Every successful therapist needs a website. That's obvious, right? That's how you can showcase your therapy practice to potential clients and promote your mental health services (whether you're thinking of Google Ads, SEO, Facebook Ads, or any other marketing strategy). However, what's important is that you need a website that checks all the right boxes.
Many therapists make this mistake. They create very short and, let's be honest, poor websites that don't really say anything about their counseling services.
One time, we saw a therapist's website that had... 3 sentences. That's it. True story!
What should be on your therapist website?
If you want to attract potential clients to your private practice, you need more. You need a website that's:
Visually appealing (soft color palette, nice photos, banner images, modern fonts, you get the picture)
Comprehensive from the content perspective (your services, issues you help with, modalities you use, perhaps even a separate blog section)
Ready to help you get more clients (do you make it super easy for your prospective clients to reach out to you via your website?)
Only then will you be able to build your online presence effectively.
Now, there are 10 features you should include in your therapy website. They will help you convert visitors into paying clients. Let's have a look at them!
Your approach to therapy and your therapy services
When it comes to the structure or the big idea for your website, it should focus on three major aspects of your work. These three aspects are essential because they have a lot to do with how people are looking for counseling services in Google. That's how all good websites for therapists are made.
What you can help with
First of all, your therapy should specifically say what kind of issues or mental health conditions you help with. Here, we mean issues such as:
Anxiety
Depression
Burnout
Relationship issues, etc.
When people look for help on Google, they frequently begin by describing their problems. That's why, their queries are frequently like these:
Anxiety counseling in Chicago
Depression therapy Toronto
Therapy for burnout, etc.
And your website should respond to such queries.
What modalities you use when working with clients
You'd be surprised how many clients know exactly what CBT, ACT, EMDR, and many more modalities are about. And it goes further - they are looking for therapists who will work with them using those modalities!
So, if you offer CBT, EMDR, or any other modality, mention this fact specifically on your website. If that's something you want to advertise, you might also consider creating separate subpages for those modalities.
Take a look at how those modalities are popular, e.g., in Ontario:
Therapeutic process
When it comes to building this sense of trust among your prospective clients, it's also important to showcase your therapeutic process. You can create a separate section on your website that's titled "What can you expect when in therapy" where you explain what it's like to work with you and what your clients can expect.
Take a look at how it can be done (that's one of our clients' websites):
Who you serve
The last type of query revolves around specific target audiences. Here, we mean services such as:
Couples counseling
Family therapy
Individual therapy (you can be more specific and mention, e.g., managers, first responders, etc.)
Including all these details will help you resonate with your ideal clients, which is essential to growing your private practice.
In-person/virtual therapy
There's room on the market for both types of therapy. What matters is that you need to be specific about that. If you do video sessions only (we have clients who work this way and they manage to find clients), you need to specifically mention this fact on your website. Ideally, more than once.
If you don't, you will attract people who are looking for in-person therapy, and that's just a waste of time for you.
On the other hand, if you do in-person therapy, make sure to include your office address on your website. Take some nice photos of your office so that it will be easier for you to establish personal connection with your future clients.
Photos, photos, photos!
Experienced therapists know how important it is to have photos of people on the website. Again, it's all about emotional connection. Your website should communicate that you are a people person and you're happy to meet with your clients and help them.
Ideally, your website should have four types of photos:
Photos of you as a mental health professional (you need them either way if you want to build your online presence, e.g., on social media, right?)
Photos of your office (and maybe also the building itself if it's nice)
Photos of your ideal target audience (a family therapist should have photos featuring happy families)
Additional, supplemental photos, e.g., of nature, your area (one of our clients has a private practice in Alaska, and she has polar bears on her website, which is awesome because it's something unique to her location)
Again, a quick example from one of our clients' websites:
Your credentials and work experience
Clients want to work with experienced, licensed therapists. That's why it's vital to include your credentials in the "About Me" section. Tell your potential clients something more about your experience, but don't bore them to death with tiny little details. Mention just the most important credentials, schools, and workshops you've attended.
And what about client testimonials? Sure, it's great to have them, but we know you can't really ask your clients for them. And that's totally fine! What you can do instead is include some authentic quotes that will describe how your clients feel now or felt before starting therapy with you.
You don't need to add any names to those quotes. They will still work as social proofs without violating your clients' privacy.
A contact form/booking calendar
In general, your website should be able to guide your clients all the way down the sales funnel, from initial interest to booking therapy with you. This is where a contact form or a booking calendar steps in the game.
Ideally, you should have such a contact form at the bottom of every subpage (convenience!). Use it to invite people to start with a free 15-minute consultation. That's what marketers call a lead magnet, and it's a powerful tool for attracting clients to your private practice!
Of course, you can use a third-party tool for booking purposes (e.g., Calendly or JaneApp), but it's better from the conversion tracking perspective to keep as many activities as possible within your website (although in eight out of 10 cases, we can still track conversions with third-party tools, so don't worry if you really like your Calendly :))
Showcase your team!
If there's more than one therapist in your PP, create a separate "Our Team" subpage where you can showcase therapists working with you. Ideally, you should have one website with all the therapists/counsellors introduced and then separate subpages for each therapist.
And if it's possible, allow people to book with the therapists they want to work with themselves, this will shorten the process as well.
CTAs
If you've never heard this abbreviation before, it's call to action. In practice, a button or a link that takes your potential clients to where you want them to go. Usually, such buttons are used to take your visitors from a section, e.g., on the main page, to a separate subpage.
CTAs are also useful when it comes to inviting your clients to book therapy with you. Each subpage should have at least one such button or link.
Blog
If you want to do SEO for your PP or you want to build your recognizability as a mental health professional, you need a blog. Blog posts help you build trust and showcase your expertise. From the SEO perspective, they help you put more valuable content and keywords on your website so that your website's position in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) can gradually grow.
If you want to know more about blogging for therapists, take a look at the linked post, where we explain ins and outs of effective blogging :)
Lastly, we’d like to briefly highlight two features required by PIPEDA that are often missing from therapist websites: a cookie banner and a privacy policy.
Cookie banner
A cookie banner is an essential feature for therapist websites to ensure compliance with PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act). This banner informs visitors that your website uses cookies, explains their purpose and allows users to consent to or manage their preferences.
Given the sensitive nature of therapy services, being transparent about data collection practices is crucial. Make sure you have such a banner, especially given you can get it for free!
Privacy policy
A privacy policy is another critical element for therapist websites to comply with PIPEDA and reassure clients about how their personal information is collected, used, and protected by you and your website. It demonstrates transparency and builds trust.
It's a legal document, so you need to get it from a lawyer (not from us or any other therapist marketing agency). But once you do, the privacy policy doesn't really expire, and you can keep it on your website for years.
Wrapping up
Remember: Your therapist website is your number one business asset. Make sure it's really, really good and ready to be promoted on Google or to get more clients to your therapy practice. Take a look at our website design services to find out more.
And if you want to build a website for your PP, please book a free consultation with us! We look forward to meeting you :)