You can’t surf the web these days without running into at least a few blogs. They’re popular for good reason: they’re a great way to share information, build brand presence, and show a bit of company personality. But is blogging worth the time and effort for most self-storage operations? The answer depends on your target audience, topic, and current online presence, as well as the scope of your business. Let’s delve into the pros and cons.
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Before you decide whether to create a blog for your self-storage operation, you need to determine your target audience and what you hope to achieve. Let’s say your blog is doing great. Google believes that you are an authority in the field and that your website contains the definitive answers to common industry questions. Will this help your business? Maybe, but one of the challenges of blogging for target readers (i.e. self-storage customers) is that the global web audience is not the same as your potential customer. Your facility must take out your local market, usually within a few miles. Even a popular blog won’t necessarily generate many more tenants.
General self-storage questions tend to be global, while local questions have no search volume. While Google provides local results when people are shopping, it doesn’t necessarily when they’re simply searching for information (unless they include your business name in their search). So if your goal is strictly to convert readers into renters, a blog won’t help you much. The effort you will spend could perhaps be more useful in other aspects of your business.
That said, blogs aren’t useless in self-storage. They can, for example, help with things like improving customer experience (CX).
Subject matter
So, if your end game isn’t to turn readers into paying renters of your own storage, what would your blog be about? The truth is, writing posts that inform readers about the industry can be a valuable part of a CX strategy. For example, explaining how to store items in your specific climate can be very helpful. You can also use your blog to communicate business news to potential tenants and customers. If you’re offering a new special lease or just installed new site features, this is a great place to talk about them.
Crafting a blog that improves CX can directly improve your bottom line. Happy customers stay longer, leave good reviews and recommend your company to their friends. Writing for the website visitors you already have, including existing tenants, is the best option for any self storage operator looking to start a blog.
Online presence
Many experts suggest that blogging will help improve your company’s search engine optimization (SEO). The fact is, while it may help you rank higher in Google, it’s helping your SEO in less-than-optimal ways.
For local small businesses, the SEO you want to focus on is the “local package”. These are the three results that Google highlights in response to a query such as “fish tacos near me” or “self storage units for rent.” The top three local results get 44% of the total clicks, far more than any other category. When you combine these with organic clicks from the links listed below the local pack, it’s easy to see how the vast majority of a business’s web traffic comes from performing well in local search results.
For most self-storage operators, targeting the local packet is much better than targeting universal traffic. While a blog can help you achieve strong all-around SEO, it’s not as effective as focusing on your business name, address, contact information, and reviews. Local package results will not only bring more traffic to your brick and mortar locations, but they are easier to get. If you’re aiming for universal rankings, you have to compete with much larger companies that have full-time marketing teams and bloggers. When you aim for local package results, you only need to compete with similar companies in your area.
A good tip for performing well in local SEO? Post lots of photos and videos of the facilities. Also, look for good views and respond to them!
Size of the operation
If your self storage business spans multiple states or operates more than 10 facilities, a good blog can help you rent more units. Once your target audience is large enough, moving from a local-only SEO strategy to a national focus can help attract new customers.
The larger your market area, the more valuable Universal SEO is. If you can rank for common self-storage questions, you can get your brand in front of many search engines. If you serve a large market, those users are more likely to hire you.
Blogging can also help establish your self-storage brand presence. If you stand out from the crowd, potential customers are likely to go out of their way to rent with you instead of an unknown, faceless competitor. This strategy typically favors larger self-storage operators because they generally have more resources to spend on a blog, while a single site owner may have too tight a budget or too little time. The bigger your business, the more you need a blog.
To blog or not to blog
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to build a blog for your self-storage operation depends on whether the reward outweighs the investment. Don’t start a blog if:
Your main goal is to get rents. You’re just trying to rank higher in local search results. You will have to neglect other parts of your business to keep it current.
On the other hand, if the following is true, then yes! Start a blog!
Your business serves a large area. The bigger your reach, the more a blog can help. this can help your tenants. By answering local and relevant questions, your blog can improve CX. It looks like fun. You can create a brand voice, connect with customers and answer local questions.
David Austin is a content specialist at StoragePug, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based software company that helps self-storage operators attract new leads, convert them into paying tenants and rent units online. Before joining the company, he worked as a content writer for the restaurant industry. For more information, call 865.240.0295.
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