Building a Relatable, Understandable Website: Chico Community Acupuncture
Summary: In this client case study, you’ll see firsthand how business owners can get in their own way (not intentionally, of course) when trying to grow their business. Of course, with a little perspective and know-how, you can easily take your marketing and growth to the next level.
Set Yourself Up For Success: Define Your Goals
A few months ago, when I got an inquiry about building a new website, I asked one of my usual questions:
“Why exactly do you want a new website?”
You see, the first thing you need to think of when getting a new website is not how it will be designed and look. You need to start with what the website should do, and therefore, why you’re getting or upgrading the website in the first place.
In this business owner’s case, she wanted to
un-clutter the information on the old website, and
increase the amount of bookings per week.
Essentially, she needed a better converting website that would help clients not only book appointments, but stay connected & book multiple appointments.
Her business had grown over time, and like many small business websites, all the little updates had created a convoluted and messy situation. Not what you want if you want a website that is easy to use, learn from, and book with!
Also, the content wasn’t as clear and accessible to clients as she would have liked. In recent brochures, the copy was updated, but on the website, everything sounded a bit outdated.
So, we had our goals set and our work cut out for us to work on Chico Community Acupuncture’s website marketing strategy.
Even If You Feel Resistance or Fear, You’re Probably Headed In The Right Direction
At first, I felt a bit unsure if she would be ready to make the changes necessary to meet her goals.
I knew how busy she was, taking care of her clients and running the business. And, being a client of hers for many years myself, I knew she delivered outstanding work. I even recommended many of my friends to the clinic.
However, one thing I’ve learned doing marketing and web design for nearly the past 10 years is that business owners can get in their own way very easily, even if they are consciously trying not to. Often, they can resist making the changes that would be necessary to get their online presence to the next level.
It’s paradoxical: we can be quite afraid of what we most desire.
As it turned out though, in this case, she was indeed very willing to do the necessary work for the website. The more I was able to explain to her about certain perspectives on writing website copy and meeting the website visitors exactly where they’re already at, the more interested she became in getting the website done right.
One of the big challenges we had was to make the content as relatable as possible, while at the same time, conveying the right information in the right order.
Since her business is an acupuncture clinic, we needed to make medical topics understandable for pretty much anyone visiting the site. We needed to intuit and respond to the questions in people’s minds when they would be reading the website and considering trying acupuncture for the very first time. We even had to keep in mind that the visitors to the website might not be the patients themselves, but the children of older patients, looking for solutions for their parents’ medical conditions.
Marketing Strategy and Web Design for Chico Community Acupuncture by Lily Rothrock
www.chicocommunityacupuncture.com
If Take The Steps, You Will Get There
Eventually, we were able to create a new website by making small adjustments, re-doing certain parts, and writing entirely new parts.
Also, the design was re-done completely, and we moved her from an outdated web platform to Squarespace. Again, the process was always focused clearly on giving the right bits and pieces of information in the right order, so the potential client visiting the site can make an educated decision about choosing the service.
Longer story short: I’m pleased with the results we created and the new website will surely do its job to help her reach more clients more easily.
In addition, I created a strategic marketing plan for her business, which is essentially like the missing user’s manual for how to use your website, blog, newsletter, and social media effectively. The marketing strategy piece is what I find missing so often when people get a new shiny website, and they don’t know how to write their blog posts and newsletters in an engaging way.
After this project, I feel reminded how not only the big adjustments, but also the small ones, make a huge difference in the quality of connection and relation you can achieve with your audience.
That’s what a new website, and your marketing, is all about.
