Website or social media

[Freelancetrainer]

Hi guys.
I’m wondering whether to bother with a website? Or just stick to social media such as Instagram and Facebook? My services will be deliberately limited and I’m not sure how much effort to maintain a website is worthwhile. Most of my advertising will be local. Any advice?

 

[KKSOS]

I get so much business from my website so I would recommend it for sure. If you see it like your online home that you control, it helps put it into perspective with the work and time that is involved.
It makes social advertising so much more effective too. Being able to target better more relevant customers is awesome

 

[BannerPenguin]

Social media you have to catch the right person at the right time. With a website you are potentially in front of people actively looking for your services.

If you were looking for a mechanic or any other service you can think of, other than a referral, would you trawl facebook for someone or google it?

 

[CFBS]

I think you need both really.
Website for providing lots of information about yourself, your services, location, policies etc - available 24/7 to anyone searching on line and to provide more detail than a FB page.
FB page - I see more for up to the minute information such as new products, examples of your work. Link to your website.
FB catches the customer's interest, the website fills in the detail and converts them into a new client.
FB is a good way to advertise to a local targeted market for not much money.

 

[KKSOS]

I think you need both really.
Website for providing lots of information about yourself, your services, location, policies etc - available 24/7 to anyone searching on line and to provide more detail than a FB page.
FB page - I see more for up to the minute information such as new products, examples of your work. Link to your website.
FB catches the customer's interest, the website fills in the detail and converts them into a new client.
FB is a good way to advertise to a local targeted market for not much money.

Agree about FB plus it drives traffic to your website VERY well so important to have that component. But that said when I am researching a business to use and I think their website is not up to scratch...I'm not inclined to use them. I think a business that has its digital marketing well presented is a forward thinking, professional business that I want to work with.

 

[Freelancetrainer]

Yes I agree with that about it being off putting if it looks bad. I’ve seen a few disjointed websites or sites which appear so messy with too many logos etc all over the place that I haven’t known where to put my eyes. I do want a website but I’m expecting it will be costly and not sure where to start. I’ve looked at other websites and taken note of names at the bottom.

 

[BannerPenguin]

Yes I agree with that about it being off putting if it looks bad. I’ve seen a few disjointed websites or sites which appear so messy with too many logos etc all over the place that I haven’t known where to put my eyes. I do want a website but I’m expecting it will be costly and not sure where to start. I’ve looked at other websites and taken note of names at the bottom.

I guess it depends on your perspective of expensive What did you have in mind as a budget and I can let you know roughly what to expect The thing is, no matter what your budget you could get something done but the quality will vary. A lot of £299/349/399 designers out there, unfortunately.

 

[Freelancetrainer]

Well I was hoping £2-300 but actually have absolutely no idea of costs. But if I was to wait further down the line when I’ve made up some of my current expenditure then I’d pay what ever was needed for a good job. I definitely would not want to pay more than £1,000.

 

[Freelancetrainer]

£2-300 would be all I’d want to pay if I had to have a website from now.

 

[Freelancetrainer]

And that to me would feel rushed.

 

[BannerPenguin]

For sure. So my general rule of thumb is ideally you do want to spend over 4 figures if you want a return on in your investment and have goals you want to reach with your digital marketing. If you're just looking for a 'presence' you may get a half decent site for around £500-600.

Personally, anything in the £200-300 range (unless it's someone like a student) is likely to be low quality or outsourced overseas (whether you know it or not). I'd compare it to the same as someone going to a beauty professional vs a Chinese nail salon on the high street.

If you think a professional can easily spend 30-80 hours designing and developing a basic site and most of us start at around £30-50 an hour and then, the same as the hair and beauty industry, we always keep up to date with latest Google guidelines and personal development as coding best practices change, it all gets factored into the cost. As well as good ol' tax lol.

If a £2,000 site brings in £10,000-£20,000 a year in revenue, it's a no-brainer just for argument's sake

 

[Freelancetrainer]

Thanks for that. I’m not surprised by those figures at all but I’d be reluctant to part with that funding right now although in some sense I’m kind off wishing I’d spent less on products and used it towards a website instead. So I’d rather wait a bit till I’ve got some return in my costs then do it properly from the start.

 

[aliceemily]

Hi
We offer salon websites though iCreate. Happy to talk though pricing with you. We also link through to social media and online booking systems, you don't need to be an iSalon customer.

 

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

I put a website together myself using Wix for less than £100. I won't say it was easy but with a bit of experimentation, some YouTube reference vids and the help videos on their site I managed it and seriously, if I can then anyone can, lol!
My only gripe is that the page loading times could be a tad quicker but apparently this is something they are working on improving.

I like that there is every kind of bolt on available from shout outs to online booking and they help you figure out your SEO too.

One thing I never thought about with Google is that it's a good idea too have 'Nailsalon ' or similar in your URL to help you be found easier.

 

[BannerPenguin]

I put a website together myself using Wix for less than £100. I won't say it was easy but with a bit of experimentation, some YouTube reference vids and the help videos on their site I managed it and seriously, if I can then anyone can, lol!
My only gripe is that the page loading times could be a tad quicker but apparently this is something they are working on improving.

I like that there is every kind of bolt on available from shout outs to online booking and they help you figure out your SEO too.

One thing I never thought about with Google is that it's a good idea too have 'Nailsalon ' or similar in your URL to help you be found easier.

Having keywords in your URL is fairly irrelevant these days just as an FYI. Very old school SEO practice that google fixed

 

[Alison Pilkington-Child]

More common sense than SEO. My business name is Care and Flair... not very useful unless someone specifically googles that. Had I chosen a URL of careandflairnailservices then if someone searched nail services in my locality I would have appeared more prominently in the list as google seems to pick up main headings first, then subheadings. Careandflair could be anything so I have to qualify/describe my listing with a sub heading and this def makes a difference.

 

[BannerPenguin]

More common sense than SEO. My business name is Care and Flair... not very useful unless someone specifically googles that. Had I chosen a URL of careandflairnailservices then if someone searched nail services in my locality I would have appeared more prominently in the list as google seems to pick up main headings first, then subheadings. Careandflair could be anything so I have to qualify/describe my listing with a sub heading and this def makes a difference.

I'm sorry but that's just not true. URL isn't a heading but you're right that google takes into account Heading tag schema markup from H1 through to H6 but that's only a small part of it. Content is king.

I have clients who have just their company name as a domain name like yourself who rank above anyone else. I have one client in particular who dominates the search engine for many keywords ranking between position 1-3 for pretty much everything they do.

 

[finas]

A website makes a business look more professional and legitimate. Moreover, customers would wanna see information about your services, opening times, location, etc. Social media is only good for updates and customer service.

 

[LexieBooksy]

with booksy you get a mini site. some of our merchants don't then bother with a website. it all depends on whether you have the clients that want to look at the website. booksy links with all FB and IG and also with google now so along with your social media it makes you very visible to clients looking to book online or contact you. hope that helps xx