The one example that isn't made up
Most of the sites on our examples page are for businesses we made up. They show what we build, but you have to take our word that a real business would end up looking like that.
The Brotherhood Barber Co. is real. It's a walk-in barber in Caloundra, opened in 2021 by Bryan and Brendon. Six barbers now, and 4.8 stars from 187 Google reviews. They said yes to us showing the homepage we built for them, so here's how it came together, one decision at a time.
It's the same thing you'd get from us first: a free homepage mockup, before you pay anything.
Start with what's already true
We didn't start with a template or a colour scheme. We started with what was already out there: their Google listing, their reviews and their Instagram.
That gets you most of the way. Their 187 reviews tell you what customers care about better than any questionnaire. The photos are theirs: real cuts on real customers, in their own shop. There isn't a stock photo on the page.
The look came from the shop too. Black shopfront, a timber wall, barber poles. The page uses the same three things, so it looks like the place you're about to walk into.
So, will it look like you? It'll look like your business, because it's made from your business.
Walk-ins only, so the Book button came out
The first draft had a Book button. Plenty of barbers take online bookings, so it went in without much thought.
This shop doesn't. You walk in and grab a spot on the lounge. A Book button would have sent people somewhere that didn't help them, so every booking button came out.
What went in instead is what a walk-in customer needs: when you're open, how to get there, and how long the wait is. The opening hours mark today. There's a note on the quietest times: weekday mornings, and Saturday's the busy one. The call button says "Call to check the wait". On a phone, the bar along the bottom of the screen has two buttons, Call and Directions, and nothing else.
Your version of this question: what does a customer do the moment they decide you're the one? For a plumber and a burst pipe, it's ring now. For a kitchen job, it's ask for a quote. The page gets built around that one thing.
Their customers wrote the best lines
Every barber says they're friendly, so we didn't. The reviews say it better.
Max has been going there for more than four years. He wrote: "Whether you prefer to have a chat or sit in silence, you'll leave with a great haircut." That became the copy for the walk-in section, because it's exactly what someone nervous about a new barber wants to hear.
Brooke wrote that her four-year-old grandson was scared of hairdressers, and the barber was "so amazing with him". Alana brought in her two-year-old. That's the kids' section: toddlers to teens, first cuts included, under-18s pay less.
Your reviews already have your best lines in them. We read them before we write a word.
Answer what people ask before they walk in
A barber gets the same handful of questions over and over. Do I need an appointment? Do you do kids? How much is it? Who should I ask for a fade or a mullet? Is there parking?
Each one got a short, straight answer on the homepage. The fade-or-mullet question gets the shortest answer of all: anyone. Every barber there cuts to the same standard, so someone after a mullet doesn't have to wait for one particular barber. They take the next free chair.
What we left out
No price list. Their prices depend on the cut, so the page says to ask in store, and that under-18s and pensioners pay less. For a plumber we'd push hard for a callout price on the page, because "how much just to show up?" is the first thing people want to know. For a barber whose price changes with the cut, a made-up number would be wrong by the first Saturday.
No booking system, for the reasons above. No stock photos.
If we don't know something, it doesn't go on your site until you tell us. A gap is better than a guess.
Swap the barber for your trade
Take out the fades and the mullets, and it's the same four questions for any business:
- What's already true about you? Your reviews, your photos, your work.
- What does the customer do next? Ring, ask for a quote, turn up.
- What do they ask before they do it? Answer it on the page.
- What would be a guess? Leave it off until it's real.
That's how all five of your pages get written: from your onboarding form, your photos and your reviews.
The whole Brotherhood homepage is on our examples page. Open it on your phone and scroll it the way a customer would. Then ask us for yours.