Archmark

We tested more than 10,000 architecture firm websites. 85% scored below 50 out of 100.

That's not a technical problem, it's a positioning one.

Most firms treat their site like a portfolio and forget it's there to win work.

The full breakdown, and what the firms who score well do differently, is in the case study SEOptimer published: check the comments.

Getting more inquiries can feel like winning. But if they're the wrong fit, you lose valuable time, energy, and potential money.

And you don't just lose that project, you take time and energy away from existing projects.

Mike was fielding 500 inquiries a year, and 95% of those calls didn't fit his practice. The fix wasn't more calls, it was more of the right clients: we helped him improve his conversion from 5% to 60% in six months.

Full story in the comments.

Your architecture firm website isn't for other architects. It's for your future clients.

If your site shows beautiful work but says little about who you help and the outcome they get, you're asking prospects to do the translating. Most won't. They'll just leave.

I discussed this with SEOptimer, including the fix that took one firm from a 5% to 60% conversion rate in just six months.

Learn more in the comments

For most architecture firms, the answer to the question of whether their website is brining in inquiries is "Dunno??" 🤷‍♂️🤦

- Is it bringing in the right inquiries.
- Is it quietly sending them elsewhere?

Usually no one's ever looked (or even setup) analytics, so no one knows???

But guessing isn't a strategy.

You're just leaving it to luck.

But once you can see what's driving the right inquiries, you can do more of it on purpose.

SEOptimer published a case study of how this situation unfolded for an architect overwhelmed with unsuitable inquiries.

You can find the full story in the comments.

"I just don't have time for marketing my architecture firm."

I hear it constantly. And it's almost never the real reason.

Here's what's actually happening. You sit down to write an email, or a new website page, or a post.

But you freeze.

Not because you have nothing to say (you've got twenty years of expertise), but because turning that expertise into words feels like a second profession you never trained for.

So the browser tab stays open. The cursor keeps blinking. And eventually you get frustrated and go back to designing, the thing you're actually good at.

That's not a discipline problem. It's a friction problem. And friction wins every time you're slammed, which seems like always.

The best firm in town is so often the one nobody's heard of. Not because they're lazy. Because the blank page beat them, quietly, week after week.

Name the real obstacle and you can actually solve it. You don't need more willpower. You need to remove the friction between what you know and what you publish.

What's the one marketing task that's been sitting undone on your list the longest?

Architects, tiered pricing isn't about charging more. It's about changing the question your client is answering.

Here's the mechanics, because it's subtle and it matters.

A single-option proposal asks one thing: yes or no?

And when a client is staring at a large number with "no" sitting right there as an option, no is the safe answer. Every time.

A tiered proposal asks a completely different question: which of these fits us best?

Same firm. Same services. The conversation quietly shifts from whether to hire you to how to work with you.

Three things make it work:

1. Frame each tier around the client's goals, not your deliverables.

"Schematic design, design development, CDs" means nothing to a homeowner. What they get, and why, does.

2. Make the options easy to compare at a glance.

Three clear paths, not three dense paragraphs.

3. Don't pad the middle just to push it.

Each tier has to be a real, honest way to work with you.

One architect built her tiered proposal in an afternoon in our EA Academy program, and it's now a permanent part of her firm's system.

Want to get a taste of the program for free? Get our free email mini-course. Link in commets.