I recently found myself researching various psychotherapy websites for a project, and was almost dumbfounded by what I saw. Sure, I found some good websites, but a vast majority looked like they were created in 1998, and I’ll explain a bit later why this is wildly detrimental.
It’s amazing that psychotherapists help us understand things about ourselves and how we tick, yet, many of their websites don’t tap human behavior/needs to allow themselves to better connect with potential patients.
Again, I’ve looked at a ton of psychotherapists websites and in doing so have decided that there are six fundamental things these types of websites should have. And these aren’t “bells and whistle” type things; they are what I’d consider the must haves for any successful psychotherapist website that converts.
Six Things Every Psychotherapists Website Should Have
1. Photo – a photo is essential. Why? Because it allows potential patients to put a face to a name and establish a connection. If Therapist A has a photo and Therapist B doesn’t, A will immediately have a leg up when it comes to prompting the person to call or email.
2. About Page – this page gives the therapists an opportunity to share a little about themselves and connect with the potential patient. Therapists, for the most part, do not divulge lots of information about themselves to patients, but this page can offer high-level detail that establishes a baseline of background information.
3. Specialties – A bulk of today’s therapists will see people for issues ranging from depression to relationship issues to just about anything else you may imagine. But let’s be honest, while therapists may be able to provide sound guidance on most topics, there’s going to be a few that they really hit out of the ballpark. Those specialties – the out of the ballpark ones – should not be tossed in with all the other keywords on a web page. Call them out. Elaborate. And make an effort to show your expertise.
4. Approach – This seems to be a big one for patients. In many instances, patients aren’t familiar with your schooling or credentials, they just want someone that can help them get through whatever speed bump life has tossed at them. The Approach page should let potential patients know how the therapist work. Two example questions to consider may be, “Are you going to engage in dialogue? Are they supposed to spend 45 – 60 minutes leading the conversation?” The therapist should let people know how they work, and do so without getting caught up in using industry buzzwords. A psychotherapy website should talk to the patient, not colleagues.
5. Fee & Insurance – This item may be controversial for some, but fee disclosure and if insurance is accepted can save everyone a ton of time. If a person is looking for a therapist – especially first timers – it’s likely they are doing multiple searches and trying to find someone that: a) they can afford and b) has availability. By listing a fee and insurance information, the potential patient can make an informed decision about whether or not the therapist is an option. The alternative is that the potential patient can email the therapist, and then the therapist can get their hopes up about a new patient and call them back at 9 pm after a long days work, only to learn that the patient can’t afford the hourly fee or that they need to use insurance. If the therapists’ business model allows for a sliding scale, that information can also be included.
6. Contact Email or Form – It’s 2012, and most people prefer to fire off an email rather than make a phone call. A psychotherapists website needs to either have an email address prominently on display, or an easy to use contact form. Most therapists are in session during the day, so it’s oftentimes wise to utilize out-of-office messages to say something like, “I will be in session until X pm this evening, and will do my best to reply to your email or call you by Y pm.” Take note that I included “call” in that message. Even the most basic contact form will have fields for name, phone number and email address; by using a form of this nature you give the patient the opportunity to make initial contact however they prefer, but you can turn around and call if that’s your preference.
Now for why the 1998 version of the psychotherapist website is bad.
No joke. I saw one website that was made completely out of graphical images. As in, zero text. This is really bad in Google’s eyes because there are no keywords, which means when someone searches, “Your City, psychotherapist,” the graphical websites are almost guaranteed not to show up. For this instance, and just about any other example you can think of, not showing up in searches equals lost business.
The six items mentioned above are just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to things that a psychotherapists website should include, but I thought they were worth mentioning since they were lacking from a vast majority of the websites I visited.
