How to build a therapist website

1. Give each page a clear job.

A solo practice can start with four pages. This is a useful planning structure, not a rule about how many pages every practice needs. Add a page when it answers a distinct question that the existing pages cannot cover clearly.

• Home: Your name or practice name, who you work with, the services you provide, where you offer them, and the next step. Make the location and in-person or online options easy to find.
• About: A current photo, your professional background and credentials, and a plain explanation of your approach. Use credentials you can substantiate and have approved for publication.
• Services: The services and age groups you actually work with, how appointments are offered, and practical details such as fees or insurance arrangements you choose to publish.
• Contact: The appropriate contact method, location details, availability information, and what happens after someone reaches out. Give existing clients a clearly labeled route to their usual portal.

Before opening a website builder, draft the page headings in a document and collect the facts each page needs. An unanswered question about your services will remain unanswered in an attractive template.

Check: Can someone unfamiliar with your practice find your service, location, and contact route without opening every page?

2. Write for someone deciding whether to contact you.

Use the words you would use to explain your practice in a first conversation. Define a specialist term when it matters. Keep paragraphs short enough to scan on a phone, and use headings that describe the questions below them.

A useful opening identifies the practitioner, audience, service, and location. For example, use this structure with your own verified details:

This is a writing prompt, not ready-to-publish copy. Remove anything you cannot support. Avoid promises about recovery, timelines, or how a visitor will feel. Explain your process and the practical choices available instead.

Use a label such as “Ask about availability” if the button sends an inquiry. Reserve “Book an appointment” for a destination that actually completes a booking. Have the practitioner approve service descriptions, credentials, and expectations before publication.

3. Keep domain ownership and access clear.

The domain is your address, such as yourpracticename.com. Hosting serves the website at that address. Email and a scheduling system may be separate services even when a provider bundles them together.

Register the domain in an account your practice controls. ICANN calls the person or organization holding registration rights the registrant; renewal and transfer terms come from the registrar agreement. See ICANN’s explanation of domain registration.

• Record the registrar, account owner, renewal date, and renewal cost.
• Use a recovery email you can still access if the practice website or its email stops working.
• Agree how a builder receives access and who remains responsible for renewals.
• Ask what you can take with you if you leave the hosting or website platform: domain, copy, photos, and website files or an export.

Domain control does not automatically mean a website platform lets you export its design or code. Get the handoff arrangements in writing. If you already have a domain and working email, tell the builder before any connection settings change.

4. Decide where the first contact goes.

Sketch the path before adding a form: visitor chooses an action, the request reaches a named person, and that person responds through the practice’s established process. Keep existing intake, scheduling, and client portals in use unless you have a separate reason to change them.

A general website inquiry can ask for basic contact details and a suitable time to respond. Ask people not to include clinical information. Clinical history, documents, and intake questionnaires belong in the system and process the practice has chosen for them.

• Distinguish a request from a confirmed appointment.
• Explain what the visitor should expect next, using only a response expectation you can maintain.
• Provide another way to make contact if the form fails.
• Keep names, message text, and other submitted details out of website analytics.

Check: Use clearly labeled test information to verify receipt, confirmation, and the failed-submission message. A button animation alone does not prove delivery.

5. Make the basic tasks accessible.

Review the pages on a small screen and with a keyboard. Use the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative’s Easy Checks as a starting point:

• Give each page a descriptive title and organize its headings logically.
• Keep text readable against its background and when enlarged.
• Make navigation and contact controls usable without a mouse, with a visible keyboard focus.
• Use meaningful link labels and text alternatives for informative images.
• Label form fields and explain errors in text.

These checks are a preliminary review, not a complete accessibility evaluation. Include linked scheduling pages and documents in the review so the task remains usable after someone leaves your homepage.

6. Choose the work you want to own.

DIY can be sensible when you have time to learn a builder, write the pages, test the contact path, and maintain the site. Try making one complete page with your real text before committing to a platform. Check the mobile layout and how you would make a routine update.

Professional development can be useful when you want someone else to handle layout, implementation, testing, and launch. Compare the actual scope: who writes the copy, what revisions include, who maintains the site, and what happens when you need a change.

Compare both the initial cost and recurring costs. A domain, hosting, email, paid extensions, and support may be separate. A lower build price alone does not tell you what running the site will cost or which tasks remain yours.

If a four-page site fits your practice, my Practice Website package sets out the build and mandatory monthly care together. If you prefer DIY, the page plan and checks in this guide still apply.

7. Review the whole journey before launch.

1. Approve names, credentials, service descriptions, location details, and contact expectations.
2. Open every page and important link on a phone. Check menu controls, text size, images, and the appointment or inquiry destination.
3. Complete the keyboard and contact tests. Confirm that the person handling inquiries knows where requests arrive.
4. Confirm the public site is accessible without a password, has useful page titles, and is not accidentally excluded from search.
5. Keep a copy of your approved text and images, and record who handles updates, support, and renewals.

After launch, update the website link wherever you already refer people to your practice. If Psychology Today is one of those places, read how a directory listing and your own website can work together. Recheck practical details whenever availability, services, fees, or locations change.