More clients will reach out to you if you add CTA’s to your website

Jeff Guenther, LPC on Apr 18, 2017

Getting more visitors to view your website is only half the battle when trying to attract more clients online. The next question is, how do you covert website visitors into clients that reach out and make an appointment without being too “salesy” about it?

The answer: add call-to-action (CTA) buttons and phrases to each page of your website. Whether you’re aware of it or not, we see tons of CTA phrases every time we’re online. Some are subtly encouraging us to take an action and others are screaming in our face to do something now!

You can see below that this Facebook CTA is subtle and blends into the color scheme of the Facebook website. But it still has a noticeable blue button that stands out and asks for attention.  

The Leadpages CTA image stands out more and pops out from the side of the website while you’re scrolling down their homepage. They add a photo of a person to the CTA image to grab your attention more. They add the words “FREE” and “Get more leads” to entice the visitor to click. 

CTA buttons should be more subtle when it comes to mental health website. It’s best to have at least one CTA on every page of your site. It may feel a little silly telling people what they should when they find your website. However, this is what people expect to see when they surf the internet. We are used to being guided through a website so that we can understand what the next step is in the process. Don’t be afraid to hold someone’s hand and guide them along. It’s exactly what we do when we talk to them in session. 

What should your CTA say?

When crafting a good call-to-action phrase be sure to talk directly to your website visitor. Use words such as “you,” “yours,” and “my.” Whether they are aware of it or not, you’re starting to develop a rapport with them through your website. Using language that you would use in person when addressing them makes the most sense and resonates well. 

Each CTA you decide to use on your website should be customized to the content on your website. A CTA phrase you might use on your panic disorder page might say, “Are you looking for new tools to fight panic? Schedule an appointment today.” A CTA on your couples counseling page could say, “Could your relationship use a little tune up? Click here to schedule a free consult.”

The word “free” is used often in CTA phrases for good reason. People want to know that an action they are taking doesn’t come with financial risk. Reminding folks that you provide a free phone or in person consultation will work well to encourage someone to make a healthy decision in their lives. Just don’t go over board and offer someone their first three sessions for free. If you do that, you’ll look desperate and unprofessional. 


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Location of your CTA

Once you have written some good call-to-action phrases, where exactly should they live on your website? They should be located at places where your visitors tend to make decisions while viewing your website. 

As you may already realize from your own website viewing behavior, our eyes naturally look to the navigation bar at the top of a webpage. We do this because we want to know how to easily visit all the pages we are interested in viewing. Placing a CTA right next to the navigation bar is a great choice because it will be really easy to notice and is in a very predictable place. My CTA button by my navigation bar is placed right underneath. Check it out below. 

Your more specific CTA phrases that reference the content on the page should be placed at the end of the text. When someone has finished reading your information on the service or speciality that you treat, they should be offered an easy way to get in touch without having to scroll all the way up to the top of the page. 

What should your CTA do?

This may seem like an obvious question but there are a handful of things your CTA can and should do. The most obvious destination your CTA should lead would be directly to your contact or scheduling page. Visitors to your site will eventually want to stop reading about you and your work and will want to quickly reach out and make an appointment or talk to you on the phone. Creating a CTA that brings them to your contact page and placing it near your navigation menu is a good idea. 

Another place a CTA could send a visitor would be towards more information. If a potential client identified as someone who was struggling with anxiety they may end up reading about how you treat the issue. Often times people will be collecting as much info as they can when they learn about their mental health issue. Having a CTA at the end of your anxiety page that directs them to blog posts you have written on the topic would be a great place to send folks. They’ll continue learning about anxiety and also find out how much of an expert you are. 

Shape and color of your CTA

Something to keep in mind when designing your CTA is that we are in the health and wellness profession and overall, people expect our brand to be soft, relaxing and inviting. So be sure to stay away from flashy neon accent colors and sharp edges. That doesn’t mean that your CTA shouldn’t stand it. It definitely should. Just be sure to choose something that doesn’t feel loud and in your face. 

When designing your CTA I would encourage you to use gentle curves if you create a button. The color of your button should be different from the rest of the colors on your website. The best way to find a different color that matches the colors you already use is to use the color calculator. Use the calculator to find out which colors are in harmony with your current color scheme.

Last step

Now that you know how to influence more clients to reach out to you, all you need to do now is download the CTA checklist for therapists. Save the checklist to your desktop and reference it while you create CTA’s on each page of your website. 

Jeff Guenther, LPC, is a therapist in Portland, OR. He has been in private practice since 2005. Jeff is the creator and owner of Portland Therapy Center, a highly ranked therapist directory. Jeff, and his team, have launched a new progressive therapist directory, TherapyDen.

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