4 Things That Every Beauty Website Needs
If this is the year that you launch your online beauty business, or perhaps your existing beauty site needs some TLC, it’s time to get to work!
As a cosmetics business, your website plays a huge role in driving revenue, engagement, customer acquisition and retention, and brand reputation, so putting your efforts into creating a website that offers a great user experience will definitely pay off.
Need some help? In this blog, we discuss four things that every beauty website needs, as well as exploring some additional digital marketing tactics. Read on to learn more.
4 Essentials That Your Beauty Website Needs
When it comes to the world of beauty, finding the right products is essential because everyone has their own unique needs, tastes, and preferences.
That very much applies to buying beauty products online, where the user experience (essentially, the ease of the browsing and buying journey) is fundamental in converting casual visitors into buying customers.
Believe it or not, you don’t need to hire a web designer to create a functioning, professional-looking site (though you might choose to anyway).
There are plenty of helpful YouTube tutorials and website creation guides to help you get going, while many website builders exist that enable you to create an exquisite site without any knowledge of coding.
That said, what are the elements you really need to get your beauty site off the ground and/or achieve growth? Here are four essentials.
The Right Ecommerce Platform
First, you’ll need to decide on the right ecommerce platform to power your store. This is essential if you’re launching a new beauty store, of course, but even as an established brand you should consider whether your choice of platform really serves your needs — and if it doesn’t, whether moving to another provider would be feasible.
WordPress is the most popular website management platform — powering over 40% of the world’s websites — with one of its advantages being the vast number of specialized plugins available.
One such example is WooCommerce, a free ecommerce tool for WordPress that will enable you to sell anything online — from physical beauty products to online makeup courses.
Of course, you’ll also need to consider hosting, and if you’re using WooCommerce you’ll want a powerful yet affordable WooCommerce-friendly hosting provider: using an option like Cloudways will ensure your beauty website is fast, secure, and enable you to scale resources as your traffic grows.
A Professional Design
Would you shop from a beauty website that had an outdated theme or looked unprofessional? Chances are you’d have a bad first impression, which might lead you to click the ‘back’ button and try an alternative.
You can make your website instantly look more shoppable and professional by choosing the right theme, such as one designed specifically for a beauty website. These themes are as customizable as you need them to be, but do much of the work for you in any case.
Make sure your visual aesthetic and color palette matches your brand’s identity and the type of beauty products or services that you’re selling.
For example, if you’re taking bookings for wedding makeup, then a simpler, more classic theme could be appropriate, whereas a site attracting young makeup lovers may suit a brighter, bolder, more modern design.
High-Quality Product Images
High-quality images matter. Why? Because when people are shopping online, they want to see what they’re buying before they make a purchase — to boost conversion, your images should be clear, zoomable, and there should be plenty of them.
If you don’t have the budget for professional product photography, invest in a ring light, choose a simple backdrop, and get snapping before adding these images to your product pages.
Be sure to photograph your products from a range of angles, and better yet, include photos of people with a range of skin tones wearing your beauty product.
Product photos are often the first thing customers see, and the average online shopper visits 2.7 sites when making a purchase, so make yours stand out. You should also consider adding product videos to help your customers really visualize your products.
Detailed Product Descriptions
Every product needs a good product description to help customers make informed purchasing decisions and convey the product’s unique features and benefits.
When it comes to beauty products, be sure to explain the formula, color, application, and anything else you think is relevant — alongside a high-quality photo, a good description could be the difference between you securing a purchase and losing your customer to a competitor.
Product descriptions aren’t just a great way of boosting conversions, though — they’re also important for search engine optimization (SEO). Think about the keywords your potential customers might use to search for the product — a free keyword research tool will help — and try to include these throughout your product copy.
Although writing descriptions for each of your products is a slog, it’s worth it. Avoid duplicating descriptions too, as this won’t help your customers or your search rankings. An AI writing tool such as ChatGPT could help speed things up if you have a lot of products to upload.
What Are the Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Beauty Sites?
Once you’ve got your beauty website in a good place, there are several other ways to drive traffic to your site. From social media to PR, it’s important to get your name out there, attract your target audience, and grow your brand — particularly as the beauty industry is highly competitive.
Here are some of the most effective digital marketing strategies you should consider.
Creating Social Media Content
Social media is one of the most effective ways of getting discovered by consumers, and one of the first things that people will check after landing on your website. So, don’t let your platforms go weeks without fresh content.
Instagram and TikTok both lend themselves particularly well to beauty content, including tutorials, inspirational makeup looks, or product explanations.
With a good TikTok strategy, for example, you could even go viral. People will start to connect your brand with the value your content offers. This is an effective method of reaching potential clients, generating sales, and increasing brand awareness.
Connecting With Industry Influencers
Do you have a new product launching soon? Micro-influencers can help spread the word to your target audience, which ultimately means more visitors to your site.
It’s important to find influencers in your niche who fit your brand’s values, and offer them something in return for promoting your brand (such as the opportunity to try out a product for free).
Nurture digital relationships with influencers by collaborating on content together, whether that’s an Instagram reel, blog post, or TikTok tutorial, and don’t forget to engage with their content regularly — it’s a give-and-take relationship, after all.
Looking for PR Opportunities
Remember to include contact details on your website so journalists or any type of press can easily get in touch with you. However, you’ll need to do some of the hard work too. Building PR connections will help you land features in magazines or online publications, which is great for expanding your reach.
Platforms such as Help A Report Out (HARO) can be extremely helpful in generating links to your site and increasing brand awareness. Look out for relevant opportunities where you can provide interesting commentary on an industry-related topic, or even share your products in gifting guides.
Adding a Blog
Adding a blog page to your website is a great idea. Content is one of the best ways to build a great relationship with Google so that your website is more likely to rank for relevant search queries. You’re the beauty expert here, so why not share your knowledge?
Your blog could focus on anything such as beauty tips and tricks, commonly asked beauty questions, or something specific relating to your products.
Strike the right balance between creating content that is not only engaging for readers but optimized for search engines — if you’re not a natural writer, hiring a professional freelance copywriter is a great option.
Are you ready to launch your beauty website? Perhaps you’re striving to take your existing site to the next level? Either way, in today’s digital world there’s no excuse for having a poorly-designed website.
Focus on the key areas we’ve outlined above, and you’ll be on the right track to driving more traffic, engagement, and revenue.