Building a tattoo shop website is a big project, and if you’re a tattoo artist yourself, you should spend time doing what you do best—tattooing.

Luckily, we’ve gathered 8 expert tips for designing the best tattoo shop website, plus a link to a little-known website raffle that could land you a free website with 10 pages worth $1,800. 

1. Attract New Clients with Your Best Work

Your website’s home page is one of the most important pages on your site, and it deserves adequate time and attention.

You’ll want to showcase your shop’s best work on your home page. Be sure to feature high-quality photos and videos to show potential clients what you have to offer.

Your site’s main landing page is also a great place to highlight positive client testimonials and reviews. If your shop’s been featured in the news or has any other notoriety, be sure to include that as well.

Your home page is your first point of contact with new and existing clients, so be sure it looks as good as your ink.

2. Create A Unique Page for Each Artist

Although you’ll have some of their work featured on the home page, each tattoo artist who works in your shop should have a dedicated portfolio page as well.

They may also showcase their work on their social media pages, which you can and should link to—but giving them a unique page on your tattoo shop’s site that reveals their best work will make your shop look more professional.

Having dedicated artist pages also means clients won’t need to click away and browse Instagram to see your artists’ work. Since they’ll stay on your page, it’s more likely they’ll stick around to book something.

3. Master Branding & Design

Building a website is like tattooing a sleeve. There are a lot of elements that work together to create a cohesive look overall. By mastering basic branding and design skills, your website will look great.

Take your time to consider which colors, fonts, and layouts speak to your brand.

4. Be Transparent & Helpful

Your website is there to help you gain clients, and one of the best ways to do that is to put your clients’ minds at ease.

Let them know what to expect by providing your policies and procedures online. Post any information you’d normally give them on the day of their appointment.

The customer service experience starts on your tattoo shop’s website, and you should make it a great one if you want them to come back.

5. Set Up Prepaid Calendar Scheduling

Any modern tattoo shop needs a high-tech toolkit—and one element of that includes prepaid calendar scheduling.

When your clients book a session, you can have them pay upfront and choose a time that works for them and you. This seamless process saves you time and money, and your clients will love it, too.

6. Give Fans Easy Access to Shop Swag

If your tattoo shop has dedicated fans who love your work, then they’ll want to buy your merchandise online.

Increase your merch sales by offering branded hoodies, t-shirts, stickers, and more in your online shop.

The e-commerce side of your tattoo shop may not generate as much income as your tattooing services, but you can’t deny that selling merchandise will keep your shop and your clients happy.

7. Create Space for Client Testimonials

You’ll want to feature a few glowing recommendations from clients on your homepage, but you’ll also want to have a space where potential clients can read more reviews. You’ll also need to create a portal for collecting testimonials. This will ensure you’ll always have up-to-date reviews posted.

8. Win a Free Site (or Join Tatsites Waitlist)

Creating a tattoo shop website isn’t easy, but it can be when you win a free website from Tatsites, the up-and-coming tattoo shop website builder. While you wait to hear the results, we recommend signing up for Tatsite’s waitlist, where you’ll be able to try it out for free once they’ve launched.