Care home websites
Care home websites, written for the family making the decision
A care home website has an unusual reader: an adult child, often at night, often upset, trying to work out whether this is somewhere they could place a parent. They are not comparing features. They are looking for reassurance, honesty and a sense of what the place is actually like.
- From £499
- Written for families
- Enquiries reach a person
Who is actually reading it
Very few residents choose their own home from a website. The reader is almost always a son or daughter, frequently searching late in the evening after a hospital conversation, working through several homes in one sitting. They are anxious, short of time and looking for reasons to rule places out.
That changes what the site has to do. Warmth matters more than polish. Real photographs of the actual building and the actual staff matter more than any amount of design. And the questions people are too embarrassed to ask on the phone, particularly about money, need answering on the page.
The homes whose websites work are the ones that read as though a real person wrote them about a real place. The ones that fail are the ones that could be describing any home anywhere, which is most of them.
How we approach any build is on our page about web design in Nottinghamshire.
What belongs on a care home website
- Real photographs of the actual rooms, gardens and communal areas, including the ones that are not perfect
- Fees said as plainly as you are able to say them, because silence on cost is the most common reason a family moves on
- What is included and what is charged separately, since that is the question families feel awkward asking
- Your CQC rating and inspection report linked directly, because a family will look it up anyway and finding it themselves reads better than hiding it
- The types of care you provide, in the words families use rather than the words the sector uses
- Named staff with photographs, particularly the manager, since families want to know who they would be dealing with
- A clear route to arrange a visit, and an enquiry that reaches a person quickly rather than an inbox
- What visiting is actually like, which is the question every family has and few sites answer
Proof
Queenswood Care Home
We built and support the site for Queenswood Care Home, which is why this page is written from experience rather than from a template about the care sector.
The thing that consistently matters most is honesty. Homes that publish their fees, show their real building and link their inspection report get better enquiries, because the families who ring have already decided the place could be right.
Read the Queenswood Care Home case study
The enquiry is the part that gets neglected
A family enquiring about a care home is usually enquiring about three or four at once, and the one that replies first has a substantial advantage. An enquiry sitting unread in a shared inbox until Tuesday is a placement that went somewhere else.
So the form has to reach a person quickly, the acknowledgement has to say something human, and somebody has to own it. That is a small piece of work with a disproportionate effect on occupancy.
- Enquiries routed to a named person, not a general inbox
- Immediate acknowledgement that reads like a person wrote it
- Delivery monitored, because a silently failing form is the worst fault a site can have
Publishing fees is the hardest decision on this page
Plenty of homes prefer not to, and there are real reasons for that. Our experience is that a range with an honest explanation of what moves it produces fewer wasted visits and better-qualified enquiries than saying nothing.
It is your call, and we will build it either way. It is worth discussing properly rather than defaulting to silence.
Get in touch
Talk to us about care home websites
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Frequently asked questions
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
How much does a care home website cost?
Ours start at £499 for a brand-led business site, which is the right level for most single homes. A group with several homes needing individual pages and a shared enquiry route is quoted on top. The price is fixed before we start and the first year of hosting is included.
Should we publish our fees?
It is your decision and we will build it either way. In our experience a published range with an honest explanation of what moves it produces better-qualified enquiries and fewer wasted visits, because families rule themselves in or out before ringing rather than after a tour.
Do you use stock photography?
We would rather not, and for a care home it is close to counterproductive. Families are looking for the actual building and the actual staff, and a stock image of a smiling stranger in a bright room reads as exactly what it is. We arrange real photography where it is needed.
Can families enquire about availability online?
Yes, and the important part is what happens next. The enquiry needs to reach a named person quickly with an acknowledgement that sounds human, because a family is usually contacting several homes at once and the first real reply matters.
What about resident photographs and consent?
That gets handled properly, with consent recorded and a straightforward way to remove an image later if a family changes its mind. It is a question worth settling before the photography rather than afterwards.
Do you work with care groups as well as single homes?
Yes. A group needs each home to have genuine local identity while sharing the enquiry route and the brand, which is a structure question worth getting right at the start rather than bolting on later.
