Here is the difference most salon websites miss: people do not book a salon, they book Ana.
A form that asks "which service would you like" and emails reception ignores the one thing that produces loyal clients.
What a salon site actually needs
Booking with a choice of stylist. Each with their own schedule, services and portfolio. A client who has come back three times to the same person should be able to book them in two taps.
Prices by hair length, not just by service. "Colouring — from 500 lei" tells a client with waist-length hair nothing. Short, medium, long, with real ranges. It is the most common source of misunderstanding at the till.
A portfolio per stylist. Not a shared gallery. Someone choosing a person wants to see what that person did, not the salon average.
A cancellation policy and a deposit. A no-show on a three-hour colour costs a day's work. A small deposit on long services fixes it and is accepted when it is written up front, not asked for on the phone.
A consultation before major changes. Blonde from brunette is not booked like a haircut. A separate consultation slot prevents the day where nobody is happy.
How long each service takes. Someone planning their day needs to know whether they are blocking one hour or four.
The integrations that matter
A calendar per stylist, not per salon. A salon of five people has five diaries, not one. Systems that treat the salon as a single resource produce double bookings.
An SMS reminder 24 hours ahead. The cheapest reduction in no-shows there is.
Instagram linked, not embedded. An embedded feed loads hundreds of kilobytes and slows the page. A link plus a few of your own optimised images does the same job without the speed cost.
Google Business Profile with real hours. For a salon, the map brings most new clients.
Common mistakes
Booking without choosing the person. The most expensive one on this list.
A gallery of photos straight off a phone. Sixty uncompressed images is a page that will not open on mobile data — which is exactly where the clients are.
Prices "from", with no upper bound. They produce arguments at the till and bad reviews.
An embedded Instagram feed on the home page. It looks fine in the office, on wi-fi.
What we build
A prerendered site with booking per stylist and a separate calendar for each. Prices per service and per length. Individual portfolios. Deposits on long services. Romanian and Russian. Structured data for the salon, with hours and services.
What moves the price is covered in what a website costs in Moldova.
Questions
Why does choosing the stylist matter?
Because loyalty in a salon is to a person, not a company. A client who cannot book her stylist will call her directly, and when that stylist leaves, the client leaves too. Booking by person makes that relationship visible and measurable.
Is it worth taking a deposit?
On long services, yes. A three-hour colour nobody turns up for is a lost day. A small deposit, stated clearly at booking, is accepted without friction.
How do I publish prices when they vary so much?
By range and by hair length. "Colour, long hair: 900-1400 lei" is more useful and more honest than "from 500", which applies to almost nobody.
Can I just use Instagram instead of a site?
Instagram brings clients, but it does not appear in search and does not allow booking with a choice of person. They do different jobs; a salon needs both.