Salon websites: the five things clients look for first

Someone finds your salon on their phone. Maybe a friend mentioned you, maybe they searched "balayage near me," maybe they walked past and wrote your name down. Either way, they open your site with one question in mind: can I book here, and do I want to?

They'll decide fast. The first screen does most of the work, and anything that makes them hunt (a slow slideshow, a menu buried three clicks deep, a "call us to book" with no hours listed) is a reason to go back to the search results.

Here are the five things people look for first, roughly in the order they look.

1. What you do

Sounds obvious. Plenty of salon sites still open with a big photo and a word like "Beauty" and nothing else.

Say what you are in one plain line at the top. "Hair salon in [your neighborhood]: color, cuts and blowouts." If you specialize (curly hair, bridal, lash extensions), say that up front. That's often the exact reason someone picks you.

2. What it costs

People want prices before they book. Not because they're shopping for the cheapest, but because nobody wants to sit in the chair wondering what the bill will be.

A service menu with prices, on the site, as text. "From" prices are fine for services that depend on length or time ("Color from $120"). What's not fine is a menu that only lives inside a photo of a printed price list, or a PDF that takes ten seconds to load on a phone.

Prices change. That's the other reason the menu should be text on a page: changing a price should take minutes, not a redesign. With me, a price or menu change is usually 15 to 30 minutes of work.

3. How to book

This is the button that matters. "Book now," near the top of the page, on every page.

You don't need a new booking system. Most salons already use one: Vagaro, Square, Fresha, or something similar. The site's job is to send people straight into it, ideally to the right service, without making them find the app themselves.

If you also take walk-ins or calls, say so, and list the hours next to it. "Call to book" with no hours is how people end up leaving a voicemail at 9pm and booking somewhere else.

4. Your work

People choose a stylist by looking at hair. A gallery of your actual work, by your actual team, does more than any paragraph about your passion for beauty.

Some tips:

• Real photos, not stock. Clients can tell. A stock photo of a model in a salon you don't own works against you.
• Recent. Swap in new ones every season or so. A gallery that hasn't changed since 2019 makes people wonder.
• Sorted, if you have a lot. Color, cuts, bridal. Easier to scan.
• Linked to your Instagram, if that's where most of your work lives. But put a few of the best right on the site, because not everyone will tap through.

If your team is part of why people come, put them on the site: a photo, a name, what each person specializes in. Some clients book a person, not a salon.

5. Where and when

Address, a map, parking or transit notes if they help, and your hours. Holiday hours too, when they change.

This matters for Google as well. Your name, address and phone on the site should match what's on your Google Business Profile exactly. I wrote a separate post on getting your business on Google Maps.

What you can skip

• Sliders and autoplay video on the first screen. They load slowly on phones and push the booking button down.
• A long "our story" page, unless you love writing it. A few lines on the About page is plenty.
• Pop-ups asking for an email before someone has even seen your menu.
• A blog, unless you'll actually post. An empty blog from two years ago looks like a closed business.

What to have ready before you get a site built

The build goes faster, and costs less, when the pieces are already in hand. Before you talk to anyone:

• Your current service menu with prices, even as a photo of the printed one
• The link to your booking page in Vagaro, Square, Fresha or whatever you use
• Twenty or so photos of your work you'd be proud to show, plus one of the front of the salon
• Your team's names and what each person does, if they'll be on the site
• Your hours, and the days you're usually closed

How often a salon site changes

More than most businesses. Prices go up, stylists join and leave, there's a holiday special, the gallery needs new photos. That's normal, and it's the main thing to plan for when you get a site.

You have three ways to handle it:

• Make the changes yourself on a website builder. Fine if you like doing it and have the time.
• Pay when you need a change. With me that's $100 an hour, with an estimate first. A price change or a photo swap is usually under half an hour.
• Monthly hours, if you change things most months. Steady is $149 a month for hosting plus 1.5 hours. Busy is $279 a month for hosting plus 3.5 hours, for salons that update specials and photos every month.

If you only change things a few times a year, skip the plans. Hosting at $39 a month plus the odd hour costs less.

A build starts from $1,500, and you own the site. More on what goes on a salon site, and a labeled concept build, on the salons and spas page. All prices are on pricing.