Show Your Art. Tell Your Story. The Web Design Blueprint for Tattoo Shops

The tattoo world runs on word-of-mouth recommendations. Most artists rely on personal referrals and on-the-job experience rather than official certifications or advertising. In fact, many tattoo shops don’t even have a website.

This makes it extremely difficult for new clients to find your shop. A well-designed, personalized website can actually grow your tattoo shop by showcasing your art, bringing more online bookings directly to you. This gives you more time to spend on one-on-one client care that makes the tattoo experience significant. 

We’ll explain how a professional website for your tattoo studio, or even for independent artists, can help tattooists find more clients. 

WordPress Development and Tattoo Businesses

If you’re starting a website from scratch, WordPress offers the most flexibility. This website builder can be thought of as a blank slate — you can design almost anything, and it’s a great method for showcasing your work. 

Since WordPress is something of a sandbox, it can be painstaking to get the display and coding precisely right. A professional design team can help you create a professional site that runs smoothly. 

Joomla Development and Design for Tattoo Parlors

Like WordPress, Joomla offers booking and client management apps for tattoo parlors. This makes it easier to manage your appointments. New clients are shown only available times, and you don’t have to spend your time sorting out accidental double-bookings or returning voicemails and text messages all day. 

Our Joomla development team ensures that your website is fully optimized for search, which makes it even easier for potential clients to find you online. 

Squarespace Development and Design for Tattoo Artists

If you already have a strong social media account, Squarespace can be a great choice for building your website. It offers strong social media integrations that allow you to import your portfolio showcase onto your website, and vice versa. 

Squarespace doesn’t offer as many customization options as WordPress, but its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for beginners to manage. 

Shopify Development and Design for Tattoo Shops

An e-commerce site is also a popular way to manage appointments. When building on Shopify, it is important to make sure that your individual product pages and site navigation work logically together so customers can easily book the services they need. If your portfolio images require too many clicks to find, customers won’t see the images of your art. On the other hand, if everything is on a single page filled with dozens of images, the page will take too long to load. This will cause people to get frustrated and click away.

An experienced Shopify development team can turn your ink images into an attractive website that brings in bookings, giving you more time to focus on your art. 

HTML5 Development and Design for Tattoo Business Owners

Whatever content management system you choose to run your website  — WordPress, Wix, Shopify, or Squarespace — the underlying programming language is HTML5. That’s why an experienced team with a firm grounding in HTML5 can step into any CMS and make the needed updates.

Many other web development companies will try to sell you a brand-new website, no matter what. Our team is different — we offer design services to help grow your business from any starting point. If you already have a website and just need some design or function updates, we will custom-quote a solution for you. 

Geo Landing Pages for Tattoo Businesses

To state the obvious, clients need to come to your business in person to get a tattoo. There’s no online-only version of tattoo art. 

Tattoo franchises, chains, or shops with multiple locations can benefit from geotargeted landing pages. These pages have the same basic design, but the specific details update based on the geographic location of the person visiting the page.

Geotargeted landing pages can be linked to ads or social media posts to make it easier for people to find tattoo artists that are closest to them. This makes them more likely to book an appointment, since they won’t have to click around to find the shop nearest to them. 

Dynamic Landing Pages for Tattoo Shops

Like geotargeted pages, dynamic landing pages automatically update based on the characteristics of the person clicking on them. 

This allows you to provide tailored content to each visitor. For example, customers searching for “best tattoo shops for first-time tattoos” can be shown a landing page that answers basic questions about getting inked for the first time. People searching “best tattoo shops for a full sleeve” can be shown information for a lengthy, day-long tattoo session that emphasizes your consultation process. 

This makes it easier for clients to make a booking decision, since they’re only being shown information that is specifically relevant to their concerns. A first-timer may not need information about full-sleeve work, while someone interested in an intricate design may already know the basics you would normally communicate to a first-time customer. 

Application Development for Tattoo Shops

Finally, application development is a strategy that’s gaining popularity with tattoo shops. Apps are an easy way to manage bookings and appointments. They can be programmed to give recurring appointment reminders, which decreases the number of no-shows at your shop, preventing lost revenue. 

A customized app lets you deliver personalized content to your customers. You can promote special events at your tattoo shop, deals and promotions, or custom forums where people discuss their tattoo plans and share sketches.

A custom-built application delivers maximum customization for your business. 

FAQ: Digital Marketing Strategies That Work

As a full-service digital marketing agency, SEO Design Chicago has over ten years of experience helping businesses of all sizes strengthen their online presence. 

Take a look at our experts’ responses to some of the top tattoo shop marketing questions. 

What makes a great tattoo shop website?

Every tattoo website should serve two main functions: provide a portfolio to show off your work and make it easy for potential clients to book appointments.

Professional web development accomplishes this in several ways:

• Optimizing your display for various screen sizes, prioritizing mobile
• Adding a clear flow for scheduling appointments 
• Showcasing your tattoo artistry through high-quality images 
• Addressing client concerns with FAQs and clear pricing pages
• Building trust and brand identity with artist bios and customer reviews

Websites for tattoo artists can effectively attract more clients when they work to reassure potential clients at every step of the process. 

Do tattoo artists really need a website if they have Instagram?

A professional website can take your tattoo studio to the next level. It gives you more control over the booking process, allowing you to design each page with a clear call to action. It also helps with long-term client management and follow-up by letting you save information from the clients who fill out your website forms. 

A website also helps you rank higher in search results, making it easier to attract more clients who are actively looking for tattoo services in your area. 

Instagram is a great place to show off your work and build engagement, but it works best as a complement to your website, not a replacement for it. 

Which platform is best for tattoo studio websites — WordPress, Squarespace, or Shopify?

If you’re building a website from scratch, you need to ensure that clients can book quickly and easily from every page. 

Squarespace and Shopify are good starting options if you want a foolproof design. They offer a variety of templates and provide booking and payment integrations directly within the CMS, which is key for tattoo studios. 

WordPress offers more customization and flexibility. If you’re primarily concerned with growth potential and showcasing your unique style, WordPress is probably the best option for you. It’s a good idea to work with a professional design and development team when building a WordPress site from scratch, since there are thousands of different plugins to choose from. 

What pages should a tattoo studio website include?

Your site should be as user-friendly as possible to answer key client questions. This saves you time from answering phone calls and emails, and makes it more likely that people will actually book an appointment.

Your website should have a solid home page that summarizes your artwork and includes basic information. Including a full-color photo of your studio is a great way to make an immediate impression, complemented by a clear headline, like “Realistic Tattoo Artistry in the Heart of Historic Atlanta.” 

Each artist should have their own bio page with samples of their work. You need a clear services page that explains exactly what styles, aftercare, and additional services you provide. Remember to include a pricing range!

A booking form is essential because this is how people will actually make an appointment with you! We also recommend a reviews page and a location/hours/how to find us page.

Remember, clients want their key questions answered — how do they find you, what can they expect, how do they make an appointment? They don’t need your life’s story, and they don’t want to waste time scrolling through hundreds of photos to find the information they need.

How does web design help increase bookings for tattoo artists?

A professional, user-friendly website helps tattoo artists attract more leads and bookings to their studio by improving their visibility in search engine results. This way, your services are matched more specifically to people who are actively searching for the tattoo art you provide. 

A conversion-focused design means it is very easy for potential clients to take action from any page of your website. This saves time, since clients don’t have to leave messages and wait for a call back.

Ready for a conversion-focused website design? Request your free consultation with SEO Design Chicago today!