Community Storage
East Central Indiana

Company Overview:
Community Storage operates twelve self-storage facilities in Muncie, Anderson, Farmland, Frankfort, Marion, Noblesville, Yorktown and Indianapolis.  The self-storage units range in size from 5’x5’ up to 20’x50,’ including climate-controlled and covered storage for automobiles, RV’s, and boats. However, the facilities differ in the types of storage available. At each facility, Community Storage sells moving supplies such as packing tape, cardboard boxes, and bubble wrap. Community Storage did not have a website, but had noticed articles in trade magazines about websites for self-storage companies and was aware that one could be a valuable asset.

Challenge:
Community Storage had several goals in mind when deciding to create an Internet presence. First and foremost, they wanted a professional-looking website that was integrated seamlessly with their other marketing efforts.

Testimonial "I never would have dreamed creating a website for our company could be as easy as it was. The group at nHarmony was so great to work with. We had ideas about what we wanted to do and they turned them into a functional website for us." "The software is very user friendly. It enables me the freedom to edit the text, change daily specials, add pictures, manage users, etc. very easily at anytime. Whenever I call to see if it is possible to do something else, I receive an email back, usually the same day, that it is taken care of. The customer service is wonderful." "Within a few weeks of having our website up and running, we started having customers rent storage units based on the sole fact that our company had a website and the others did not. They felt more secure renting from us. I would recommend nHarmony for anyone wanting to expand their business to the Internet." Michelle Davis, Manager Community Storage 5500 N. Wheeling Ave. Muncie, Indiana 47304 765-284-5500 mycommunitystorage@comcast.net

Secondly, they wanted the website to be informative, easily navigated, and most importantly, easy to find. They placed significant marketing in various Yellow Pages, but were aware that consumers were increasingly switching to the web to search for local goods and services.

Finally, they wanted a system that would allow each facility manager to control only the content related to his/her storage facility, i.e. unit prices, available units, weekly specials. However, Community Storage also wanted an overarching website administrator with control over every facility.

Solution:
We created a website design anchored around Community Storage’s already well-developed logo and branding. The design is “clean” and simple, yet stylish and straightforward, providing visitors a well-organized navigation system to find the information easily.

The website is based in the nVantage Content Management System that allows each facility manager to change the content on his/her own facility’s web page, but with little risk of “breaking” the website. Each facility manager can change current unit prices, availability, office hours, etc., as well as change the weekly specials advertised in a scrolling banner at the bottom of each section.

An important aspect of this project was the search engine optimization campaign designed to increase visibility and attract potential customers to the website. The website was optimized primarily for “self storage” in each of the four cities and in “east central Indiana”, as well as many other secondary search terms such as “self storage units,” “self storage facilities,” etc. Detailed business profiles were also created in many of the local search directories, such as SuperPages.com and YellowPages.com.

Results:
Within a few months, the Community Storage website had top 3 position rankings in all major search engines for searches of self-storage in the 4 cities where Community Storage does business. Furthermore, for statewide searches, the website had top 5 position rankings in at least one major search engine.

The combination of high rankings in major search engines and ads in the local search engines resulted in significant numbers of visitors to the website. During the first couple of months, there were +2,000 page views and the numbers are rising each month. Over half of the visitors do extensive browsing of site (52%) and over half of the visitors bookmark the site (63%). We do not have a direct way to determine if the website produced new business for Community Storage so we contacted one of the facility managers who is also the website administrator. Her comments are posted in the right column of this page.