Practice Presence — Websites for Therapists
The Setup
Therapists are terrible at marketing. Not because they’re bad at their jobs — they’re incredible at their jobs. But their websites are either a Squarespace template they set up at 11pm three years ago, or they don’t have one at all. They rely on Psychology Today and word of mouth.
The therapists I kept meeting had a specific problem: they serve BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and culturally specific communities, but every website template available uses stock photos of smiling white people on couches. The imagery doesn’t match the clients. The copy defaults to clinical jargon. The whole thing feels like it was designed for someone else’s practice.
I saw a gap I could fill. Professional websites, fixed pricing ($2,000), two-week turnaround. No discovery phases. No design sprints. No $10,000 agency quotes.
The Build
I built a productized service — same process for every client, customized output for each practice. The flow: 20-minute intro call, 1-hour kickoff, a questionnaire that extracts their voice and specialties, then I build and launch in about 10 days.
Each site is WordPress + Elementor. Fast to build, easy for therapists to update on their own (change text, add blog posts). Every site includes a custom stock photo library featuring diverse people — Black, Latine, Asian American, LGBTQ+, different body types, different ages. The imagery actually represents who they serve.
I’ve built sites for five therapists so far. Each one is different because each practice is different:
Ulises (wisemindtherapist.com) — Bilingual therapist in Long Beach with 30 years of experience. Bold navy design that stands out from the soft pastels every other therapy site uses. Designed to appeal to the men he works with.
Nathalie (nathalietorreslcsw.com) — Bilingual OCD and anxiety specialist in California and Minnesota. Desert tones, wildflower photography. The contact page walks nervous first-timers through exactly what to expect.
Cynthia (rootedinreflection.org) — Xicana heritage, healing retreats in Mexico, podcast, courses. Vibrant design — a beige website was never going to happen. The site organizes a therapy practice, a podcast, courses, and retreats without feeling cluttered.
Sofia (sofiamendozalcsw.com) — BIPOC trauma therapist working with first-generation professional women of color. The site speaks directly to the specific exhaustion her clients carry.
Jennifer (jennifermarkslcsw.com) — Bilingual Salvadoran-American therapist specializing in maternal mental health. The izote flower (El Salvador’s national symbol) inspired the name and branding.
The Mess
Therapists don’t know what they want on a website. They know what they do — but translating “I practice EMDR with a somatic focus for complex trauma survivors” into website copy that a panicking person at 2am can understand? That’s the hard part.
The questionnaire went through multiple versions. The first one asked questions like “Describe your therapeutic approach.” The answers were clinical and unusable. The better questions turned out to be things like “What does your ideal client say to themselves before they Google you?” and “What’s the thing you wish every potential client knew before the first session?”
The other mess: every therapist wanted to add things. A blog. A resources page. A page for each specialty. A page for each modality. Scope management on a $2,000 fixed-price project means saying “that’s a great idea — let’s add it after launch” a lot.
The Result
Five live therapist websites, all designed around the communities they serve. Every site has a phone number and consultation button above the fold — because when someone is finally ready to reach out to a therapist, you don’t make them scroll.
The sites rank in Google for local therapy searches. They look professional on every device. They include imagery that actually represents the clients walking through the door.
The service is consolidating under the Practice Presence brand (practicepresence.io) as a dedicated offering separate from my general consulting work. Fixed pricing stays. Two-week turnaround stays. The niche — BIPOC and LGBTQ+ affirming practices — stays.
The Takeaway
The best niche isn’t the most profitable one. It’s the one where you understand the problem so specifically that generic solutions feel insulting.
How It’s Built
- Platform: WordPress + Elementor
- Hosting: Varies by client (typically managed WordPress)
- Imagery: Custom stock photo library featuring diverse representation
- Turnaround: ~2 weeks from kickoff to launch
- Client time investment: 3-4 hours total
- Pricing: $2,000 fixed (includes branding packet)
Live sites: wisemindtherapist.com | nathalietorreslcsw.com | rootedinreflection.org | sofiamendozalcsw.com | jennifermarkslcsw.com