If you’re an interior designer looking to showcase your work and attract more clients, having a successful website is crucial. A website helps you establish your brand, communicate your aesthetic, and reach a wider audience. However, creating a website that effectively represents your business can be a daunting task.
Fortunately, there are several key steps you can take to create a successful interior design website. In this article, we cover:
- how to define your website to maximize your brand communication
- different ways to design your website
- what layout mistakes do many interior designers make
What we cover show
Your website needs to look and feel like you… AND bring you clients and customers
Look & feel
First, it’s important to define your brand and aesthetic. Your website should reflect your unique style and approach to interior design. You can achieve this by using high-quality images of your work, creating a cohesive color scheme, and incorporating your logo and other branding elements throughout your site.
User experience
Another important factor to consider is the user experience. Your website should be easy to navigate and visually appealing. It must also be optimized for mobile devices, as many people use their smartphones and tablets to browse the web.
Do the work: bring you customers
I see many interior design websites look very pretty, but they don’t do what a website is supposed to do (for a business): bring the clients in. In my opinion, as a digitalization and growth coach, your website has one job and that is to help the people who already know, like, and trust you to buy from you.
“So, how do I actually build a site that does all that?”
By following these tips and best practices, you can create a successful interior design website that showcases your work and helps you attract more clients.
Defining Your Interior Design Website
When creating your interior design website, it is important to define your brand and communicate it effectively to your target audience. This involves establishing your brand, identifying your target audience, and explaining, in normal everyday language (because your clients are not designers or even industry professionals) what you can do to help them.
Establishing Your Brand
Establishing your brand is crucial to the success of your interior design website. Your brand should reflect who you are as a designer and what sets you apart from others in the industry.
Your brand design needs to start with positioning and then move on to defining the other brand elements, such as your visual look. It should be consistent across all aspects of your website, including your logo, color scheme, images, tone of voice, and overall aesthetic.
When establishing your brand, consider your design philosophy and the types of projects you specialize in. This will help you create a unique brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Identifying your target audience is essential to creating a successful interior design website. Your target audience should be the people who are most likely to hire you for your services. This may include homeowners, business owners, or other designers looking to collaborate.
To identify your target audience, consider your design style and the types of projects you typically work on. This will help you understand who your ideal client is and how to tailor your website to their needs.
Determining Your Services
Determining your services is another important aspect of defining your interior design website. Your services should be clearly outlined on your website, so potential clients know what you offer and how you can help them.
In my coaching and consulting, I always say: You need to make buying easy. The easiness comes from both being clear about the services and products and also allowing the build process to be as streamlined as possible. You can achieve this, for example, by having ready-made packages on your site, or if you don't want that, at least have the first step, such as the design project consultation as a package people can buy directly online, schedule it in your online calendar, and pay with their credit card.
When determining your services, consider your areas of expertise and the types of projects you enjoy working on. Also, consider your methodology and what you need to do to deliver the complete solution. This will help you create a list of services that align with your brand and target audience.
Designing Your Website
A well-designed interior design website will help you showcase your work, attract new clients, and establish credibility in your industry. Here are some key considerations when designing your website:
Choosing a Platform and Hosting Service
When designing your website, the first decision you need to make is which platform and hosting service to use. Some popular website builders for interior designers include Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress. Each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to research and compare them before making a decision.
When selecting a hosting service, consider factors such as reliability, speed, and security. A good hosting service will ensure that your website loads quickly and is always accessible to visitors.
This is the hosting service I recommend to all my clients.
Selecting a Theme or Template
Once you’ve chosen a platform and hosting service, the next step is to select a theme or template for your website. Your theme or template will determine the overall look and feel of your website, so it’s important to choose one that aligns with your brand and design style.
When selecting a theme or template, you should mainly consider the layout, because, with modern templates, you can choose your color palette and typography as soon as you start installing the template.
Don’t go cute or clever – some major layout mistakes
There’s a reason why websites have certain standard elements and layouts. You should not go overly artistic with your site, because – like it or not – it will ruin the experience.
Sites that scroll sideways, or have some extremely artistic features might feel like a great idea, but if you want to have a site that works, i.e. presents your business, brand, and offers, and gets people to book those consulting calls and projects, keep it standardized.
This is exactly the same as you do your design work! Even if it might feel overly artistic to hang a couch from the ceiling, why not upside down, it’s just a mess. Don’t design a messy site!
Creating a Cohesive Design
When designing your website, it’s important to create a cohesive design that reflects your brand and design style. This includes choosing a color scheme, typography, and imagery that aligns with your overall aesthetic.
Use high-quality images to showcase your work and make sure they are optimized for web use. Consider using a consistent color palette throughout your website to create a cohesive look and feel.
When designing your website, keep in mind that less is often more. A cluttered or confusing website can turn off potential clients, so focus on creating a clean and streamlined design that highlights your work and services.
So, before you get started with your website design, you need to select the brand colors and fonts that you want to use.
PRO tips: think about using the same colors and fonts in your other marketing materials! A cohesive brand design will help your business look professional and polished.
Developing Your Website Content
Once you’ve established your brand, it’s time to focus on crafting your website content. Your website should be a reflection of your business, and it needs more than just pretty pictures.
While people love to look at your portfolio, you need words to describe your services and the value you bring to your clients.
Here are some tips for developing your website content:
Crafting Your Homepage – this is also called the index page
Your homepage is the first impression that visitors will have of your website. It’s important to make it visually appealing and easy to navigate. Consider using large, high-quality images that showcase your work, and keep the text concise and informative. Use headings and subheadings to break up the content and make it easier to read.
Three critical elements of your homepage
- add your brand message to the top
- add your call-to-action, such as the “Book a consultation” button to the top
- add your service area so people know where you offer your services. If you’re a multi-location or global form, say that too
Drafting A Brand Message For Your Website
A brand message is a statement that communicates the values and identity of a company. It is an essential part of branding and helps to create positive associations in customers’ minds.
A clear brand message should be on the front page of your website.
an interior design portfolio website
Your portfolio should showcase your best work and give visitors a sense of your style and aesthetic. Consider organizing your portfolio by project type or by room type, and include a brief description of each project. Use high-quality images and consider including before-and-after photos to show the transformation.
This is critical about your interior design portfolio
Only show the type of work you want more of. For example, if you are changing your positioning, you need to only show the work that reflects your new positioning. Don’t show work that you don’t want more of.
Writing Blog Posts and Articles
Blogging is a great way to showcase your expertise and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. Consider writing blog posts and articles on topics related to interior design, such as design trends or tips for decorating on a budget.
Good Article Layout
Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to make the content easy to read, and include high-quality images to illustrate your points.
Did you see this list of blog topics for interior designers I created a while back?
Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines
One of the most important factors in creating a successful interior design website is ensuring that it is optimized for search engines. By doing so, you will increase your site’s reachability and visibility to potential clients. Here are three key sub-sections to focus on when optimizing your website for search engines:
Conducting Keyword Research
The first step in optimizing your website for search engines is to conduct thorough keyword research. This involves identifying the specific words and phrases that potential clients are likely to use when searching for interior design services online.
By using SEO-friendly keywords throughout your website, you can improve your search engine rankings and increase your visibility to potential clients.
Example: if you are a full-service interior design firm in Stockholm, Sweden, then you should create articles that combine the keywords: "Full-service" + "Interior design" + "Stockholm". You might want to create one page that explains your service and has all those words, and then related articles, such as "best interior design vintage shops in Stockholm".
When conducting keyword research, it’s important to use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify popular search terms and phrases related to your interior design services. You should also consider using long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific phrases that may have less competition and be easier to rank for.
Also: go to your favorite search engine (such as Google), do the searches, and see what pops up! Then you know how to improve your own site’s rankings.
Implementing On-Page SEO Techniques
Once you have identified the keywords you want to target, it’s important to implement on-page SEO techniques throughout your website. This includes optimizing your website’s meta tags, titles, and descriptions, as well as ensuring that your website’s content is structured in a way that is easy for search engines to understand.
You should also focus on optimizing your website’s images by using descriptive file names and alt tags, as well as compressing images to improve page load times. Additionally, ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, as this is a key factor in search engine rankings.
Promoting Your Website
Creating a successful interior design website is not enough; you need to promote it to attract visitors and potential clients.
Social media is an excellent platform to promote your interior design website. You can use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to showcase your work, share design tips, and interact with potential clients.
Make sure you create a professional-looking profile, post regularly, and engage with your followers. You can also use paid social media advertising to reach a targeted audience.
In my work, we often implement the "automated growth engine" strategy, which means that we run ads, often using Facebook / Instagram, that target the right people, and retarget them over and over again. We keep the budget very low, such as 1 USD / day, and run these kinds of brand-building ads continuously. This makes you stay on top of your potential, and current, customers' minds!Should you DIY your interior design website or let professionals build it?
Creating a successful interior design website takes time, effort, and patience. And you most likely don’t have the technical skills, just like your clients don’t have the multiple skills you have to deliver amazing interiors.
If you are a complete beginner
You can start just by creating a landing page that allows people to book calls with you. That’s the simplest form of a website, and you can use any landing page builder to achieve that in a few short hours. This is my favorite landing page builder. I have, for example, built this page using it.
When you have some clients
Now it’s time to build your first proper website, including the elements that I have listed here. You essentially need about 5-8 pages on your website, and designing and developing it is best to leave to professionals!
When you scale Your Design Business
You definitely want to have a custom-built website at this point. You can’t let your website be a showstopper for scaling and expanding your business. An unprofessional, dysfunctional website will ruin your reputation, so make improving it your priority.
Lastly, your interior design website needs to develop when you develop and grow
Websites are not static. Think about your favorite stores, they re-arrange and add new exciting products all the time, right? Your website also needs to have content that keeps evolving. The best way to do that is to
- have a blog section where you post regularly
- update your portfolio
- update the images on your home page, maybe after the seasons
- create new lead magnets that attract new people to sign up for your newsletter
By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a website that showcases your skills, attracts potential clients, and helps you grow your business. Remember to keep your website design simple, clean, and easy to navigate, and to use high-quality images to showcase your work.
It’s also important to have a clear understanding of your target audience and to tailor your website content to their needs and interests. Use keywords and phrases that your potential clients are likely to search for, and include information about your services, pricing, and contact details.
Finally, don’t forget to promote your website through social media, email marketing, and other channels. Building a strong online presence takes time, but with persistence and a clear strategy, you can attract more clients and grow your business.
