Businesses of all industries can get too caught up in search engine rankings. The self-storage industry is no exception, as operators often try to find ways to optimize their websites to rank well in Google, Yahoo and Bing search results. While search engine optimization can definitely bring positive results, page ranking shouldn’t be the sole determination for success when it comes to online marketing.
Don’t get the wrong idea; ranking well on search engines absolutely makes businesses more visible to their audiences. But it’s important to understand some other measures that can be used to determine the success of your online-marketing efforts. In fact, some worthy online-marketing options don’t provide increased rank at all, but they still can bring in new storage customers.
So what other measures should you examine to see positive results?
- Website traffic and other volume statistics available through services like Google Analytics enable self-storage operators to see if their marketing efforts are resulting in increased visibility. If the amount of visitors is increasing over time, something is working.
- Similarly, Google Webmaster tools allow businesses to see what searches are bringing up their website, how many times their website has been seen in search engine results, and how many clicks have resulted from this visibility. If impressions and clicks are trending upward, then your marketing is resulting in heightened visibility.
- From a practical standpoint, pay close attention to occupancy rates as you implement new marketing techniques. If you’re filling units more effectively, that’s the ultimate sign your strategies are moving the business in the right direction.
Yes, the objective of many search engine marketing options is to rank better on Google and other search engines, but this isn’t always the point. By leveraging review sites like Yelp, storage-specific online directories, and social media marketing, you can also boost your Web visibility successfully without relying on website ranking.
Visibility can be achieved in several ways. Paying attention to where your website ranks on search engines is something that can be beneficial to a self-storage operation, but it’s important not to zero in on this single measure. If you have other indicators in play that show your overall visibility is increasing, then your marketing plan is working.
Nick Bilava is the director of sales and marketing for Storage.com . He has been an active member of the self-storage community for more than seven years and can be found at various industry events throughout the nation. Nick’s goal at Storage.com is to help self-storage operators market their business more efficiently and effectively.
