Home

Search

ownership, which makes them proud of it and want to show it off.” And Toby has put responsibility for

his blog in the hands of two of his staff; stressing that whoever you choose has to really want to do it. Still, there are some things you really can’t let your staff do, as they need specialised knowledge. Stuart says: “I’m the creative force and

come up with the ideas, then I look for the best person to implement them. The iPhone app was designed completely over the internet by an American company who specialise in it. It takes a lot to let go of face-to-face contact in business but you don’t necessarily need to have that and you can save a massive amount of money.” Still, to know what really works for

you and your salon, there’s one thing you should definitely be doing – analysis, analysis, analysis! Toby had 3,700 visits to his website last

month and 2,700 of those were unique – all because he invests time and money making sure the site’s high on Google. He adds: “If someone’s heard of you

Creative Director for Russell Eaton, Robert Eaton styles a model at the Aveda Colour Roadshow

they want to be able to find you easily. We concentrate our efforts on becoming the top listing in the natural search. It takes a long time to get there but we’ve made it.” Basically, it all comes down to (SEO)

He says: “We let them know when

we’d be open and how business would be affected. The response was amazing and everyone said what a fantastic service it was. It’s when you take it to that next level of service – clients really buy into that.”

GETTING IT RIGHT

“Do it well or don’t do it at all; there’s no point having a website or a blog if you have one story on it,” says Toby. Updating news on your website and

social networking sites, and even making sure you respond to your followers can take up time, so it’s worth integrating it into the job specification of some of your staff. But this can present its own difficulties,

says Alice Kirby of Lockhart Meyer Salon Marketing. She says you should think

110

long and hard before putting someone in charge of your reputation: “If you leave it in the hands of your employees you could quickly find yourself in hot water… and your salon’s reputation in tatters.” Virgin Atlantic fell foul to this after staff

postings called their planes ‘bangers’ and alleged stewards had been bitten by cockroaches – Virgin was forced to issue an immediate press statement refuting the comments. But giving trusted members of staff

the responsibility isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Stuart believes it’s great for staff morale and even hosts ‘Tweet of the week’ to recognise his employees’ efforts at keeping people updated with new products, the latest colour collections, and more – in the most innovative way. He says: “It gives them a real

involvement and a sense of business

Search Engine Optimisation – which is a whole other ball game – but a few simple measures will soon see your positioning rise; paying for listings on review sites, increasing external links, and keeping your website interesting so viewers stay on it longer. But how do you know what people

find interesting? “We monitor all of the ways traffic

moves to the website,” Toby says. “Using Google Analytics is imperative. It tells you what people are looking at, what pages they visit and how much time they spend on each page.” Data is also collected from viewers

who enter competitions via his online magazine, so he now knows Tuesdays are the best days to send marketing emails – although he’s wary of sending too many: “Our database is precious; it’s our business.”

Profile

Account