Ask for little in the first form
Parent name, phone, email, the child's age group and a preferred time to visit. Nothing about health, birth dates or addresses.
Websites for child care 
5.0 Rating on Google
Daycare Web Design: A Website Built to Book the Tour
The website of a child care center has one major job: moving a parent from curiosity to a visit. It should say in seconds what ages you care for, when you are open, where you are and how to see the place. A site that fails on any one of those four loses the visit. They open with a slideshow, a mission statement and a photo of a smiling child, and make the parent hunt for hours. GetPhound is an online marketing company, and Gold and Platinum include a custom website that we host, maintain and manage. This page lists what a child care website should contain, what it should avoid and what it costs.
5.0 Rating on GoogleWhat each page does
The Pages of a Child Care Website, and the Job of Each
| Page | What a parent wants from it | What belongs on it |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Quick confirmation they are in the right place | Ages served, hours, address, a tour button, one honest sentence on your approach |
| Infant care | Is my baby welcome here, and how? | Age range, daily rhythm in general terms, how the waitlist works |
| Toddlers and preschool | What will my child do all day? | A sample schedule, your learning approach in plain words, groupings by age |
| School-age and summer | Can you cover my school calendar? | Schools served, transport, hours, summer weeks with dates |
| Tuition and enrollment | Can we afford this, and how do we sign up? | Starting points or ranges, what they include, steps, deposits, assistance programs accepted |
| Tour | When can I see it? | A short form, a phone number, visit hours and what to bring |
| Our team | Who will care for my child? | Roles, training and tenure where staff agree, never anything beyond what each person approves |
| Licensing and safety information | Is this place legitimate? | Your license information as your state allows, with a link to the official record |
| Parent resources | What do I need to know before the first day? | Policies, sick-child guidance, calendar, forms by a secure route |
The first screen
A Parent on a Phone Gives You About Five Seconds
The common mistake is designing for a desktop screen and a leisurely visitor. A parent is more likely holding a phone in a queue, at a desk or at eleven at night after the children are asleep. The page has to load quickly, show hours and ages without scrolling and put a tap-to-call button within thumb reach.
We lead with a plain statement. "Full-time care for children six weeks to five years, Monday to Friday, 6:30 to 6" is more useful than a tagline, and it is the sentence a search engine and an AI assistant can repeat accurately. The tour button follows it. Photos come next: rooms, outdoor space and entrance. Social proof such as reviews sits lower, where a parent who is still interested goes to confirm their sense.
We also design for the second visit. A parent who comes back after speaking with a spouse wants the tuition page and the tour form, so both are one tap from anywhere on the site.
Handling children's information
Six Rules for Forms and Photos on a Child Care Site
Keep sensitive details off web forms
Enrollment records, medical information and identification belong in your management software or on paper, not in an ordinary site form.
Say what you do with the data
Link it near the form, and have your advisor review it, since privacy laws that apply to children can be strict.
Be careful with tracking
Ask your attorney before adding advertising pixels to pages where families share details, and keep them off enrollment forms.
Photos need consent
Use photos of children only with written parental consent that names the use, and honor requests to remove them.
Secure the site
A child care site that is hacked or defaced damages trust. We handle updates and backups on managed plans.
Build process
How We Build a Child Care Website in Six Steps
Start from your questions
We collect the ten questions tour guides hear most and make sure the site answers them.
Plan the pages
We list the pages above, remove the ones you do not need and add anything unique, such as a bilingual program or a nature-based approach.
Write the copy with your director
Plain language, in your voice, checked against your state's advertising rules.
Design for the phone first
Layouts are tested on small screens, then expanded.
Add tracking and structured data
Calls, forms and tour bookings are counted, and child care schema data is added for search engines.
Launch, then maintain
After launch we update hours, rooms and dates, and fix what breaks, as part of a managed plan.
Searchable by design
An SEO-Ready Site Is Built So Search Engines Can Read It, Not Only Parents
A site can look warm and still be invisible. Text inside images cannot be read, a slider with five messages hides all but one, and a single page that tries to cover infants, preschool and summer care gives search engines no clear target. We give each program its own page with its own heading, text and tour link, keep addresses and hours in real text and write titles and descriptions that read like a real person wrote them.
Speed matters too. Large photos from a phone camera are the common cause of slow child care sites, and we compress and size them properly. Accessibility counts for a family audience: readable type, strong contrast and forms that work with a keyboard or a screen reader.
Phone check
A Ten-Point Check We Run on Every Child Care Site From a Phone
| Check | What we look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Load time | The first screen appears quickly on a mobile connection | Parents leave slow pages |
| Phone number | One tap to call from every page | A call is the strongest response |
| Hours and ages | Visible without scrolling | The two facts parents filter by |
| Tour button | Easy to see and easy to use | The goal of the whole site |
| Text size and contrast | Readable without zooming | Accessibility and tired eyes |
| Forms | Short, working and not blocked by pop-ups | Every extra field loses families |
| Images | Sized and compressed, no children shown without consent | Speed and privacy |
| Navigation | A short menu parents can scan | No hunting for tuition |
| Maps and address | The address opens a map app | Directions are a common next step |
| Back button and links | Nothing breaks | Broken pages undermine trust |
Languages and access
Many Families Read the Site in a Language Other Than English, and Many Need Accessible Design
If your center serves families who speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Somali or any other language, publishing the key pages in that language is one of the kindest and most effective things a website can do. Tuition, hours, ages, the tour form and the enrollment steps are the pages to translate first. We recommend a person who speaks the language review any translation, because machine output can be awkward on a topic as personal as child care.
Accessibility matters for the same reason. Parents may have disabilities, and parents of children with special needs often read sites very closely. Clear headings, descriptive link text, good color contrast, captions for any video and forms that work with a keyboard help everyone. It also helps search engines read the page. We build to common accessibility practices and test the main pages.
Finally, keep the site honest about what you can serve. If your center is not set up for a certain need, say so kindly, and point to resources, instead of letting a parent find out on a tour.
Ownership and upkeep
You Should Own the Domain, the Content and the Logins, Whoever Builds the Site
Child care owners sometimes find that a former designer holds the domain name or the hosting login, and cannot be reached. We recommend that the center is the registered owner of its domain, that an administrator at the center has access to the site and that the Google listing is owned by the center and not by an agency. On our managed plans we host and maintain the site, and you keep access to the content and your domain.
Upkeep is where many sites fail. Hours change, a room opens, a teacher leaves and the site stays the same. We recommend a short banner or notice area for timely information, such as a closure or an open house, which the center or we can update quickly, and a monthly check that hours, ages and tuition notes are still accurate. A site that is kept current feels cared for, and parents notice.
Website questions
What Child Care Directors Ask About Their Websites
How much does a daycare website cost?
A custom, fully managed website is included with Organic Growth Gold at $2,495 a month and Platinum at $3,495 a month, hosting and upkeep included. A standalone website is quoted after a short call. There is no setup fee and no contract.
Should our site list tuition?
Usually a range or starting point helps, because parents compare and often skip a center that hides it. Say what the figure includes and invite a call for exact numbers.
Can we keep our current website?
Yes. Silver works with the site you have, and we add pages and fixes within it. We suggest a new site only when the old one is slow, unusable on a phone or impossible to update.
Should we put an enrollment form online?
A short inquiry or tour form, yes. Full enrollment paperwork with health and identification details should live in a secure system. We help you choose where each belongs.
Do we need a parent login on the site?
Not necessarily. If you use childcare management software, link to its portal from a page for current families. We keep that separate from the public pages.
What goes on a staff page?
Roles, training and years at the center, with each person's agreement, written plainly. Avoid claims about qualifications that you cannot document.
How long does a build take?
It depends on the size and how quickly your director can review copy. We give a timeline after the first call and do not promise a launch date we cannot meet.
Will the site help us rank?
A well-built site gives search work something to stand on, but no site guarantees a rank. We build pages for the searches parents actually type and measure what happens.
Explore more
What to Read Once Your Listing and Tour Page Are Accurate
Start Here
- Daycare SEO ServicesThe core search work for a daycare or child care center: age-group pages, location text, a clean listing, reviews and the technical basics that let parents find you.
- Daycare MarketingA complete guide to marketing a child care center: channels, parent types, mistakes, costs, a seasonal calendar and a first ninety days.
- Daycare SEO and Digital MarketingSearch-first marketing for independent daycares, child care centers, preschools and home programs: accurate listings, SEO, paid ads and a tour page that turns a search into a visit.
Get Found in Search
- Daycare Google Maps Local SEOHow to set up and run a Google Business Profile for a child care center: categories, hours, photos, reviews, tour links and the privacy question for home programs.
- Daycare AI Search OptimizationHow parents ask AI assistants about child care, what facts to publish so a center is described correctly and why accurate hours and ages matter more than any trick.
- Daycare Link Building and CitationsThe listings and links that tell Google a child care center is real: state records, referral agencies, local parent resources, chambers and the community.
Paid Advertising
- Daycare Paid AdsWhere paid ads fit a child care center: Google Ads, Bing, Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), an early look at ChatGPT ads, and when to pause any of them.
- Daycare Google Ads ManagementHow a Google Ads account for a child care center is built: campaigns by age group, keywords and negatives, call scheduling, tour tracking and a budget set from tuition.
- Daycare Meta Ads ManagementWhat Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) can do for a child care center: open houses, start dates, summer programs and a steady local presence, within the platform's rules for children.
Website and Content
- Daycare Web Design (you are here)Website design for child care centers: pages for each age group, tuition and enrollment clarity, a tour request that works on a phone and careful handling of children's information.
- Daycare Content MarketingContent that helps parents choose child care: tour question guides, tuition explainers, age-group pages and seasonal notes, written with director approval and no developmental advice.
Strategy and Lead Generation
- Daycare Lead GenerationWhere new families come from, what a good inquiry looks like, how fast to answer it, and why owning the channels beats renting a marketplace.
- Grow Your Daycare BusinessA steady growth plan for a child care center: fill the rooms you have, keep families longer, earn referrals from employers and pediatric offices, and add marketing where it helps.
- Scale Your Daycare BusinessHow a child care center scales: staffing and ratios, room economics, a second classroom or site, systems and the marketing that keeps pace with capacity.
- Daycare KeywordsThe searches parents use for infant care, preschool, part-time and in-home programs, the look-alike searches that belong to other businesses, and where each phrase belongs on a center's site, listing and ads.
Get in Touch
Send Us Your Current Website and We Will Tell You What We See
Share your website address and tell us what parents ask most. We will review it on a phone, the way a parent would, and suggest what to fix first. Call us at 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com and our CEO will look at it with you.