Houzz expands paid marketing program to hundreds of markets

Home design and remodeling website Houzz took a big step today in further monetizing its home remodeling platform by expanding its paid marketing service to hundreds of markets and burnishing the product with new analytics tools.

The website announced today that it has rolled out its Pro+ program — which offers geo-targeted marketing to its users — to 425 markets. Since the end of 2012, the company had been offering a beta version of the product to just 12 markets. Pro+ will also now feature analytics tools that will help users tweak their image on Houzz to reach more consumers in their markets.

"With this powerful new analytics tool, remodeling professionals will be armed with real-time insights on how their profile and portfolio are resonating with the homeowner community, enabling them to make adjustments and craft the most effective brand presence possible to attract the right clients," said Houzz CEO Adi Tatarko in a statement.

Houzz already boasts a roster of more than 190,000 active home-improvement professionals including architects, interior designers and landscapers, the company said. The professionals may use the website to showcase their work, collect reviews of it and engage in discussions with members of the Houzz community. In all, over 14 million people visit Houzz every month, and 90 percent of them are homeowners, said Liza Hausman, vice president of community at Houzz.

Roswell, Ga.-based general contractor Clark Harris is just one professional who has profited from Houzz’s free service.

"I had a project that turned into a $100,000+ three floor remodel project with great clients, never met the people before and they found me on Houzz. She saw a kitchen I had done, called me, we met and she hired me after interviewing five other contractors they had met previously through friend referrals," he said in a statement that Houzz provided to Inman News.

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Since Houzz introduced Pro+, Harris has signed up for the program, Hausman said. Pro+’s primary benefit is that it advertises subscribers’ business profiles and portfolios to site visitors who live in their markets. The newly added analytics tool will help subscribers assess the impact of that exposure by providing data on visitors’ interactions with their profiles and portfolios.