Referrals are the lifeblood of most architecture studios. They prove your work speaks for itself and that clients are willing to recommend you. But when the goal is to grow your firm with more ideal work or pursue new types of projects, referrals alone may not be enough.

That’s where your website comes in. Done right, it can be more than your studio’s portfolio; it’s an owned business development channel that works around the clock—inviting prospective clients into your story, helping them find you organically, and strengthening your firm’s brand beyond word-of-mouth.

The challenge is that many architecture websites center around a homepage, a portfolio, and a contact page, leaving visitors guessing about what the firm does, their approach, or who it serves. The opportunity to showcase your expertise on your website is huge, and it starts with defining your studio’s focus.

In this article, we’ll cover how to define your studio’s focus so you can build a content marketing strategy that turns your website into a true growth channel.

Why Clear Positioning Matters

Hiring an architecture firm is a big decision. A prospective client’s choice to reach out usually doesn’t come from a single impression—it’s built over multiple touchpoints: seeing your work in the press, coming across a project on social, searching for an architecture firm in their area, looking up your studio’s name or leadership team, reading your newsletter, and more.

When your focus and expertise are clear, you can create content that consistently reinforces it across these touchpoints and the more you’re recognized as the authority. Prospective clients start to trust you. Journalists take notice. And platforms like Google, and increasingly ChatGPT, reward that clarity by making you more visible in search.

For the latter point, a clear focus helps you show up for searches like:

• laneway house architect
• adaptive reuse architecture firm
• residential architects chicago
• office interior design firm

This is how a website becomes more than a portfolio of finished projects. It becomes the foundation of a content strategy for visibility and trust. In doing so, by the time a prospective client is ready to reach out, they already have a clear sense of who you are and whether you’re the right fit.

Start with a Brain Dump

Start by listing the project types you want to pursue and where you’d like more work:

• Sectors: such as single-family residential, multi-residential, adaptive reuse, civic & cultural, or sports architecture.
• Target markets: the cities or communities where you want more work.

Writing these down is only the first step. The next step is making sure you have the assets to support it.

Assess Your Assets

Now that you have a list of sectors and target markets, see what assets you have for each of them.

This is crucial because even the clearest focus can fall flat if you don’t have the proof to back it up. For example, if your studio wants more civic and cultural work but doesn’t yet have built projects, photography, or press in that space, it becomes harder to create a content strategy and website that demonstrates real experience.

Step 1: Review Existing Assets

Take a look at what’s already in place:

• In which sectors and cities do you have completed projects with professional photography?
• Have you earned press or awards for certain project types, or recognition from local AIA chapters or Canadian associations such as the OAA?
• Do you have concept designs, renderings, or models that connect to a particular sector?
• Can past experience at previous studios help reinforce the expertise you want to highlight today?

Examples of Valuable Assets

Chances are, your studio already has many of these on hand, hidden in old proposals, project files, or press mentions:

• Completed projects with professional photography
• Renderings, concept designs, or 3D models
• Construction photos and team photos
• Articles, awards, press features, or design research
• Speaking engagements or panel discussions

Step 2: Planning

Once you’ve clarified where you want to go and sketched out what assets exist, the next step is a deeper audit:

• Map the assets to the sectors and locations you brainstormed earlier
• Identify which assets are strong enough to publish today
• Flag areas where new material needs to be created

This takes you from a brainstorm to a clear plan — building on real strengths while closing the gaps.

How Focus and Assets Come Through on Your Website

Your focus becomes tangible when you turn assets into pages that clearly showcase your expertise. Here are a few examples:

• Homepage: State what you do, who you serve, and where. Example: Hariri Pontarini.
• About page: Share your story, values, and team. Example: END Studio.
• Principal bio pages: Dedicate space to leadership, highlighting credentials, projects, and awards. Example: Olson Kundig.
• Areas of expertise pages: Create a page for each sector you want to grow. Example: Gensler.
• Location pages: Connect your philosophy to regional context. Example: Perkins&Will.

Each of these page types turns your raw assets into proof of expertise and together, they turn your website into a clear business development tool that potential clients will understand.

Learn more in our breakdown of the 12 recommended page types that help studios turn their websites into a business development channel.

Turn Clarity Into Growth

Ultimately, defining your focus and building a plan around it turns your website into more than a portfolio. It helps the right clients find you online, understand what your firm does best, and steadily build trust as you share more work and content in those areas.

Referrals will always remain an important part of growth. But with a clear focus, your website ensures the next project doesn’t only come from who you know; it can also come from someone who discovers your work, sees your expertise, and trusts you to deliver.

How Tiny House Digital Can Help

For us, defining your focus is always the starting point. Phase One of our three-phase plan is about clarifying where you want to win more projects — whether that’s in specific locations, certain project types, or a mix of both. With that clarity in place, every marketing effort becomes intentional and aligned, laying the foundation for a strategy that speaks directly to your ideal clients and collaborators.

If your studio could use support in clarifying its focus, we can help. We’ll work with you to define expertise and markets, identify the right assets, and set a clear path forward.

Book a free 20-minute strategy call.

“Why are other studios getting so much more traffic than we are? We’re doing great work, too.”

At Tiny House Digital, we hear this often from architecture firms with outstanding portfolios, talented teams, and exciting ideas about the built environment. Many have already taken important steps to get noticed — sharing work on Instagram and LinkedIn, being featured in press like Dezeen and Dwell, and winning awards from organizations like AIA chapters and Architecture MasterPrize.

These signals build trust, make your studio memorable, and give your marketing a head start. But they can also work hard for you on your website — driving traffic and inquiries. With the right plan in place, they will.

Many studio websites are beautifully designed and center around a homepage, a portfolio, and a contact page. These are essential, but on their own, they’re not always built to generate consistent traffic, inquiries, or long-term business growth.

To actively support your business development goals, your website can go beyond a showcase of finished work. It can become a connected system of content that highlights your expertise, tells your story, and builds authority in the sectors and locations where you want more projects.

This post is a big-picture overview of how to create that system, and the first article in our Content Marketing for Architects series, where we break down best practices for each key page type.

Define, Build, Grow

We use a three-phase approach to turn the work you’re already doing into a growth strategy that helps you get found online and win more projects.

Phase 01: Define Your Focus

Before creating anything, ask: Where do we want to win more projects?

For some firms, it’s location-specific:

• Getting more work in Chicago, New York, Toronto, or Vancouver
• Entering secondary or emerging markets

For others, it’s sector-focused:

• Residential: single-family, additions, laneway, multiplex
• Adaptive Reuse & Infill: heritage, urban densification
• Hospitality: hotels, restaurants
• Civic & Cultural: community centres, libraries, museums

In most cases, it’s a mix of both. Your target sectors and markets should directly shape the pages you build and the stories you tell.

Phase 02: Build Your Core Pages & Supporting Content

Now that you have your focus, you can start building the pages that speak directly to your ideal clients and projects.

We typically recommend building out 12 types of pages:

Homepage

• Your main entry point for people searching your studio name, clearly stating what you do, who you do it for, and where, with proof through featured projects.
• Example: Hariri Pontarini

Studio About Page

• A page that shares your studio’s story, values, and process, introduces your team, and shows the impact you aim to have on clients and the community.
• Example: END Studio

Principal Bio Pages

• Pages dedicated to your leadership team, highlighting credentials, career history, design philosophy, notable projects, awards, publications, and speaking or teaching experience.
• Example: Olson Kundig

Contact Page

• A page for inquiries that makes it easy for prospects, collaborators, and media to connect, with a clear call to action such as a form or list of emails, plus your address and phone number.
• Example: Feldman Architecture

Areas of Expertise Pages

• Pages for each sector you want to grow, showing projects, process, and expertise, sector-specific trends and insights, key team members, and awards or media recognition.
• Example: Gensler

Location Pages

• Pages that showcase your local office, team, and projects, connect your design philosophy to the region, and share community news.
• Example: Perkins&Will

Project Pages

• Pages dedicated to individual projects with professional photography, a clear description, key details (location, type, size, photography credits), collaborator credits, and optional media like films, awards, or press.
• Example: John Ellway

Case Studies

• Narratives that reveal the client’s challenge, your design thinking, and the outcome, supported by sketches, schematics, 3D models, renders, construction images, and completed photography.
• Example: Mihaly Slocombe

Awards Page

• A chronological list of awards, including the year, award name, and the project or principal recognized.
• Example: Akb Architects

Press Page

• A chronological list of publication mentions and features, organized by year, with the publication name and the related project or topic.
• Example: MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

Thought Leadership Posts

• Articles that explore big challenges or new ideas in the built environment, using data, built work, renders, and concept designs to support your perspectives.
• Example: MVRDV

Company Announcements

• Short updates about project news, permits, awards, press features, team changes, or speaking events.
• Example: PLP Architecture

Most firms already have the raw material for these pages — often tucked away in folders, proposals, and press archives. The goal is to bring it together in one connected, visible place.

All of this content sends a clear signal: We’re active. We’re experienced. We’re doing this kind of work right now.

Phase 03: Grow Your Authority

Once your core pages are live, you can keep showcasing expertise by creating more supporting content and linking it internally across your site.

Examples:

• Homepage: Link to Studio About, Areas of Expertise, Projects, Awards, and Press pages
• Expertise Pages: Link to relevant Project and Company Announcement pages
• Case Studies: Link to revelant Areas of Expertise and Principal Bio pages
• Awards/Press Pages: Link to related Projects and Company Announcement pages
• Company Announcements: Link to relevant Projects and Principal Bio pages

Internal linking turns your site into a clear, interconnected system; one that clients, collaborators, press, and search engines can easily navigate and understand.

Your Website’s Role in the Bigger Marketing Picture

Your website is just one part of your marketing strategy — but it’s a critical one. It’s where prospective clients go to learn about your studio and team, understand your expertise, view your portfolio, and decide if you’re the right fit for their project.

For many studios, the website works as a portfolio. But with a content marketing system, it can do even more. It can become:

• The first impression that proves your expertise in the exact sector or location a client is searching for
• The proof you’ve delivered this kind of project before — and done it well
• A growth channel that drives consistent, qualified inquiries

And its value goes even further. Your website can become the hub for your entire marketing and business development pipeline, fueling — and being fueled by — other channels:

• Social Media Content: Turn your announcements, projects, case studies, awards, press, and thought leadership into a steady stream of posts that link back to your site
• Email Newsletters: Keep subscribers engaged with studio updates and project news
• Proposals: Strengthen pitches with real examples pulled directly from your site
• Press & Media: Make it easy for media to contact you, see your awards, press features, and projects all in one place

Your Next Step to More Visibility and New Work

At Tiny House Digital, we help architecture firms navigate these phases so you can align your website with your business development goals to get found online and win the right kind of new work.

Your website is one of the most valuable long-term assets your studio owns, and we can help you build a content marketing strategy entirely on work you’re already doing.

If you’re ready to build a system like this for your studio, book a free 20-minute strategy call.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more in our Content Marketing for Architects series.