A shop window and an order book
Walk-ins want today's case. Cake customers want a date, a price and your past work.
What the home page says
Section by section, in the order a visitor reads it.
What's in the case
People want to know if the sourdough comes out at 8 or is gone by 11. Say what you bake on which days and when you tend to sell out. Keep to what's steady, because a site can't track today's tray.
Custom cakes
For many bakeries this is the bigger ticket. Show past cakes by occasion, with what a cake starts at, how many it feeds and how much notice you need. Someone planning a wedding leaves if they can't find a starting price.
Cake request form
Ask for the date, the guest count, the flavors and pickup or delivery. Shingle's forms take words and choices, with no file uploads, so ask for a link to the picture they love or get it when you reply by email. A request isn't an order, so say you'll confirm.
Holiday preorders
Thanksgiving pies and Christmas cookies run on a deadline. Put it in the announcement bar with a last day, so it disappears by itself. Shingle can't take a deposit, so say how you collect one.
Ingredients and allergies
Say what's gluten-free, nut-free or vegan, and only what your kitchen can honestly stand behind. If everything shares one kitchen, say that too. Shingle is built to write these only from what you tell it, and you check them before they go live.
Pickup
Say where to park, when orders are ready and what happens if someone's late. If you bake from home, turn your address off and share it once an order is confirmed. Check your state's cottage food rules before you promise delivery or shipping.
How they search
- bakery near me
- custom cakes near me
- birthday cake near me
- wedding cake bakery
- gluten free bakery near me
- sourdough bread near me
- cupcakes near me
- order a cake online
What earns their trust
- Photos of cakes you actually made
- A starting price, and how many it feeds
- How much notice you need, and your holiday cutoffs
- What's made from scratch, and what isn't
- Allergy notes your kitchen can stand behind, shared equipment included
- Your cottage food or health department status, where it applies
- Reviews from customers you have permission to quote
How it gets found
What moves a bakery up in a town's results.
Bakery, cake shop or both
Google lists Bakery, Cake shop, Pastry shop and Wedding bakery. Start from what brings in most of your money, and add another only if it's what the business really is.
Give wedding cakes a page
Couples search differently and book months ahead. A page with tiers, tastings, serving counts and delivery answers what a line about “cakes” never will, and it gives them something to send each other.
Describe every cake photo
“Three-tier lemon wedding cake with fresh flowers” tells a search engine and a screen reader what “cake 12” can't. Checkup flags any picture with no description, so you can see what's left to write.
Hide your home, name your area
If you bake from home, leave your street address off the site and name the neighborhoods where you hand off orders. Check what Google asks of a home business before you set up a listing.
How to sell one
Bakers buy websites once custom orders outgrow their messages, with lost threads, the same price question all day, and someone wanting a three-tier cake by Friday. A page with a starting price, a notice period and a form sorts a good part of that before it reaches them.
Ask for six of their best cake photos, since Shingle takes six at once, and build from those. Show the cake page first and ask them to picture their last message thread going through it. Be plain about the limit. Requests come in, and they still quote, confirm and take payment themselves.
- “My Instagram is my portfolio.”
- It is, and the site should link to it. Instagram doesn't show a starting price or your notice period, and those are the two questions you answer all day.
- “Can customers pay a deposit online?”
- No. Shingle has no payments, so a request comes in, you confirm it, and you send your own invoice or payment link. Say this before they buy, so it isn't a surprise.
- “I bake from home. Do I want my address on there?”
- No. Turn it off when you build, name the area you serve, and share the pickup spot once an order is confirmed. Point them to their state's cottage food rules for what else they need to say.
- “I sell out every day. Why would I need this?”
- Then use it to sell more of what pays best, such as custom and holiday orders, and to stop the calls asking what's left at 2 p.m.
- “I want a shop with a cart so I can ship.”
- Be honest. Shingle has no store, cart or shipping. If shipping is the main business, this isn't the right tool. If it's a side line, link to the shop they already use.
Common questions
Can't find your answer? Read Shingle Help or email [email protected].
What you bake and when it's out, your hours, your address and how pickup works, photos of your own work, and a page for custom orders with a starting price and a notice period. Add a short request form, holiday deadlines and honest allergy notes. Most visitors want either today's case or a cake.
They can send a request, but they can't pay. Shingle has no store, cart or payments. A form takes the date, guest count and flavors, then arrives in your inbox and by email so you can quote and confirm. If you already use an online ordering provider, the site's buttons can link to it.
Shingle is a builder with no fixed templates. It writes the site from your brief in a fresh design, so the words and prices are your own, then you swap in your photos. That suits a bakery better than a template whose photo slots were laid out for someone else's cakes. The first build is usually ready in 10 to 15 minutes.
Not through Shingle's forms, which take short and long answers, dropdowns, checkboxes, phone numbers and email addresses, with no file uploads. A long answer can hold a link to a photo, or you can ask for the picture when you reply by email. If uploads matter, you can embed a Typeform that allows them.
Yes. Keep your kitchen's address out of your brief, or turn it off when you build from your Google listing, and name the neighborhoods you hand off in as your service area. Cottage food rules differ by state, including how and where you can sell, so check yours before you promise delivery or shipping.
Give them a page or section with the items, the prices and the last day to order, plus a form for requests. Set the announcement bar's last day to your cutoff, and it's gone the day after. Shingle can't take deposits, so say how you collect them.
Read next
- Website formsForms that email you and send each lead where you work.
- WidgetsCookie banner, age check, chat button, bar and popup.
- Templates and saved sectionsReuse your team's best sites and sections.
- What a small business site costsFour routes, rough ranges, and the costs people forget.
- Get more Google reviewsHow to ask, when, and what Google's rules forbid.
- Google review link generatorA link and QR code that open the review box.
Websites for other trades
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