Should a Therapist Use Squarespace?
Squarespace is my favourite platform for a multitude of reasons.
But is it right for YOU?
Probably! Let’s talk about it.
If you're a therapist trying to figure out what platform to use for your website, my short answer is: yes, Squarespace can be a really good fit.
But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t also give you more information about the downsides, because although it’s fantastic, it’s not the cheapest option out there and I still recommend it 99% of the time.
If you're a solo therapist just starting your practice, paying for a website platform can feel like a pretty significant investment. Especially when you can find a $20-ish one-page website builder and wonder why on earth you'd spend more. It’s an internal debate I had myself while creating Fieldsites.
But ultimately, I keep coming back to the same thing:
I don't think your website should just be an expense you have to pay to exist online. I think it can be part of the infrastructure you're building your business on.
That's where Squarespace makes a lot of sense to me.
It's not just a website.
One of the things I genuinely love about Squarespace is that it can serve as a one-stop shop for your business.
Your domain can live there. Your website can live there. You can connect Google Workspace for your email. You can have a newsletter. You can sell things. You can create a membership. You can add scheduling and other integrations. You can build out different parts of your business as you need them.
You likely won't need all of those things when you're starting out. But all of this awaits you as you grow.
It gives you room to grow.
This is truly the biggest reason I recommend it.
A one pager can start you off because that's really all you need at the beginning — something that tells people a little bit about you, who you work with, your approach, your location, a way to get in touch. Done.
But from experience I’ve learned that a couple of years from now, when you’ve become more specialised in a particular modality or chosen a particular population you enjoy working with most, or you've created a workshop, or are offering a group program, or are writing newsletters or blog posts regularly, you've added another practitioner to your practice etc etc etc, you’re going to want your website to reflect all your growth.
With Squarespace you can (almost effortlessly) add pages and functionality, without starting from scratch every time you and your business evolve.
And this is where I think there's a difference between starting small and starting on a platform that isn't built to grow with you.
If you build a little one-page site on a platform that's really designed for a little one-page site, that'll be totally fine if that's really all you ever need.
But if you’re like most of the therapists I’ve worked with in the past, eventually you’re going to want something more robust, and if you haven’t built your first site on a platform that can handle your growth you may find yourself rebuilding the whole thing on a new platform anyway.
So sometimes the cheaper option isn't necessarily the cheaper option long-term.
You can manage it yourself.
Once your site is built, you don't need to know how to code to make most everyday changes.
You can update your bio, add a new headshot, change your office hours, update your rates, add new services, write blog posts, and so much more without ever having to reach out to a designer. Because I firmly believe that you shouldn't have to email your web designer every time you want to make a tweak to your site (I’m looking at you Wordpress).
So, should you, a therapist, use Squarespace?
I think it can be a really great choice, especially for those in solo private practice that need a professional website without a lot of unnecessary complexity.
It isn't the cheapest platform. I won’t sugarcoat that part. But for me the value lies in the fact that you can start small while building on something that has room to hold you as your practice grows.
You might start with a one page Fieldsite or a standard 5 page custom site. Later, you might have 7 pages, a newsletter, a resource library, a course, a shop, a membership, or something you haven't even thought of yet!
The beauty of Squarespace is that you don't need to build it all today, but you can as soon as you’re ready.
With Squarespace you’ll have a foundation that can support the business you're growing into.
I know this sounded really salesy and it kind of was. But it’s hard to talk about a platform you love without feeling like you’re selling it! So, what it really comes down to is this: I’m not trying to convince you to use Squarespace so that we can work together (I mean, I’d love to support your web build if you’re looking for it but that’s not the point of this piece!). What’s most important to me is that you feel confident about choosing a platform that can hold you and all of the important work that you do in the world. There are lots of platforms available to you, this is simply one professional’s opinion about a platform I think works best.
