Doula Website Tips: Build a site that works for you when you can’t work for yourself
So to put it lightly, it’s been a year (or two to be precise).
My dear Dad received a terminal diagnosis in April 2024 and died in May this year. This obviously changed literally everything about our lives as a family and turned it all upside down. Of course in the mix of that I conceived, held, birthed and raised my second daughter. SO yeah. Bursts of creativity and pushing through have given way to a pause. This pause has inevitably impacted how much marketing I've been able to do for my own business. It's made me think, more than usual, about which parts of my business needed me showing up every day to function, and which parts didn't need me at all.
That second category is the one I’m going to talk about today, because that’s the actual absolute most basic thing your doula website should be doing for you. Functioning and bringing in clients even when life/birth/death/children drive a steamroller through your best intentions.
There's a phase of life and business for everyone and every doula - maybe it's already here for you like it is for me - where you simply don't have the capacity to market yourself. Grief. Illness. A new baby of your own. Burnout. A parent who needs you. Life doesn't check your giant wall planner before it happens. “Thank you for your enquiry Father’s Grief, I’m actually booked out between June - September, can I schedule you in for October? - No, ok. Now? Gotcha.”
When it does, the doulas who keep getting booked aren't the ones posting every day on Instagram. They're the ones whose real life and/or online reputation was already doing the work before capacity ran out.
So, how do we make sure your doula website is going to do that?
Quick answer: A doula website that keeps bringing in clients without ongoing effort needs three things - clear local SEO (so you show up in the right searches), copy that connects with and speaks to a client's experience before she signs up for a connection call, and a simple next step that doesn't rely on you personally chasing every enquiry. Below is exactly how to build each of those.
Is there anything wrong with generic doula marketing advice?
Most advice aimed at doulas is about marketing alone - post more, network more, show up more. And this is definitely one way of marketing and it can be very successful. However not that much of it is about the asset that keeps working when you're not: your website. But luckily I’m here to keep pushing the website agenda haha!
Social media is about communication - the moment you stop talking, it stops working for you. Even the social media gurus themselves admit this when they say things like “here’s what’s working on Instagram this month” as if you wanna learn a new way of communicating every month - reels, carousels, talking heads, lives, stories etc. That's fine when you've got the bandwidth for it. It's totally brutal and unmanageable when you don't, because it ties your income directly to your emotional and physical capacity, at exactly the moment you have the least of both.
A website, built properly, keeps having the conversation on your behalf: showing up in search results, resonating deeply with the experience of clients, explaining what you do and how you do it, answering the questions a pregnant person is asking at 11pm on a Wednesday night and making it easy for her to get in touch. You do of course front load the work, but then really, really… it does actually just keep working for you after that.
SEO for Doulas: remember how clients actually find you
Most expectant parents start their doula search on Google, maybe an AI, but honestly not usually Instagram. They're typing things like "doula in [town]," "postnatal doula near me," or "what does a birth doula do." If your website isn't set up to answer those searches, you're invisible at the exact moment someone's deciding who to hire.
Local search is where it’s at
Doula work is inherently local, which means you're not competing nationally - you're competing with the doulas serving your actual area. That's winnable, but only if your site is built to respond to location searches. This is how you do that:
Use your location and service type together, naturally, in your page titles and headings - "Birth Doula in Croydon" works wayyyyy harder for you than "About Me."
Mention nearby areas you cover, not just your home town. Parents search by their own location, which might be a neighbouring town.
Have a dedicated page for each location you offer (e.g. postnatal doula in Guildford, postnatal doula in Farnham, postnatal doula in Aldershot, postnatal doula in Farnborough etc) Google loves an exact match to a parent’s search.
Blog about local things to you - Blogs are the dream for SEO/AIO as well as for building trust and expertise. Use them to provide more “real estate” to write your location based SEO keywords on by writing a blog or a series of blogs either about things local to you or referencing your location e.g. The Bolton Home Birth Diaries or A North London Doula’s guide to XYZ.
Answer questions directly on the page
Search engines (and AI overviews) increasingly pull direct answers straight from page content, rather than just linking out. That means the doulas who write their FAQ and service pages in clear, direct, quotable language are the ones who make it into those answers.
Practically, this means:
Look through your copy and make sure each page contains plain-language answers to obvious questions your clients might have ("A birth doula is...", "Postnatal doula support typically costs...") before going into detail.
Keep the first sentence under each heading self-contained - it should make sense even if it's the only sentence an AI overview quotes.
Get your local listings consistent
Your Google Business Profile, and any doula directories you're listed on, should use the exact same business name, address, and phone number everywhere. Inconsistency here will undermine your local ranking. Google treats mismatched details as a trust signal working against you, not for you.
It’s also worth updating your GBP as much as possible so use any updates to your website, blogs, newsletters as content for your GBP - I’m going to do this for my own business right after I post this blog because I’ve just remembered I’ve not done that in ages!
Doula Website Design Tips: let’s remember this is mostly about trust
Parents choosing a doula are choosing someone to be in the room for one of the most vulnerable moments of their life. Your website has a couple of seconds to start earning the trust needed to be allowed into that. A few things that matter more for doulas than for most other businesses:
A real, warm photo of you - not a stock image - near the top of your homepage. People want to see who you are immediately.
Testimonials in your clients' own words, ideally addressing hesitations directly (“is it a waste of money”, "will you be able to make it in time," "what if my partner feels replaced") rather than just general praise.
A clear, simple next step. Always make it obvious how to get in touch - a "book a free call" button - has the least friction between them thinking this person is a good fit for me, and having a serious, next step chat with them.
Fast loading and mobile-friendly. Most people will find you on their phone, often one-handed, often at an inconvenient time. If your site is slow or fiddly, they'll leave before they've read a word.
Pricing transparency, or at least a range. Doulas often avoid stating price out of discomfort, but the absence of it is one of the biggest reasons potential clients will click away from a website - they will assume the worst (£££) and leave rather than ask.
Doula website mistakes I see all the time - that cost you bookings
A few patterns show up again and again on doula websites that otherwise look lovely:
Generic copywriting
Prioritising information over connection
Unintentionally obfuscating the basics
Not including your prices
Writing about your services in a really confusing way
I actually have a whole blog on this here and a free recorded masterclass where I coach you through how to audit your existing site and sort any fixes that need to be made
This masterclass covers all the tips I have for making sure that your copywriting is connecting with clients. It’s truly, hugely valuable and will make a big difference to your site if you implement.
If your aim is getting doula client enquiries - make getting in touch the most obvious next step
You always need to step back and answer the question what do I want this website to do for me. This blog assumes that what you want is clients and you want them even when you’re struggling to market yourself because of life’s inevitable ebbs and flows. If that is the case then getting client enquiries should be the main aim of your website - any watering down of this aim will make it confusing for visitors to work out what to do next.
Once they’ve gotten to know you and worked out that your ethos, services and price are a great match for them - make it CRYSTAL clear that the next step is to book in a connection call.
Do this by having an button available at all times for them to click on where they can book a call directly into your calendar for a connection call. Depending on your website builder you do this in different ways, so do it whichever way is easiest on your website builder (or if you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about join us over on The Doula Website Circle where you’ll learn everything you need to know to build a doula website including these time-saving, client-attracting tech features.
Set up your calendar so it automatically sends reminders to the person who has signed up so you get less no-shows and aren’t constantly having to email back and forth with times etc.
Website tips for doulas who are already in the “I just can’t market right now” era
If you're in a low-capacity season yourself, here's the reframe: the fix isn't more hustle later, it's better foundations, built once - ideally in a season when you do have some capacity, but also possible in a season where showing up visibly online seems WAY too much, but quietly working away on your site with some support might be a different story.
You might have heard things like the passive income hype, but honesty, for a doula, "working while you sleep" simply looks like:
SEO that brings people to you, instead of you having to find them
Copywriting that speaks to a client’s experience and let’s them know that YOU understand where they’re at, and
A connection call booking process that doesn't need you to chase every enquiry
If you're mid-crisis right now, I’d probably say today isn't a "go build a website" day. It's first and foremost permission to stop feeling guilty about not marketing - remember the beginning of this post, that’s exactly where I’m at right now, but I guess it’s also a reminder that there is an alternative to being super “visible” online which actually also ironically leads to another, more freeing, more permanent type of online visibility. If you can build that in this pause season go ahead, if you can’t know that a time will come where you’ll have more capacity - you can action what you’ve learnt above and you can be “as ready as you’ll ever be” for the next curveball life decides to throw at you.
Doula Website Checklist
If you can tick most of these, your website is doing its job without you:
Homepage opens with a direct, plain-language answer to "what do you do", “who you do it for” and “where you do it”
Considered copywriting that takes into account the 5 mistakes I most commonly see doulas making on their websites.
Real photo of you, not stock imagery
Testimonials that address common hesitations, not just praise
Pricing stated, or at least a clear range
One clear, simple next step
FAQ section answering the questions you get asked most - that can map directly onto clients questions to Google or AI
Google Business Profile matches your website exactly (name, address, phone)
Site loads quickly and works cleanly on mobile
Nearby areas you serve are mentioned, not just your town
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At minimum: a clear description of your services, your location and service area, pricing, testimonials, a warm photo of you, and one clear way to get in touch.
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Mainly through local search - terms like "doula near me" or "birth doula in [town]." Websites that clearly state location and service type, and that answer common client questions directly on the page, tend to rank better and convert better.
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Not essential, but a blog can help you rank for a wider range of searches (like specific questions clients ask) and demonstrates expertise. It's most valuable when you have some capacity to sustain it - it's not the first thing to prioritise in a low-capacity season.
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No. A well-built, SEO-friendly website can bring in enquiries on its own, without ongoing social media activity. Social media can amplify it, but it isn't the engine.
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SEO typically takes at least a few months to build momentum, which is exactly why it's worth doing in a higher-capacity season rather than waiting until you need it urgently.
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Yes, or at least give a clear range. Leaving pricing out doesn't protect you from awkward conversations - it usually just causes people to assume the worst and leave without enquiring at all.
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Traditional SEO focuses on ranking in Google's list of links. AI Overview and AI chat tools (like ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews) instead pull direct answers from page content to show users right away - so pages that open with clear, self-contained, quotable answers to common questions tend to get surfaced in both places.
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I’ve got a couple of courses that could really support you even in the tougher seasons. The Doula Website Circle is a high-touch, super supportive, six-week group course, where I take you and a group of your doula peers through the website building process from having absolutely nothing to launching a website that is ready to make your future clients click on that connection call button. It’s done-with-you help so the heavy lifting doesn't fall entirely on you during a season when you're already stretched.
If you’ve already got a website and you’re looking for some fine-tuning on specific areas such as SEO or copywriting that really connects with your ideal clients I can help with that too - take a look at Doula Near Me: SEO Strategy for Doulas and Start the Conversation - the copywriting course that takes your website from blah to the online equivalent of you meeting a pregnant person at your neighbours BBQ, which honestly is where I know you all totally shine and getting your clients!
I don't have time or energy to build this on my own right now - what are my options?
I’ve got a couple of courses that could really support you even in the tougher seasons. The Doula Website Circle is a high-touch, super supportive, six-week group course, where I take you and a group of your doula peers through the website building process from having absolutely nothing to launching a website that is ready to make your future clients click on that connection call button. It’s done-with-you help so the heavy lifting doesn't fall entirely on you during a season when you're already stretched.
If you’ve already got a website and you’re looking for some fine-tuning on specific areas such as SEO or copywriting that really connects with your ideal clients I can help with that too - take a look at Doula Near Me: SEO Strategy for UK Based Doulas and Start the Conversation - the copywriting course that takes your website from blah to the online equivalent of you meeting a pregnant person at your neighbours BBQ, which honestly is where I know you all totally shine and getting your clients!
BTW. I use Claude.ai to help me write my blogs - I like to be really transparent about this. I usually hop on Claude on a Weds morning and tell it what I want to write a newsletter and blog about and it gives me a first draft. I then copy and paste it over to Google Docs where I unceremoniously rewrite the whole thing. This is something we cover in The Doula Website Circle, The Doula Website Method, Start the Conversation and Doula Near Me, because AI exists and we can use it without totally ruining our content and contributing to the mountains of AI slop that are quickly destroying the internet. This blog in particular I’d say the structure is basically Claude’s and all the suggestions and expertise are mine.