How’s Your Website Working? 21 Ideas for Improved Results

Each month, in the Smart Practice! newsletter, I make an offer for discounted services or books that many can’t refuse. Last month, I discounted my 35-point website reviews… and wow! Many of you chose to take advantage of that offer.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to review several of your websites….

My experience?  I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly!  It’s easy to tell who just slapped something up online – vs – those who spent some time learning what needs to be done to make the right sort of presentation to the public.

What surprised me the most is that many published sites seem to have no relation to the real reason an advocate needs a website to begin with.  To test this for yourself, I’ll ask you to read and answer this question before you continue reading:

Why does an advocate in private practice need a website?

What should that advocate’s website accomplish?

If you answer that you need one because you’re expected to have one, or because everyone else does, or even because people need to know how to contact you, then your answer is mostly…. 

WRONG.

But if your answer is that your website is there to help you attract new clients, because your site will help them understand how you can support them, who you are as a person (or what the tenor of your practice is) AND so, as a result, they trust you enough to contact you, then 

Ding! Ding! Ding!  Yes! You are right!

The raison dêtre of your website is MARKETING. When done well and right it’s your best vehicle to MARKET your services to the people who should hire you to work with them. Period. Your website should be a new client magnet!

Yes, you can add other functions, like giving them a login account to read updated reports, or a button to pay their invoice for your services… but those are functions that are very secondary to marketing your services. 

So why do I raise all this today? 

There is only ONE of me and MANY of you, and I want ALL OF YOU to succeed! A website that markets your services effectively will go a long way toward setting the stage for your success… and so….

I offer you a freebie!

It’s a download for you called A Health Advocate’s Website Checklist  and it’s yours for the asking!* Simply tell me where to send it, and it will be delivered to you. Easy Peasy.

For those of you who have been around private advocacy for awhile, or are members of APHA, you’ll find this is an updated version of the original checklist put together in 2016. A lot has changed since then! You’ll want to review your site against what I have to say in 2025 including one of the questions I’m asked frequently:  

Are any changes to my website required to accommodate for AI (Artificial Intelligence)?

(You may be surprised at the answer! Find it on page 4 of the Checklist.)

If all this seems confusing, or if you just can’t figure out whether your site is working for you or not, then you, like the others I worked with these past few weeks, may wish to ask me to review your website.