What is a Website Template? A Guide for Therapists in 2024

Buying a website template is a little bit like getting a new smartphone. You’ll have to set up your preferences–but you don’t need to program the software.

You can start using it immediately, with little technical expertise, and low time and effort.

All the essential things are there. It functions smoothly and is up-to-date with best practices. This is what a good website template should be too!

A good website template fits your business. It’s made for your field. You aren’t trying to a photographer’s website into a therapist’s website (or to keep with my tortured methaphor-not trying to turn a discman into a smartphone? 🤔 I’ll keep working on that one).

So today we’ll try to answer all your Website Template questions, starting with how to choose the right one!

Want to see some examples of website templates in action? Check out our post Real Examples of Therapist Websites Using Templates.

How do you choose a website template?

You’ll want to look for one that most closely matches your aesthetic and includes the features you need (leaving you with less work to get your site up and running).

Here are some things to think about:

1. Design and Layout: The template should have a design that resonates with you and your ideal client AND be easy to navigate and find exactly what they need.

2. Customization Options: Check if the template allows you to easily change colors, fonts, images, and layouts. Also, check if it relies on any third-party tools (such as Canva or Photoshop) to achieve certain styles (and then make sure you’re familiar with those tools, or if not maybe move on).

3. Responsiveness: Make sure the template is mobile-friendly and responsive, so it looks good on every device and screen size.

4. Functionality: Look for built-in features that you need, for example About Page, Contact Page–and that it doesn’t have a bunch of bells and whistles that you don’t need.

5. Ease of Use: Choose a template that is user-friendly and doesn't require extensive technical knowledge to customize.

6. Support and Updates: Opt for templates that come with good tutorials, customer support, and regular updates.

7. SEO-Friendly: Ensure the template is optimized for search engines, with SEO-friendly features and guidance on how to optimize it yourself.

8. Performance: Check reviews or demo the template to ensure it loads quickly and performs well.

When you keep these in mind you’ll be able to find a template that gets your website up and running smoothly and quickly (and starts bringing in clients to your practice).

Are website templates customizable?

A good website template should allow you to customize things like:

• Photos

• Colors

• Fonts

• Writing

And even:

• Change the order of section

• Delete content you don’t need

• Add additional sections to a page

• Add more pages to the site

With Squarespace, you can do all of that and more. A template gives you a strong start and you're empowered to make updates on your own rather than having to hire someone every time you need a small change.

You get to choose whether you want to lightly edit the template or let your creativity run free!

It all depends on your level of comfort, skill, time, and desire to do it. So if you are less inclined to deal with tech and want to just kind of "plug and play" choose a template that looks the closest to the end result you want-that way you can launch without a lot of work on your end.

To give you an example….

Here’s the Marigold Template:

And here’s the Marigold Template styled two different ways

You can see how they changed the colors, photos, and writing, but kept the basic structure. They also added additional pages to suit the needs of their practice.

All the Website Template FAQs

Now let’s move on to all the questions we get from our customers looking for website templates for their private practice!

• What comes with a website template?

  • Pre-built pages that are carefully thought out with your specific business in mind.

  •Pages made by an expert in design that flow well and have a custom, polished look you that would be tricky to achieve yourself.

  • All the materials you need to customize the template (for example, our templates come with writing guides and tutorials for everything).

  • Sometimes templates use custom code (such as CSS) to achieve a unique style. But, with a high-quality template you should never have to touch a line of code. It should be seamless for you.

• What is the difference between web design and a website template?

  It totally makes sense that this might be confusing!

  Web design is the process of creating a website from scratch, often involving custom coding and design tailored to your specific needs. Usually you hire a web designer to do this for you.

  A website template, on the other hand, is a pre-made website that you can customize to suit your needs.

  Templates can save you time and money and are perfect for those who want a professional look without the cost of custom design.

• Are website templates good for therapists?

  Website templates are a great option for therapists because:

  • Dealing with tech may not be your favorite thing to do

  • You also may not know a ton about designing a website (it is certainly not something you learn in grad school!).

  • If you're just getting started or trying to expand your practice you may not have a huge budget.

  • You are a small business owner and you need to be able to make updates to your own website quickly and easily as things change in your practice (for example your fees, offerings or certifications).

• Are website templates free?

  Some website templates are free, but it's important to note that in almost every case, you will need to pay for website hosting and domain hosting.

  The cost for this can vary depending on which platform you use. We use Squarespace because it's afforable and uniquely user-friendly.

  If you opt for a free template, just make sure it offers you the features that you need.

  We offer a free website template specifically for therapists that’s designed to give you a professional look, has essential features for therapy practices, and customization options that make it a great starting point.

  While not every free template is top-notch, ours is crafted to ensure you have a reliable and effective website for your private practice.

• Why wouldn't I just use one of the templates that Squarespace offers on their website?

  Squarespace does showcase a bunch of pre-built websites that are lovely!

  But they were built by designers, not by an actual former private practice therapist (ahem, me!) or someone who only specializes in the mental health field (ahem, me again!).

  A customized template helps you stand apart because it has added designer details (sometimes, with the help of custom code that lets you go beyond what Squarespace can do on its own).

  It often comes with additional support for writing the content for your site, SEO, tech support, and more (if you purchase our templates that’s all built right in!).

  Basically, using the right paid template can give you a head start so you can launch quickly.

• Is it worth buying a website template?

  Buying a website template is worth it if:

  • You need to save money. Hiring a designer is outside the budget.

  • You want a professional starting point to build from.

  • You want all the features you need to already be there and not have to figure that all out by yourself.

  • You want a user-friendly experience for your potential clients and website visitors (but you don't know the best practices to do that yourself).

  • You want to save the time and effort it would take to start from scratch.

• Is it better to build a website from scratch or use a template?

  This is fully dependent on two things:

  1) Your needs

  2) Your budget

  Building a website from scratch offers complete customization. But, for most therapists, that means hiring someone to do it for you, and that can get costly, not going to sugar coat that!

  Using a template is definitely more budget-friendly and is way faster than starting from scratch.

  Templates provide a solid starting point. And any high quality website template will also equip you with the tools and resources you need to easily customize yourself (even if you don't have a lot of tech skills).

• Do I need to pay a subscription fee for my website template?

  You do not have to pay us a subscription fee for your template.

  You do have to pay Squarespace to host the site for you.

  There will also be an annual fee to host your domain if you'd like to use a custom domain (though you can use the free one built in to Squarespace if you like! Learn about built-in domains here.)

  Be aware of companies that ask you to pay a monthly fee for your template as there can be other copyright strings attached. For example, if you look at the fine print, they may actually own your content, you might not be able to take it with you if you choose to leave the platform, and you may not be able to make updates to it yourself.

  For more information, check out our article What is the Best Website Builder for Therapists?

• Can I use my own domain name with a template?

  Yes! With our templates, or any built in Squarespace you 100% can!

  I cannot speak to every website platform, but for any template you buy that should be a standard feature so you should find out before buying.

  To find out more about using custom domains with Squarespace you can check out our article Demystifying Domains: A Quick Primer for Therapists and also check this Squarespace Help Guide.

Think a template is right for your private practice?

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