The blog
Getting more clients, written plainly
Guides for salon owners, barbers and chair renters. Real numbers, no jargon, nothing to decode.
Should your salon's ads run when you are closed?
Whether to run Google Ads only during your salon's opening hours, what changed on 1 June 2026, and why your open hours are the ones you cannot pick up.
Google Ads for a barbershop with no website
Google is retiring call ads, so the usual answer no longer works. What a barbershop with no website can actually run, and the phone number catch behind it.
Is a marketing agency worth it for a salon?
What a UK marketing agency charges a month, next to what a salon's whole marketing budget actually is, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.
Is there enough demand round here for another salon?
How to check whether enough people near a new salon site are actually searching for your services, using Google's own free tool, before you sign a lease.
How long do Google Ads take to work for a salon?
A fortnight is enough to tell whether a small salon campaign is alive, and the three month answer belongs to a different kind of business.
Your salon ads get clicks but nobody rings
Clicks with no calls is usually something after the tap, not the ad itself. Here is the ten second test to run on your own phone this afternoon.
Why your salon does not show up on Google Maps
A salon missing from Maps has usually failed one of four checks Google publishes. How to work out which one, and fix it yourself.
The bookings you lose when nobody can answer the phone
Clients ring while your hands are in colour. How to count the calls you are actually missing, for free, before you buy any more of them.
Where your salon marketing budget should actually go
The order a salon marketing budget should be spent in: what costs nothing, what the paid pound buys, and where money leaks out unnoticed.
How to get more colour clients instead of just cuts
Colour clients do not come from an ad that says hairdresser. How to split a small Google Ads budget by service so the colour searches get the money.
How to fill the quiet midweek days in your salon
Why midweek gaps are a shape rather than a shortage, what an ad schedule actually does to a 300 pound budget, and what really moves a Tuesday.
What a new client should actually cost you
There is no published right answer. What one new salon client should cost is decided by two numbers already in your own book, and here they are in pounds.
The Google rep says switch to Performance Max
What Performance Max for store goals actually does with a small salon budget, what it counts as a conversion, and what to ask before you click.
Can ads really target people in the hotel round the corner?
An agency says it can put your salon in front of guests in the hotels nearby. Here is what Google Ads location targeting actually does.
When a new salon opens on your street
A new salon opened nearby and your book has gaps. How to work out what you have actually lost, and what to fix before you touch your prices.
Why your salon bookings dropped this month
The national picture, the twenty minute check on your own book, and the three things that break quietly without telling you.
Why your salon ads are not showing at all
Six reasons a salon's Google Ads stop showing, in the order that finds it fastest, including the one that leaves every status reading Eligible.
Moving off a Google Smart Campaign without losing bookings
How a salon moves from a Google Smart Campaign to a proper search campaign, in the order that keeps something live the whole time.
What happens to your bookings if you stop paying for ads
Pause and your ads stop the same day. Cancel and they stop within 24 hours. What keeps working afterwards, and what you stop paying for.
How to get salon clients without Instagram
The people who need a hairdresser this week are searching, not scrolling. Five ways to fill a salon diary without posting on Instagram.
Are Google Ads worth it for a small salon?
The honest answer, including the four cases where we say no and turn the money away, plus the sum that decides it for a small UK salon or barbershop.
Leaving Treatwell or Fresha to take your own bookings
What Treatwell and Fresha actually charge in 2026, why leaving saves less than you expect, and the one sum to do before you close the account.
Is a marketing qualification worth it when you own a salon?
What a CIM certificate actually costs, what it teaches that you already know, and the four situations where it genuinely pays for itself.
Google Ads for hairdressers: the plain-English guide
What Google Ads actually costs a salon, where the money leaks, the five pieces that make it work, and the honest maths of whether it's worth it for you.
Why your salon ads bring in students, not clients
You boosted the post, the enquiries came — and they wanted student discounts, free model sessions and apprenticeships. Here's exactly where the money went, and the blocklist that stops it.
How much should a salon spend on Google Ads?
A plain answer with real numbers: what different monthly budgets actually get a salon or barbershop, when a budget is too small to bother, and where most shops settle.