In an increasingly digital world, your therapist business’s online presence is the most vital tool in your marketing arsenal. When it comes to your website, think of it as the equivalent of your expertly decorated and positioned consultancy room. From the color scheme to the pictures on the wall and the positioning of your chair, every detail makes an impression. Your website is no different.
At Lead to Recovery, we’ve got almost two decades of experience with understanding what consumers in the mental health market respond to best. Call us at 855-876-7238 today to start appealing to more potential clients and helping more people.
Does Mental Health Website Design Matter?
There’s no denying wellness is a hot topic at the moment. Increased awareness and openness about the subject means more people than ever are seeking help for trauma and other emotional and social problems. However, boosted demand has also led to increased competition, with more and more therapists starting up each year.
To stand out head and shoulders above the rest, you need to go further than just being a good therapist. Word of mouth and referrals are on the decrease, with social media and blogging bearing more fruit. Before you can so much as consider capitalizing on these marketing gold mines, you need to make sure your website is as high-quality as the service you provide.
We traditionally think of web design as the icing on the cake, little more than just an aesthetic enhancement, but there’s so much more to it. The design of a therapist website dictates how usable the website is and ultimately provides the customer with an initial impression of your whole business. If it’s slow, difficult to navigate, uses the wrong imagery or doesn’t offer sufficient information, you’re unlikely to convert many website visitors.
Make Your Therapy Website Personal
It’s crucial to understand that web design isn’t just about the font or the borders on the page — although even these tiny details play a role in audience perception. One of the most important things your website needs to inspire is an emotional connection with the user.
For example, the About page should get plenty of attention. Visitors will be particularly interested in who you are and why they should choose you to support them when they’re at their most vulnerable. If you can write a homepage and About me section that resonates with your target market, you’ve made it over the first hurdle of personalizing your site.
It’s also important to use language that’s accessible and meaningful to the people you’re looking to help. Take the time to craft every word so the text is kind and reassuring and gives the audience the perfect impression of your brand.
What Makes a Beautiful Website?
Now that your website is easy to navigate, full of appropriate content and optimized for conversions, it’s time to make it beautiful. Clutter, excessive use of color and visually confusing imagery can be off-putting. Visually clean websites are the most appealing to modern consumers, who often visit tens or even hundreds of websites each day. Blank space should be deployed as much as possible, with blocks of color expertly deployed to attract and hold gaze.
5 Therapist Web Design Tips for a Mental Health Private Practice
So much goes into building a website that truly appeals to such a sensitive demographic as individuals seeking help for mental health. The subject is extremely personal, and you need to build trust if you’re going to get anywhere. Here are our top five therapist web design tips for deploying a cutting-edge psychotherapist site:
1. Use Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization encompasses more than blogs and keywords, although many people mistakenly believe that’s all there is to it. In fact, SEO is so complex that it’s a specialty in its own right within marketing. From schema mark-up code to formatting of titles, headings and images, pretty much every element of your website has an impact on how high Google decides to rank your website.
Some of the most vital aspects of SEO when it comes to web design are the speed of the site, the call to action and whether it’s optimized for mobile. Navigation is also something search engines pay attention to, and any professional website that converts does so because the user doesn’t have to think about progressing through the customer journey — it’s intuitive.
2. Be Mindful
Mindfulness is most likely a vital aspect of your practice, and it’s crucial when it comes to your own website. The tone of the content on your site shouldn’t just reflect your brand; it should also reassure the visitor and fill them with a sense of ease. Consumers in this vertical expect the utmost professionalism, balanced with warmth and the human touch.
By making sure the information on your site includes the right amount of internal links to guide visitors through the site and placing quotes and testimonials in just the right places, you can build trust and inspire confidence.
3. Be Consistent
The best way to stick in the minds of your website visitors is by using consistent branding alongside powerful messaging. While the content offers guidance and reassures, the logo, theme, message and mission should all be consistent throughout each page.
4. Avoid Head-Clutching Images
Over the last decade or so, many mental health practitioner websites use imagery of people with their heads in their hands, looking unhappy or full of regret. We strongly recommend moving away from this aesthetic, which could inspire the visitor to instantly make a negative association with your practice.
Instead, use genuine images of the team smiling and working hard, and opt for pictures that display the incredible impact therapy is having on people’s lives. Even at their worst, very few people want to be represented by a person clutching their head in their hands.
5. Choose Your Therapist Website’s Color Palette Wisely
Loud, busy and vibrant colors don’t tend to work well when it comes to mental health services for adults. Potential patients need to feel at ease and confident about your professionalism and integrity. Some of the most popular colors for therapy websites include:
- Green
- White
- Baby blue
- Brown
Contact Our Marketing Agency for More Therapist Web Design Tips
At Lead to Recovery, we’ve got extensive experience in designing, building and managing psychotherapy websites for various mental and behavioral health care providers. We have an up-to-date understanding of consumer demands and almost two decades of data to help our website designers create top-notch therapy sites.
Call us today at 855-876-7238 and we’ll help your therapist website turn visitors into new clients.
Reviewed by:
Matthew Travers
Rehab Marketing Expert
