3 Ways To Customize A Pre-Designed Website
When searching Google for the best way to upgrade your private practice website, you’re likely to find several available pre-designed websites, or “website templates.” These done-for-you websites can get you up and running in a matter of days, rather than months (working with a professional designer) or years (attempting to design and build your website from scratch).
Unlike many other Squarespace templates out there, my pre-designed websites were made specifically for therapists, by a former therapist (me!). My Squarespace therapy websites come with everything you need to launch a beautiful, user-friendly website that communicates in the highly nuanced and specific way therapists need to communicate with their potential clients. These ready-to-use websites have helped dozens of therapists across the world clarify their offerings, boost their credibility, and fill their private practices with aligned clients.
However, I’ve talked to some therapists who are curious about my pre-designed Squarespace websites, but they’re unsure if they’ll be able to adapt the design to their unique practice. Especially if you have limited tech knowledge, choosing to semi-DIY your website can feel daunting. To help ease your worries, I’m going to use this post to show you three ways that past customers have adapted my most popular design, the Andrea website, and give you tips for customizing a website template to match your therapeutic style.
The Andrea Website
Before I go into customer examples and ways to customize your pre-designed website, I want to show you what the Andrea website homepage looks like. This is the homepage design that comes with each purchase of this website:
Level 1: Minimal Customization
If you’re lucky enough to find a website template that matches your existing brand style or embodies the brand style that you want to convey, then all you’ll have to do is make minimal adjustments to make it your own. Lindsay Haverslew of Lost & Found Counselling in Calgary, Alberta, Canada found this in my Andrea website. As you can see from her homepage below, her headshot matches the tone and colors of the website perfectly. All she had to do was tweak the copy, add or delete page sections to suit her needs, and customize her header navigation links. After those simple changes, she was ready to launch!
Here’s what Lindsay had to say about using the Andrea website:
“The [Andrea] template was beautiful, easy to use, and I had fun with it! Thanks for your great customer service. The individualized support offered was incredible.”
Level 2: Moderate Customization
Let’s say you find a pre-designed website that you love, but it doesn’t quite match the color palette you’ve been using in your marketing materials, or the page layout isn’t exactly the way you’d like it. All of my pre-designed websites come with detailed, yet easy-to-follow guided video tutorials to walk you through changing the website’s colors, fonts, backgrounds, page structure, and navigation links. Mel Campbell in South Australia, followed the included tutorials to adapt the Andrea website to match her practice and therapeutic style. Now, she has a unique website that helps her connect with and attract her ideal clients.
Here’s what Mel had to say about using the Andrea website:
“I learnt so much along the way, not just about website design and writing to my ideal client, but about who I am as a therapist. And I’ve already had three booking inquiries before the website is 24 hours old!”
Level 3: Extensive Customization
On the other hand, if you like the cost-effective nature of pre-designed websites but want something more custom-looking, you can always make extensive customizations to create something completely unique. The great thing about my pre-designed Squarespace websites is that there’s so much flexibility and opportunity for change. The template design can serve as a jumping-off point to inspire you and help you create something totally unique.
Dr. Rajan Grewal, of Wildflower Psychiatry in Tuscon, Arizona, achieved this with the Andrea website. She adapted the colors, fonts, images, and even the button styles to make it completely her own.
Here’s what Rajan had to say about using the Andrea website:
“Before purchasing my pre-designed website, I had a hard time figuring out how to adapt Squarespace to my needs. Thanks to Monica’s guides and customer support, I have a clean and modern website that I love.”
Choosing the level of customization that works for you
Purchasing a pre-designed website can save you months of time and energy and help you grow your practice quicker, but the extent to which you change and adapt the template design is totally up to you. Some questions you’ll want to ask yourself when deciding the level of customization that works for you are:
Will my existing headshots complement the colors that come with the website, or will I need to change the website’s colors?
Do I want to get new pictures taken?
Do I have an existing color palette that I’m trying to stick to? Or am I open to changing my brand colors?
Does this design feel like me? (Ask friends/colleagues for help on this if you need to!) Or do I need to make some changes so that it feels more like me?
As I mentioned, each of my pre-designed websites comes with everything you need to upgrade your website quickly and efficiently, no matter your level of tech experience. In addition to the included template support files and tutorial videos, my team and I are available to answer tech support questions via email if you hit any snags along the way. Plus, if you want a designer’s eye on your website before you launch, I also offer Design Consultations exclusively to pre-designed website customers for an additional fee.
Each of the therapists featured in this post used the Andrea website with little to no prior website design experience and were able to create amazing websites for themselves. Sometimes all it takes is a boost to get you started, and for many therapists, that’s exactly what my pre-designed websites turn out to be.
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Note: each customer testimonial and website was shared with permission. These customer websites are presented for design example purposes only.
