Houzz for Marketing - Five Irrefutable Reasons to Use it

Houzz is the place 25 million homeowners find and save beautiful home photos.

Compiling the features, styles, colors, patterns and designs they want, they can then collaborate with friends and family.

When a homeowner is ready to turn their project dreams in to reality, they can search designers and contractors in their local area right on Houzz.

Homeowners see business reviews, projects, before and after photos, as well as helpful answers provided in discussions. Everything they need to know to make the best choice – and it might just be YOU!

Who Uses Houzz?

The audience is overwhelmingly female and slightly more well-educated than the average internet user. They’re not just casual users either. According to Alexa.com, the average number of pageviews per visitor is over 8, while daily time on site is over six minutes. By comparison, Pinterest users spend slightly more time per day on Pinterest, but view about a half page fewer than Houzz users.

Who Should Use Houzz for Marketing?

Houzz is a natural fit for professionals whose offerings include home and property improvement, design, build and repair services or products. Especially should those who offer services or products related to bathrooms and kitchen projects jump in – in fact, 28 and 23 percent respectively of those surveyed for the 2013 Houzz and Home report say that kitchen and bath are priority for their next project.

Look at some of the other, perhaps less obvious categories you can choose when you sign up for your new Houzz account:

home stagers
home and outdoor media designers and installers
lawn and sprinkler
media and bloggers
photographers (Houzz pros need local photographers to take their photos)
pools and spa
realtors (great reference for real estate agents here)
rubbish removal
schools and organizations (specifically, those related to design)
solar energy
tree services
environmental services and restoration

Would YOUR business fit in on Houzz?

Why Use Houzz to Market Your Home-Related Business?

Reason #1: Business is Booming & Homeowners are Hiring

houseplanssm According to the 2013 Houzz and Home report, 48 percent of homeowners are planning to remodel or build an addition or custom home in the next two years. Fully 84% of respondents reported plans to decorate or redecorate.

Your potential customers aren’t planning to skimp, either. The average budget for a kitchen remodel? Over 28 thousand dollars!

Fifty-eight percent of those planning a remodel say they plan to hire professional help. Of course, of the remaining 42%, you know as well as I do that a few days, weeks, or even hours into a project many will start looking for some help!

Reason #2: Information-Gathering Methods Have Shifted

manreportsa You might think that the biggest source of ideas or advice on home projects would be word-of-mouth. Not so! According to a report commissioned by Houzz, only around 5% said their main source of information was word-of-mouth.

Compare that to 68% who sited online sources (including Houzz) as their main source of ideas and advice - which means you need to be out there - in as many places as make sense for your business.

Reason #3: Decision-Making Priorities are Clear – and Houzz Can Help

The report also states that major factors in choosing a professional include the quality of ratings and reviews as well as demonstrated expertise. Houzz gives you a place to showcase both.

Homeowners also cited a “personality I can work with” as a much more important factor than cost. The ability to add projects and photos with captions, as well as participation in discussions and the way you answer questions will allow your likable personality to shine!

Reason #4: Google likes Houzz

googlehouzz Categories and profiles are indexed by Google. In the example at right, Houzz shows up as the very first non-paid listing. Try a search for yourself!

Reason #5: Amazing Statistics:

Houzz monthly page views: 190 million (most recently available stat)
Monthly unique users: 16 million (as of January 2014)
Over 3 million user-created ideabooks
12 million mobile app downloads

Some designers and others say as much as 65% of their website traffic comes from Houzz. In fact, one closet designer saw a 60% increase in blog traffic in their first month on Houzz.

How "Houzzers" Are Using The Platform

I LOVE Houzz! We had a problem with the decking on our lanai. I searched Houzz for ideas. I found artificial turf and looked at tons of pictures of beautiful backyards. After talking with a few companies on Houzz , I decided on one.

I also transformed our bonus room into a guest suite and found many items on Houzz. Anyone that has a great product to sell should be on Houzz!“

-Victoria H. (tyler3554)

I add something to my Houzz Ideabook because of something that catches my eye in the picture. It can be a beautiful vista, a cool idea, an innovative product or a house/room design that I like. Unlike Pinterest where links to pictures get broken, Houzz retains the highest possible image so I can always go back and zoom in."

- Daniel H.

So, what do you think? Could Houzz help you find new customers? This post is an excerpt from our brand new ebook, Houzz Marketing A to Zz. You can download the ebook and the startup checklist for free!