Website Design and Development for Healers

One of the questions that I’m asked most frequently is why I specialize in doing website design and development specifically for therapists. 

I think that usually when people ask me that question, they are often most interested to see how it is that I got interested and involved in working with this group of clients. But the truth is, it’s just as important to talk about why professional healthcare providers need a different kind of service when they need a WordPress website or website design, than other small business owners do. 

If you are a therapist, no matter if you are a mental health professional, a physical therapist, a massage therapist, a life coach, or other type of wellness practitioner, there are some aspects of growing your business and creating a website for your practice that are unique. 

Though there are many things that you have in common with other small business owners, a therapy practise is fundamentally different than someone who works providing home renovations, kitchen remodeling, or other service providers who might be looking for a website design. This is because people who are helpers and healers are ultimately doing the work that they do because they want to help other people. And this means, on the one hand, that the way that their websites work is different, and it also means that working with them as clients is different.

Yes, as a therapist, you want to grow your business. You want to connect with more clients, and you may need help with website design, graphics, content creation for your blog, logo design, or any one of a hundred things that are part of creating a robust online presence.

But just talking about the technical aspects of creating your website or designing the assets that you need for your brand, is not enough.

The Mindset Shift You NEED to Make

As a web designer working with health and wellness professionals, I find that many of the therapists who I speak to feel very uncomfortable with the idea of marketing themselves. This is because their main focus is helping others. 

They’re not out simply to run a successful business, (although that is certainly one of their goals), but the motivating factor behind everything that they do is the desire to help others. 

And often, it isn’t just that marketing isn’t something they are familiar with thinking about – they feel negative and actively opposed to the idea of marketing themselves.

So, instead of thinking about the blog post you are about to write, or the website that you are going to create, or even the ads that you run, as being ways that you’re trying to “get a sale”, instead keep in mind that you are reaching out to people and letting them know what resources are available that could help them to solve any number of problems that they’re experiencing in their day-to-day life. 

So when I talk to therapists about web design for healers, one of the things that we often end up discussing is making a crucial mindset shift, where I ask my clients to look at things differently.

Instead of thinking of yourself as “marketing” (which many therapists think of as a dirty word of sorts), I ask them to think of themselves as doing outreach. 

Keep this in mind: studies suggest that in the US, up to 60% of people with mental health conditions go untreated. 

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US for people between 10 and 34 years of age, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health.

Ask yourself this question: when a person in crisis goes to their social media feed, how likely is it that they are going to be bombarded by messages about what they should look like, what they should accomplish, and who they should be? VERY likely, right? 

Now ask yourself this: how likely is it that that same person will see something telling them how to access help, reassuring them that things can get better, and promising that it is okay for them to seek out the support they need? 

At the end of the day, therapists who spread the word about their services aren’t just filling slots on their calendars. They are reaching out to those people who are not getting the help that they need.

So, instead of thinking about the blog post you are about to write, or the website that you are going to create, or even the ads that you run, as being ways that you’re trying to “get a sale”, instead keep in mind that you are reaching out to people and letting them know what resources are available that could help them to solve any number of problems that they’re experiencing in their day-to-day life. 

That social media post you are struggling to write, may very well be building bridges and letting people know that there are ways that their life can change for the better.  

When you work on improving your website’s visibility to a search engine (search engine optimization) , you are making sure that, when people look for help, they can easily find out about how to access all the services they need. 

So, how can you create a website for your therapy practice that encourages your website visitors to take positive action in their lives, and allows you to share your message without feeling salesy?

Visit the full blog post HERE to read the rest of the post!