What to include on a functional medicine website, from someone who has built more than 100
The checklist I use with practices, in the order that matters, plus the mistakes I fix most often.
By Lucas Nobre ·
I’ve built more than 100 functional medicine websites for functional and integrative medicine practices. Below is the checklist I use, in the order that matters, plus the mistakes I fix most often.
A functional medicine website needs five pages (home, services, about, contact and a page for your method), online booking for the discovery call, a quiz for visitors who aren’t ready to book, an email nurture for the people who take it, and local SEO pages for every city you serve. Most practice sites have the pages and miss the rest.
The pages every practice site needs
| Page | What it has to do |
|---|---|
| Home | Name the patient’s problem in the first line and show how to book |
| Services | One section or page per program, in plain language |
| Your method | Explain how you work, step by step (more on this below) |
| About | Credentials and your story, kept short |
| Contact | Booking, phone, address and the area you serve |
A page for your method
One of the most common gaps I see is the lack of a proprietary method. Patients who look for functional medicine have usually tried conventional care and want to know what will be different. A page that walks them through your process, from the first consult to the follow-up plan, answers that before they ask. It also makes your practice harder to compare on price alone.
Booking the discovery call online
The discovery call is the main conversion on the site, so booking has to be one click away on every page. It’s usually free, though some practices charge for it depending on their positioning and demand. Either way, let people book and, if needed, pay online. Asking them to call the office loses the ones who research at night.
I’ve integrated booking and patient systems like Practice Better, Cerbo, Healthie and Jane. Use the one your practice already runs on, and connect the site to it.
A quiz for people who aren’t ready yet
Most visitors won’t book on their first visit. A lead magnet keeps them in touch, and in my experience a quiz works better than any guide or ebook, because people love getting a quick read on their own symptoms. Ask a few questions, give a short result and offer the discovery call at the end.
An email nurture after the quiz
The quiz only works if something happens after it. In one solo practice, the 24 people who downloaded a guide or took an assessment over six months received an eight-email nurture, and 6 of them became patients months later. The emails lived in the practice’s CRM and went out automatically.
Local SEO, if you see patients in person
For a practice with an office, local SEO is often the biggest source of new patients. That means a complete Google Business Profile, reviews, and a page on the site for each city you serve, with the address and service area consistent everywhere.
Patient portal and store
Add a clear link to your patient portal, so current patients find it without calling. If you sell supplements, either build a store on the site or connect the online dispensary you already use. I’ve done both, and the right choice depends on how many products you sell and who handles fulfillment.
The mistakes I fix most often
- Ignoring the advertising rules for health claims. In the US, health claims on websites and in ads have to be truthful and backed by evidence under FTC rules. Promising to cure or reverse a condition puts the practice at risk.
- No proprietary method, so the practice looks like every other one.
- A dated design that makes a modern practice look old.
- A confusing structure, where patients can’t find services or booking.
- Talking about the practitioner instead of the patient’s problem. Credentials belong on the About page. The home page belongs to the patient.
A real example
A solo functional medicine physician in the southern US had a site that only offered a phone number. After a new site with SEO, online booking, guides and symptom assessments, and an eight-email nurture, the practice went from zero to 13 consults booked a month, and from 37 to 932 visits a month, in six months.
The checklist
- Home, services, method, about and contact pages
- Online booking for the discovery call on every page
- A quiz or assessment for visitors who aren’t ready to book
- An email nurture for everyone who takes it
- Google Business Profile, reviews and a page per city served
- Patient portal link
- Store or connected dispensary, if you sell supplements
- Health claims that follow advertising rules
Frequently asked questions
Should the discovery call be free?
Usually yes. Practices with strong demand or a premium position sometimes charge for it.
Do I need a blog?
It helps people find you, and it gives the nurture something to link to. Start with articles that answer what patients ask in consults.
What platform should the site be on?
WordPress, Webflow or GoHighLevel all work. Pick the one that connects best to your booking system and that your team can edit.
Is my website HIPAA compliant?
What matters is where patient health information goes. Intake forms and portals should run on tools that sign a business associate agreement with your practice.
How long until the site brings patients?
Booking and the quiz work from day one. Local SEO usually takes a few months to show in search.
Lucas Nobre
I'm Lucas Nobre, a freelance marketing and CRM specialist based in Fortaleza, Brazil. I started as a software developer at HP, which is why I test everything before it goes live.
Since 2021 I've built 150+ GoHighLevel sub-accounts and 100+ websites across 20+ industries, for clients in the US and 6+ other countries. Certified by CXL and the Interaction Design Foundation. My client work is under NDA, so names stay private.
Want this checklist applied to your practice?
Send me your current site. I’ll reply with what’s missing and what I’d fix first.
Email me