In order to maximize your outreach, you need to achieve a good level of Search Engine Optimization.
Search engine rankings are a confusing business, especially if marketing isn’t your profession. When you Google something though, there is a system in place that ranks your page and decides on its position within the results page.
Even though many people may disregard their search-result position, it can mean the difference between being the first designer someone looks at and being buried on the 8th page of Google.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the act of ensuring that your business listing is the first that people see and the first that they click. There are a few ways of going about this and the best approach will always be some combination of many factors.
- Discover how to create an effective content strategy in Creating Effective Inbound Marketing Content Strategy for B2B Companies.
- Explore more strategies for digital marketing with Social Media Marketing for Tech Companies.
The Right Search Engine Optimization Keywords
The most important thing for Search Engine Optimization in any business is using the right words, also known as ‘keywords’. There are 1000 words for everything nowadays, so knowing the way that most people will describe your business will be a big help.
As an example here are the comparative results for four very similar ways to describe your job title. The higher the score the better its position, so from this graph we can gather that “interior designers” is more effective that “interior decorator.”
This doesn’t mean you should completely avoid using “decorator”, but that if you want to reach more people at once, you should be calling yourself a designer!
Choosing The Right Outlet
With every interest, there is a different social network, blogging platform, or forum that people flock to for information. That’s because certain sites are simply designed better for certain kinds of information. The more present, active, and popular you are on social media, the better your Search Engine Optimization will be because those profiles will show up through the search engines.
Interior designers have the most success on those sites that have been designed for visual media. First of all, using Instagram is key for the growth of your social media strategy. Not only is it a social network for images, it has a huge userbase, the opportunity for growth is innumerable, and their advertising options are boundless.
Examples of Outlets and Platforms
You may also want to check out Houzz. The nice thing about Houzz is that it’s only for interior design; you know that when you post, only people who are interested in interior design will be seeing it. The only downside is that you need to pay to post to the site.
The medium of communication that most designers forget about is YouTube. It’s not just that you can share a more engaging view of your work; YouTube is great for SEO.
The most commonly used search engine is Google, and because YouTube is owned by them, posting there will make your videos more likely to show up in people’s search results.
The Right Access
One of the biggest mistakes that we see designers making is that they don’t want to allow the internet to have access to their designs since they fear their work might be stolen or plagiarized.
To prevent plagiarizing, you can add a watermark to your pictures and videos which claims your brand’s ownership of the image. In order for people to choose you as their designer though, they will first need to see the work you’ve done.
In this day and age, people are much more likely to find a designer via their online portfolio. Sharing your work will not only bring in more clients; the right portfolio will ensure the clients you bring have similar tastes to yours!
