According to wikipedia.com, technophobia is "the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. The term is generally used in the sense of an irrational fear, but others contend fears are justified." I was surprised to find that technophobia is as old as the Industrial Revolution!

Many therapists are technology averse, don't know where to begin, or don't know what they don't know... as opposed to being actually technophobic. However, don't let these challenges stop you from harnessing technology to your advantage. We can joke all we want about using a desensitization process, or EMDR, but the bottom line is that technology can help you in your practice.

First, ask yourself, "What is the technology for? What results are you seeking? Do you want a website and/or do you want technology for business use (such as billing, tracking financials, writing reports, etc.)?" In this article, we'll look at websites and discuss business uses separately.

Things to Consider for Your Website

Let's break it down into small steps:

1. So you want a website. What features do you want and why? You can have an information only website, or one that is interactive so clients can schedule appointments, pay online, etc. Many "bells and whistles" exist, so it's important to keep focused on the results you’re seeking.
2. What's your budget? $500 or $5,000?
3. Can/should you do it yourself or outsource it?
4. How do you find a website provider?

Consider what features you want and why you want them (this will save money). Just like writing a paper in school: answer who, what, where, when, and why. Personally, I want clients and potential clients to know what I do — my areas of specialty, where I am and how to get there, how I work, my general philosophy about therapy — and to provide them resources. I have sections specific to grief, to couples, and to Personality Mapping^TM, including a registration form that can be printed, completed, and faxed. You may want to include e-mail contact (consider legal and ethical issues of timeliness), online payment, appointment scheduling, databases, etc. Use technology to support your business the way you want to conduct your business.

Your Budget

What are you willing and able to spend on your website? This will help determine the features you select and whether you build it yourself or have someone else build it. Keep it simple, especially at first. Beware of "feature creep" — this can happen in any project. For example, say you're updating your kitchen — just new knobs and paint. The next thing you know you're tearing out cabinets and putting in granite countertops! This happens with technology all the time, too. Decide what is essential and what would be nice to have.

Can/Should You Do it Yourself or Outsource it?

There are really two parts to this question: are you comfortable enough and do you have the time to build your own website? Outsourcing is a fancy way of saying that you're hiring someone else. Trust your intuition in this decision.

Finding a Website Provider

Here are a few important tips for finding a website provider:

• Look at sites you like; who did them?
• Remember that when you search the internet for providers, the first providers are usually the ones that pay to be first.
• Ask your network of colleagues for referrals to three website vendors.
• Check references and be sure to ask how problems were resolved, if the site was done in a timely manner, etc.
• How long has the provider been in business?
• Check the Better Business Bureau
• Check your local chamber of commerce.

There are three parts to having a website:

1. The domain name (the URL or www.yourwebsite.com),
2. Hosting the website itself (a server that has your website on it), and
3. Developing the website (the features and content structure).

Providers offer one, two, or all three services. For example, I use Network Solutions. I was able to search for and have them register my domain names (www.chandramaanderson.com and www.personalitymap.com), my website is on their servers, and I used their simple drag-and-drop system to create my site with the features I wanted. One can also pay them to custom develop your website.

What Options Are There For Therapists?

Canned Solutions

Just like in cooking, you can buy broth for your base, or you can buy a chicken and make broth. Any feature you want for your website already exists: e-mail, e-commerce, appointment systems, etc. If you feel comfortable, you can put together a website yourself by finding a provider that has drag-and-drop canned solutions. You select the overall look of your site, easily add content, additional pages, and so on. Doing the basic setup is pretty quick; it can be done in a couple of hours. If you want it to look just so, it takes time to tweak it. You should plan on spending several hours if you do it yourself.

Vendor Using Canned Solutions

A middle-of-the-road solution is to hire a Web developer who will set up your website using existing modules. This is probably the best bang for your buck.

Vendor Personalizes a Website for Your Business

Another middle-of-the-road option is to find a local provider who will meet with you to determine your needs. You provide the images or logos and your content and the provider will build a two- to three-page site for you. This may cost in the $500-800 range, plus hosting, which is about $15-20/month. Anything more than two to three pages of content can climb over the $1,200 mark, depending on design, functionality, etc.

These two types of vendor solutions are probably the best choices for most therapists, since they are the most cost-effective (other than DIY — doing it yourself) and will provide the results you want.

Proprietary Website Development

Proprietary development means hiring a web developer who will write software code to provide the features you want. You need to know very specifically what you want, what you want those features to do, etc. A large company may have strategic reasons for wanting proprietary code. As therapists, most of us just want to provide information to make it easy for clients to find us.

Next Steps

Hopefully by now you have the terminology to ask yourself what you want and need, what your budget is, whether to be a DIYer or to hire a vendor, and what to ask when you interview providers for your website.

So, pick up your phone and call your trusted colleagues to ask who they used for their website. Knowledge is power; you don't have to be technophobic any longer!

Chandrama Anderson, MFT, technical editor of Webmastering for Dummies and co-author of the Stanford Professional Education Workbook, Building an eCommerce Website, is located in Palo Alto and specializes in grief and loss, couples therapy, and is the creator of Personality Mapping^TM.