Maybe the monthly fee has started to feel like rent. Maybe you’ve asked for the same change three times. Or maybe you just want a website that belongs to your practice. Whatever the reason, leaving a monthly website service like Brighter Vision or TherapySites is very doable. It just goes more smoothly if you know what comes with you and what stays behind, and if you do things in the right order.
This guide walks you through it in plain words.
What’s usually yours
These things normally belong to you, even if the website company has been looking after them:
- Your web address (yourpractice.com), as long as it was registered in your name or your practice’s name. This is the most important thing to keep. It’s how clients, Google and your directory profiles find you.
- The words you wrote. Your about page, your bios, your description of how you work. You wrote them, so you can take them.
- Photos you own. Your headshots and any photos of your office that you paid a photographer for or took yourself.
- Your booking system. Your booking link lives in SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, Jane or whatever you use, not in your website. It doesn’t change when your website does.
- Your Google Business Profile and directory profiles. These are your accounts, not the website company’s.
What usually stays behind
These things normally belong to the website company, or are only licensed to you while you pay:
- The website itself and its design. With most monthly services, the website lives on their system. When you stop paying, it goes away, and you can’t take the design with you as it is.
- Stock photos they supplied. Many services include photos they license for use on their system. Those licenses usually don’t transfer to you.
- Pre-written content. Some services offer a library of articles or page text they wrote. That text is theirs, not yours.
- Email addresses on their system. If your practice email (like you@yourpractice.com) is hosted by the website company, it may stop working when you cancel. This is the one people most often forget.
Every company’s terms are different. Where a company doesn’t say publicly what happens when you leave, ask them in writing before you do anything. More on that below.
How to leave, step by step
1. Find out who registered your web address
Look for a renewal email or invoice for your web address, or ask your website company directly: “Who is the registered owner of my domain name, and how do I transfer it to my own account?”
If it’s already in your name, great. If the company registered it for you, ask for it to be transferred to an account in your practice’s name. Brighter Vision’s pricing page, for example, says you “fully, 100%” own your domain name and that it will transfer it back without charging a release fee. TherapySites’ pricing page doesn’t say, so ask.
2. Copy your words and photos
Before anything changes, save a copy of everything you wrote: your homepage, about page, bios, specialties, fees and insurance details, and any blog posts you wrote yourself. Copying and pasting into a document is fine.
Save your own photos too. If you’re not sure which photos you own, ask the company which ones were stock photos they supplied.
3. List your booking and contact links
Write down your booking link, your client portal link, your phone number and any other links on your website. Your new website will use the same ones, so nothing changes for your clients.
4. Check your practice email
If your email address ends in your web address (you@yourpractice.com), find out who provides it. If it’s the website company, set up email somewhere else, like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, before you cancel. If your email is used for anything with client information, check that the new provider will protect it the way your compliance advisor expects.
5. Read your contract and refund terms
Look for how much notice you need to give, whether you’re on a monthly or yearly plan, and whether there’s a cancellation fee. Brighter Vision’s pricing page says monthly plans aren’t refunded, and that yearly plans can get a partial refund only before the first draft is built, minus the setup fee, the first month and a $100 cancellation fee. If your provider’s terms aren’t public, ask for them in writing.
6. Build your new website before you cancel
This is the most important step. Keep your old website running while the new one is built. You review it, and only when you’re happy does your web address get pointed to it.
That way there’s never a day when someone searching for you finds a blank page.
7. Keep your place on Google
Google has learned which of your pages answer which questions. To keep that:
- Keep the same web address. Moving to a new address means starting over.
- Keep page addresses the same where you can. If your fees page was yourpractice.com/fees, keep it there.
- Point old addresses to new pages. When a page address has to change, set it up so anyone visiting the old address is sent straight to the new page.
- Keep your practice name, address and phone exactly the same on your website, your Google Business Profile and your directory profiles.
Done this way, most practices hold their place on Google, and a quicker, clearer website often helps.
8. Move your web address, then cancel
Once the new website is live and your web address points to it, check a few pages on your phone, try your booking button and send yourself a message through your contact form. Then cancel the old service, and ask for written confirmation.
A quick checklist
- I know who registered my web address, and it’s in my practice’s name (or the transfer is underway).
- I’ve saved my words, bios and the photos I own.
- I’ve listed my booking link, client portal and phone number.
- My practice email will keep working after I cancel.
- I know my notice period and any cancellation fee.
- My new website is live, and I’ve checked it on my phone.
- Old page addresses send people to the right new pages.
- My name, address and phone match everywhere.
- Only now: cancel, and get it in writing.
Where to go from here
- See why most practices end up paying far more to rent than to own on our renting vs owning page, or read the 5-year math.
- Compare your current service with owning your website: Brighter Vision, TherapySites or Squarespace.
- Or send us your website for a free website check. We’ll tell you what you can take with you, and show you a preview of your new homepage before you pay anything.