Most therapists hire a website designer once, maybe twice, in a career. You don’t get to practice. So here is the list I’d hand my own wife if she were starting over, nine questions and the answers that should make you keep looking.
1. “Who owns the site when we’re done?”
This is the one most people forget, and it’s the one that costs the most later. Ask it exactly that way. The right answer has three parts: the domain is registered in your name, the hosting account is yours, and you can take the files to another developer tomorrow without asking permission.
A lot of therapist-specific companies will say “you own your content.” Notice what’s missing. On a subscription platform the design, the structure and often the hosting belong to them, and the day you stop paying, the site is gone. That’s a lease, and it’s fine to lease, but know that’s what you’re signing.
2. “What does it cost, all in, over three years?”
Not the setup fee. The three-year number. A $99-a-month plan is $3,564 by year three and you still don’t own anything. A one-time build at $2,800 is $2,800, plus about $15 a year for the domain. Any designer who gets uncomfortable doing that arithmetic out loud is counting on you not to.
Published prices are a good sign. A designer who will only “put together a proposal” after a discovery call is pricing you, not the work.
3. “Where does my contact form send what people type?”
Someone is going to write “I think I’m having panic attacks and I need help” into that box. Where does it go? To your email through a third-party service? Into a marketing CRM that also tracks them around the internet? Ask for the actual path. A good designer can draw it on a napkin. If the answer is “it just emails you,” ask which company is in the middle and whether they’d sign a BAA.
4. “Will I be found on Google, and how do you know?”
Everyone says yes. Ask for proof: a client site, and the search they rank for. Then ask what’s built in from the start. The right answer includes a sitemap, titles and descriptions written by a person, structured data so Google knows you’re a therapist in your city, and a Google Business Profile that points at the right page. If the answer is “SEO is an add-on package,” the base site isn’t built to be found.
5. “Who writes the words?”
The design is maybe a third of the job. The words are the rest. Some designers hand you a template with “Your headline here” and wait. Some charge extra per page. Some, and this is the one you want, talk to you for an hour and write a first draft that sounds like you, then let you fix it.
Ask which of those three you’re buying. Then ask to read a site they wrote.
6. “Can I see three sites you built, side by side?”
Open them in three tabs and flip between them. If you can’t tell them apart, you’re going to get the fourth copy. Every practice has a different kind of client walking in the door, and the sites should look like it.
While you’re there, open one on your phone and time it. If it’s still loading when you’ve finished reading the first sentence, your clients will leave.
7. “What happens the week after launch?”
Two things should happen. You get a short written handoff: logins, where things live, how to change your fees. And someone submits the site to Google instead of waiting for it to be discovered, which can take months otherwise. Ask if both are included or billed.
8. “What happens if you get hit by a bus?”
Say it nicely, but ask. If the site is plain files in an account you own, any developer in the country can pick it up. If it’s inside a proprietary builder with a login you don’t control, you’re starting over. The answer tells you more about ownership than question one did.
9. “Do you have reviews from therapists?”
Not testimonials on their own site. Google reviews, with names, from people you could email. Three real ones from therapists beat thirty from dentists, because a designer who has done this for therapists already knows about Psychology Today, about sliding scales, about why you can’t put client photos on the homepage.
If you only ask one question, ask the first one. Ownership is the thing you can’t fix later.
Red flags, briefly
- A monthly fee for the website itself. Hosting a small site costs almost nothing. A recurring fee means you’re renting the design.
- “We’ll also run your ads.” An agency that profits from your ad spend has little reason to build a site that ranks on its own.
- No prices anywhere. See question two.
- A portfolio that looks like one site in twelve colors. See question six.
- Stock photos of people laughing in a waiting room. Your future clients can tell.
Where I land on all this
I build hand-coded sites for therapists in private practice, at published prices, in your name, with the first draft of every page written from a conversation. I’d rather you asked me all nine questions on the call than find out the answers in year two. Book the free call if you want to put me through it.
Already have a designer’s proposal in hand? Send me the link to your current site and I’ll tell you what I’d ask them.