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Five Step Guide
So, you're interested in buying a BACP therapy website. But what do you need to do before you sign on the dotted line? Here are five important points to consider when putting together your therapy website…
STEP 1: Textual content
First you'll need to put together the text for your website. Content will need to be in an electronic format – hand-written content is not acceptable. For example, you could type your content in a word processing package, and save it as a document to be emailed to BACP.
Think about the pages you want on your site and what text goes on what page. Web users don't like to scroll down long pages, so make your pages concise and to the point.
A suggested set-up for a therapy website would be five pages:
'Home' (also known as the front page) – this could contain a basic introduction to your website and/or yourself, and an overview of what information can be found within it.
'About me' – this could contain a detailed profile of yourself with things such as your qualifications, your past experiences (work and life), specialist areas you work in and how you work with clients.
'About therapy' – this page could contain an explanation of therapy, and can be used to explain to potential clients what outcomes they can expect. You could also explain your confidentiality policy and what Code(s) of Ethics you adhere to.
'Location' – this page could contain details about your location, such as the actual address, directions on how to get there and a description of the facilities available. For example, this might include on-site parking and/or accessibility information.
'Contact' – this page should contain details about how you can be contacted. You can include phone numbers, email addresses and also what hours you are available for appointments. Also consider repeating your full postal address here.
Step 2: Images
You should think about images, maps (of your location), photographs and/or logos, and how these can be used on your website. If you have access to a digital camera, consider taking a photo of yourself or your location.
Again, anything you want to include must be in an electronic format, which can then be emailed to BACP. Acceptable file formats are .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .tif or .pdf. We advise against scanning traditional printed photographs as the quality of the electronic image produced can be poor.
Step 3: Colours/Design
You should think about colours and the overall look you want to achieve with your website. When you email BACP you should state a preferred colour scheme, and some kind of description of how you want your site to look. Alternatively, if you have seen other websites you like, include the URLs (web addresses) of the sites in your email.
You should also think about the fonts to be used on your website. Decide if you would prefer a more formal 'serif' font (e.g. Times) or a more informal 'sans-serif' font (e.g. Arial).
Step 4: Links
Links into your site are important (obviously!), but so too are links out of your site. Some search engines such as Google take this kind of information into account when rating or 'ranking' pages. Users are also much more likely to return to a site that offers them an information resource.
Think about providing a list of useful links (web addresses) to sites that would be of interest to people viewing your site. For example, if you specialise in relationship counselling maybe you could include a link to the Relate website, or other web pages that would offer valuable information on the subject. Also, if you mention a professional body on your web pages, e.g. UKCP, be sure to include the URL of their website.
Step 5: Meta tags
As well as the textual content of a web page, search engines such as Google or Yahoo! also look at 'meta tags'. Meta tags are hidden within the page and do not actually show on screen. You should write a set of meta keywords for your website, which should be a maximum of 300 characters long. Consider the words that people may type into a search engine to find your site – for example 'counselling, psychotherapy, Essex, Chelmsford, relationships, couples'
Also write a 'meta description' for your website, which should be a maximum of 150 characters long. This will be displayed when your website appears in the search results of a search engine – for example 'John Smith – Therapist. Works in the Chelmsford area and specialises in relationship therapy.'