How Can People Find My Salon on Google

Most local businesses attract new customers via Google search and your salon is no exception. In fact, local searches are more important in the case of a salon, since they bring the potential clients. Therefore, making sure that people can find your salon on Google is of primary importance.

Of course, you may get results from other marketing campaigns, but nothing beats what Google results can bring. So, if you own a salon and like to gather new customers all along, you may want to continue reading.

In this article, we will talk about how can people find your salon on Google. In other words, we are covering a few steps that you should take to ensure visibility in Google search. We have included a few steps as well as SEO strategies that you may want to follow. Shall we start?

The whole thing has been broken down to two parts.

Part One — Google My Business Listing

Getting your salon listed on Google My Business is the first step of ensuring enhanced visibility. If you manage to do this, potential customers will see necessary information about your salon service in a single glance — which is great. Google Business Listings refer to the rich-content snippets you see while searching for certain terms. For instance, if you search for salons on Google, it would list the nearby salons in the area.

This snippet would contain details such as the name of the salon, address, opening times and a few links. It would offer Directions via Google Maps, a Direct Call button for contact etc. Most importantly, however, the snippet would show customer reviews for the place. Now, this is very important: Google lists establishments based on the review quality as well. So, unless you have some strong reviews, you can’t play this game.

Getting Listed on Google Business

The process isn’t rocket science and does not require coding skills either. You will have to create an account in Google Business and provide details of the business, such as the name, location, address, working time etc. You also have to provide the accurate location of your place so that Navigation is enabled. Some of the factors you should pay attention to are:

-          Business Category: Make sure that you choose a convenient category for your business. Google will be listing your salon based on whether the categories match. More importantly, if you are offering a specific type of service, choose the particular category as well.

-          Accurate Contact Information: The last thing you want is providing wrong information to customers. Make sure that the provided contact information is 100% accurate and on-point. Google Business is also allowing businesses to integrate the website. So, make sure you link that.

-          Your Description: Google allows you to provide a description for the business, although it’s optional. If you know the art of copy-writing — or, hire someone who knows that —, craft a persuasive, simple and on-point description for the business.

Once you have confirmed the details, you can have the listing ready on Google Businesses. Just so you know, these things are easier said than done.

Reviews Matter the Most

As we said earlier, customer reviews play an integral role in how your salon performs on Google. There are two sides for this issue. One, a better review will increase the chances of a customer choosing your salon. Two, Google tend to prioritize business establishments with a higher average review. Ideally, you must have five-star rating overall, but that’s kinda overkill.

The idea is to make sure that you have enough positive reviews on the table. There are a few salon software like Miosalon, which would help you manage centralized feedback and keep everything together. This way, you can address negative reviews instantly and possibly turn them into positive reviews. For one, if you’re offering quality service, you can ask people to leave a review on Google.

You know what’s even more interesting? You can ask customers to review your business on Google and offer a discount coupon or promotional deal. This is an awesome way to increase the number of reviews — well, positive reviews, for most part.

Photographs Speak Better

While creating the Google Business Listing, you would have an option to add your business photographs. Do make sure that you add the best photos from the establishment. It’s great if you can get creative and post a few transformation posts. The idea is to make the photographs speak about your services and their quality in the long run.

Google lists photographs from the business owners and the customers. Often times, a potential customer would prefer seeing what others have posted. So, it’s imperative that you ask your regulars to post photos of the space and experience.

And, this is a great way to enhance conversion rate in the long run.

            If you follow these steps, you should be able to rank well in Google Business listings.

Part Two — Optimizing Your Business Website

It’s always great to have an official website for your salon or beauty parlor. In addition to providing accurate information about the establishment, you can enhance sales as well. For instance, it has become very easy to set up an online salon booking system, using one of the best salon software out there. However, the data you provide in the website can improve the overall ranking as well.

Just as we mentioned earlier, Google My Business has an option where you can connect your website to the business snippet. This way, you can add a link to the official website on the snippet. In addition to this, it is very likely that Google would recognize the other elements in the website and add relevant results. If you’ve an integrated booking system, for instance, there will be changes in the snippets.

            That is, Google often shows another tab for quick service booking. Customers can view the services you are offering and start booking immediately. Awesome, right?

Basic SEO Is Important

In order for all these to happen, you need to connect the website to Google Analytics and Search Console. It is also mandatory that you do the basic on-page SEO optimization. As we said earlier, there are a few SEO strategies you can follow. Some of them are:

-          Maintain an official blog, where you post updates about new trends in hair styling and other sections. This will increase the overall authenticity of your website, thus being found more often on Google.

-          Optimizing your Website for Mobile is also important. Just so you know, most of the Business listing enquiries are made from mobile devices, and that’s important.

-          Website Speed also matters when it comes to ranking better. It’s not about adding a lot of graphics, but rather about minimally presenting the required information.

-          Getting Links is also important. You have to get both authority links and directory website links. Both will help you to improve the overall visibility.

-          Last but not the least, keep everything simple and accurate.

Provided that everything is well connected, people should not have trouble in finding your salon on Google.

The Bottom Line

As you have seen, getting found on Google is not a Herculean task. Nevertheless, you should take the steps carefully, especially while providing information and handling reviews. And, as always, having a dedicated salon software would surely help you keep everything together.

How to write the most successful Spa menu possible?

Ten years ago, it was quite tedious to locate a Spa even in a metropolitan city in India. But now there is a 40% growth in the Spa industry with the advancement in technology. It is forecasted that there will be further 5.7% growth during the next three years with the support of mobile applications.  With the help of a Spa software, Spa owners are now at ease.

Each and every Spa has its own specialty, and the backbone of a Spa business entirely relies upon its Spa menu. The Spa menu plays a vital role in grasping customers. As it is rightly said, “A Spa menu is like a piece of cake decorated with cream and cherries.” The more attractive the Spa menu, the more customers they pull towards them.

Preparing a good menu for your Spa scheduling software can be quite a challenging task. This involves effectively managing the data that is to be presented in the software application. Here are a few simple steps to help you get started:

Ø  PLANNING – Prepare a list of the products and services your Spa offers. Discuss with your employees about how best you can serve the customers by including the premium services and packages that your competitive Spas offer. A thorough planning mechanism can save you a lot of time and effort.

Ø  ANALYSING & DETAILING – The primary services, in tandem with the additional services, is to be specifically mentioned in detail,in order to help your customers choose easily from a myriad of services that your Spa offers. For example, additional services like Mehendi designing, letting out jewellery on rent, letting out fancy dresses on rent for kids, etc., can be mentioned in a separate tab for the ease of your customers. You never know, someone might require a Mehendi designer in an urgent need!

Ø  ORGANISING – Arrange the data in the right order by preparing separate categories, headings, and sub-headings. Position the services in order of their sale value with the top-most selling services appearing above and gradually moving down to those that may-be less attractive or less sought after. Begin by making a separate corner for men and a separate corner for women. This can make your task much easier to categorize. While mentioning a particular service, do mention the types and sub-services associated with it. A Facial, for example, has various types like fruit facial, bio peel, herbal facial, European facial, etc.

Ø  PRICING –The price of each service when mentioned alongside makes it easier for the customers to choose the service based on his budget. This way, the customers need not call the Spa to enquire about the price of the service, which can otherwise be embarrassing for him.

Keeping the above in mind, here are some more intricate details you can consider to design your Spa software:

•  A catchy tag line with the name of your Spa.
• Use attractive fonts, appealing colours and a pleasant background texture in your menu.
•  Pictures of the services you offer at your Spa, and pictures of your Spa’s location and its interiors.
• Feedbacks and reviews of satisfied customers.
• Special packages and offers provided from time to time. For example, wedding offers, seasonal offers, couple offers, etc.
• The names of brands of the products you use at your Spa.
•  List of products on sale, if you sell or promote a certain brand’s products.
• ‘My Account’ tab to help customers have an account with you and login to your software using their personal login credentials.
• ‘My cart/bag’ for your customers to store products they like to purchase from you.
• A facility for the customer to book appointments with you.
• Cancellation policy to help customers cancel an appointment if for some reason they need to. Also mention the limitations and conditions associated with cancellation of service.
• Spa etiquettes like switching off mobiles at the Spa, keeping kids under control, refraining from loud talking, etc., can be mentioned.
• Talk about the fame and success of your Spa by providing links of the sites or magazines where your Spa’s articles have been published.
• Available payment options like debit card, credit card, Google pay, PayTM, etc.
• Contact details of you Spa, like address, E-mail ID, website and phone numbers.
• Number of branches and their contact details to be mentioned.
• For further reference, provide links of sites such as Facebook, Yelp, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Urban clap, etc.

After having done the above, what comes next? The answer to this is - the selection of the right software. However, Spa management software is used by almost every Spa. So how can you make yours more unique and appealing to the customer? The Spa industry is highly competitive and to make yourself a permanent stakeholder in the industry, you need to stand out from the crowd.

                                                                                                                         

We at MioSalon, provide you with the opportunity to design your menu according to your needs and requirements. Our team will work effortlessly to make your Spa software your very own! Do get in touch with us to have a memorable experience.

Contact us at https://www.miosalon.com to know more.

7 Strategies to Boost Salon Retail Sales

As per The International Spa Association (ISPA),10 to 15% of overall salon or spa revenue is mainly because of retail sales. There are no two thoughts about the fact that salon retail sales are important if you want to survive in this over-competitive ecosystem. If you are running a salon or spa business, it is necessary for you to look into salon retailing as a potential revenue stream.

Having retail products in your salon does not mean placing them on a table in an inviting corner. If you do that, of course, no one is going to give a second look. If you really want your retail products to sell like hot cakes, you have to create a lively salon retail culture.

Most salon fail here. However, you need to worry no more because in this blog we are going to take you through seven tried and tested strategies that will boost retail sales in your salon.

Cross-sell products with services:Every salon has a wide range of shampoos, conditioners and serums they use for their day-to-day services. However, not everyone is interested in all these products. For example, a person with frizzy hair may want to try out a hair serum while a person with an oily scalp may want to try an oil replacement shampoo. Based on these statistics, you need to identify appropriate products for each service so that you can make the right recommendations.

For this, you can use the salon software to check customer’s service history, product purchases and spending habits. This will help a salon owner as well as the staff to make the right product-service pairings. Another way you can automate recommendations is by suggesting products to a customer related to a particular service during their booking on the salon software. Suppose a client is coming in for a head-massage, you can recommend hair oil during their booking. This will want to make them enquire about the product when they visit your salon.

Make your salon reception inviting:To boost salon retail sales, your merchandising has to be on point. A great place to display your retail products is your salon reception. In a supermarket, when you see small items stacked around the billing counter, you automatically get tempted, don’t you? Same theory applies here. Don’t keep all your products at the reception. Get a cane basket and place few of your best-selling products in them. The footfall within the reception area is considered to be the highest because people are waiting for their treatments and a lot of people walk by it. Also, have the products at eye level so that people look at the products as they enter.

Educate your staff: Another crucial strategy most salons give a miss is educating their staff. It is an absolute must to educate your staff on all the products your salon carries. Most stylists and therapists engage in conversation with the client while performing the service. During this time, they must tell the client the product they’re using and why it will be beneficial for them to purchase. Train them well so that it doesn’t look like a product is being forced upon a customer.

Consultation:Every customer likes to get up-close and personal with a product they’re going to be purchasing. The best way to do this is by offering consultations. You can choose one day in a month when you plan to do this and send out emails to all your clients on the salon software. This is your chance to understand a client’s needs, wants and lifestyle.Be a good listener and understand what their problem is. After a solid, honest consultation, you can take them through your retail counter and show them the products that will help them. When done right, consultation can greatly boost retail sales in a salon.

Send product refill reminders:It’s true that customers who have already purchased retail products from your salon are most likely to buy the same again. You can encourage sales by sending them product refill reminders. Salon software automates the process for you and makes it easy to send out reminders to all your retail clients. You can use the same database when making announcements about new product launches or when you plan to introduce a new partner brand. When they see a mail from you, they’ll automatically want to drop by and restock on their products.   

Ensure you are always stocked with the right products:Imagine losing out on a revenue opportunity because you are out of stock. That’s the worst thing that can happen to your salon. By letting your customers leave empty-handed, you are also hurting future sales. To make sure you are fully stocked at all time, use the inventory management feature on your salon software. MioSalon makes it easy to avoid under-stocking and over-stocking. With auto-product consumption, real-time stock management and low level alerts,salon software makes things so much easier. 

Partner with brands you believe in:The idea of salon retailing becomes much easier when you partner with brands you truly want to see in your salon. Don’t just have run-of-the-mill brands. Get products from a brand no other salon has. Give people a reason to come to your salon. A good brand partnership will give you a better chance on setting up your retail system.

Just as you would value other aspects of your business and its services, look at retail sale. It is often overlooked by most salon owners. In the quest of offering their clients the perfect services, they often forget about cross-selling their retails products. Use MioSalon, salon software, to make sales targets achievable and the whole process fun and simple.

Don’t let poor planning affect your chances of not maximizing profit through retail sales. Utilize the opportunity to sell retails products, and you’ll see a difference in your overall bottom line. For more information on MioSalon features, visit https://www.miosalon.com/features.