How To Make A Bookings Website: A Step By Step Guide

Are you struggling to find an efficient, cost-effective way to take bookings for your business online? Baluu may just be the answer you’re looking for! Below, we go over several key points and guide you, step-by-step, to using Baluu to make your very own bookings website. 

Today, more and more businesses are seeking an easy and efficient way to take bookings online. The issue many small businesses face is that creating an integrated bookings website usually requires different types of software. 

To be able to take bookings you usually need to use a website builder, booking software, and a payment provider especially if you want to streamline in-person check-ins or event access. This often ends up becoming time-consuming and expensive. Fortunately, Baluu can make your life a whole lot easier. It includes all of these tools in one, simple platform.

Specifically designed with small businesses in mind, Baluu enables you to build a great-looking website easily and efficiently with zero finicky coding; one that comes with a fully integrated booking system.

Why Squarespace and Wix aren't good options for creating a bookings website

‍Squarespace is one of the most user-friendly website builders on the market, allowing customers to utilize pre-built templates along with drag-and-drop elements for modification. 

However, businesses requiring a bookings system will have to pay extra for their scheduling software: plans starting from $14 a month. What’s more, once you’ve agreed to ship out for a plan, you’ll then have to build the scheduling software into your existing site.

Wix is another website builder that’s become extremely popular in recent years. As opposed to Squarespace’s structured approach, Wix is an unstructured editor. 

This means users are given more freedom, moving elements by a degree of one pixel if they need to. However, despite this and their impressive number of templates, if you want to integrate bookings on your Wix website you have to purchase “Wix Bookings”. While it may have an impressive number of features and be fully integrated, this will set you back a minimum monthly fee of $34.

What is an online booking website and how does it work?

There are many great booking systems on the market, like, Apointedd, Acuity Scheduling, and Setmore. But these systems have to be integrated into your existing website and don’t offer an out-of-the-box, all-in-one solution like Baluu.

So what is an online booking website? An online booking website is an integrated software solution that combines a website-builder, bookings platform, and payment provider all in one package. It enables customers to self-book and pay while providing effective tools to run and scale your business.

Some common reasons to use a booking system:

• Get the ability to create bookings for your events and experiences
• Automate customer communications
• Calendar synchronisation to keep track of scheduling
• Marketing features enabling you to sell coupons and vouchers
• The ability to collect marketing preferences
• Integration with analytics tools
  ‍

‍What kind of business would benefit from a bookings website?

The modern marketplace is full of businesses for whom bookings is an integral part of their operation. What’s more, a lot of these businesses don’t require intricate, complex websites that require constant digital upkeep from an army of developers. Business in the following industries can benefit greatly from using a booking system:

• Coaches
• Yoga instructors
• Counsellors/therapists
• Dance schools
• Cooking schools
• Escape rooms
• Artists

What you can expect from using Baluu  

With Baluu, you can set up a fully operational booking website in less than an hour - ready to take bookings from your customers. 

As we’re about to show you, creating your booking website with Baluu is a piece of cake, and you don’t need to mess around with endless add-ons and plug-ins! Following the steps below will help you design your own slick, integrated booking website quickly and efficiently.

A step-by-step guide to creating your booking website with Baluu

1. Sign up to Baluu

First things first, you’ll need to sign up to Baluu. Baluu gives you access to all features with no booking limits — for free. It’s the perfect way to explore the platform and start managing your classes, events, or appointments without restrictions.

You’ll then be taken to the Baluu dashboard where the fun begins! But don’t think you’re on your own, as our automated tutorial will guide you through the core aspects of the platform.

The first page you’ll see is the Management dashboard, designed to guide you through setting up your bookings website step by step.

You’ll notice four main boxes:

• On the top left, click Create Listing to add your first service or event.
• Just below that, you’ll see Complete Account Setup, where you can add important business details like your logo, contact info, and payment setup.
• On the top right, you’ll find Integrate Your Booking Widget — click Embed Now to add Baluu to your website.
• Lastly, below that, there’s Confirm Your Terms and Conditions — make sure your policies are in place before accepting bookings.

2. Set Up Your Website Pages

On the left side you’ll see a menu. Click on Website, then Pages to start designing your website.

In the Pages Management section, you can manage and customise all your website pages. This includes your core pages like the Homepage, Events, Timetable, Products, Contact, and About Us. You can also create and edit additional pages such as Landing Pages, Blog, Calendar, Reviews, and more.

Each page can be easily accessed, enabled/disabled, or edited using the Actions menu. This setup makes it simple and intuitive to tailor your site content to your brand and customer needs.

Add relevant information like titles and descriptions, and change the font and background colours to ones of your choice. To do so you have to input the HTML code for the colours you want. This may sound tricky, but sites like HTML Colour Codes allow you to easily get the colour codes you want. 

You can also opt for a Hero image which will either be shown as a small image or replace the background colour.

Additionally, on your homepage, you can add images to your gallery to showcase the events and services you offer, and include answers to frequently asked questions.

If you’d like to sell products, go to your dashboard, click on Services, and select Products. Here, you can add a new product by choosing a Product Type (such as DIY Kit, Equipment, Materials, Collection, or Online Course).

Fill in the relevant information like SEO Keywords, Images, Price & Stock, Delivery, Gifting, and more. Once saved, your products will appear on your Products page.

This means customers will be able to buy not only your events but also your products directly from your Baluu website.

Once you’ve customised all your website’s pages, it’s time to move on to adding events.

3. Add your Events/Activities

In your dashboard, go to Listings and select Add Listing.

Baluu currently offers several event types:

- Appointment: One-on-one bookable slots for services like consultations, private lessons, or personal training.
- Regular: Standalone sessions that customers can book individually — great for classes, workshops, and drop-ins.
- Multi-Day: A bundle of sessions purchased as a package, such as a course, weekend workshop, or 3-day retreat.
- Termly: Recurring sessions that run over a fixed period (a term), ideal for term-based classes, long courses, or after-school programs.
- Rent (upcoming): Allow customers to book items or services, like equipment or space rentals.
- Stage (upcoming): Sell tickets for performances or grant access to venues — perfect for concerts, theatre shows, and large-scale events.

Once you’ve chosen the event type, you can add event title, description, image, price, and public keywords. Click “Create Event”.

Before you publish your event, make sure to add a few essential details. In the Availability section, you’ll need to set the dates and times your event or service is available to book.

Click on Availability in the top menu, then add your availability by choosing one of the following options:

• Fixed Dates: Single or recurring sessions that can be booked by individual customers or groups until the session is sold out.
• By Appointments: Set your availability by day and allow customers to book slots in your calendar. Perfect for free consultations or sessions priced by duration.
• Group Request: Set your availability by day and allow customers to book as a private group.

Choose the option that best suits your offering.

Once you’ve done all this, you’re now ready to publish your first event!

You can also explore a variety of customisable features — from uploading more images and adjusting ticket types and pricing, to creating questions for customers at checkout, adding or editing FAQs, and more.

If you need to update or cancel a session, head to the  Timetable page. There, the  Bulk Changes tool allows you to quickly apply changes across multiple events and notify customers of any updates.

4. Connect Your Payment Details

Now, all that’s left to do now is to link your bank details or Stripe in the Finance section and you’re all set! 

5. Baluu’s Management Features Explained

Baluu gives you all the tools you need to run your bookings business — simply and effectively. From your dashboard, you can track customers, income, VAT, reviews, and more. You can offer discounts and gift cards, manage sessions, set your own cancellation policy, and view all automated messages sent to customers via the Dispatch Centre — including booking confirmations and reminder emails, which are sent automatically to reduce no-shows and keep clients informed.

Whether you’re offering classes, private sessions, or bundles, you can easily reschedule, cancel, duplicate, or block off availability. You can also sell physical products, offer pre-recorded content, or upsell extras during checkout.

Payments are processed securely via Stripe, invoices are issued automatically, and your entire booking system can be custom-branded to match your business. You can embed Baluu on your website or share your unique booking link anywhere online.

The Result - Your Very Own Bookings Website

And voila! You have just made your very own bookings website!

Baluu was designed to give you complete control over your customers’ experience, streamlining the process between clients and businesses.

With Baluu, you can share your Events Page, Timetable, a specific Listing, or a dedicated Landing Page. This lets customers go directly to the right page, choose a class or event, and book with you.

Once they’ve selected the event they want to book, your customers simply click Booking Options, choose a date, fill in their details, and pay.

As soon as a customer books an event with you, the booking will appear in your dashboard for you to confirm. If you’ve set bookings to be accepted automatically, the booking is confirmed immediately, and you’ll receive a notification.

You can choose where to receive these notifications—via email, phone, dashboard alerts, or not at all.

‍Using Baluu couldn’t be simpler

For small business owners, building a fully integrated booking website can often be frustrating, time-consuming, and costly. Baluu was created to offer an affordable, user-friendly solution to these challenges.

As this step-by-step guide has shown, using Baluu is straightforward and hassle-free. Unlike other platforms, Baluu provides free, integrated software that seamlessly connects businesses and customers.

We’re confident that by following these steps, you’ll have your booking website up and running in no time—freeing you to focus on growing your business. Baluu offers a free plan and a demo if you’d like to try the platform for yourself.

Need more advice?

Have read of some related guides on the Baluu blog below, or book a demo with one of our friendly team today. We'll be happy to walk you through the Baluu system and how it can help you manage and grow your bookings business.

• How To Create An Online Booking System: The Ultimate Guide
• Top 10 Best Online Booking Systems
  
• Top 5 Best Free Booking Systems
• Top 10 Best Booking Systems For Small Businesses
• Top 5 Best Appointment Booking Systems For Any Business
• Top 6 Best Booking Systems For Personal Trainers