10 Essential Elements For A Successful Doula Agency Website
As a doula and birth worker, your most important responsibility is ensuring mothers receive the best care and support throughout their pregnancy, labor, and postpartum journey. However, as a business owner, it is also your responsibility to find new mothers and families in need of your services to grow your business and reputation.
A professional doula website that clearly shows your experience as a doula and outlines the services you offer can give you a competitive advantage and be an important marketing channel for finding new clients.
However, not all websites are created equal, and simply launching a website without thoughtful consideration of branding, design, and user experience could turn off potential clients.
Many different elements go into creating a website and these change based on the industry you are in. Below, we dive deeper into 10 essential things doula agencies should do to launch a successful website.
1. Develop a Unique and Consistent Doula Brand Identity
Just like any other business, doula agencies should have a professional and consistent brand identity across all marketing channels, including their website. Your branding serves as a unique, memorable identifier for people who are comparing your services to others.
Everything from logos, colors, fonts, and images impacts how people perceive your agency. You can be an amazing doula but poor-quality images, hard-to-read fonts, and mismatched colors can lower the perceived value of your services and reputation.
Typically, these details are finalized before you launch your website. However, if you already have a website, you can invest in a full rebrand to update and improve your brand identity going forward. Learn more about the value of branding for doulas in our blog post, “The Value of Midwifery Branding and Logo Design”.
2. Define Clear Calls to Action for Doula Clients
Once you have people on your website, what do you want them to do next? Should they make an online appointment, give you a call, or fill out a form? You must tell your potential clients what next steps (or “call to action”) they should take to contact you.
You can have a primary and secondary call to action (CTA). The primary CTA is the most essential to your agency and should be the primary way you want to engage with potential clients. The secondary CTA can be an alternative for people who are not ready to contact you directly but are still considering your services.
The primary CTA should be highly visible and identifiable throughout your website. Generally, CTAs are placed on buttons near the top of the webpage so people can see them without scrolling down the page.
3. Make Your Doula Contact Information Easily Accessible
Similar to your CTA, your contact information should be highly visible and identifiable on your website. Important business information like your phone number, agency address, email address, and the areas you serve should be on both your homepage and contact page.
Ensure that the contact information you use is accurate and sends inquiries to a phone number or email inbox that you check regularly. Also, you can include a contact form on the contact page to make it easy for potential clients to leave you a message or ask a question if they are not ready to call you directly. However, all forms should include a CAPTCHA to weed out any spam or bot traffic that may visit your website.
4. Showcase Your Doula Experience and Credentials
One of the most important things families will consider when selecting a doula is the level of expertise they offer them. It is pivotal that you communicate details such as the number of years you’ve been a doula and birth worker, how many births you’ve attended, and any formal training or certifications you’ve received.
The best place to list this experience is on an “About” page. Here you’ll write a short bio about yourself that shows your personality and passion for your work. This is your opportunity to build a connection and describe any unique methods you use to personalize your services to each expectant family you work with. You’ll also want to include a professional photo of yourself and other employees so people can see who they will work with.
If you have any awards or certifications, be sure to include those on your About page. This will help you build credibility and show clients that you’ve taken time to hone your skills.
It may be tempting to use AI to write your bio or copy on other pages of your website but the results may be generic and not personalized to you or your agency. We provide insight into the promises and pitfalls of AI-generated content in the blog post, “Why AI Content Can’t Compete with a Human Copywriter”.
5. Leverage Doula Client Testimonials to Build Trust
If you are an established doula with a roster of happy families willing to give you a testimonial, take advantage of that. According to Bright Local, in 2024, 75% of consumers always or regularly read online reviews when browsing for local businesses. You want to show proof to potential clients that the families you’ve worked with are happy with your services, and they will be, too.
These testimonials could be presented as short quotes posted throughout your website, quick 30-second to 1-minute video clips, or a combination of both. Also, don’t forget the power of visuals. If you have families willing to share photos of their experience, be sure to include those on your site to add a personal touch.
6. List All Doula Services Offered on Your Website
Many doula agencies offer multiple services to their clients beyond labor and delivery. Once a potential client is on your website, you want to make it simple for them to find out which services you do (and don’t) offer. You can also dive deeper into the types of births you specialize in such as home births, water births, unmedicated births, and so on.
A “Services” page lists all the different services you offer and an explanation of what is included. Don’t forget to include services that go beyond pregnancy and delivery such as postpartum doula care, placenta encapsulation, newborn care, lactation, birth photography, and newborn photography. Also, advertise any packages you offer on this page for clients who are interested in multiple services.
Whether or not to include pricing is a personal decision. However, it could be helpful for potential clients to know this information so they can determine whether or not they are a good fit for your agency.
7. Tell Your Doula Agency’s Story Through Photos
Don’t underestimate the power of a picture. The photos on your website should tell a story about your business and services. Your photos will serve as a way to personalize your website and support the copywriting.
Furthermore, according to the National Library of Medicine, roughly 65% of the population are visual learners so, it is important to cater to this large group who may gravitate more to images over words.
All the photos on your website should be high-quality. Avoid using photos that are blurry, distracting, poorly lit, or out of focus. Also, when it comes to photos, less is more. Too many photos could distract from the information you want your potential clients to focus on.
8. Address Common Questions in a Doula FAQ Section
Families selecting a doula to support them on their pregnancy journey is a big decision and one that will come with a lot of questions. As a doula, most of the questions expectant parents will have are common ones that you’ll be asked over and over again. Make your FAQ page the go-to place for potential clients to get all their questions answered.
You’ll want to include questions for expectant families at different stages of their pregnancy journey. For example, a newly pregnant person may want to know how far in advance they should book your services versus someone in their later trimesters who may be interested in postpartum care.
9. Show Off Your Doula Expertise On Your Blog
One of the best ways to gain credibility and establish yourself as an expert doula and birth worker is through long-form content like blog posts. In your blog, you can share your unique perspective on topics such as pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and more. You could also use your blog to discuss trends and innovation in the birth worker space to show that you are staying current on industry news.
Not only is a blog a great way to build credibility and expertise, but it can also increase traffic to your website. It is important to include keywords in your blogs that potential clients would be typing into search engines like Google and Bing. When someone types in a keyword that you’ve written content on, you want your blog post to rank in search engines so they are directed to your website.
Now, writing a blog post and uploading it to your website will not automatically make it appear in search engines. A lot of other factors go into which web pages appear on a Google search so it is important to work with a copywriter who can help you write content that is optimized for search.
10. Optimize Your Doula Website for Mobile Devices
According to the Pew Research Institute, 97% of American consumers own some kind of mobile device and this number jumps to 99% for people under the age of 49. Furthermore, in July 2024, Oberlo found that 59.7% of global web traffic came from mobile devices.
What does all this mean for doulas? A growing majority of your potential clients are using their mobile phones to find information about businesses like yours. Simply creating a website and not considering how it will appear on a mobile phone could make or break your online presence.
If the mobile version of your website copy is hard to read, images are not sized correctly, or buttons are difficult to press, then they’ll be more likely to go to another website with a better mobile experience—don’t lose traffic because of a clunky site!
Your Doula Agency’s Website Is An Essential Marketing Tool
Every day expectant parents are searching online for the most qualified doula to join them on their pregnancy journey and without a strong website you could be missing out on these opportunities. Your website should be an essential part of your marketing strategy and an important channel for showcasing your experience, achievements, and success stories.
An investment in a website that is customized to your brand and tells your unique story can give you a competitive advantage and help generate more clients for your business.
Learn more about how our collaborative, creative approach can help your wellness or doula business grow.
