Storage facilities today are in a good place. The need for self storage is on the rise and the ability for storage seekers to find a storage unit near them is becoming easier with the increase in storage facility construction. With such a large influx in need, it’s important to stand out from the crowd, especially online today.
In order to stand out, you’re going to need a website that can do more than tell storage seekers a little more about you. Keep these three reasons as to why your facility needs a website in mind as you begin to create or update an already existing website.
The Buying Process Starts Online
For consumers to actively choose to spend money, they first research a product. This goes for everything from electronics to self storage. Consumers want to know that what they are spending their money on will be a worthwhile investment, and in order to help them better understand why choosing to rent a storage unit at your facility is worth it, you’ll need a website to tell them.
Even more important, especially in 2015, is that consumers are searching for and making purchases on the go thanks to mobile phones. If a consumer is out and about and decides that they want to rent a storage unit after considering one for a period of time, being found and becoming a viable choice couldn’t be accomplished without a website. Instead, they will look at other facilities, causing your facility to lose out on a potential long-term customer.
Being Found Becomes Easier
In an effort to no longer lose out on customers who search on-the-go, a website can give you the chance to be found, and when you add search engine optimization, or SEO, the chance of being found online becomes easier.
To give your website the opportunity to be found more often and earlier in search, you’re going to need to bring someone in who can help you to get the most from an SEO plan. With SEO, your website is given the opportunity to be found by more people, more often, but only if it’s done right. Before getting started, there are two pieces that every SEO plan, including yours, needs to take advantage of:
- Local Business Listings: For self storage seekers, they are often looking for a place to store their belongings that is close by. For your facility to have the best chance to be found, your facility information needs to be found easily and in multiple places. You can do this through local business listing websites. On these specified websites, your facility name, address, phone number, and website URL will be found. And the more well-known websites that you add this information to, the better chances you will have at being found in relevant customer searches.
- Content Marketing: A website is only as good as the information that it provides. If your storage facility has a website, but has little to no content found upon it, customers won’t stay for long and search engines won’t have much to find you for. Have pages explaining what can be held in different sized storage units, the benefits of self storage in different climates, etc. Just be sure the content you create is relevant to your business. If not, consumers will once again stop coming to your website and search engines will begin to leave you out of the search results you want to be found within.
Search engine optimization is a valuable strategy that can make a website stronger over time, but it needs to be done right. SEO can be difficult if you try to do it on your own and if done incorrectly, can create more problems later on, so consult with experts before starting an SEO plan with your website.
Searches Could Turn into Sales
Once consumers have found your website, you could use that as a chance to drive new rentals to your storage facility. Your website could potentially convert simple, on-the-go searches for affordable self storage into storage rentals.
As you go through the process of creating or updating your website, consider adding online rentals as a sales option and be sure to direct website visitors to your available units. It’s important that the option to “Rent Online” is easily accessible and easy to find. If your rental options are buried within your website, converting website visits into sales will become increasingly difficult. So don’t be afraid to make it a prominent piece of your website.
Your website can serve as more than just a place for consumers to learn more. Storage facilities should continually be looking for ways to convert more website visits into sales as more and more consumers are making the move to purchasing online. Internet usage by consumers is only going to keep going up, so if you don’t have a website already, what are you waiting for?
