What should a vet website show first?

Whether you are open now, the phone number and the after-hours plan. An owner with a sick animal will not read a paragraph. Below that, put the vets and the services. The site can be warm, but the first screen has to be quick to read and act on.

How do I handle after-hours care on the site?

Say plainly what you do. If your clinic doesn't open at night, name the emergency centre you refer to, its address and its number. If you share an on-call roster, say so. Match this on Google and on your voicemail, so an owner gets one answer everywhere.

Should I put prices online?

For the standard items, yes, such as a consultation, vaccination and desexing, with what's included. Owners compare clinics for routine care. For surgery or dental work, say that a quote follows an examination, and explain how you give one, rather than showing a number you can't hold to.

Can I show reviews from clients?

A vet is a different case from a doctor, since the human health advertising rules don't apply in the same way. Even so, check what your state board expects, only quote real clients, and don't edit what they wrote. Ratings from your Google profile are usually the safest to show.

How do I describe the clinic to a nervous owner?

With facts about the visit. Say whether cats have a separate waiting area, whether owners can stay for a procedure where it's safe, how long a consult runs and how you handle anxious animals. Those details are reassuring, and an owner can check them on arrival.

Is it worth a page for horses or farm animals?

If you treat them, yes, and keep it apart from small animal pages. Say which services you do on the farm, how far you travel, how to book a call-out and what happens in an emergency out of hours. Farm clients search differently and decide differently from pet owners.

Websites for vet practices

Website design and development for vet practices across Australia: emergencies handled on the first screen, routine care and vaccinations a click behind.

From AUD 1,500, fixed before we start. No deposit. You pay when it's live.

The quote needs JavaScript. Email hello@freshsite.com.au or use the contact form and we'll reply within 24 hours.

A veterinary consulting room with a steel examination table, a pet scale and a stethoscope

What a site for vet practices has to do

People look for a vet in two situations: a routine one, like a vaccination or a new puppy, and an urgent one, when an animal is unwell and the owner is frightened. The site has to work for both. The urgent reader needs an open or closed answer, a phone number and the after-hours plan within a second of the page loading.

The routine reader takes more time and cares who they will see. Name the vets, show the clinic, explain what a first visit involves and say which animals you treat. Owners are protective, so plain, factual detail about how you handle anxious pets does more than any claim about caring. Skip superlatives.

What the site carries

A phone number and an open-or-closed line at the top of every page.
A clear after-hours plan: who answers, where the emergency centre is and what to do first.
Each vet named, with their qualifications and special interests, and a photo of the team.
Which animals you treat, covering dogs and cats, small pets, birds, horses or farm animals.
Pages for the routine things owners search for, like vaccinations, desexing, microchipping and dental care.
A new-puppy and new-kitten page covering the first-year health checks owners ask about.
Fees for the common items, such as a consultation and a vaccination, with a note on what changes the amount.
A line on payment, covering pet insurance claims, payment plans and what is asked on the day.
Parking, a separate entrance for cats if you have one, and what to bring for a first visit.
A page on end-of-life care written gently and plainly, with how to book a quiet time.

The work your customers look for

vaccinations
desexing
microchipping
puppy and kitten checks
dental cleans
emergency consults
senior pet checks
surgery
worming and flea control
end-of-life care
farm and horse visits

What they type

"vet near me"
"emergency vet"
"vet"
"puppy vaccinations"
"cat desexing"
"after hours vet"
"vet open on weekends"

The rules that shape the words

Your state's veterinary board regulates the profession, so check its guidance before you make any claim about a treatment, a title or a result.

Do not claim a clinical result you cannot guarantee, since Australian Consumer Law bars misleading claims and a sick animal's outcome is never certain.

Prices and package offers on the site need their full terms stated, because Australian Consumer Law treats an unclear price as misleading.

Avoid ranking language such as best or leading, and call a vet a specialist only where an approved qualification supports it.

Rules change. Have your licence and wording checked against your regulator before the site goes live.

Sample designs

The closest designs to a site for vet practices

We haven't built a sample for vet practices yet, so here's the nearest kit. Yours is built on your own words and photos.

Photographs first, on a sand ground

Photographs carry the page over a warm sand ground, with a light serif and treatments as photo tiles.

Sample design. Tallowwood Dental is a fictional business.

Open the demo of photographs first, on a sand ground
Type and lists on pale cream

Type and lists lead on pale cream, the photograph washes in behind the headline, treatments sit in white cards.

Sample design. Tallowwood Dental is a fictional business.

Open the demo of type and lists on pale cream
A dark veil over the practice

The practice photographed full width under a dark veil, a clean sans headline and the call button first.

Sample design. Tallowwood Dental is a fictional business.

Open the demo of a dark veil over the practice
A cream card on a framed photograph

Rounded cream panels on a sand ground, a serif headline in a card laid over a framed photograph of the practice.

Sample design. Tallowwood Dental is a fictional business.

Open the demo of a cream card on a framed photograph
A rounded photograph and a contact card

A rounded full-width photograph with a white sans headline, and the number and address in a card at its foot.

Sample design. Tallowwood Dental is a fictional business.

Open the demo of a rounded photograph and a contact card

What goes wrong on older sites

Opening hours that differ between the home page, the contact page and Google.
An emergency number hidden in the footer.
A page of treatments described in clinical language only a vet would follow.
Stock photos of laughing dogs in place of the real team and waiting room.
Claims of being the leading or best clinic, which the profession's advertising rules discourage.

Questions from vet practices

What should a vet website show first?: Whether you are open now, the phone number and the after-hours plan. An owner with a sick animal will not read a paragraph. Below that, put the vets and the services. The site can be warm, but the first screen has to be quick to read and act on.
How do I handle after-hours care on the site?: Say plainly what you do. If your clinic doesn't open at night, name the emergency centre you refer to, its address and its number. If you share an on-call roster, say so. Match this on Google and on your voicemail, so an owner gets one answer everywhere.
Should I put prices online?: For the standard items, yes, such as a consultation, vaccination and desexing, with what's included. Owners compare clinics for routine care. For surgery or dental work, say that a quote follows an examination, and explain how you give one, rather than showing a number you can't hold to.
Can I show reviews from clients?: A vet is a different case from a doctor, since the human health advertising rules don't apply in the same way. Even so, check what your state board expects, only quote real clients, and don't edit what they wrote. Ratings from your Google profile are usually the safest to show.
How do I describe the clinic to a nervous owner?: With facts about the visit. Say whether cats have a separate waiting area, whether owners can stay for a procedure where it's safe, how long a consult runs and how you handle anxious animals. Those details are reassuring, and an owner can check them on arrival.
Is it worth a page for horses or farm animals?: If you treat them, yes, and keep it apart from small animal pages. Say which services you do on the farm, how far you travel, how to book a call-out and what happens in an emergency out of hours. Farm clients search differently and decide differently from pet owners.

From AUD 1,500

Fixed before we start. No deposit. You pay when it's live.

Your site goes live on your domain and you've got 7 days before the invoice is due.
The first year of hosting and care is included. After that it's AUD 25 a month, billed yearly (AUD 300 a year).
You edit your own words and photos, and your old site stays where it is until you're happy.

Get a quote We reply within 24 hours.

Websites for vet practices