If your self-storage website doesn’t contain a blog, you could be missing out on some great online traffic. Every published post equals one more indexed page on your website. This means another opportunity for your facility to show up organically on search engines like Google and Bing. In addition to connecting with prospects, blogging is a great way to highlight your facility’s features and share knowledge with customers.
Gain More Online Visibility
According to OptinMonster.com, companies that blog get 97 percent more links to their website. In short, blogging helps increase activity for your website. When you blog, it provides better visibility on search engines, which improves search engine optimization (SEO) and attracts more visitors.
Blogging also gives your brand a voice and connects you to tenants and potential customers in a way other digital-marketing efforts can’t. Branding has a big impact on building an online reputation. Blogging can help create brand awareness for your storage business by allowing tenants to read and share your content on social media. It also allows customers to interact with your facility on a more personal level.
Improve SEO
Blogging bolsters your SEO efforts. It’s true! According to Wikipedia, SEO is “the process of increasing the visibility of a website or a Web page to users of a Web search engine.” New content is key to dominating the competition in search engine results pages. When you use keywords in your blog, it increases your chances of getting seen, thus resulting in more website traffic, brand recognition and customer awareness.
Provide Information and Solutions
Self-storage is a service based on life events. Whether your tenants are moving across country or downsizing, they’re seeking guidance on how to store their items securely and safely. They also want convenience. Statistics indicate that more than 50 percent have never rented a unit before, so it’s up to you, the self-storage expert, to help them.
Providing your tenants and prospects with solutions via a blog can take your customer service to the next level. For example, you can offer tenants insight on how to properly pack boxes and the best way to arrange items in the unit. The goal should be to make their experience with your self-storage facility enjoyable. You can do this by arming them with expert advice.
Does your facility specialize in vehicle or wine storage? Do you provide 24-hour access, a variety of unit sizes or a kiosk? These are all great topics for a blog! Informing tenants and prospects about your property features can help connect you with your readers, taking your blog page from a resource to a solution for potential tenants. (Quick tip: Whenever possible, add images to your blogs, as this can lead to 94 percent more views!)
To promote your self-storage blog, share it on social media and in e-mails and newsletters to customers. All these strategies can increase organic Web traffic and sales interactions through your website.
Lauren Mannarelli-George is a marketing manager for The Storage Group, where she specializes in identifying target audiences and devising innovative digital campaigns that engage, inform and motivate. She brings to the storage industry a passion for content writing that evokes readers, drives lead generation and increases revenue for facility owners.