How to Build Your Private Practice Website (with examples!)

If you’re a private practice owner, you may be looking to launch a new private practice website or update your current one because it’s outdated. But it’s an overwhelming process, and you probably have so many questions like:

• What pages do I need on my website?
• How do I make sure potential clients can find me online?
• Do I need to worry about HIPAA compliance?
• Should I use a template or hire someone to design it from scratch?
• How do I optimize my private practice website for SEO?

As a brand and website designer, I work with private practice owners and therapists of all kinds to build beautiful and strategic websites that speak to your potential clients. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process, including what to plan before you start designing + which pages and features you need, plus real-life examples!

Why You Need a Private Practice Website

You might feel like you “need a website,” but maybe you’re not entirely sure why. You might have heard other practitioners talk about it, or you know that most businesses have them, so you should, too.

Whether you’re a solo therapist or the owner of a small private practice, there are many benefits to having your own website:

• Your website builds credibility: When someone finds your name through a referral or Psychology Today, they’ll look you up online. A professional website helps potential clients feel confident about reaching out. Without one, people often assume you’re either new to the field or not actively accepting clients.
• Search engines reward websites with visibility: When someone searches “therapist near me,” Google looks for relevant websites to show in results. Your website gives search engines content to work with, such as your specialties, location, and approach to therapy, which helps you appear when people are looking for your services.
• Your website centralizes all your information in one place: Instead of explaining your rates, insurance policies, and scheduling process in every email or phone call, you can direct people to your website, where it’s all clearly laid out.
• Every marketing effort needs somewhere to send people: Your social media posts, Psychology Today profile, networking conversations, and any advertising you do should point to your website.

Overall, with a dedicated private practice or therapy website, you control the narrative about your practice. On third-party platforms like Psychology Today, you’re competing with other practitioners on the same page. With builders like TherapySites and Simple Practice, the format of your website is very limited and generic/outdated. 

Your website lets you explain your approach, share your personality, and help people understand why YOU are the right fit for them.

Get inspired by these therapist websites!

Before Starting Your Private Practice Website Design

There are a few foundational pieces that you need to figure out before you start building your private practice therapist website. Without them, you may end up with a website that looks nice but doesn’t work for your practice.

These important pieces are:

• Branding
• Choosing your website builder
• Identifying your target audience
• Copywriting
• Deciding to DIY or hiring a professional website designer

Let’s take a closer look at all of these items.

Branding

Your branding is how your practice looks, sounds, and feels to potential clients. It includes:

• Your logo and color palette
• The fonts and imagery you use
• Your tone of voice in writing
• Your overall personality and approach

This is also when you develop your brand strategy and get specific on who you serve, what makes you different, and what you want to be known for.

You need clarity on who you are and what you do before starting website design, and your visual branding needs to clearly reflect that strategy.

Here’s an example of branding I created for one of my clients, Integrative Psychotherapy and Wellness: 

Hilary, the owner of this private practice, offers online psychotherapy across Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, and she wanted her branding and website to convey a calming, grounding, and warm look.

Website Builder

To build your website, you’ll need to use a website builder. A website builder is a platform that lets you create and manage your website without coding. There are many different options out there, with some of the most popular ones being:

• WordPress
• Squarespace
• Wix
• Showit (my recommendation!)
• Therapist-specific platforms, such as TherapySites, Brighter Vision, or SimplePractice

I recommend Showit as the best website builder for private practice because it gives you the creative freedom to design exactly what you want, but it’s still user-friendly and has great SEO capabilities.

Target Audience

You need to be clear on who you want your private practice website to attract because you’ll structure it differently depending on your ideal clients. Your language, imagery, and even your color choices should speak to the people you want to work with.

For example, a therapist working with anxious teens could use warm & earthy colors, more casual language, and imagery that feels relatable to both teens and their parents who are making the appointment.

Copywriting

You’ll need copy for your website, which is the words that appear on each page. Some private practice owners get caught up in the design part and don’t realize they also need to write all the content that goes on their website. Your website designer doesn’t write your copy.

(Although when you work with me, I DO provide a customized website copywriting workbook for you with prompts, examples, and industry-specific guidance to help you write!)

It can be a good decision to work with a copywriter who can write your copy for you and optimize it for SEO (though not all copywriters do SEO, so ask about this upfront).

I have copywriter recommendations if you decide to go this route, and I can also recommend copywriting reviewers if you want to DIY using my workbook and just want an extra set of eyes.

Professional Website Designer for Private Practice or DIY?

If you decide to DIY your website, you can use a template. Templates are available for most website builders and often seem like an easy solution. However, they also come with big drawbacks:

• Templates aren’t built for private practices, so they might not have all the sections you need
• Customizing them requires technical skills and a lot of time
• You’re limited by the template’s structure, and changing layouts can get clunky/confusing 
• They aren’t the best way to optimize for SEO
• Templates have a standard contact form already, but if you have a private practice, you can’t use it because of HIPAA compliance requirements 

Unless you’re very early in your career, most private practices will benefit from working with a professional designer for a custom website. The cost is higher, but the process is easier, and you also won’t have to update your website for a long time.

Private Practice Website Essentials

Once you’re ready to start the design phase of your own private practice or therapist website, here’s what you’ll need to think about:

Home Page

Your home page is the first thing most visitors see when they find your website. It needs to quickly communicate who you are, who you help, and what makes you different. Your home page should include:

• A clear headline that explains who you help
• Brief overview of your services or specialties
• Your photo (people want to see who they’ll be working with)
• Contact information or a way to schedule
• Navigation to your other important pages

About Page

Your about page is where potential clients get to know you as a person and a professional. People choose therapists based on connection and trust, so this page needs to show your personality, but also relate it to your credentials. Typically, it should include:

• Your professional background and training
• Your approach to therapy
• Personal details that help clients feel an emotional connection
• Why you became a therapist
• Your photo

Services Pages

Services pages explain what you offer and how you help clients.

If you have multiple services, such as family therapy and individual counseling services, you can create multiple pages since the details will be different. This also helps with SEO because you can optimize each page for different search terms like “anxiety therapy” or “couples counseling.”

If you offer services in different geographic locations and SEO optimization in each of these locations is a top priority for you, I also recommend creating separate services pages for each location. However, many practices start with optimizing for their primary location and can always expand with additional location pages as their practice grows. 

HIPAA-Compliant Contact Form

You need to have a HIPAA-compliant contact form on your website because any health information that potential clients share, even something as basic as “I’m looking for help with panic attacks,” is protected under HIPAA. A regular contact form doesn’t meet these privacy requirements.

You can create HIPAA-compliant forms using Google Forms (with a Google Workspace account) or Microsoft 365. I include setting up these forms as part of my design services for private practices and therapists!

Larger practices may choose to use specialized software designed specifically for HIPAA-compliant forms, but Google Forms or Microsoft 365 work well for most small private practices.

Learn more about building a HIPAA-compliant website.

SEO Optimization

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s how you make your website more likely to show up when people search for therapy services in your area. SEO matters because many website visitors find therapists by searching online.

SEO is a complex topic, and there are over 200 ranking factors that Google uses to determine which pages to show to searchers first. If you’re working with a designer and a copywriter, make sure to ask them if SEO optimization is included in your package and how in-depth it will be.

If you’re DIY-ing, the most important things to do are:

• Identifying keywords that your target audience uses when looking for mental health professionals or private practices (you can use a free tool like UberSuggest)
• Using these keywords in your website content, especially in H1, H2, and H3 headings
• Writing title tags and meta descriptions for all website pages
• Making sure your website loads quickly and is easy to see on a mobile device (mobile optimization)
• Starting a blog and writing content that answers questions your potential clients have
• Getting listed in local directories like Google Business Profile

You can also watch tutorials on YouTube to get more tips on how to optimize your website for SEO.

However, it takes a lot of time to learn since there are many nuances, so the easiest and most effective way to build a successful therapist website is to work with a designer and a copywriter who include SEO in their packages.

Blog

I recommend that most of my private practice clients add a blog to their website. A blog helps with SEO because it gives you more opportunities to use the keywords your potential clients are searching for, and search engines favor websites that regularly add new content.

A blog also builds trust with your site visitors by showing your expertise and giving them helpful information before they book an appointment.

FAQs

Your new site visitors will likely have questions about your private practice, and you may decide to have a separate FAQs page or incorporate FAQ questions on relevant pages throughout your website. FAQs help reduce back-and-forth emails and often make people feel more confident about reaching out.

For example, you may consider including FAQs like:

• Do you accept insurance?
• What should I expect in our first session?
• How long are the sessions?
• Do you offer evening or weekend appointments?
• What’s your cancellation policy?

If you’re a therapist who’s also a life coach, I often recommend including an FAQ that helps your potential clients understand the difference between the therapeutic process and life coaching.

Professional Photography

Your website needs high-quality visuals to look professional and trustworthy.

You can invest in a brand photoshoot, use carefully selected stock photos, or combine both approaches. At the very least, you’ll need a professional headshot of yourself since people want to see who they’ll be working with before they book an appointment.

Professional images make your website feel more personal and help potential clients connect with you!

Pricing and Insurance

It’s important to clearly explain your pricing and insurance policies somewhere on your website. Some private practices set up a dedicated pricing and insurance page, but you can also include this information on your services pages, or even your contact page.

This section should include:

• Your session rates
• Which insurance plans you accept (if any)
• Whether you provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement
• Your payment methods
• Your cancellation and no-show policies
• Any sliding scale options you offer

Being upfront about pricing helps qualify potential clients. This way, only people who can afford your session rates will reach out to schedule an appointment.

Which Website Builder Is Best for Therapists and Private Practice Owners?

I recommend Showit as the best website builder for private practice owners, and there are multiple reasons for that. Showit gives you complete creative freedom, and you can create beautiful, modern designs that authentically represent your practice.

It’s also the perfect platform for small businesses and solo therapists because it’s user-friendly but still technologically robust. You don’t need coding skills to make changes, but you’re not stuck with basic functionality either! Showit is also easy to optimize for SEO, and the blog integrates with WordPress, which is excellent for search.

Showit is the only platform I design on because it allows me to deliver the best results for my clients. But if you already have a blog or website on another platform, I can help you migrate your existing content so you don’t lose anything in the transition.

6 Great Therapist Website Examples

Jodi Berman, PhD

Jodi Berman, PhD, is a therapist in Westport, CT, and she supports clients across the state through challenges like anxiety, depression, adapting to motherhood, and major life transitions. She wanted her private practice website to feel grounded and professional, so that’s what I did with light green and beige tones throughout!

The Vibrant Tapestry

One of my favorite best therapist website examples, The Vibrant Tapestry, is a therapy practice for aging adults in Washington state. Renee helps her clients honor their unique stories, perspectives, and complexities as they grow older—a phase of life that’s often overlooked.

I created her brand and private practice website to feel warm and accepting, but there’s also a touch of earthy funkiness. The website has clear organization and a dedicated FAQs page.

Community Connections Therapy

Community Connections Therapy is a speech and language therapy private practice started by two twin sisters in Columbus, Ohio. Victoria and Christina empower parents and children, and they wanted their website to be earthy, welcoming, and a little boho-inspired.

The website clearly explains the services this private practice offers, answers common FAQs, and forms a personal connection with the parents who are considering getting their child into speech therapy.

Sequoia Therapy Group

Sequoia Therapy Group is a private practice in Columbus, Ohio, serving individuals, couples, and families who deal with mental health challenges. Their website cultivates a warm atmosphere, and I love their Our Approach page that clearly explains what to expect when you begin therapy with them.

On their Meet the Team page, I also created separate bios for every therapist on the team, so you can learn more about their specialities, credentials, and whether they’re accepting new clients. The contact page also features a HIPAA-compliant form to get in touch.

Sage & Bloom Wellness

Sage & Bloom Wellness is a private practice for women, specializing in holistic therapy and nutritional services in Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This website conveys a sense of boutique sophistication, but it’s also nature-inspired with warm and earthy colors.

The home page clearly breaks down Sage & Bloom’s main focuses into individual therapy and nutritional services, and we also have a section that explains their areas of expertise, such as PTSD, narcissistic abuse recovery, EMDR, and feminist counseling services.

Rise Neuro Rehab

Rise Neuro Rehab is a physical therapy private practice in Tacoma and the South Sound, treating balance disorders, vestibular disorders, and neurological conditions.

This website features a lot of movement-focused imagery, and it clearly explains that the physical therapy is split up into the initial 60-minute evaluation, and then follow-ups where you’ll dive into exercises, strengthening, and education as needed.

FAQs

Where to Put Keywords on a Private Practice Website?

You should place keywords strategically throughout your website where they feel natural and helpful to your visitors. That said, it’s especially important to include them in your page titles and headings (H1, H2s, and H3s). You should also try to add them to your meta descriptions. However, don’t stuff keywords or use them excessively to the point of being unhelpful because Google has bots to detect this, and it can get your website penalized.

How to Write a Meta Description for a Private Practice Website?

A meta description is the short preview text that appears under your website link in search results. It should be 150-160 characters and include your main keyword and a compelling reason for someone to click. For example, it could be something like “Experienced trauma therapist in Denver helping adults heal from PTSD and anxiety. Compassionate, evidence-based therapy in a safe space.”

Which Website Builder Is HIPAA-Compliant?

No website builder is inherently HIPAA-compliant, but you can create a HIPAA-compliant website on most platforms, including Showit, WordPress, Squarespace, and others. HIPAA compliance depends more on how you set up your forms, hosting, and security measures rather than which platform you choose. Make sure your website designer is familiar with HIPAA compliance, because not all of them are! 

Strategic Website Design Services for Private Practice

I create beautiful, sophisticated websites and brands for private practices and therapists that authentically attract perfect-fit, private-pay clients. 

If you’re ready to move beyond Psychology Today and create an independent online presence, my brand & website design package includes:

• Custom branding (logo, colors, fonts, brand guidelines)
• 5-page Showit website design (with the opportunity to add more pages)
• HIPAA-compliant contact forms using Google Workspace
• On-page SEO optimization with keyword research
• Mobile-responsive design
• Video tutorials showing you how to update your site
• Website migration from other platforms, if needed
• Custom Instagram graphics for your launch
• Website copy workbook to help articulate your message

Learn more about my therapist website design service, or get in touch to discuss your project directly!