What's the personality of your healing business?
I came across an article today about developing a "brand" for your healing business that echoes much of what I think about as I'm helping small businesses plan the design of a new website. Your business "brand" is who you are and what you have to offer as a healer. The colors, images, and text you add reflect what you have to share with clients as you help them on a healing journey.
In a questionnaire I give to new clients, one of the questions I ask is about the words they want clients to associate with their business. The word choices I give are:
Professional • Reliable • Creative • Trustworthy • Economical • Qualified • No-nonsense • Dependable • Experienced • Friendly • Relaxed • Knowledgable • Fast • Thorough • Down-to-earth • Discreet • Careful • Specialist • Innovative • Authoritative • Flexible • Healing • Complete • Restful • Educational • Mystical • Artistic • Spiritual • Restorative • Fun • Busy • Rustic • Vibrant • Active • Environmental • Scenic • Social • Organic • Natural • Thoughtful • Collaborative • Musical • Luxurious • Urban • Minimalist • Safe • Transformative • Indulgent • Pragmatic • Inspirational • Other words not on the list
Those clients who have a healing business often choose words like "Healing" and "Restful." Can you see how those words evoke visions of a different kind of business than one that is "Professional," "Dependable," and "Pragmatic"?
The article I read, Create your business identity, is geared toward Reiki healing businesses, but the ideas can be extended to any kind of healing business. The article goes into more detail about how to choose a business name and website domain and define the mission for your business. The website for your business should reiterate the mission, use a logo and colors that complement that mission, and have supporting information for people who are seeking your services.
If you understand the personality and mission of your business before you create a website, the choices you need to make as the website is built become easier. You can keep returning to your original ideas as you choose images and write content to be sure you are conveying the message you intended.
Adding links to your website gives people a convenient way to learn more about a subject that interests them. Links can be built into text, buttons, or images. Learn more about the guidelines I go by when deciding which type of link to use.
Whether your website is new or has been around a while, decluttering the content to encourage visitors to browse is always a good idea.
Whether you design your website on Squarespace or some other platform, you’ll be making color choices that are unified and compatible across your website, from the text to the buttons to the colors in the images. Designers call these color choices a color palette. Here’s how I simplify color selections for my clients.
Like the receptionist and reception area in an office, the Home page is the greeting area that needs to contain enough cues to reassure visitors that they're in the right place and give them guidance about how to find what they need and what to do now that they're there.
I recommend starting your business with a Google Workspace Business account so your business email address includes your domain name. But a personal Google account can be useful for many everyday tasks. In this blog post, I cover how the two types of accounts differ.
Squarespace assigns every new website a built-in domain, a Site ID, that ends with “squarespace.com.” I recommend changing the random ID Squarespace assigns to be something you’ll remember.
You can remove the "www" to shorten your website URL to make your website name more visible. You can do this with a primary domain registered with Squarespace or one registered with a third party.
Understanding in advance how your website will support your business will inform your website's design and content.
The aspect ratio of an image is its width relative to its height. Understanding aspect ratio helps you design your pages with images that look attractive and well-matched. Aspect ratio choices can also help with planning and choosing images you’d like to use on your website.
As a Squarespace Circle Member, I bring lots of benefits to my clients’ projects through the supportive professional community I belong to. As my client, you also get direct benefits I pass on to you, like an extended 6-month trial period and 20% off your first annual purchase.
Being able to preview your website live without logging out of Squarespace is a convenience for testing and proofreading before you launch.
Squarespace and Square are two different companies. They both support online stores, so it can be confusing when you are doing research about getting your business online. Squarespace is my favorite website builder, so this blog post will explain how it’s different from the company called Square.
A footer is the last section of information at the bottom of a website page. Use this valuable area to show contact information, add links to website pages, and ask visitors to take action on their way to becoming loyal customers.
Here are my 10 favorite text tips to help you create a modern and professional-looking website on Squarespace or any other website platform.
One of the first decisions you'll make with a new website is the choice of typefaces, especially those used as display accents throughout your site, such as the Site Title and Headings. Your website probably includes typefaces that suit the design template you chose, but if you would prefer another typeface, there are many to choose from.
Spacers are invisible design elements that add blank space to any part of a website page. I call them a website super power because they are incredibly useful for adding space around elements on a page.
A branded email address has your domain name after the @ sign. It’s a good idea to pay for email hosting services that use your domain name. It looks more professional and is less likely to be seen as spam.
Kerry A. Thompson
You don’t need a big agency to get your website done. You just need the one right person. I offer Squarespace website design and content development services for creatives, coaches, and healers. Learn more in a free 30-minute consultation.