All About Hair

174: Taking Your Salon to the Next Level: Essentials of a Successful Salon Website

• Danise Keilitz • Season 3 • Episode 174

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Struggling to design a website that speaks directly to your audience? We've got you covered. This episode unveils the secrets of optimizing your website design to not only attract clients but also the best stylists in the industry. Learn how to create an eye-catching unique value proposition, compelling copy that matches what your audience is searching for, and a user-friendly navigation system. Plus, we delve into the essential elements of a salon website, from spinning language to benefit clients, to using testimonials and before-and-after shots to build trust. So, whether you're a seasoned salon owner or a newbie, this episode is a goldmine of practical tips and insights that could significantly drive your success.

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Speaker 1:

Well, hey there, welcome to the Salon Ownership Made Easy podcast. As a former Salon owner, I know how tough it can be to deal with things like hiring new team members, managing your KPIs and fixing everything that seems to break in the salon. It's enough to drive anyone crazy. But don't worry, I'm here to help you navigate the ups and downs of the industry. Let's face it beauty school didn't prepare us for the real world of Salon ownership, but with the right techniques, systems and mindset, you can achieve amazing success. With over 30 years of experience and four successful salons under my belt, including two that hit over seven figures, I've learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn't. So buckle up and get ready for some practical tips and real talk. Let's do this. Hello, and welcome back to our podcast. You know, today I'm kind of excited. I absolutely love talking to salon owners, whether it's just listening to them rant about employee situations, or if they are asking for advice or whatever. I just love it, because it is a rare breed Salon owners. It takes a different individual to be a successful salon owner, wouldn't you agree? Well, the other day I was talking to a friend of mine who really needed some help getting some branding together. So she's been in the industry for a while now and she's having a hard time attracting stylists and I know a lot of you are having a hard time attracting stylists. I get it. Everybody wants to work for themselves, but I still believe that there are stylists out there who want to work with a team. They don't want to be their own boss, they don't want to have to take care of their own taxes and their own going to the beauty supply, things like that. They want to work in a salon, that they collect a paycheck, they come to work, they do their beautiful hair, do their work, do what they're supposed to do and go home at the end of the night, and that they want to be a part of a team with education and a culture. I truly, truly believe that. I think right now we're just kind of in a weird environment, coming off of that COVID thing, and people are just trying to find their way. So if you are a salon owner and you are struggling, hang in there, my friend, because I do believe 2024 is going to be your year. I really do believe that.

Speaker 1:

So what I want to talk about today is having your website up and going not only to attract clients, but to attract the stylists who you want to recruit to come work at your salon. Am I right? If you don't have a website that says exactly who you are, that doesn't entice them to come into you. You've got to create some curiosity. You've got to give them a reason to want to come work for you. Why would they want to work in your salon? What do you offer that is different than any other salon out there? And I don't care if you've not been in other salons.

Speaker 1:

Think about what your average salon is. It is four walls. It is a. Usually it's a hairstylist who just opened a salon.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we're talking typical hair salons don't really have a brand, don't really have a marketing campaign, don't have education set up, don't have a career path set up. Can you offer any of those things? Do you offer those things and do you shout it from the rooftop that you offer those things? What about any awards that you've won? My friend who I was talking to has won multiple awards for the city that she lives in. She needs to be screaming that from the rooftops. Not only does that attract new clients, it attracts stylists who want to be around award winning salon owners, am I right? So, whether she has to go out and make herself a banner, get it off online, like Vista print or Canva or something, and put it outside her salon so that way people who are driving by looking for a new salon they might just check you out. Or stylists, they are looking for a reason to come work for you. So your website needs to have those accolades on there as well, on the first page. It needs to scream it.

Speaker 1:

So as soon as you go to your website and let's just start from the beginning your website domain and if you don't know what a domain is, that is, it's kind of like your address, you know, like wwwdeneaskylitscom, that's my domain. Okay, so if your salon was named Denise's Salon, you would want to go. Try to buy wwwdeneasesaloncom or something close to that, and you can get that at GoDaddy or some other sites. Godaddy is very popular and it's very easy to do. You just search whatever you want. Try to get the dot com, because that is more globally accepted. You know you could doorgnet, all these other things, but people don't know those as well and it's kind of doesn't? People just don't go to those as much. Okay, you can make that happen. I've seen very, very successfulnets happen. So, okay, let's talk about what are some of the things that make a successful website.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you don't have a website, or if you've used your POS system, like Vagaro or even GoDaddy, to make a free website, kudos, you got a website, so you at least have a domain and you got something up there. However, that's not enough. That's just not enough in these days. So a website makes it look like you're in the game of business. You're not just a hairstylist that opened up a shop. Okay, that's what clients are looking for. That's what stylists are looking for. They need to know that you're in it to win it and that you're serious about it, right? So I guess I'm going to be talking a little bit of tough love, because I've seen so many Salons out there and I and I look at the salons. I see them on Instagram, right, and they look great, pictures are great, everything and then I go to look them up on for their website. Wah, wah, there's nothing there. I mean, there might be a website and it might have a home page, and it might have a Click here to book your appointment, and then it leads you right back to your POS system, okay, but gosh, you could be so much more.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about some of the things that you should include and really what you should look at for your website to be successful. Okay, so first, yes, very, very important to have your home page, and what should your home page? That's the home page is actually. When they go to your website, the home page is that page that they see, the very first page, and it's just a simple Page, so it allows the visitors who are going there they recognize your brand, they figure out how to contact you and when to click to find what they're after, and it should be very, very easy to navigate. Okay, now let's talk about your brand. Okay, your home page should have a professional logo.

Speaker 1:

Your logo needs to be Not only recognized, but it needs to be consistent throughout every Thing that you do. It needs to be on your logos. It needs to be on your Instagram, all your social media posts. Your logo has to be consistent. Do not go. I've done it myself. You see other people's logos and anybody's using this boho kind of thing or whatever. If you have a logo and that's what you've used, you need to stick with that logo. Either that, or you need to pay a designer or someone like myself who can help you Just make that logo Updated just a little bit. You don't want to change your logos so much that people are confused.

Speaker 1:

Your home page and your logo and your brand is not for you, okay, it is for the consumer to recognize you. Okay, I know we get bored. We get bored of the same thing, but you need a professional logo and you do need some brand colors. And I don't even care if it's just black and white ours was black and white for the very longest time. But pick like five colors, a Color scheme. I can help you with that. I have a whole Module I I could send it to you for free how to pick your color scheme for your brand and it goes with emotions, it goes with the feeling, it goes with hey, maybe it's just your. Your favorite color is purple and you want purple in there somewhere. That's okay, I've done that, it's okay.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's get back to the home page. The home page needs to have your logo. We said that needs to have a Hello bar with some kind of offer, and then the offer can be. Click here for 20% off your first retail product you buy at your first appointment. It could be an offer for click here for An eyebrow wax with your haircut appointment something very small, but you're giving them something for their I guess for their time that they've spent on your website. Okay, then, this is what. This one's super important. You need a clickable phone number at the top of the site, right next to your name, right next to your logo, because that's usually what happens is people are going to your website To find your phone number so they can call you, and you want it clickable, so they just click it on their phone and it calls you.

Speaker 1:

If you have a hard time with that, like I said, this is what I do. I like it, I like it. And let me just tell you a little story. I've always created my own websites. I just liked doing that as a salon owner. First, my husband helped me with it a little bit and then, as I got to know the different programs out there, I kind of took it over, and then I designed a few For other people. I really do like it. And then I just had this, this idea and I've told you guys about it about gifts for stylist calm and I had this idea. I just went upstairs and I created the website real fast and my son said mom, this, this website is done. I thought you just had the idea, like couple of you know, not even a couple of days ago, and the website's done. I was like I know what's up with that. He goes. People don't can't just do that. You know, maybe that's what you need to be doing for your salon owner, friends and followers. And so I really thought about it and I said maybe that is so. I really am offering this service.

Speaker 1:

So if you go to my website, denisekyleidscom, or Salon Ownership Made Easy, goes to the same place. Click on website design. You could see all of that. If you have questions, reach out to me. I would love to talk to you on the phone. We could see where we can go. If that package is on the website, that's just a sample package, but if you just need small little things, heck I could. If you're local to me, I can even come in and take pictures. If you don't have them, I can help you come up with a logo, a color scheme, whatever. I'm open to that. So if you need help, my whole thing here is to make salon ownership easier for you. That way, you can be more successful.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back. You need your logo. You need some kind of hello there, bar with a free offer. You need a clickable phone number, and then you need your social media buttons at the top of the site too, because, don't you agree? Everybody's going to social media, whether it's Instagram, facebook, twitter, x, whatever that is but you need your social media buttons. You really need your website to be really simple to navigate. Don't make them scroll all the way to the bottom to get to the next page. It needs to be so easy that you can hand the phone to like a first grader and they get you there. Okay, that's really what I mean about easy, easy. Let's talk about grabbing the person's attention when they go to your home page.

Speaker 1:

First, you want to start with a great photo, and I'm talking about a photo that you've taken yourself in your salon, and it could be of your salon. It could be of hair, but try not to use stock photography, because if you use just photography that you find free on the internet, everybody's using that. I've seen the same photo used over and over and over again. Heck, I've used the same photo that I've seen on other people's Websites. I've used it for my podcast stuff, but that's when I was getting just starting out.

Speaker 1:

But because people use Canva and Canva has stock photos, you want to take your own photos. And even if you don't have a professional camera, if you have an iPhone 13 or above, you've got a great camera. You just need to know how to use it. And, like I said, if you're local to me, if you need me to come in and help you make a vignette, take some pictures, heck, even teach your stylist how to take great hair pictures. My goodness, that's huge. But you can do it all with your phone. So don't think that you have to go out and buy an expensive camera and then learn how to use it. You do not, okay, all right.

Speaker 1:

And then also and I'm still just on the very first page of your website you need to have a very clear and unique value proposition. Meaning what does that mean? Meaning we help who achieve what. Okay, so we help whoever your ideal client is achieve. What do they want most? Maybe you cater to people who want long hair. We help you grow out your hair to make it healthy. We help gosh I'm drawing a blank here, but maybe you help people restore their hair growth, maybe it's the most beautiful natural hair color, but whatever it is that makes you clearly uniquely, you, you need to state it right there and then make sure now this is one that don't really think about Make sure that the words that you're using match up with your Google ad words. And I know that's a lot and that's a lot a lot of things underneath and it's all layered underneath and it's all called SEO, which I could do a whole week long podcast on SEO. So if you use the same words that they're searching for so say, long hair and you use that on your homepage, google find that and they send that to you. I know that's a simplified explanation and it probably didn't make any sense, but I'm trying to say it in such a way that you might understand it and understand why it's so imperative to use the same words in your copy.

Speaker 1:

Then you also need a call to action. And what is a call to action? What we call it is a CTA call to action, and what that is is just a simple thing, like a button that says reserve my spot or book a free consultation or anything that includes the words free, people tend to click on it. So free consultation, free bank trims, free conditioning treatment. And then also, you want this homepage not to be very long. You don't want to be scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. You've been to those websites before and it just I don't have time for that. I don't want to have to just like keep going, keep going. So you want, in the very first couple of inches of your homepage, you want it to be able to answer these two questions for your visitor Am I in the right place? And they'll see that with your logo and your professional photo, and is this what I'm looking for? And they'll see that on your value proposition and in your. You know your words that you're using. And then your call to action. All right, I feel like that's a lot in just a little bit of time.

Speaker 1:

But let's move on to the body of your website, and what I mean by that is you have to speak in your visitor's language. The visitor to your website needs to feel like you're speaking a conversation. You don't just want the text in there to read like a textbook. You don't want to just copy and paste from your product website and just put it in there because you're not talking to the person. You got to get into the mindset of who's looking at your website. If you're talking to your consumer, then you need to use the same words that they would use.

Speaker 1:

So say you're talking about keeping the integrity of their hair intact. Would the general lay person even know what you're talking about? For that you would say, hey, is your hair feeling a little bit dry? Have you over processed it? We know how to get it back in the best shape ever or the best healthy hair ever, or whatever. They might not even know what hair integrity is. That's just one small little example. I've seen lots of websites that really they truly have just copied and pasted from what maybe their brand of hair care products uses, and that's okay. At least you got something on there.

Speaker 1:

But if you can come up with what would you say to somebody who walked into your salon, how would you talk? That's how you want to talk on your website. And yes, it might take a lot to get to that and it takes a lot of thinking, but you can do it. Heck with all the chat, GPT and all that stuff that even makes it easier In the body of your website. You want some kind of compelling headline, and remember to use at least one keyword so the SEO search will help. And then use those keywords in your body text, because what that does is it tells those search engines what your page is about. If you do it right, it's pretty easy to do. You just gotta remember that you gotta use those keywords and then talk to them about what you do.

Speaker 1:

Maybe it's the story of how you came to be, or why you've wanted to do hair, or why the experience with you is different, or what do you offer to the client that's different than any other place. Maybe it's hey, you give price quotes before you even get started. So there's no, nobody's gonna be embarrassed that they don't have the money to pay for what they just had. That happens, right. And then, also in the body, offer some kind of form of guarantee, like what's your refund policy? Or do you say it's 100% guaranteed service, you like your hair, or you don't pay for it, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe you don't wanna do that. They need to see that you are wanting to service them and wanting to make them happy. So have some kind of happiness guarantee.

Speaker 1:

And then, also in your body. You want some kind of links to other pages on your website. So maybe you're talking about, hey, we offer these types of hair services, and then hair services would be highlighted and it would link to your hair service page, which is a whole other page. It's not your homepage anymore. Why you want to do that is because of that. Seo, the search engines, is what it's all about, because really, what you want your website to do is, when somebody is searching Google for hair salon near me, or hair salon for hair extensions, or hair salon, whatever town, you want yours to be the first. And the way that Google does this is through SEO. Seo, how that does it is when you reuse these words over and over and over again. It tells the analytics that you mean business. All right.

Speaker 1:

And then in the last thing, in the body of the text of your homepage, you want some kind of secondary call to action. Never, ever, leave your visitors wondering what to do next. Yeah, you don't want them to go. Oh, okay, that's kind of cool. Now what? Add some kind of call to action in each section, every single section. Okay, so if it's just the body of your homepage, what do you want them to do next, check out our services. Or make an appointment today, or come check us out. Or are you a stylist looking for a new salon home? Click here. It could be anything, but you definitely want some kind of clickable link.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's move on then to another page services. You do have to have your services on there. Okay, people need to know what you do. It doesn't have to have every single little thing that you do, but you need at least you know the main things. Maybe it's haircuts. Do you do different types of haircuts? Are they different prices? Do you need to put the price on there? Not necessarily. I've seen some that don't have prices on there. I think that's a little deceiving for the customer. I would at least say, especially if you have different price points, I would at least say starting at, make sure it says starting at Say you have four levels of hairstylists, right, and you have your level ones, that they have the least expensive haircut, and then you level four, most expensive.

Speaker 1:

Okay, we tried putting the least expensive price with a plus sign and that kind of works, but I can tell you the eye of the consumer doesn't see it that way. But if you put starting at that level, one price level. They recognize that. Oh okay, it's gonna be probably more than that, but you don't have to list every single price. I think that's a bit confusing. And then it's also in stone, because we did that once before too. We put each four levels price point on there. Then, yeah, I don't know, I just got sticky.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let's get back to services. When you list your services and you can do it very, very easily you could just say haircuts starting at, hair color Starting at. You could do it that way. Now it's not going to be very clear to your guests, but I can guarantee you, if you put too much on there Like if you, if you put every single type of hair color Service that you do, it's gonna be way too too confusing.

Speaker 1:

First, we expect our clients to recognize and understand our language. They don't. If you do say like root touch up and you can call it whatever you want, you can get all fancy, but maybe put an explanation of what that is, because sometimes people think a touch up for hair color is a touch up all over, and I guarantee you that's probably not what you're thinking. You got to spin the language to talk about the benefit To your customer instead of talking about yourself, so to spin the language to how they would recognize your service. Okay, and then here's another thing you want some testimonials. You want your clients to be talking about you online and you want those testimonials to automatically pop up on your website. And yes, there, there is a back-end way of doing that. Okay, if they're rating you five stars on Yelp or Google or wherever, you want those to Come in to your website and be right there, because testimonials they tell you what that builds trust and your credibility Real fast. Make sure that you're including those and make sure you're asking your guests to leave you some reviews.

Speaker 1:

If you've just done somebody's hair that they're just like oh my god, I love it, I love it, I love it. Ask them if they would leave a recommendation, or at least, hey, can I put that on my website that you love your hair. Yeah, people love to talk about that kind of stuff. Okay, and you might even want to highlight that, like in a pop-up lightbox, pop-up on your website. You know you've been on websites and you be scrolling. All of a sudden, this box pops up. Well, hey, how about putting a testimonial with the before and after of somebody who just loved their hair and it gives your new guess a little peek of what you can do. And then you put a little button that says, hey, what more information? Read here. Or if you Want to see how we can transform your hair, click here. Leaves them to a book now appointment.

Speaker 1:

Now let's talk about one that I think gets overlooked a lot, because it's a lot. There should be a page about your story. This is a unique area that's not going to be like any other website. Your visitors want to know who they're dealing with and I have an example about this, about our dog groomer. Okay, I was looking for we moved to a new city and I was looking for a dog groomer and you know there was all kinds right and I was looking at their website and the one I chose, which I love, had a little your story tab. I clicked on it and Everything about their story. They were from San Diego, they moved to the East Coast. Some of the things that she said as the owner I could relate to and I really liked her voice and who she was. Well, when I went, made my appointment, I went in there and, lo and behold, there she was and I told her. I said, hey, I made my appointment because your story on your website See how that works is that it at least gets people curious and they already feel like they've built a relationship with you and they don't even know you.

Speaker 1:

Use this area to talk about you and Remember to keep the mind set of what's in it for them. How will your knowledge and your experience benefit them? Use this area to build your personal brand. Maybe you talk about why you came up with the name of the salon that you came up with, why what's the story behind that? Maybe you include well, not, maybe you need to include a professional photo of yourself. People need to see your face. I remember as a salon owner, I didn't want to show my face. I wanted all the success to be about my team. I Just hate being in the spotlight, but this is important. They need to see your face. Also this is a sidebar remember to tag all your images on your website. You alt tab the tag of them and that also helps with your SEO. So don't just plop an image in there and call it 123 JPEG. That's not gonna help your SEO at all. That's just a sidebar and if you need help with that.

Speaker 1:

You know where I am in this section. You're gonna tell your story, your mission or your why you know, why did you become a hair salon owner? Why did you become a hairstylist? Why is your team so important to you? Why, why, why, why, why. Okay, people need to know that. And what is your mission? What are you trying? Are you gonna try to solve something or you're on a mission to move, to create $100,000 hairstylist? Is your mission wigs for kids? I don't know. I mean, everybody has their own story, but you do need to be relatable in this section and you need to explain why or how you saw a problem and how you set out to solve it. Because you are the owner and you are the leader. People need to see what it is that you like to do. Also in here, you need you need that call to action button, another one, right? They could either learn more about you or they can schedule an appointment with you or they can call you directly. That's completely up to you.

Speaker 1:

You also want on your website, you want some kind of footer. This is important and your footer typically shows the links to your website for just easier usability, but it also includes. It should include your contact information, your location, your hours. It also should have, like, maybe, a map of where you're located so people know that, and it also should have like a little box like Contact us. You know where people can email you directly and you would get that. I guess you would call that a quick contact form.

Speaker 1:

So when you are setting up your website like I was talking to my friend the other day what is the goal of your website? Is it to gain new clients? Probably. Is it to gain new stylists? Probably, okay. So you need to speak to both of them and you need to have a tab for both of them. I would determine your primary and your secondary goals Clients, stylists and what action do you want them to take and make sure that you put those call to action buttons in some kind of Contrasting color on your website because you don't want them to get lost. You want to really Simply tell them what you need them to do. Okay, and Also you need to have some kind of target audience that you're talking to.

Speaker 1:

Yes, a hair salon Does it cater to all kinds of hair? Yes, men, women, kids, hair extensions, all the stuff. But if you talk to everybody and cast this huge net thinking anybody with hair we cater to Nobody's gonna listen. You need to pick your target audience. Who would you want sitting in your chair and Talk to that person in their tone of voice? Also, your website needs to have a Very easily navigate gave a boat meble. Words are hard, needs to be easy to navigate and it has to have some kind of journey. So they go to your home site, your home page, then maybe they go to about you and then they go to and they're liking what they see. Then they go to your services and then they book.

Speaker 1:

Now Another thing that you can also do on your home page or on your career page. You can do it a video of yourself, like an introductory video, like maybe on your career page for your stylist, because you're recruiting stylist. Maybe you do a walkthrough of the salon. Maybe you're sitting in a chair and you're saying, hey, I see you, we're looking for you. Are you looking for a salon? That da, da, da, da da. We're looking for you. I want to take you on a journey. This is what, how we do it. This is gives them a little bit of the backstory of it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, I think I have told you a little bit about what to include On your website and why it's important, and I tell you I think it's really super important. Your website needs to be a Offshoot of who you are. If I go to your website and then I walk into your salon, it should tie together. It shouldn't be two separate looking things at all. I should already know what I'm walking into when I walk into your salon, because it's scary Think about it as a new guest or as a new stylist. It's scary walking in those doors. So why not greet them on your website first, so they feel like they already know you and so that way, when they come through those two front doors of yours that they're gonna feel right at home?

Speaker 1:

I know, hey, if you were thinking about doing a website, if you need to Restructure yours, rebrand yours, heck, just get one up and going. Call me, go to my website. Uh-huh, see what I did there. Go to my website. You can fill out a little form and then really, all the form is it's just a. It says, hey, I'm interested in a website. You know, I even have to put anything else, and just it comes to my email and I'll get in touch with you or reach out I think my phone number is on there too. Text me whatever. You don't have to do the whole package, you can just do. Maybe it's just branding, maybe it's a professional logo, maybe it's just hey, I'm having, I'm struggling coming up with a tagline, maybe it's hey, can you help me come up with my story? Or come in and take some pictures or whatever. I love marketing. I love helping salon owners be more successful. I love it.

Speaker 1:

So thanks for listening this week and, as always, remember when you know better, you do better. Thanks for hanging out with us on today's podcast. We hope you found it interesting and learned something new. If you liked what you heard, hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on future episodes. We're always open to your feedback and suggestions for topics to cover in the future, so don't be shy. Drop us a line on social media or shoot us an email. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch you on the next one.

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Danise Keilitz

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