Build a therapy website using WordPress

Build a therapy website using Worpress and start your own counselling practice online

So, you’re ready to build a therapy website or blog – what an exciting step! Or, perhaps you’re searching for how to start a therapy practice online.

You can absolutely do that by yourself. I have! I’m a (now semi-retired) counsellor/psychotherapist, I had no prior technical knowledge of website building, let alone starting a therapy practice online.

However, professional-counselling.com has provided me with an income that’s enabled me to move back to my home country and buy a house.

So, if you’re even thinking of building your own therapy website using WordPress, my advice is to do it sooner rather than later. Get going even if you’re still a student!

Why?

Three reasons:

1. It takes time for the search engines to find your therapy website or blog
2. Your site can grow as you grow and develop as a therapist
3. You can start your own (online) therapy practice quickly by advertising locally and getting your site on Google my business.

What qualifies me to talk about building an online presence for your counselling or therapy practice?

I’m well-versed in starting a therapy practice and building a website – I have been online since the late ’90s, right after qualifying as a relationship counsellor.

Building my website took blood, sweat and tears and many a time I was ready to throw my laptop right out of the window (keyboard it was then).

Yep, I was an early starter. I built my first website with MS Publisher (www.professionalcounselling.co.uk). I then switched to SBI, and a few years ago, I moved it to WordPress.

I’m an entirely self-taught webmaster, as you’ll learn further down. If you’ve read my About page, you’ll understand that nothing in my background has prepared me to build a website that attracts thousands of visitors every day.

Only occasionally, I would ask for some help from blogging friends or a developer (now the wonderful developers at Lyrical Host).

If I could do it, you can too! Yes, I absolutely advise you to do it yourself, instead of commissioning a web designer. Why?

Read on!

Here’s what’s likely to happen if you choose a web designer

Of course, commissioning a web designer for your therapy blog isn’t necessarily a bad idea.

There are great web designers who really take the time to deliver just what you’re looking for and offer first-class customer support.

However, be prepared for the following:

• When you start your search, you’ll soon get completely distracted and confused by all the options on offer and the decisions you’re required to make.
• You’ll discover that even the most simple design is likely to cost you much more than you imagined.
• Your designer may or may not offer a few changes for the quoted price, but I can guarantee you’ll want to make many adjustments further down the line. More changes, more bucks!
• The designer will add images (including the header), but you may not like them after a while or even straight after delivery. So, you might decide to change them yourself. Suppose now you’ve found some great images on the internet. Can you be sure they won’t result in a letter from some lawyer in another country demanding money for the use of their client’s copyrighted material?
• Your web designer will ask you for your keywords. You submit a few you think are going to work for you (and they may – locally). But, how will you know that they will actually result in your site being found on Google? Don’t be tempted to believe any designer’s guarantee or ‘evidence’ your site will be #1.
• You may get your site or starter blog delivered with a page of instructions on how to maintain it (yes, it will need maintenance!). If it’s built with WordPress (the most used, trusted and versatile web builder) you’re on your own with what could turn out to be a monster!
• Sure, your designer can help – if you pay for that maintenance package and you should if you can’t do it yourself, but can you trust them and rely on them not to suddenly disappear.
• Oh, and you should know your site/blog is hosted. What is that? Who decides where your therapy website is hosted and why?

Believe me, when I say all of the above is only the beginning of your struggles. So, read on to learn what’s waiting for you if you don’t get cracking yourself right from the start.

What happens after you’ve got your new website or blog

You should be over the moon of course – your designer built a hopefully beautiful therapy website. Getting to that stage would have cost you a fair amount of energy, effort and money.

However, don’t be surprised if…

• You’re not entirely happy with the design after all and want to change the odd bits here and there – you might have changed your mind about your chosen font or colour scheme or images, for example.
• Your clients and other visitors report that your site or blog is difficult to navigate, so you want some structural changes.
• Someone might complain it’s not accessible enough.
• You’ll be wanting to change the text or add a few lines here. And, I can tell you from experience – there’ll be many more times you want to do that!
• You might want to add an article or two after all after having first decided you just want a ‘brochure website’ with just a Homepage, a Pricing page and About page.
• Then there comes a time you’re ready to offer online therapy.
• Down the road that logo or header image, once the bee’s knees, suddenly needs an update since you’ve grown and developed, your taste has changed, and the web has moved on.
• You might want to add a completely different section as, over the years, you’ve found yourself focussing more in a different direction.
• You’ll be endlessly searching for how to do things for yourself!

Please, believe me, when I say: “I’ve been there!”.

As a colleague – I don’t want you to go through what I went through! I can’t tell you how much time, money and energy I’ve wasted to figure it all out. Therefore, it’s my aim to make it sooo much easier for you to build a therapy website.

 Only by doing it yourself, will you truly get to understand what you’ve got and stay in control over the years – simply and cost-effectively.

So, let’s get cracking…

How to choose between a brochure website, a blog or a static website

You must figure that out before you start. Choose from the following three options: 

1. You only need a brochure website with just some essential pages

If so, you’re absolutely fine with finding a great template on Wix.

1. Have fun choosing a template
2. Build your pages with the drag and drop builder
3. Fill it with your own content (more on that later)
4. Publish your site – job done!

You’ll get your site online within a couple of days or so.

2. You want to build a therapy website or blog which potentially allows you to earn a (passive) income

In that case, I strongly advise you to build your therapy website on WordPress.org (NOT WordPress.com).

There’s a danger you start losing momentum by getting lost in the considerable number of opinion articles on all things WordPress.

So, do yourself a favour, keep it simple, and stick with me for the moment.

3. You don’t know yet if you want a brochure website or a therapy website using WordPress

No problem! In that case, your choice will depend on how much time you want, and have, to build a therapy website and start a counselling practice.

• If you’re prepared to invest more time now and in the months (or even years) to come, then go for WordPress.
• If you just want to get started right away and build a therapy or counselling brochure site, I recommend Wix. Your (potential) clients will be able to see what you stand for and what services you offer.

With regards to the latter – find yourself adding more and more content in the coming months? Then do yourself a favour, take the plunge and switch to WordPress. WP will give you the best chance of building an online business with a passive income.

I’m going to give the (affiliate) links to all the programmes I’m using now and tell you why I’m using them. The affiliate links mean I’m getting a commission, but you won’t pay a penny more (learn more about why I have ads and affiliate links on my site).

Building an online business – with or without a passive income – needs only a little bit of investment, but not half as much as if you were to commission a web developer.

Build a therapy website

Here’s what you need to build a therapy website or blog (or any other blog for that matter):

• For a brochure site with no more than about 20 pages – Wix. Wix also hosts your website.
• For a larger site you plan to monetise with ads – WordPress (WP), comes ready set up with any hosting plan.
• To make your site look fantastic – Generate Press (a WordPress theme). It’s fast – you most definitely need a fast theme because speed is super-important for your ranking in the search engines! There are lots of options and downloadable templates to get you started. Do not be tempted to get a clunky extra page-builder plugin – the latest version of WP has its very own.
• A host for your WP site – a host provides the servers that store your website.

Find the best host (and that’s not the most expensive!) when you start a therapy website using WordPress

I have, unfortunately, had to change hosts several times. And believe me, I did my research before I choose a host!

All were dead-keen to get my business and full of promises (on their website and by their staff), but things went badly wrong.

All very stressful, I can tell you!

My site is now safely and securely with Lyrical Host and it loads super-fast (see screenshot).

Here’s why I LOVE them (discount code a little further down):

• They offer transparent pricing and honest services with no hidden costs or upsells (and no major price hikes when you renew as happens with so many hosts!)
• Their hosting plans come with WordPress pre-installed (not all hosts do it for you).
• You can get free advice on tools, plugins, structuring blogs, and even things like content marketing, SEO and media kits.
• They ensure your site is super-fast (Google increasingly values fast-loading sites) and offer a free course so that you get things right from the start.
• They’re careful who they accept – that’s how they ensure your site doesn’t have any undesirable neighbouring sites
• They are socially responsible – YAY!
• They’ll be there for you (at no extra cost) when you’re having any kind of trouble with your site, you haven’t a clue about something or are in sheer panic. I can’t begin to tell you how many problems, large and small, they’ve sorted for me – on the same day, at no extra cost!
• They commission independent professional artists, including photographers, designers, and illustrators, to create beautiful custom resources that they provide free to their hosting customers every month.

So, if you’re like me – 

• super-picky about who you’ll work with
• genuinely caring about offering your clients and visitors the very best user experience and content and…
• wanting your host to have your back without grabbing every opportunity to upsell their ‘essential’, ‘site-saving’ services…

… Lyrical Host has your back in every way.

In addition, they include intensive malware scanning or cleaning as standard, completely free with all hosting plans.

Most hosts don’t include that. In fact, if your site gets hacked, they usually try to sell you an expensive service for prices ranging from $500 as a one-time fee to an ongoing $70/month! And, sadly, attempted hacks are on the increase.

They guys will rescue your site and tell you what caused the problem so that you can prevent it from happening in the future.

All you need to do is stop panicking and raise a support ticket!

– Lyrical Host will be your ideal partner! They love working with content creators in our type of niche.

Lyrical host discount code

Click the button and use the discount code to get 10% off your first hosting plan payment…

Lyrical Host is a web hosting company with a difference. We pride ourselves on

transparent pricing and honest services with no hidden costs or upsells. We offer premium

managed hosting without the usual premium managed hosting price tag.

Building traffic for your blog or website

Regardless of whether you’re building your site with Wix or WordPress – without traffic, you have no business.

So, the quickest way you can start to get traffic to your site is via social media.

The next best thing to do to get traffic to your site is get up to scratch with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). You can take courses costing thousands (yes, really), but nothing beats the Lyrical Host Navigating SEO course with regards to cost and detail.

My advice is to learn to write your articles and build your site structure with SEO in mind right from the start. That way you’ll prevent wasting precious time and effort!

The easy way to create smart images and professional-looking videos for your site

Creating images

Lyrical Host offers very affordable packs of beautiful flat lay images in several colour schemes at a very affordable price. Get those to stop you from having to hunt the internet for copy-right free images you can use.

An added benefit is that LH’s images are unique and Google likes fresh material!

Canva Pro (not an affiliate link) makes creating beautiful images for your social media and blog posts super-easy and fun.

And, because you’ve access to thousands of images and videos, you won’t risk being chased by a lawyer claiming you’ve stolen their client’s copyright material.

You can upload your Lyrical Host images to make it even easier for yourself.

Making videos the easy way

How I’ve puzzled over this one! I bought all the equipment needed to film myself – the lighting, the camera, the video editing stuff, etc. It cost a bundle, had a huge learning curve and I never got it off the ground wasting a lot of money.

Then I discovered, Adobe Spark! Just take a look at this video: 24 healthy relationship tips and this one on saving your marriage on Pinterest.

You’ll notice in my Pinterest account that I have videos made with Animoto. Unfortunately, Animoto is also great but comes with stock photos that for me don’t represent emotions very well (I’m trying to put it nicely here).

Start a therapy blog and ensure your site is found by the search engines

Get the Yoast plugin (not an affiliate link) to help you build articles with SEO in mind.

Sign up for Google Analytics and Google Search Console to see traffic numbers and get to understand your site. Also, sign up for Google My Business to get local traction.

Then, wait!

The more you post keeping SEO, accessibility, speed and structure in mind, the sooner your pages will be found by the search engines.

Be prepared, though, it won’t be happening overnight!

Build a therapy website, and start a therapy practice while also earning a passive income!

Affiliate links to online resources for your visitors and clients

Then you want some affiliate links to products and services on your site to help you earn a passive income.

Obviously, you can start your therapy practice online by offering online counselling/therapy yourself. However, you can also link to other counselling providers and thereby earn a passive income with a commission.

You’d earn the most with Better Help. However, …

I stopped using Better Help when they had me sign for new terms and conditions I didn’t like one bit. The affiliate team is not nearly as responsive as you would expect. They might quickly deal with one question, but fail to follow up when you want more information or need further help.

I now refer visitors to the amazing team of coaching at Relationship Hero.

An alternative service is Online-Therapy.com which offers CBT. You earn $100 for every (paid) referral.

Then there’s the wonderful hypnosisdownloads.com. I trust their team and their products completely (I have partnered with them for over 10 years now).

In summary

• Get Wix if you intend to only build a small (brochure) site (hosting included)
• Sign up with Lyrical Host for your WordPress site
• Get the Generate Press theme to keep your site fast-loading (believe me there are a ton of themes out there that you might really, really like, but you could be making a real mistake for a number of reasons)
• Take the SEO course from Lyrical Host (free with your hosting plan)
• Take the Pinterest course from Anastasia Blogger – the fastest route to attracting traffic to your site.

That’s all you need to get started.

Then, once you’re getting some traffic to your site – sign up for

• HypnosisDownloads.com
• OnlineTherapy.com for CBT referrals
• RelationshipHero.com for relationship coaching referrals

Working with the best companies to place ads on your site

You could choose Google ads if you’re prepared for a percentage of low-quality ads to clutter your pages.

The advantage is that you may earn a few pennies early on. The evidence that you’re on the right path is likely to lift your spirits.

The best companies, however, to serve ads on your site are Monumetric and in particular Mediavine.

At the time of writing, you can apply for Monumetric when your site reaches 10.000 sessions a month. For Mediavine you’ll need at least 50.000 sessions.

Start a therapy blog and sell your own digital products

Make it easy on yourself, simple and cost-effective by using SendOwl.

Do avoid using any plugins – even though some come highly recommended. They may look like the bee’s knees, but they will slow down your site and may turn out to be more expensive.

Finally

So, there you have it!

You’re completely set to start building a therapy site or blog that offers a great user experience as simply, quickly and cost-effectively as possible. You can then take your time to learn everything there is about building and maintaining a website.

In addition, you can rest assured that you’ve partnered with the most trustworthy companies and products. I’ve done all the hard work for you (and it was really hard at times!)

Know that you’re far more capable than you might think you are! View the learning process as empowering and fun. Your confidence will grow as you progress, becoming ever more knowledgeable and accomplished.

Start now with building your therapy website using WordPress or Wix – regardless of where you are in your journey as a therapist. You’ve got everything you need now.

I’m rooting for your success!