If you’re looking at opening your own salon business, we’ve collected the top 10 essential tips from industry experts Marie Louise Coster and Liz McKeown to help you on your way.

In the digital age that we live in, a website if often the first port of call for potential customers that want to find out more about your services and products.

Through having a strong and informative website, your salon will attract the attention of new clients and leave them with a good first impression. On your site, they should be able to check what special offers you are running, easily locate your contact details and find out more about new treatments and products that are available.

Sadly however, many salon owners are either reluctant to get online or are doing it wrong. To make sure you are seeing the best results for your salon, we’ve put together a handy guide that breaks down the benefits of promoting your salon online with some tips on how to get started.

Content

It is important not to overcrowd your website with too much information, and it needs to be easy to navigate around. To ensure that your visitors make repeat visits to your site, you need to make it feel more like a client magazine. We suggest including short articles that will interest your clients, e.g. the latest celebrity styles, up and coming trends or even reviews or user guides for products you retail in your salon. A picture gallery is also a fantastic opportunity to showcase what services you offer, and what your salon looks like.

Provide essential information

It might seem obvious but it’s amazing how many salon websites fail to include basic information on their site. It’s important to be able to tell the user everything they need to know about your brand including the services that you offer, the costs of these and the contact details and location of the salon.

Collect information about clients

Your website should be seen as a gateway to entice your clients into making a booking. To do this, you should encourage clients to leave their details- including their email address and contact number wherever possible. With this information, you can then contact them with any special offers or services you may run in the future to encourage them to visit your salon.

Online bookings

Although it’s not a cheap service to integrate into a website, an online booking system may be extremely beneficial for your clients. By allowing clients to book an appointment through your website will give you the edge over competitors. We live in an online world that customers are used to and many expect everything to be done on the internet. It could be more efficient and quicker for them to book online rather having to ring a salon direct.

Client Testimonials

To give your business, and website, a touch of authority it’s worth asking clients to give a short testimonial about your salon. Include these onto your website to allow potential customers to read about others experiences at your salon. You could ask your regular clients for some feedback and then use it to promote your business online.

Keep it social

As we know, social media is a cog in the wheel of every successful business- so make sure you are linking to these from your website. Set up an account for channels that you think your audience will be interested in such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest.

Why do businesses fail?

Research by government agencies and financial institutions list these reasons for failures among start up businesses:

  • Poor preparation
  • Running out of cash
  • Poor or no planning
  • No plan for growth
  • Dependence on grant aid
  • Failure to adapt to industry and economic change
  • Failure to invest in new products/services

Whatever you think it’s going to take, double it. This applies to money, time and stress. It is going to be harder than you think and take longer than you think‚ so be prepared. You, and only you can decide if you have what it takes and if the timing is right for you!

Make sure you check out our other Salon Management posts to make sure your salon is as successful as possible. Also take a look at our full range of hair products and beauty products.