great, like, little tee up for it. So yeah, it's called the thriving business holiday bundle, and it is just a bundle of resources that contributors like you, so you're one of our contributors to the bundle are just giving away free for this limited period of time. So it's from December 9 until the 15th. Yeah. Basically how it works is there's just one page we'll link to it in the show notes. You go there, you can see all of the resources that are in there, and then you opt in one time, you drop your email, and then you have free rein to go and pick and choose whichever of those resources you want that fit where you are in your business, like you were mentioning. So there's workshops, there's templates, and it covers everything. I mean, there's stuff about taxes and legal stuff, but then also about using AI and marketing and self care and and your resource, which is marketing without manipulation, right? Which is such a wonderful workshop that sounds like just again, kind of focusing on if that's a value that you're really wanting to market, but you're feeling like not so great about it sounds like that resource is right up the alley for a lot of folks, and that's available for free within the bundle, along with a bunch of other resources that you can pick from so and, yeah, It's great, because I love the fact that even though you know the internet, you can find anyone out there, a lot of times someone will mention someone to me, and I'm like, I've never heard of that person. And so sometimes it's just hard to even find these other people that you can be learning from, either, you know, buying into their programs or hiring them for services or just getting more free resources from them. And so this is like a one stop shop. There's over 40 people in here that have have contributed, or 40 resources that are from all sorts of coaches, service providers, you name it, and it's all in one spot. So I think it's great to just kind of have that that all and save you some time. You can find a bunch of really great, like minded people, and pick and choose what resources you want. You can get all of them. If you want to download all the resources, you just go one by one and do that too. That's totally fine.
Laura Jean:Might be a bit overwhelming. Pace yourself.
Whitney Bateson:yeah, right.
Laura Jean:don't let it be all those ones you download, you never look at it again. Like, definitely, I think there's the opportunity for that to happen sometimes. I think this time of year too, particularly, like, often people are thinking of just getting through the end of the year. Take care of yourself if you're at that point. But also, like, if your mind's starting to move towards planning or thoughts or ideas for next year, something like this is great, because you can kind of like, target, like, what we talked about, that next best, that next step. We don't have to learn all the things at once, but if you kind of know what some of your next couple of steps are, there could be resources in there that support that, which could be really cool
Unknown:exactly right. If you've been thinking about
Laura Jean:well, I think that's it works for us, for us starting a membership, I think there might be something in there about that. And so, yeah, it's just kind of like, okay, what like you mentioned before about, you know, choose your own adventure. So whatever is next on your list, or something you procrastinators out there who may be like, you know, yeah, want to learn about, then go after those resources and grab those and the great thing is that you only have a week to opt in, but you will have a full month to go and grab the I'll get back to that. And then you click away, and you're like, resources you want. And once you've downloaded them, they're yours to refer to and all of that. So yeah, anything that you think you might want or need to get you into 2025, and kind of tee you up for a great year. You can grab it. You don't have to necessarily watch the workshop right away, or, you know, read the whole thing. It's not going away. It's not going to get, like, pulled out of your inbox. I think you have access to it, so I think that's nice too. But yeah, you have to act fast to, like, opt in, because we can't make everything free forever. what's that thing? Oh, I forgot about so, like, I appreciate sometimes the time thing, I look at it from this perspective of, like, not a scarcity, like,'i've got to take action' but more like, Oh, thank you, because if I do it now, accountability, yeah, and just that reminder, it ends instead of me going, Yeah, I'll get back to that. I can't get back to that. So just do it now or not. Like to it anyway, gives you that opportunity to just see, is this what I really want to do? So helps, helps me with my decision making. So thank you for anyone exactly it's out,
Unknown:yeah, make the decision, make it fast and then move on. So, yeah, so invite anyone who's listening to come and opt into that. It's a great resource.
Laura Jean:Yeah, awesome. It sounds cool. And so I'm going to check the link to that in the show notes. And it just gives you an opportunity to see some different things and and you can choose what you align with. Not everything will be for everyone, but you've got, like, a little buffet to choose from. So Whitney, thank you for putting that together. Like I think we're having resources out there so supportive for entrepreneurs who are just like trying to figure shit out by themselves, but don't have to do it all by themselves. And thank you for your time, for us being in conversation. We'll put all the links so you can go check out if you have if on your schedule for 2025 or your dream list is something around websites, go check out what Whitney is up to and see if that's a thing for you. And yeah, thank you for joining us and hanging out with us in conversation, both Whitney and everyone else who's been listening along. And until next time bye for now.