What is Houzz?

Houzz is much more than a social media platform, it is a business directory, internal search engine, scrap book and business lead generator all wrapped into one neat package. And with growth from five million to forty-six million users in three years, it is becoming an important platform for any interior design company's marketing.

Houzz has two audiences. Professional home building service providers and homeowners seeking services and browsing for ideas. Houzz allows interior designers, architects, design-build contractors and almost any built environment professional to create a profile page and upload photographs to a number of online project portfolios. Homeowners can then search for residential homebuilding services based on location, type of project and keywords and save them in their own Ideabooks.

How useful is Houzz for Marketing Your Business?

When a homeowner saves the picture of a built environment professional's work to their Ideabooks, the images are credited to the original company. This picture and your contact information takes a permanent place on the homeowners profile page in their virtual "contacts" area. This process is used by Houzz members to research the aesthetic they like and the companies they want to hire when seeking to move forward with a project. When a homeowner conducts a search, Houzz provides results based on the input criteria, and keywords used. If you are in a competitive market and are willing to take the following steps, than Houzz is a good fit for your business.

1. Write lengthy descriptions for each image in your project portfolios
2. Have a complete profile page with a Houzz badge on your website, reviews of your work and ideabooks of your own
3. Are willing to use research and use long tail keywords as part of your Houzz marketing strategy when posting images in project portfolios
4. Can spend the money on high-quality photography and be willing to share the pictures on a social network
5. Participate in discussions and complement the work of others and are willing to use it as a social networking tool

Houzz is a good source for finding leads if you are prepared to accomplish the above. Simply put, if you don't commit to participating on the Houzz platform, you will not be found and no one will contact you.  The Houzz Pro-Plus is an advertising platform built into the Houzz results feed. Fifty percent of all page results are paid to advertise that limits your opportunities to seen organically by homeowners seeking your services. 

What are the Houzz Lead Generation Best Practices?

Like with any other social media platform; there are certain ways in which you can increase your performance while working on Houzz. Here is a list of Houzz best practices:

•    Make sure your profile is vibrant and attractive with a good profile picture, an honest, interesting and detailed keyword-rich company description and all your contact details. Use all of the available space so that you can tell the complete story of your firm and use long tail keywords in your company description.

•   Have your business website prominent on your profile. That way when users that are viewing your profile, they can be directly linked to further information about you. Use website page links on each project portfolio and connect them to the specific portfolios on your website. 

•    Upload many high-quality images and examples of your work on a regular basis. Monthly if possible. The more photographs and corresponding keywords that you have, the more chance you have to be discovered by users searching for examples of your work.

•    Be a regular visitor. Just by uploading one set of photos and hoping people will contact you through your website will get you limited results.

•    Use detailed and accurate keywords in the captions of the projects that you share. By using the right keywords, users will find it easier to find your work. But using poor keywords that aren’t relevant may discourage users from considering you to work on their project.

•    Discuss topics that are related to your business on the Ideabooks (it is social media after all). Users will notice your responses and then associate you as a knowledgeable professional.

•    Encourage previous clients to leave reviews. If you can get more than three positive reviews left on your profile, you can cement your reputation for quality designs and excellent customer service.

•    Follow other professionals. It is always a good idea to view what your competitors are doing and to keep an eye on the trends.

Should you be on Houzz?

There is no doubt that Houzz can be a powerful promotional tool but it takes expertise to use it for lead generation and learning how to use the system can consume a lot of your time. However, there is no doubt that design-build contractors, landscape companies, architects and interior designers should use Houzz. It is a captive audience of 46 million people who are interested in your services. There are few online options that allows you to showcase your work and get user reviews with the ability to connect with potential clients and gain work. 

About Michael Conway

I'm the owner and strategist at Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one marketing tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.