Los Angeles Home Staging Info

I had the great honor of attending the Real Estate Staging Association 2010 International Home Staging Conference in Las Vegas this past week.

View from my 32nd floor hotel room at the Treasure Island. Yes, thats snow on the mountains from last week's storm.

I finally (and joyfully) got to meet so many people that I've gotten to know here on Active Rain, Twitter and FaceBook. It was truly a pleasure to spend time with old friends plus all the new people who hadn't discovered Active Rain yet (don't worry, I shared the secret with them all).

Everyone raptly listened to the Panel of Experts: Christine Rae, Jackson West, Audra Slinkey, Joanne Lenart Weary & Matthew Finlason

The conference was SOLD OUT! It was a huge success, attended by 220 home stagers from across the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. I didn't hear a single complaint, except that there was so much information to absorb it was hard to keep up. The list of speakers and presenters was phenomenal and covered the gamut from a copyright and trademark attorney (Eric Pelton), to Ashley Whittenberger on how to figure out what to charge, to Ricardo Bueno on how to use social networking to grow your business, to Matthew Finlason on his experience on The Stagers and the importance of the Real Estate Staging Association to home stagers. This is just a few of the many talented individuals who shared their knowledge with us.

Stagers from every designation were welcome, and most of the top home staging training schools were represented by their students.

I'm sorry that its over and all my friends and staging buddies have spread to the 4 corners of the world. We've already started planning the next International Staging Conference. I can't wait to see everyone again!

I got a Los Angeles home staging job today, and it was one of the easiest jobs I have ever gotten. I did not know the agent - I had never worked with her or met her before. She got my name from another Realtor in her office who receives my email newsletter. This Realtor was looking for a home stager in Los Angeles because she was listing one of her own investment properties. She knew the fastest way to get it sold was to stage it.

What did I do to get this job so easily?

• I responded to the Realtor's email promtly
• I responded with the information she had requested
• I anticipated her additional questions and included that information in my response
• My response was professional - it came from a professional sounding email address Michelle@MovingMountainsDesign.com and I have a professional looking home staging website.
  
• I confirmed my appointment
• I showed up on time

I know this is why I got the job because she told me. As she handed me the deposit check, she said she had contacted other stagers regarding this job. I was the first one to respond and she was impressed with my professionalism and the fact that I had anticipated her questions. She appreciated my straightforward attitude - my company policies were clearly defined in my email. I won her trust.

I didn't get this job because I am the best home stager in Los Angeles. I got it because I responded promptly & professionally. It was that easy.

I am constantly astounded at how many jobs I get because other stagers didn't return emails or phone calls promptly, didn't show up on time or didn't present themselves professionally.

Want to get more home staging jobs?

• Respond to emails & phone calls promptly
• Respond professionally
• Anticipate questions
• Show up on time
• Show up prepared

Its that easy!

I'll be posting photos next week after we stage it.

I hear from (or read about) home stagers, on nearly a daily basis, that are having problems with their home staging websites, with their web designer or their web master. Many of the complaints are about how expensive it is to refresh, change or delete content. Most home staging websites are built in a way that, unless you understand html or coding, it's impossible to make even the smallest changes yourself.

I used to have those same problems with my website for my home staging company. It cost me a fortune to have it built and it never functioned the way I wanted it to. I had to pay extra for each picture upload, so basically the photos I had my web master upload initially were the only photos on my site. My contact form didn't work - I didn't get a single message. But the worst part was that my website didn't show up in Google for ANY search term until after page 30!

I liked the way my website looked, but I hated the way it functioned. I fired my webmaster. I read everything I could get my hands on about html, and I learned how to make a few text changes (I still couldn't add or delete photographs, add pages or links). I couldn't add a blog which I learned was important for SEO. I figured there had to be a better way, so I started experimenting.

I wanted a blog, so I purchased a new URL, found a hosting company that gave great customer support and started building a Wordpress blog from the ground up. It was a very steep learning curve and it took me a couple of months to figure out what I needed to know.

All of a sudden, my new blog site was showing up on page 2 of Google! Then page 1! I decided to try building my own website with a blog included using everything I had learned about search engine optimization and website building. Within a week, I was on page 1 of Google for all my search terms. Awesome!

I told my good friend, Atlanta Home Stager Kathy Nielsen about my success with my website. We worked on a website for her. You can read about it here: I Used To Love My Website.

Kathy and I both realized that we could put all our website knowledge to good use by building websites for home stagers and designers that were experiencing the same frustrations we once did. Thus, Easy Designer Websites came to be.

If you'd like a home staging website that is beautiful, affordable and search engine enhanced, then check out Easy Designer Websites. The best part is, our websites are easy to update, add to, delete or refresh your content YOURSELF. You're in the driver's seat! Click here to see some our sample home staging websites.

Read The Original Easy Designer Website