When therapists create their websites, they often spend the most time (and money) on getting the home page perfect. These same therapists are usually building websites with limited budgets, and so they need to know that they are making the best use of every penny.
So, is creating a stellar homepage really the best use of your resources?
Maybe not.
Since I spend a good bit of my time helping therapists with their online marketing, and with their websites, I stay current on trends, research, and what’s working. So you can imagine when I saw this article on Forbes, it really caught my attention: “Is the Homepage Dead?”
My answer for psychotherapists is “it depends on your practice”. In this video, I explain the two functions of psychotherapy websites, and the role of the homepage in each of them. As you watch it, you can determine how important the homepage is for YOUR specific practice, whether it’s serving it’s purpose or not.
I also offer a special freebie Cheat Sheet, The 9 Essentials of a Client-Generating Website, which you can grab here:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR ‘9 SECRETS OF A CLIENT-ATTRACTING WEBSITE’ CHEAT SHEET!
The importance of your homepage varies based on the function of your website, and how your visitors arrive there. Consider the way you use your website to determine which of these generates a higher percentage of new clients.
- “Research” website. If you have a practice built primarily on offline marketing, or word-of-mouth referrals, you probably have what I call a “research” website. This means that potential clients already have your name and they are visiting your website to “check you out”. They want to get a feel for you and how you work before they pick up the phone and call. They are on your website specifically to research YOU. With a research website, the majority of your visitors will visit your homepage first. This makes the design and content of your homepage essential to attracting psychotherapy clients. You’ll want to WOW them right from the start, and the homepage is the place to do that. If this is primary function of your website, it makes sense to invest a good chunk of your resources in making the homepage the best it can possibly be.
- Content Marketing website. The content marketing website is a hub of valuable information that acts as a resource for your potential clients. Clients are generally looking for resources and answers for a specific problem, rather than specifically looking for your website. With a content marketing website, visitors usually enter through social media, podcasts, videos, and keyword searches. This means they are much less likely to arrive at your home page. They are much MORE likely to visit one or more of your other pages, where the content they are interested in is stored. With a content marketing website, you are positioning yourself as a trusted authority in your field, and are providing resources that are of great value to your clients. This makes your homepage LESS important, because the other pages will get more traffic and more attention.
If you are using content-marketing as the primary function of your website, spend your resources on adding a client magnet to those pages, creating attractive images, and beautiful design. This is what will attract and keep potential clients, much more than the homepage.
Of course, an effective psychotherapy website isn’t JUST about the homepage. In fact, I’ve identified what I call the 9 Essentials of a Client-Attracting Website. These are the components that every therapy website MUST include to make it irresistible to potential clients. You can download a free cheat sheet of these essentials here:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR ‘9 SECRETS OF A CLIENT-ATTRACTING WEBSITE’ CHEAT SHEET!
