The verdict in three sentences
A fertility clinic in San Francisco should redesign its website when the current one undermines trust before the first consultation: success data with no source or year, no price guidance, slow mobile pages, or forms that ask for a diagnosis without explaining where the data goes. A Bay Area agency commonly quotes $40,000 to $150,000 for a clinic redesign in 2026, while Kolonell's fixed grid is 2,900 USD (Starter), 4,900 USD (Growth) and 8,900 USD (Premium) for the public site, with portals and integrations on quote. The real risks sit in migration and compliance: lost Google traffic, health data collected in the wrong place, and claims published without medical review.
Six signals your site is already costing you patients
A patient weighing IVF or egg freezing in San Francisco often compares three to five clinics over several weeks. She reads physician bios, looks for success data, and tries to understand what a cycle costs and what her employer plan covers. In a market where many patients work in tech and read websites with a critical eye, small inconsistencies get noticed.
| Signal on the current site | What the patient sees | Effect on credibility |
|---|---|---|
| Success rates with no source, year or age group | Among the best results in the region | She cross-checks with the national CDC and SART reports, and the gap reads as advertising |
| No price guidance | Contact us everywhere | Self-pay patients facing a $15,000 to $30,000 cycle want a range |
| Free-text form asking to describe your situation | A text box with no privacy notice | Health information travels through a channel not built for it |
| Ad pixels on appointment pages | Nothing visible, but present in the code | US regulators have warned health websites about this kind of tracking |
| Mobile pages over 4 seconds | A blank screen on BART | Drop-off before the physicians page |
| Weak contrast, inaccessible PDFs | Forms a screen reader cannot complete | Exposure to ADA Title III demand letters, which are frequent in California |
| Bios from five years ago | Departed physicians, old photos | Doubt about how active the clinic really is |
Two of these signals usually justify a redesign rather than a visual refresh.
What a redesign costs in 2026: local market versus a fixed grid
The ranges below are a 2026 ballpark drawn from typical agency quotes and public rate pages. They move with page count, photo production and integrations.
| Option | Budget (2026 ballpark) | Usual timeline | What is usually included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Area freelance designer and developer | $8,000 to $25,000 | 6 to 12 weeks | Design and build, little copywriting |
| Small San Francisco studio | $25,000 to $60,000 | 8 to 14 weeks | Design, partial copy, CMS |
| Healthcare-specialist agency (local or national) | $60,000 to $150,000 and up | 3 to 6 months | Strategy, medical copy, integrations |
| Kolonell Starter | 2,900 USD | 3 to 4 weeks | Compact site, native English copywriting |
| Kolonell Growth | 4,900 USD | 3 to 4 weeks | Full site: treatments, physicians, costs, FAQ |
| Kolonell Premium | 8,900 USD | 4 to 6 weeks | Multilingual tier, languages set in the quote |
| Patient portal, scheduling tied to the EHR | On quote | Depends on the vendor | Specific integration and security work |
| Maintenance after the 3 included months | Market assumption: $500 to $2,500 per month | Ongoing | Updates, backups, small changes |
All three Kolonell tiers include a project manager reachable in Pacific time, native English copywriting (or native French for a French version), delivery in 3 to 4 weeks (4 to 6 for Premium) once content is ready, and 3 months of support. Details are on the international offer page.
Timeline by phase, once content is ready
| Phase | Kolonell | Typical local agency |
|---|---|---|
| URL and content inventory | Week 1 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Treatment and physician page designs | Weeks 1 to 2 | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Copywriting and content migration | Weeks 2 to 3 | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Medical and legal review of claims | Week 3, on the clinic side | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Accessibility and speed testing | Weeks 3 to 4 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Launch and 301 redirects | Week 4 (5 to 6 for Premium) | Variable |
The bottleneck is almost always internal: sign-off on copy by physicians and, where needed, by the clinic's counsel.
The risks and how to contain them
- Lost Google traffic: a full inventory of existing URLs, a page-by-page 301 redirect map, and Search Console checks for the four weeks after launch.
- Content migration: the pages that drive enquiries (IVF, egg freezing, donor programmes as the clinic legally offers them) move first and get reviewed, not copied as they are.
- Regulated content: success rates point to nationally reported data (the CDC and SART system) with year and age group; no copy promises a pregnancy; testimonials appear only with written consent.
- Health data: forms that collect medical information run on tools suited to HIPAA requirements where the clinic is a covered entity, and data from California visitors also falls under the CCPA as amended by the CPRA. This is not legal advice.
- Downtime: DNS switch in a quiet window, TTL lowered the day before, the old site kept as a fallback for 30 days.
Questions to ask any agency, and when a local one is the better choice
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Ask who writes the medical pages, who owns the redirect map, which form tools they propose for health data, which accessibility level they target (WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA), and what happens after the support period. A local agency remains the better choice if you want weekly in-person workshops, a photo and video shoot at your clinic, or a deep integration with your patient record system run by one provider on site.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Bayview Fertility Partners, four physicians, 60 pages, a site from 2019. A local studio quotes $48,000. The alternative under review: Kolonell Premium at 8,900 USD (English and Spanish set in the quote) plus a reserved $6,000 for the scheduling integration, on quote. Total: $14,900, a gap of $33,100. With one IVF journey estimated at $20,000 in revenue (assumption), a single additional patient already covers the Premium tier.
FAQ
Should we publish our success rates on the site?
There is no required format, but patients look for them. The safest approach is to point to nationally reported data with year and age group rather than a standalone figure such as 60% with no context.
How long does a full redesign take?
With Kolonell, 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready, 4 to 6 weeks for Premium. At a specialist local agency, 3 to 6 months is common.
Is the patient portal included in the 8,900 USD?
No. Secure areas, portals and EHR integrations are priced on quote, because they depend on the vendor and on security requirements.
Will we lose our search rankings?
A temporary dip of a few weeks is common. With a complete 301 map and Search Console monitoring, most sites recover within 4 to 12 weeks, with no guarantee.
Can we show our prices?
Yes, and ranges are recommended: initial consultation, IVF cycle, egg freezing. A clear note on what each includes prevents misunderstandings.
Let's scope your project. A Growth or Premium redesign with URL inventory, medical review and launch in 3 to 6 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.