Home staging writing is one of the key ways you’ll promote your business online and attract new customers you haven’t even heard of yet.

It’s really hard to sit down to a blank screen to write your next home staging blog, website or newsletter article. I know, because I’ve been doing it since 2002.

Some days I’m sure there is nothing new left to talk about after writing more than a thousand articles on the topic. On other days, ideas just pour out of me. Here are 5 tips to get you started and hopefully break through that “writers block.”

1. Write a terrible first draft.

It’s hard to be a writer and an editor at the same time. It will really take the pressure off when you give yourself permission to write a terrible first draft. Just start writing whatever comes to mind. You can always go back and fix it later.

2. Change locations.

When I was writing my first magazine article back in the 1990s, I was totally stuck.  I’d been hired to write a marketing column for Profit Magazine. Never having been published before, I was terrified I couldn’t really write something good enough to justify the $700 fee they were paying me.

I spent two frustrating days forcing myself to sit in front of my desktop computer, typing and deleting sentence after sentence.

Finally, in desperation I grabbed a pen and pad and headed out of my condo. While waiting for the elevator, I suddenly had all these ideas and jotted them down as fast as I could. By the time the elevator arrived, I turned around and went back to my computer with my scribbled notes from the hallway.

Today, when I’m really stuck I take my laptop or a notebook out to a cafe and write there. Heck, it worked for JK Rowling, why not us?

3. What do home staging clients ask you?

If one person has asked you a home staging, redesign or color question, the chances are hundreds of others are wondering the same thing. These can be great topic ideas for your own articles to use in your home staging blog, website or newsletter.

Think about the questions you’ve heard in casual conversation, by email or in online discussion groups.

4. Showcase a completed home staging project.

Choose a before and after photo from your home staging portfolio and turn it into an article that showcases your services on your home staging website, blog or newsletter.

Explain the home staging or decorating changes you made and why. Ideally you’ll also be able to include the results achieved (example, the house sold in 5 days at full asking price) and a client testimonial. If it’s a home staging project, you should be able to use a quote from both the home seller and the real estate agent involved.

5. Write about something in the news.

Use something in the news as a jumping off point for your own home staging writing or decorating article. For example, when the Pantone Color Institute chooses their color of the year, I write an article about it and how it’s relevant to home staging. I must admit, finding what to say about Ultra Violet and Emerald was much easier than Radiant Orchid (a color I really don’t like).

Another example is when I wrote about all the write offs you could have in a home staging business when it was close to tax time. In other words, I took something seasonal and turned it into an article that would appeal to my target market of home stagers.

How about writing your top 5 decluttering tips for spring? It will help position you as an expert and help new home staging and redesign clients discover you.

If you really want to save time, I’ve pre-written 24 articles you can use about home staging, decorating and color. They’re inside volumes 1 and 2 of Staging Diva Chronicles.

Home stagers, please share your tips for getting over writer’s block in the comments below. Have you tried any of the strategies I’ve recommended here to help your own home staging writing?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Home Staging and Voice of Possibility Group Inc.

With an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to start and grow a profitable home staging business. With home staging students in 23 countries, she is the author of several home staging guides.