Therapy practices
Website for therapists that lowers the step to a first session
Your approach in plain words, your registration, your fees and a first contact that asks for nothing a client would rather say in the room.
People look for a therapist on a bad day.
A website for therapists is read by someone who is often not at their best. They want to know three things quickly: can you help with this, what will it cost, and how do I take the first step without explaining everything to a form. A calm page that answers those three beats a beautiful one that does not.
Therapy is also a field where what you say in public is regulated, and where the data a site collects is sensitive. Below: what you may claim, how to show fees, which form fields to drop, and where to start. We work from Ghent, Belgium, in English.
The first contact: what to ask and what to leave
- NameAsk. A first name is enough to call back.
- Phone or emailAsk for one of the two, and how they prefer to be contacted.
- When they are freeAsk: parts of the day, or a slot in your calendar.
- Reason for contact or symptomsLeave out. That is health data; you discuss it in the first session.
- Date of birth, insuranceLeave out until intake, in your practice software.
Fewer fields means less risk, and a lower threshold for someone who hesitates.
Advertising rules reach your website too
Your site is advertising in the eyes of most regulators. In the UK the CAP Code applies to it. Objective claims must be backed by evidence, where relevant from trials on people. Marketers must not discourage essential treatment for conditions that need medical supervision, and may only offer diagnosis or treatment for such conditions under a suitably qualified health professional, someone who can show relevant qualifications, professional indemnity insurance and accreditation by a body that handles complaints. Your own professional body adds its rules on top. Elsewhere the wording differs, but the direction is the same: truthful, verifiable, no pressure.
| On your site | Fine? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your registration and memberships | yes, and expected | it is how a client checks you |
| Who you work with and how | yes | plain description, no promise of an outcome |
| 'Cures anxiety in six sessions' | no | an objective claim you cannot back with evidence |
| Testimonials about results | risky | a single story is not evidence, and it reads as pressure |
| A discount on a block of sessions | think twice | it can push people into more sessions than they need |
Health data and the first contact
Under the GDPR, data about someone's health is a special category with stricter rules. The simplest way to stay on the right side is not to collect it on the website at all. A first-contact form asks for a name, one way to reach the person and when they are free. The reason they are coming you discuss in the first session; notes belong in your practice software, not in an inbox. In the US the same logic keeps you clear of most HIPAA questions on the website: what the form never collects, it cannot leak. Measure visits without cookies or only after consent; see do I need a cookie banner and do I need a privacy policy.
A fees page that answers before they ask
Put the fee on the page, not behind a form. A visible price is the strongest calming element on a therapy site, and it filters out enquiries that would end on cost. If an insurer or health system reimburses part of the fee, say how much the client pays out of pocket.
Five questions before the first contact
- 01Can I come here?Which complaints and questions you work with, and for whom not.
- 02Who is it?Your training, your registration, your approach, with a photo that calms.
- 03What does it cost?What a session costs, how long it lasts and whether it is reimbursed.
- 04When can I come?Whether there is a waiting list, and how long, honestly.
- 05How do I get in touch?A short form without medical details, or a time slot to pick.
Whoever finds an answer to those five questions calls with confidence. Whoever does not, keeps searching.
Where to start
- Choose a one-page site ifyou work alone, your list is full and most clients come by referral. Approach, registration, fees and a short form are enough.
- Choose a page per kind of question ifyou want clients who do not come through a referrer. Someone who types 'therapist for teenagers' and their town lands on that page.
- Choose online booking iffinding slots costs you or your reception real time. See booking system for your website.
- Choose a page per therapist ifyou run a group practice. Clients choose a person, with their own approach and calendar.
| Page | What it holds | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | how a first session and a course of sessions run | takes away the uncertainty before the first step |
| Per kind of question | who you work with, and who not | whoever recognises their question gets in touch |
| Fees | price, length, reimbursement, cancellation | not knowing the cost makes people leave |
| Practical | location, access, parking, online sessions | the questions your phone would get otherwise |
| About you | registration, training and a calm photo | trust in the person |
Sharing exercises or documents between sessions? Not by email; use a secure place such as a client portal with two-factor authentication. Seeing clients in more than one language? Give each language full pages of its own, as in multilingual website development, and make the site readable with a screen reader and a keyboard; when that becomes a legal duty is in European Accessibility Act and your website. Working as a coach rather than a health professional? See website for coaches. Working alone and starting small: web design for freelancers.
Being found by the right people
People type their question and their town: couples therapy plus the city, child psychologist, physiotherapist near me. A page per question, with the client's words as the title, brings those searches in. A Google Business Profile with your hours and whether you take new clients puts you on the map; how we approach it is under local SEO. Not showing on the map? Read Google Business Profile not showing.
One hour of work on your site
- Read your home page as someone on a bad day: after half a minute, do they know whether you can help, what it costs and how to book?
- Put your registration on the site and remove every testimonial that promises a result.
- Delete form fields that ask for symptoms or a diagnosis.
- Write three sentences on how a first session goes. It is often the page that calms people most.
- Test your site on a phone with the website speed test.
- Before you ask anyone for a price, write down what the site must do in the website brief template; what it costs in year one and after is in website cost.
Can I put client reviews on my site?
Check your professional body first. Many discourage testimonials about outcomes, and advertising rules want claims to be backed by evidence. Your approach, your registration and your fees build more trust.
Do you build for practices outside Belgium?
Yes. We work in English and remotely, and write the regulated parts with you for your own country.
What happens to what clients type into the form?
It reaches you and is not stored on the site. Because the form asks nothing about health, there is little to protect in the first place.
Website design
How VBS builds a practice site
We build your site to fit the room you work in: calm in tone, a page per kind of question, a fees page that answers before clients ask, and a first contact that collects no health data. Booking forms with free time slots we already build for client sites; for a practice that becomes a calendar per therapist. A one-pager starts at 1,500 euros; with booking, several therapists or languages it is 5,000 euros or more, at a fixed price per part. The approach is on website design; a first budget in the website cost calculator. Book a call.
A practice online, as calm as your room.
Tell us what you do, where you are registered and how clients find you now.
Rather get in touch right away?