Getting Geeky With It
Though Spring is the traditional time for cleaning and renewing, I find myself more and more preoccupied with thoughts of retooling. Some of those thoughts are focused on my practice, such as my recent decision to begin accepting credit cards. Others involve doing a ground-up redesign of that vital current-day marketing tool, my website.
I blame Scot Giles. The presentation he gave at this summer’s NGH Convention on how he uses technology in his practice riled up my inner geek. Rev. Giles describes his method as an ideal micropractice — meaning he uses technology as much as possible so that he can avoid hiring staff and spending his time on things other than working with clients, resulting in lower fees for the clients and more effective use of his time. In addition to learning about Rev. Giles himself, his practice, and his background, clients who visit his website can also book and change appointments (including viewing what times are free on his calendar), fill out his intake form, download his Client Bill of Rights and other interesting and important documents, even obtain some free sample MP3 sessions.
By comparison, my site is a series of fairly plain HTML pages that I maintain using a copy of Dreamweaver so old that it still bears the Macromedia name and logos. I do have a few downloadable files including a couple of MP3s, but nothing near the level of service and sophistication that Rev. Giles shows to the world. Which, considering that in the day job that pays my bills I happen to be a pretty serious IT geek, is starting to bother me a bit. Hence the urge to retool.
As I look around, though, most of the hypnotists’ sites that I find are much closer to mine in terms of functionality than to Rev. Giles’s. Mostly static pages describing the hypnotist’s approach, answering common questions and misconceptions, discussing the various applications of hypnosis. A few include a Client Bill of Rights (something NGH strongly encourages) and a form for sending email to the hypnotist. A number of them offer CDs or downloadable recordings, either as free samples or with a shopping cart system for accepting payments. Which leads to my Sunday Question for you all …
How do you use technology — particularly with regard to your website, but also in the office — to help manage and promote your practice?
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