WEBSITES
NEW CONTENT STRUCTURE:
BEFORE: CONTENT / DIRECTION
DURING: BUILDING SITES
AFTER: MAINTAIN
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Your website is more important than any other activity when it comes to attracting new clients.
Not only will your audience use it to understand your services & find contact details, they will see your website as a reflection of your business, practice or organisation.
If it is dated and tired, that is the impression you will reflect on your target audience. You may be highly experienced in your industry / field but if your site is not up to scratch, your audience could decide against contacting you despite your quality offering.
Ideally your site should be updated regularly - new articles, services etc, and completely reviewed every five years.
REVIEW YOUR WEBSITE
Developing and upgrading your website takes a lot of time and effort, and understandably you want to move on to other pressing work once it becomes live.
However timely reviews will help to keep your site relevant, attractive and importantly, effective.
A solid practice website should feature certain types of content, have a user friendly, contemporary design and function well.
To review your own website and see if it is due an update, click on the link below to access the Website Review Tool
PLACE WEBSITE TOOL ON TO PAGE
BUILDING CONTENT
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1: SERVICES / AREAS OF INTEREST
Take the results from your defined list of services tool and ensure that all are referenced clearly on your website . Are your high priority services (for example, treatment of eating disorders, OCD) in the most prominent part of your website with more details than other services? Its important to create a hierarchy of information & emphasise priority services over others.
2. ABOUT / CREDENTIALS
This section should give a synopsis of what your practice does and who you treat. Your training, experience and credentials are important - include any professionals membership associations you belong to.
3. BLOGS
Blogs are a great way to demonstrate expertise and to keep your site current. They can set you apart from other Psychotherapists by demonstrating real-life treatment outcomes and specialist expertise. There is a detailed guide dedicated to developing and maintaining blogs in the Messaging Section of this kit. Blogs should be presented well and linked from the homepage where possible.
4. CONTACT DETAILS - CALL TO ACTION
For Psychotherapists, assessing a client’s needs ahead of booking is common practice however there are website functions that can make your life and your client’s journey easier. According to the CSO, one in six (16%) of internet users in Ireland used the internet for Making an Appointment with a practitioner.
By adding a contact form, you can allow new and returning clients to request appointments, further information or a call back. You can also add a booking system that shows the hours you wish to make available for bookings and mark them as pending until you confirm.
5. DESIGN
The images above are a strong demonstration of how website design has evolved over recent years. Amazon is the world’s most popular shopping website and has undertaken a significant design transformation in response to changing customer expectations, behaviour and devices.
When comparing each design side by side, the 2012 version looks very dated and way too busy. Modern design is all about making the information as clear and simple as possible, particularly in light of dominant mobile phone usage.
This sample image below shows that more information exists on the 2023 version of the Amazon site but it is designed with a hierarchy so that visitors are not bombarded and can work their way through the site easily.
With mobile site usage higher than desktop, websites must appear and function as well on these devices. This is called responsive design. Check your site today to ensure that it is mobile ready.
CAN YOU ADD OR MAKE CHANGES TO WEBSITE CONTENT?
Access to your website's editor or Content Management System will allow you to updates services, add blog articles and make other updates. This will keep it fresh and save you money.