houzz editorial/our sofa

[kodydog]

I thought this was pretty cool. Houzz selected one of our photo's (with credits) of a Duncan Phyfe sofa in an editorial ideabook on the homepage of Houzz. 8 Tips to Avoid Snafus With the Movers.

6th photo down.

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/87222573/list/8-tips-to-avoid-snafus-with-the-movers

[MinUph]

Nice Kody. Great advertising. And the price is right.

[gene]

I googled Ladd Upholstery Designs and your place came up first. I hope this brings you some business.

On a Houzz note, I put a review on Houzz for a customer who asked me to do so and I get 3 or 4 emails a day from Houzz now. Not a big deal. It goes to my junk folder.

gene

[sofadoc]

On a Houzz note, I put a review on Houzz for a customer who asked me to do so and I get 3 or 4 emails a day from Houzz now. Not a big deal. It goes to my junk folder.

It took me forever to get all "unsubscribed" from Houzz and Angie's List.

I'm glad that Houzz is working well for K-dog. But I have no use for all their spam emails.

I recently got a review of 1 star (out of 5 stars) on Google's "My Business" page. The review came from someone who left no comment, and only identified themself as David F. I have no idea who David F is. And since 90% of my customers are women, I'm pretty sure that I would remember if I had an unhappy customer named David.

I also got an email from Google saying they would be happy to sign me up (for a fee of course) so I could monitor my reviews. Funny how that offer came up just as I get a "phantom" bad review.

[gene]

Google just got fined $2 billion + by the EU. My cynical thought is that this is window dressing to make some politicians look powerful and it will never stand up to appeals.

gene

[kodydog]

I consider my business very lucky. I have heard some bad stories about reviews from unknown posters, and some from known posters that blindsided the business. I haven't had one yet, thank god.

When I first joined Houzz I use to get e-mails wanting me to upgrade for $$. I even had 2 phone calls from my "Houzz representative" asking me to up grade. I refused with no problems. Lately the e-mails have stopped. Haven't had one in 6 months. When I saw these posts I decided to check my spam folder and my trash folder, nothing from Houzz.

Sofa D you have been in the same town and the same location for a very long time. I can bet your longivity and the quality of your work keeps you busy beyond most upholsterers wildest dreams. You made good decisions and I commend you for this.

I'm afraid I'm not at that point yet. The last two years we have stayed 6 weeks booked. That's not bad but we work hard to keep it that way. We have rebuilt our web site according to our SCORE rep recommendations. Some would call our site amateurish and maybe it is because we built it ourselves but I think it looks pretty good. We have done all we can to get our site to the first page of a google search. This includes a google page. Without a google page we would end up on page 3 or 4. That's not good. A google page is not easy to get, It takes 2 or 3 weeks to get one and the first attempt I screwed up. Our page is free and I keep it updated weekly. And this has brought us much business.

Houzz brings us several customers a year. It's a lot of work for just a few clients. But I'll take it. All of these business pages are a lot of work and take time. But if I update them regularly my Google SEO goes higher. Our advantage is most upholsterers in our area don't take the time to publish a web site or optimize their ranking on google. Without the internet all that's left is word of mouth. Our experience is word of mouth is the best advertising we can get but if that is our only game plan our leads will eventually dry up.

The good thing about staying busy is we can concentrate on the better paying jobs and let the less desirable jobs go to the wayside. One of our goals is to become the upholstery business that's "a bit pricey but worth it". We just had a client who we hadn't heard from in over 10 years recommend a friend to us. The first thing this friend did was check out our web site and when she called she told Rose how much she enjoyed it.

Let me end by saying we are all individuals and each of our businesses are unique. We each need to figure out what works the best for us. I wouldn't dream of telling someone how they should run their business. All I'm saying is this seems to be working for me.

[sofadoc]

K-dog:  I'm sure that sites like Houzz enable you to pursue a more upscale clientele.

My business may be well established in a town with very little competition, but it's mostly a "blue collar" crowd that I cater to. People on a budget that are only looking at the bottom line vrs. the cost of buying new from the big box discount retailer with no payments for 3 years and a free big screen TV.

I used to burn up the road to Dallas in pursuit of high-end customers. I probably could've used Houzz back then.

I occasionally get a few upscale jobs. But I've found commercial work (hospitals, restaurants, etc.) to be quick and profitable. So I no longer covet residential work. I still have a lot of it, but mostly from customers on a tight budget.

I've been very fortunate. I've often said that if just ONE good upholsterer moved to my town and took away half my business, I'd be in a really desperate situation. There have been a few move here and open a shop. But they always brought their big city prices with them. They got discouraged and left quickly.

A few have asked me for a job, but they wanted more in labor alone than I was charging "out the door".

I know you say that Houzz really only nets you a handful of customers, but wouldn't you say that those customers are more affluent?  One rich client is better than a dozen poor ones.

[kodydog]

I never really noticed if our customers from Houzz are affluent. One thing for certain, people who browse on Houzz like to decorate. And I guess, generally speaking, decorating and affluent go hand in hand. Houzz has also sent us a few upscale decorators who have pages on the site. Its a great way to make business to business contacts.

Houzz also offers a way to sell products on their site. We are rebuilding a page on our web site called Boutique. On it will be furniture that has been restored and furniture that is waiting to be recovered. Once this page is finished I'll copy and past everything onto Houzz. Rose wants to start an etsy page and a site we found called Chairish looks interesting. Always trying to figure how to make an extra buck.

https://www.chairish.com/search?q=chairs%2Bfor%2Bsale

[Mojo]

The good thing about staying busy is we can concentrate on the better paying jobs and let the less desirable jobs go to the wayside. One of our goals is to become the upholstery business that's "a bit pricey but worth it".

You just discovered our secret. :)

We have never been the cheapest but we have the best warranty, the highest quality and best customer service. There seems to be a rend in our industry where coach owners are electing to spend a few extra bucks and go with the very best.

That has always been our marketing focal point - Highest quality, best warranty and over the top customer service.

Chris