I received a question yesterday from a wonderful healer, Charmain Redwood, who recently moved to Cincinnati from another state. She specializes in hypnotherapy and has a passion for singing bowls. Charmain’s story is fascinating. She crossed over to the other side and brought back certain gifts that she employs to connect you deeply and intimately to your Soul.
Charmain’s questions were (1) how can she make the transition from another state rebuilding her business and (2) how can she shift her focus from the “fuzzy” connecting with Soul to something more specific like working with individuals who suffer from anxiety.
I reviewed Charmain’s website and have the following (CLICK TO HER WEBSITE>>>)
Charmain is doing a lot of things very well.
Charmain’s story is amazing. Lead with that on the front page. After all, Charmain is the brand of her website. Her amazing story, however, includes a lot of information that most people in the Midwest aren’t familiar with. Certain concepts like the Akashic records and the Lemurians aren’t well known in Ohio unless you are already in the healing industry. I would save that for a blog which she does need to add to educate new clients to esoteric concepts. I would go more from a first person feeling perspective on her experience, why she is passionate about what she does, and why she desires to work with people who have anxiety specifically. Perhaps she has personally suffered from anxiety. Perhaps she simply sees it as a huge trend (and it is) and she doesn’t want anyone to suffer needlessly. She is also from another country. She has an accent. How did she get to America? This fascinates us Ohioans. Use it.
Dedicate an entire tab to the client’s you are trying to attract. So, anxiety would have it’s own page. I would talk about current modern concepts and treatments for anxiety. I would talk about why they may be failing a person. I would talk about and provide testimonials from other clients I have worked with. I would create specific videos for anxiety and if any clients who have worked with her want to give their two cents, I’d post it.
Focus on attracting new clients that are new to alternative services. If you look at the Cincinnati market, all healers are sharing about 10,000 clients that are into alternative therapy. That means all healers need to create new clients in this industry. So, sadly, neutralizing initially anything that may seem “far out” and saving for blog for all the fun stuff people like us do. Having a strong focus on education is important.
It would almost be impossible to separate Charmain from the far out stuff. I mean, she is super cool. That’s her brand. She just needs a bridge. So each video starts with education about her process. If she is channeling, she would spend 30 seconds saying I’m going to channel and this is what it means. I’d be very matter of fact like this is totally normal. (Again, we are attracting new clients to the industry so we don’t have to share the 10,000 that already exist.)
She photographs beautifully and her smile is contagious. Especially with the move to Cincinnati, I would hire a professional photographer to take more pictures in a “mid west” setting. You can tell that Charmain is pretty groovy. I’d advise her to let that groovy vibe shine through in some photos, but have some classically professional photos on the web too. If you want to work in the Midwest with anxiety sufferers, you are going to want to attract a lot of business people.
I love that she is posting Youtube videos. This is huge. I also recommend a linked in account, a twitter profile, and a business facebook page as well as the personal one. This is going to help with Charmain’s ranking on the search engines.
I don’t like that every bar on the website opens a new tab. I’d eliminate that feature because it makes the website very difficult to navigate. It is not currently the industry standard to do this.
I would change “products” to “shopping.” She has so many wonderful downloads! I would definately have a call to action on the home page to subscribe to an email list newsletter to receive a free download of a meditation to use when you are “in the moments” of anxiety.
I would switch to a wordpress site with a blogging feature.
Charmain really needs to capture email subscriptions. Ultimately, this is her client base. I’d put that front and center on every page of the website.
Charmain needs a .com email address. Since we are re-inventing the wheel anyway, I’d pick a new url. Coming Home to Lemuria is super cool, but it doesn’t tell anyone what she does. A url like holisticanxietytreatmentohio.com (I’m sure already taken) would get way more traction from search engines. Her current website which probably does have some traction could be re-directed to her new URL. Her new email.com address would match her new URL.
Local phone numbers are very important. People want to know you are present.
It is unclear where Charmain works. I would partner with someone to have a business address. This may be an investment or monthly rent, but it pays off in spades in the end. You can claim it on google and it makes you look established. If Charmain partners with another healer, they could share rental space.
Partnership and networking. This is critical. Charmain should target 3 healing centers to offer her services from and totally support the healing centers. I suggest she pick one in Kentucky, one in Greater Cincinnati, and one in Dayton or Columbus. Choose your targets by the size of their facebook following. Integrate into their communities, going to their events, and posting on FB about how much she loves them. Make them partners and honor the opportunity they are creating giving access to their hard-won clients.
Competition: Who is already doing what you do? When you google “anxiety and alternative therapies,” what pops up? Use these as archetypes and benchmarks.
I’m really excited for Charmain. She has a lot to offer. Yes, there is work to be done to “re-invent” herself, but Charmain is going to be a huge success. Anxiety is rampant and she has intuitively picked a niche that is perfect and under served.
Om, Pamela
*The sole purpose of these articles is to provide information about the tradition of ayurveda, yoga, and meditation. This information is not intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of any disease. If you have any serious acute or chronic health concern, please consult a trained health professional who can fully assess your needs and address them effectively. Check with your doctor before taking herbs or using essential oils when pregnant or nursing.