Online Advertising Tips For Interior Designers

Just a few years ago, when someone is looking to engage an interior designer, the first place they probably looked is in magazines. However, that is no longer true today. When someone wants to hire an interior designer, all they have to do is type “interior designer” followed by their location in Google’s search bar and they will get page after page of results. These pages may be the source of your consternation. How do you get your online presence noticed amidst the competition out there?

As an interior designer, your online presence is doubly important. Not only will your website explain what you offer, it is also where you will showcase your portfolio. In other words, it is an online gallery. In this article, we share with you some online advertising tips that interior designers should follow to achieve success and grow their business.

Pay Attention to Web Design

Every business needs to have a well-constructed website. That is something that we cannot get around. However, as an interior designer, it is even more important that you get it right. Nobody will entrust the design of their home to someone who cannot even get a web design right. For instance, if your website’s navigation function is all over the place, how can homeowners trust you to make their living space an efficient, organized one? There you see the higher expectations that are placed on your web design as an interior designer.

One absolutely must-have section on your website is your portfolio. This may not be something that businesses in every industry require, so it can be easy to forget or overlook. But as an interior designer, your success hinges on your portfolio, which speaks for itself. Without one, visitors have no way of judging for themselves whether your style is something they want to work with.

While you may have an idea in mind about the theme, color schemes and fonts you want to use for your website, the more technical details such as site maintenance may escape you. Here is where you may want to outsource your efforts to a digital marketing agency with a track record of success.

Make Use of Content Marketing

One way of keeping the content on your website fresh and up to date is to start a blog. Undoubtedly, you will not need to change up the permanent features of your website weekly or even monthly. When you start a blog, you have a reason to update frequently, which is good for your SERP rankings. Google ranks websites that have been updated recently higher, and for good reason. If the last update on an e-commerce shop was two years ago, would you feel comfortable making a purchase? You never know if the business is still in operation.

In your blog posts, you can write about case studies featuring the projects you have worked on before. Or you can simply share some home decoration and organization tips that are easy for anyone to try out at home. You may want to consider adding infographics and videos to showcase your points, especially since interior design is an industry that is heavy on visuals!

Get on Social Media

If you are not already on social media, you should absolutely get on it right now. To start with, you can choose one platform where your target market tends to hang out and focus on building it. When that has taken off, you may want to think about expanding. For interior designers, Instagram may be a better choice than Facebook or Twitter, simply because the emphasis is on pictures. An Instagram account is the perfect space to showcase your portfolio and make yourself known to potential customers.

You may also want to consider starting a YouTube channel. One advantage of incorporating videos into your content marketing strategy is that Google has been increasingly ranking videos in SERPs. While you will need to name and describe your videos adequately, in general, you will be doing much less work on SEO with videos than with your other forms of content. Think of some creative titles and get filming! You may want to start by introducing your specialization and showing viewers a few tactics.

Although Pinterest is not strictly a social media platform, it is another platform where interior designers can showcase their portfolio in the best light and be discovered. It is simple to create an account and start creating boards of well-designed spaces and homes showcasing past projects you have worked on.

Get Started on SEO

Most interior designers either use the key phrase “interior designer” or “interior decorator” for their SEO efforts. However, ranking on the first page of SERPs for these generic keywords is not easy simply because of how many interior designers there are out there. To this end, you will want to utilize local SEO to target potential customers within your area. Or if you have a specialization, be it a certain style or if you work exclusively with commercial clients, you can incorporate that into a long-tail keyword of four words or more.

Do Not Neglect Reputation Management

While following the tips above can go a long way in establishing your online presence and attracting potential customers, one aspect of online advertising you should never overlook is reputation management. More so than any marketing technique, the customers you get from referrals will be the ones who are most eager to work with you. To this end, always remember to ask your customers to leave you a positive online review if they are happy with your work. Some customers may be lazy or passive about leaving a review, but if you do not ask, they definitely never will. Simply going out of your way to engage can make a difference.

You should also monitor the reviews left on your website and social media pages from time to time. If anything went wrong during the course of a project, you may be expecting a bad review. While damage control can go some way in mitigating this possibility, not every review you get is going to be 100% positive. You can work with clients to get the situation resolved before the end of the project, but remember that a few neutral or negative reviews amongst many positive ones do not have to make a big impact as long as you work on improving from what went wrong.

Engage A Digital Marketing Agency for Your Interior Designer Website

Now that you know some ways you can strengthen your online presence as an interior designer, you may be wondering how much time and effort you need to put in to achieve this. It will not be easy juggling your design work, communication with clients and online marketing efforts. This is where you may want to consider outsourcing your digital marketing efforts. Not only are marketing agencies familiar with the multifaceted aspects of online marketing including SEO, PPC, social media marketing and web design, they can help you turn your vision into reality if you already have an idea how you want your online presence to look like. Whether you are just starting out or already have your schedule packed with clients, engaging a third party to manage your marketing is an investment that is sure to pay off. This frees up time for you to focus on building your portfolio and maintaining lasting relationships with your clients.