Wordpress for Therapists – Page 2 – Create My Therapist Website

10 of The Best WordPress Themes for Therapists

It used to be very difficult and costly for someone to build a website for their therapy business.

Once upon a time, the only way to build a website was for you to find and hire a professional to develop it. Lots of time and lots of money. And even once it was complete, updating the site was a chore that required more time and a big learning curve. But fear not! In recent years, the rise of WordPress has made owning and building a professional looking website something that most people can do easily and quite affordably.

WordPress is the world’s most popular blogging and website framework. Think of it as the structure of your website, and the hub for creating all the pages and blog posts on your site. This “structure” is free for anyone to use. What is amazing is that you can then purchase professionally designed and developed themes to upgrade the look of your out-of-the-box WordPress website. Because this process is simple to do and cheap, I highly recommend it for building a website for your therapy practice (or anyone needing a website for that matter!).

For more info on buying a hosting account and installing WordPress themes, check out the post How to Start a Therapist Website in 10 Minutes (or less)

Because of the many beautiful WordPress themes out there today, building a great looking website is within the reach of any private practitioner. Here, we’ll take a look at 10 of the best options for therapist WordPress templates.

Adelia – ($58)

Adelia is another clean and minimal WordPress template that would be great for any therapy business. It comes with a built in drag-and-drop page builder that lets you create custom layouts for your site. It looks great on any device and it’s also optimized for search engine optimization to help your practice be found more easily on Google. It also comes with Layer Slider, which lets your create animated galleries. Adelia also promises 100% support, should you have any questions.

Enfold – ($59)

I may be a bit partial to this WordPress theme, considering it’s the theme I’m currently using on this website. I’ve been using Enfold on a number of websites for years because I’ve been so impressed by it’s ease of use as well as it’s flexibility in creating beautiful layouts with the drag-and-drop page-builder. They even boast that it’s “the user-friendliest WordPress theme ever made”. With over 20 demo content packages to choose from, this theme is a great starting point for any therapist who wants to get a beautiful private practice website up quickly and then customize with their own content.

MentalPress – ($59)

MentalPress is a WordPress theme built with the psychology, counseling and medical fields in mind. Because of this, it offers a layout that includes places for all the info any therapist would want to showcase. Phone number and “Make an Appointment” button are prominently displayed. Other features include video tutorials on using the theme, demo content to get you started, and a drag-and-drop page builder to create awesome layouts. I’ve also heard, from folks who have used this theme, that customer support is fantastic.

Psychologist – ($43)

The Psychologist WordPress theme has a bold look that will make any therapist stand out. It’s clean but it’s also colorful, has a drag-and-drop page builder and will look good across all devices. It also comes with an appointment and events calendar which could be useful for advertising group therapy sessions. It’s got more features than you’ll even need!

Seven – ($48)

Seven is super stylish WordPress theme and a great option for your private practice website. The photos are given prominence, so find some great stock photos and to make your practice stand out. It features video tutorials to help beginners, a layout that looks great on all devices, and a handy drag-and-drop page builder to help you create fresh layouts for your content. Also a great option for the counselor who likes to blog, as it’s clean and easy to read.

Extent – ($58)

I think this one is my favorite. Extent is a truly versatile WordPress theme that has many options that would work great for creating a custom therapist website. It comes with 6 demo templates that you can install with one click, and then fill in your own info. These demos have different layouts so you can customize to your heart’s content. It’s optimized for search engines, has a drag-and-drop page builder, and fully responsive. The list of options is quite impressive, including multiple languages, making this a great option as a therapist WordPress theme.

Horizon – ($43)

The Horizon WordPress theme is set up to be a one page website. The site loads smoothly as you scroll down the page and elements animate in. Another great choice if you have some good stock photos for your therapy business. Key features include Visual Composer Page Builder, totally responsive, unlimited colors and hundreds of fonts.

Valise – ($48)

Valise was built more as a portfolio for designers but could easily be adapted for any therapist’s website. It’s simple, clean and colorful, and comes with Revolution Slider in case you want to create some fancy animations. It’s also fully responsive, search engine optimized and comes with full demo content to help you get started. There’s also video tutorials to help you learn the features.

One WordPress – ($33)

One WordPress is described as a “flat, responsive resume and personal portfolio theme”. It places most of the information on one homepage with bold colors and a place for your headshot. This one is simple and straightforward, allowing you to focus on your counseling services and lead your potential clients right into the contact form.

WP Prohibition – ($43)

Like the last theme, WP Prohibition is another theme that is clean but bold. The design is fully responsive so it will look great on all devices. It features a powerful page builder, search engine optimization and a fully customizable, drag-and-drop homepage builder. You also get free updates for life, so you know the creators are working to constantly improve their theme.

UPDATE: More WordPress Themes for Therapists & Counselors

Since originally writing this post I’ve come across some other great WordPress themes that I can’t ignore. So any updates to this post will appear below as I find great themes you can use for your private practice website.

Divi – ($69/yr, $89/yr or $249 one-time)

Divi is my personal WordPress theme of choice when it comes to the one-on-one custom websites I create for my own clients. After researching which WordPress themes offered the most customization, ease of use for updating and best options – I landed on Divi. It costs a little more than the others (they have a few different packages) on the list, but the service, support and flexibility you get is well worth it. It comes with a visual builder with 20+ pre-designed layouts so you can lay out beautiful web pages in just seconds. Plus EVERYTHING is customizable and if you need help, there’s a huge support community out there to help you. Check out Divi and some of the amazing things you can do with it here.

I even wrote a whole blog post about Divi, you can read that over here.

Well, There You Have It!

There are tons of WordPress themes to choose from when building your therapist website. It is by no means exhaustive, but I hope this list will save you some time as you create your own website to market your therapy business. If there are other themes that you’ve found that would be great for therapists, please let me know in the comments so I can add to the list!

For more info about finding a WordPress theme for your private practice, check out this post.

25 Comments/by Daniel

Creating Your Website, How To & Tips, Wordpress for Therapists

How to Start a Therapist WordPress Website in 10 Minutes (or less)

Are you a therapist just starting your career? Or have you finally landed the job that will launch your private practice and now it’s time to start bringing in the clients? Either way, a professional looking website could be your next step to jump-starting your counseling business.

Long ago, having your own website was limited to either the few people who knew programming languages or the few people who could pay someone who did. The good news for you, though, is that those days are long gone. You don’t have to be technically minded to get a website up and running any more.

But I know the process can still seem daunting. You may want to set up a website but have no idea where to begin, so you go on without one. Well, we can’t have that any more! Below I’ll lay out the steps to get a website up and running, and it will only take 10 minutes or less of your time.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Purchasing a domain name & hosting account (for cheap)
Setting up your hosting account
Installing WordPress (I’ll explain what this is)

There are many different ways to set up a website, but I’ve found the easiest way (and the one with the most control and flexibility) is to use WordPress. WordPress is a blogging framework that gives you all the structure and features needed to create content and publish it to a website. It’s simple to use and it’s extremely popular, even the pros use it. The site you are on now is built on WordPress!

Step #1 – Purchasing a Domain Name & Hosting Account

Choosing your Domain Name

A domain name is the address that people will use to get to your website. The domain for this website is createmytherapistwebsite.com. Your domain name can be your own name, or if you have a brand for your therapy services, you can use that. You’ll also want to make sure that the domain name is available. I’ll show you how to do this in the steps below.

Setting up Your Hosting Account

A website is made up of a bunch of files and images and they need a place to “live”. That’s what a hosting account is. You need a place to “host” all the assets that make up your website and there are many services out there that let you do this. However, based on my own experience building sites as a freelance web designer, I recommend a service called iPage. Here’s why I think iPage works well for most people:

They are affordable. Most hosting accounts start around $1.99 per month and come with a free domain name.
They are easy to use. The control panel is laid out nicely and I’m easily able to find the settings I need.
Easy Wordpress installation. Installing WordPress (the framework of your website) is achieved in just a couple clicks and iPage walk you through the entire process.
Great customer service. They are there if you need them and pride themselves on helping people.

Get Started: Click here to buy a hosting account with iPage and get a free domain name. I’ll walk you through the process below.

iPage Step #1

Click on this link and then click the big “Sign Up Now” button. They often have introductory offers, and these can change from week to week. At the time of writing this blog, it’s at $1.99 a month which is a great deal.

After you click the button, you’ll be asked to choose the domain name you want to use. Check off “register a new domain”, enter your desired domain name in the field and click “Check Availability” to see whether that domain is available for you to use with your hosting account:

If your domain name is available, you’ll get a message in bold saying something like “createmytherapistwebsite.com will be live on iPage in just a few minutes”. Victory! If the domain you want is not available, you can try some other options until you get the one you want.

iPage – Step #2

Enter your billing information to purchase an account

TIP: I never purchase the “Domain Privacy”, “Website Essentials” or other extras listed on this page and the next. You can just stick with the simple hosting account without the extras, but it’s up to you!

iPage – Step #3

Set up a username and password for your account, log in, and your hosting account is all set up! You’ll see what’s called the “control panel”, which looks like this:

iPage – Step #4

Install WordPress by clicking the logo in the “Website” section:

iPage – Step #5

Click the “Install” button in the FREE section

iPage – Step #6

Click on the “Check Domain” button

iPage – Step #7

Click the “Continue” button on the next page

iPage – Step #8

Click on the “Advanced Options” checkbox and fill out the information. This will be your login for the WordPress dashboard.

TIP: Save this information somewhere because you will need it often!

Then click the terms & conditions checkbox and the “Install Now” button.

iPage – Step #9

Let the installation run. When complete, you’ll see a page that looks like this:

iPage – Step #10

Click on the Admin URL to get to the log in screen for WordPress. Use the info you entered in step #8 to log in to the dashboard. Here’s what the WordPress dashboard looks like:

Final Step – Installing a WordPress Theme

This is where you get to make your website look like a professional, functioning site. WordPress allows you to change the “theme” of your site. There are many free themes out there, but in my experience, they have only lead to headaches. So I recommend purchasing a theme from Themeforest. These themes are designed and built by professionals and they come with many options to customize and even technical support, should you need it.

Go to Themeforest and click on WordPress.

Choose the category of theme and then browse until you find one that fits your style. You can look at the live demo of the site to see if you think you can easily populate it with info for your private practice. Once you find a theme and purchase it, download it to your computer. Now it’s time to upload it WordPress.

In the WordPress dashboard, click on “Appearance” in the left navigation:

Click on “Add New”

Click on “Upload Theme”

Follow the instructions and upload the zip file of the theme you bought from Themeforest. Once uploaded and activated, you’ll follow the instructions from the creators of the theme to customize it. This is where you’ll upload your logo, change the colors and fine tune it to your needs.

Having Trouble Uploading Your Theme? Watch This:

Congratulations! By now you should have a fully functioning website. Now the fun part can begin and you can add your own information about your therapy services and start bringing in the clients!

Any questions or issues? Please leave a comment below.

Get Started With WordPress Today

If you've tried using WordPress to build your private practice website, then you know how scary and overwhelming it can be.

That's why I created A Little Course About Wordpress.

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4 Comments/by Daniel