Blog - Page 12 of 27 - HSR Home Staging Certification Training

Website Checklist for Stagers

The number one reason home stagers fail is because their website was slow, dated and not personal... 

In essence, their website doesn't "WORC" for them.  This is why at the Home Staging Resource we provide wholesale websites for stagers in our Premium Website package and are always updating this product!  Here's a quick video about our new amazing website technology that checks all the boxes in our "Website Checklist for Stagers":


If you're not sure what a website that "WORC"s looks like, here's a handy checklist you can use to make sure your website is not killing your business...

Free 33-Point Website Checklist for Home Stagers!

Easy checklist to make sure your website is not killing your business!

Download it Now! lorem ipsum dolor

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Here are more things to consider to get your website working for you...​

Website Image Must ROCK!

Do you upgrade your cell phone every couple years?  Then why don't you upgrade your business website?!  Website styles and technology have evolved and what looked good a few years back, appears busy and dated today. 

Stagers are in the "image industry" so their website has to be updated and beautiful!

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  • Professionally designed...not homemade!
  • Clear navigation, clean lines and no more than a few colors
  • Website must look great on ALL DEVICES (responsive)!  Look at your site on your phone.
  • Easy to read, consistent look and feel
  • Portfolio's must clearly show your talent (see my how-to video)
  • A hero image or memorable logo (see my "How to Make a Logo" Video!)

Optimized for Search Engines

What's the point of building a gorgeous and updated website if no one can find it?  Using industry specific key words along with your location specific keywords is key to Google knowing where to slot your website in the billions of search results. 

Websites are not an "if you build it, they will come" sort of thing.  You have to navigate traffic to it!

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  • ​Is built on a WordPress platform which Google loves?
  • Industry keywords that make it easy for folks to find you online
  • Consider how you would search for a painter in your area and write down all those location specific key words
  • Couple the industry key words with the location key words
  • All of our websites have the best SEO plugin installed and keywords strategically placed
  • Images that load fast, so that visitors don't click away

Relationship Driven

What's the point of having a gorgeous and optimized website if you don't collect your visitor's email address and create a relationship?  On average, it takes 7 "touches" for your prospect to become a buyer.

People buy from who they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST.  Does your website have those three key ingredients? #websitesforstagers

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  • Give something of "value" in order to get an email address (like staging statistics or tips)
  • Have a blog on your website to build trust and credibility (see my 5 Essential Blog Tips)
  • Always have a photo of you on your website - Take it outside in good lighting!
  • Use a light box to capture new visitors or returning visitors
  • HSR websites have a sophisticated, premium, lead generating plugin built in!
  • Make sure your social media connections are at the top of every page!

Credibility Building

Would you go to a hair stylist who had bad hair?  An ugly or dated website automatically makes prospects believe you have bad staging taste....they will make the same connection.  A beautiful website builds credibility in your work... 

You may be brand new to staging but if your website looks better than a veterans website from 2013...you will get the client.

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  • Customize the look and feel of your website to match your brand
  • Have the ability to completely change the colors, fonts, images and look at the click of the button
  • Use video and slideshows to display your work
  • Have testimonial boxes that look great, guarantees and calls to action

At the end of the day, your website is the most critical marketing tool you own.  Taking the time to update and understand it will be key to your success!

Free 33-Point Website Checklist for Home Stagers!

Easy checklist to make sure your website is not killing your business!

Download it Now! lorem ipsum dolor

Make sure to download our FREE “33-Point Website Checklist for Stagers” in order to make sure your website is helping NOT hurting your business!

Staging a Home Based on Price

staging a home

I love creating things to help home stagers communicate the "art" of what they do better!  I had so much fun creating this new PowerPoint presentation to put in the HSR Certification Training that I had to share a video of it!  The video is about what can happen when a seller or agent picks a home stager based on price.  Staging a home based on price alone can be disastrous...

Never pick a home stager based purely on price since not all staging is equal!

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In the HSR training, I have quite a few different powerpoint presentations for stagers to customize and present to real estate agents or seller.  This particular presentation is meant to be humorous and given to sellers or agents who are seeking a stager for a vacant home project.

Staging a Home Based on Price Slideshow


Why You Usually Always Get What You Pay For...

The slide that shows the example price differences between IKEA furnishings and Pottery Barn is a good reminder that you can't pay like IKEA and expect Restoration Hardware.  You always have to consider the luxury level, style and scale of the home before thinking about furnishings.

It's critical for stagers to communicate the VALUE of what they offer visually! Great staging is an art.

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In the Vacant Home Staging PowerPoint presentation I created for stagers to use I also added blank slides for them to add their own photos and text.  The presentation shows how staging a home based on the lowest priced home stager is not usually a good idea since you get what you pay for when it comes to staging a home!  With vacant staging, a home stager can have lower prices when they haven’t really spent on quality furnishings…this will show in your product.

Staging Ideas

staging-ideas

Audra's Favorite Staging Accessories

I've started curating some of my favorite, staging ideas for universal staging accessories that seem to go with everything!  These tools and accessories follow my rules for buying which are:

  • Must be lightweight!
  • Must be somewhat neutral
  • Ideally have some bling or texture to it
  • Looks much more expensive than it really is!
  • Trending now
  • Memorable (makes a statement)
  • Looks great with any kind of large furnishing
  • Multi-purposeful and can be used almost anywhere in the home
50+ Favorite Staging Accessories & Tools

This is a growing list of staging ideas for what kinds of accessories to shop for that will work with almost every staging job.  If you have any other great accessories you recommend, include it in the comments below with a link, so I can add it to this growing list…thanks!

Realtors Who Stage…

realtor staging training

4 Secrets to Success for REALTORS® Who Are Also Home Stagers

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from agents looking for "Realtor Staging Training". I get it, the market is hot and home staging works to get the price the seller is hoping for BUT…not all agents can be stagers. Why?  I’ve found in the over 10 years of training, there’s a formula to agents who have great success selling AND home staging themselves.

Living Room Before Staging

realtor staging training

After Staging by Sinatro Real Estate, Staging and Design

I’m going to give you my secrets but also share a true, success story (with before and after photos) from an HSR grad who does both Real Estate and staging very successfully!

1.  They Have the "Staging Sickness”

What is the "Staging Sickness”? The sickness is those folks who have been rearranging their rooms since they were children. That's it.  I've found that the best home stagers ALL have been rearranging their rooms since they were children.  Now if you think that everyone does that, you are VERY wrong.  Trust me, most people never rearranged their rooms as children (my two teenage boys have never done this!)  The point I'm trying to make is this...

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Great home staging is an art form born out of an innate passion for design. You were either born with that passion or not.

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Michael Sinatro of Sinatro Real Estate, Staging and Design out of Hartford, CT has the "sickness". He's not your typical stager as a young, father and husband with a background in selling high-end furnishings and textiles to designers.  Michael decided to quit that job and become a real estate agent who also stages and helps with move-in design which is a unique business model.

Michael and his adorable family

2.  They Know Their Limitations

You cannot be all things to all people. Being a 6-figure agent and a 6-figure home stager are usually two separate jobs, so unless you have the “sickness” outsource the work to someone who does.

In Michaels case, he outsourced the job of being an agent on this project to an agent who was more knowledgeable about the area. He staged the home beautifully but understood that he could not deliver the best to his client on the selling side, and sourced that portion out. By knowing his limitations, he created trust and lifelong clients in the seller and agent he worked with.

Bedroom Before

realtor staging training

Bedroom After Sinatro Real Estate, Staging and Design

3. They Take Great Care of Their Relationships

I’ve heard some agents who stage say that other agents will not refer staging business their way because they don’t trust them not to steal their client. Trust is an issue and being trustworthy and recognizing that the agent is your most important client of all (for stagers) is essential to success.

The successful staging agents that I know are constantly referred staging business from other agents because they can A.) Trust them B.) Know they have extreme talent (the “sickness”) and C.) Know that they are qualified…which leads me to the fourth point...

Bathroom Before Staging

realtor staging training

Bathroom After Staging by Sinatro

4. They Invest in Their Credentials & Education

Real Estate Agents understand almost better than any other industry the need to constantly educate yourself on your industry. Home Staging Certification when done right should NEVER end! Why? The art of home staging is closely aligned with design and the real estate market which are two constantly changing, evolving industries.

Realtor staging training should involve not only the "how to" but also the business logistics to serving other agents with your staging business.​

When you decide to become a professional home stager you are committing yourself to lifelong learning as an entrepreneur

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Is Staging a Career for You?

What other traits have you seen allow agents who also stage to be successful?

I’m going to give you my secrets but also share a true, success story (with before and after photos) from an HSR grad who does both Real Estate and staging very successfully!

Perfect Business for New Moms

business for new moms

Having just come back from speaking at the Real Estate Staging Convention I have so many, amazing stories to tell about the people who take a leap of faith, follow their design passion (and talent), take our HSR Certification training and are now loving life!  I have tons of photos to share too but I wanted to get this story out which showed home staging to be the perfect business for a new mom.

One such story, I had to share right away was Asha Thune Clarks of Haven Space Designs an Austin, TX based home stager.  I love her story because it shows how she created the perfect business for new moms and so represents what I hear daily from people wondering if they can do this. 

Asha was a new mom when she started the HSR training four years ago and wanted a business that could work around her hours, allow her to contribute to the family finances and still make all the important events in her children’s lives.  That's when she found my training!

Here's Her Inspiring Story and Impressive Portfolio...

One of my very favorite childhood memories was walking into my bedroom and discovering that my mom had surprised me with a beautiful new bedspread. I can still feel the fabric and could pick that particular shade of pink out of a lineup any day. I could not have been more than four years old, but I vividly remember the beauty of my newly, lovingly designed room and how it made me feel: special, loved, and perfectly at peace (as much as a four-year-old recognizes peace).

Throughout the many years that followed, I looked at houses inside and out and loved how the built environment influenced the way I felt. My husband still finds my habit of asking him to slow down as we drive past warmly lit houses at night a bit creepy, but I just love how life happens inside a space that looks and feels beautiful.

When I was around ten, my mom started working for Any Baby Can, an amazing organization that helps families with children with special needs or chronic illnesses. I would tag along on many of her endeavors. One such trip brought us to a small house where we delivered Thanksgiving dinner. I will never forget driving up to the house and once inside, realizing that the dirt floors were not a temporary inconvenience during a remodel or construction; it was the way of life. My heart was changed so strongly that I found myself engaged in as much volunteer work during my high school years as I could find.

When I was accepted into the UT School of Social Work, it seemed fitting; however, I had this nagging voice that wouldn’t let me ignore the dream of creating interior spaces that look and feel beautiful. After all, I was the girl who introduced herself to her would-be college roommate not by saying what my hobbies and interests were but by telling her that our dorm room would be decorated in purple and to please be sure she coordinated her bedding accordingly. Miraculously, she is still one of my most treasured friends.

I completed my graduate degree in Social Work and years went by. I found myself enjoying my career at a local non-profit for several years, but the feeling of “what if I could do what I really love” never went away. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband encouraged me to take a leap of faith and make a change since we were about to embark on the biggest change of all. I wanted to be sure that whatever I did, I made it official; I started researching Professional Staging Certification programs. I found HSR and began the training.

I was a kid in a candy store going through the modules and learning more not just about how to stage and decorate but how to run my own business.

Before I even completed the training, I had my first client. I was in a total panic and made a couple frantic calls to Audra to get guidance on how to proceed as if I knew what I was doing. HSR gave me tools that helped me move confidently forward. I cannot believe that this journey started almost three years ago. My business has grown steadily, along with my family.

I specialize in Occupied Consultations and also work with design clients who want to improve their living spaces. I also now have a 10-month-old little boy. It is an amazing gift to live near my own mother who helps juggle – I mean watch- the little ones when I meet with clients. I get to plan my work around their needs and never have to miss out on special moments or events. As ridiculous as it sounds, I often find myself driving away from clients’ homes with a smile on my face.

I was recently asked the age-old “if you won the lottery, would you quit the next day” question. Without a doubt, my answer is “No!” I love what I do, I love the people I get to help, I love the realtors I work for who want the best for their clients, and I love that HSR helped turn my life-long daydream into my real-life job.

Woohoo, how cool is that?!

Thank you Asha for sharing your story and talent to encourage others!   This is an amazing industry because of people like you.
If you're reading this and thinking about becoming a home stager and creating your story...then watch my free video about how to become a home stager below...

Could “ Home Staging" be a Career for You?

Don’t miss this..!!

  • 7 Key Questions to Ask Yourself
  • What the Cost is to Starting this Business
  • Do You Have the Personality for This Industry?
  • How You Know If You Have the Design Talent?
Watch it Now »

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