Talor Stewart is a licensed architect based in Shaftsbury, Vermont who specializes in custom home design. His approach goes beyond just building structures. He helps homeowners create spaces that reflect their personality and values through what he calls “conscious home design.”
Talor reached out to us looking to drive more leads, from $47 entry-level offers all the way up to high-end custom home projects. He also wanted to improve his SEO so the right clients could find him online. In this article, we’ll walk through our audit of his digital presence and share what we’d recommend to get more of those dream clients coming through the door.
What does Talor’s online presence look like?
Talor has two websites, Vermont Home Design and Conscious Home Design, along with a Facebook page with about 16,000 followers. He’s also been on over 100 podcasts, has a book, and lists media appearances on NBC, CBS, and USA Today on his website.
That sounds impressive on paper. But when we dug into the data, the numbers told a different story.
Facebook has followers but no engagement
Despite 16,000 followers, the Facebook page gets almost no engagement.
The content is mostly quote cards, audiograms, and links to podcast appearances.
These are all top-of-funnel content types that look busy but aren’t converting into conversations or clients.
One review on Facebook doesn’t help either. Even having a few friends leave honest reviews would start building some social proof.
SEO is essentially starting from zero
Vermont Home Design has a domain rating of 3 and ranks on zero keywords. No search traffic is coming through. Conscious Home Design has a similar problem with zeros across the board.
Both sites have a large number of backlinks, but the vast majority are spam.
They weren’t purchased intentionally, they just accumulated over time.
These spam links do nothing to build authority and in some cases can actually hurt.
What’s missing are real, relevant, high-authority backlinks from trusted sources in the architecture and home design space.
Google Business Profile needs work
Talor does have a Google Business Profile for Vermont, but it appears to be a service area business using a PO box rather than a physical office. There’s only one review. For a local service business competing in the custom home market, more reviews and a proper storefront address would significantly improve visibility in local search results.
Websites lack proof
The websites read more like brochures than conversion tools. There are general tips about home design philosophy, links to podcast appearances, and media logos. But it’s hard to find detailed examples of actual projects Talor has completed. The “as seen on” media mentions were also difficult to verify through search, which weakens their impact.
What should Talor do next?
1. Create a few powerful case studies
This is the single most important recommendation. Talor needs two or three in-depth case studies that show a real project from start to finish. Start with the homeowner’s vision, walk through the design decisions, show the architectural plans, document the process, and reveal the finished home.
Think of it like a documentary. People should feel like they’re following along and witnessing Talor’s expertise in action. This is far more convincing than quote cards or general tips about what makes a house a home.
These case studies become the foundation for everything else. They can be featured on the website, shared on Facebook, turned into YouTube videos, discussed on podcasts, and referenced in the book. Quality over quantity wins here.
2. Focus on the Vermont Home Design brand
With two websites and multiple brands, the effort is spread too thin. For generating actual revenue from high-end clients, the Vermont Home Design brand should take priority. That means getting a proper office address that meets Google’s storefront requirements, even if it’s a modest $200 per month rental. It means collecting more Google reviews from real clients. And it means making the website a conversion machine backed by those case studies rather than a digital business card.
The educational brand and book funnel can still exist, but income from high-ticket architecture clients should come first. The author and speaker credibility tends to follow naturally once the proof of real work is established.
3. Let the content serve the proof
Talor doesn’t need more content. He needs better content.
The podcast tour, the quote cards, the audiograms, none of these are driving measurable engagement or traffic right now. Instead of producing more volume, take those few powerful case studies and repurpose them strategically. A long-form YouTube video of a project walkthrough. Clips for Facebook and Instagram. Blog posts with real photos and architectural details. Guest appearances on podcasts where Talor can reference specific projects instead of speaking in generalities.
This is what we call the Content Factory. Start with a few really meaty long-form pieces of content, then process, post, and promote them across channels. But it all starts with having something genuinely compelling to share.
If you want us to take a look at your business the same way we did for Talor, request a Quick Audit here:
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is the CEO of Local Service Spotlight, a platform that amplifies the reputations of contractors and local service businesses using the Content Factory process. He is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other brands.
Dennis has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs by partnering with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Through Local Service Spotlight, he teaches the Dollar a Day strategy and Content Factory training to help local service businesses enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring.
Dennis coaches young adult agency owners serving plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians, and believes there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers must be certified.