You may think your website is serving its purpose. It details information about your Christian counseling practice, allows users to schedule appointments, and gives details about your expert staff. 

But most likely, what we’ve found when working with our Christian counseling clients, an essential element is missing: converting prospects into clients. Our experience tells us you must optimize your Christian counseling website for client conversions using these five proven methods:

Use Strong Call to Actions

Guide prospective clients toward using your services through strategically placed, eye-catching call-to-action (CTA) buttons and phrases. Use a floating header featuring a CTA. Place CTAs throughout your website home page and in the footer. 

Your CTA phrases should be concise and action-oriented: Schedule Your First Session Today or Start Your Journey to Wellness Now. Your buttons should be even shorter: Call Today or Get Started.

For example, when working with our Christian counseling practice clients, we often recommended the CTA phrase: Request an Appointment. The CTA then leads to a simple form for the user to complete. A staff members receives the form and follows up within 24 hours to talk with the person and book the appointment. 

Remember — you must have a fulfillment process in place after a form is submitted! If someone needs help with their mental health and wellness — they want to be contacted as soon as possible. Waiting a week to call a prospect will only lower your chance of creating a connection.

One of our Christian counseling clients, recently followed these conversion recommendations. We also installed call tracking on their website. In just one month they received 37 calls and their website views nearly doubled at 45% compared to the previous month!

Implement Personal Touches 

When someone decides to reach out for help, they’ve taken an enormously personal step toward improving their mental health and wellness. And if they’re looking at your Christian counseling practice website, they think you can help them. 

Continue to build trust with your prospective clients through sharing something personal and meaningful. For example, often we include therapists website bios that include interesting details about their family, hobbies, interests, and/or pets in addition to their professional credentials and expertise. 

Whatever you include, be sure it’s truthful and transparent. We know that if a person sees someone like themselves, they are more likely to connect in an authentic way. They are more likely to create a connection and become a new client.

Offer Timely Advice to Engage Prospects

Christian counseling experts keep on top of mental health and wellness trends and treatments. Showcase your expertise to prospective clients with monthly website blogs. 

We’ve asked our Christian counseling experts to share their knowledge on timely topics such as anxiety, supervisor burnout, and increasing employee engagement. Then we weave into the blogs the appropriate SEO keywords so the blog will rank (will appear) in browser searches. You can also promote the blog via a social media post and/or email. 

Our client empac includes this blog strategy on its website and has seen its blog page rise to the top 5 most viewed pages! When a blog about how to maintain happiness was included in their quarterly email newsletter, the email was the most opened and the highest CTA they had ever seen!

When your prospect reads these valuable blogs they will more likely turn to your Christian counseling experts for help.

Share Benefits of Your Services

Take a critical look at how you describe your Christian counseling practice’s services on your website.  

Are you just listing each service, without telling prospects how the services will help them? 

If someone is searching for help with their mental health and wellness, they want to know you understand how they feel and how you can help. Include examples of the different ways someone may be struggling. Do they need help with their unhappy marriage? Are they dealing with a difficult child? What can they do to lessen their stress and anxiety? 

Share how you will help them find solutions to their problems — whether through your faith-based approach, timely assistance, or personalized approach. We advised our Christian counseling client Axiom, to use phrasing such as, “Journey Toward True Mental Wellness Through Our Supportive and Personalized Approaches” or, “Ready to Start Your Path to Wellness?” 

You’re further creating an important bond with a prospective client when you show the benefits of utilizing your Christian counseling services. The prospective client looks at your website, and they should feel compelled to reach out to you for help.

Reach Clients Beyond Your Local Market

Many prospective clients look for convenience when reaching out for help. If your Christian counseling practice offers telehealth, consider promoting this service prominently on your website. Devote a website page to the services and their benefits. 

Be sure to include the service area. If you offer telehealth in more than one area, consider using a website page for each one. 

You may be surprised at how quickly your out-of-market audience grows, as so many struggle to reach out for help and actually follow through. Sometimes people find it easier to try counseling when it’s online and not in person. They may feel less intimidated and more secure when in their own comforts of home. They can also easily switch to another counselor, and will attend sessions more consistently.

Follow these proven strategies to optimize your website and grow your Christian counseling practice. We’ve seen concrete increases in conversion, but more importantly, more people get the mental health and wellness counseling they need and deserve. 

Do you want to reach more who struggle? Foster your growth today!