Do Therapists Need a Website If They're on Psychology Today?

Short answer: yes - and the profile isn't wasted

Keep the profile. Directories like Psychology Today are where many people start looking, and a listing there brings real inquiries. But a profile is a page on someone else's site, beside a dozen other therapists, in a layout you can't change. Your own website is where a person who has already found you decides to reach out.

What does your own website do that a profile can't?

• It answers the questions that stop people booking: your fees, which insurance you take, whether you see people online, what a first session is like.
• It's found by your name. People who hear about you from a friend or doctor search for you, and a site of your own is what they should find first.
• It's yours. Your profile disappears the month you stop paying for it; your site, its address and what it has earned in search stay with you.

Should the two link to each other?

Yes. Put your website's address on your profile, and your profile's badge or link on your site. Each one backs up the other, and Google sees two pages agreeing about who you are and where you practise.

What should a therapist's first website include?

Start small: a home page that says who you help, an About page in your own voice, your specialties, fees and insurance, and a way to ask for a consultation. That's enough to turn a curious visitor into a first call.

How long does it take?

Less than you'd think. With a site made for therapists, the pages come written - specialties, fees and insurance, a consultation request, a crisis line on every page - and you change the words to your own. Most of the work is reading it through and making it sound like you.

See what your website is missing

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