Home Staging Glossary by Staging Diva

A web-based service that allows users to connect with others for personal or business purposes. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, and Active Rain.

Spiders are programs used to scour the Internet, feeding web pages to search engines. They're called spiders because of the way they crawl the "web". They move from one web page or one web site to another by following links. They're also known as web crawlers.

There are several associations claiming to be "the voice of the home staging industry." It's important to know that none of these organizations are completely independent (and therefore unbiased) associations in the home staging field. All are tied in some way to a particular training company (because they are owned by them, or their owners hold executive positions within the organization) or they are tied to a group of training companies (because they pay to be endorsed by the association). When determining which one to join, look carefully at the benefits you'll get for the amount paid. Don't automatically assume that membership will give you instant credibility since home staging is a completely unregulated field and there are many associations. Some stagers enjoy association membership because of the connection with fellow home stagers or other benefits. Others, don't belong to any staging associations and have built very successful home staging businesses without that.

When a home stager visits a client’s home to provide advice for staging the property to sell. For tips on how to improve your home staging consultations, see this article: New tool for home stagers makes staging consultations easier.

Established in 2004, Staging Diva® is one of the most recognized and respected names in home staging today. Created by real estate staging expert Debra Gould, the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program teaches HGTV fans and others how to use their decorating talent to grow a successful home staging business. There are many Staging Diva products and services available to help new and established home stagers alike. Staging Diva is a registered trademark of Six Elements Inc.

A monthly group coaching call hosted by home staging expert Debra Gould where Staging Diva Graduates get a chance to work through challenges with fellow grads and the Staging Diva herself. Learn more about Staging Diva Dialog.

A highly trafficked directory of home stagers made up entirely of Staging Diva Graduates who pay a fee to have their business listed there. A full or "Profile" listing can act as a home stager's website as it contains three sets of before and after photos, contact details and sales copy. "Mini" listings are also available as a less expensive option but both options help to improve a stager's page rank. Homeowners and real estate agents search the directory to find a professional home stager in their area. Learn more about how to join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

Someone who has completed all five of the Staging Diva home staging courses is considered a Staging Diva Graduate. Graduates are eligible to participate in exclusive programs including monthly Staging Diva Dialog calls, Staging Diva Network and the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

An online forum (discussion group) exclusive to Staging Diva Graduates where they congregate to share triumphs, solve problems and combat feelings of isolation that often come with being a home-based entrepreneur. Questions are answered by home staging expert Debra Gould as well as fellow Staging Diva Graduates. Discussion topics are all organized in a searchable database. Learn more about this discussion group for home stagers.

Someone who has ordered one, two, three or four Staging Diva home staging courses. A Staging Diva Student becomes a Graduate after all five courses in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program are completed. Read student comments about the Staging Diva program.

A photograph or image that is rented or sold to third parties for their own use. Some stock photos are royalty free and therefore available without a fee. As professional home stagers, we should not be using stock photos of house interiors or exteriors as this amounts to little more than a fake portfolio which misleads potential clients. If caught using stock images, you will have trouble regaining your credibility. Clients want to know what YOU can do, not see photos of someone else's work. Instead, stagers must build their own portfolios using photos of projects they've actually worked on. Learn more about how to build your home staging portfolio.

The group of people that your prospects belong to. They can be identified along demographic lines (age, sex, location, occupation, income level) or psychographic lines (attitudes, aspirations). Since you have only so much time and money to spend on marketing, it’s important to be very specific and deliberate in determining your target market. For additional information on picking the appropriate target market, refer to Course 4 of the Staging Diva Training Program: Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business.

An individual post or message on Twitter. These are limited to 140 characters which makes Twitter less time consuming than many social networking sites. Each "tweet" is indexed by search engines which makes Twitter a great tool for boosting the page rank of your website. To learn how to use Twitter to boost your search engine ranking, get attention as a home stager and increase your home staging business, see the Home Stager’s Guide to Twitter: Building Your Home Staging Business One “Tweet” at a Time.

A social networking site that allows people to communicate with each other using short messages known as “tweets.” Think of Twitter as an open meeting place where people from all over the world can interact with each other online, sharing instant news and opinions on everything from celebrity gossip and natural disasters to real estate and home staging. To learn how to use Twitter to gain access to the right people, get attention as a home stager and increase your home staging business, see the Home Stager’s Guide to Twitter: Building Your Home Staging Business One “Tweet” at a Time.

An acronym that stands for “Universal Resource Locator.” A URL is basically an address like http://www.experthomestagingtraining.com or http://www.sixelements.com/home-staging-house-fluffing that computer servers use to find information on the Internet. Websites are usually made up of a group of pages, each with their own URL. Every image that appears on a website also has its own URL. To buy your own domain or URL, visit a site like www.GoDaddy.com .

There are two types of virtual staging: (1) A service in which a home stager provides staging advice over the phone after analyzing photos of a client’s home. This type of virtual staging allows clients to work with stagers outside their geographic areas. (2) A service in which computer software is used to manipulate photographs of vacant rooms in a client’s home to make it look like the rooms are furnished. A stager does not visit the home and no real furniture goes in the house. Additional reading: Virtual Staging or Just Misleading Pictures?

A company that stores your website files on one of their computers and makes your site accessible to others on the Internet. In other words, if you want to have a website, first you must pay to register your domain name, then you must pay to have your website developed (or build it yourself), then you pay to have it hosted. One example of a web host is GoDaddy.com. Staging Diva Graduates can have their own Profile Listing or Mini Listing hosted in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. In this case, Staging Diva becomes your web host.

Your “web presence” often refers to your website, but can also include your blog articles or your public activity on social networking sites. Graduates of the Staging Diva Training Program can quickly create a powerful web presence by getting a listing in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

The term “white hat” refers to any search engine optimization (SEO) technique that follows generally accepted guidelines. White hat techniques are often geared toward both the search engines as well as humans. For more information on acceptable SEO techniques, see Course 4 of the Staging Diva Training Program.