SEO for interior designers

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SEO has been a popular topic, even when I started doing web design 9 years ago in 2010.

SEO is, in short, how you show up in a Google Search. So if you’re an interior designer in New York, the hope is that if someone types in “new york interior designer” into google.com that you would show up high.

There are ways to do this, but in competitive markets (especially in New York), it’s tough to compete. Plus, if you do some research on Google Ad’s Keyword Planner you’ll see that hardly anyone in the New York area does a Google search for “interior designer.”

With millions of people in New York, only about 1,000 people per month search for “interior designer” on Google. There’s probably more than 1,000 interior designers in New York! With such low volume and high competition, to go ahead and spend a ton of money on SEO optimization for your website (often times in the thousands of dollars) you’ll hardly see it pay off.

There’s a quick way to bypass the work though. There are 2 simple things you can do:

1) Set up a Google Business account at https://www.google.com/business

2) Set up a Yelp account at https://biz.yelp.com/

These 2 platforms will automatically get you some visibility. Just make sure to add some nice photos and use the word interior designer.

There are definitely businesses out there who get new clients from SEO. But if you don’t have thousands of dollars to get that started and do a huge marketing push, you’re better off trying other methods.

These are the ones I recommend first:

Focus on connections from your previous clients, colleagues, vendors and other professionals

  1. If your client had an amazing experience, ask them to leave a review on your Google or Yelp pages, or on Houzz.com

  2. If your client had an amazing experience, offer them a “referral fee” or some sort or perk to refer you business from friends or co-workers.

  3. Stay connected to architects, contractors, engineers and real estate developers you like working with. This often times is the best way to get new business.

  4. Keep your brand top of mind with Email Marketing. This especially helps when promoting to other vendors like Architects and Developers who do not spend a lot of time on social media. They spend more time reviewing their email.

  5. Instagram and Houzz still seem to work for a lot of interior designers. But focus in on a niche as much as possible, in terms of style, cities you work in, types of families or personalities. Too many interior designers do not explain how they are unique against their competitors. And clients wont understand the different until you tell them.

SEO is expensive

Compared to all these other marketing methods, SEO is the most time consuming, the most expensive and the lowest ROI (return on investment). You’re better of spending time on what works better, cheaper and faster: Email Marketing, Social Media, staying in touch with your co-workers and other industries, Houzz.com, Yelp, and Google Business.

SEO is only worth pursuing if you have a big pile of cash lying around and you’re ready to take the next step. Which, even then, referral and network marketing will still work better.

I hope this helps! Email us at design@jpwdesignstudio.com for questions.