The Growth Show with Whitney Bateson

If you've ever thought "I should probably blog more" and called that your SEO plan, this episode is for you. In part two of the series, Whitney is joined by Matt Kuncaitis, who leads SEO services at Whitney Bateson Digital Strategy, to break SEO into the three layers every practice website needs: the foundation, the content, and the trust signals. They explain why the foundation always comes first, why your homepage should work like a roadmap for the rest of your site, and what your contact page is probably missing. They get into how content has changed now that...

If you've heard the rumblings that SEO is dead and AI is taking over, this episode is your straight answer. Whitney kicks off a four-part series with Matt Kuncaitis, who has worked in SEO for over eight years and leads SEO services at Whitney Bateson Digital Strategy. They cover what SEO is and why it still matters for virtual and in-person practices. They also cover what's really changed since the days of keyword stuffing and why AI tools are now one more way clients find you. The big shift: people used to type a short keyword into Google, and...

If you're curious about AI charting tools but a little suspicious too, this is the conversation for you. Emily Razza has spent more than sixteen years in nutrition and more than ten as an RD, and she still runs WebRD, an insurance-based group practice with a team of dietitians. She co-founded Chartless after her own notes kept eating into her evenings. Whitney and Emily talk about why dietitians are right to be skeptical, where human judgment can never be handed off, and how to tell a real answer from a vendor apart from a polished dodge. Emily also shares...

This week we're bringing back Episode 96, where Whitney shared the results of a survey she sent to her audience in January. About 60 practitioners answered questions about what stage of business they're in, what they're earning, how they feel about their websites, and the one thing holding them back. Four themes came up again and again: time, marketing know-how, confidence, and cash flow – and Whitney explains how they feed each other in a loop she's been stuck in herself. In a new intro and outro recorded from Merida, Mexico, she shares why 2026 was a different kind of hard, the three le...

Most of what we post online is old news within a day or two, and then it's back to the hamster wheel. So Whitney brought Nadalie Bardo back to the podcast to talk about a platform that runs on a completely different timeline. Nadalie got 1 million views on Pinterest in her first month as a blogger, organically grew her email list to 24K subscribers, and has spent eight years teaching more than 10,000 blogs, brands, and businesses how to use Pinterest. In this conversation she explains why Pinterest is a search engine and not social media, why pins can keep...

This week we're bringing back episode five, one of the most downloaded episodes of the show, originally recorded in April 2024. Whitney walks through the software she uses to save time and make money: her scheduler, CRM, accounting and forecasting tools, Zapier, cart system, project management, Canva, and time tracking. Along the way, she shares how she decides whether a tool is worth paying for, including a simple frequency test and the eliminate, automate, delegate order for any task you're ready to stop doing. Then she comes back with a new intro and outro covering what's changed in two years...

If you've ever been told you can't run Facebook or Instagram ads because you work in health, this episode is going to change how you think about that. Priscilla Zaehringer — who writes the ads, builds the graphics, and submits the campaigns for Whitney's done-for-you funnel clients — takes over the show to explain the one Meta policy that trips up practitioners most: personal attributes. The rule isn't that you can't talk about menopause or GLP-1s or anxiety. It's that a cold ad can't behave like it already knows something private about a stranger. Priscilla walks through two ads running righ...

This one is a replay of Whitney's most recent free Open Coaching Call, and the questions were good enough that it earned its own episode. Nearly everyone who registered said the same thing when asked what they're working on — they want more visibility — so that's where most of the hour goes. Whitney is candid that her own social media does very little for her business, and walks through what she'd do instead: go into audiences other people have already built, reach out to local providers with an actual phone call rather than a brochure, run simple $5/day ads so you...

If you've been pouring your energy into email, SEO, and social while the phone stays quiet, this episode is the nudge to go work the channel that pays off fastest. Whitney revisits referral networking as a follow-up to her conversation with Alex Raymond in Ep. 111, and gets practical about the part most practitioners stall on: figuring out who to contact and what to actually say. She shares the AI prompt she'd use to assemble a list of 20 local practices in minutes, plus a cold email and a voicemail script that lead with how you support the other provider's patients...

How you write is how people decide who you are. Whitney has watched this play out twice now: first with dietitians, therapists, and doctors whose clinical training left them writing website copy like a textbook, and now with practitioners handing that same copy to AI and getting back something confident, punchy, and completely unlike them. The missing step in both cases is the same one a copywriter would have insisted on before writing a single line - defining the brand voice first. In this episode Whitney lays out a four-part brand voice summary, where to pull the raw material...

Here's the strange part about most of these websites: they're ranking. They're getting traffic. It's just traffic that was never going to turn into a client — recipes, lists of foods to eat or avoid with a condition, and the general questions people ask while they're still working out what's wrong with them. Whitney has brought on a colleague, Matt, to work with her on SEO (he'll be on the podcast at some point), and over the last few weeks the two of them audited five practice websites and kept running into the same four things. In this episode she wa...

Whitney has a confession: for years, her entire Kit routine has been logging in, glancing at her subscriber count, and closing the tab. The data was always there — who opens what, who clicks, where people came from — but getting at it meant exporting reports and crunching numbers, and it never made it to the top of the list. This episode is about what changed. Kit now has an MCP connector, which lets you plug your account into Claude or another AI tool and simply ask questions about your own list. Whitney covers what MCP actually means, how to set the...

If you've ever written a genuinely helpful email and then cringed while tacking your offer onto the bottom, this one is for you. Whitney picks up a thread from her conversation with Orly Wachter about why selling feels so uncomfortable in the health and helping professions, and takes it somewhere practical. She walks through a two-step framework for writing emails that sell without the ick: first generating nine content angles directly from one of your services, then matching one of those angles to a simple email format. She also gets into why the bridge into your call to action...

Everyone is being told to put AI in their practice, and almost nobody is talking about where it helps versus where it makes things worse. So Whitney brought on Meredith Eaton and Jennifer Crawford, co-CEOs of Move Forward Virtual Assistants, who bought the company in 2022 and grew it from fewer than 40 clients to over 100. They have been inside the day-to-day operations of mental health practices since 2018, so this is not speculation. It's what they have watched land in real practices. This conversation is from their perspective in mental health, but it applies just as much to dietitians, functional medicine...

This one started as a catch-up call that Whitney and Orly both walked away from thinking, we should have recorded that. So they recorded it. It's a loose, honest conversation about selling, the mindset work underneath selling, and what it actually takes to put yourself out there when everything in business feels like it's shifting. Orly shares the 30-day experiment she ran on a whim earlier this year and why it was the easiest thing she's ever sold. Whitney talks about the overthinking spiral that used to eat all her energy before a launch even started, and the two...

Whitney said something on a recent episode that got a lot of you talking: people aren't buying courses the way they did a few years ago. Some of you agreed, some pushed back, so she's giving the whole question a full episode. Her honest answer is that self-paced, low-priced courses still teach and create real change, and building an entire business on them alone has gotten genuinely hard. She walks through what changed since 2020, why your clients now crave support and community over another folder of videos, and how a course can become the foundation of an offer people...

Free debrief template: whitneybateson.com/debrief

In this episode, Whitney gets into something a lot of us quietly skip: actually looking at who our customers are and where they came from. She's been asking practitioners a simple question lately, and most people can't clearly say how their buyers found them or how long they were around before signing on. So she walks through exactly how to do that retroactive work, from building a simple spreadsheet of your last three to six months of clients to the specific columns worth tracking. She talks through what the data...

This one is a casual catch-up, and it covers a lot of ground. Whitney shares the full story behind the decision not to pursue German residency, including the tax and business ownership complications that most "just move to Europe" advice never mentions. She explains what happens when you run a US business while living abroad, why physical presence in a country can make you a tax resident, and how wealth taxes and exit taxes changed the math for her and Dylan. From there she shifts into business mode: what her team is building with AI right now, why she...

nce. Then we drop into a coaching session on a new family support program she is dreaming up, and Whitney shares how to test the idea before you build it. If you have ever felt paralyzed staring at your marketing to-do list, this one is for you.

Takeaways:

Get your funnel up and running: offers.whitneybateson.com/dfy-funnel

In this open house episode, Whitney pulls back the curtain on lead generation funnels and why every health and wellness practice should have at least one. She starts with the real problem so many practitioners run into, which is wearing the strategist, copywriter, designer, and tech hats all at once while still trying to see clients and run a business. From there she walks through exactly what a funnel is, how it nurtures new leads toward booking a call, and the five pieces her team builds...

We made it to the final episode of the funnel series! Over the past five episodes we've covered what a lead gen funnel is, the four parts of a productive one, how to nail your lead magnet and welcome sequence, and how to measure whether it's all working. This episode tackles the missing piece: traffic. Whitney breaks down the difference between organic and paid traffic, then walks through every major way to get the right people in front of your opt-in page, including your own website and channels, content marketing, direct sharing, other people's audiences, and Meta ads starting...

If you've ever looked at your funnel and decided it's "not working," this episode is the gut check. Whitney has had practitioners tell her their funnel is broken, and almost every time she digs in, it turns out one small piece needs a tweak, not the whole thing scrapped. In this episode she walks through the five numbers worth tracking, split into the leading indicators you can actually change this week (new subscribers, open rate, click rate) and the lagging ones that move slowly over months (calls booked, new clients). Then she goes leak by leak through the five...

You got the freebie up, people are downloading it, and then... crickets. In this episode, Whitney tackles the part of the funnel that quietly loses the most clients: what happens (or doesn't) right after someone opts in. She explains why the moment someone downloads your resource is the warmest they will ever be, and how a simple five-email welcome sequence can compress what used to take six months of someone occasionally bumping into your content down to about two weeks. She walks through all five emails one by one, the delivery email, your story, a value email, a natural...

If your funnel feels like it's almost working but new subscribers aren't actually booking calls, this episode is the one to listen to. Whitney digs into the lead magnet itself, the open door at the front of your funnel, and explains why most freebies fail at the one job that actually matters: leaving someone in the exact mental state where working with you feels like the obvious next step. She walks through a real example with a hormone health dietitian, showing the difference between a freebie that just satisfies curiosity ("5 foods to boost your energy") and ones that genuinely...

Part two of the funnel series, Whitney is breaking down the actual mechanics of a lead generation funnel so you can see how every piece fits together. She walks through the full path a new lead takes (from finding your free resource to eventually booking a discovery call) and explains why this whole system can be about two weeks of automated emails doing the heavy lifting for you. You'll hear the four core components every funnel needs, plus the supporting pieces (like your services page, booking tool, and ongoing email nurture) that keep the whole thing working long after...

The phrase "lead generation funnel" gets a bad rap... and honestly, for good reason. I get those same sleazy emails promising 100 leads a week, and it makes me want to close my laptop, too. But underneath the bro marketing noise, a funnel is just an automated system that takes a stranger and warms them up into a ready-to-book client without you manually following up with every single person. In this kickoff to our new funnels series, I'm walking you through the cold-to-warm-to-hot lead spectrum, why most practitioners put all their marketing eggs on one end (and burn out doing...

Alissa Rumsey and I went to dietetics school together almost 20 years ago (truly, how), and getting her on the show to talk about client retention was such a full-circle moment. Here's the big idea: when clients stop showing up after a few sessions, we tend to assume it's about motivation, money, or that they weren't "ready," but Alissa argues that most of the time it's actually a systems problem in our practice. The expectations we never set, the friction we didn't realize was there, the onboarding that quietly told them this would be a one-and-done. We get into what...

Dr. Annie Cole is back on the show and this conversation might just give you permission to stop doing the marketing thing you secretly hate. Her new book lays out 15 different customer attraction strategies, and the central argument is that every business has one that's built for it... most practitioners are exhausting themselves on the wrong one. We talk through which strategies tend to fit health practitioners best (referrals and partnerships, SEO and AI optimization, lead magnet workshops, gig platforms for those side income streams), which ones to maybe leave behind, and how to do an honest audit of...

If the idea of stepping away from your practice for a week makes you cringe a little, this conversation is for you. Whitney is joined by Charlie Golightly, founder of Group Practice Partner, to unpack what real delegation looks like for human-centered practice owners — and why so many of us stay stuck doing everything even when we know it's not sustainable. Charlie shares the "house" metaphor for understanding what room you should actually be working in, the difference between delegating a task versus a full role, and the surprisingly common responsibilities practice owners cling to long past the point it...

Katie Dodd didn't set out to be an entrepreneur. She was a geriatric dietitian happily working for the VA — with a plan to stay there until she was 68 and a half, as she puts it — until a chance conversation on a plane sparked her first side hustle opportunity. From that one freelance writing gig, she built a thriving multi-stream business that eventually gave her the freedom to leave her full-time job, be present for her kids, and build a life on her own terms. In this episode, Katie shares her full journey and breaks down 34 (yes, 34!) different side hustle oppo...

Ads Made Simple: whitneybateson.com/adsmadesimple

If you listened to the three-part ads series and still had questions, Whitney and Priscilla recorded this bonus FAQ episode just for you. They walk through the most common concerns holding practitioners back from getting started — including budget worries, tech overwhelm, and not being sure if the timing is right — and give clear, honest answers to all of it. They also break down each of the three options inside Ads Made Simple so you know exactly what you'd be signing up for, what's included, and what other costs (if any) to plan...

Ads Made Simple: whitneybateson.com/adsmadesimple

In the third and final part of the ad series, Whitney and Priscilla wrap things up with the question that's probably been sitting in the back of your mind: how do you actually know when you're ready to run ads? Whitney shares that she held herself back for two or three years longer than she should have, feeling like she hadn't "earned the right" to run ads yet — and she doesn't want that for you. Priscilla lays out the three clear things you need before spending a single dollar: a cl...

In Part 2 of our ads series, Whitney and her team member (and ads manager) Priscilla Zaehringer get into the numbers — and it's genuinely exciting. They walk through a real calculator showing what's possible when you run a simple Meta ads funnel to a free lead magnet, starting with just $5 a day. Whether you're skeptical about the cost or just not sure what kind of return to expect, this episode makes the math feel accessible and real. They also dig into why Meta beats Google for health and wellness practitioners, why sending people to your email list beats sending them st...

Whitney and her online business manager Priscilla Zaehringer are kicking off a three-part series all about ads — and not the intimidating, agency-speak kind. In this first episode, they break down the concept of the "silent funnel": a simple automated system that runs ads to a lead magnet, grows your email list, and warms up new subscribers — all without you having to post a reel every other day. Whitney and Priscilla share their own journey to ads, why organic social media reach (yes, that 1–3% stat is real) just doesn't cut it for business growth anymore, and why your email list is sti...

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on some really big changes — both personally and professionally. After eight years of full-time travel with my husband Dylan, we're officially putting down roots in Berlin, Germany. I walk you through the logistics of how we've been living abroad (visas, taxes, Airbnb hacks, buying desks from Mercado Libre), why we're pursuing permanent residency in Europe, and what this next chapter looks like. Then I get into what's shifting in the business… why our last launch was a wake-up call, how I'm finally pushing past limiting beliefs that held me back for year...

If you've been told to "just network" but have no idea what that actually means in practice, this episode is for you. Whitney is joined by Alex Raymond, RD and founder of Courage to Nourish, who built a multi-state group practice almost entirely through intentional, systemized networking. Alex breaks down her two-branch approach to networking — from cold outreach to nurturing active referral sources — and gives you the exact steps she takes to turn a cold email into a lasting referral relationship. If you're ready to get more aligned referrals without the overwhelm, hit play and then follow the show so y...

This episode is a replay from my session at the NE Summit 2026, where we talked about what is actually going on when your marketing feels scattered, inconsistent, or like it just is not working anymore.

If you have been trying new strategies every few weeks, creating content without knowing if it is bringing in clients, or feeling like you need to be everywhere just to keep up, you are not alone.

A lot of practitioners find themselves stuck in a cycle of doing more without seeing better results. It can feel like you are constantly...

What do you do when the business you've spent years building starts to crumble and no amount of hustle can fix it? Ana Reisdorf knows that feeling well.

After years of running a successful health writing agency with a team of 10 writers, Ana watched her revenue dry up as clients took content in-house, AI tools disrupted SEO writing, and a costly course launch left her in debt. She went from doubling her revenue year over year to sending 2,000 cold pitches with zero new clients.

Then one day in the shower, an idea hit... and...

Catch the replay of our recent training, The 3 Website Upgrades That Fill Your Calendar (Without More Marketing) held on March 3 & 4, 2025.

Here's what you'll walk away with:

→ Why these 3 upgrades work better than wasting thousands on another website redesign that gets you the same disappointing results

→ The real reason some practitioners say "my website doesn't bring in clients" – and why that misconception is costing you more than you think

→ How to implement these upgrades yourself, faster than you'd expect – without a multi-month overhaul or learning complicated software. Start seeing more calls on your ca...

Register for the upcoming free training - The 3 Website Upgrades That Fill Your Calendar (Without More Marketing) - March 3rd or 4th: whitneybateson.com/upgrade

Whitney hosts a short live “prep work” session on Zoom, inviting you to register for her free website training on March 3 or March 4 and to join the Facebook group for continued discussion. Instead of tactics, she leads you through a visualization to feel what it’s like to have a full calendar of ideal clients, including an aligned discovery call where you confidently connect your offer to what the client is experi...