Before working with The Executive Barbershop, I was a longtime client who experienced firsthand the challenges of their booking process. At the time, the shop didn’t have a centralized website, and appointments were managed through individual barber platforms. This often led to confusion, with clients occasionally booking through the wrong service and arriving for appointments that were never actually scheduled.

Recognizing this gap, I offered to build a dedicated website that would centralize key information and streamline the booking experience. What began as a single web design project quickly evolved into an ongoing partnership. I expanded my role to include content strategy, ongoing website updates, and launching and managing Google Ads campaigns—helping the business improve its online presence and create a more seamless experience for its clients.

Since the creation of the website in 2022, I have:

• Increased website visits to 39K (+50% YoY)

• Grew unique visitors to 29K (+47% YoY)

• Boosted total pageviews to 96K (+57% YoY)

• Maintained a 49.77% bounce rate

2022

The Executive Barbershop needed a central point for booking information, a space to find details about the shop, and a platform to introduce their barbers, allowing each to stand out from the others. I conducted research, examined what some competitors were doing, and presented a plan to Benny. I needed to create a website that would serve as a hub for barbers, clients, booking information, and details about each of the shops. The first year brought in solid results with 4,000 visits and 8.7 thousand page views.

Towards the end of 2022, Benny asked if I could create a site for his new Yorktown location. This site included a gallery, links for reservations, contact information, and services provided at this shop. This shop was described as a more premium and private experience compared to his original location. The other main focus on his site was that he needed a careers page to fill seats at his new location.

2024

After completing a full review of the website, I noticed a few things that I knew I could help with:

• The website wasn’t on the first page of Google search results

• There are more users of this website on mobile than on desktop

• Most of the images on the site didn’t have alt text

• There was a lack of Keywords or a noticeable call to action

My plan for his website was to find ways to increase engagement across the website, add more keywords to the site, increase the amount of time spent on the website, and increase conversions on app downloads and barbershop visits.

Website Updates

I started the updates by looking over the website once again and updating website copy with more keywords related to the shop, services, and the site itself. In addition to including more keywords, I would go on to link more pages together and create more pages in general. One of the best-performing pages that I added was the barber profiles (Newport News profiles, Yorktown Profiles). On these pages, I gave the barbers more of an opportunity to show themselves off. The barber profiles included each barber’s bio, portfolio, photo gallery, and a spot to showcase their client reviews. In addition to updating keywords, backlinks, and adding more pages, I wanted to make sure that all images on the site had alt text on their photos to assist in SEO and accessibility. I made sure to make the site’s layout more mobile-friendly because 80% of the users are on mobile devices.

I began working on these website updates around July 2024, and we saw almost immediate results in website visits, which is a good indicator of other stats on the site, including unique visitors and page views, which increased by at least 25% each. Adding more pages, buttons, and improving the site’s SEO brought more users to the site. The Executive Barbershop page now shows up within the top 10 of Google searches and has only been improving, all organically.

2025

March 2025 was the start of our first Google Ads campaign for the shop. Since then, the site has attracted more visitors than last year, up to this point (21% more), and the bounce rate has decreased to approximately 42%. Up until now, all traffic to the site has been organic. If given the chance, I would’ve liked to take photos for these ads, so I chose to repurpose photos from the website and social media. I made sure to showcase the barbers’ talent and the shop itself. Below are a few examples of the ads that I created. I made sure to include reviews, call-to-actions, and simple ads that led to the website.

2026

For the new year, I was tasked with creating a Google Ads campaign for The Executive Barbershop to drive more business to their Newport News location. The shop had recently brought on new hires and needed to fill additional seats, so increasing local visibility was the main priority.

Before launching ads, I updated the website to better handle incoming traffic. I separated the Newport News location from the main page and created a dedicated page for it so users could find location-specific information more easily. I am currently waiting on updated shop images so the page can visually match the Yorktown location. I also implemented link redirects for each shop and reviewed the rest of the site to ensure everything was optimized and up to date.

For the Google Ads campaign, I reused existing images but structured the messaging to emphasize the Newport News location and encourage bookings there specifically. I incorporated keywords related to the brand, services, location, and general haircut searches to improve local reach and relevance.

Moving forward, I would like to capture original photos and videos to strengthen future campaigns and visual branding. I also recommended developing a blog with targeted keywords to further improve SEO and long-term organic traffic.

Next Steps

Looking ahead, I aim to expand this work by focusing on Google and Meta Ads, developing a newsletter, adding a dedicated FAQ section, and maintaining a consistent blog. Each of these initiatives would contribute to increasing traffic and engagement in distinct ways, ultimately driving more unique visitors to the barbershop.

With Google and Meta Ads, the strategy would center on campaigns that increase visibility for each location, re-engage users with the booking app, and promote hiring initiatives, including apprenticeships. A newsletter would serve as a direct communication channel, highlighting shop updates, upcoming events, barber spotlights, new product offerings, and special hours.

Additionally, a blog would position the brand as an authority by showcasing its expertise, culture, and history. Incorporating an FAQ section would not only improve the user experience by addressing common questions but also support search visibility, particularly as AI-driven search continues to prioritize structured, informative content.

Together, these efforts would strengthen the barbershop’s digital presence while creating a more connected and informed customer base.