Case Study

Elika Beauty

A custom booking platform that replaced third-party marketplaces and grew organic traffic from zero.

Full-Stack DeveloperMay 2025 – Present (v1 shipped June 2025)

40%

increase in 60 days (Google Search Console)

Organic traffic

every booking auto-confirmed by email

Manual confirmations

1 month

solo build

Time to v1

Google

clients now find via search, not DMs

Booking source

Visit site

Overview

Elika Beauty is a Vancouver-based beauty salon owned by Amina Elikaei. Before this project, the salon had no dedicated web presence — clients discovered it through Instagram or word of mouth, and bookings were handled manually through DMs and phone calls. The brief was to build a fast, elegant, and fully owned platform: a public-facing site that ranks on Google, a seamless booking flow for clients, and a lightweight admin layer for Amina to manage her schedule.

The Problem

Amina was listed on Fresha, which brought some visibility but came with real costs: her salon appeared alongside competitors, ads pulled clients away before they could book, and she had zero control over SEO or her brand presentation. Every missed DM was a missed appointment.

How It Came Together

01Research

Audited Fresha, Vagaro, and StyleSeat to understand what salon owners lose on third-party platforms. Interviewed Amina about her workflow, pain points, and what "success" looked like.

02Design

Designed a brand identity from scratch — logo, color palette, typography. Prioritized mobile-first since most clients book from their phones.

03Build

Next.js App Router for SSR and SEO. Supabase for the booking database. Auth0 for the admin layer. Resend for automated email confirmations.

04Launch

Deployed to Vercel with custom domain. Set up Google Search Console, submitted sitemap, configured meta tags for local SEO.

05Results

40% organic traffic increase in 60 days. Zero manual booking confirmations. Clients now find the salon via Google search, not just Instagram.

“I never thought having my own website would make this much of a difference. Clients tell me they found me on Google, and my bookings just come in — I don't have to chase anyone anymore. It feels like a real business now.”
— Amina Elikaei

Takeaway

This project reinforced how much value a well-built, owned web presence delivers. The real impact came from the combination: a fast site that Google can index, a booking flow with no friction, and a brand that clients trust on first visit.

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