Houzz has recently expanded the tools it makes available for built environment professionals including interior designers, architects, design-build contractors and now, realtors. The new tools will further empower built environment professionals, to drive customers to their business, while showcasing their portfolios through the social media platform. This article will give a brief overview of the social media platform, the Pro+ program, and the new tools available.

Houzz Overview

Houzz is the social media platform that is a very powerful promotional tool for interior designers, architects, and other associated professionals. At the end of 2012, Houzz had 168,000 design companies registered. Six months later the company reported over 190,000 registered design providers and 14 million unique visitors every month. In 2015, it hit 46 million registered users and is expanding internationally. If you provide home building services and want an added lead generation stream, you need a professionally built Houzz profile, project portfolios links to your website and keyword-rich descriptions. It is important to have your ducks in a row before you invest in Houzz pro+ because the advertisement algorithm takes the quality of your profile into consideration when determining what profiles to feature in the search results.

The idea behind Houzz is uncomplicated. Organizations and professionals can upload their designs and examples of previous work. Homeowners can then search through these portfolios using keywords and reference the designs for their home improvement projects. Every time that the work of a professional is referenced in an ‘IdeaBook‘; the original designer is credited along with profile links and contact details.

Pro+ Membership

When it was first launched, the Pro+ membership availability was limited and spaces were quickly sold out. Previously the annual subscription membership allowed increased visibility in local searches and additional highlighting of the designer’s work. These tools were invaluable to gain new clients and were praised by professionals.

However even with these new marketing tools, Houzz thought it could improve on the Pro+ package.

New Pro+ Features

So this week Adi Tatarko, the CEO of Houzz, announced new features for the Pro+ members. The new features are all designed to build greater exposure, analysis, and client interaction. Here is a brief overview of the new features.

1.    New Pro+ Center – With access to a wider range of resources including tutorials, marketing items, and an event scheduler. The updated center also includes a new analysis system that can track interactions in real time.
2.    Paper Review Forms – Printable feedback forms that can be customized for designers to hand to clients. These can then be returned to the social media platform for inclusion on the site. Business reply mail is also included in this feature.
3.    Pro+ Designation – A feature requested by Pro+ members, this ‘Pro’ badge is placed below your name on the Houzz discussion boards, comments, and questions.
4.    ‘Add to Houzz’ Button – A feature can be added to a designer’s product page that allows visitors to save products directly into their ‘IdeaBook‘.

One of the strongest features is the new Pro Center that now gives design professionals real-time information on how their photos and designs are performing. The statistics included are: number of page impressions, the click through rate and how many users have saved their work to an ‘IdeaBook‘. This data could be invaluable to any professional as they look to optimize their marketing efforts.

Houzz is a growing tool for design professionals and one which designers will be hard pressed not to include in their marketing mix for much longer. And now with the added benefited of the new features; the Pro+ package looks even more attractive as a tool to gain valuable leads in an ever competitive market.