What Is Houzz and How to Use It to Grow Your Business

If you’re a home improvement professional, you should be on Houzz. Period. 

Houzz lets you market your business online, offering you a platform where you can showcase your work and your services so that homeowners can find you and hire you for their next project. 

Let’s start off with answering the “what is Houzz?” question, and then we’ll get into how you can use it to grow your business.

Houzz is a hub for interior designers, remodelers, contractors, dealers, and homeowners. 

It was founded by a couple, Adi and Alon, who were looking into remodeling their home. Once they realized how complicated it was sifting through endless magazines for inspiration and even more complicated to try to find the right professionals for the job, they came up with Houzz. 

Think of Houzz as the LinkedIn for home improvement professionals. It gives you a chance to host an online portfolio of your work, your services, and your contact information.  

Homeowners who are looking for inspiration or who are looking to hire a professional are able to do research on Houzz to find the perfect person or company for their project. 

They can contact you directly if they like what they see – all they need to do is fill out a form via your Houzz profile, and they can even request a quote. 

We covered the “What is Houzz?” part, now on to the next part. 

If you want to attract the right customers, you need to make sure your profile is complete and that it is appealing.  

Houzz works like a search engine, meaning you need to make sure you use the right keywords and that you tag your images properly. 

Think of the keywords your potential customers would use when searching for your services. For example, common search terms would be “modern kitchen designer” or “rustic kitchen remodeler” or simply “bathroom renovation.” 

You need to keep these terms in mind when you fill out your profile information and when you upload photos of your work. Speaking of photos, it’s important to add as many pertinent, high-resolution, and beautiful photos of your past projects as you possibly can. 

Before and after photos are a big hit on Houzz – include as many of these as possible, too. 

Houzz also allows you to create ideabooks that you can share with your clients. You can either upload your own photos, or you can find photos on the website. By creating ideabooks for kitchens, bathrooms, closets, or any other room(s) you specialize in, your client can better understand what your style and vision are. 

Another way to get your profile noticed by potential clients is to ask past clients to leave reviews on your Houzz page.  

Reviews are everything nowadays. People hardly buy anything online without reading reviews first, and it’s no different for home improvement professionals on Houzz. You can even ask other professionals you’ve collaborated with to leave you a review so that you move up in search results.  

According to Houzz, the way they determine the order of professionals in their directory is “based on an algorithm that takes into account several factors, including the number and quality of photos in your profile, the number of questions you’ve answered, whether you sport a Houzz badge on your own website, and whether you have reviews from past clients or other professionals with whom you have worked.” 

For more information on how to use Houzz, check out their tutorial page for professionals.