A doula website that explains your support and books the first meeting
Parents finding a doula want to know what you'd actually do for them, what it costs, whether you're free around their due date, and what you're like. A doula website should explain the role clearly, including its boundaries, set out packages, and make a free meet-and-greet easy to book. Anticode builds that with its booking calendar, forms and payment links.
What a doula does, and doesn't
Many visitors, and often their partners, aren't sure what a doula is. Explain it in plain terms: continuous emotional and practical support before, during and after birth; help with preparing a birth plan, comfort measures in labour, advocacy in the sense of helping parents ask questions and be heard; and practical help at home afterwards.
Be equally clear about what a doula doesn't do: no clinical care, no medical examinations or advice, no decisions on the parents' behalf, and no replacement for a midwife, obstetrician or health visitor. Saying this plainly builds trust with parents and with the clinicians you'll work alongside. The exact wording of your scope is yours to set, in line with any professional body you belong to.
Birth and postpartum support, laid out as packages
- Birth doula
- Number of antenatal meetings, the on-call period around the due date (often from a few weeks before), attendance at the birth, and postnatal visits afterwards.
- Postpartum doula
- Hours per visit and per week, the kind of help (feeding support, rest for parents, light household tasks, care of older siblings), and the minimum booking.
- Add-ons
- Birth preparation sessions, a birth debrief, overnight support, placenta services if you offer them, sibling preparation.
Give a price per package or a starting price, and say how payment works: a booking fee to reserve the due date, then the balance by an agreed date, or a payment plan. Each payment can be a payment link from Stripe, PayPal or another provider that you send once the package is agreed. Say what happens if the baby comes before the on-call period or you can't attend; most doulas have a backup doula, and parents want to know who.
The meet-and-greet booking
Parents almost always meet two or three doulas before choosing. Anticode's booking calendar suits the first meeting: set "Meet-and-greet" as a service, and parents choose one of its six fixed times (09:00 to 17:30, Mondays skipped). The form asks for the service, day, time, name, phone and email, two families can't book the same slot, and bookings are limited to 120 days ahead. You can't change those times or close days, it takes no deposit and it doesn't sync with your personal calendar, so confirm each meeting yourself and rearrange any that clash with a birth.
An enquiry form with the due date
The due date decides everything, because you can only take a few clients in the same weeks. A custom form tied to a site function can ask for:
- Name, email and phone
- Estimated due date
- Where they plan to give birth (home, birth centre, hospital), by area only
- Birth or postpartum support, or both
- First baby or not
- How they heard about you
If some months are already full, say so on the page above the form, and mention your backup doula or postpartum support. Keep health details out of the web form; the first conversation is the right place for them. Submissions are sealed at rest and the site won't publish until the account owner and the person publishing have two-factor sign-in on.
Training and experience
Parents want reassurance without jargon. List your doula training and the organisation that provided it, any professional membership with a link to the register, continuing training (bereavement support, breastfeeding, trauma-informed care), relevant background, and your insurance and background checks if you hold them. Real, attributed words from past clients, with permission, help more than adjectives about yourself.
Design for calm
Organic (Figtree) with a green or teal action colour feels warm without being twee. Use your own photos: you, your bag, the kind of space you work in. Avoid generic stock images of pregnant bellies. Anticode writes a starting Privacy Policy from what your forms collect, which you should check and adapt. Related: therapists and massage therapists.
Limits
- No deposits or payment plans run on the site; you send payment links.
- No calendar sync, so on-call periods are managed by you.
- No client logins or secure messaging.
- No clinical record-keeping; keep health information off the website.
Questions people ask
Can parents book a meet-and-greet on my doula website?
Yes. Set up a meet-and-greet service on the booking calendar; it offers six fixed times a day, each slot takes one booking, and you confirm each meeting.
How should a doula website handle payment?
State the package prices and terms on the site, then send payment links from your provider for the booking fee and balance.
Should I explain what a doula doesn't do?
Yes. Saying plainly that you don't provide clinical care or medical advice builds trust with parents and with midwives.