Looking to build a website for your mental health practice? While the task may sound overwhelming, especially for individuals who don’t consider themselves technologically savvy, the process can be broken down into smaller, doable steps.

Whether you’re a psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor, life coach, or other mental healthcare provider, creating an online presence is within reach.

This six-point checklist will help you get started:

1. Design Your Service

This is the fun part. After all, starting a private practice for mental health therapists is like building a business. And like a business, it is yours to design. Think about the:

Hours you want to work
People you want to serve (This may be based on your specialization, where you’re licensed to operate, location, rates, and the type of therapy you offer.)
Modes of payment you accept (For example, will you accept insurance and government-funded programs like Medicaid? Or are you purely a private pay therapist?)
Other relevant guidelines

During this step, don’t forget to consider important regulations that may dictate who you’re allowed to cater to. For example, US psychiatrists can only offer their services in the state where they have a DEA license. So, consider the practicalities and legalities of your profession as you determine your website’s target audience.

Be clear about who you’re speaking to and what you can offer them. This will guide everything from your design to the words you use and your marketing strategy.

2. Pick a Simple and Memorable Website Name

What will you call your practice? Many professionals use their own names. Some add keywords like “therapy” or “counseling” which could help people find them through search engines.

Regardless of your preference, you’ll want to avoid anything too long or complicated. Ultimately, you want to make it easy for people to find and remember you. A simple and memorable website name allows you to do just that.

3. Should You Build or Outsource Your Teletherapy Website?

You have two options when it comes to creating your own private practice website: create your own or hire someone to build it for you.

Nowadays, website building is no longer reserved for technical experts who can write and decipher complicated programming languages. If you’re a fan of DIY, website builders are your best bet since they allow ordinary users like you and me to design and publish credible pages without coding. Here are some of the most popular options:

WordPress: Highly customizable and offers countless templates. Plus, vast additional functionalities through plugins. Requires some technical know-how.
Squarespace or Wix: User-friendly with drag-and-drop features.
Therapist-specific platforms: Sites like Brighter Vision cater specifically to mental health professionals. Limited customization, features, and scalability. Higher costs. Plans range from $99 a month to $600.

Personally, I prefer WordPress because of its huge selection of professional-looking design templates, affordability, scalability, and no-code web-building capabilities. If you want to see a WordPress site that doesn’t use any coding at all, well, you’re already on one. Mindful Content Lab was made without code, just out-of-the-box templates and plugins.

Because of its user-friendliness and versatility, 66.2% of all new websites feature the WordPress engine. Meanwhile, four million of the world’s top 10 million websites have this website builder in common!

If you don’t want to be bothered with learning a new platform, you can also go for option two and hire a website-building service like Mindful Content Lab. You’ll still have to think about your audience, the patients you want to attract, your goals for the site, the kind of practice you want, and more, but at least you won’t be bogged down by technical details.

Outsourcing the task will get you quickly up to speed. Plus, you’ll get help with other essentials like planning your pages.

4. Plan Your Pages

Your basic pages should include the following sections:

Home: A welcoming introduction to you and your teletherapy practice.
About Me: Share your credentials, approach, and a bit about who you are.
Services: Discuss the services you offer and who they’re for.
Contact: Include a form, email, phone number, and office location (if applicable).
Blog/Resources (Optional): Post articles, tips, or FAQs to establish expertise and improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Try to anticipate the questions on your patients’ minds. This will help them understand and gauge your services as they look for a mental healthcare provider who are a good fit.

5. Keep It Mobile-Friendly

By the third quarter of 2024, approximately 98% of internet users accessed online content via mobile phones (Statista). This is much higher than the 58.3% who accessed websites via laptops and desktops.

The lesson? Make sure your website is optimized for mobile phones. Test its responsiveness by viewing it on various devices and screen sizes, checking if all features, text, and visuals adjust seamlessly. WordPress lets you switch between views with the simple click of a mouse, allowing you to troubleshoot issues as you go.

6. Make Booking Easy

The fourth item on this checklist mentions adding a contact form but this step is so important that it deserves a heading of its own.

You have a nice professional-looking website that flows and navigates easily but what good is it if you’re contact information and booking page are hidden away somewhere? Or worse, what if you neglected to include them?

The absence of a booking or contact page can render even the best-designed websites useless. Without it, patients won’t be able to book appointments or inquire about your services. So, always prioritize your contact page.

You can incorporate scheduling tools like Calendly or TidyCal and even offer free initial consultations to encourage people to meet with you. Don’t forget to mention your availability and what they can expect!

Conclusion

Focus on these six essentials, and you’ll have a website that connects you with the people who need your help. Remember that your website represents you, your practice, and the quality of your services. While it doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect, a professional-looking online presence adds to your credibility and encourages bookings.

It takes time and effort but the flexibility and freedom to decide your hours, build something of your own, and create a practice from the ground up are worth it. If you’d like to know more, contact Mindful Content Lab.