Should your salon or spa hire a Squarespace expert, or build the site yourself?

You don't need a Squarespace expert to put a salon or spa online. You do need one for about three jobs: the booking flow, the price list and the handover to whoever runs the site after launch. Build the rest yourself and save the fee for the parts that cost you appointments when they break.

Watch how a new client actually books

Most new clients find you on Instagram or Google, tap through to your site on a phone, look for a price, and either book or leave. That takes about a minute. Every step you add to it loses someone.

Try it on your own phone, on mobile data, from your Instagram bio link. Count the taps between "I like this" and "I'm booked in." If it's more than three, you have a booking problem, and no amount of nicer photography fixes it.

The price list is the page people read most

Clients want to know what a cut, a colour or a facial costs before they commit. A salon that hides its prices makes people guess, and guessing clients book somewhere that doesn't make them.

The common mistake is the PDF price list or a screenshot of the menu. Neither reads well on a phone, and Google can't read the prices inside an image. Put your services on a real page as text, grouped the way clients think (hair, colour, nails, facials), with a "from" price where the final cost depends on length or condition. Each group can link straight to its booking button.

Squarespace handles this fine with accordions or a clean list. The part people get wrong is keeping it in step with the booking tool. If your site says a cut is £45 and the booking page says £48, you have an awkward conversation at the chair. An expert can set both up from one list.

Pick the booking tool before you pick the template

This is the decision that matters most, and most owners make it last. You have two routes.

Squarespace Scheduling sits inside your Squarespace account. It gives each stylist their own calendar, takes deposits and sends reminders, and the client list belongs to you. If you're starting from nothing, it's the simpler choice.

The other route is a booking tool you already use, such as Fresha or Vagaro, embedded on the page. Vagaro publishes an embed code you paste into a code block, and it works. The trade-off is that the booking happens on your page while the client record, the reminders and the rebooking all live in their system. If you ever leave that tool, you leave that data behind.

Whichever you choose, test the embed on a real phone. Widgets that look fine on a laptop often cut off the time slots on a small screen, and that's a lost booking you'll never see in your analytics.

Gift cards, packages and memberships

For a salon or spa, these bring in money at the quietest times of year. Squarespace Scheduling sells gift certificates and bundled packages on its Standard plan, so a "book six facials, pay for five" deal doesn't need a separate tool. Check the plan before you promise anything on the page. Our guide to taking payments on Squarespace covers how the processors fit in.

The setup question is how a gift card gets redeemed. If the buyer sends it as an email, the recipient has to find the booking page and enter a code. A short "Redeem a gift card" step on your booking page saves a lot of confused phone calls in December.

Before and after photos, and who gave permission

A salon's gallery is its best sales page, and it's also where owners get careless. Get written consent before you post a client's face or treatment results, especially for anything cosmetic or medical-adjacent such as injectables or skin treatments. Your insurer or regulator may have rules on how results can be shown, so check before you publish.

On the technical side, a gallery of large uncompressed photos is the usual reason a salon homepage loads slowly on mobile. Resize images before you upload them, and keep the homepage to a handful of your strongest shots, with the full gallery on its own page.

What you can build yourself in a weekend

If you're a single-chair or small salon with one booking tool, you can build the site yourself. Choose a Squarespace template, add your services as text, drop in your booking button, connect your Instagram feed and publish your address and opening hours. Write your Google Business Profile details so they match the site exactly. The Squarespace SEO checklist covers the local settings.

That gets you a site that works. For a lot of small salons, that's the right call.

Where a Squarespace expert pays for itself

A Squarespace expert earns the fee on the parts that are fiddly and expensive to get wrong:

• Several stylists, each with their own calendar, and a "book with [name]" button on each team profile that opens the right one.
• A booking widget embedded and styled so it matches your branding and doesn't break on mobile.
• Packages, memberships and gift cards set up so the pricing on the site and in the booking tool come from the same list.
• Service pages written for local search, so "balayage in [your area]" brings in people who are ready to book.
• A move away from a marketplace profile, so new clients book direct with you and not through a listing that takes a cut.

It also means a clean handover. If the person who built the site leaves, you want the Squarespace login, domain and booking account owned by the business, with a short guide for changing prices and photos.

What it costs either way

Building it yourself costs your evenings and a few weeks of trial and error on the booking setup. You'll probably also redo parts of it when a stylist leaves or you add a service. A Squarespace expert costs more upfront, and the site should be right the first time, including the booking flow you can't easily test yourself.

The way to compare them is by the appointments at stake. If one extra booking a week comes from a smoother flow, that adds up across a year. Ongoing Squarespace support and maintenance covers the small updates after launch, such as price changes and new treatments.

Which route fits your salon

Build it yourself if you're a small team with one booking tool, a short service menu and time to test everything on a phone.

Bring in a Squarespace expert if you have several stylists or locations, packages or memberships, a booking embed that looks wrong on mobile, or a site that's out of date. Different business, same test: can a stranger on a phone book an appointment in three taps?

Frequently asked questions

Can I take bookings on a Squarespace salon website?

Yes. Squarespace Scheduling is the built-in option, with calendars per stylist, deposits and reminders. You can also embed a booking button from a tool like Fresha or Vagaro, but then the client record lives in that tool, not with your site.

Can a Squarespace site sell gift cards and treatment packages?

Yes. Squarespace Scheduling sells gift certificates and bundled appointment packages on its Standard plan, and Squarespace Commerce can sell gift cards too. Check which plan includes the feature before you commit to a setup.

Do I need a Squarespace expert for a salon website?

Not for a simple site. A homepage, a price list, a gallery and a booking button are all doable yourself. A Squarespace expert helps when you have several stylists with their own calendars, packages or memberships, or a booking tool that looks broken on a phone.

Should I list prices on my salon website?

Yes. The price list is one of the most-read pages on a salon site. Keep it as real text on the page, not a PDF or an image, so clients can read it on a phone and Google can read it too.