You could have the most beautifully designed website on the internet. However, if you don’t capture the attention of your audience right away, they’ll peace out!

How do you get readers to stick around your website? What is bounce rate? Why does it matter how long someone hangs out on your site?

When writing website copy, the goal is to keep people on your website and wanting to read more. The website copy should be engaging and compelling. Your homepage should really hook your audience. You need to get them to want to read the rest of your website.

What are the most important elements of a website?

Aside from an awesome homepage, you want to find the right balance. There needs to be enough information that people want to sign up for your services or opt into your newsletter. But you don’t want too much information that they get overwhelmed and leave.

There are a few pages that are important for therapists to have on their websites. These include an “About Me” page, a “Services” page, a “Contact” page, and a blog.

You want to make sure people know who you are. This is why the “About Me” page is so important. You want people to feel connected to you.

A “Services” page can also include rates and information about insurance. That could also be a separate page. But you want to explain the services you offer. This is especially important if you offer services that maybe not everyone is familiar with.

A “Contact” page is a pretty obvious page to include. Make sure you include your location and the preferred way to contact you. It’s also not a bad idea to have a button somewhere that links to a calendar to book an appointment with you.

A blog is also a very important page to have. Blogs offer resources to your clients as well as boost your SEO. SEO is search engine optimization and is how you rank in a Google search. Providing relevant content in your blog is a great way for clients and potential clients to understand more about what you offer. It’s also a great way for you to connect directly to your audience and share your values and thoughts.

Another great page to have is a “Frequently Asked Questions” page. This is also an opportunity to boost your SEO by using keywords that will draw people to your site in a Google search. And it’s another way to directly connect with your audience.

You can add other pages if you’d like. These pages should showcase you. So if you have written books or articles or have a podcast or a YouTube channel that you’d like people to check out, you may have a separate page for “Resources.”

What is bounce rate?

Bounce rate refers to the length of time that someone stays on your website before they leave. Specifically, bounce rate calculates how long someone sticks around on your website without doing anything before they leave. 

Bounce rate takes into account whether someone clicked on anything, signed up for anything, or if they just came to the site, looked at it, and left. If someone visited even just one page, they’re not counted in your bounce rate.

So the trick is writing compelling content on your homepage that makes them want to stick around and check out more pages. Ideally, you want them to like what they see so much that they feel they just have to work with you. They go ahead and book a consultation or first session! THAT’s what we’re going for.

How do I get people to stick around?

Aside from having a website that looks professional, you need professionally written words. Hiring a copywriter who specializes in writing for mental health professionals is a good place to start.

A mental health copywriter who understands you and what you do is the ideal person to write your website copy that will keep people on your site. The first thing I do when I’m working on a therapist’s website copy is to make sure that the content on the homepage captures your eye with strong formatting.

The next thing I do is make sure that the content itself is worth reading. It should also be SEO-optimized by using keywords that show up in Google searches. Those keywords should reflect you, what you do, and how you want people to find you. 

If you’re a trauma therapist in New York City who does EMDR, for example, you want to make sure that “trauma therapist,” “New York City” and “EMDR” show up a couple of times in your website copy on that home page. You’ll use them on your other pages as well, but they need to be front and center because people are searching for “EMDR trauma therapists in New York City” when looking for your services. 

Once you’ve hooked someone with your homepage content, you want to give them opportunities to look around your website further. Having buttons that take you to other pages such as “learn more” or “read more” buttons are a great way to get people to stay and explore.

The more ways to get someone to interact with your site, the better, so you want to give them opportunities to click around. Make your site easy to navigate. You want your website to make sense to the reader and have it flow nicely, even if you choose to have everything on separate pages. 

If you have a blog or a podcast page, you’re more likely to get people to stick around enough to at least click on the page and see if what you have to offer is worth their time. Here’s where a good copywriter comes into play. 

If you’ve hired the right person to write blogs for your therapy practice, then you’ve got content that’s worth reading and worth sticking around for. You want to make sure your blog posts have a few lines as a preview so that your audience is reading a catchy title and a captivating first line or two.

Taking the next step

Once you’ve decided what your message is, it’s time to hire the right mental health copywriter. To learn more about how we could work together, sign up for a free consultation call here. Happy writing!