DIY, Template, or Professional Website? A Therapist’s Guide to Making the Right Call
If you’re a therapist in private practice, you may be quietly carrying this question:
“Do I really need to invest in my website… or can I make something decent without spending much?”
That question usually isn’t about being cheap. It’s about being careful. Most therapists are thoughtful with money, especially in an economy that feels uncertain and in a field that’s changing quickly. But here’s something worth saying out loud:
your website is doing psychological work long before you ever meet a client.
People don’t arrive at your website in a neutral state. They come anxious, overwhelmed, and unsure who to trust. Within seconds, their nervous system is scanning for cues: Does this person seem competent? Established? Grounded?
Clients don’t usually think, “This therapist looks successful, therefore they must be good.” But they do associate professionalism, clarity, and financial stability with expertise. And, like it or not, one of the strongest visible signals of that stability is a therapist’s website.
Why “Having Something” Is No Longer Enough
For years, many therapists built full practices using only Psychology Today or similar directories. Some still don’t have a website at all.
In today’s environment, that’s a risky place to stay.
Clients are more selective, marketing is more competitive, and people are taking longer to decide where to invest their time and money. When a potential client can’t find a therapist’s website—or finds one that feels rushed, generic, or unclear—it often creates just enough doubt for them to keep looking.
This doesn’t mean your website needs to be fancy. It does need to be intentional. In most cases, a “good enough” website is no longer good enough to support consistent growth.
The Three Paths Therapists Usually Take
Most therapists end up choosing one of three approaches, often based on budget, time, and confidence rather than strategy.
Doing It Yourself
A DIY website is usually the least expensive financially. You’re paying for a platform like Squarespace or Wix, typically $16–$30 per month, plus a domain.
The hidden cost is time.
Writing copy that feels professional, choosing layouts that guide a reader’s attention, understanding how clients actually read websites—these are not intuitive skills for most clinicians. Many therapists spend months tinkering, revising, and second-guessing, only to end up with a site that still doesn’t quite represent them.
DIY can make sense early on or as a temporary solution. But it often becomes a longer-term compromise than therapists intend.
Using a Template
Templates are often presented as the perfect middle ground, but they’re frequently misunderstood.
A good therapy website template typically costs between $150 and $600 as a one-time purchase, in addition to your monthly platform fee. What you’re buying is structure and visual consistency, not a finished product.
Here’s the part that often gets glossed over: a template still requires real skill to use well. You need to know how to:
Customize design elements so the site doesn’t look generic
Make decisions about spacing, hierarchy, and flow
Write clear, confident, client-centered copy
Avoid clinical jargon while still sounding professional
Many therapists underestimate how hard the copy is. Writing about your work in a way that feels warm, competent, and clear—without oversharing or sounding vague—is genuinely challenging. A beautiful template with unclear or overly clinical language can still miss the mark.
Templates can work well, but they are not a shortcut to a strong website. They simply reduce the design decisions and you still have to know what you’re doing.
Professional Help: Looking Beyond the Price Tag
Professionally built therapy websites typically range from $3,000 to $6,000+, depending on scope and level of support. That number can feel uncomfortable—especially if you’re focused on being financially responsible.
What often shifts things for therapists is reframing the question. Instead of asking, “Can I afford this?” it can be more useful to ask, “How much am I losing by not having a website that works?”
Lost inquiries. Missed referrals. Clients who never reach out because something felt unclear or unconvincing. The quiet hesitation you feel when sharing your link. Over time, those costs often exceed the upfront investment.
This is usually the point when therapists reach out to me at Healing Pathways—not because they want the fanciest website, but because they’re tired of guessing. Many have spent months or years trying to make something work on their own and sense that their website doesn’t reflect their competence or clinical depth.
Professional support isn’t about excess. It’s about clarity, confidence, and letting your website do its job without you having to keep fixing it.
How Clients Actually Read Your Website
Clients aren’t evaluating your website analytically. They’re responding emotionally. They’re asking themselves, often without realizing it: Can I trust this person? Do they feel established? Will I be safe here?
When your website feels unfinished, outdated, or confusing, those questions don’t get answered clearly. And when someone is already anxious or vulnerable, ambiguity is often enough to send them elsewhere.
This is why, in today’s mental health landscape, relying solely on directories—or settling for a mediocre website—makes it harder to attract consistent, aligned clients.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need the most expensive website. But you do need one that actually reflects your personality and your competence.
Being money-conscious doesn’t mean staying invisible or settling for something that quietly undermines your credibility. It means choosing an option that matches your skills, your time, and the level of practice you’re trying to build.
The question isn’t “Can I get away with this?”. It’s “Does this actually support my work?”
About the Author
Iryna Arute, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of Healing Pathways Counseling & Consulting. With over 16 years of clinical experience, she supports therapists and healers in building sustainable, values-aligned practices—both clinically and professionally. Through Healing Pathways, she helps therapists create clear, grounded websites that reflect their competence, depth, and integrity, without relying on pushy marketing or one-size-fits-all solutions.