Does Google Know Who You Are? How Good is Your Hair Salon SEO?

My name is Chip Foust. I am a professional hair photographer and the publisher of UniversalSalons.Com. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the decade of the 2020s. This decade is already seeing new advances in technology that will greatly affect the way everyone in the world interacts with each other. This is especially true in the cosmetology industry. I want to help you optimize your hair salon SEO and attract new attention to your business every day.

With social media sites like Facebook and Instagram tightening their grip on the number of organic viewers who will see your content, the influx of competition whose goal is to drive the price of your goods and services down, as well as the increase in non-professional individuals who have decided to dilute the quality of service in our industry, and now we’re even seeing hostility from different states across the US that are contemplating drastic revisions to the licensing requirements for professional cosmetologists. There is no doubt that you cannot do business in the 2020s the way you did in 2019.

Put Your Best Foot forward for Hair Salon SEO

I built UniversalSalons.Com on the belief that NO ONE DEALS WITH THE SECOND BEST, AS LONG AS THE BEST IS AVAILABLE. People don’t choose to take the inferior over the superior. In this belief, lies great opportunities for 2020 and beyond. You see the definition of best is subjective. Is it better to drink Coke or Pepsi? Is McDonald’s the best or Burger King? Your job is to decide what makes you the best in the eyes of your customers.

UniversalSalons.Com Video Series

With that in mind, I’m extremely excited to announce a series of videos I’m producing to help the salons that participate in our photoshoots get web-ready for 2020. These videos will not only show you step by step how to establish a strong web presence that is geared toward gaining new customers through search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. They will also discuss the reasons why the changes are needed and how effective hair salon SEO can grow your business.

Salon SEO is Very Important
Photo Credit: Pixbay

Are Search Engines Still Important?

So, let’s get started. The first thing some of you may be wondering is, “Why do I need to be found on search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing?” (I hope there aren’t that many people asking that question, but I know there are a few so I’m going to answer it now.) Is hair salon SEO really important? The three main reasons search engines are important is because of there size, (the number of people who use them daily) their friendly business model, and the realization that today’s consumer is going to check you out online before they make a trip to your salon for the first time. Add to that the fact that your images are already showing up in these search engines, we just feel that together, we can make your presence stronger.

Google’s size alone is enormous. Over 90% of all searches worldwide take place on Google. That’s over 5.4 Billion searches a day. Remember that all those searches are from interested consumers. This means that the consumer is excited about your product or service before they are introduced to you. Every click has some level of interest in what you’re selling. This is different form almost every other form of marketing where you need to grab the consumers’ attention away from competing for interest before you can introduce your service.

Search Engines Have a Friendly Business Plan

The thing I like best about search engines is their business plan. Unlike social networks who are constantly changing their algorithms to further monetize their platform, Google understands that their only true competition in Bing and Yahoo, so their focus is on delivering better content to their viewers than their competition. THIS IS A MAJOR ADVANTAGE FOR COSMETOLOGISTS!!!

Where social networks are saying “How can I make more money off my viewers?”, search engines are saying “How can I deliver better content to my viewers?” While one is constantly changing algorithms to increase profits, the other is constantly changing algorithms to make a better product. This is big for cosmetologists because who knows the cosmetology industry better than the professional cosmetologists? Plus, it’s important to remember that your customers are already searching for your services whether you’re represented or not. Today’s consumers will search for information about your goods and service online before they visit your salon. This reason alone makes hair salon SEO very important.

Neon Blue Hair Salon Sign
Photo Credit: Brett Sayles

Cosmetologists Have a Great Opportunity

Professional Cosmetologists already have the better information that the search engines are looking for, that information just needs to be packaged in a way the Google understands. UniversalSalons.Com has been doing this for over 10 years. Every day our web pages register for thousands of searches across the globe. We are the largest black hair website in the world today. Let us use our worldwide reach and our understanding of search engine optimization to introduce your salon services to a new marketplace that is actively looking for you. Then use your social media accounts to drive traffic to your salon pages and reach an even broader audience.

This is another reason why your UniversalSalons.Com pages are so important. Instead of posting the same content over multiple networks that may or may not be here In the future, (remember Myspace) we’ll show you how to post your content to your salon page on UniversalSalons.Com and then promote that content through all of your social networks. Then all of your networks will be working together instead of against each other.  All of your viewers across platforms are centralized which will increase the strength of your content in the eyes of the search engines.

Get Your Pages Ready for Hair Salon SEO

So, the first thing we’re going to do in this series of videos is to optimize your hair salon SEO by getting your salon pages ready to be the central hub for all of your web marketing. This means making sure your pages are optimized for search engines as well as adding any extras like online booking or a web store for your retail products. The goal is that whenever the public or the search engines want to find out information about you, your salon page will be the go-to place. Let’s get started.

Depending on when you shot with us, many of you will see a page that consists of only your salon name and pictures of the hairstyles you shot with us. Others will see much more robust pages with places for salon bios, operating hours and consumer reviews. My goal with this video series is to help every professional cosmetologist that wants to get ready for the 2020 economy, prepared with the most robust salon pages we can create on UniversalSalons.Com. The best part is, if you’ve shot with us before, the vast amount of changes you will make are free. They take time, not money.

For those who have shot with us before, you should:

  1. Go to the UniversalSalons.Com homepage and look in the top right corner for the search bar.
  2. Type in the name of your salon.
  3. Locate your salon page in our system and make sure all the information is correct.
  4. Send any corrections to info@universalsalons.com.

500 Word Informercial id VERY IMPORTANT for Hair Salon SEO

To optimize your hair salon SEO, the most important thing you need on your salon page is a 500-word, (minimum) article about your salon. This short bio will give the public and the search engines the information they need in order to determine if you really are better than the second-best. What you write in your salon infomercial needs to bring home the points that make your hair salon better than your competitors. You should also take the time to mention where you are located. Don’t only mention what city you are in but how are your salon services a better fit for your local environment than your competitors. For instance, don’t just say that you’re located in Columbia, SC, talk about how your salon services will make your clients the star of the show at a Gamecocks tailgate party.

Find every advantage you can and use your infomercial to define those advantages to prospective clients. Be sure to spend this time to talk about the different salon services that you excel in as well. DO NOT LIST EVERY SERVICE UNDER THE SUN!! You only want to generate traffic in areas you enjoy.

Once you have created your infomercial, send it to info@universialsalons.com and we will post it for you.

We’ll Write Your Article for You

If you don’t like to write, here are two quick ideas to get you started:

  1. Have a client that excels in writing content creates an elegant infomercial for you.
  2. Our editors will be glad to interview you and create a great 500-word or more article for your page at a cost of just $25.00. To have us write an article for you, contact Chip at info@universalsalons.com

Whether you write it yourself, have someone else write it for you, or have our staff write your content, the infomercial is the most important piece to your hair salon SEO PLAN. It will become the hub for everything else you do. Later in the series, I will show you how to add your own content to your pages without the need to send content to us first.

UniversalSalons.Com Reviews

The last thing I will talk about in this first video is the reviews section of your webpage. Reviews are EXTREMELY important to your hair salon SEO. The more reviews you can get the better. Here is a little trick to remember.

Don’t have all of your customers write reviews at once. Many of you have reviews that are years old and that could hurt your SEO. Search engines could ask, “why haven’t any new clients left reviews lately?” It’s better to have your reviews spread out over the year so as to always have a fresh batch.

Hair Salon SEO is a Must Today
Photo Credit: Tobias Dziuba

Get Ready for the Next Video in the Series on Hair Salon SEO

My next video will focus on the importance of adding your own retail store and online booking to your salon page. Neither one of these will cost you any money but they are essential to your overall marketing plan.

If you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave them in the comments section below. I’ll try to answer them there or I’ll make a new video if any clarification is needed.

Understand, that I’m doing these videos because I believe that no one deals with the second-best as long as the best is available. I’m creating a home for professional cosmetologists and the public that appreciates their craft. I know that effective hair salon SEO will drive tons of interested traffic to those salons.

Thanks for watching guys.

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