SEO and SERP are two hot words these days that anyone with a website wants to have. However, there are many cases when home stagers really don’t need to have good SEO or good placement on the SERP. It’s true!
First, let’s define SEO and SERP:
- SERP is the acronym for Search Engine Ranking Page. It is the actual page on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others that show the results of search terms that someone typed in. The goal is for your website to be on the first SERP, and as close to the top as possible.
- SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is how search engines determine whether your website is good enough to show on the SERP when someone searches for terms related to your website.
For example, if your website has good SEO for the term “home stager in Anytown”, then when someone searches for “home stager in Anytown” your website will ideally show up on the first page of the SERP. In layman’s terms that means that if your website has good SEO, it will show up on the first Google page for “home stager in Anytown”.
Although good SEO is ideal for most people with a website, there are circumstances where good SEO isn’t crucial.
Every person with a website wants to have good SEO. However, getting good SEO is hard and it takes time. A long time. And a lot of work. But good SEO is possible, especially in the world of home staging where so few home stager websites have good SEO. And your website is more likely to get good SEO if you work on it yourself, rather than paying someone you don’t know to help just because they sent you the email I explained above.
Fortunately, not every website needs good SEO. Since this sounds so crazy, and probably contrary to everything you have heard or been told, we’ll explain…
When does a website not need good SEO?
There are two main reasons that a home stager needs a website
- To generate organic leads. This is when SEO is important.
- For prospective and existing clients to see your portfolio and learn about you. This is when SEO is not important.
It’s true that if you want your website to be a major contributor to generating leads, then your website needs to have good SEO, as in reason number 1.
Leads from the internet will find your website when they Google terms like “home stager in Anytown”. You may also want to get the leads who are searching more specific terms like “vacant home staging”, or “home staging consultations near me”, or a number of similar terms. The best way to develop good SEO is to develop both good quality and a large quantity of content for a variation of those terms. Good content can be in the form of regular blog posts, a comprehensive portfolio of your work, and even videos of you. A large quantity is built over time. Like we said before, SEO takes work and takes time to be rewarded by the fruits of your labor.
Didn’t you say that not every website needs good SEO? Yes, I was just about to get to that:
Many home stagers don’t need to rely on their website to generate leads. The primary purpose of a website is to showcase your work to your existing and prospective clients. You want a professional website that has a gallery of all of your pictures. Or maybe you just need a simple page to explain what you do and your pricing. Whatever the reason, you have a specific purpose for your website, and it isn’t necessarily important to generate leads.
Since a website is a part of a good marketing plan, and not the marketing plan, home stagers generate leads a number of ways. These could be by networking, social media, their Houzz profile page, email newsletters, direct mail, presentations to Realtor groups or at real estate brokerages, or by good old fashion door knocking.
These home stagers don’t need to develop a vast library of quality content on a blog. They don’t need to go crazy highlighting every project on their website’s portfolio. They needn’t worry about how they look or sound on camera for videos. They just need a quality website for people to confirm they are a professional stager that they can work with.
They are sending traffic to their website by the other marketing methods, and their website provides the curb appeal to prove that the home stager is worth a look.
More SEO Reality
Not only does good SEO take a lot of hard work, but it also takes a lot of time. This is not just the time it takes to develop all of the content. It is also the time it takes for Google to recognize that the content is worthy of good SEO. This time is measured in months or years, not in days or weeks.
Is Good SEO Really Important for Your Website?
This is the time to be truthful with yourself about the purpose of your website. Getting clients for your home staging business takes marketing. A home stager needs to determine how their website fits in with their overall marketing plan.
Your website will have great SEO if you spend time continually doing the work, and being patient for Google to reward you with the fruits of that work. But is your marketing time better spent networking, maintaining social media, emailing prospects, and other strategies?
Yes, it is important for your website to show your work and show you are the expert in your local area. This is where it is important to have a portfolio and other valuable information your website that could be on a blog. When you send people to your website, those things are important. And they will certainly help with your SEO.
Final Thoughts on SEO for your Home Staging Business
I’m not saying not to work on SEO for your website. I’m just saying don’t get caught up on the hype of having great SEO. Especially not early on.
Fortunately for you, very few home stagers have a website with “good” SEO, so it’s not as difficult as other industries to have better SEO than your competition. Keep in mind that your website should provide value to your visitors regardless if they get there because they found it on Google or because you sent them there.
Marketing takes time and effort. SEO takes time and effort. Where do you want to spend your effort, and how quickly do you want to see the results of that effort?
