Making It Know
Back

6 Things Every Therapist’s Website Needs

Download a free workbook to help you design your site with confidence.

The email you entered is invalid.

Thank you for subscribing.

Whether you're a therapist or counselor running your own practice or part of a group, it's important to have a website. Having your own web presence helps new patients find you and creates a central location to learn about your practice and policies. Most importantly, you'll have full ownership of your professional brand and the way you present your work to peers and potential clients.

To make starting your own site easier, here are six things that every therapist's website needs to build an online presence and simplify your workflow and three therapist website examples for inspiration.

1. A website template designed for your needs

A well-designed therapist or counselor's site can communicate competence and even your perspective on your practice. The colors, fonts, and images on your site make up the first impression potential clients get when they visit. The right design will help put potential patients’ minds at ease and make them more interested in contacting you.

Start with a website template or AI website builder to get your website set up faster. These come with an initial structure, colors, and fonts for your site. You can then customize any element to fit your preferences. 

Therapist website examples from Squarespace

For inspiration or as a starting point, try starting with a Squarespace website template built with therapy, counseling, and coaching in mind. 

The Almar template is warm and inviting, ideal for your professional website or a solo therapy practice. It opens with a welcoming photo to put visitors at ease and space for a tagline that summarizes your goals or style as a therapist. There’s space on the homepage for client testimonials and ways to learn more about you or set up an initial meeting.

Clove is designed with a counseling practice or group in mind, but can be adapted for an individual website too. Clear navigation at the top of the page makes it clear where to learn more about services and therapists or start the booking process. The homepage also offers space to add details on your therapeutic approach, location, or blog content.

The Meridien design includes a life coach as an example, but is adaptable to a therapy or counseling practice. The homepage includes space to immediately share your services or the focuses of your therapy practice and clear CTA buttons pointing visitors to book or learn more about working with you. The page also models how you could blend a therapy practice with additional content you create, like online courses or a newsletter, into one website.

If you want something more upfront creative control, use Squarespace Blueprint AI to create a custom website by answering a few questions about your brand and practice. From there, you’ll get tailored AI-generated images and initial website copy from the AI writer, all of which you can personalize further.

See our guide to designing your website

2. A convenient way to share your location

It's important to share where your sessions will take place or where you’re licensed to practice. Keeping your location or address easily accessible ensures clients can make a plan for your sessions and whether in-person appointments are convenient for them.

To make that as simple as possible, add a contact page with a map to your site. Map blocks on Squarespace can embed an interactive map to any location.

Even if you meet with patients virtually, sharing some basic details can help someone make a decision about working with you. For example, you can share which platforms you use to conduct virtual sessions.

3. A contact page with a custom intake form

Once a client is interested in your site, it's vital that they can contact or book with you as easily as possible. A dedicated contact page ensures that the option to get in touch is easily visible on your site. 

While you're building a contact page, you can add a contact form to collect and organize basic information from interested new clients. A good intake form ensures that you get all of the information you need to decide whether the client is a fit for your practice and prepare for their initial consultation. 

You can customize this form to collect any information you need, like:

  • Name

  • Age

  • Previous experience with therapy or coaching

  • Current goals or topics of interest

  • Contact information

  • Insurance provider

Learn how to automate your appointment booking forms

4. Booking tool

These days, people tend to prefer the convenience of online scheduling. It saves time for you and your patients since you don’t have to manage each appointment manually. But it's not only a matter of convenience. Offering a quick way to schedule online can help you stand out and convert more interested visitors into clients.

Give visitors to your site the option to schedule an initial consult or adjust ongoing appointments by using an appointment tool like Acuity Scheduling. Acuity is part ofSquarespace, so you can build your calendar into your booking page. Plus you can manage appointments, invoicing, appointment reminders, and client information from your website account.

See ways to save time with Acuity

5. Sliding-scale payment options

Collecting payment in person as an appointment is wrapping up can be awkward or take up valuable time for you and your client. It's easier for everyone if payment is smooth, automated, and—for therapy and counseling—includes options for the common practice of sliding-scale payments.

If you book appointments and manage invoices using Acuity, you’ll be able to take in-person, digital, and mobile payments. You can automate invoicing and payments and offer pay-what-you-want pricing. That allows patients to pay anything they want over a set minimum amount, which you can set as low as $0. 

Learn more about offering alternative payment options

6. Marketing tools

It can be hard to stand out online among ads, therapist directories, and competitor options. The ability to market yourself is more important than ever. The more places you can reach potential clients and conveniently share information about your services, the easier it will be for new clients to discover you.

There are a handful of places you can start your marketing, and Squarespace has tools to help you at every stage.

Read our full guide to promoting your website

Search engine results

You can optimize your site for visibility in search by naturally including common search terms in your website copy and page titles. For therapists, focusing on local SEO is especially helpful to reach potential clients in your immediate area. For example, including the types of therapy you practice and the city you’re based in could help someone find you when searching “CBT therapist near me.”

Social media

Social media is a great way to connect with peers, explore professional opportunities, and help new clients find you. You can use the space to share general mental health tips, share about your journey to becoming a counselor,  or offer helpful therapy exercises in a digestible format. 

This will also help people get a sense of how you speak and operate as a therapist. It can also lead to professional opportunities as you build a reputation around your expertise.

Email marketing

Start a newsletter to share your advice or perspective on mental health topics or recommend mindfulness practices or helpful resources. Give people the option to sign up for the newsletter on your website. This way, even people who aren’t patients get to hear from you. As you stay top-of-mind, they may be more likely to work with you or refer someone to you as a client in the future.

Analyze your website traffic

Every piece of information you have about clients and potential clients can help you better serve or reach them. Use your website traffic data to look at:

  • How people are discovering your site

  • Which pages are visited most often

  • Where people tend to exit your website

These details can help you make adjustments to your site and marketing strategy. For example, if you’re getting a lot of visitors from search but not from social media, you may want to adjust your social content or share your website link more often. Or if people are exiting your website before getting to your About or Contact pages, you may need to update your design or copy to help them navigate to important pages.

This article was updated on March 14, 2025.

Related Articles

  1. Know

    Checklist: Create Your Freelance Website in 9 Steps

    Checklist: Create Your Freelance Website in 9 Steps

  2. Know

    10 Things a Nutritionist's Website Should Have

    10 Things a Nutritionist's Website Should Have

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive the latest MAKING IT blog posts and updates, promotions and partnerships from Squarespace.

The email you entered is invalid.

Thank you for subscribing.