Are you a home builder or remodeling contractor looking for a better way to reach prospective customers?
You’ve likely tried multiple marketing strategies, including mailers to your demographic and word-of-mouth advertising.
In today’s marketplace, traditional marketing methods don’t receive the same level of attention they did a few years ago.
Your customers live in the digital world, and that’s where they go to find you.
If you’re not using the best marketing tools in 2022, generating leads will feel like a hide-and-seek game—for you and your potential clients.
Buy, how do you choose which marketing channels to focus on?
Today, we’re focusing on two: Angi’s vs. Houzz.
By the end of this article, you’ll have all the information you need to make an educated decision about which of these digital marketing services you should use for your construction business.
We’ll start with Angi—formerly Angie’s List
How Working with Angi Works
Last year, Angie’s List shortened their name to Angi.
It’s all part of a new tactic to reach more customers in what they deem the new era in everything home.
You might be familiar with the name of Angi’s parent company: HomeAdvisor.
Founded in 1995 by two people desperately seeking a reliable contractor, this online business directory supports people looking for contractors in every trade, including home building and remodeling.
From the consumer’s perspective, individuals can search the directory for free to find local businesses.
Angi’s offers an upgrade for people who don’t mind paying for a premium plan. The upgraded plan includes exclusive members-only discounts.
From a business owner’s perspective, if you partner with Angi, you get a freebie—the ability to set up your company profile.
If you plan to use Angi for lead generation, you’ll need to consider their paid advertising options.
What It’s Like to Partner with Houzz
Homeowners use Houzz to get inspiration for home improvement projects.
They also use the directory feature to research contractors.
Working with Houzz means you can set up an online portfolio of your remodeling projects or finished home builds.
Homeowners browse your portfolio and can send you an email or set up a video meeting directly from the platform.
Although Houzz also functions as an online business directory, it has a more elegant feel to its interface.
Your portfolio on Houzz is a critical component of your success on the platform.
Because Houzz works like a search engine, you’ll need to tag your portfolio images correctly and include the most relevant keywords.
The Angi Advantage
Angi offers businesses several advantages to using their paid service.
First, if you want to target your local market, Angi is a platform focused on local intent.
By the time you see a future client’s contact information, they’ve answered a series of questions about their project, including the budget.
Second, people searching for contractors on Angi aren’t typically as focused on discounts as on finding qualified, trustworthy contractors.
Regarding pricing—Angi believes in transparent pricing.
That means fewer raised eyebrows when you provide a quote or estimate.
Third, using Angi gives you another marketing channel so you’re not relying only on Google, Facebook, or the other big websites.
Making sure you don’t have all of your marketing eggs in one basket is important in the digital marketing world.
Are There Any Advantages to Partnering With Houzz?
If you haven’t checked out Houzz lately, they have a stunning website.
It might be part of the reason why the platform gets 25 million unique monthly visitors.
Or it could be that they make it reasonably easy for customers to navigate their site.
Either way, you could attract new business with the right strategies if you list yours on Houzz.
One feature you could use to help build your business is the Houzz community.
By sharing your knowledge in the online community, you could feasibly generate business.
Since Houzz seems to favor paid listings, you’ll be able to boost your listings if you pay for advertising.
Disadvantages of Listing Your Business on Angi
If you’re new to digital marketing, you may not realize many online marketing platforms require businesses to sign a contract.
Angi asks companies to sign a one-year contract. The fee to advertise starts at $300 per month.
Once you sign up, you’ll pay if you decide Angi isn’t for you. Currently, Angi charges a 25% cancellation fee, so you could spend a hefty amount of money depending on how long you have left on your contract.
Advertising costs aren’t transparent. Angi’s fees operate on a custom pricing model.
The advertising cost isn’t transparent since it’s on a custom pricing basis.
Another disadvantage is that you can’t count on the quality or quantity of your leads.
You may need to experiment so that you’re able to optimize Angi’s features for your unique business.
A Few Negatives to Consider About Houzz
Like Angi, Houzz can charge cancellation fees if a business wants to cancel an advertising contract.
The bigger the contract, or the more time left, means a more considerable financial loss.
Your fantastic profile doesn’t guarantee success.
If there’s competition from another contractor who pays to get ahead, you may lose out.
Even if you pay for advertising, you’re not guaranteed success.
If you don’t put the time, effort, and marketing dollars into your profile, you likely won’t generate many new leads.
Houzz owns your portfolio—at least the images.
Is Angi or Houzz Better for Your Business?
After exploring some of the advantages and disadvantages of Angi’s vs. Houzz, you probably have a few ideas of which one is better for your business.
If you’re looking at marketing for home remodelers and want to target your local market, Angi could work well for you.
When considering marketing for home builders, Houzz could be the better choice.
Since the platform caters to people looking for inspiration for home improvement projects, including home building ideas, you may get lucrative leads.
Keep in mind that there are also other places to advertise your business online.
Is There an Alternative In the Angi’s vs. Houzz Discussion?
Now that you’ve had a chance to explore the similarities and differences between two popular digital marketing services, are you hoping there’s something else?
Most home builders and remodeling contractors don’t have the time or expertise to play around with optimizing online profiles and chasing leads, and we get it!
That’s why Online Visibility Pros does the heavy lifting for you; first, we collaborate to collect the necessary information to create a game plan and strategy that fits your marketing goals and budget. Then we develop a presentation that allows us to review your current position online and get help from online lead generation experts.
Over the past 10 years of working with home builders, home remodelers, landscape contractors, and countless other service businesses, we built and executed these plans and helped our clients experience great success, check out case studies here.
From competitive analysis, planning, and strategy to building, implementing, and optimizing (managing for results), Online Visibility Pros is your one-stop-shop for digital marketing services.
Reach out today for information on Schedule a Fast Action Plan.
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