13 MUST-HAVES for your PMU website to stand out

Now, more than ever, clients are diligently researching PMU artists before booking an appointment. With more and more people learning the craft, clients want to know that they are booking with an artist they can trust. As well as word-of-mouth recommendations, clients will typically check if an artist has a great social media presence along with a professional-looking website. Your visual branding is just as important as your permanent makeup work, so we want to share some tips on how to make your business stand out from the crowd.

Where to Start?

First things first, how the heck does one even build a website from scratch? Well, thanks to platforms like Wix and Squarespace, anyone with a computer and a little patience can create a beautiful, professional-looking website - no coding skills required! With thousands of templates to choose from and easy-to-edit features, you can have your very own website up and running in a matter of minutes.

Once you choose your layout, you’ll need to populate your website with several pages that your potential clients can browse. Tip: Choose layouts that are clean, simple and timeless. They are much easier to read so you can let images of your work do the talking!  Here are some recommendations for pages that you should have on your website:

1. A Stunning gallery 

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and showing off your best work will lead to more bookings. In the gallery, you'll want to feature your BEST work. Take the time here to ensure your pictures are well-edited for lighting, angle and clarity. Some options for different galleries include the following:

• ‘Before and After’ collages
• Hair Colors (separated into White/Grey, Blonde, Redhead, Brunette and Black). This way, your clients can easily find examples of clients who have similar colouring to them and see what their brow potential is.
• Skin Types (separated by Fitzpatrick category). This way, your client can easily find examples of clients with similar skin colouring. 
• Techniques (separated into Microblading, Shading, Machine work, Combo Brows, etc.)

2. List of services

Your clients need to know what services you offer, and what each service actually *is*. Try to remember that, although you may be advanced in PMU lingo, many clients can be easily confused by the difference between service types. We suggest breaking down your service list according to how you price your services, i.e. by Type (Eyebrows, Eyeliner, Lips, etc) or by Technique (Microblading, Shading, etc) and explaining what each procedure actually is and what the client can expect if they book. On that note, you also need to make sure there is a clear price list! Be specific about your pricing to lessen the opportunity for confusion or bargaining. Clients appreciate clear and easy to understand pricing so there is no mystery, wouldn’t you?

3. Thorough artist biographies

If you are the only artist in your studio, an ‘About Me’ section is a must.  This is the time to brag professionally, you need to state what makes you qualified and don’t hold back!  If you employ other artists, make sure there are pages for each artist too. Biographies should include your background, expertise, philosophy and approach along with examples of your best work. Make sure to include links to the service page or ‘Book Now’ buttons so clients can easily request/book an appointment. 

4.  FAQs

As your clientele expands, you will receive more and more questions about your business, your services and more. By clearly outlining the most commonly asked inquiries on a FAQ page on your website, you’ll be able to provide more clarity, spend less time replying to emails, and more time working on clients! Make sure you have the following questions answered clearly:

• Where are you located?
• Is there parking at your studio? 
• How much are your services?
• What are the accepted payment methods?
• Do I need to pay a deposit?
• What are the contraindications, if any?
• What is the expected level of pain?
• What is the healing process like?
• How long will the healed results last?
• How often do I need to return for touch-ups?
• What types of tools and products are used?

 5. Good ‘ole testimonials

Many of us like to read honest reviews before booking a table at a new restaurant, visiting a new city or going to a new hair salon. Your potential clients will be no different! If possible, display all of your written reviews, client selfies and video testimonials on a page so that your potential clients can see just how happy you make your clients feel. Don’t have many reviews? Now is the time to reach out to your past clients and ask them to send a review, selfie or video testimonial. Make sure to have consent for sharing these images.  Most people love to talk about what a difference their new brows/eyeliner/lips have made to their life!

6. Engaging and thoughtful blogposts

Write about your services regularly! Your clients will love being able to read detailed information about what to expect if they book with you. The more info you have, the more you demonstrate your expertise and commitment to your craft.  Have a look through our blogposts on Tina Davies Studio for some inspiration on topics to write about. They can include:  

• What to expect during a consultation
• How to properly take care of your new tattoo
• Best celebrity eyebrows

7. Press features

If you have ever been featured in a print publication, online article, video, TV show, radio show or otherwise, make sure you show it off on your website! Your potential clients will be super impressed.  If you don’t have any yet, reach out to local publications and invite their beauty editor for a complimentary service in exchange for a press feature. You’d be surprised how many of them will say yes and make life-long business contact for future business referrals. 

8. Gift vouchers

Many women love the gift of beauty so offer gift vouchers on your website along with regular promotions on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas and New Year’s to maximize sales and gifting opportunities. 

9. Newsletter subscription

Your client list is your goldmine! Allow your customers to sign-up to receive weekly or monthly emails from you. Send out promotional offers, ‘What’s New’ updates and more. This will help to keep in touch with clients so you remain top of mind which leads to more bookings.  Remember, each client outreach effort whether it be an email, phone call, or newsletter builds client loyalty and your brand so keep it up, they’re listening!  

10. Online booking functionality

It’s essential to have an online booking function on your website in order to maximize bookings and reduce booking friction which can be a huge roadblock if you have to constantly go back and forth with your clients to nail down a timeslot for your availability. At Tina Davies Studio, we use Timely as our online booking system which allows clients to browse our artist’s availability online at their leisure 24/7. They can even reschedule or cancel their own appointments which saves a huge amount of administrative work. It’s an easy-to-use system that even allows you to design the booking buttons to your own brand colours. These booking buttons can be added to your website so that clients can select their preferred services, artists, dates and times and pay a deposit for an appointment without any work on your side required. Timely also generates reports from business performance to finance to customer retention and everything in between. This allows you to monitor, review and improve your business from every angle. Timely also has the ability to send out automated messaging which means you can send booking confirmations, reminders and updates via email or text - all without lifting a finger! It will elevate your client’s experience and will help to enhance your professionalism. Now is a better time than ever to optimize your online-booking setup. 

11. Social Media Feed

Make sure to include links to your Instagram, Facebook and any other social media channels you are present on so that your potential clients can check out your work and following on other channels. Tip: even better, embed an Instagram feed directly onto your homepage to encourage your website visitors to follow you on social media.  Anytime you update your social media feed, it instantly updates on your website too. How cool is that?!

12.  Short studio video/mini-commercial

13.  Contact 

Hopefully, all of your well-populated pages mentioned above will lead to booking inquiries. At this point, you will need to ensure that your clients know how to contact you. Make sure to have the following contact information included on your contact page:

• Your studio location (full address including postal code)
• Google Maps link (make it easy for your clients to find you!)
• Photos/videos of your studio location so that clients can easily recognize your studio when they arrive. This is especially important if your studio is in a building or near a busy intersection - use ours as inspiration! 
• Opening hours (manage your client’s expectations on when you are available for appointments/answering inquires)
• Phone number
• Email address

So now you know all of our top tips to build a professional-looking, beautiful website that will lead to more bookings for your business.  Implement these best practices into your next website design and level up your game! Let us know if you have any additional tips we should add in the comments below.

XO