Step-by-Step: How We Built "Bernie the Barber" a Sharp Small Business Website
The challenge was to create a guerilla marketing campaign for a hypothetical, local small business.
For phase 1, we designed a lighthearted but hardworking business card for 'Bernie the Barber' in Asheville, NC. The card was designed to make people smile and call for an appointment.
In phase 2, we need to reach a larger audience and generate long-term, sustained traffic. Our solution is to build Bernie the user-focused and search engine optimized website discussed in this post. To see Bernie's site in action, visit BernieTheBarber.com
Oct 11, 2025 • 7 min read
When someone hears about your company, sees your billboard, or finds your strategically designed business card at a coffee shop, the first thing they'll probably do is look for you online. That's how traditional and digital marketing reinforce each other -- and how small businesses build powerful, lasting impressions.
So the natural next-step -- after designing Bernie the Barber's guerilla marketing business card concept -- was to build Bernie a website. Our goals were:
- Stay consistent with the business card's design and personality.
- Make it quick and easy for visitors to find what they're looking for.
- Optimize for top search engine rankings.
- Convert visitors into paying customers.
Introducing "Bernie the Barber's" Visitor-Friendly and Search Engine Optimized Website
Top section of page: Responsive menu adapts itself, depending on the view size of the visitor's device. We try to make a welcoming first impression and establish an immediate emotional connection. Visit the live site at BernieTheBarber.com
Bernie's "concept" site emphasizes seven elements that we consider to be essential for a well-designed, lead-generating, brand-building small business website:
A Page That Displays Well on Every Type of Device
Nearly 60% of all US web traffic now comes from phones and tablets. But each device has its own capabilities and quirks.
How do we assure that every visitor has a great experience? We designed Bernie's site with a responsive, mobile-first approach. "Responsive" so that every visitor, whether they're viewing Bernie's site on the smallest phone or the largest desktop, sees all the content in the manner that we intended. And "mobile-first" because the page that visitors see on mobile devices is the page that Google indexes for ranking purposes.
A Hero Image and Headline That Set the Tone
As soon as visitors land on Bernie's page, we want to acknowledge their arrival, thus the animated illustration of Bernie -- snip, snip, snip loosening up his scissors. And the short but strong headline matches the informal personality of the business cards.
Just below that is a photorealistic image of Bernie trimming his son's hair in the "Meet Bernie" section. That adds warmth and authenticity, allowing us to establish a personal connection with visitors.
A human touch builds trust faster than any tagline can: "Facts and figures tell, stories sell."
Keyword-Rich 'Services' Section: Boosts SEO and Reassures Visitors
Next is Bernie's list of services -- Classic Haircut, Beard Trim, Hot Towel Shave. This section pulls double duty: confirming that Bernie offers the services that visitors are looking for while reinforcing keywords (key search terms) to boost search engine rankings.*
This dual purpose -- helping users and search engines simultaneously. It's one of the most powerful content strategies for a small business website.
*To not disrupt real Asheville barbers or mislead real-world searchers -- we've coded instructions into Bernie's site, instructing that it not be included in search listing results.
Lower section of page: establishes Bernie's expertise, authority, and trust, and encourages engagement.
Calls to Action (CTAs) in Multiple Places
An effective website doesn't just describe features -- it guides the reader through the page and the conversion process.
We built in multiple CTAs to encourage action, wherever visitors are on the page -- or in their decision-making process:
- Book Now button appears a second time on the page -- now that visitors are more familiar with Bernie and what he has to offer.
- Email Signup Form to build an ongoing client relationship with visitors who may just be browsing at this point.
- Downloadable Poster is a creative touch that invites sharing and, hopefully, extends the brand's reach offline.
- By offering more than one CTA, the site respects that not all visitors are ready to book immediately but still provides clear ways for them to connect.
Effective CTAs can be the difference between a casual browse and a booked appointment.
Testimonials That Build Trust
Nothing calms buyer hesitation like the reassurance of other clients.
Styled just as they would appear on a live site, Bernie's testimonials show how authentic client quotes can reinforce trust and reduce uncertainty. This is especially powerful for personal-service businesses, where reputation and rapport are everything.
Blog Content for Establishing Authority
To demonstrate Bernie's passion for sharing knowledge and customer satisfaction, the site includes sample blog titles such as
- Bernie's Fall Grooming Tips
- How to Choose the Right Cut for Your Face Shape
Even just a handful of short, always-timely articles can increase search visibility, encourage sharing, and position a small business as an expert in its niche.
A blog need not be a full-time job. Even a brief monthly post can breathe energy into an otherwise static website.
Assure That Pages Load in a Flash
Engaging content is critical for visitor satisfaction (and customer conversion). But how that content is presented is equally important.
When a web page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, studies suggest that 1/2 of the visitors will click away to look for a better-built site. That means every element on the page must be optimized for appearance and speed, such as images, fonts, and scripts.
Pages must also be easily readable: the text must be large enough and with enough contrast to allow for easy reading in glare and other 'less than ideal' reading conditions on a phone, sentences and paragraphs should be relatively short, and the page layout should offer plenty of white space.
According to Google's Page Speed Insights scorecard, Bernie's page performs well in all areas.
(As mentioned earlier, we've instructed Google to not index Bernie's site -- so that we don't disrupt the rankings of real Asheville barbershops. In order to run the SEO section of this report, we had to momentarily grant Google access.)
What's Missing (and Why)
Because Bernie's site is a demonstration site rather than a real business, we intentionally left out a few real-world essentials that are important for all local business websites:
- Google Maps embed: so customers can easily find the shop.
- Schema markup: behind-the-scenes code that helps search engines understand the business's details, services, and reviews.*
- Supporting subpages: while we build a single inside page (Services and Prices) to illustrate what those might look like, we'd complete the About, Book Now, Contact, and possibly a Gallery page as well.
In a real build, these would all be must-have features. For this project, we focused on providing examples of structure, storytelling, and the key conversion elements that turn casual visitors into loyal customers.
Summary
Every element on a small business website -- from layout to keyword placement -- plays a strategic role. For a site like Bernie's, that means:
- assuring that motivated shoppers easily find his site in search results
- encouraging them to click through to learn more
- making a strong first impression the moment they arrive
- reassuring them that Bernie offers exactly what they're looking for
- guiding them to book an appointment -- or at least remember him for next time
That's the kind of balance every local business should strive for: professional, personal, and built for performance.
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