Massage therapists like you are expert self-starters when it comes to wellness. Web design experts? You might be that, too! But you don’t have to be — we’re here to help.
Let’s dive into the basics of good web design, insights into the best website builders for massage therapists, and some massage therapy website examples for inspiration.
What Your Massage Website Design Needs to Succeed
Research involving small businesses suggests that 75% of consumers judge a business’s credibility by its website and that users’ first impressions are 94% design-related.
So, if you’re running or starting a massage therapy business, you should have your own website! These stats also mean you should make it eye-catching and functional.
The key features of an engaging website that draws in visitors (and bookings!) include:
- A user-friendly design
- Clear brand identity
- Easily identified core business information
- Engaging content with effective CTAs (calls-to-action)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Design Your Massage Website With the User in Mind
Intuitive navigation is crucial to stellar web design. This means visitors should be able to browse your site and find what they’re looking for with as little effort as possible.
A smart and simple navigational structure improves user engagement and overall user experience. In addition to a logical structure, you want your website design to be responsive and fast.
A responsive design adapts to the different platforms, devices, and browsers your site is viewed on. This ensures your visitors see your site’s best version, whether on their phone, tablet, or desktop.
Pro Tip: Focus on your mobile design first, since 67% of all website traffic comes from mobile users.
You want your massage website to be fast, because if it’s slow, you risk losing potential clients to impatience. While most website builders have built-in methods for improving page speeds, a few other speedy tips include:
- Reduce the size of your image files by saving them as JPEGs instead of PNGs (which are bigger)
- Put larger images farther down the page to give them more time to load
- Avoid GIFs — they are notorious for slowing down web pages
Pro Tip: 40% of website visitors leave if it takes longer than three seconds to load.
Finally, include and enable other relevant features, such as:
- Contact pages
- Appointment booking
- E-commerce functions (aka sales services like collecting and processing payments)
Providing current and potential clients with an easy way to schedule appointments online is convenient and encourages more bookings by eliminating the need to call. It also reduces the time you spend answering phone calls and emails.
Build a Clear and Consistent Brand Identity
Your brand identity primarily centers around the visuals and messaging you use. But it’s more than just photos and your business name. Your brand includes:
| Visuals | Messaging |
|---|---|
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Images, color schemes, typography (fonts, text size), logo, layouts
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Voice and tone, personality, taglines, mission statement and core values, story and history
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While building your massage website use consistent layouts, visuals, and messaging to reflect your business’s personality.
Tips for optimizing the look of your website:
- Avoid clutter or busyness
- Utilize white space
- Use a limited color palette
- Use a limited number of fonts (typically three: headings, subheadings, and body text)
- Keep colors and fonts consistent across pages
- Ensure text readability with high-contrast color combinations
Pro Tip: Improve the readability of your website by not combining very similar colors, such as light text on light backgrounds and dark text on dark backgrounds.
Casey Navis, sports massage therapist and owner of Resolve Therapeutics, cleverly combined her personal background with her business name, logo, and other branding elements to build a cool brand personality.
“I knew I had to differentiate myself from other therapists in town,” says Navis, “so I put brass knuckles in my logo and handed out “I didn’t cry” stickers at competitions that I was working at. I still see those stickers on people’s water bottles and at gyms around town.”
Display Core Business Information Clearly
Highlight your essential business information clearly. Your name/business name, contact details, location, services, rates, and operating hours should be easy to find. Even if every detail isn’t on every single page, they should be easily discoverable via site menus, headers, and buttons.
Simplify this process by adding your name, location, operating hours, and contact information to your website’s footer and/or header. That way, those essential details will automatically be on every page of your site as it grows or changes.
Create Engaging, Trust-Building Content With Clear Calls to Action
Engage prospective clients and help drive more traffic to your site with quality, valuable, informative content.
Key sections and features to have on your massage therapist website include:
- Home page: Where you capture visitors’ attention, cover the basics, and direct their movement across your site
- About me: Where you introduce yourself, tell your story, and highlight your personality
- Testimonials/reviews: Where you demonstrate social proof by highlighting past and current clients’ positive experiences.
- Rates and services: Where you outline your services and prices, and potentially link to a booking page
- Contact: Where you provide your contact details (even if they are included elsewhere on your site), as well as a contact form where clients can email you directly.
All your pages should also include compelling calls-to-action (CTAs). CTAs help guide visitors through your site. Well-placed CTA prompts also encourage bookings, purchases, and inquiries.
CTAs are typically formatted as links, buttons, and banners with action-based language.
Common CTAs you’ve likely seen before include:
- Contact us
- Schedule your first session
- Book now
- Read our blog
Pro Tip: Encourage further engagement across platforms by adding links to your massage therapy social media profiles.
Optimize for Search Engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your site’s visibility and discoverability — in other words, it helps your massage website appear higher in search results.
Learn some SEO basics and additional ways to use your massage website as a marketing tool.
The Best Website Builders for Massage Therapists
There are dozens of website builders available, and they all tend to provide similar services. When creating your massage therapist site, it helps to know your priorities (like budget or ease-of-use) when assessing the options.
Here are our favorites, with pros and cons to help you analyze which massage website builder is best for you.
Wix
Wix is one of the most popular website builders available, thanks to its extensive template library and customization options. Wix offers four plans, with pricing starting at $17 per month for its lowest tier, which is similar to most builders. The highest tier plan, however, is one of the most expensive at $159 per month.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
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No SEO tools on free/low tiers
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Free option (URL will be on wix.com)
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Can’t change templates after site is published
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Robust template library
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Only Business Elite plan has unlimited storage |
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Highly customizable
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No payment processing on lower tiers
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SEO tools
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SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) included in all plans for https:// security
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Allows collaborators
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Free domain for one year included in paid plans
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Pros
- Easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
- Free option (URL will be on wix.com)
- Robust template library
- Highly customizable
- SEO tools
- SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) included in all plans for https:// security
- Allows collaborators
- Free domain for one year included in paid plans
Cons
- No SEO tools on free/low tiers
- Can’t change templates after site is published
- Only Business Elite plan has unlimited storage
- No payment processing on lower tiers
Squarespace
Squarespace is also a widely used web builder. Its popularity is due to its overall ease of use, responsive designs, and comprehensive e-commerce features. Squarespace offers four reasonably priced plans starting at $16 per month if you pay annually. They do have month-to-month payment plans, but those monthly prices are higher.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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User-friendly drag-and-drop editor
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No free plans
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Easy appointment scheduling options
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Limited customization
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Professional appearance with a modern template library
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Does not autosave edits
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SSL included in all plans
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Free domain name for one year
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SEO and marketing tools
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Simple integration with third party extensions
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Pros
- User-friendly drag-and-drop editor
- Easy appointment scheduling options
- Professional appearance with a modern template library
- SSL included in all plans
Free domain name for one year - SEO and marketing tools
- Simple integration with third party extensions
Cons
- No free plans
- Limited customization
- Does not autosave edits
MassageBook
MassageBook is ideal for massage therapists since it’s designed specifically for you. While you do add your own images and business information, there is only one design structure. MassageBook offers three plans starting at $20/month.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Designed for massage therapists
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Limited design options and customization (site structures are the same)
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Free 30-day trial
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URLs start with massagebook.com
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Inclusion in the MassageBook Directory
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Google Calendar sync capabilities
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Access to SOAP notes and other record-keeping features
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Auto screen-size optimization (built-in responsive design)
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Payment processing with Stripe and Square on all plans
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Pros
- Designed for massage therapists
- Free 30-day trial
- Inclusion in the MassageBook Directory
- Google Calendar sync capabilities
- Access to SOAP notes and other record-keeping features
- Auto screen-size optimization (built-in responsive design)
- Payment processing with Stripe and Square on all plans
Cons
- Limited design options and customization (site structures are the same)
- URLs start with massagebook.com
WordPress
WordPress.com (different from the .org version) is the most affordable website builder, with its lowest of four paid plans starting at only $4 per month. However, if you want the ability to make sales on your site, you can only do so on WordPress.com’s most expensive plan ($45/month).
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Free option (but you won’t get a custom domain)
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Some customization
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Drag-and-drop editor
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Free accounts are very limited and have your website URL end in WordPress.com
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Domain name included for one year with annual plans
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Ecommerce functions are only available on the highest-tier plan
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SEO tools
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SEO/Google Analytics only on higher-paid plans
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Affordable pricing plans
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Pros
- Free option (but you won’t get a custom domain)
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Domain name included for one year with annual plans
- SEO tools
- Affordable pricing plans
Cons
- Some customization
- Free accounts are very limited and have your website URL end in WordPress.com
- Ecommerce functions are only available on the highest-tier plan
- SEO/Google Analytics only on higher-paid plans
Tip: Moving to WordPress.org allows you to implement advanced customization options, but it also means you need to find and pay for your own hosting provider, domain name, and other premium features. Learn more about WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org.
The Best Massage Websites for Inspiration
Start brainstorming massage website ideas by exploring some of these successful pages.
1. Holden Beach Massage
Made with Wix
What we like:
- Calming color scheme that matches their physical location
- An alliterative tagline that fits well with their overall brand
- The header jump links to the most essential information
- Short, informal therapist bios foster a sense of connectedness, like you get to meet them before booking
- Massage therapist license numbers included in bios
2. Remedy Wellness
Made with SquareSpace
What we like:
- A super clean layout
- Helpful header links to additional information
- Simple, clear service and cost overviews near the top of the home page
- Directions and Google Maps links to their physical location in addition to their address in their footers
3. Press Modern Massage
Made with SquareSpace
What we like:
- Prominent five-star rating and press logos foster a sense of trust
- Clear header links to important information
- Summaries of their main services, including price and massage length times at the top of the home page
- An extensive informational blog
- Social media links in the footer
Boost Your Massage Website’s Credibility With Massage Therapy Insurance
Massage liability insurance is essential for protecting yourself and your business from common claims in your industry. It can also be a powerful marketing tool.
Displaying proof of insurance (like an insurance badge) on your website and social media profiles builds trust with prospective clients. It shows you are a legit business, take your practice seriously, and are committed to providing a safe experience.
Frequently Asked Questions About Massage Therapist Website Design
What Mistakes Should I Avoid on a Massage Therapy Website?
Many of the key mistakes you should avoid when planning or updating your massage therapy website include:
- Displaying outdated promos or info, and inactive or broken links
- Not including key business information like rates, location, or operating hours
- Not checking your site’s functionality and appearance on mobile devices like phones and tablets
- Using uncompressed images and other items that slow down load times
- Doing “too much” and overloading your pages with text, images, or other items
- Not including any customer reviews
How Do I Ensure My Massage Website Is Mobile-Friendly?
When editing or creating your website, most builders have an option to preview how your site appears and functions on a mobile device. Some also allow you to edit your site directly in mobile view or to create mobile versions of your pages, menus, and more.
Once published, double-check your massage website on your mobile device.
How Can I Protect My Massage Therapist Website From Security Threats?
Make sure your site has an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to encrypt data, use strong passwords and anti-malware software, and back up your site regularly. Get cyber liability insurance to protect you (and your clients) in the event of a cyber attack.
What Are the Best Ways to Showcase Client Testimonials on My Website?
Banner headings, footers, hero images (images at the top of your page), sidebars, and dedicated testimonial pages are great options for showcasing client reviews.
