In the digital age, a mental health treatment center’s website is often a prospective patient’s first impression. Whether someone searches for mental health services for themselves or a loved one, the need is the same. They want easy access to information, answers, and professionalism. This is why mental health website design is incredibly important.
Your prospective patients are looking for answers to their mental health questions online. For your mental health center to be the site providing those answers, your website has to actually reach them. Not only that, you want visitors to your website to find information in a clear and accessible manner.
The way you accomplish this is through your mental health web design.
Elements of Good Mental Health Website Design
There are a few basic tenets of website design everyone needs to consider. As of November 2022, 59.5% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, so a strong mobile platform is a must-have.1 The mobile version of your site should have text large enough to comfortably read on a phone, clear buttons and links, simple forms, and fewer pop-ups than your desktop version.
Beyond this, organizing, prioritizing, and simplifying the information on your mental health website is key. As much as you might wish your visitors read everything on your pages in detail, this isn’t usually what happens. When searching the web, most users simply skim the pages as they sift through large amounts of information. You need to design your pages with this in mind.
- Prioritize your message – What is the most important topic readers want to learn about or task they want to accomplish?
- Simplify your text – Save longer paragraphs for blog posts. On your basic pages, keep your content simple and clear.
- Organize your information – If someone is coming to your page with a specific goal, how easily can they find what they are looking for?
- Understand your audience – What information do potential patients need? What is drawing them to your website?
- Test your design – If you’re not sure how one of your site features is working, getting a few rounds of feedback is always helpful. Make sure the feedback is coming from folks who align with your target audience in important ways.
In general, your mental health website design should assume users are skimming the page rather than sitting down for a comprehensive read. Give visitors a better experience by making sure what they really need to know pops out and that they can find the deeper information they might want easily.
Improve Your Reach with Accessible Website Design
Research shows browsing a website primarily uses the cognitive abilities of executive functions, working memory, and sustained attention.2 As a mental healthcare provider, you may treat individuals whose cognitive abilities have been impacted, are neurodiverse, or have other challenges browsing websites. To best connect with your audience, build your website according to the principles of accessible website design.
Accessible web design incorporates a variety of techniques and tools that make your site understandable and available to all users, including those with disabilities, limitations, and impairments. Include accessible web design elements in your site by:
- Providing multiple options for website users to communicate with your center
- Keeping your website crisp, clear, and easy to read
- Ensuring users can easily navigate your website to find the information they need
- Putting the most important information for a prospective patient right on the home page
Ready to learn more about accessible mental health website design? Our digital marketing strategists are experienced in creating high-performing websites incorporating accessible web design tools and techniques for a seamless user experience.
Whether you’re updating your website’s accessibility or creating a brand new website, Dreamscape Marketing can help. Call us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a discovery call and learn more about our full suite of mental health digital marketing services.
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