What Makes a Good Therapist Website?
After spending countless hours and helping hundreds of therapists with their websites, I've learned a thing or two along the way. Today, I'm going to share all my insights in this mega post on creating a therapy website that's not just a pretty face, but a hardworking partner in growing your practice. So, grab your favorite fidget toy and let's dive into the world of pixels, psychology, and best practices of therapy web design!
What are the key elements of a good therapist website?
Imagine this dreamy scenario: Your website is works as your tireless digital assistant, attracting potential clients and showcasing your expertise, freeing you up to focus on the million other tasks that come with running your practice and living your life.
Sounds amazing, right?
Well, to make this dream a reality, there are 4 categories you need to focus on (and don’t worry, I will explain each one!):
These 4 categories are all interconnected. Think of them as the four legs of a chair (or a couch!) - each one is crucial, and they all work together to create a solid foundation for your website.
How can I make my website user-friendly for potential clients?
All About User Experience (aka, User-Friendliness)
When it comes to user-friendliness, I think about two main parts: Navigation & Accessibility (and don’t worry, I’ll break down these terms for you in case they are unfamiliar!).
Part One: Navigation
Navigation is a fancy way of saying “how people get around your website.” I think of navigation holistically–meaning, it’s more than just the top of your homepage, navigation is threaded through your entire website.
To illustrate, here’s a diagram that shows the parts of a website from top to bottom:
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First you have your Main Menu (aka, Main Navigation, also sometimes called the Header). That contains your logo or site title and links to the other pages on your site and sometimes a button. This shows up with the same content no matter what page you are on.
Next we have the Body of Your Webpage. This is the meat and potatoes of your site! This content will look different from page to page, depending on what the page is about.
Lastly, we have the Website Footer which usually contains legal pages, fine print, links to other pages on your site, social media links, newsletter sign ups, etc. etc. This section also appears the same on every page
Your Main Menu (aka Main Navigation aka Header)
Here are some best practices:
Be clear instead of clever with page names. Stick with tried and true conventions here like “About” “Services” “Contact Me” so people know exactly what they are getting. If they click on a page that doesn’t give them what they expect, it creates frustration (and we want to avoid that, obvs).
Keep the navigation to 5-7 items max. More than that gets quickly overwhelming. Dropdown menus can help organize pages into categories. But even better, use a services “splash page” where you list out all your services (this is a more accessibility-friendly option, and it can be good for SEO too!).
You don’t need to include “Home” as one of your pages in the main navigation. Your logo or site title always leads people back to home and in 2024 most visitors are aware of this. You can put a link to your homepage in your footer if you are concerned.
Make sure your navigation is visible and easy to use on mobile devices. As more people browse on smartphones, it's crucial that your menu is easy to use on smaller screens. Consider using a "hamburger" menu (those two or three horizontal lines you see on most websites) or other mobile-friendly navigation options. If you use Squarespace, this functionality is built in!
The Body of Your Web Page
As we continue to scroll down your website, the navigation doesn’t need to stop (and in fact, it shouldn’t stop!). You’ll want to “sprinkle” in what are called “calls to action” or CTAs throughout every page.
What is a Call to Action (CTA)?
CTAs guide your website visitors to take the next step, whether that's booking a session, downloading a freebie, or guiding them to learn more about your services.
Here are a few best practices for CTAs:
Be strategic. Position them at natural decision points in your content, such as after describing a service or at the end of a blog post.
Make CTAs visually distinct. Buttons increase engagement more than simple links. Why? Cause buttons are just fun to push!
Use descriptive, action-oriented text. If you have any call-to-action buttons in your navigation (like "Book Now" or "Discover More About Therapy"), make sure they clearly communicate what will happen when clicked.
Keep it relevant. Ensure the CTA matches the content of the page it's on. For example, a service page might have a "Book This Service" CTA.
Check out this article to learn more about how to use calls to action effectively to increase engagement on your website.
Your Website Footer
One of the biggest mistakes I see in websites is people treating their website footer as an afterthought. Your website footer can actually be a powerhouse for your website!
Here’s what it can do for you:
Act as a secondary navigation: Helps visitors find important pages quickly, especially if they've scrolled to the bottom of a long page.
Make it easy for potential clients to reach you, no matter where they are on your site by placing your name, business name, and all relevant location and contact info there.
Contains "fine print": Ideal place for privacy policies, terms of service, good faith estimate, and other legal information, keeping your main navigation clutter-free.
Offers newsletter sign-ups or links to social accounts: A great spot to encourage visitors to join your mailing list for updates and resources.
Boosts SEO: Including relevant links and keywords in your footer can help search engines better understand your site structure and content. But, please make sure you avoid “keyword stuffing.” Placement of keywords should always be natural, logical and above all helpful to your visitor!
Part Two: Accessibility
Accessibility is about making sure your site has accommodations for visitors who may have a disability and be using assistive technology to navigate your website. It might sound intimidating, but I assure you it’s something you can do.
What is web accessibility, exactly?
If you want to understand more about web accessibility, I recommend checking out this article by the ADA, which explains in simple language about different types of accommodations for websites, who they matter to, and why.
ADA Guidance on Web Accessibility
What can I do to make my website more accessible?
To learn about what you can easily do to make your website more accessible, check out our short and sweet guide Making Your Website More Accessible to All Visitors.
What if I want help making my website more accessible?
And if you want to hire someone to help you (or get help with DIYing your own site in an accessible way) I highly recommend One Nine Design (not an affiliate link, just an awesome human with an awesome business!)
How do I write good content for my therapy website?
All About Written Content
Ok, so now we’ve covered the structure of your site, let’s start to dive in to the actual content. First let’s talk about writing and then we’ll talk visuals.
This is probably the number one thing that therapists struggle with! And it’s not just therapists. I think it’s just really hard to step outside of yourself to write about something you are so close to every day!
Here are some best practices:
Write it as though you are having a conversation. The biggest mistake I see is people trying to “sound smart” but this approach doesn’t work online. You have to break through as a real person! If you try to sound academic, people will glaze over and bounce from your site.
Always start with empathy, on every single page (even the ones that are supposedly about you). People do want to hear what you offer and what you’re about but not before they feel like you get them. You must start with establishing trust, otherwise people will just feel they are being “sold to”, and that feels icky.
Be specific about how you understand your client’s experience. The more you can speak to them and what they are going through the better.
Be specific about the types of things you can help with (not just diagnoses, but the address real ways your clients are feeling about themselves, others, and the world).
But be general about your processes. You do not need a really detailed explanation of how therapy works, you can get to that once the person has “bought in” and decided you are the one for them.
It’s good to show your expertise, but don’t let stuff that belongs on a CV take up too much real estate. Most people don’t care about where you trained, or even what type of licensure you have. They just want to know if you’re a good fit for them.
If you introduce a clinical term, such as a treatment modality you use, make sure to define it. Write in layperson terms so you don’t alienate anyone. Think of it this way, if your client started throwing around terms related to their work, you probably wouldn’t understand them either, right? Your readers are intelligent, but you can’t assume they know the latest psychology jargon.
Our Top Writing Tips
Structure your pages with headings.
I cannot say enough about how important your headings are. I put them in the “Written Content” category but they actually also help with:
Accessibility. Did you know that someone using a screen reader can “tab” through your headings using a keyboard? Headings help people understand what a page is about and are signposts for finding the information that is most relevant to them.
SEO. Search engines use headings to help them understand what your site is about! Yep, so more than the paragraph text (though paragraph text matters too), headings are what will give you SEO lift. So use them wisely.
Design. From a visual standpoint, having contrasting text sizes is way more pleasing than everything being the same size. And the varying sizes and weights of fonts can help people know where to direct their attention first.
User-Friendliness. Headings helps people skim your content to find what they are looking for with more ease.
If you want more info on headings check out How Headings Improve Your Website’s Accessibility and SEO.
Break up big blocks of text.
Imagine if you came to this super long article and it was all one long brick of small text with little to no breaks? You would never read it!
If you want more engagment with your content, it’s best practice to break up big blocks of text by:
Using headings and subheadings
Using bullet lists
Breaking different ideas into different sections (so they don’t get missed!)
Say “You” more than “I”
Try to remember that as counterintuitive as it sounds, your website is not about you! Make sure you are writing client-focused content. And instead of speaking in generalities like saying “people might feel…” or “clients can..”-swap those out for the much more impactful “You statement". “You might feel…” or “you can…”
This keeps it feeling more like an intimate conversation rather than speaking at or over your reader.
How can I get help writing my therapy website?
We get it! There is a lot that goes into writing your website well. That’s why we have tons of resources to help!
To start, here are some articles that might help:
How to Write Your Website to Attract Your Ideal Client
My Techniques for Better Website Writing
(comes with a free spreadsheet download to help you organize your ideas)
Tips for Taking Your Website From Cluttered to Clean
Shop Templates & Courses
Want to level up your DIY? We offer Pre-Built Website Templates that come with a writing guide for each page, or you can buy the Therapist Website Writing Guide a la carte! We also have a mini-course How to Build a Great Therapy Homepage to help you have content that converts website browsers into session bookers in an authentic, ethical way!
How do I make my therapy website look good?
All About Visual Appeal
If you are DIYing your website I highly recommend starting with a template! There are tons of free options as well as a range of paid templates in Squarespace (which is my favorite platform, but there are others out there as well, which we cover in What’s the Best Website Builder for Therapists).
To figure out where to start with templates, you can check out this article What’s The Best Squarespace Template for Therapists.
OK, so say you’ve got your website editor open, what the heck do you do now??
Here are some best practices for web design that are simple and easy to follow for beginners:
Use “white space” (aka, negative space). White space simply means giving your website some breathing room. Often times people think, mistakenly, that if you have blank space on your website it might look “boring” but it’s actually quite the opposite! Negative space can actually highlight your content and make it stand out! Too much going on and people don’t know where to look.
Be consistent. Many times when I see a DIY site I can tell because there are too many design choices happening all at once. I get it. Squarespace comes with tons of fun design options and I’m always tempted to try them all too!! But what happens is that your design starts to distract from or compete with your content and instead we want the design to support your content.
Balance. Try to think of having the elements in each section be in balance. If your text is getting really long, it might be time to break it into a new section or pair it with another image.
Seek out original photography. Ideally you invest in high-quality, professional, recent photos of yourself (read why this matters in this article) or do the absolute best you can with your budget-and for that you can check out our article about Therapist Headshots). Try to avoid common photography tropes in therapist websites like:
stacks of rocks
random oceans, landscapes or vistas (unless your practice is on the beach or in the mountains)
person standing with arms reaching up in the air (or other such unnatural poses)
For more on using stock photos, I would check out How to Choose Stock Photos for Your Counseling Website and Where to Find Good Photos for Your Therapy Website
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In this video, I discuss design principles for therapist websites, focusing on what to avoid. I use our Marigold template as an example of good design and contrast it with common mistakes.
Key points on good design that I highlight include:
Using white space effectively to create breathing room around elements
Breaking up text into smaller chunks with headings and images
Utilizing margins to help content stand out
Balancing text and images proportionally
Using bullet points to make content easier to skim
Choosing relevant, meaningful photos
Maintaining consistency in design elements and themes
Including an informative footer and navigation aids
Common mistakes I advise you to avoid:
Overcrowding content without adequate spacing
Using irrelevant or disconnected images
Lack of clear sections and headings
Centering long blocks of text (left-align for better readability)
Stretching text too wide across the screen
Overusing different design styles and features
Using cliché or generic images (e.g., stacked rocks, people with arms outstretched)
Inconsistent styling throughout the website
Ending the page without a clear call to action
I emphasize the importance of maintaining a cohesive, professional look while avoiding overwhelming or distracting design choices.
A word about mobile optimization & making your website mobile-friendly.
More than 50% of your visitors will come to your site on mobile, so you must make sure it’s an equally good experience for them.
With mobile I like to try to keep it a little simpler with design elements, make sure everything is readable, and fix any weird spacing issues.
For more details on optimizing your website for mobile, check out this article How to Customize The Mobile Version of Your Website (it does have a focus on Squarespace sites since that is what I do, but it also includes best practices for any mobile site).
How do I make my website show up on search?
All About SEO
Let me tell you the truth about SEO:
There are no tricks, there are no hacks.
SEO takes time. If anyone tries to sell you on the idea that they can get you overnight results, they are scamming you.
There is no single thing that will make or break your SEO (it’s many choices that all work together).
It is not a “one and done” process. You need to work on it consistently, and you can continue to improve it over time.
You can understand it, and you can do it! But if you can’t you can invest in help with it and if you work with reputable agencies that understand therapists, it will be worth every penny!
So what does help with SEO then?
I think of two categories when it comes to SEO. There’s Content SEO and Technical SEO, so let’s break those down.
Content SEO Best Practices
Write high-quality content that:
Is interesting, relevant, and engaging to your audience (this can be the content of your main website or your blog if you have one)
Showcases your expertise on that topic
Organize your site in such a way that people can find what they need. Why? Because search engines can see how long people stay on your site and whether they click through to other pages. If your site is confusing people will not stay.
Considering having a page for each modality or specialty. Doing this allows you more opportunities to showcase your expertise and offer helpful, engaging content to your visitor.
Show that you are a real human being and a real business. Seriously. There’s a lot of spammy stuff out there and tons of AI generated nonsense. Search engines want to know that you are legit. Sharing your credentials, a location, photos of you, a map, links to other places people can find you…all of these add up to showing that you are real.
Show that you are trustworthy by getting other sites to link to yours. These are what are known as “backlinks.” So for example, say you go on a podcast, that podcast will now link from their site to yours and that’s a backlink. But even being on therapy directories or part of professional directories (say for organizations you are a part of) are other ways of getting backlinks.
Incorporate keywords that people are using to look for you! You want to use keywords that people are actually searching for in your headings and page descriptions.
This might take a little research. Luckily, we have a FREE course for that!
Check out: Finding SEO Keywords That Work
Add page descriptions for every page that are up to 160 characters. You should be able to do this in any website builder! Page descriptions (also sometimes called “metadescriptions”) tell search engines what your page is about and because they are visible in search results, they can help a person decide whether to click your site or not!
Follow best practices for accessibility! The more accessible your website is, the higher it will rank.
Keep your content fresh. If your website looks like it has been abandoned, it’s not going to be served up in search results. Even if you aren’t blogging, you can go in an make updates to your core web pages! Swap out photos, update info that has changed, and make sure links are working properly.
Technical SEO Best Practices
Make sure your site loads quickly. If your site is slow to load, people will leave and that sends a signal to search engines that your website isn’t good.
Check for images that are larger than 250KB
Minimize the number of fonts you use (go for 2 max)
Minimize the amount of third-party plugins that are used on your site
Check for broken links. Broken links are a bad look for SEO! Sometimes links get outdated and stop working.
Set links that go outside of your website to open in a new tab. If you don’t, it looks like people are bouncing from your site, which sends a bad signal.
Connect your website to Google Search Console. This a) helps Google know it should index your site and b) it helps you get some seriously helpful data about how people are finding you and how they are using your site!
How to connect to Google Search Console in Squarespace
How to connect to Google Search Console if you’re not on Squarespace
Want to learn all about SEO?
Take our SEO for Therapists Course!
My absolute favorite tool for optimizing Squarespace websites
I have to give a shoutout here to SEOSpace. For everything I just mentioned for SEO best practices above, SEOSpace can scan your site and check all of it for you. It can also help you with keyword research, writing page descriptions, seeing where you rank for certain keywords and a ton more.
If you want to DIY your SEO and you have a Squarespace website I recommend this hands down. I use it on my own website and my client’s site as well!
If you don’t have Squarespace, here are some other tools you can use to DIY your website SEO.
And if you need hands-on help and you’d like to hire an SEO Consultant who actually knows and understands therapists and their unique needs?
Whew! We’ve covered a lot of ground on therapy websites here, huh?
Who knew there was this much to say (ok, I did).
But here are some commonly asked questions I wanted to make sure to touch upon before we wrap this mega post up!
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Short answer: no.
First, remember than no single thing will make or break your SEO. The common wisdom around video is that it's good because it keep people on your page longer, but here's the caveat:
If you are uncomfortable in front of a camera and your video feels uncomfortable people aren't going to watch it.
So then it is not really doing you any favors, in more than one way.
If you are comfortable on camera (and you don't have be winning any Oscars, I just mean reasonably comfortable) then go for it! It's a great way for clients to get to know you.
But if you're not, don't stress over it. Spend your time on something else.
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Essential pages for a therapist website are:
Homepage (with an overview of your services)
About Me page (the second most visited page)
Separate pages for each service or specialty you offer
Contact page
Blog (if SEO is a priority for your marketing strategy)
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Avoid these common mistakes:
Using overly clinical language or insider jargon
Neglecting to include clear contact information
Neglecting to include where you are licensed to practice!
Having a slow-loading website
Using low-quality or irrelevant images
Failing to update your website regularly
Not making your website mobile-responsive
