There are a few things you will need if you are looking to start your own website for your salon studio and I am sharing the same steps I used to create this site with you today!
First of all, let’s talk about websites. A website is a location on the internet that contains one or more pages. When most of us opened our salon studio’s we made a decision to either not have a website at all or some of us used the websites that most booking systems come with. For instance my first few years in the business I used Vagaro and their customizable website.
Here is the thing though, and if you have one you probably know what I am going to say here!
THEY ARE COMPLETELY UN-COMSTOMIZEABLE!!!
How annoying is it to be paying for a website that you are SO limited with your customizing! Yea we could change the colors, for an extra monthly charge. They came with templates but they are very outdated and don’t reflect our individual businesses whlet’slets face it, is why we took the leap and started our own studios!
I had had enough with this and finally decided to take control. I spent a lot of time learning how to use wordpress. Which I had heard was the BEST platform to use if you are looking for customization.
Yes, there are other platforms out there but I always heard they still had limitations. After how limited I was with my last platform I decided better to just learn the one with the best reputation so that I ALWAYS had control of how my website looked and felt and could easily make changes any time I want!
This didn’t come easy…in fact, this website we are on now is my 3rd website I have created! I have learned well beyond what I ever thought I would know about website design and building and I am so excited to share some of these tips with you today because it is TRULY so much fun once you get over the learning curve!
I mean, think about it… Could you imagine how great it would be if you could capture emails from a visitor that you had coming on to your website. Or even just the ability to make your homepage look literally however you want it to look. No more embaressing yourself when clients mention they visited your website and no more lost new customers because they aren’t impressed with your online presence…which trust me, if you aren’t proud of your website…this is HAPPENING!!
OK, mini rant over! I am definitely passionate about this topic so get ready for some information YOU WONT WANT TO MISS!
Think of how happy you will be when you have everything set up just the way you want it to look!
1) The very first thing you will need when it comes to stepping into starting to build your own website is you will need a hosting company. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a seperate business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.
They take care of the speed and function of your website. So if you ever have problems with how your website in functioning,
your hosting company is who you would contact for help. This is why making sur eyou pick a hosting company with a good reputation for custoemr service!
I use a company called Bluehost (affiliate link) they have great rates and are always available for assistance which I have
defnitely needed in a pinch and was so happy to get the support within minutes that I needed to get everything up and running again!
Trust me on this one, you do NOT want to skimp on a hosting company!
One of the many benefits of using Bluehost is they give you your first domain name. If you already have one though no worries it is VERY easy to transfer over and Bluehost is super helpful when you are ready!
2) After you have signed up for your hosting company and moved over your domain or chosen a temp domain for now you will begin to connect wordpress.
Wikipedia defines wordpress like this: “WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL.”.
In simpler terms, wordpress is the website builder that always you to install customizable templates on that range from super techy and difficult to really easy drag and drop capabilities for setting up pages. You can also upload a wide range of widgets and plugins giving your website an almost unlimited variety of options.
Websites that are built on wordpress are so quick and easy to update and if you wanna know a little secret….GOOGLE LOVES WORDPRESS SITES!
So, if you are trying to pop up a little higher in your local search results…having a wordpress website can get you one step closer!
3) Once you have your webhosting and wordpress site in place it is time to pick a theme to add into your wordpress site. This is what gives your site it’s unique look. Each theme has their pros and cons and like i mentioned earlier, some of them can be a royal pain to try and use if you aren’t familiar with code. HOWEVER, on the contrary if you pick one that is meant for beginners and doesn’t require coding you will be headache free your entire website designing process! 
I have tried about 4-5 themes as well as watched a plethera of tutorials on how to use different themes. My absolute favorite that I have ever used, is Divi! Divi is a theme you can buy from a thrid party website called Elegant Themes (affiliate link).
The incredible thing about Elegant Themes that I haven’t seen from any other provider is that they offer a 30 day money back guarantee!!
WHAT?? Yea, you can use their themes as much as you want for 30 days and try out all of its awesomeness without any worry about being unsatisfied because if you have any issues or are unhappy AT ALL, they will happily refund you!
They also have a ton of great tutorials on how to use it. Trust me Divi and its visual builder is so easy to use you will be looking and acting like a seasoned web designer befor you know it!
4) Now that we have our theme picked out and uploaded to our wordpress site hosted by Bluehost….we are ready for lift off!
My advice would be to start thoroughly checking out websites by other companies with similar target customers and see how they have designed their sites for inspiration.
Use your current salons studio branding throughout the entire site so that it has a consistent look and feel. You want your clients to know they are on your salons website the second they land on the homepage!
You will want to make sure you have a consistent look and feel with the image you use on your website as well.
I like to have a good amount of client images for a gallery page. I find this gives me great content to post on Pinterest and Facebook to help drive potential customers onto my page.
You will want to get a few good shots of your salon studio from different angles.
A picture of yourself working on either a customer or a friend. Nobody will know!
I also really like using a few pictures of my tools, my hand holding my business card and any other pictures you think might make good options to use as social media background pictures for announcements or cover images! The more pictures you can get that are clear and brightly lit the better.
I highly recommend taking a high quality head shot that you are proud of. Remember the more you can help the website viewer feel comfortable the higher the percentage of bookings you will get off of the page.
Also, don’t forget you set the tone with your website but a customer that will be yours for years and years is coming in expecting the salon space itself to be on point with that same standard. Make sure your space is always clean and ready when your customers come in for their appointments.
Don’t forget to hold yourself up to this same standard of consistentency. We need to show up for our guests looking the way we do on our website.
Be honest with yourself… This isn’t a Tinder date!
5) The last and final step to starting your salon studio’s website is to LAUNCH!!
You have worked hard putting your special touch on your website and now you can finally taste sweet victory. I swear you wont believe how proud o fyourself you will be when you have walked this path and gotten to this step!
Keep an eye out soon for a post with all of my favorite must have plugins for your salon studio wordpress website!
In the meantime, check out my RESOURCES PAGE for a couple of my favorites to start out!
Congratulations BEAUTY BOSSES!!
If you are needing help when it comes to learning how to speak to your ideal client or even if you aren’t sure who your ideal client is and creating goals for your business and actively working towards them, you should definitely check out my 5 Day Workshop, Attracting your Ideal Salon Clients and Mastering Momentum! I know this 5-day workshop will not only be used once but over and over as you and your business continue to evolve and uplevel!
Make sure to comment below after you’ve built your website so I can check it out. 😉
Thanks for reading!
