Nobody picks a tattoo studio from a list. They pick an artist. Someone searching websites for tattoo studios in Dublin has a style in mind, fine line or traditional or blackwork, and wants to see healed work in that style, find out how to get a consultation, and learn what the deposit is and whether the studio does walk-ins for flash. Instagram shows the work. It does not explain the deposit, the minimum charge, the ID rule or what happens if they need to move the date. That is the page’s job.
We handle the site, the Google listing, the enquiry form and the deposit payments. You handle the needle.
The enquiry is the whole job
Most studio admin is the back and forth before anyone sits down: what do you want, how big, where on the body, colour or black and grey, which artist, when are you free, have you a budget. Done by Instagram message it takes a week and gets lost. The enquiry form on the site asks those questions up front and lands the answers in your email and on your WhatsApp, where the client can follow up with reference pictures. The artist reads it between clients and replies with a quote and a date.
Each artist gets their own section with their style, their healed work, and whether their books are open. A client who wants a specific artist should be able to tell in ten seconds if that artist is taking bookings this season.
Deposits that stick
A no-show on a six hour session is a day’s income gone. Every studio takes deposits. The difference is whether the deposit is agreed in a message thread or paid properly with the terms in front of the client. The site takes the deposit by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay with your policy stated before payment: non-refundable, comes off the final price, one reschedule allowed with notice, whatever your rule is. That matters under Irish consumer law, where a deposit term has to be clear and fair to hold up, and we wrote up how to take deposits online in Ireland with the detail.
The money goes straight to the studio’s account. For a multi-session piece, the booking calendar holds the dates for that artist with the deposit against the first.
Artists, styles and healed work
Fresh tattoos photograph well and heal differently. Clients who know what they are doing look for healed work, and showing it tells them you stand over how your lines settle. For each artist we want a dozen pieces, healed where you have them, grouped by style. Photograph on skin in daylight, no filter, and let the page say the style in plain words: fine line, neo-traditional, realism, script, cover-ups. Cover-up and rework enquiries deserve a section of their own because the questions are different and the consultation is longer.
Aftercare, ID and the rules of the shop
The aftercare sheet you hand out should be on the site, so the client who lost the paper finds it at midnight instead of messaging you. Your minimum charge, your age policy (most studios will not tattoo anyone under eighteen and ask for photo ID), whether you do walk-ins and on which days, and your position on numbing cream all belong on one plain page. It saves you from answering the same message daily and it tells a nervous first-timer that the studio is run properly.
Hours, parking, the nearest Luas or bus, and whether the studio is wheelchair accessible go on the same page and on your Google listing.
What we build from
Each artist’s name, style and a dozen photos; your deposit and reschedule policy in your own words; the minimum charge; the aftercare sheet; the shop hours; and whether you run flash days or walk-ins. If some artists are guesting, a line about how guest spots are announced. Ten minutes at the shop covers the rest.
The plan a studio needs
Complete at €1,499 to set up and €100 a month covers the deposits, the per-artist calendar and the review text after each session. Essentials at €499 and €50 a month gives a single artist the portfolio, enquiry form, aftercare page and Google listing, taking deposits by whatever means you already use. The full comparison is on the pricing page. Bad reviews land harder on a studio than on most trades, so the guide on replying to a bad Google review is worth ten minutes. Many studios share a street with a barber, and the barbers page shows how we handle a walk-in trade.