I’m excited to bring you another 5-minute therapy website review today! Each month I choose one of my reader’s websites and look at it through my website designer’s eye and give some simple feedback to help them improve their private practice website.
Today’s website comes from the private practice of Starla R. Sholl, LCSW. You can view her website at http://www.starlasholl.com.
To watch the review, just click on the video below:
Some Simple Design Tweaks
Starla’s website is clean and simple, which I love, but I think there a few things she could do to make the content a little more user friendly.
In the video, I mention that her logo could be slightly larger to help it stand out more. This would help the user’s eye to start in the top left corner a little more easily.
That’s typically how we read websites. So, having a logo that clearly lets people know where they are is a plus. From there, the user’s eye will be led into the content.
I found that the green background behind her main content was causing me to glance over the text and not take in what she was trying to communicate.
I recommend changing this to a very light gray, something like #e1e1e1 (web color format) or even white. This makes the page not so heavy and gives the eye room to flow into the text.
Starla could also think about adding more photos to her website.
Right now, the only photo is her headshot. So, on every page, my eye is drawn to this photo each time. I’d consider removing the headshot, or only having it on certain pages, such as her About page.
Adding photos within the content would help to give it some more weight and pull the user into her information more.
It will also help break up long paragraphs and make it easier to read.
Another added benefit to adding more photos(which I forgot to mention in the video) is that Google considers pages with images to be of more value, so it could have some SEO benefits as well.
Some Simple Content Tweaks
I have just a couple small content ideas for Starla to consider.
On her homepage, she could add a headline at the beginning of the content to let potential clients and website visitors know right away what her therapy practice is about.
You only have precious seconds to communicate to users who you are and what you do, so it’s important to hook them in with a clear statement, before moving them further along into your website and other information.
I loved how Starla presents a number of issues her clients may be dealing with, right on the homepage.
The next step should could take is to introduce herself as the solution to those problems.
A simple introduction of who she is would help bridge the reader into her About page, or even her Services page if she chose to go that route.
I think the same advice can be applied to her About page.
Right now, the first thing you read on her About page is a list of links to the sections in her About page.
Starting with an introduction that identifies who she works with and the issues they face could help remind potential clients who Starla works with and if she can help them with their challenges.
I’d love to see the sub-navigation links moved over into the right sidebar, if possible. This way the user is lead on a journey into her About page to learn more about Starla.
Final Thoughts
I think Starla has done a great job, setting a foundation of content for her potential clients.
She’s added specific pages for each of her services, which is a great idea to help SEO and an amazing way to provide value to her website viewers.
I’d encourage her to take it even further and see if she could make those service pages even more informative. This would showcase her expertise, provide value to her readers and could help her SEO as well.
And on the topic of SEO…
Blogging could be a great way to increase Starla’s pageviews. It would help her rank for more keywords and also provide more content for her potential clients to get to know Starla more and see her expertise.
For more on the benefits of having a blog on your therapy website, check out this post: Does Your Therapy Website Really Need a Blog?
Should could also make sure that her location is included in her meta titles and descriptions to capitalize on folks searching for keywords, such as “psychotherapy Andersonville”.
I hope you found this review of Starla Sholl’s website helpful and that your mind is swimming with new ideas for your own therapy website.
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