How to Create a Website for Your Private Practice
You rock the therapy thing, but you’re a total beginner when it comes to anything tech-y. Or maybe you’ve got some innate tech-savvyness (are people born with that or what?), but you’ve never created your own website before. You can still totally create your own site. In this post, you’ll find everything you need to know to create a website for your private practice.
Let’s do it.
First of all…
Does my private practice need a website?
Before you start putting in the time and work, I want you to know why it’s important for your private practice to have a website.
Websites make for easy AND effective marketing. Easy because once you set it up properly (i.e. with SEO tools), it naturally attracts potential clients with little long-term effort. Effective because it makes you visible online. It gives potential clients a chance to find you.
According to Squarespace, a popular website design platform, a website is especially helpful for a private therapy practice because:
Your website contains important information that a potential client will want to know, such as location and licensing.
It makes it easy for new clients to take the plunge and actually reach out when you provide contact details, fillable intake forms, and an online scheduling tool.
Websites can provide a method of online payment, which is a more reliable and less awkward method of payment for most people.
How to create your private practice website
(Note: Of course you can always hire this job out. A copywriter and/or web designer could get the job done for you in a cinch. But this blog post is assuming you’ve opted to do it yourself.)
Here we go, step by step:
Choose a website building platform
This is the platform you’ll be using to create your website. Here’s a list of some of the most popular options for therapist websites (stay tuned for a later post comparing your options in greater detail):
Squarespace
Squarespace offers beautiful, seamless designs that are easy to work with when writing and designing your site. Its cost ranges from $16 to $49 per month. It includes ownership of a domain as well, so there’s no need to purchase that separately. (If you’re not sure what a domain is, keep reading.) Go to squarespace.com to choose your pricing plan.
Wix
Wix is easy to use for beginners at web design. It even offers a free plan, in addition to paid plans ranging from around $12/month to $100+/month. With wix, domain ownership is free for the first year, and then costs $14.95 per year for most domains. Create a wix account at wix.com if you’d like to get started.
Therapysites
Therapysites offers website templates that are especially designed for therapists. Their templates include beautiful designs, built-in tools that therapists might want (such as client forms and online booking options), and even come with relevant content already written for you (which you can change as you wish). It is easy to work with to customize the design to your own liking. The domain name is also part of the price. This package costs $59 a month. Get started at therapysites.com.
A note about Wordpress: It’s also a popular site used for website creation with even more options for customization. But unless you have previous experience in web development and coding, I don’t recommend it. It involves more coding work than the other options.
2. Choose a domain
If all this is new to you, you might be wondering what a domain even is. A domain is basically the name of the website. For example, the domain for this current site is “thewritetrail.com.”
When choosing the domain for your website, you’re limited to domains that are available. No two websites can have the same name. You can find out which domains are available at domain.com. Just type in the desired domain followed by the top-level domain of your choice.
Which brings us to a discussion of top-level domain (TLD). This refers to the ending of the website name. You’ll recognize the most popular ones such as .com, .net, or .org. When choosing your TLD, .com is recommended since it is the most common and therefore has the best rep. (People can get weirded out if they see a TLD such as .ninja or .casino.) Keep in mind that it might be harder to find an available domain that ends with .com since it is the most commonly used TLD.
Let’s talk about how to choose the name itself.
What should you name your private practice website
Most people choose to use the name of their private practice, or their own names.
If your private practice’s name or your own name is not available as a domain, here are some options:
Mention the services you provide in addition to your name/the name of your practice. For example, “scarlettoharacounseling.com.”
Add your location, such as “carecounselingcenterseattle.com.”
Add your specialty, such as “oharaanxietytherapy.com.”
Adding one of these options gives you an additional benefit of improving your SEO, making you more likely to be found on Google when someone searches for one of these terms.
3. Choose a template
Once you’ve settled on a domain that you’re satisfied with, it’s time to choose a template from which you’ll build your website.
Follow the steps on your hosting platform of choice to select a template. When browsing templates, look for one that looks professional and suits the personality of your practice.
4. What to include in your private practice website
It’s time to make some key decisions that will shape your site.
Single page vs. multi-page site
Should your private practice website have one page, or multiple pages?
Single page sites are simpler to deal with, and make it easier to meet the word count recommended for SEO (more on SEO to follow in a later post). On the other hand, multi-page websites are considered better for SEO because they provide more opportunities to rank for different keywords (again, more on this in a later post). So it’s up to you, but if you’d like to play it safe, start with a single-page website and branch out to a multi-page site later.
Sections to include in your private practice website
Here’s a list of different sections that a private therapy practice website usually includes. (If you chose a single-page site, these will be sections on the one page. If it’s a multi-page site, these will be the different pages.)
Welcome - an intro that draws the reader in to keep reading
About - a description of your practice’s mission and of each therapist on staff.
Services - describes the specific services you provide.
Blog - frequent, helpful blog posts
Contact - provides contact information for your private practice
Those are the main sections you’ll want to include in your private therapy practice website. We’ll get into more detail about these soon. Here are some optional sections that you might choose to include as well:
Publications - links to articles you’ve published in other places
Resources - if you’d like to provide your site visitors with mental health resources that you think are important
Rates and Insurance - information on your rates and how insurance works, if at all
Testimonials - testimonials from previous clients
Client Portal - might include things such as intake forms, a method of payment for current clients, etc.
FAQ’s - a list of questions you predict people might ask, and their answers.
To find out how to create different pages or page sections on your website, search in your chosen site-building platform’s help center.
How to write your private practice website content
Let’s start with some general points, and then we’ll take it section by section.
CTA’s
CTA’s are your friend. CTA, or call-to-action, is a critical part of writing effective website copy. A CTA means a direct instruction for your reader to take action. On a private therapy practice website, a CTA is often something like:
“Schedule an appointment,” or
“Book your free consultation here.”
You want to sprinkle your CTA’s liberally throughout your site, to make it as easy as possible for a potential client to take that step and actually book. I recommend including a CTA in AT LEAST every section or page.
How to define your audience
As you write the copy for your website, your job is to make sure that readers stay interested and keep reading. It’s the only chance you have to show them that you’re the therapist they want, and to lead them to actually book with you.
Here’s how to keep people reading on your site:
Before you start writing, sit down and think about your ideal client. This can be a real client you’ve worked with before, or you can invent a client that it would be your dream to work with.
Write a list of everything you know about this client, including:
Age
Gender
Family situation
Personal background
What brings them to therapy
What they want out of therapy
Hobbies
Role models
Anything else you can come up with
The more details, the better. (To make this easier for you, I’ve created a questionnaire. It’s all you need to come up with a complete picture of the ideal audience you’ll be writing for. Link coming soon.)
Now that you’re intimately familiar with this real or invented client, you’re set. You’re going to keep this specific person in mind when you write your webcopy, and write it straight to them. You already know what they’re struggling with, what they’ve suffered from, and MOST importantly, what they want most. This is what you’re going to keep in mind as you write, so that you write straight to their heart.
Keywords
Okay, now let’s talk about keywords.
A keyword is the word or phrase that people type into the search bar when they search online. If you want people to find your website, you’ll need to include the relevant keywords in your website, according to certain guidelines.
Here’s an example of a parent living in New City who wants their child to go to therapy for anxiety. They’ll google search: “anxiety therapist for children in New City.”
Now, if you are an anxiety therapist for children in New City, this is your chance! Only thing is, Google will only serve up your website to answer this parent’s query if it knows that you are an anxiety children’s therapist in New City. Help Google understand this by including this keyword in your titles, headings, and peppered throughout your writing.
Choose one focus keyword to really highlight, and 3-5 long-tail keywords (keywords that are longer phrases, like the example above). My guide for how to choose keywords will follow in a later post.
Once you’ve got your audience pinpointed and your keywords selected, it’s time to start writing.
How to write the Welcome page of your private practice website
The goal of the welcome section is to draw readers in and encourage them to keep reading. We do this by talking right to the heart of your ideal client, in second person, with empathy and understanding. With your words, you show that you understand their current struggle and their deepest desires. Then, you show how you can be the answer to their problem. All this in a few paragraphs.
If you’re thinking, “gross! Sounds too much like selling myself and taking advantage of people,” – I hear you! You might feel like it’s not who you are, and that’s okay – it doesn’t have to be who you become, either.
Think of it this way: you DO genuinely care about this client, real or pretend, who you’ve gotten to know in theory. They’re sitting in their bedroom dealing with it all alone, but meanwhile YOU know how to help them out of it. You WANT to convince them to come try it out with you, but not because you want their cash. (Yes, you do want and need an income. But for this specific individual, who you truly know and care about, you genuinely want them helped!) Anyways, if you come across as fake, that won’t keep anybody reading. Tap into the genuine intentions that you truly have.
How to write the About section of your private practice website
The goal of the About section is to give readers a sense of who you are. Here is where you might include:
A description of your practice and what makes it special
The goals and mission of your practice
Your own background as a therapist, including why you chose to become a therapist, your education, what you’re passionate about, why you specialize in your specialty
Other personal information about yourself that might make you relatable to readers, including family information, hobbies, or anything else that you feel comfortable including
A picture of yourself
If you have other therapists on staff, pictures and bios of each of them
How to write the Services page of your private practice website
In the Services section, you provide descriptions of the specific work you do. Here is where you will include a list of the treatment modalities you use, and the conditions you treat, along with explanations of each one. Here is a great opportunity to provide potential clients with valuable information, so that they learn they can rely on you to have answers to their questions. The information in this section also helps clarify whether you are truly the right therapist for them or not.
How to write the Contact page for your private practice website
A Contact section is pretty self-explanatory. It’ll include the phone number for your private practice, an email address, your location, links to your social media pages, an online fillable form if you want to offer that option, or even a button that people can click to book with you straightaway.
How to check your web copy for plagiarism
Once you’ve finished writing, you’ll need to check your work for plagiarism. Not that you plagiarized intentionally – most people don’t, thankfully. But mistakes and oversights happen, and to avoid anything icky later on, check your work for plagiarism using the following plagiarism checkers:
The free versions of these have word limits, so you can either invest in a paid version, or divide your text among the options. Pretty much any plagiarism checker you find on google can help.
How to design your private practice website
The next step after writing your content is to design the layout of your website. This includes where to put the copy, how to break it up in paragraphs, and where to distribute images throughout your site.
Play around on the website builder to figure out what works for you. A good rule to keep in mind is: keep it easy on the eyes. A good amount of white space is great for keeping things organized and indicating where the reader should focus (wix.com).
Not to give away any of my deep dark secrets, but a great way to give yourself an idea of how to arrange the layout of your website is to snoop online at other people’s websites, and take tips from what you like.
Now is also when you’ll add different elements to your site, such as buttons (easy and noticeable links, great for CTA’s), navigation menus, headers, footers, and more. Check out your web building platform’s help center to learn how to implement these.
Adding images to your private practice site
Adding images to your website makes it more memorable and brings it more views (logicdesign). Here’s where to find images for your site:
Use your own original pictures, if possible. This is definitely the best option.
Use a royalty-free site like pexels.com or pixabay.com, where you can get images for free without needing to credit the source. If you get images from other sources, be careful about copyright infringement.
Optimize your private practice website for mobile
As you design the layout of your website, it’s important to organize it for mobile phones as well. Sites that are optimized for mobile rank higher on Google. The website builder you are using has a separate tab for organizing the mobile layout of your site. Take the time to go there and organize your content as necessary.
How to make your website secure
One final step: making your website secure. This shows people that your website is reliable and not sketchy. This is especially important if your site provides payment options or contains client information.
Go to the settings in your website builder to make sure the SSL certificate is enabled. (Follow instructions from the help center if necessary.) You know your website is secure when it’s preceded by https (as opposed to http), and when it has the little lock icon in the address bar.
Final steps
Wow. You’ve come so far. You’ve chosen your keywords, written your content, and whipped your website into shape. Before you make your website public, make sure to check out my blog post on SEO (coming soon). But now you need to take a full week off without looking at this stuff even once.
In the meantime, post any questions or comments you have below, as you travel on your website creation trail. When you’re done, post a link to your private therapy practice website and give your best tips to newbies!
Here’s a link for a helpful Website Creation Checklist, to see everything we’ve discussed laid out in front of you on one page.
And finally, if all this post did was make you overwhelmed, and you’d prefer to hand the job off to someone else, check out my Services page to see how I can help you.
Wishing you the best of luck as you head out on your trail.
