Most salons are just becoming aware of the need for a website which can represent their business in a flattering light.

In the past few years and because of a reticence to toss good money away, many salons have settled on sites built from free cookie-cutter templates and cobbled together by someone's cousin - who once built a site for himself.

In these early efforts, the colors and themes were often jolting and the pictures and graphics could be found on every website from Tacoma to Talladega. The purpose of some of these sites is still not clear.

Were they designed to promote the salon owners personal vision or reveal a lack of marketing experience? Did anyone who built the site ever hear of cascading style sheets?

Lately, savvy salons have learned their lessons and are creating sites that are on-topic, appealing to clients and which tell the salon's story in a clear and straightforward manner. It is these sites we wish to reveal to you.

Some of us at Capelli d'Oro have had an amazing opportunity to work with our friends at TechMondo - a up-and-coming new web-development company located on Lake Union in the Fremont District of Seattle.

The crew at TechMondo are building websites and networks for small to medium businesses and have worked for companies like Microsoft, MSN and several area colleges teaching technology.

Much of what they said about our site and others rubbed off on us. We are not experts in the field of web analytics, but they are.

To create our short list, we rejected salon websites that were too much the basic template. Web templates are a good thing - but only when they are modified to uniquely represent the salon.

We included several amateur examples because they revealed a dynamic salon team bent on bringing beauty to a starved world and rejected some excellent examples of corporate salon chains because they were, well, too corporate and thus boring as all get out.

Gary Manuel: The Face of Seattle Hair

Gary Manuel Salon in Seattle is a salon that is not only at their top of its game with regional fashion involvement, but is the social consciousness of the Seattle hair scene.

They recently were written up in a Launchpad Magazine article (April 2010) about the Green Scene as a salon which raised over $22,000 for preservation activities in Puget Sound.

The Gary Manuel website emphasizes their primary strength: a photo gallery of their best editorial work. The site also showcases the Gary Manuel Aveda Institute and their Phase3 training facility without being overbearing.

The site is clean with a sensible use of graphics and flash/java scripting. The Events section is clear and does not commit the sin of shouting.

All together, the site is direct and informative and places the client's interests foremost.

Stylus Seattle: Artfully Done

Stylus Salon in Seattle has a website which is a bit much flash for our simple tastes, but the site showcases the salons strong suites without a lot of needless navigation and unessential pages.

They get right to it with beautiful photography of their interior, an attractive recounting of their staff, and a portrayal of Stylus Salon art exhibitions - a center piece of their experience.

Usually, website music turns this writer flat off, but their music is out of the mainstream. Web music always runs the risks of coming across as trite, so it is best to use it discreetly.

The website makes one want to visit this 2-story Seattle Belltown Salon and lends one a complete familiarity with what the salon offers without giving everything away. All good elements which help create an attractive site.

Vain: Hipness in Seattle

Vain Salons in Downtown Seattle and Ballard show what you can do with a simple web template.

The site is packed with information about the salon, but each page is designed to draw niche audiences into the Vain experience.

The site calls out to the arts and events crowd, the Seattle music scene and those interested in the salon's community involvements.

The site looks slightly industrial-girl and is so rich in information about the salon's interests that it pulls one to call up and book an appointment just to see it for one's self.

Vain is a great example of what can be done if the site itself is not the show but the people and ideas inside are.

Marco Salon: Everybody Loves Marco

Who in Seattle does not love Marco and his exquisite salon? Marco's personality is all over this site - which makes it a winner with his clients and an inducement to draw closer to learn more about him and his salon.

The website is full of delightful stories and brilliant photography. The models are most likely the salon's own clients, which can become problematic if the models, hair and makeup are not spot-on.

The work on the site is always improving and always showcasing the best and the brightest work, so the sin of shoddy is never committed. The events page is OK, but a little more detail would be good.

The site is all flash, but it is never too much and does not break the reader's ability to stay interested.

The stylists' bios are uneven but they are all photographed attractively. Have you ever seen a site in which the staff's pictures all seem to be taken in front of a gloomy landscape or in a bar?

Marco never commits such an error. The site is altogether pleasant and representative of the salon experience itself.

Gene Juarez: The Gold Standard

It would be awkward and probably illegal to not mention Gene Juarez salons. Gene has departed for other ventures, but he dumped a bucket-load of cash on this site before he left. It is the gold standard for salon websites and it is well-defined picture of the Gene Juarez experience.

The colors are flawless and elements flow one to the other. The graphics tell the story in a focused way. The photography is like swirling inside a soft box and the storyline is straightforward.

The gift cards and special offers sections make the site as engaging as Nordstrom's or Neiman Marcus.

The result is a website that is world class all the way.

Hair Lounge: Working Together

This site belongs to Marv Smith and company. Marv is a legend in Seattle-Federal Way-Tacoma hair scene as well as his crew: Michael Hall, Richard Brassfield, and RJ Jones.

The site showcases the talents of some of the best hairdressers outside of the Big Apple.

The website is a funky blend of elements that look homemade in an OK way and is fun to navigate, despite the initial distraction of too much flash.

The homemade element works because the crew takes their mission seriously. They want to make the world a prettier place to live in.

Readers of the site feel this absolutely and feel connected to the ideas the site represents. Isn't this, after all, what a good website is all about?

Oasis Spa and Salon: Pieces of Paradise

This site is clean, soothing and a complete picture of the spa and salon services and policies. It is a bit corporate even for the upscale bedroom community of Woodinville but it does effectively brand the business.

We never meet the staff or get any sense of a living business entity, but the site does not make the mistake of being "all about me". The site is clearly designed to talk about the things a client is interested in. And that is a good thing.

Zo Hair Salon: Simple Things are Often the Best

We love Zo and recently interviewed her to prove it. Why more salons and salon websites are not more like Zo, we will never know. The salon is totally cool and has opened a second location in Kirkland to take care of its growing clientele.

The staff is totally there to take care of "the girls" and the men they love. Their clear and inviting website is like a Pina Colada on a steamy hot day - totally refreshing.

This site is a template for salons wishing to express a bit of their personality and, at the same time, staying on message. In many cases, with a salon website, less is more.

For a few years, hair salons thought a citation in City Search or Yelp was all they needed to get their message across on the Internet. Now they know the game is more than that. Salons need attractive, simple sites which invite people in, portray their services and place in the community and show a bit of their character.

The best marketing tool is word of mouth and a good website is like a happy client spreading the word. Point of fact: if you make your clients happy, they will point others to your site and that will be the best marketing tool you will ever find.

Article by: Edward Paul - Capelli d'Oro ©2010