When it comes to your therapy website, capturing the attention of your potential clients is paramount. And a large part of what drives attention is imagery. But imagery can also become a problem if you decide to expand your practice’s Specialties.
Imagine this scenario: your practice used to only serve children and has now expanded to serve adults, but your website prominently displays images of children.
This misalignment can leave potential clients feeling confused.
Imagery tells a story as much as the text does. And when what potential clients read doesn’t match what they see, they’re likely to bounce from your website and find someone else.
Which is why it’s so important that your imagery reflects you and your practice, especially as it expands.
When You Expand Your Practice So Too Must Your Imagery
If your homepage has a banner of a mother and her child, but you only treat adults—anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.—that’s a problem.
(To be fair, that last example is highly unlikely to happen.)
You’re more likely to encounter a mismatch if you’ve recently changed gears. Say you’ve started a group practice, and you’re expanding your site. At the top your list of to-dos should be the need to check in on your imagery.
If You See Everybody…
If you see all ages (children and adults) it’s best to err on the side of universal imagery: meaning, feature images of adults.
Even if you do see children, as well as adults, don’t overly rely on kid-imagery. Feature adults as your ideal demographic for your banner imagery.
The reason-being? Header images that feature children give the impression of a private practice that only sees children. Whereas, adult pictures don’t preclude the notion that your practice sees children.
This applies to your Specialty Pages as well…
Consistency Across Specialty Pages
Remember that visitors may not always land on your homepage first. In fact, if your Specialty Pages are optimized and ranking well, then potential clients should be landing on your Specialty Pages.
Since Specialty pages (such as anxiety or depression) are frequently the entry point for potential clients, it’s crucial to ensure that these pages reflect the demographic you are targeting.
Again, if you help both adults and children, then stick with imagery of adults for the banner images. Doing so across your Specialty Pages creates a cohesive user experience and increases the chances of visitors connecting with your practice.
(Of course, this doesn’t apply to a Specialty Page like “Teen Counseling” or “Child Therapy”.)
Then, in the body of the page, there can be images of allthe demographics that you help: adults, children, teens, etc.
Optimize for Visibility and Reach
As always with images, they need to be optimized to be effective. What exactly do we mean:
- The file name reflects the content of the image.
- The alt text section describes the image.
- The dimensions of the image are only as big as they need to be, i.e. the dimensions are what is displayed.
- The file size of the image is under 100KB.
Optimizing your website’s imagery goes hand in hand with effective SEO strategies. Ensure that your images are properly optimized with descriptive alt tags and a proper file name.
Your website’s imagery sets the stage for your potential clients. So, it’s crucial to create an immediate connection with your target audience through visuals that speak to what they’re looking for.
By featuring imagery that represents the demographic you aim to serve, you establish a sense of relatability and understanding right from the start.