Filling the tremendous need for mental healthcare, Psychologists have stepped up to help individuals improve their mental health and well-being with the use of third-party apps. While great for finding and connecting with clients, however, psychologists both new and experienced are missing an essential piece to a successful practice: owning their audience.

This means building a direct relationship with potential clients and website visitors, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms to connect with them.

Why Therapists Should Build an Audience

By collecting email addresses from website visitors, psychologists can communicate directly with potential clients and stay in touch over time. This helps build trust and increases the likelihood that potential clients will eventually become actual clients. Starting a newsletter is an excellent route to building an email list and beginning to own your audience.

Another way is by using social media to drive traffic to your website. While social media platforms are great for connecting with potential clients (we call this “discoverability”), they also have their limitations. By using social media to drive traffic to your website, you can bring potential clients to a space that you control and where they can learn more about your practice in a more immersive and personalized way.

Owning your audience is important because it gives you more control over your online presence and can help you build a more sustainable business over time. By building direct relationships with potential clients, you can better understand their needs and preferences, and tailor your services and marketing efforts accordingly. The goal being to consistently work with clients you enjoy working with, who are well-aligned, and who you can truly help.

The Best Website Hosting Platform for Therapists

In today's digital age, it's also essential for psychologists to establish a strong online presence to attract and connect with potential clients and have a place to refer existing clients for additional resources. One platform that can help with this is Squarespace (and I’m pretty bias for good reason).

Squarespace is a website builder that offers an intuitive interface, stunning templates, and a range of features that make it easy for psychologists to create a professional and engaging website. Most importantly, it’s easy to manage yourself—particularly if it’s setup right. This is an aspect that is often overlooked but it is critical to have access to your own website (and a good developer will tell you that).

Here are the Biggest Benefits of Squarespace for Therapists:

1. Customizable templates: Squarespace offers a range of beautifully designed templates that can be customized to fit the needs of any psychologist. Templates are organized by category, making it easy to find a design that fits your practice.

2. Easy-to-use interface: The Squarespace interface is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy for even non-technical users to create and manage a website.

3. Blogging capabilities: Psychologists can use Squarespace to create and manage a blog, which is an excellent way to share insights and connect with potential clients.

4. Built-in SEO tools: Squarespace has built-in SEO tools that help websites rank higher in search engine results. This means that potential clients are more likely to find your website when searching for a psychologist in your area.

5. Mobile-responsive design: Squarespace websites are designed to be mobile-responsive, which means that they look great and function well on any device, including smartphones and tablets.

6. Allow clients to schedule appointments online directly with you and include all the onboarding forms and signatures upon sign-up.

7. Accept payment online for specific sessions.

8. Create a newsletter for prospective and current clients to share blog posts, articles, publications, trainings, announcements and more to stay consistently connected and engaged.

With its easy-to-use interface, customizable templates, and range of features, Squarespace is a great choice for creating a professional and engaging website that showcases your practice and connects with both prospects and existing clients.

To get started with Squarespace, you can sign up for a free trial here. This gives you access to all of the platform's features, allowing you to create a website and see how it works before committing to a subscription.

Now there is a bit of a learning curve––but we find it’s still the most powerful and easy to learn platform out there for those managing their own websites.

If you need more help getting started, we also offer free consultations with a website expert. During this consultation, you can ask questions, get advice, and receive personalized recommendations for creating a website that meets your needs. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help!