If you are new to being online or if you’ve been online a while, knowing how to write and organize your website’s copy can be challenging.

One thing that can help is getting more clear on the purpose of each page of your website. For instance, you may want to explore:

  • Who is a page speaking to
  • What that person needs to discover on a page
  • What the one thing is that you should invite a visitor on a page to do? (Call to action)

Answering these questions is a great way to explore the purpose behind any given page.

But there are also some general concepts around what purpose a page would have. For instance, a home page generally should validate that a visitor is in the right place and help them quickly find pages that help them along. And a contact page should help a visitor reach out to you and know what to expect when they do.

But Therapist Website Service And Specialization Pages Are Often Confused

Two types of pages that are often confusing as to what they are and how they are different from each other are Services pages and Specializations pages.

Often confused to be the same thing, Services and Specializations pages are in fact very different. It’s important to know the difference so you can really align the copy on the pages with what your website visitor is seeking.

What Are Service Pages

Service pages share information about how a particular service you offer works and who it’s for. Service pages should make the benefits of the service clear and share anything that makes you unique in how you offer the service.

Examples include:

  • Individual Therapy
  • Workshops
  • Group Therapy
  • Couples Therapy
  • Consultancy
  • Supervision

What Are Specialization Pages

Specialization pages expand into specific issues or challenges that you offer help with. They dig into what it is that your clients may be facing in the moment when they are seeking therapy.

Examples include:

  • Therapy for Depression
  • Infidelity
  • Self Confidence For Teens
  • Parent Coaching
  • LGBT+

So What’s The Difference?

In a nutshell: service pages are about how you help and specialization pages are about what you help with.

Do You Need Both Service and Specialization Pages?

Yes. Probably.

If you are just starting out and super overwhelmed with writing your copy or unclear on your niche focus, you might want to start with Services pages which are more general and usually easier to write.

The ultimate goal though ought to be to have both Service and Specialization pages. Specialization pages give your website visitor a unique space on your site to feel seen and understood. Unlike a “individual therapy” page, a “therapy for depression” page will help by speaking to my exact circumstance but I’ll also read the “individual therapy” page to understand more about what getting help with depression might be like in the context of individual therapy.

Another approach is to ditch the services pages all together. If you’re clear on what you help with and you help only with a single type of service, it would make sense to approach all pages as Specialization pages.

So if you are niched in working with teens one-on-one, write three specialization pages that focus on the challenges that you help with during your one-on-one sessions. However, as soon as you offer other types of help, maybe workshops, groups, after school programs, consultancy, etc, then again it might be useful to have some Service pages to help distinguish more broadly how various services can help.

Let’s summarize this into three approaches:

Three Easy Approaches

  1. Ideal Approach: create both service pages and specialization pages
  2. Quick Approach: Have only service pages for now (and write specializations later)
  3. Niche Approach: Have only specializations pages and mention the service type within the pages itself (ex: “depression therapy” page and within it, discuss how you offer in-person, individual therapy, as the “how” behind how you help with depression)

When You Write Your Website With Clarity, You Get Better Results

Visitors to a therapist website need to know that you “get them.” Showing that you understand and will help them is key to turning that website visitor into a client.

It’s also important to create space for both the how of your help (services) and also, more specifically, what you can help with (specializations). As the professional, you need to be clear and transparent and having both services and specializations well-considered is the way to achieve that.

As Dan Miller says, “If you confuse, you lose” and that couldn’t be more correct in the case of helping therapy website visitors who may be in a state of suffering or crisis. So help your visitors by creating a welcoming space that serves their needs.

Posted in Website Copy