Are you still trying to tweet your way to more pool sales? Step away from Twitter and Pinterest while I tell you about the one social medium every pool builder should be using: Houzz.com. Pronounced just like how’s (as in “How’s your mama?”), Houzz is a match made in heaven for pool builders — especially high-end pool builders.
Houzz was created specifically for upscale homeowners who want to spend money upgrading their homes. If you’re a pool builder and that sentence doesn’t get you excited, you need to read it again.
Never before has our prime target market — homeowners with money to spend — been given such an ideal social-media website that helps them find builders like you. Think about it: Have you ever gone to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or any other social-media site with the intention of spending money? I didn’t think so. Yet that’s exactly what 1.8 million people are doing every day at Houzz.
Not surprisingly, Houzz is now offering advertising opportunities to improve your positioning on the “Find a Local Pro” tab. In some locations, it will only cost you a few hundred dollars a year to ensure your business listing shows up at the top of this list. Not a bad investment.
Setting up your own lead generating Houzz account will take you less than 20 minutes and cost you nothing, and it can undoubtedly help you sell more pools.
Why homeowners have made Houzz one of the fastest-growing social-media sites of all time:
• It contains a huge collection of just about any kind of remodeling project you can think of: including swimming pools and other backyard environments.
• It allows the homeowner to create an Ideabook where they can click any photo they like and instantly save it to their Ideabook. Remember the old days when homeowners would cut photographs out of a magazine and stuff them into a folder? Not anymore; it’s all digital now.
• The homeowner can ask questions about any particular photo on Houzz, and get an informed response directly from the contractor.
• The homeowner can also share his or her Ideabook electronically with the contractor, so you can see exactly what this homeowner is interested in without necessarily having a face-to-face meeting.
• It’s international, yes, but it’s also local. People can look at photographs from projects all over the world, but when they’re ready to search for a local contractor, Houzz has thoughtfully (and very wisely) added a “Find a Local Pro” tab. And that’s why you need to be ready with your Houzz account: Many of your competitors are already there.
If you’re a pool builder, and you don’t yet have your Houzz account, here’s what you need to do:
1) Go to Houzz.com and set up your free account.
2) Start uploading the very best photos you’ve got.
3) Add some thoughtful and salient descriptions to each photo so Houzz visitors will understand what they’re looking at. And don’t skimp on the details. Remember, people are coming here looking for ideas, inspiration and advice. Tell them all about it!
4) Pay attention to your account. For example, if someone asks a question about one of your photos, be sure to provide a friendly and thoughtful response. Even if the person is located in Timbuktu and not remotely a prospect of yours, be responsive. Why? Because lots of other people are watching the conversation, including possible prospects in your own neighborhood. So if you are rude or dismissive of someone in Timbuktu, your real prospects could see that and form a negative opinion of you. (This is social media, after all.)
5) And lastly, add the Houzz “Add to Ideabook” button to all the photos on your website. That way, any homeowners with a Houzz account who are visiting your website can instantly add your photos to their Ideabook. When these photos go into an Ideabook, they indicate exactly where the photo came from. Thus, it’s super-easy for that homeowner to go back to your website or your Houzz account and immediately contact you.
