In this 8-minute read:
- Best practices for salon and spa websites
- Tips on website builders you can use
- Examples of top salon websites
Every business should have a professional website, and your salon or spa is no exception. A website can make or break your opportunities to get new customers. Your website should be an extension of your brand, and even your physical space.
We are in the research age, where everyone wants proof of how well you can do something before they buy in. Your website is how you can show off your work and provide that additional information to convince customers to choose you over competitors.
Throughout this article, we’ll provide some tips and tricks for designing your salon or spa website and some great examples to gain inspiration from.
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Best practices for designing and building your salon or spa website
Let’s talk about some best practices for your website along with the things that you absolutely need in order to build a great salon website.
Write simple and meaningful content
The written words on your website should create meaning for your audience and potential customers. Your content needs to provide value through the information that you share, but it also needs to be simple, well-organized, and free of jargon.
Some tips for writing good content on a spa or salon website:
- Write the way you speak. Keep it natural and friendly
- Keep sentences and paragraphs short (2-3 sentences per paragraph). This makes it easier to read
- Break up text with headings and bulleted lists. This also makes the text easier to read and scan through (most people don’t have the attention span to read large blocks of text)
As you create your content, think of the kinds of questions that you get asked on a daily basis. Use the content on your website to help answer those questions. These can be through an FAQ page, regular blog posts, or even your services pages.
Types of content and pages that you should include on your salon or spa website:
- About us—this will help potential customers get to know you and your staff so they feel more comfortable making an appointment
- Pricing—customers want as much information as they can get before making a decision, and the price of your services is a huge factor in that decision
- Frequently asked questions—let your website work for you by answering commonly asked questions
- Contact—there should be a clear way to contact your salon, preferably a phone number and some kind of contact form. An online chat or link to Facebook Messenger can also be helpful to customers that are less likely to pick up the phone
- Photo gallery—this should show off the work of your employees. Photos help provide credibility and show that your staff knows what they are doing
Use high-quality, professional-looking photos
Not only are high-quality images important for showing off your work, but large, vibrant photos are also a major website trend right now. Large, professional images will bring a modern vibe to your site while also presenting a portfolio.
You don’t have to go out and hire a professional photographer to get good, high-quality photos for your website either. It can be as simple as taking a few photos on your phone.
Encourage your staff to take before and after photos (with the permission of their clients of course) and post those on the website.
Check this out: Top 3 ways to get (and use) professional photos for your small business
Have a strong call-to-action present throughout your site
Beyond your informational content, you’ll want to also provide a call-to-action to encourage potential customers to reach out to you.
Determine what you want that call-to-action to be. Do you have an online booking system that you want to encourage customers to use? Or do you prefer that they call or text you to set up their appointment?
Whatever you decide, make sure you have clear CTA’s on your site to point your customers in that direction. These can be “Book Now” buttons, contact forms, banners that encourage customers to reach out, and more.
Make sure it is easy to contact your salon or spa from your website
Along with having a strong CTA, you also need to make sure that CTA leads to an easy way to get in touch with your business. It should point to a contact page, directly to a booking portal, or to a phone number at the very least so that your customers can reach you.
The more channels that you open up for communication on your website, the more opportunities you’ll have to gain new customers.
Not everyone likes to pick up the phone and call, especially when they are still in research mode. Providing an alternative solution like texting, online chat, or a contact form to ask questions can be a great way to help move customers down the sales funnel.
Your brand should be well-represented
Your website is an extension of your salon or spa. Think of it as a 24/7 sales representative. It should be easy to recognize your brand, the name of your business, and what your business is all about just from looking at your website.
Make sure your branding carries across all of your online and in-person avenues, from your physical location to flyers to your social media accounts to your website. It should all feel like one cohesive business, because it is!
Tips for bringing out your brand on your website:
- Add your logo
- Use your brand colors throughout your site
- Change the fonts on your website to match your brand (they don’t have to be the exact fonts used in your logo, but they should have a similar feel)
- Utilize icons and design elements that represent your brand
Go deeper: How to build and strengthen your brand
Find a good platform to build your website
When you have your written content and images gathered and a plan laid out for your website, it’s time to start building it. Find a good platform to use for building your website. You can choose to go to a professional web designer that will use their choice of content management system, or you can go the DIY route and find a low-cost website builder.
Here are a few resources you may find helpful:
- Small business basics: What’s the easiest way to build your website?
- How to build your own business website (step-by-step walkthrough)
- How much do online website builders cost?
Examples of top salon websites
We always find that visual aids are helpful, so we’ve gathered a few salon websites that really capture the essence of the best practices provided above.
For some great inspiration on your salon’s website, check out these examples.
850 Salon
This salon does a great job of utilizing modern web design trends, like large banner images, bold headings, and incorporating valuable content.
They also incorporate their brand well throughout the website. Without having their brand guidelines available, you can easily tell that their brand has a high-end feel with a black and white monochrome color scheme. And they use their “850” as a design element in unique ways across their site.
Visit their site: https://eightfivezerosalon.com/
Versa Salon & Spa
Versa Salon & Spa meets all of our best practices outlined above. They share valuable and easy-to-follow content, along with beautiful professional photos throughout the site.
Versa also does an exceptional job of making their brand known throughout the site, from the use of their fonts and colors to the design elements from their logo in their banner images and footer.
Rather than sharing a photo gallery on their website, Versa shares their social media feed for their customers to view their work and stay up to date on new products and updates. This is a great way to incorporate your social channels into your website and show off your work.
Visit their site: https://versasalon.com/
DryBar
Our final example is DryBar. While they don’t use the full-bleed images that the first two sites used, they still present a modern vibe with their simple icons, vibrant images, fonts, and colors.
Again, their branding is very clear with the colors and their logo present. They clearly list their prices and products on the site and include strong call-to-actions with “shop now” and “book now” buttons throughout the website.
One aspect that we really love about this website is their photo gallery. Not only do they share their work, but they also share images of their employees, products, and location so that customers can easily become familiar with their company before ever stepping foot on site. It helps set the tone for what the entire salon experience will be like.
Visit their site: https://www.thedrybar.com/
Start showing up better online with reputation management software
Once you have your website up and running, there are some important next steps that you should consider to improve your online visibility.
Getting reviews online and managing your profiles across various online business listings are great next steps to really help you show up well in the search engines in local searches.
Womply Reputation Management can help with that. Our software allows you to easily manage your online reviews from several different platforms all in one location. It also allows you to respond to new reviews and remind customers that you thrive on their online feedback.
Womply also offers business intelligence, customer relationship management, email marketing, payments, and a dynamic customer directory that updates automatically with each transaction.
Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!