Websites for Doctors, Dentists and Therapists

Choosing a doctor, dentist or therapist is personal. People are often worried, in pain, or unsure what they need. Before they call, most will look at your website to answer one question: can I trust this person with my health?

This post covers what builds that trust, what new patients want to know, and a few things to handle carefully when health information is involved.

Answer the practical questions first

People looking for care usually have practical questions before anything else. Put the answers where they’re easy to find:

Are you taking new patients or clients? If you aren’t, say so, and save everyone a call.
Do you take my insurance? List the plans you accept, or say clearly that you’re out of network and whether you provide paperwork for reimbursement.
Where are you, and when are you open? Address, hours, parking and public transit, and whether you offer telehealth.
How do I book? A phone number that can be tapped, and online booking if you offer it.

Many practices bury these answers several pages deep. Putting them on the home page is one of the simplest ways to earn a call.

Introduce the people

Patients are choosing a person, not a building. A good practice website introduces each clinician with:

a real, recent photo
their training, licenses and areas of focus
a short, plain description of how they work with patients

For therapists especially, a few sentences about your approach, written in plain language, help people decide if you’re the right fit before the first session. Avoid jargon. Someone who is struggling shouldn’t need a dictionary to find out whether you can help.

Explain what to expect

The unknown makes people anxious. A short page on what to expect at a first visit helps: how long it takes, what to bring, which forms to fill in beforehand, and what happens in the appointment.

For therapy practices, it helps to explain how the first session works, how long sessions last, how often people usually come, and your fees and cancellation policy.

Be clear about fees

Surprise bills damage trust. Where you can, share:

fees for common appointments or sessions, especially if you’re out of network
whether you offer a sliding scale
your cancellation and missed-appointment policy

Be careful with health information

This is the part to take seriously. A standard website contact form is not set up to receive private health information securely. In the United States, practices covered by HIPAA have specific obligations about how they handle protected health information.

A few practical steps:

Keep the website contact form general. Ask for a name, a way to reach the person and a short reason for contacting you, and add a note asking people not to include medical details.
Use a secure tool for anything clinical. Intake forms, medical history and messages about care belong in a patient portal or practice software built for health information, not in a website form or ordinary email.
Check with your compliance advisor about your booking tool, forms and email before launch.

We’re web designers, not compliance experts, so treat this as a starting point rather than legal advice.

Reviews and testimonials

Reviews can reassure new patients, but be careful. Some professional codes limit how testimonials can be used, especially in mental health, and patient privacy always comes first. Check your profession’s rules before quoting anyone. Linking to your public Google reviews is often a safer choice than putting testimonials on your site.

Never write or edit reviews yourself.

Make it calm and easy to use

The design of a practice website should feel calm and clear:

plenty of space, readable type and simple navigation
a site that works well on a phone, since many people search for care on one
good contrast and text that can be enlarged, for patients with low vision
no pop-ups, autoplaying video or anything that makes the site harder to use

Accessibility matters for every business, and more so for one that serves patients.

Mistakes to avoid

Stock photos of smiling models in white coats, instead of your real team and office.
Insurance information that’s out of date.
A long, dense “About” page that never says who you help or how to book.
A contact form that invites people to describe their symptoms.

If you’d like help

We build clear, calm websites for practices: who you are, who you help, what to expect and how to book, all easy to read on a phone. A site is $2,000, with every page you need, and we write the words for you, in plain language. Your forms and booking stay with the secure tools you already use, and we link to them from the site. See our pricing, or tell us about your practice.