Hear this article read aloud.
Some practices sell technology. Some sell convenience. Highland Lakes Dental in Leesburg, Florida sells something harder to put on a page: the feeling that the people looking after your teeth know your name.
It is a locally owned, woman-led practice serving Leesburg, The Villages and the rest of Lake County. It is led by Dr. Ishbel Nieves-Reyes, who has owned the practice since 2011, alongside associate dentists Dr. Poonam Popat and Dr. Sara Elizabeth Moore, with periodontist Dr. Marissa Crandall Cruz joining the team a few times each month. Spanish-speaking care is available. The practice’s own line for itself is “Where Lake County Comes To Smile,” and we rebuilt their website to live up to it.
Start from what already works
Highland Lakes came to us on Squarespace, with copy their patients already knew and pages Google had already indexed. A rebuild that throws all of that away loses more than it gains, so we started by carrying it across faithfully: the same pages at the same addresses, the same words where the words were working. Then we built the new site around it.
Every old address that changed now redirects to its new home, including dozens of posts from the old blog that were still showing up in search. A patient following an old link lands on the right page, not on an error.
The team, front and center
For a practice like this, the people are the reason to choose it, so they are everywhere. The opening photograph on the home page is the three doctors. The About Us section has pages for the doctors, the hygienists, the assistants and the administrative staff, with photographs and bios. A nervous patient can meet the hygienist who will be cleaning their teeth before they ever walk in.
Ten services, all in one place
Highland Lakes offers far more than cleanings: restorations, crowns and root canals, periodontics, tooth replacement, oral surgery, clear aligners and nightguards, sleep and airway care, cosmetic dentistry and aesthetic treatments. The old site made patients dig for most of that. The new home page lays out all ten services in turn, each with a photograph and a plain explanation, and every one has its own page under Our Services. The menus open into panels that describe each section in a line, so a visitor can see where everything is before choosing.
Real reviews, read by search engines too
Highland Lakes has earned more than 200 Google reviews, and they belong on its own website, not just on Google. The reviews page and the home page show real patient reviews, written into the page itself rather than loaded by a third-party widget, so search engines and AI assistants can read them as well as people. The overall rating shown is the practice’s genuine average across every review, and the page says so.
Making cost less of a question
The practice designed its membership plans with retirees, families and working adults in mind, people without dental coverage through an employer or Medicare, for whom the first question is often what care will cost. The site answers it directly. Membership Plans compares the practice’s plans for children, adults and patients who need periodontal care, with prices and what each includes. Financing Options explains the financing the practice accepts. And the insurance and ways-to-pay pages sit together under Resources.
Every way to get in touch
Some patients call, some text, and some would rather book at midnight. The contact page offers all three: a phone number, a text link and online booking through the practice’s patient portal, alongside the hours, the address and directions.
Answers for the searches nobody was answering
Patients search before they call: what a cracked tooth feels like, whether a crown or a filling is right, what to do about grinding, what the first visit is like. The blog now answers more than twenty of those questions in a calm, plain voice, and each article ends by pointing somewhere useful next.
Thank you
Thank you to Dr. Nieves-Reyes and the whole Highland Lakes Dental team for trusting us with their story, and for the photographs that made it possible to tell. It is a practice that feels like family, and we hope the website does too.
If you live in Leesburg, The Villages or anywhere in Lake County and are looking for a dentist, schedule a visit or call (352) 326-4404. Se habla Español.
