Your website is one of the most important factors to gain new clients. It’s essential to have a website that leaves a good impression, exuberates your brand, and allows potential clients to schedule an appointment with you easily.
Your website should be the top-ranked result when people search for therapists in their area. And most of all, it should convert visitors into clients with engaging content that drives people to contact you.
But how do you achieve that? With an SEO-optimized website, you’ll have headers and pages that allow people to learn about your practice and want to meet with you.
It’s essential to have a fantastic website because while it’s not always first impression of your practice, it’s almost always the last. Whether someone clicks on a social media ad or lands on one of your blogs, most people will end up on your website before they make the decision to call and schedule a session.
If your current website isn’t getting you the results you want and is making it hard to gain new clients, it’s time to refresh. Here is a guide on ten signs your mental health practice needs a new website.
Want to know how we can help your mental health practice? Learn how we can help you!
Why Does Your Mental Health Practice Need an Updated Website?
Nearly everyone tries searching for a mental health therapist online, making it crucial to have an online presence. However, this means that you need to be active on a few valuable platforms such as:
- Google My Business
- Google ads
These platforms allow you to be easily accessible to people and rank on the top of searches. It’s important to remember that you should be including your location as a part of your mental health marketing strategy as it will help rank you higher in location searches.
Many people will take an extended amount of time searching for a therapist that best suits them. When your website is up to date, it gives potential clients the most accurate, up to date information about your practice.
A modern, well-branded website will show clients that you’re professional and know what you’re doing. An updated site also has several technical benefits, ensuring that everything runs smoothly.
10 Signs Your Mental Health Website Is Ready For a Refresh
Having a website that isn’t up to date can cause several problems for your clinic. It will make it hard for people to understand the mission and vision behind your practice. Also, potential clients will be turned away if they can’t get the information they need and can’t easily book an appointment.
Here are ten signs that your mental health website needs a refresh.
1. Your Website Is Unresponsive
One of the most significant signs that it’s time for a website refresh is when your site is not responsive or mobile-friendly. This is a major turn away for potential clients who are accessing your website on their phones. A responsive site starts with a web design that fits for a variety of screen sizes. This includes elements such as:
- Information that loads easily
- Large enough font sizes
- Well-placed buttons and links
- A simple, clean design
- Limited pop-ups
- Easy-to-find information
2. High Load Times
The load time of your website is a significant factor in if someone will stick around to view your content. In a world where everything is at our fingertips, many have become accustomed to the immediate delivery of their wants. When people wait for long periods, they can get frustrated and leave, leading to high bounce rates.
With a new website that is designed to function quickly, you’ll be able to create faster load times that won’t turn people away.
3. High Bounce Rate
Similar to high load times, your bounce rate is a significant indicator of low conversations and issues with your website. Bounce rates can be attributed to several factors. One common factor is having a website that is too cluttered with images, content, or ads, so you should keep in mind the design of your site.
Another major factor has to do with the content on your page. If there isn’t something that catches their eye and engages them within the first few seconds, they’re likely to leave. Your website should include quality content that gives potential clients all of the information they need and a strong call-to-action (CTA) to keep them on your website longer and turn them into clients.
4. Poor Content
To further emphasize bounce rates and low conversions, poor content is a significant indicator for when you need a website refresh. Your content is a combination of your titles, available information, weak CTAs, and lack of images, videos, and blogs.
The content on your website should be engaging, catchy, and represent who you are. When you have these elements together, it creates a great impression on your clients and allows them to feel excited about the decision they’re making about choosing you as their mental healthcare provider.
Do you need help with a great first impression? Learn more about how we can help!
5. Poor Navigation
Your website is the center of all the information on you, your practice, and your clinic. If people are struggling to find the pages they need to learn more, they’ll likely leave.
Your service pages and contact information should be readily available. Your website should have an engaging homepage that lets the potential client know who you are with buttons that allow them to schedule an appointment with you. Having a menu bar that will enable them to access other pages about your services is essential for creating a website with excellent navigation.
6. Website Is Old or Outdated
Although the content is essential to converting clients, the design of your website is crucial. If your website looks old or doesn’t represent your brand, people will be likely to turn away. Most websites have a lifespan of two years and seven months before people feel as if it’s outdated.
Having a website redesign will help people feel attracted to your site. When every page is consistent and looks clean and professional, it gives people the feeling that you know what you’re doing. So, if your website looks like it’s from the 2010s, it’s time to refresh.
7. Rebrand
Moving away from what your website consists of, it must reflect who you are. If you’ve had a rebrand that has changed your practice’s name, color, font, or feel, it’s time to update your website.
Since your website is usually the first thing that people see for your mental health clinic, it’s essential that you provide them with the appropriate representation of who you are. This will ensure that you avoid any confusion regarding your practice’s name, mission, or feel.
8. Service Changes
Similar to the rebrand, your website must reflect the current services you provide. If you’ve either added or taken away services, your website needs to reflect that. This will ensure that all your clients know precisely what you can and can’t do for them.
When you update your services, ensure that you refresh your services pages. You need to make sure the names are all correct and that your service descriptions are informational and clear. These changes can be a constant update that takes place independently, rather than a whole website redesign if needed.
9. Website Isn’t Ranking
With so many competitors out there, you need to ensure that your website is one of the top-ranked websites when people search for mental healthcare providers in their area. To achieve this, you should ensure that all of your content is SEO-optimized. That’s the best way to help rank your website higher than other clinics.
Blogging can also be one of the best ways to accomplish this besides your web pages’ content. With blogging, you position your website as a relevant answer to your client’s questions. So not only should your website have a section for blogs, but it should also be constantly updated with blogs that come from your marketing strategy.
Are you ready to convert more clients through your website? Learn how we can help!
10. Your Competitors Have Better Websites
If your competitor has a better website than you, they will rank higher on searches and leave you with less of a chance to gain clients. When your website isn’t one of the first available options, it’s a sign that your website is ready to be updated.
When considering how your website should look and function, one of the best things that you can do is research what your competitors are doing. Looking at their websites allows you to understand what is functioning well on their website and what things may not be doing well. It can help you understand what a potential client may be looking for on your website.
Why Should You Choose Beacon Media + Marketing For Your Website Update?
If your website falls under those criteria, or you’re ready to get a fresh start, we’re here to help you. At Beacon Media + Marketing, we value your work and want you to be as passionate about it as we are for our work. We want you to look at your brand and website and feel proud of the thing that you’ve built.
We’re the best option for you because we’ll work with you through the whole process. It’s important to us that we deliver a product that represents who you are and why you do what you do.
Many of our mental health clients have local SEO-optimized websites designed well and represent the client’s brand. Their website is the gateway to meeting new clients.
Our clients, like Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy, NYC Therapeutic Wellness, Holistic CFT, and more, have websites that work well for being educational and converting clients. Our goal is to help your practice rank first when people search for mental health therapists in their area, like Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy.
Let us help you create the website of your dreams. From branding, website design, website maintenance, blogging, ads, and social media, Beacon Media + Marketing can help bring your practice to the top.
Ready to see how we can refresh your website? Get your free consultation today!
