Local SEO Packages Australia

If you’ve arrived on this page looking for hair salon marketing ideas that get new customers in the door consistently, you’re in the right place. We’ll go through the best hair salon marketing strategies for 2020 with plenty of examples.

It can be hard to know what direction to take in order to get ahead of your competitors. You know that to set yourself apart requires outstanding service up to date with the current trends. A smart hair salon marketing strategy is no different.

What is your hair salon marketing strategy? Most hairdressers rely on word of mouth or use outdated print and brochure marketing methods. Now don’t get me wrong. Keeping customers happy, coming back an hopefully talking about your business is important – but it’s not a marketing strategy that’s going to consistently bring in new clients.

This is not the usual list of hair salon marketing ideas. In this digital marketing guide, I answer the most common hairdresser marketing questions and share hair salon SEO tips that work.

• Digital marketing for hairdressers. Does it work?
• The 3 ways to get on the first page of Google
• The top 12 hair salon keywords
• Website optimisation for hairdressers
• Example meta title and description tags
• Content writing for hair salon websites
• Essential website pages
• Linkbuilding for hair salons
• Social media for hair salons

Digital marketing for hair salons. Does it work?

Advertising in the phone book or doing a paper wasting letter drop can be considered a tactic from the stone age. If you still use these kinds of marketing services you’re probably here because it’s no longer working for your business. In fact, there is an entire generation that has grown up with the internet, and probably wouldn’t know what a phone book is!

The fact is 4 in 5 consumers conduct local searches for stylish haircuts and on trend hair colours. And in Australia, 93% of people use Google as the search engine of choice to find the products, information and hairdressing services they need.

How do I get on the first page of Google?

There are three ways your hairdressing company can appear on the first page of Google.

Paid listings.  The paid section of the search results is based on a bidding system called Google Adwords. The order in which the advertisers are displayed is based on how much they are prepared to ‘pay per click’ (PPC) when the keyword they bid on is searched. So when you get professional help with Adwords, you pay a monthly service fee and then when someone clicks on your link.

PPC is a good way to market your business, but it should be thought of as a short-term solution, as some hairdressing keywords can cost as much as $12.56 per click which gets expensive quickly.

Google maps. The three map listings are very important for hair salons and other local businesses, as they appear anytime Google thinks local results are most relevant. Google knows someone searching for ‘hairdressers + your city’ are looking for local hair salons in their area, and shows the map listings accordingly.

You must submit your business information on “Google My Business” to be able to appear in Google maps. Unlike paid ads, the map listings are ‘organic’ meaning websites are placed according to Google’s search algorithm.

Organic listings. The websites you see in the organic listings (and maps) are there because Google believes they are the best quality and most relevant to the search intent. The process of earning your place in Google’s organic and map listings is called Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO.

Hair salon SEO is a medium – long-term investment, once you earn a place in Google’s search results there is no cost per click to stay there.

Where do people click? Paid listings attract around 30% of the clicks with the other 70% going to map and organic listings. So the next question for hairdressing marketing is…

What are the top hair salon keywords?

Understanding what potential hairdressing clients are searching for is a key part of any hairdressing SEO or digital marketing strategy. Below is a list of the most important keywords that you need to be targeting in a hairdressing SEO campaign (from highest to lowest search volume).

• hairdressers (your city)
• hairdressers in (your city)
• (your city) hairdressers
• hair extensions (your city)
• hair salon (your city)
• hairdresser (your city)
• haircut (your city)
• best hairdresser (your city)
• hair colourist (your city)
• hair straightening (your city)
• keratin treatment (your city)
• balayage (your city)

To rank for these keywords you need to use them naturally in all areas of digital marketing & SEO. Some of the salon keywords will be more suited than others to your range of services.

Where do you rank right now?

Go to Google now and search, “hairdressers (your city)” or, “hairdressing services (your city)”. Your website browser will remember the websites you visit most frequently and show them higher in search results, so to see what other people might see use an online tool to find your real ranking. If you don’t see your website listed on the first page, you’re losing business to other companies who have realised the value of digital marketing for hairdressers.

Our hair salon marketing strategy

Unlike Adwords, a top spot on Google’s map and organic listings can’t be bought. It needs to be earned through search engine optimisation, or SEO. Any hairdresser marketing needs to have a local SEO focus, to maximise exposure in your service area. The key parts of our hairdressing SEO strategy are:

1. Optimising your website so it’s easy for Google to find and understand.
2. Creating website content that explains your services, informs and inspires potential clients.
3. Building quality links to your website that boosts your authority.
4. Generating social buzz – After all how good can a website be if no one is sharing it?

Let’s look in more detail and give you some actionable hair salon marketing tips.

Website SEO for hairdressers

Optimising your website for Google can help them find, understand and better rank your website. It’s a good idea to do a website SEO audit, but a few simple optimisations will have an impact.

1. Make sure your website is indexed by Google. Search for “site:yourcompany.com.au” If no results appear, or your homepage doesn’t appear first there is a serious issue!
2. Is your business address on your website? To attract local rankings and hairdressing clients make sure to mention your location and service area on your home page.
3. Write SEO optimised meta tags for your home page. The meta title and meta description are important because they influence how you appear in search results. They should include some of the local hairdressing keywords we looked at earlier and your main services.
   
   Here’s the example meta tags if you want to copy and edit them for your website:
   Meta Title: Best Hairdressers In Melbourne│XYZ Hair Salon
   Meta Description: Our Melbourne hairdressers will have you looking and feeling great. For a fresh haircut, colour, straightening or hair extensions, call XYZ Hair Salon today!
4. Make sure your website is mobile responsive, Google uses this as a ranking factor and has created a free mobile friendly checker.
5. Nobody wants to wait for a website to load (including Google) so go and check your website speed here. Make sure your website is faster than your competitors for another ranking advantage.

Copywriting for hairdresser websites

Most average hairdressing websites consist of just a handful of pages, home, services, gallery, contact, and maybe an about us page. Show Google you deserve to be ranked ahead of your competition by creating pages with the information people are looking for. Here are the three types of website copywriting that will help you do just that.

Create individual hairdressing services pages for each of the types of hairdressing you offer. With a targeted webpage, you are more relevant and likely to appear in search when someone is looking for these specific services. For example:

• Mens Haircuts
• Womens Haircuts
• Hair Colouring
• Hair Extensions
• Hair Straightening
• Bridal Hair & Makeup
• Professional Hair Care Products

Having a visually appealing gallery to showcase your work is essential, but you need more than images to convince visitors and Google of your expertise. Regularly creating how-to articles and covering current hairstyles and colours in a blog build your authority in the hairdressing niche and has other benefits (which I’ll get to).

If people in your area are researching “balayage vs. ombre hair colour” or “best hairstyle for weddings” they are only going to find you if you’ve written about it. And guess what? If they decide to get some professional help who are they going to call?

Build local landing pages for your most important suburbs. Don’t go overboard here, stick to the closest 3-6 suburbs. Each page should be as unique as possible, include images and testimonials from jobs in each suburb.

Linkbuilding for hairdressers

Links to your website an important signal Google uses to judge how to place you in search results. When another website links to yours it’s kind of like a vote for you and your business. Quality comes before quantity, so when you see those spammy emails promising hundreds or thousands of links, don’t be sucked in. That kind of low-quality high scale linkbuilding will only harm your website.

If your website content is awesome enough people will naturally link to it, but it pays to be pro-active. The best place to start is with Australian local business directory listings. Look for opportunities from other hairdressing and lifestyle websites as well.

People look for and trust online reviews, so make sure you ask your clients to leave reviews on your Google map listing and other directories. Proactively building a 5-star online reputation will mean more clicks from search results. So get more Google reviews than your competitors!

Social media for hair salons

With 14 million Australians on Facebook for an average 50mins every day, using a Facebook business page is a great way to stay ‘top of mind’. Remember we talked about starting a blog? This sort of informative, entertaining or inspiring content is perfect for building your social media following! Mix it in with photos from current jobs, client testimonials, and sharing content from other hairdressing and beauty websites.

The quickest way to turn people off your posts is to overdo the sales pitch. Keep your posts 90% informative and 10% sales to be well received.

Digital marketing for hairdressers: Conclusion

Can digital marketing and SEO for hair salons grow a business? Absolutely! It’s working for your competitors right now. Following the hairdressing SEO tips in this guide will set you on the path to growing business profits.

Need help professional marketing for hair salons? Have hairdressing SEO questions? Get in touch and outrank your competitors!