Directory Onboarding
Checklist

Four short fields that together establish who you are. This is the first section visitors read and the foundation everything else builds on.

Business Name — required

Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your legal or DBA registration. This is what visitors see first and what the directory's search indexes against.

• Match your legal or DBA name exactly — no abbreviations or informal variants
• Don't include your modality here (that goes in the tagline below)
• Don't include location here unless it's part of your legal name

Tagline — optional, but strongly recommended

A single sentence that appears directly below your business name. It tells visitors who you are and what you do — immediately. Writing it right after your name means the two read as a unit.

• One sentence
• Include your primary modality or specialty
• Don't use the word "expert" or other claim-heavy titles
• Don't list credentials — this isn't a bio
• Write it the way you'd introduce yourself at a professional event

Examples

• "Certified Reflexologist specializing in stress relief and nervous system support."
• "Licensed Massage Therapist focused on chronic pain management and mobility."
• "Board-Certified Naturopathic Doctor offering root-cause wellness consultations."

Your Role with the Business — required

A dropdown with three options: Owner, Manager, or Other. Selecting Other reveals a free-text field where you can describe your role in your own words.

If you pick Other, write a real title or relationship — "Lead Practitioner," "Director of Clinical Services," "Sole Proprietor doing business as…" — not a vague phrase like "associate" or "team member." This field is shown on your listing in some views, so it should make sense to a visitor reading it cold.

Do You Hold a Professional License for This Work? — required

This is what distinguishes a directory listing — clients can enter their professional license number for transparency.

A Yes / No radio. Selecting Yes reveals a follow-up field where you enter your license information. Selecting No simply records that you don't hold one — and that's a perfectly normal answer for many practitioners in the directory. The directory is not license-only.

If you select Yes

Enter your license number along with the issuing state or jurisdiction. The format is flexible — write what's clear and verifiable. Examples:

• CCB# 1234567
• Licensed in Oregon and Washington
• AZ LMT #12345

If you hold multiple licenses, list your primary one here. Additional certifications belong in Highlights (Section 10).

An optional gallery of up to 10 additional images that appear beneath your Featured Image on your listing. The first gallery image displays as a secondary hero.

If you build a gallery, build it well

Listings with 6–8 gallery images consistently outperform thinner ones. A single afterthought image is worse than no gallery at all — either skip it entirely, or invest enough to make it count.

Recommendation: duplicate your Featured Image as Gallery #1, then add 5–9 more for variety.

Variety beats volume

• One portrait of you
• One environment or treatment-room shot
• One tools or products shot
• One in-session shot (no client faces)
• The rest showing texture, atmosphere, and detail

Alt Text — required on every gallery image

Every image you add to the gallery requires alt text. This isn't a nice-to-have — it's the text screen readers announce to visitors who can't see images, and the text Google uses to understand and rank your photos in image search.

How to write it

Describe what's in the image in one short sentence, as if explaining it to someone who can't see it. Include the most relevant detail — subject, setting, and action if there is one.

• Don't start with "image of" or "photo of" — screen readers already announce it as an image
• Don't repeat your business name in every alt text — it gets noisy
• Don't keyword-stuff — it hurts your ranking and reads as spam to screen-reader users

File rules

Same as Featured Image — JPG, JPEG, PNG, WEBP, or GIF; 2 MB max; portrait 9:16 recommended for visual consistency with the hero.

Reordering and removing

Drag images by the handle to reorder them, or use the up and down arrows. The red X removes an image from the listing.

How visitors reach you. Phone, email, and email visibility are required; toll-free, fax, website, and booking link are optional.

Phone — required

The number you actually answer for client inquiries. The number is clickable on mobile, so a business line is preferred over a personal cell when possible. Include area code. Extensions are supported — use the format shown in the field placeholder: (555) 123-4567 ext 5.

Email — required

Defaults to your account email; change it if you'd rather route inquiries to a different inbox. Use a professional address (yourname@yourbusiness.com) when possible. Avoid shared inboxes unless someone actively monitors them. Check your autoreply, if any, before going live.

Email Visibility — required

Controls whether your email appears on your public profile. Pick Do not show if you'd rather visitors reach you through your phone, website, or booking link. Either way, the directory uses the address to route any platform-generated messages to you.

Toll-free — optional

List if you have one. Useful if you serve clients across a wider region.

Fax — optional

Still common for healthcare referrals, insurance paperwork, and inter-practitioner communication. List if you accept faxed records.

Website — optional

Your main business website. Paste the URL with or without https:// — the form adds it for you. Test the link on mobile before going live.

Booking Link PRO — optional

A direct link to your online scheduling page (Calendly, Acuity, SimplePractice, etc.). If your website has a booking page, link to that page — not your homepage. The whole point of a separate booking link is to give visitors a one-click path to commit, so dropping them on your homepage defeats the purpose.

Six fields. The Service Description anchors the section; the rest are factual filters and metadata around it.

Service Description PRO — rich text, no length cap

The main body of your listing. This is where visitors decide whether you're the right fit — your approach, your philosophy, what makes your practice yours. Rich text formatting is available (headings, bold, italic, bulleted lists, links) — use it to make a wall of text scannable, not to decorate.

Free-form, but a few principles

• Lead with what you do, not how long you've been doing it
• Write the way you'd talk to a prospective client face-to-face, not the way you'd write a clinical brochure
• Use formatting sparingly: short paragraphs, occasional headings, one or two lists if you have things that genuinely belong in a list
• Save credentials for the License field and Highlights — this isn't a CV
• Aim for substance, not length — visitors skim. A focused 400 words beats a sprawling 1,500.

Health Claims & Language — applies to your Service Description and everywhere else on your profile

The directory is built on trust. Families use it to find real providers with real credentials — and that trust breaks the moment someone reads a claim that sounds too good to be true.

Your profile must stay clear of unsubstantiated health claims. This protects families from misleading information, protects the directory from regulatory risk, and protects you from FTC and FDA enforcement — both of which have ramped up significantly in the wellness and alternative-health space over the past decade.

Rules

• Describe what you do, not what you cure. "Supports relaxation" is fine. "Treats anxiety" is not.
• Don't name specific medical conditions as things you address unless you hold the license to diagnose or treat them. A licensed MD can say "manages hypertension." A reflexologist cannot.
• Don't quantify outcomes you cannot prove. "80% of clients report relief" requires documented evidence to back it up.
• Don't use before/after testimonials that describe symptom elimination, cures, or disease reversal.
• Be especially careful if your practice involves frequency or wellness devices, supplement programs, or similar products. These categories are subject to active FTC and FDA enforcement, and the language manufacturers provide in their marketing materials is often non-compliant. Do not copy product marketing language into your profile.

Words to watch

Service Areas

A brief list of locations you serve — as specific as you can be without overstating reach.

• Good: "Verde Valley and Sedona, AZ" · "Within 30 miles of Camp Verde" · "All of Yavapai County, AZ"
• Avoid: vague phrases like "anywhere" or "statewide" unless that's genuinely true
• If you work remotely, list the regions you take clients from — not the whole country

Remote

A checkbox. Check it if any part of your service can be delivered remotely — telehealth, video consultations, phone sessions, virtual intake. Don't check it if your work requires physical presence (bodywork, in-home care, hands-on therapies).

Clarifying test: "Can a visitor in another city get meaningful value from me without traveling?" If yes, check it.

Hours

A brief description of when you're available. Freeform — a simple format works well:

• "Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat by appointment"
• "By appointment only, including evenings and weekends"

If your schedule varies, say so. Visitors would rather read "hours vary by week, please inquire" than a rigid schedule that turns out to be wrong half the time.

Languages

List the languages you work in. English is the default, so list it only if you want to emphasize it. Be honest about fluency — "conversational" signals different capability than "fluent."

Example: "English (primary), Spanish (conversational)"

Tags PRO

Short keywords that help your listing surface in search. Tags work alongside Categories (next section) — categories place you in the directory's structure; tags describe your specifics in your own words.

Rules

• Comma-separated, single line
• Lowercase
• 5–15 tags
• Include your modality, specialty, conditions you support (carefully — see Health Claims), and your location
• Mix broad and specific (e.g., reflexology, plantar fasciitis support)
• No hashtags, no full sentences

Example

reflexology, foot therapy, stress relief, chronic pain, holistic health, camp verde az, nervous system support, relaxation, integrative wellness

Two related pieces of structure that work together. Categories place you in the directory's taxonomy — they're how visitors find you when they're browsing or filtering by service type. Attributes describe how you practice — they're how visitors filter for fit beyond just the service type ("works with elders," "sliding scale," "in-home only").

Selected Categories — at least one required

The category list is grouped into two top-level branches:

• Non-Certified Services — for practitioners offering services that don't require a state license or formal certification. Most caregivers, holistic practitioners, wellness providers, and support services fall here.
• Certified / Licensed Services — for practitioners whose work requires a state-issued license or recognized certification (LMT, LPC, RN, MD, etc.).

How to choose

• Use the search box to find a category by keyword, or click "Browse Full Category List" to see the whole taxonomy
• Select all categories that genuinely describe your practice — but don't over-select. A listing tagged with 12 categories looks unfocused; one with 2–4 well-chosen categories ranks better and reads cleaner.
• If you offer distinct service types (e.g., reflexology and nutrition consulting), select a category from each — that's the right use of multiple categories.

Don't see a category that fits?

Use the Suggest a category field at the bottom of the section. Admin reviews submissions and adds new categories when they make sense for the directory. Briefly explain what the category would cover so we have enough context to evaluate it.

Practice Attributes — optional, but recommended

Four groups that help visitors filter for fit. Each group is collapsible — click to expand and see the available attributes within it.

• Practice Approach — how you work. Examples: Trauma-aware, Grief-informed, Neurodivergent-friendly
• Population Focus — who you tend to serve. Examples: Works with elders, End-of-life focus, Caregiver support focus
• Care Setting — where and how you work. Examples: In-home only, Remote/virtual available, Available for travel
• Exchange Model — how you accept compensation. Examples: Accepts credit/debit cards, Sliding scale available, Available for barter

Agencies see this section as Agency Attributes instead — same four groups, slightly different options tuned for agency-scale operations.

Rules

• Select only attributes that genuinely describe how you work
• If you're unsure what an attribute means, hover the ? on the form for a definition
• Revisit your attributes every 6–12 months — your practice evolves, and so should your attributes

A short video helps visitors get a feel for you before they ever reach out. One video per profile — hosted on YouTube or Vimeo and embedded on your listing.

How it works

Choose Yes to add a video, or No to skip. If you choose Yes, three fields are required (URL, Title, Alt Text) and one is optional (GDPR notice). The section defaults to No.

Video URL or ID — required

Paste the YouTube or Vimeo URL — or just the video ID. Both work. YouTube and Vimeo are the only supported hosts; links from other platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Loom, etc.) won't embed.

Examples

• Full URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
• Just the ID: dQw4w9WgXcQ
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/123456789 or 123456789

Video Title — required

Short, descriptive. This appears as the heading above the embedded video on your listing. Examples: "A tour of our space" · "Meet Jane — Reflexology in Camp Verde" · "What to expect at your first session." Keep it under about 8 words.

Video Alt Text — required

A brief description for screen readers and anyone whose connection blocks the video from loading. Think of it the way you wrote alt text for your gallery images: describe what the video is about and what someone unable to watch would need to know.

GDPR Notice — optional

Check this box to display a consent message before the video loads. GDPR is a European Union privacy regulation, not a US law — but embedding YouTube or Vimeo places tracking cookies on visitors' browsers, and any EU visitor to your profile is technically covered regardless of where you're located. The consent message gives EU visitors a chance to acknowledge those cookies before the video starts. For US-only practices the box is genuinely optional; if you have any reasonable expectation of international visitors, checking it is the safer choice.

Content & craft

The fields are required; the quality of the video is what makes it work. A few principles that hold up over time:

• Aim for 30–90 seconds. The first 3–5 seconds decide whether viewers keep watching, and engagement falls off sharply after the first ~30 seconds. Front-load what matters.
• Hook the opening. Open with who you are and who you help — not a logo animation, slow intro, or music fade-in.
• One clear call-to-action. "View my services below" or "Book a consultation" outperforms multi-step instructions.
• Add captions. Most viewers scroll with sound off; captions noticeably increase completion rates.
• Film in landscape (16:9) with good lighting and clear audio.
• No treatment claims or guarantees on camera — the health-claims rules apply to video the same as they apply to your written profile.
• No visible client faces without written consent.

A discount or special offer available only to visitors who find you through the directory — not advertised through your website, social media, or other channels. This rewards visitors for using the directory and gives you a way to measure where new business is coming from.

How it works

Choose Yes to add a special, or No to skip. If Yes, two fields are required (Call to action + Offer details) and one is optional (Expiration date). The offer appears as a clickable card on your listing — visitors see the call-to-action headline first, then click to see the full details.

Call to Action — required

A short, clickable headline. Think of it as the hook — what would make a visitor stop scrolling and click? Keep it under about 10 words.

Examples

• "Click here for 20% off your first session"
• "Free 15-minute consultation for Directory visitors"
• "Mention the Directory and save $25"

Offer Details — required, rich text

The full description that appears when a visitor clicks the headline. This is where you spell out what's included, who qualifies, how to redeem, and anything else they need to know. Rich text formatting is available — use bullets for multi-part offers, links for booking pages, and bold for the redemption mechanic.

What to cover

• What the offer is — be specific ("first session" not "a session")
• Who qualifies — any Directory visitor? new clients only?
• How to redeem — mention the Directory at booking, use a code, etc.
• Any conditions — one per client, can't combine with other offers, etc.

Expiration Date — optional

A date picker. If you set a date, the entire offer disappears from your public profile after that date — visitors won't see it.

Rules

• The offer must be genuinely directory-exclusive — not advertised elsewhere
• Describe the offer clearly: what it is, who qualifies, how to redeem
• Include a redemption mechanism ("mention Comfort Care Directory at booking," a discount code, etc.)
• Don't use this space for general discounts, seasonal sales, or public promotions
• The health-claims rules from Section 8 apply here too

Prefer evergreen offers over dated ones

An offer that says "mention this listing for 15% off your first session" works today and still works next year. An offer that says "valid through December 31" is either a maintenance task you'll forget or a stale message broadcasting that your listing is neglected. Same principle as "since 2010" vs "over 15 years" in Highlights — build it once, keep it current.

Run through this check before submitting your listing. Most rejections we see are small things that this list would have caught.

• 1 · Listing Basics — Business name matches your legal or DBA name
• 1 · Listing Basics — Tagline is one sentence — no claims, no credential dumping
• 1 · Listing Basics — Role with the business is set; Other includes a clear description
• 1 · Listing Basics — License question answered; if Yes, license info includes jurisdiction
• 2 · Featured Image — Image uploaded, portrait orientation, under 2 MB
• 2 · Featured Image — Filename is descriptive (not IMG_3847.jpg)
• 3 · Image Gallery — If used, Gallery #1 matches Featured Image; gallery has variety (portrait, environment, tools, in-session); every image has alt text
• 4 · Business Address — Address verified in Google Maps preview (added to Maps first if needed); mobile/remote providers used city + state
• 5 · Contact Details — Phone is the one you actually answer; email is monitored and professional; email visibility is set intentionally
• 5 · Contact Details — Website and Booking Link (if used) tested on mobile
• 6 · Social Media — All linked profiles are actively maintained; every link tested on mobile
• 7 · Description — 150 words or fewer, third person, includes location, mentions in-person/virtual
• 7 · Description — At least one sentence written in natural, spoken English
• 8 · Services & Content — Service Description leads with what you do, not how long you've done it
• 8 · Services & Content — Every outcome-related statement passes the "could I defend this to the FTC?" substitution test
• 8 · Services & Content — No product marketing language copied from device or supplement manufacturers
• 8 · Services & Content — Service areas are specific; Remote is checked accurately; Hours are realistic
• 8 · Services & Content — Tags are 5–15 items, lowercase, comma-separated, mix of broad and specific
• 9 · Categories & Attributes — At least one category selected from the correct branch (Non-Certified vs Certified/Licensed)
• 9 · Categories & Attributes — Attributes selected honestly — only what's genuinely true
• 10 · Highlights — If used, 3+ short differentiators using "since [year]" where relevant
• 11 · Video — If used, 30–90 seconds, hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, with Title and Alt Text filled in
• 12 · FAQ — If used, at least 3 client-facing questions answered in 1–3 sentences each
• 13 · Directory-Only Special — If used, the offer is genuinely directory-exclusive with a clear redemption method
• Throughout — No stock photos, AI images, or copyrighted material anywhere on the listing