Tattoo studio website checklist before someone books

For your trade 6 min read

What a studio website has to show before a stranger will send an inquiry, from whose books are open to what you turn down and why.

Somebody has been thinking about this piece for a year. It is midnight, they have three studio websites open, and they are not comparing prices. They are working out whether their idea is safe in your hands, and whether asking about it is going to be an ordeal.

That is a different job to a portfolio.

Whose work am I looking at

A single mixed gallery is the most common mistake on a studio website, because it makes the one thing a client is choosing, the artist, impossible to see.

Split the portfolio by person. Each artist gets their own set, their own short description of what they like doing, and their own way of being contacted. Healed photographs alongside fresh ones are worth including if you have them, since a client is buying something that has to still look right in five years, and almost nobody shows it.

Keep the images to work done in your studio. A borrowed reference in a portfolio undoes everything else on the site the moment somebody recognizes it.

Whose books are open, and how far out

The second question, and the one that decides whether an inquiry gets sent at all. Somebody who suspects the answer is a six-month wait will often not bother asking.

Say it per artist, with a date. Books open, books closed, waiting list, or a guest artist visiting in a particular month. Then say roughly how far out you are booking, because a wait is not a deterrent when it is stated. What loses the inquiry is a page that gives no signal and an inbox that takes two weeks to reply.

If an artist has left, take them off the site. It is a small thing that costs somebody a real disappointment.

What you do well, and what you turn down

Style honesty saves everybody time. Fine line, traditional, blackwork, color realism, script, cover-ups, scar work: name what each artist actually wants to do rather than listing every style anyone in the building can manage.

Then write what you decline, plainly and without lecturing. Hands, necks and faces if that is your rule. First tattoos of a particular kind. Copying another artist's piece exactly. Content you will not put on skin. A client who reads this and finds their idea excluded has been saved an awkward conversation, and a client whose idea survives it arrives already trusting you.

How a booking actually starts

Describe the process in order, because for a first-timer none of it is obvious.

What to send in the first message: a description, reference images, placement, rough size in inches, and any date they are working towards. How long a reply usually takes. Whether the next step is a consultation in person or a message thread. Whether the design is drawn before the day or on the day, and whether they get to see it in advance.

Then the deposit. Say what it is for, that it comes off the final cost, what happens if they reschedule, and what happens if they do not turn up. Deposit rules cause more bad feeling than any other part of this trade, and the studios that publish theirs in advance have almost none of that argument.

What it costs, said in your own words

You cannot price a tattoo from a paragraph and nobody expects it. What you can publish is the structure, and the structure is what the client is actually confused about.

Say whether you charge by the hour or by the piece, and which applies to what. State your shop minimum. Say that small work is usually quoted as a flat price and large work as a day rate, if that is how you do it. Say what a full day looks like and how many sittings a large piece typically takes.

None of that commits you to a number for their idea. It removes the reason people ask "how much for a small one" instead of sending you something you can work with.

What makes the studio clean, in text

Every studio says it is clean. The word does nothing on its own, so publish the things a client can check.

Your studio license and the health department that issues it. Single-use needles and tubes. An autoclave and how the spore testing works. Where the certificates hang on the wall, so somebody can look when they walk in. If a client can come and see the shop before booking anything, say so and say when is a good time.

A clean, well-lit photograph of a station in the actual room, with the wrapping still on, does more here than a paragraph about standards.

Before the appointment, and after it

Two lists that belong on the site rather than in a message the night before.

Before: the age and identification rules, in a flat sentence with no apology attached, because they are the law and not your preference. Eat beforehand. No drinking the night before. Do not arrive with sunburn on the area. Whether a friend can come. What to wear for the placement they have chosen. How long to expect to be in the chair.

After: your aftercare instructions on their own page, written the way you say them out loud. This is the page clients come back to at two in the morning on day three, and having it live on the site rather than on a paper card in a bin makes it the most read thing you publish. Say when to call you, and say plainly that you would rather hear from them early than late.

A short checklist

• A separate portfolio for each artist, with healed work included
• Books open or closed per artist, with the date last updated
• Styles each artist wants, and the work you decline
• What to include in a first inquiry, and how long a reply takes
• Deposit, reschedule and no-show rules in writing
• Whether you charge hourly or by piece, and your shop minimum
• License, sterilization and single-use practice, named specifically
• Age and identification rules stated flatly
• An aftercare page that stands on its own

Questions people ask

Should a tattoo studio website show prices

Show the structure rather than the price. An hourly rate or a day rate, and your shop minimum, answer the real question without pretending you can quote a design you have not seen.

Do I need a booking system on the site

Most studios do not. A short inquiry form that asks for reference, placement and size, sitting under each artist's contact details, gives you better messages than a calendar would.

Is Instagram enough on its own

It shows the work, but it cannot hold your deposit policy, your aftercare, your license details or your opening hours where somebody can find them later. A site is the place the answers stay put.

How do I stop getting vague inquiries

Ask for what you need on the page itself, in a numbered list, and put it directly above the form. Most people will send what they are asked for if they are told before they start typing.

Should aftercare be public or only given to clients

Public. It is the page your clients search for at three in the morning, and it is easier to point somebody to a link than to remember what card they were handed.

What if my studio has no website and only a booking link

The booking link answers one question and none of the others. Somebody deciding whether to trust you with permanent work is looking for the artist, the rules and the room first.