Kitchen Design Online and Targeted Ads
Familiar with the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? It’s when some obscure name or bit of information suddenly seems to appear everywhere… and with great frequency. Houzz was like that for me around 2011. Some of our more tech savvy clients would mention some element or picture of a kitchen they found on “House”. Did you say House? No. Not House – HOUZZ.com, “spelled with two z’s”. As Houzz gained content and popularity, clients increasingly started to stumble upon this site during their searches for kitchen and bath remodeling ideas. Started in 2009, this popular website and online community now has become quite the standard for remodeling, decorating and landscaping ideas.
Current statistics boast Houzz having 40 million users who enjoy browsing the 11 million photos for ideas and evaluating the selection of 1.5 million industry professionals who have personal sites on the platform. For design and remodeling clients, no more lugging around large binders and magazine clippings to show professionals what you want. For companies, no more heavy portfolios needing constant updates to show prospective clients what kind of work you can do. Houzz offers an easy way to sort, organize, showcase and share your ideas and/or volume of work.
Originally, this all came about in a beautiful ad free environment. It prospered because design firms provided Houzz with their content (photos), free of charge. Companies were encouraged to upload their professional photos in hopes they would gain the notice of local prospective remodeling clients. Those 11 million photos are from companies like AKB. Look us up on Houzz at https://www.houzz.com/user/mclifton and you’ll find a wide sample of the hundreds of spaces we have completed in 14 years of business. There are currently 58 unique projects that add up to 461 images that we designed and photographed, adding more every month. Providing consumers equal access to any firm who wanted to showcase their creative capability was a real boon for having presence on Houzz. But a cautionary note- Houzz converted to pay to play several years ago which has created a negative perception. Firms now pay dearly to pop up as you are scrolling through images even when it has nothing to do with what you are searching. Looking for outdoor lighting ideas? Why do you keep seeing construction companies or makers of window blinds? For a site that built its presence on ad free values that lured many of us to upload our photographs and give them the content that has made them popular, it’s a little disappointing. I’ve been in marketing for over 25 years and sometimes cringe at the sophistication of digital advertising these days. Pop-ups interrupt my browsing experience and some ads just feel creepily intrusive. So if 2019 finds you in the remodeling spirit, here’s to you stumbling upon our portfolio on Houzz and maybe liking a picture or two. Come visit us the old fashion way and discover what we have to offer: talent, professionalism, fair pricing and results.