Welcome to another riveting episode in the
series, the MBA for the DPT.
Do you want to say thanks for our
friends at Flagler Health using AI to
engage patients,
automate RTM and drive ninety nine percent
clean claims.
You actually get paid for the care you
deliver.
It's sort of why you did it.
More adherence, fewer denials.
fascial revenue.
Most clinic owners think growth comes from
referrals until referrals slow down.
Today's guest helps health and wellness
businesses solve a problem most don't
realize they have until they have it.
And that's being invisible online.
She's taken her experience as a physical
therapist and clinic owner and translated
it into something most clinicians struggle
to understand and
but desperately need how patients actually
find you in twenty twenty six and beyond.
She doesn't just talk about things like
SEO.
She builds the systems that turn websites
into consistent lead generators instead of
just digital brochures.
And she's here to explain why more traffic
isn't necessarily the answer.
Better structure is.
Please welcome Lex Lancaster to the show,
to the class.
Professor Lancaster is what we'll be
calling you today.
Wow, that's so official.
What an intro.
Thank you so much.
I'm so excited to be here.
So this isn't on the official script.
We're going off script immediately because
we've known each other before.
I feel like what you do and what
I do is similar, not the same, right?
A lot of times it's a pain maybe
a business owner doesn't know they have
until they're neck deep in it.
Where do you start that conversation?
Because most of the people listening are
going to be business owners,
not the people who are sort of like
yourself or myself,
which is building the solutions.
So where do you start that conversation?
Because they might be like,
I sort of know I need her,
but don't know where to start.
So how do you start the conversation?
Yeah,
that's a really great question because I
get folks at all stages of business.
So for me, I will tell you that,
you know,
when I first started my business,
it was a lot of,
I would tell you, yes,
of course you need a website.
And at that point in time,
I did not have the evidence that I
now have for, of course,
you need a website because it does this
thing.
And I have seen it do this thing
multiple times for hundreds and hundreds,
maybe even thousands of people at this
point.
So for me, when I'm like,
do you actually need to work with me?
I will always tell people you can figure
out anything you want to figure out
anywhere, anytime.
We all know there's YouTube University,
right?
And for me,
it's I will say that I am the
systems integrator.
So oftentimes in my field of work,
people specialize in one thing.
They specialize in the email side.
They specialize in the website.
They specialize in the SEO.
They specialize in the ads.
The problem is that all of those things
are working together all of the time.
So if you are relying on word of
mouth marketing,
I'm going to tell you that's the gold
standard.
Keep going.
I love it.
Yes.
And then the next step needs to be
how else are we having revenue coming in
and new patients coming in without having
you go do a workshop every week?
So when we look at, you know,
do you need me?
I will say yes.
I never will tell someone they absolutely
need me.
I actually push people off of calls to
need me.
It's more or less,
are you ready to have someone have a
second set of eyes,
look at your processes,
look at your systems,
look at what's going on on your website,
your ads, your SEO,
and then just working with someone that
can integrate all of the pieces rather
than hiring one person for one piece.
And then you need to hire another person
for another piece.
And to be blatantly honest with you,
Jimmy, we've all seen it.
In PT, we have clients,
we have patients that just trust us.
hey, you know what, Jimmy,
you told me this thing and I have
so much trust in you.
Let's do it.
When it comes to this field,
I will tell you that there are so
many things that are really hard to trust.
And clients will come to me and just
be like,
I just don't know who to trust.
I don't know what to do because this
is stuff I don't understand.
And sometimes they've been,
I use the word bamboozled,
thanks to Heather McMahon,
the comedian in the past.
And they just don't know what to do.
And for me,
I really pride myself on giving people
every single option so that they can then
make a decision.
Good decision.
Yeah.
I've said this to people before.
You don't need to be the world's expert
on how to solve a problem.
I think you need to be competent to
do it.
And you need to be the person someone
knows.
Yeah.
This is why when I turn to my
buddy who's lived in my hometown for a
million years and I say, hey man,
this type of lawyer, who do you got?
And he's like, one of these two,
that's it, right?
But now that's word of mouth.
You would say that's word of mouth.
He's earned it.
You can facilitate word of mouth several,
many different ways.
And this is where we bring you in.
Now we get to tactics.
First of all,
I like to just take the obvious and
I'm using air quotes.
and make sure it's stunningly obvious.
So for the clinic owners who are like,
okay,
I'm wading into this little river here,
who hears SEO and immediately is like,
yeah, I know what that, I got,
I understand that.
Let's go basic to the basic.
What is SEO really?
Yeah.
So SEO, search engine optimization,
it basically means getting found on Google
from,
by your ideal client when they search for
the service that you provide or the
problem that you solve.
Folks often forget that part.
And that is important because more traffic
does not mean more customers unless they
are your actual ideal client.
But I want more.
But here's the problem, right?
Because more might cost me more.
So if it's more of the wrong person
who's never going to use me,
it does not care.
That feels like wasted effort, time,
and money.
So SEO at the heart of it,
how I market it and how it exists
in the world, it's free.
So this is essentially free traffic.
So if we compare it to something like
Google ads,
you're not spending money to get these
leads.
However,
let's just think about the person who
comes in your clinic.
who's not your ideal client it costs a
lot exactly like you just said
energetically to work with someone that
you don't want to work with so just
getting in front of everybody doesn't
matter we don't want to just get in
front of everybody we want to get in
front of the person that you like to
help so if you're the acl specialist we're
going to get you in front of folks
who have you know they want that acl
prevention side they want to return to
sport after acl surgery right and
Correct.
You've said you've talked people out of
working with you before.
I wind up talking more people out of
working with me because I'd rather get to
the know as quick as possible.
Because if I convince someone,
if I talk them into it,
but I know from the start it's probably
not a good fit,
they're not going to follow through,
whatever the issue is,
I'd rather have that person walking
around, word of mouth, saying,
No, he knew his stuff.
She knew her stuff.
And I just wasn't a good fit.
But you might be,
so you should go talk to him.
Or I can go deeper.
No, it's not going to work.
It doesn't work.
And I've burned that bridge.
I don't know.
I also just feel morally bad about it
if you know it's not a good fit.
I think we can talk about this clinically
or business-wise.
Clinically, we say refer out.
That's the thing we're taught.
I think business should be the same way.
If you don't think you're a great fit
and you know someone who would be a
better fit...
I don't know.
My internal moral obligation says refer
out.
Absolutely.
It's like someone who comes to me.
I only work on the Squarespace website
platform.
I am proficient.
I'm fast.
And that is where I work.
And if someone comes to me from a
WordPress website,
I am very happy to provide consulting.
I will give you the SEO.
I will consult with you.
However, the implementation side...
refer out.
So I have some people who are like,
hey, Lex, I trust your wisdom.
I want to know what you have to
say about my website,
but I'm on WordPress.
What can we do?
For me, I will do the consulting side.
And then if they need a referral for
a WordPress folk who can implement said
recommendations for me,
I can refer to them.
It's an energetic exchange all the time.
And for me to take on some type
of work that is not what I'm proficient
in, one,
I don't feel good about charging you
money.
when I'm not proficient and fast at that
thing.
And it doesn't give me joy to do
that either.
So yes,
we're referring out as much as possible
whenever needed.
All right.
So how does SEO actually work?
Now that we understand what it is,
what it isn't,
how does it actually work in a way
also that leads to the right patients
walking through the right door at the
right time?
Yeah.
So this is where we talk about the
integration side, right?
So regardless, at any point in time,
your website needs to be what I say,
working for you.
If your website is speaking to someone
who's not your ideal client,
I don't care how much effort you put
into SEO,
you're going to bring people to your
website and then they're likely not going
to become patients or you're going to get
patients that are not actually who you
want to work with.
so for seo we are bringing in traffic
folks who are googling anything i'm
talking about problems or solutions so
folks are saying knee pain with running or
they're searching for physical therapy
those are two different people don't
forget one person knows that they need
physical therapy and they're ready to buy
the other person is saying hey you know
i have this problem google i am looking
to solve it what is the solution and
then obviously we're looking to pitch that
solution with content that we're creating
on our website
But SEO goes back to our website structure
and our website messaging, right?
Who are we talking to?
What are we good at?
What are we not good at?
Who are we for?
Which then, let's go back even further,
goes back to our ideal client, right?
Who are we actually wanting to work with?
What problems do they have?
What problems do we actually want to
solve?
What questions do we actually want to
answer?
And then take one more step back, right?
That goes back to our values, right?
and who we are as a human.
All of that stuff leads to folks finding
you on Google.
Because when someone searches something on
Google,
the whole point of SEO is for you
to come up.
period.
And folks will say like,
you have to be number one.
You have to be number one.
I actually disagree.
I'm a very competitive person.
I'm a very, very competitive person.
I want people to be number one,
but there is a lot of evidence to
suggest that even if you are number two
or number three,
people will open up three different
websites at one time and they will look
at all of your websites and compare them
and say,
who is the best fit for me?
And
That's where I'm, I go back again,
your website needs to do that work for
you.
And for physical therapists, you know,
there's a common practice where PTs will
say, especially in the cash-based realm,
it's like, call us to book.
Thing is, or let's boil it back down,
people want to solve their problem when
they're on your website.
They want to check the box, right?
They want to do something that's solving
their problem when they get there.
So if it's very difficult to solve their
problem when they get to your website,
again, back to that website structure,
your website has to be working for you.
They're likely not going to convert,
if you will say,
because we want to talk about conversions.
They're likely not going to convert
because it's just difficult.
Or let's just say you're not the person
for them.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing to get more traffic
to your website.
Be position one, two, three.
Yes, one is the best.
I won't disagree with that.
But if you're two and three,
you will still get people with you.
Yes,
because people will open up different
websites.
There are three pelvic health providers
who are always going to show up in
the same search.
They're going to choose the one that
speaks to them.
And that's your opportunity.
Your website is your opportunity to be the
person for who's searching.
They always say the guy.
If I want to have a podcast introduction,
if I want someone to host my podcast,
if I'm not going to do it myself,
I'm going to ask Jimmy.
Jimmy's the guy.
You need to be the guy,
if you will, proverbially,
for the person that you want to work
with.
You've said that having a website and a
Google business profile is like the floor,
but it's not enough.
I mean, you have to have it.
You haven't filled that out.
You skipped name,
address on the college application, right?
Yes, yes.
So where do clinics, after they,
of course, now listen to this,
they have a website,
they've filled out the business Google
profile,
where are clinics going wrong next?
What are the next simple steps that they
are skipping over and just simply not
doing?
Jimmy,
that's a loaded question and I love it.
It's one of my favorite questions to ask
or answer, I should say, answer.
I love when people ask it.
There are two things that I see folks,
I don't want to say miss,
but there's unaware, right?
The first thing is a website structure.
I think that when you open up your
practice, guilty as charged,
guilty as charged,
you open up your practice, you say,
my website needs to have a homepage,
about page, a service page,
a contact page.
Love that for you.
That's where we're going to start.
The problem is that that does not give
Google enough information to understand
your business.
So we actually I will speak of Google
like the nervous system.
It's always living in the dark.
The brain is always living in the dark.
And the only information that Google knows
is the information that you feed it.
So, again,
just like the brain and the nervous
system,
we have to give it information in order
for it to understand and then have an
output.
so when it comes to our website we
have to give it more information so if
we think about just having a generic
service pages service page that's not
enough to give google an idea of what
we actually do right what do you do
you do physical therapy do you do pelvic
health physical therapy are you a
concussion specialist what do you offer
right so the first part is structure if
you have a basic website home about
services contact the next step is going to
be to develop specific service pages what
services do you actually offer
One page per service.
Is that your suggestion?
Yeah.
One page per service.
Yes, exactly.
So it's like, you know,
we have physical therapy.
Maybe we have concussion management.
If we're a pelvic health provider,
it's pelvic health, physical therapy,
postpartum PT, pregnancy,
physical therapy like that,
because that is how Google is going to
understand your business.
Now, another step is going to be content.
And we say content.
Yes, of course,
your website pages are content.
However,
the next piece is going to be the
blog.
We need to start blogging because people
will say blogging is dead.
Don't blog.
No one's reading blogs.
That is absolutely not true.
We have to blog because one,
Google is definitely going to take that
into account.
If you're going to be an expert and
you want to say that you're an expert
at treating a specific thing,
then when I go to your website,
prove that to me.
Show me, don't tell me.
Exactly.
And when Google looks at your website,
show me,
don't tell me is exactly what Google says.
I always use the phrase of,
if you talk about everything,
you're going to be an expert in nothing.
And that goes for Google and your ideal
client.
So let's just say,
picture we have a blog and a blog
page.
If our blog mentions we have concussion
blogs and we have a hundred concussion
blogs, okay,
we add a new service or we decide
we're going to talk one day about
pediatric pelvic floor physical therapy.
Google's going to say,
who the heck are you to talk about
that?
You've been talking about concussion for
the last three years.
Right.
So I'm not saying that you can't add
a new service or you can't talk about
multiple things.
But when you think about Google,
you have to think about it like the
brain and the nervous system.
The only information it knows is the
information that you give it.
So understand that you are starting at
ground zero always when you're talking
about a new topic.
So if you're the ACL specialist,
talk about ACLs, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk.
And these platforms outside of Google or
social platforms,
they are constantly trying to figure out
who to set you up with to have
a good first date.
Like that's sort of their jobs.
When people rage against the algorithm,
it's sort of showing you, well,
you're not,
you don't understand why it exists.
It's not to prevent,
it's not to cause you to lose.
In fact,
if your content is going to keep someone
on that platform or be a good result,
a search result for them,
they want to bring you to the top.
So you can get frustrated at the algorithm
and say,
I'm just not playing the game well.
But understanding what game you're playing
and being as clear,
how many different ways can you show
Google with words, with pictures,
with videos, with profiles?
What are the different things that you can
do to be the answer and not have
to game the system?
yes exactly it's all about expertise so
you know in in google it's expertise
authority and trust right and that
expertise part is going to be bringing in
like i'm a physical therapist and i'm
talking about things that physical
therapists know about so at the end of
the day we have to demonstrate that we
have the expertise that we're saying that
we have and i
I'm sure you can speak to this as
well, Jimmy.
It's like when I go to a new
provider's website,
regardless of what I'm searching for,
I will always look to see what are
they talking about on their website.
If I'm going to someone for,
I'll just say, you know,
any sort of pelvic concern, pelvic pain,
let's just say,
but they don't talk anything about pelvic
pain on their website.
The first question in my mind,
there's a cognitive dissonance there.
I'm going to say,
do they actually know how to treat me?
Do they actually know how to help me?
and that to me right we need to
make sure we're gaining trust when folks
come to our website and i also want
to say that the opposite is actually the
same right if i don't want to treat
pelvic pain this was something that a
couple i remember a woman on a call
was like oh my god i don't have
to talk about it if i don't want
to treat it if you don't want to
treat pelvic pain then don't talk about it
period
You don't have to talk about everything.
As a PT,
you come out of school and you're like,
well, I must treat every single joint.
I must do everything.
You don't have to do everything.
You don't have to be a generalist.
Well, you can ask someone,
what's a schedule that when you walk in
and crack open the laptop in the morning,
if you had a tail,
who would it be wagging for?
Yes.
Okay,
you might not be treating a hundred
percent of that now, but in six months,
what are we doing to move towards that?
The answer is everything we're talking
about.
Yeah.
And that's exactly what I say in all
of my courses and anything I ever present.
I always go to my ideal client exercise
and I say, when you're filling this out,
I need you to think about the patient.
Five PM on a Friday night,
you could be doing anything else in the
world,
but you're treating this person and you
love it.
Having the time of your life.
Who is that person?
Figure that out and work backwards.
Yes, you have to.
We have to.
We have to, right?
Think from their perspective.
So you and I probably spend an inordinate
amount of time on websites or on social
platforms.
So we look at things differently,
probably.
We're more like the matrix.
We can look at the ones and zeros
and we're like, got it.
I'm seeing what you're doing and we can
see through it.
I see what people are trying to do
on social posts or videos.
And when you start with I, I, I...
i hear nails on chalkboard and i'm saying
talk about them them them right probably
similar to you with website which is this
is a brag page or this is a
this is a place for you to you
know hang all your degrees or show off
all your letters but a person reading that
that might be your ideal anything customer
client patient anybody
does not is not going to spend the
time burning calories to decipher that so
i know it feels good to share that
if you need to put it on your
website do it bury it somewhere please in
the corner right that's a for you thing
so let's go to tactical i got a
buddy who's a mechanic when i say my
car is not right he checks the same
three to five things he just he's like
it's it's usually one of these three to
five and if it's past that it's a
zebra not a horse what are the first
three
five things that you're looking at?
Where do your eyes go?
I want to know where do your eyes
dart on a website?
Yeah.
So I will say it's different per pages.
So I'm going to give you a couple
different options here.
So when I look at the homepage,
I need to make sure that you are
saying who you help, what you actually do,
how you do it,
and where you do it.
And the where part is really important.
I don't want people to come to your
website and be like, well,
is this person in Chicago or is this
person in Florida?
It's very tough to go to a website
and then not know where someone is.
So those are the immediate things that I
look at, Jimmy.
That is point yes.
The other thing that I look at is,
do you actually speak to the person who
you want to work with?
And in that regard, I'm like,
what actually matters to them?
You just said it, them, them, them.
I know that evidence-based care,
it's very important.
I get it.
I know.
But if you lead with,
we provide evidence-based care.
Mm-hmm.
They just want their knee to feel better.
They don't care how you do it.
That's how we talk about it as providers.
That's like saying a restaurant is like
all of our food is okay by the
FDA.
Are there things that aren't?
Those are table stakes and we should never
mention those things.
At least not in the first five hundred
words.
No, absolutely not.
And not on the homepage.
The homepage is very much so your most
visited page.
And then typically it's the about page.
And so if we're looking at the homepage,
we need to have those specific things on
there.
And then laying out the difference that
you can make for this person,
because don't forget, position one, two,
three, they're opening up three websites.
At the same time,
they're comparing you and your
competition.
You need to lead from a place of
your values so that you attract people
that also possess likely similar values,
right?
And how are you going to do that?
It's yes, through your website copy,
but you're going to talk about the things
that you value in a way that that
person's going to understand so that they
then choose you or they don't choose you,
right?
Equally important.
So the first thing is that homepage and
does it actually speak to the person?
The next thing I look at is the
website structure that I've mentioned.
Home about services contact is not enough
ever.
We need to have home about services.
Yes,
have an all services page that I can
click on and just see what do you
actually offer on one page,
but then have separate pages for each
service that you offer.
That is important for Google,
but also it's important for your clients.
Yeah.
The messaging that you have on a pelvic
health page is going to be different than
an orthopedic page, right?
That should make sense to everyone out
there, right?
And then honestly,
I will say at this point in time,
backstory, I know with data,
when I first started doing SEO,
I was like,
I'm going to prove that you can rank
on Google without having a blog.
I proved it.
I did it.
You didn't need a block.
I proved that.
However,
I will tell you that I am the
most bang for your buck type of person.
And I want you to do what I
call the maximized effort approach,
but also in the time that you have.
Because I approach all of my content,
my teaching,
as if you're not working with a marketing
team.
It's you.
It's you, the clinic owner.
Maybe you have an admin, whatever.
We don't have a bazillion hours to do
this stuff.
So
I will tell you the last thing I
look at is do you have a blog
and are you writing content?
Are you writing content consistently?
Are you updating Google?
Don't forget, Google likes to be updated.
So if Google's living in the dark,
you have to kind of,
I don't want to use the word poke.
I don't love that word,
but we have to poke Google and say,
hey, still here.
Hey, still here.
Still writing content,
still solving problems,
still helping people that I want to help.
And by doing, by writing blog posts,
you are doing that.
So the last thing is,
are you creating content?
And if you're not,
that is one of the lowest hanging fruits
to get started.
It takes effort and I might be afraid
when I turn that camera on or open
that phone.
It's fear.
We talk about this often.
It's not the,
what camera should I have or what
microphone?
Those are nice.
I get on calls with people and they're
like, hey, website, social, whatever,
attention.
I tell people I work in your attention
department and I go, wrong question.
When I help people launch podcasts or
YouTube channels, I say,
whatever equipment you have right now,
it just needs to be above a floor.
Like the microphone you're using,
I'm using probably a little overkill,
but we do this a lot.
You can get away with a forty five
dollar microphone if it's OK.
And the laptop camera.
I say buy nothing until you prove to
yourself, not me,
that you're going to do ten of these
or twenty of these.
And then if you're like, well,
now I want to get ten percent better
mics,
a mic or a camera might make you
five to seven to ten percent better.
You showing up, turning it on,
recording it, and then also sharing it.
That's going to get you to nine.
That's the ninety percent of the of the
effort.
And honestly, Jimmy,
what I see as being a difficult thing
in SEO is that it's a time game.
So when you do the work,
you do not get immediate ROI.
That's not how it works.
So let's just say I write a blog
post today.
I'm not going to have a new patient
coming in my door tomorrow saying, hey,
I read your blog post.
That's not how that works.
So the tough part with SEO is that
you genuinely have to embrace the process.
But I will also tell and look at
every PT in the eyes and just be
like,
don't you say the same thing to your
clients?
You have to embrace the process that it's
going to take time.
And once you embrace that,
I will tell you the...
The amount of people who email me,
post in my course groups,
send me a DM on Instagram when they
see on their referral sheet that how that
person found them was through a Google
search or chat GPT because it is the
same.
That right there,
the excitement that they have because the
plan that they worked for six to twelve
months is now here and working is
It worked.
Yes.
It's the best.
I say it's type two fun.
Type two fun?
Is that what you said?
Yeah, it's type two fun.
Because it's a longer play?
Yeah, it's type two fun.
It's more like timing something with a
sundial.
What is...
What is a good timeframe?
Is it six months?
Is it a year?
Like what is, you know,
what is like tissue healing, right?
You break a bone in your, your fifties.
Hey man, just FYI, this is the,
this is the scale.
So what is a realistic expectation?
If you are doing the things that someone
like you tells them to do, what,
what should they expect?
I will always tell people six to eighteen
months.
I understand that's also a huge ballpark,
but it comes down to where is your
clinic located?
If you are located in a small town,
you're going to have way faster success
than someone in midtown in New York City.
That is just how it works.
So we say six to eighteen months because
regardless of what you do,
we also have a lot of other things
at play.
You also need to think about the fact
that if you're in a big city or
even a small town,
If someone else has been putting in the
effort before you started,
you have an uphill climb.
I'll tell you that you have an uphill
climb.
So at that rate, we're thinking, okay,
so we're in a large city.
There's other people who likely may even
have a marketing team.
They may be competing with a hospital
based system.
It's going to take time.
We can't expect that to be fast.
So six to eighteen months is a really
safe window.
I will tell you,
most folks who are in a medium sized
area will see success with an ROI,
if you will, within six months,
especially if you're a local business.
I know that we're talking to mostly PTs,
but if any physical therapist had like an
online business that that is watching
this, I would say you need to really,
you know,
buckle up because it's going to be way
longer than eighteen months to be an
online business ranking.
Like we started this conversation off
with,
this is a lot of times people don't
know that this was a problem until they
get to you and then they want it
solved tomorrow.
And you're like, if I could, I would.
Best time to plant a tree,
twenty years ago.
If you want shade,
second best time is right now.
So in eighteen months you could be sitting
in the shade or sort of reaping the
benefits of actually planting those seeds.
you push organic before ads.
Yeah.
I'm sort of,
I'm sort of with you as well,
but I'll remain,
I'll remain biased and shocked.
Why is that the smarter move for most
clinics?
And,
and cause I want to make sure we
get explained the, how do you just,
how do you describe the difference between
organic and ads?
Yeah.
So organic traffic is SEO.
And SEO...
And we'll also throw word of mouth,
direct traffic.
Someone's typing in your website in the
search bar.
That's direct traffic.
So if we're looking at organic search
versus paid search,
we're either paying money or we're not.
So for organic search,
we're not paying money to show up in
a Google search.
For paid ads, Google ads,
or we can throw in meta ads there,
you're paying money in order to show up
in search.
So
That is terrifying to me,
to have someone just paying money to show
up and search.
One,
because we need to think about our own
behavior.
As a client or as a potential client,
do you just scroll past the ads?
Because I know that there are a lot
of folks on Google searches that just
scroll right past the ads.
We're sort of conditioned.
Yes, exactly.
Scroll right.
You paid to be there.
Like,
can I trust you or can I not
trust you?
So that's like one thing that we have
to think about.
Now, when it comes to Google ads,
meta ads, the more tailored you get,
the more expensive it is.
So we have to think about how specific
are we getting in our ads and how
much money are we going to spend if
we take away any sort of leads that
we're getting from ads?
And we just stopped paying.
Suddenly, we're quiet in the clinic.
That is terrifying.
So that means you have to spend in
order to get more.
When it comes to SEO,
I will not negate the fact that you
have to spend money, quote unquote,
in time.
You have to put time in your schedule
to do the tasks like write a blog
post.
But you're not forking out your bottom
line.
Your bottom line stays what it is when
it comes to SEO.
You're not adding more expense in an ad
to get more clients.
Rather,
people are coming to you via a Google
search for your specific service with a
specific problem that you solve for free.
So when I say organic before paid,
the reason why is one, because it's free.
Why would we not maximize a free channel?
Two,
because when someone scrolls past the ad,
a Cinderella story in my mind, you know,
the champagne problem, I guess,
is when you're showing up in the ad
section,
but you're also showing up organically.
I love that.
Most of my clients are doing that.
They are showing up in the ads if
they're running ads,
and they're also showing up number one,
two, three, mostly, you know,
for organic search.
So that's the best case scenario.
Number three,
and this is something that I don't think
is talked about enough.
And I can't tell you,
I will say I am someone who is
very much so an integrator and I'm not
a silo.
When it comes to messaging,
I will tell you in shameless plug for
Shante, messaging,
if you don't maximize your organic search
first,
you don't know if your messaging is
working.
It's a test.
It's a free test.
Exactly.
Yes.
Now, when we talk about ads,
you're throwing money behind something
that you don't know if it works.
Imagine that.
If you just sit back and think,
I'm going to essentially throw money at
this thing,
but I don't know if it works.
I don't really love risk.
I'm not a huge risk taker,
but I also don't see any sort of
benefit in just tossing money into a fire.
So when it comes to ads,
I really do want people at the best
case scenario for me is like,
we know that your messaging is on point.
We know that you have people coming to
your website and either booking,
filling out a form, whatever from Google,
or we have tons of people, Jimmy,
even coming in after they found you via
word of mouth, because even word of mouth,
you're probably going to go to that
person's website.
They went to your website, right?
And then they come in the clinic and
they're like, oh my goodness,
your website spoke to me.
When you hear that a lot,
that's when I'm like, okay,
let's think about ads.
But at the same time,
I'm also still like,
have we maximized that organic traffic
though?
I will always say SEO well before ads
because we need all those things in place
for your ads to be successful.
More traffic to a website that does not
convert is not going to help anyone.
Yeah.
All right.
So after they book a call with you,
right?
Because that's what they're going to do.
And before they get on that call,
what would you suggest someone do that are
already going to be the first three things
that you're going to give them that they
can be doing in between now and then?
So what are like the low hanging fruit?
Yeah,
the low hanging fruit is always going to
be the ideal client exercise.
I will tell everyone to start there.
And I think people confuse that with what
they may have received in the past.
I have done many ideal client exercises
and it's like,
how much money do they make?
Where do they live?
That's not what it is.
Yeah,
it's a very different ideal client
exercise.
You're actually trying to figure out who
exactly you want to treat.
That is one thing.
The other thing that I really like, folks,
and this is part of the ideal client
exercise, but I would say do it anyway.
Figuring out why people or what you did
for people,
let's just use that as the phrase,
what you actually did for people.
I find that folks in the physical therapy
realm,
they think they're providing a specific
solution,
but they don't actually know what the
person got out of it in the person's
words.
So I oftentimes will look at testimonials.
I'll have people ask their patients, hey,
how did I help you?
What did I do for you?
Because I genuinely do not think folks
know the difference that their service
makes until they're explicitly given words
for it.
And unless you're asking for very specific
feedback in a Google review,
which you should do, by the way,
Um,
you're not going to get that from somebody
because they'll just be like, Oh,
like it helped me.
But like,
what did I help you actually do?
Right.
So do that type of,
that type of thing.
The other thing that I will say that
I tell folks to do,
I need a habit.
You mentioned it earlier.
You were like,
prove to yourself that you can build a
habit.
Yep.
we have plenty of people i've spoken to
lots of people as a pt myself i've
experienced this folks come in the clinic
and they say i googled it and this
is what google said and then we sit
there as a pt and we're like oh
man like who gave you that response that
is not what i would say oh i
don't love it so i will tell people
go become dr google
Go answer all of the questions that you
want to answer and create a blog post
about it.
The title of the blog is the question.
The answer is the content.
And then the content,
if we're going to talk about content
length, I will always tell people eight,
eight hundred to a thousand words.
So go write the piece of content,
answer the question that you wish that
person had found when they Googled.
Right.
And that would be the three things that
I would say are the lowest hanging fruit
and the easiest to get started with.
Professor Lancaster,
where can people reach out and connect
with you?
What is your web address?
I'm laughing because it just sounds so
official, Jimmy.
My website is www.lexlancaster.com.
You can also reach out to me on
social media at Lex Lancaster underscore.
I am always there and it is me
too.
And I want to say that when you're
communicating with me,
it's just me in my business.
It's not me and a bunch of other
people.
So unless Moose develops the ability to
type with her thumbs, my dog Moose,
it's always me.
So feel free to reach out.
Parting shot.
Any last words of wisdom you want to
leave with the audience or the class as
we dismiss?
I believe you put this on the form
and I was like, ooh,
this is a toughie.
I'm going to say that I want you
to... I could spin it for you.
Write the headline for this episode
because that would be the parting shot,
right?
What do you think people would search to
land on this episode?
What are they?
Because you want to find people who maybe
they know they have a problem,
but don't know how to search for you.
That's a great question.
Oh, God, Jimmy, there's so many.
But the biggest thing is,
do I need to worry about SEO for
my practice?
Or how do I get found online?
How do I get patients to know I
exist?
How do I stop running eighteen workshops
and ditching time with my kids?
You'll hear the strategies, right?
Website blocking, social workshops.
None of them are bad.
No.
It's just if you're only relying on one,
I'd get nervous.
Yes, Jimmy.
Exactly.
Diversify.
Exactly.
Diversify everything.
And then what are the things I can
be doing on a regular basis, right?
People have asked me,
how does your podcast still around?
I do three episodes,
four episodes a week for a decade.
Suddenly I've got good SEO because I take
the transcript of every episode and it
goes on my website.
But it's the simple things.
And I like talking to PTs about this
because how does someone get stronger?
How do they move better?
Frequency, intensity, time, type, volume,
progression.
We know this.
What's the cheat code?
There is no cheat code in rehab.
What's the cheat code to getting found?
Come in for the good stuff.
Yes, there is no cheat code, Jimmy.
You want to buy the quick fix?
I'll take your money.
It just ain't going to work.
That, exactly.
No quick fixes.
There's no quick fixes.
And you really do have to put the
time in.
And it's an investment account.
I always tell people that as well.
It's just like,
I have an investment account.
I wish I started that investment account
when I was twenty.
If I was a practice owner,
I wish I would have started my SEO
work, if you will,
when I first opened the clinic.
You don't realize how important it is
until it's important.
And you're like, ooh.
And then my news on a call is,
hey, guess what?
You got to wait more months because it
doesn't just happen tomorrow.
It's not how it works.
Good advice.
Lex, appreciate you coming on.
And thanks for dropping some knowledge
here.
The MBA for the DPT.
Thank you so much, Jimmy, for having me.
I appreciate you.