Independents: service descriptions that get booked online

Name each service by what the client gets, not by your internal jargon; give it a clear price and a slot length that matches the real work; and use the description to answer, in a few lines, the questions you hear before every booking: what's included, what to bring or prepare, where it takes place, and what happens next. A client who understands the service from your page books it straight away instead of sending you an email first.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, and clients pick a slot under the service they want. That's all they have to decide from, so each of those three fields has to do its job. A vague name or a missing price sends clients to your inbox; a clear one sends them to a slot.

Use the words a client would use, and include the format or the place if it changes the service. Compare:

Names and prices are examples: set your own. If a service has a price that varies, give a starting price and say in the description what changes it.

Keep it short: four or five lines read better than a page. If one service needs a long explanation, it may really be two services.

The slot length is part of the promise. If a document check takes twenty minutes, don't open an hour; if a home visit includes setting up, make the slot cover it. Each slot belongs to one service and sits within one day, and slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so getting the length right once fixes your whole week.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the client's calendar file. Tell clients in the description exactly what to write in it, for example the language pair, the item and its fault, or the occasion and budget. A specific prompt gets a useful answer; an empty box gets nothing.

Book doesn't take payments, so say in the description how and when the client pays. Clients can't move or cancel online, so give them your contact for changes. Book sends no reminders, so a client who entered an email has the slot in their calendar from the confirmation file; that's what keeps the appointment in mind.

Your inbox tells you what your descriptions are missing. Every time a client asks something before booking, such as whether parking is available, whether a photo of the item is enough, or whether a session can be held in English, add the answer to the relevant description. After a few weeks, the same questions stop coming and more clients book without writing first.

Read your page the way a new client would, on a phone, and check that each service answers one question: is this the one I need? If two services look alike, rename them or merge them. If a service is never booked, its name or price may be the problem rather than the demand.

A long list of near-identical services makes clients hesitate. Start with three to five services that cover what you're booked for, and add one only when a real request doesn't fit. When you take a booking by phone, book the client in yourself from your calendar; first and last name are required, email and phone optional, and the client receives a confirmation with a calendar file if you enter their email. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.