A salon website is mostly a booking tool with a good portfolio attached. People arrive wanting to know three things: what does it cost, who will do it, and when can I get in. This salon website checklist covers what a hair salon, beauty salon, nail bar or aesthetics clinic needs to answer those questions, and the rules that apply to the treatments you advertise.
What the site has to do
The phone is a poor booking channel for a salon, because whoever could answer it is usually mid-appointment. Online booking takes bookings at 10pm on a Sunday, when many people are thinking about their hair. The site’s job is to get people into the booking system with enough confidence that they commit.
Confidence comes from seeing the work, knowing the price and understanding the process. A salon that publishes clear prices and shows real results will usually get more bookings than one with a moody homepage and a “call us for prices” line.
The pages a salon website needs
| Page | What it must do |
|---|---|
| Home | What you do, where, and a book button. A few photos of real work and the salon itself. |
| Services and prices | Grouped by category (cuts, colour, nails, brows, facials). Each with price, duration and a line on what is included. |
| Team | A profile for each stylist or therapist: specialisms, qualifications, their own portfolio and a link to book with them. |
| Gallery | Real results, shot in daylight, organised by type of work. |
| Booking | Online booking by service and stylist, with deposits and cancellation terms explained first. |
| Policies | Patch tests, consultations, deposits, lateness, cancellation and children. |
| Find us | Address, parking, opening hours and accessibility. |
Prices, durations and the “from” problem
Hair colour and some treatments genuinely vary in price. But “Colour from £65” with no explanation reads as a trap. Explain what moves the price: hair length and thickness, the technique, whether a toner or treatment is needed, and the stylist’s level. Better still, give a typical range for short, medium and long hair.
Show the duration next to each price. Customers are booking time as much as a service, and a two-and-a-half-hour balayage is a different decision from a forty-minute cut.
Never publish the price list as a PDF or a photo. It cannot be read comfortably on a phone and search engines cannot do much with it. A text price list, split into categories, also lets each category rank for its own searches, such as “balayage near me” or “gel nails Exeter”.
Patch tests, consultations and cancellation policies
Most hair colour manufacturers’ instructions call for a skin sensitivity (patch) test before colouring, commonly at least 48 hours beforehand, and many salons require one for new colour clients or anyone who has not had colour with them recently. Lash and brow tints often need one too. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and your insurer’s requirements, and state your policy clearly on the site so new clients book the test first rather than being turned away on the day.
Deposits and no-show fees are common and reasonable, but they must be clear before the client books, and they should be proportionate. If a client books and pays online, consumer law on distance contracts applies, so set out your cancellation terms in plain English at the point of booking.
Aesthetic treatments: the extra rules
Salons offering injectables and other aesthetic treatments need to be more careful. Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, and prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised to the public in the UK. The ASA and CAP have published specific guidance on this: you can describe a consultation for wrinkle treatment, but you cannot promote “Botox” or a named toxin product by name as a service. Dermal fillers are not medicines, but claims about them must still be responsible and substantiated.
In England it is illegal to give botulinum toxin or filler for cosmetic purposes to under-18s, under the Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021. The government has also been working on a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, so check the latest position on GOV.UK. Some councils already license treatments such as massage, tattooing and piercing under local rules.
On the website, name the practitioner for any aesthetic treatment, state their qualifications and registration (for example, as a nurse, doctor or dentist where that applies), and avoid before-and-after images that exaggerate results. The CAP Code applies to your own website.
Mistakes salon websites make
- A single long list of 80 treatments with no categories.
- Prices hidden, or “from” prices with no explanation.
- Colour work photographed under salon lighting, which flattens the very tones you are selling.
- One headshot per stylist and no portfolio, when clients are choosing a person.
- Booking that only works through a social media app.
- Promoting prescription-only treatments by product name.
What a good salon website looks like
On a phone, a good salon site shows a book button fixed at the bottom, a clear line on what the salon does, and a scroll of real work. The services page is split into categories you can tap, each with prices and times. Every stylist has a short profile, a gallery of their own work and a “book with me” link. The policies are short and specific. The owner can update prices and add photos without calling anyone.
What a salon website costs
The things that change the price of a salon website are the number of treatments and team members, whether booking is linked or built in, and whether you sell gift vouchers or retail products online. A two-chair salon with a linked booking system is a small build. A multi-site group selling products and memberships is a much bigger one.
Salon booking software is usually a monthly subscription, and many systems include a basic booking page. A DIY website builder typically costs £10 to £40 a month. Freelance designers commonly charge £800 to £3,000 for a salon site; agencies with custom booking integrations may quote £3,000 to £8,000 or more.
We build salon websites from scratch, write every word, and link your existing booking system in, on our Monthly plan at £299 plus £99/month (12 months minimum) or Own It at £1,795 plus £49/month. Booking, deposits and client accounts built into the site itself can be added to any plan, quoted on your call; if you run several salons, our Pro plan at £6,950 plus £299/month includes them as standard. Nerdsharks works with single-chair studios and multi-site salon groups alike.