Picture this: it’s Friday afternoon, I’m on my third cup of coffee, and my inbox pings with an email that makes me do a little dance in my office chair. One of my amazing clients just booked her second paid speaking engagement in less than three months after our rebrand.
*Cue happy dance*
This is the kind of message that makes all those late nights tweaking custom WordPress websites totally worth it. Because when you help someone bring their authentic, weight-inclusive voice to life online, magical things happen!
So grab your coffee (or tea if that’s your jam), and let me walk you through this incredible project for a California-based dietitian who was ready to step into her power as a speaker and educator in the weight-inclusive nutrition space.
When Lauren Anton (our rockstar dietitian) first reached out, she knew exactly what she wanted: to build a brand that would position her as the go-to expert for weight-inclusive post-cancer nutrition care and eating disorder recovery in California.
But here’s the thing – she wasn’t just looking for a pretty logo or some cute brand colors. She needed a complete transformation that would reflect her expertise, compassion, and unique approach to nutrition counseling.
“I’ve been doing this work for years,” she told me during our discovery call, “but my online presence doesn’t match the depth of what I offer. I want to book more speaking gigs and really position myself as the expert I am.”
Challenge accepted!
Over the course of our project, we tackled:
Let’s break down each piece of this comprehensive project.
Before we even thought about colors or fonts, we dove deep into brand strategy. This is where the magic happens, folks!
Using my comprehensive workbook method, I guided Lauren through exercises to uncover her brand values, personality, and positioning. We explored questions like:
This wasn’t just about making things look pretty – it was about creating a strategic foundation that would help her book those speaking gigs and attract her dream clients.
What emerged was a brand personality that’s compassionate yet direct, approachable yet professional. We identified her core values around connection, curiosity, respect, and courage – values that would guide every design decision moving forward.
“I thought I was writing drivel and then she translated that into copy that will improve SEO,” Lauren later shared about this process. “She just knows her stuff!”
With our strategy in place, we moved on to creating a visual identity that would truly represent Lauren and her practice.
We carefully selected fonts that balanced professionalism with warmth – no generic Brittany font here! (If you know, you know 😏).
Her color palette was thoughtfully chosen to evoke feelings of trust, compassion, and growth – essential emotions for someone working with clients recovering from eating disorders or navigating post-cancer nutrition.
We created a primary logo, secondary logo variations, submarks, and custom brand patterns that she could use across all her materials. Everything was designed to be cohesive, memorable, and truly reflective of her practice values.
With branding in place, we moved on to creating a custom WordPress website that would serve as Lauren’s digital home base.
This wasn’t just any template-based site. We built it from the ground up with custom design to ensure it perfectly reflected her new brand while also being optimized for performance and SEO.
The site included:
But the real magic was in the content. Using Lauren’s workbook responses, I crafted website copy that not only sounded authentically like her but was also strategically optimized for SEO.
“Bonus: Courtney knows my industry and it made it SO EASY,”
“Bonus: Courtney knows my industry and it made it SO EASY,” Lauren commented on this part of the process. When you’ve been a dietitian yourself, you just get the nuances of the field in a way others can’t!
Having a gorgeous website doesn’t help if no one can find it! That’s why we conducted a comprehensive local SEO audit and tune-up to boost Lauren’s visibility in search results.
Our SEO work included:
We also tackled technical SEO on her website, ensuring proper meta descriptions, alt text, heading structures, and schema markup.
The results started showing quickly. Within weeks, we saw increased impressions and clicks to her website, with particularly strong growth in January and February. Her website visits from Google searches increased significantly, with her about page and speaker page seeing the most growth.
To ensure Lauren’s new digital presence stayed secure and up-to-date, we set her up with a website support plan that includes:
We also implemented Termageddon, a dynamic legal policy generator, to ensure her website remained legally compliant with privacy laws and regulations – something especially important when working with clients in healthcare!
The true measure of a successful project isn’t just in how pretty the final product looks – it’s in the tangible results it brings.
And wow, did this brand transformation deliver!
In less than three months after launching her new brand and website, Lauren booked two paid speaking engagements – exactly the goal she had set at the beginning of our project.
Her online presence now perfectly positions her as the expert she truly is, making it easier for conference organizers and event planners to say “yes” to booking her as a speaker.
But beyond the speaking gigs, Lauren now has:
One of the aspects I’m most proud of in this project wasn’t just the visual outputs – it was the experience of working together.
“LOVE COURTNEY,” Lauren shared in her testimonial. “She truly cares and puts her heart and soul into her work. I love the workbook method and she works magic with that!”
Using my client portal, Lauren always knew exactly where we were in the process. No confusing email chains, no lost files, just a streamlined experience from start to finish.
“No leaving me hanging ever,” she mentioned. “Also, she’s just a super nice person.”
When you work with weight-inclusive providers, there’s a special kind of understanding that comes from being part of that community. My background as a dietitian means I truly get the unique challenges and opportunities in this field.
What made this project so successful wasn’t just good design skills – it was the combination of industry knowledge and design expertise.
As a dietitian-turned-designer, I understand the unique needs of weight-inclusive practitioners. I know the language, the philosophy, and the challenges these providers face.
This deep understanding means I can:
It’s this combination that allows for truly transformative brand projects like Lauren’s.
Working with Lauren reminded me exactly why I transitioned from being a dietitian to a designer for weight-inclusive businesses.
The world needs more voices speaking out against diet culture. We need more practitioners helping people heal their relationships with food and body. And these amazing professionals deserve websites and brands that match the life-changing work they do.
When weight-inclusive practitioners have powerful brands and websites, they can:
That’s why I do what I do. That’s why spending hours perfecting a WordPress template or tweaking brand colors feels meaningful. Because it’s not just about design – it’s about amplifying important voices in the nutrition world.
If Lauren’s story resonates with you, if you’re a weight-inclusive provider whose online presence doesn’t match the depth and quality of your work, know that transformation is possible.
Like Lauren, you deserve a brand and website that:
Whether you need a complete rebrand like Lauren or just some strategic updates to your existing presence, taking this step can be transformative for your practice.
So, are you ready to stop DIY-ing your website and start truly showing up online as the expert you are? I’d love to help you make that happen – just like we did for Lauren.
Until next time, keep fighting the good fight against diet culture. The world needs your voice!
Courtney has 15+ years of experience putting together and designing marketing materials, WordPress websites, customer experiences, and workflows that help you save time and money. She developed these skills during her years as a Director of Corporate Health Services, Group Fitness Program Manager, Lead Wellness Dietitian, fitness and yoga instructor, and her own nutrition private practice, Vickery Wellness.
She also taught undergraduate courses at the University of Georgia where she graduated with the following degrees:
Declet Designs offers website design, strategy, and SEO for weight-inclusive private practices & small businesses. Located in Athens, GA, and serves businesses nationally and internationally.
Declet Designs is a welcoming and inclusive space for all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, neurodivergence, or national origin.
Declet Designs is located on the lands of the Muscogee and Tsalaguwetiyi people and wishes to acknowledge them as the Traditional Custodians of this land. We also pay our respects to their Elders, past, present & emerging.
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