Websites & booking · salons · barbers · beauty · nails
We checked every salon within 16 miles of Colchester. Most are invisible.
Of 1,399 local salons, barbershops and nail studios we analysed this August, 87% can't take a booking online and nearly half have no website at all. If that's you, it's fixable this week — one price, you own everything, £0 a month to run.
shieldsbeauty.com is one of ours, live now — go and book a real appointment on your phone.
WhatsApp answered the same day — usually within the hour, salon hours.
Our own analysis, August 2026 — every operating salon, barbershop, beauty and nail studio with a Google listing within 16 miles of Colchester, each website checked individually.
The bit your clients will love
Bookings arrive where you already live: WhatsApp
Your clients pick a treatment and a time on your website — even at 9 pm, even on a Sunday. It lands in your WhatsApp as a tidy request, showing your real availability, so no double-bookings and no ghost appointments. You reply to confirm. That's the whole system.
Prefer web bookings? Those work too — every treatment, with your true prices and durations, confirmed by you before anything hits the diary.
What: Gel polish — £28
When: Thu 7 Aug, 2:30 pm
Name: Sophie
This is a request — the salon will confirm.
Straight prices, like the list on your wall
Yes, we know about the emails
You've been pitched websites before. We're deliberately not that.
No "free audit" tricks
No scare report about your ranking, no "your Google listing is about to expire" calls. We show you a live salon we built instead — book a real appointment on shieldsbeauty.com right now, before you ever reply to us.
No monthly contract
Every other pitch ends in £30–£100 a month, forever. Our price is on the wall like yours: one number, paid once. The site then costs £0 a month because of how it's built.
No agency, no account manager
One developer, in Colchester. The person you WhatsApp is the person who builds it and the person who answers when you want a price changed.
What the alternatives really cost
Three years from now
| Option | Year 1 | Over 3 years | Who owns it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking app (Booksy) | £480 +VAT | £1,440 +VAT | They do |
| Marketplace (Fresha) | £180 + 20% of new clients | £540 + fees | They do |
| Pay-monthly "salon website" firms | £420–£1,188 | £1,260–£3,564 | They do |
| Local web agency | £825–£1,455 + £35/mo | £2,100–£2,700 | Partly you |
| SalonSites — Get Booked | £795 | £795 | You do |
Competitor prices checked August 2026 from their own published pricing pages. Only recurring cost with us: your domain, ~£10 a year, paid by you, owned by you.
From first message to first booking
How it works
Message us
WhatsApp us a photo of your current price list. That's genuinely all we need to start.
We build it
Your site, your services, your prices — built in days, not months. We claim and polish your Google listing too.
You approve on your phone
Check every page and every price. Nothing goes live until you say so.
It's yours
Bookings arrive on WhatsApp and email. You edit prices yourself. No bill ever follows.
So you can trust the rest
What we won't promise
- We don't bring you new clients from an app. Fresha and Booksy run marketplaces; that's genuinely theirs. If discovery works for you, keep it — our sites run happily alongside, so your regulars can book you direct, commission-free.
- We don't send SMS reminder packs. Confirmations arrive by email and WhatsApp — the channel your clients actually answer.
- We won't run your Instagram. We set you up with branded templates and proper links, but nobody should pay a retainer for posts they can make in a minute.
Asked every time
Questions salon owners actually ask
What's the catch with £0 a month?
There isn't one — it's how the site is built. Modern static websites can run on world-class infrastructure (the same Cloudflare network the big brands use) within its free tier, because they don't need servers churning away. Your only recurring cost is your domain name, about £10 a year, registered in your name. The optional £25/month care plan exists for owners who'd rather we make their changes — the site works exactly the same without it.
How fast can it be live?
Two to four days from receiving your price list, for most salons. You approve everything on your phone before it goes live.
Do I have to leave Fresha or Booksy?
No. Your website runs alongside them. Many owners keep the marketplace for discovery and let regulars book direct through their own site — where nobody takes a commission.
Can I change my own prices and hours?
Yes — from your phone, in about 20 seconds, free, forever. We'll show you how in one two-minute demo. If you'd rather never touch it, the care plan covers changes for you.
Is this just for hair salons?
Barbershops, beauty salons, nail studios, brow & lash bars, spas — the booking system handles any treatment list. The live example is a beauty bar; the same build works for a barber's walk-in-plus-appointments setup.
What happens if we part ways?
You keep everything: the domain is yours, the site is yours, and it keeps running at £0 a month whether we ever speak again or not. That's the point of owning it.
Send us your price list. See your salon online this week.
Or see the live example first: shieldsbeauty.com