website mistakes
The 3 most important website Dont’s
A well designed website for salons and spas will have both, website visitors and search engines, in mind.
Oops – Website mistakes to avoid
Your website should be a pleasure to visit and it must please the search engines. After all you want your website to rank high and be found when people are searching for your Salon or Spa.
Here are our 3 most important Salon and Spa Website Mistakes to avoid:
1. Don’t use complicated navigation
Many websites today contain a menu bar with lots of tabs, drop down items and sub items within them. This can get very overwhelming for your visitors and most of them will not read every item and sub item within your menu bar, so they’ll never see most of your website content.
Keep your website navigation simple! Break your website down into major categories and then reference them with simple navigation. Try to combine some of your content on a single page or use categories that are common in blogging platforms such as WordPress. Your salon visitors will stay on your website longer if they can easily find what they’re looking for.
2. Don’t let your website get outdated
This is one of the most common problems. Most salon and spa owners like you find it difficult to update their own website. Website developers handle the task and you have to pay them to get it done. This is an very unfortunate scenario.
Your website should be easy to be updated. You should not have to hire a website developer to simply add fresh content to your existing site. Salon and Spa websites built on content management systems or blogging platforms (like this one using WordPress) are excellent solutions to this problem. You can easily add content to your website, from announcements to events and articles about helpful information that is related to salon. Search engines as well as your website visitors are looking for relevant content, not information from two years ago. A newly updated website is a signal to the search engines and to your website visitor that your salon or spa website is fresh, active and well maintained.
3. Don’t make your website hard to understand
When your visitor arrives at your website he or she should know immediately what your salon or spa is all about. Why would your website visitor want to spend time trying to figure out what’s on your website, when there are millions of other websites out there, literally at the tips of their fingers, that may be much easier to understand.
A confused website visitor will leave fast and look elsewhere. Make it super easy for your visitors and they will like it and spend time on your website. Most people are very impatient when browsing the internet. Always use large headlines to break up blocks of text. Include fun pictures as well, use images that convey information relevant to the text and to your overall message.
Always keep in mind that your salon and spa website has to please your visitors and search engines alike.
Click here for our 5 Important Website Do’s for Salon and Spa owners.
Keeping your website simple is almost always better than having an overloaded and complicated site. Just like in your physical Salon, avoid clutter as much as possible. Present your website visitors with a simple and easy to use website experience and they will come back again and again.
Common Website Mistakes Salon Owners Make
A lot of Salon and Spa owners are still under the mis-conception that the more flashy and colorful their website is, the more attention and traffic they will get. Unfortunately that is only one of many common website mistakes.
You can categorize common website mistakes into 3 areas:
1. Technical Website Mistakes - Technical mistakes are certainly important, but are less common these days due to better website creation tools.
2. Graphical Website Mistakes - Graphical mistakes are more subjective and may or may not be considered mistakes, depending on who you aks.
3. Marketing Website Mistakes - Marketing mistakes are just as important as technical mistakes and need to be addressed to bring in a steady flow of traffic.
Get a great Salon Website!
Here are some tips to help you create a great website for your Salon!
Make sure your website is up to date. Not only is it a big let down for your visitors to see outdated information, it’s also harmful to your rankings on the various search engines. With a content management systems like WordPress, Joomla! and SilverStripe, just to name three of many, it’s easy to keep your website current.
Your website should be about your Salon or Spa, with your visitors foremost in mind. The website needs to contain information about your business, but it should do so in a way that applies to your visitors. Create valuable website content that addresses your visitors needs and desires, and place your business information on your ‘About’ page.
Keep your Salon site easy to use and navigate. When your visitor arrives at your website they should immediately know what they’re looking at and how to find the information they need. Since you don’t know which page your visitor will land on, all pages have to be equally important with well defined content and search options.
Capture your visitors attention with images. Once you have their attention, the next step must be clear. If you want your potential clients to read something, make it easy for them. If you want them to call you to make an appointment, make sure your phone number is prominently displayed.
Promote your website everywhere. The old method of “Build it and they will come” is not going to cut it anymore. With millions upon millions of sites available, you have to be quite clever about your marketing efforts to show up in front of your potential clients. Include your website address/URL in all of your online and offline marketing. Consider hiring a professional internet marketer to handle your pay per click advertising and Search Engine Optimization.
Always remember to call your website visitors to action and support yourself and your Salon and Spa with testimonials.
Do you currently have a website for a Salon or Spa? Please share your URL in the comment box below. We will let you know if you’re site is a great Salon website or if you could use a little re-vamping.
