Showcasing Your Work: How Blogging Enhances Your Interior Design Portfolio

If you’re an established interior designer, you likely already have a website with a portfolio of your best work. After all, people who see how you can transform a space are more likely to hire you.

Your portfolio may be great for attracting clients, but it only showcases one facet of who you are as a designer. Blogging is one of the most effective (and underutilized) interior design marketing strategies, and it’s a great step to take if you’re wondering how to get interior design clients. Here’s a look at how blogging can improve your business and some tips for getting started.

Why Use a Blog to Show Off Your Design Work?

Here’s how blogging can help you show off your work beyond what a traditional portfolio can do:

It Expands Your Reach

To the uninitiated, blogs just seem like a helpful addition to a website. They seem like an addendum that can offer advice or entertainment to readers, but that’s all.

What people don’t realize is that while blogs certainly can be helpful and informative, blogging is also one of the best marketing strategies for interior designers. When you strategically place certain keywords in your blogs, your pages are more likely to appear when someone searches for interior designers online. That gets more people to your website — which means more people see your portfolio.

Additionally, when you use your blog as a promotional tool, some people who find your website will be out of your immediate geographical area. That may lead to more clients you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise!

It Keeps Clients Coming Back

Not everyone who stumbles upon your blog is ready to hire an interior designer — yet. The trick is to make an impression on these readers so they remember you when they are in need of your services.

If your blog offers helpful design tips, creative inspiration, or even just entertaining writing, people are likely to keep coming back for more. You’ll stay at the top of their minds, so they come to you when they finally do need to hire a designer.

It Establishes You as a Thought Leader

When clients are looking for someone to design their living spaces, they don’t want to hire just anyone. They want to ensure the designer they work with knows what they’re doing. Thankfully, if you run a blog that regularly publishes valuable content beyond just your portfolio, you’ll earn the respect of would-be clients and fellow designers alike.

To build your authority, try including posts on topics like these:

• Insights into the industry
• Notes and thoughts on current design trends
• Your design ideas and tips
• Conversations with other designers (or even guest posts)

Remember, it’s essential that these blog posts are original, professional, and high-quality. If they’re unimaginative, dull, or poorly written, they might actually drive potential clients away!

It Personalizes You

If potential clients feel like they know you, they’ll be more likely to book you when they need an interior designer. The truth is that your audience isn’t just on your site for polished photos — they love behind-the-scenes glimpses that make them feel connected.

For example, imagine a possible client stumbling upon your portfolio. When they see the spaces you’ve designed, they’re impressed. But when all they see is the finished product, you don’t seem like a real, relatable person.

However, if you include a video of a work in progress or a look at your workspace, the client will start to feel like they know you. That’s good news for your business. After all, people are more likely to hire someone they know!

How Do You Effectively Present Your Work on Your Blog?

Don’t forget that your blog is one of the best vehicles you have for showcasing your work. However, it only works that way if you present your work effectively. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

Include High-Quality Images

You know that the work you do is top-notch. But if you use a cheap camera or bad lighting and upload poor-quality photos, your audience isn’t going to think so.

Hiring a professional photographer can’t hurt, but many independent designers aren’t able to do so — especially if they’re still figuring out how to start an interior design business. So if you don’t have the means to hire a professional photographer, invest in a good camera, even if it’s just a high-quality phone camera. You might also want to take some inspiration from designers you admire. Look at their websites and pay close attention to how they photograph the spaces they create.

Keep in mind that these images aren’t only important for your blog. They’re also essential for drawing viewers to your interior design social media pages.

Know How to Tell a Good Story

It’s easy to get so caught up in keywords, photos, and other elements of a blog that you forget about one of the most important factors: the writing itself. If your writing isn’t compelling, your audience may get bored and leave. And if the writing is especially bad, you’ll look unprofessional. The same goes for the copy you use in interior design email marketing campaigns!

It’s important to have quality writing, but you’ll also want to make sure you can craft a great story. Exactly how you do so will depend on the blog post, but in general, you’ll want to include three general elements:

• The Setting: What type of space are you designing? What’s the context?
• The Challenge/Problem: What is your client asking for? What kind of mood are you trying to create?
• The Solution: What strategies and materials did you use to create the finished product?

Of course, these points are rather broad, and you don’t have to follow them exactly. The main takeaway is to frame each post as a narrative or a journey — make your audience want to come along for the ride!

Show the Process

This is kind of like telling a story, and it’s another way to keep your audience engaged. Before-and-after pictures are great, but showing your audience how you got there is even better. When you show off your style, your thought process, and any challenges you run into along the way, you’re showing your audience that you’re an expert in the field.

Highlight What Makes You Unique

When it comes to marketing for interior designers, one of the most effective strategies is to set yourself apart from the competition. After all, your potential clients have a wide array of options to choose from. Why should they choose you?

You don’t have to make your uniqueness the sole focus of your posts, but when it’s natural and appropriate, take the opportunity to emphasize it. For example, let’s say you enjoy creating spaces with unconventional color schemes. If you’re doing a blog post on a space like this, draw attention to the new color scheme and how it’s transformed the space for the better.

Create Brilliant Blog Posts With Behind the Design

A strong blog can make the difference between a bare-bones design business and a full roster of clients. And believe it or not, creating blog posts can even be fun once you get the hang of it! However, for many designers, getting started can be quite a challenge.

But what if there was a road map guiding you through meaningful, effective blog posts that will attract and maintain an audience? Thankfully, there is such a guide, and it can be yours for free. Download our list of 150 blog posts your audience will love, and get started on your blog today!