When a potential client comes to your website do they leave feeling like they have met you? Do they see a picture of you or do they see a picture of a seashell? Do they learn about what sets your practice apart or do they read language that addresses absolutely everyone and therefore speaks to no one?

When people visit you online they want to connect to you as a person because they need to know that you are someone they can trust. So when you obscure what makes you unique, you lose your competitive advantage.

Here is a list of just a few of the things that therapists do that hide their uniqueness and turn off potential clients:

No personality
Potential clients don’t just want to know if you are qualified to offer them care – they want to know if they can trust you and honestly, if they will like you. One way you can show them your unique personality is by writing your bio as if you are speaking to them directly. Instead of saying, “Sometimes people feel stuck in a rut”, try something more personal and direct like: “You may have found my website because you feel stuck in a rut.” Do you see the difference that could make to someone looking for a connection with you as a therapist?

No photo
If your website has a picture of a waterfall or a seashell or a flower but does not have a picture of you then you might as well skip writing your bio because many potential clients will never scroll any further. Even a lower quality photo is better than a stock image that does nothing to make your website visitor feel some sort of connection with you.

No specialty
Do you work with children, adolescents, adults, seniors, couples, groups, infants, etc.? If you do and you try to create a homepage that appeals to all of these demographics you will likely not appeal to any of them. On your homepage you will want to quickly give each of your specialty clients a place to click so that they can hear language that will appeal to them specifically.
Most likely you aren’t a complete generalist and specialize in one modality with a limited demographic. Offering some sort of specialty or area of expertise is going to have a much greater appeal to site visitors. They don’t want to hear that you could work with them, their baby or their grandparent (even if you could), they want to hear that you specialize in working with people just like them. And even if you can work with broad groups, there are ways of organizing your website so that visitors can tailor their experience to make it more personal.

No call to action
When people visit your website what do you want them to do? Do you want them to schedule a consultation phone call? Do you want them to call and schedule a meeting? Whatever it is, you need to be clear on what you want them to do and then you want to direct your visitors to take that action. If you want them to call you be sure to put your phone number in multiple places on your homepage and on every other page of your website. Don’t just leave it to your visitors to know what to do.

Don’t make them think
People seeking therapy commonly seek it out several months later than they should have — so do your part in making it easy for them to follow intuitive instructions so they can get the help they need.

Let’s set up a time to talk about growing your unique private practice.