Using a Website Builder? 8 Reasons Why You Should Switch to Brighter Vision.
Have you tried or considered building your site with a free website builder?
Maybe Wix, Weebly, or SimplePractice caught your attention (and your time) and you’ve now realized that you’re in over your head?
There are eight painful reasons why free is a therapist’s nightmare and one easy way to avoid website discomfort altogether.
Let’s take a look…
1. What are the real costs of a “free” website builder?
Everyone loves free, especially if you’re in the early stages of growth or you run a limited practice. However, complimentary claims are misleading.
For example… When you run a practice, you need a professional domain and email. www.yourpracticename.weebly.com holds significantly less trust than www.yourpracticename.com. As for email, please notice the different ring to [email protected] versus [email protected].
As we’ve discussed before, perceived professionalism is crucial for building rapport, trust, and securing client consultations. Free domains (they are actually subdomains) and emails kill trust fast.
And while we’re on the topic of trust, you absolutely require an SSL certificate. This provides that little padlock in the top left-hand side of the address. The one that tells people you have a secure, hack-free site.
Without this people will bounce; they’ll leave your site due to the security risk.
Some search engines flag sites without an SSL certificate with warnings. This, again, encourages the bounce.
At Brighter Vision, we include your professional domain, website hosting, email, and an SSL certificate.
2. The pretense of “unlimited pages”
Often free or cheap website builders promise “unlimited pages.” But this is meaningless if you don’t have sufficient storage to host them. See, every page takes up digital space. Every picture, every word, every app, every blog post requires room.
You might have sufficient storage when you begin but after regular blogging and updates, that space is quickly eaten away.
When it is, you will have a choice to make… Build a new website or pay to upgrade? And when you reach the following storage band, the question will again come to the fore… Pay extra or start from scratch? And so it goes.
“Free” can morph into expensive very quickly.
At Brighter Vision when we say, “Unlimited Pages,” we mean it. Blog and grow to your heart’s content.
3. Generic templates: Why you must avoid the mundane
Your website is the first contact point many people will have with you. It provides the initial impression of your brand, your professionalism, your expertise. And there’s the rub…
Research shows that in face-to-face situations, professional, formal attire increases the perception of suitability, capability, and friendliness. In the digital space, your therapist website design must convey these traits. First and subsequent impressions matter to building relationships in person and online.
Yet, free templates look generic and unappealing. Like galoshes instead of expensive sandals, an unkempt tee instead of a shirt, a cheap polyester skirt rather than a fitted suit.
The design of your website means the difference between being perceived as an unqualified layman or a highly qualified, respected therapist.
As research published on the website Iron Paper said, “48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business.”
While it’s not fair or accurate, it is important to understand so you can successfully navigate toward success.
At Brighter Vision, we specialize in beautiful, professionally designed sites that wow visitors, build trust, and are specifically created for therapists just like you.
4. Responsiveness matters
Have you heard of responsive websites and wondered if you should have one?
In short, yes, you should. Here’s why…
In the USA, half of your visitors will come from a desktop. Just under 4% will visit from a tablet. A staggering 46% will arrive from a mobile device.
When a website is non-responsive, it is designed for the large screen of a laptop or desktop only. When a visitor comes from a large device, their visit is hiccup-free. When someone visits a non-responsive site from a mobile phone, though, the elements just don’t fit.
Imagine an A4 sheet of paper. If you were to gaze through an A4-sized window, the text, pictures, links, and information would be visible. However, if your window was A6-sized, an A4 page is too big. The discrepancy means parts could not be seen and navigation would be difficult.
On a mobile phone, a non-responsive site will appear as a mess… Like a pair of cheap, hole-riddled galoshes instead of a professional pair of flats. It will exude incompetence and turn potential clients away. This will limit your impact and cost you profits.
That’s why all Brighter Vision websites are responsive. If you are unsure about yours, pull your phone out now and type in your practice URL. If it looks messy, it’s unresponsive and must be urgently rectified.
5. Little-to-no customization options
If you want to truly make your site stand out in all the right ways, you need the option of customization; the ability to modify your site to your needs and preferences.
As website builders are based on the average in order to appeal to everyone, they often omit this important alternative. This option may not fit their business model and it can harm yours.
6. Poor search engine optimization (SEO)
When you visit a search engine and type in your request, a list of options will be shown. There’s a very good chance that you’ll click on one at or near the top. (Watch your habits over the next few days.)
As research shared on Search Engine Journal noted…
- 28.5% of people click on the first organic (non-advertising) link
- 15.7% click on the second link
- 11% on the third
By the time you reach the last listing on page one, you’re down to a minuscule 2.5%…
And if you’re over the page? Forget it. You are lost to cyberspace.
How do you position your site to attract the attention of the search engines and rank your listing highly?
This field is called search engine optimization, or SEO for short. Complex and nuanced, achieving meaningful SEO results requires expertise and experience. It’s not offered by website builders so you either need to learn yourself (this will take years) or pay an expert to complete an initial, and then ongoing, maintenance.
Because we are experts in the SEO field and know you absolutely need this to succeed, we include ongoing professional SEO with all our affordable packages.
7. Slow load times
Have you ever visited a site and waited for it to load? Tick, tick… When it took too long, what did you do? My bet is that you jumped off (this is called ‘bouncing’) and visited another site. Most people do.
Slow load times are bad for the user experience. They lead to fewer visits and reduced interaction. And the search engines notice. That’s why a sluggish site is also horrible for SEO.
8. Advertising
Okay, so you’ve spent hours of your time building your site on a free web builder. It looks okay, you’re happy to ‘go live’ bar one glaring element…
The reason web builders offer free plans is to get in front of the people you attract. They do this by requiring you to display their logo throughout your site. Remember back to the importance of building trust and you’ll understand why this is a huge problem…
Advertising a free website builder links your site — your brand — with cheapness. This tanks your credibility and will turn potential clients off.
At Brighter Vision, the only logo displayed on your site is yours or any others that you choose to add!
The professional, profitable and affordable option
I understand why “free” might appeal…
But for a therapist’s website, cheap options erode trust and defeat the point of owning a website in the first place: To build credibility, rapport, share-ability, and book practice consultations.
At Brighter Vision, we serve only health professionals. Our streamlined process requires little time on your part because we intimately know what we’re doing. This leaves you free to help your clients while we build and maintain your branded site. This can transform your practice and the way you do business. And it is shockingly affordable.
Are you ready to begin?