"How do I build a therapy website?"

First off, why do therapists need a website anyways?

Everything is online these days. Even if most of your sessions are in-person, clients usually research therapists online first. A website helps your therapy practice:

• Show your expertise – Share your credentials, background, specialties, what makes your approach unique, and anything else to convey who you and your practice are.

• Help your clients find you online – A well-built website with the right SEO can appear in searches when someone looks for a therapist.

• Simplify client communication – Tools like online booking, contact forms, and payments make scheduling easier - with less emails.

• Provide resources outside of sessions – Blogs, guides, and videos offer support before or between appointments.

What features should a therapy website have?

"What should my therapist bio include?"

Write a friendly bio that clearly shares your background, experience, and therapy approach - with a bit of your personality! Speak to your ideal client.

"What should I include on service pages?"

List and describe the types of therapy you offer, your specialties, the types of clients you work with, what the process for therapy looks like, and a link to your resources page as a supplement to your counselling services.

"How can I have my clients book appointments through my website?"

Integrate your online booking tool(s), like Jane or Owl, using buttons. This way, clients can easily access their client portal and schedule sessions without emailing back and forth.

"How do I make it easy for clients to contact me?"

Include a simple, contact form (premade that you can easily customize) for inquiries and/or have a clearly labelled Contact page with information for how to reach out, book, find the office, etc.

"What design works best for a therapy website?"

Choose a welcoming, calming layout that’s clean and easy to navigate.

"Do I need a mobile-friendly website?"

YES. The majority of your clients will access your site on their phones or tablets, so responsive design is essential. It's often an extra few steps, but I promise it's worth it for you to not be embarrassed to show people your website on your phone.

"Should I include resources on my therapy website?"

Also yes! Helpful resources, like helplines, shelters, articles, guides, or FAQs, provide value and build trust with potential and current clients. It also saves you so much admin time because you can just send people to your resources page instead of having to email resources to each client!

"How do I make my site accessible?"

Be sure to pay attention to accessibility features like readable fonts, colour contrast, alt text for images, and clear navigation.

Why is a professional domain name important?

A custom website address is easier for clients to remember and helps your practice appear more credible. It also makes you feel really cool.

"Cool, now how do I build a therapy website?" Work through these questions!

1. What are my website goals? Decide if your site is primarily for attracting clients, sharing resources, or both and how you want clients to feel when they access it.

2. Which website builder should I use? Squarespace or Wix are very user-friendly and easy to maintain for therapists without coding or SEO experience. They both offer templates to help with the design as well!

3. How do I customize my website design? Add your colours, fonts, and logo to keep your website aligned with your branding.

4. Which pages and tools should I add? Include Home, About, Team (if you have one), Services, Contact, FAQs, and Resources (the last 3 can be combined on one page). Be sure to link your client portal/booking system at least once on each page as well (easily done with a CTA and a button).

5. How do I make my website mobile-friendly? Once you've finished designing your desktop version, make sure you switch to your mobile version and reformat anything that is out of place! Test your site on phones (websites show up differently on Androids vs. iPhones), laptops, desktops and tablets.

6. How do I make my website accessible? Make sure your headings are in the right order; add alt text to all media, (in Wix, this includes strip backgrounds and vector art); check colour contrasts to ensure legibility and add an accessibility widget to your site if possible (I use UserWay).

7. How do I launch my therapy website? – Review all content, links, and functionality then hit publish (and tell everyone about it)!

Last Step: Once your website design is complete, make sure clients can find your fun new website online! Check out the next blog post: SEO Tips for Therapists: How Can I Get My Website Found Online?

And if you're feeling overwhelmed, you are absolutely not alone! You're meant to be a therapist, I'm the website designer who knows about search engine optimization (SEO). Always feel free to reach out to me on Instagram or through email if you have any questions. We can hop on a website design consult call, or we can chat about the other ways we can work together to create your new therapy website!