You know your website should “look good,” but have you ever wondered why that matters—or what your design is actually communicating to potential clients before they even read a word?

In this episode, I break down the psychology behind effective design and why pretty isn’t the same as strategic. Whether you’ve got a DIY site or you’re using one of our templates, you’ll walk away with powerful (and doable!) ways to help your website feel like you—and build trust from the very first glance.

We’ll cover six core principles of design psychology to help you create a site that feels calm, clear, and aligned with your energy. These principles aren’t just aesthetic—they’re deeply rooted in how your clients perceive safety, trust, and professionalism.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ Why “pretty” design isn’t enough—and how to tell if your site is actually effective

2️⃣ The six subconscious signals your design is sending (and how to make sure they match your clinical energy)

3️⃣ Small design tweaks that make a big impact on client trust and connection

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Squarespace Templates: walkerstrategyco.com/templates
• Black Friday Sale (starts next month!): walkerstrategyco.com/bf25
• DIY Brand Kit: walkerstrategyco.com/dbk
• The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

Connect + Subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice.

Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hi everyone.

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Thanks for joining me for this

next episode of Marketing Therapy.

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Last week we talked about the importance

of copy and design together, how most

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people know that they matter, both of them

separately, but how they work together.

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Today I wanna dive more

deeply into design.

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Yeah, everyone says they

like good design, right?

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You're probably one of those

therapists like the ones that I

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talk to often that say things like,

I know what I like when I see it.

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That doesn't mean I know how

to create it, but I know what

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I like when I see it, right?

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We all appreciate it.

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We all might have different tastes

and aesthetics, but the fact is

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we like things that look good.

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And when it comes to your

marketing, you know, you should

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have a beautiful website, right?

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Like, you know, it should look good.

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You recognize that how the

website looks, matters.

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But very few people understand why it

actually matters, or what that design

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is saying to your potential clients.

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We're talking about before

a single word is read.

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Why does this matter?

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Now?

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Like I said, we all know design matters,

but most people stop at, well, I just

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want it to look nice, but pretty and

effective are not the same thing.

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Pretty might get a, like a

double tap on Instagram, but

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effective gets you a client, okay?

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So that's the difference here,

that just because something is

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pretty doesn't mean it's effective.

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And if something's pretty,

what makes it effective?

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That's what I wanna talk about here today.

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Now you know that in therapy

communication is not just about

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what you say, it's how you say it.

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If you deliver an observation

or a challenge to your

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client in one tone of voice.

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They could receive it

completely differently than if

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you presented it in another.

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That's really what your

website's doing too.

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Here.

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Your website is constantly communicating

tone and trust and safety and energy,

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and when it comes to design, that is

happening without saying a single word,

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it's about forming a first impression

and an environment where someone actually

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wants to know your niche statement.

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They want to read your copy, the

headline, you spent hours agonizing over.

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Actually lands with them.

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Studies show us that clients'

first impressions are formed

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in less than five seconds.

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That's not enough time to

understand your entire niche, right?

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Their brain is already making decisions

about whether this feels safe and

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credible if they feel connected to it.

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It's a lot like your

nonverbal cues in session.

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It's the reason therapy over a phone is

not the same as sitting in a room with

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someone or sitting on a virtual screen.

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The eye contact, the tone, the

posture, just like you read

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your clients, they read yours.

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And so design is your

website's body language.

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So I wanna today look at what's

actually happening beneath the

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surface, because your website is

so much more than just decoration.

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It's so much more than

just looking pretty.

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And if we can get this right, it

really is psychology in action.

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So I think you'll find

this one quite interesting.

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And shout out to Amanda.

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Amanda had a great question in this

week's Confident copy call and I let

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her know, Hey, I actually have an

episode coming out next week about this.

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And she was asking about

some of these very things.

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And so I know that this is relevant.

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I know that so many of you are being

mindful about what your marketing

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needs to look like and what your

niche is and how you're presenting it.

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We can't think about those things

without also thinking about

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how those things are presented.

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So there's six kind of facets to

design psychology that I want to

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go through today to empower you to

actually make some strategic decisions

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because again, just because something's

pretty doesn't mean it's effective,

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and I want the latter for you.

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All right, so the first

one is color psychology.

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Color sets the tone emotionally.

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They're the first emotional cue that

your visitors are going to register.

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So if you have warm, neutral.

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I'm talking reds and tans,

oranges, soft yellows.

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The color psychology of those warm

colors is calm and safe and grounded.

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If it's cooler, if it's

light blues or teals greens.

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This is more reflective and contained

soothing if you have some bright

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accents, which are absolutely okay.

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This is about communicating energy

and motivation and approachability.

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Friendliness.

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So the colors that you choose

actually say something.

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And so it's important to ask yourself,

what do you want people to feel

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when they land on your website?

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If your brand palette, the colors that

you're using, feel scattered or anxious

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or chaotic, people are gonna feel that

too, even if your words are perfect.

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So it, it really begins just

with those decisions about color.

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If you've been through our

therapist, DIY brand kit, you

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know that this is where we start.

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We start with thinking about how do I

want people to feel when they interact

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with your brand and with your website.

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It's one of the fundamental questions

to begin asking in order to create

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design that's actually effective.

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I mean, think about your office

space, especially if you're an

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in-person clinician, but even

your personal office at home.

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If you're online only, you probably

chose the wall color, the art,

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the furniture, the decorations.

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Because you want your clients, or

at least you to feel a certain way.

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Your website is the same thing, just

digital, and it really starts with color.

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People have actually

studied color psychology.

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It's something you could absolutely

go down the rabbit hole and learn

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all about, but this is about

setting the tone for your website.

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Next up is what we call Hicks Law, and

that essentially is that simplicity

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to your clients equals safety.

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What this means is that the more

choices someone has, the longer it

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takes them to decide what to do.

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And so one of the first things

that I see when therapists are

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working on their website, and

it comes to this, is their menu.

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So when you load up your website and

you see those items across the top of

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your website home about specialties,

if you have too many of those, or

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if throughout your website you have

too many buttons leading to too

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many places, if you even have too

many service or specialty options.

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We are inviting overwhelm unintentionally,

but it's there because we know that

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when people have fewer choices,

they actually make decisions more

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confidently and more quickly.

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So for your ideal clients, many of whom

are already navigating anxiety or decision

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fatigue, they might have been through

a bunch of therapist websites already.

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This can be the difference between

clicking contact or closing the tab.

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I want your website to feel like an

exhale, like a breath of fresh air, not

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another to-do list for your clients.

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Okay?

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So how could you incorporate

more simplicity and therefore

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safety into your design?

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Limit your top navigation

to no more than six items.

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We actually just talked about

this in confident copy as well.

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When you look at that top menu of

your website, limit that to six.

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Now there might be dropdowns, you

might have pages underneath that.

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It's not a bad thing to have a lot

of pages, but we need to make that

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journey clear and easy and simple.

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Similarly, I recommend every single page

of your website have one clear next step.

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Okay.

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Now, that's not to say that you can't

link from your trauma page to your

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EMDR page or if it makes sense to link

to your about page, but the primary

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call to action should be singular.

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Again, we don't wanna

overwhelm these folks.

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We wanna make the next step

clear and simple and easy.

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Alright, the next element

of design psychology is what

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we call visual hierarchy.

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And this is one I see a lot

of therapists get mixed up on.

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Hierarchy is what guides

our eye through design.

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So sometimes I will load up a therapist

website and at the top of the website they

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might have a headline talking about, you

know, what they help their clients do.

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And then there might be another

headline that states who they

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are and where they're at.

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And there might be a

button and I load it up.

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And all of that is the same exact size.

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Well, we were just

talking about overwhelm.

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I'm immediately overwhelmed.

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My eye has no idea where to go first.

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Hierarchy tells us, look here first.

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Look here next.

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Look here after that.

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So, creating hierarchy is

about leading people toward

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what's most important to them.

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It's because our brains are

wired to look for order.

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We scan from big to small, from bold

to light, from color to neutral.

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When this is missing on your website,

you unintentionally lose people simply

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because they're not sure where to go.

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Their eye doesn't know where to

go, and knowing that no one is

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gonna read every single word of

your website, we have to make their

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scanning and their scrolling simple.

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And when there is no hierarchy, it

can be very, very difficult to get

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to what's actually relevant to me.

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So the easiest thing you can

do, load up your homepage, load

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up each page of your website.

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Look at each section.

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Is there a place for my eye to go

first and then second, and then third?

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Or are you expecting them to

get all of it in one glance?

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Create more hierarchy, and you will

guide people through the design in

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a way that actually reaches them.

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All right, next up is a Gestalt

principle, and that's all about

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creating cohesion in your design.

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Now, you probably know that

our brains group similar

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elements together automatically.

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It's how we ultimately

find meaning in things.

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And so when things about design

feel inconsistent spacing, fonts,

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colors, the site feels scattered.

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Now again, so much of what we're

talking about here is subconscious.

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Your clients don't necessarily know

this, but it's lacking that cohesion

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and that ability to find meaning.

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When there is consistency and

balance in your website, then you are

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communicating a sense of reliability.

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When that design feels cohesive, is

subconsciously says this practice

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is organized and trustworthy.

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Isn't it funny that just thinking about

spacing or consistency in your fonts can

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do that, but these are the underlying

elements that are driving good design.

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Again, not just about looking pretty,

but about actually guiding people

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toward realizing you're the therapist

for them and making that journey easy.

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So check your website.

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Are your font sizes consistent?

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Do photos feel like they belong together

or are they completely mismatched?

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And irrelevant to the content.

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I am someone who loves symmetry in design,

and I will often load up a therapist's

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site and intentionally or otherwise,

there will often be sections where one

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side is off balance from the other.

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And if we could just even some of those

things out, if we could create that

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feeling of balance, we would automatically

create a more soothing environment.

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Anna Walker: Alright, number

five is called anchoring bias.

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I also refer to this

often as the halo effect.

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Like it or not, the first thing

someone sees sets the tone

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for everything that follows.

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If you caught last week's episode,

you heard me paint the picture of that

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boutique that you walk into and the

candle's burning, and someone walks up to

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you and offers you a glass of champagne.

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If your homepage of your website

feels premium and professional

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like that boutique, guess what?

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Your therapy work is

perceived the same way.

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If it feels outdated or chaotic,

then your expertise gets discounted

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before anyone even reads a word.

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That's the difficult thing here is that

you can be incredibly talented and able

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to serve your clients, but if your design

says otherwise, you are fighting an uphill

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battle against that initial judgment.

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Your design is what's anchoring

your perceived value in

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the eyes of your clients.

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Now, that's not to say you can't have

an effective website that doesn't meet

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every single one of these principles

and book premium fee clients.

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No way.

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But it does say that when these

smaller things, these subconscious

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things are at play, you are more

likely to be viewed as valuable and

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safe and trustworthy by your clients.

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And this is all happening within

seconds, entirely subconsciously.

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It's wild.

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I mean, imagine a trauma therapist

with a site that uses these harsh black

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backgrounds and neon text and jagged

imagery and these weird, sharp lines.

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Now, that design might be unique and

really interesting, but it also might feel

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tense and unsafe to the person reading it.

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The therapy there could be excellent.

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But clients might not even get that

far because of that initial impression.

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Alright, my last principle for

you is called priming and it's

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all about the comfort of familiar.

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We love things that are

familiar and intuitive.

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It's the reason I love to re-watch

the Office and Grey's Anatomy

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over and over and over again.

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Right.

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So when it comes to design, a good website

doesn't necessarily have to surprise.

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You don't have to reinvent

the wheel or be some unicorn.

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Ultimately, it needs to orient people.

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They need to get what they expect, a logo

in the top of the site that when they

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click on it, it goes to the homepage.

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A navigation with a handful of items.

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They can click on a clear headline

when they land on each page.

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The basics.

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That's what creates that sense

of familiarity and intuition

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where I'm like, oh, I, I know.

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I know where I'm at.

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This feels safe.

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This feels comfortable.

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When therapists attempt to push

the envelope a little bit with

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their design and things begin

feeling off or out of order, it can

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create some subconscious friction.

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So there is a line here between being

unique and not looking like every

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other therapist website, but also

staying within the confines of what is

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familiar and intuitive to your clients.

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Because familiarity is safety.

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Familiarity builds trust.

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So good design, unique design doesn't

necessarily mean reinventing the wheel.

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It means doing everything

we're talking about here.

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Maybe in a little bit of a different

way, but not foregoing or forsaking

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any of these in the name of pushing

the envelope, or trying something new.

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It means using familiar structure, then

adding your own personality through

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things like color and imagery and words.

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It's one of the reasons we love

our Squarespace templates because

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they're designed with the basics in

place, with that familiar structure,

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with some unique flare as well, and

then you get to make it your own.

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But keep the basics there.

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All right, so I've run through

all of these design principles and

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ultimately, hopefully what you see

here is that every choice on your

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website is a form of communication.

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Whether your clients realize it or not,

whether you realize it or not, there

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is something that you are sharing.

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What do you wanna share?

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Your personality.

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Are you calm and reflective?

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Are you direct and bold and to

the point, your niche, a couple's

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therapist site should probably feel

different than an A DHD specialist.

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Right?

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I love hearing from neurodivergent

clinicians, especially when we

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get to design their sites for them

because they're so mindful of who's

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reading that site and how they're

gonna be interacting with it.

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What we need to be keeping

in mind for that person.

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That's gonna be a lot different

than a couple in their fifties

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going through betrayal.

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What about your energy in session?

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Are you about being grounded

and centered and soothing?

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Are you creative and playful?

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These things can come

through visually as well.

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And of course there is a level

of professionalism that you can

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be subconsciously communicating,

and that translates to competence

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in the eyes of your clients.

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Professionalism doesn't mean

that you have to be buttoned up.

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It means you can have pink hair and

swear in session if you want, but

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there is an experience you offer your

clients that can be brought forth in

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your website so that they view you as

the premium level expert that you are.

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Can you see here how your

website is really part of your

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kind of clinical identity?

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It's about creating congruence.

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It's about feeling like

you, ' cause here's the other

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thing I want you to remember.

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If your design and you're in person

or onscreen energy don't match,

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clients experience a disconnect.

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If who I meet on the website is totally

different than who I meet in my intake

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session, there's gonna be some rub there.

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So a somatic therapist whose site

feels rigid or corporate might

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not attract the right clients.

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A high achieving professional therapist

who works with the go-getters and and the

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C-level executives, she probably won't

have a site that feels overly soft 'cause

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they might come across as too casual.

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So this is all about being congruent

with who you are, how you show

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up in session, and what your

clients are ultimately seeking.

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This is why design is so stink and fun.

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Because you get to decide how to

marry all of those things together.

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Now, I want you to know that you

don't have to become a designer

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to apply this psychology.

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I've given you some great tips here.

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Think about the site menu.

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Think about font hierarchy.

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Think about the spacing

and the balance of things.

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This doesn't require a degree, and

especially with today's website

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platforms, it's easy to do.

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But start by asking yourself, what do I

want people to feel when they land here?

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Knowing that, does the layout and

color and tone match that intention?

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The small fixes you

make can go a long way.

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Simplifying the menu, using a

handful of standard colors with

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maybe one accent, making sure

spacing and alignment are consistent,

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keeping one primary call to action.

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Nothing crazy, nothing

groundbreaking, incredibly effective.

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The goal is a site that feels calm and

clear and aligned with your energy.

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It's one of the reasons we have

so many different Squarespace

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templates to start with.

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If this was all about just one

standard approach for absolutely

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everyone, you'd only need one of 'em.

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But we have this wide range

of styles so that someone can

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choose, this feels like me.

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This feels like what would resonate

with my clients, and then you

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get to turn it into to yours.

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Now they all of course, follow these

basic, fundamental subconscious

340

principles, but then you get the

design flexibility and the creative

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license to make it your own.

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It's about being both pretty

and strategic at the same time.

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I mentioned last week that our Black

Friday sale is coming next month,

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the biggest sale of the year, and.

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Primarily the biggest template

sale of our entire year.

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You can get all of the details

on the entire five days of

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deals@walkerstrategycode.com

348

slash BF 25, but we're gonna offer 30% off

of every single template in our library,

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every single add-on our blog page, our

intensivess page, our group therapy pages.

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This is the deepest discount

available all year long and.

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Don't tell my designer Erica, but we

are very much hoping to have a brand

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new design released before the Black

Friday holiday as well, so that if

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you are interested in this new vibe

we are putting out there, you can snag

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that as well at a super deep discount.

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If you're wondering what the heck I'm

talking about and you've never seen

356

our templates before, go take a look,

even if it's just to see some of the

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principles I've talked about in action.

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Sometimes you don't need

one of our templates.

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That's okay.

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I love pointing our students and clients

there to at least get an understanding

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of some basics to maybe grab some

inspiration because I don't want you

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to feel like you have to go hire a

professional designer if you don't want

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to create a site because you are capable

of engaging in these principles and

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creating something that's incredibly

beautiful and incredibly effective.

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So you can check out our templates,

walker strategy code.com/templates.

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If you want to go browse around

and see what I'm talking about.

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But I hope you've understood here

that design isn't just fluff.

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It's not just about looking pretty.

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There is deep psychology happening there.

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It's the nonverbal language of your

business and of your marketing, and when

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your website looks and feels aligned with

who you are as a therapist and what you

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bring to the table and what working with

you is like, then it becomes an extension

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of the therapeutic experience itself.

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People get a preview of working with

you before they pick up the phone.

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That is what makes design powerful.

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It helps people feel what it's like to

work with you before they've even met you.

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When your website matches what you

do and who you are, that is when

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your design really starts working.

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I hope this one has

gotten your gears turning.

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You've gotten some good takeaways on ways

you can be improving your current website.

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If you're like, Anna, I don't have a

website yet, I don't know where to start,

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we would love to support you in that.

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Go check out our templates.

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Like I said, if you're interested

in saving some big money, black

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Friday's coming next month.

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Walker strategy code.com/bf

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25.

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I'm cheering for you guys.

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I'll see you in the next episode.