By Zach Fuller

our self-storage website is the digital front door of your facility, and in today’s competitive market, it’s critical to have an effective online presence.

Some operators report as much as 30 percent of rental inquiries happen after business hours, so an optimized website can make you money while you sleep. On the other hand, an outdated site can send tenants running toward your competition.

But what makes a good website? It’s a mix of design, content, and functionality. Here are seven actionable ways you can significantly improve your website to attract and convert more tenants.

Humans are visual creatures. We make split-second judgments about everything from food to automobiles based on how they look. Your website is no different. A famous study on digital design found that users form an opinion about your website (and your business) within a few seconds of landing on your homepage.

Suffice it to say, design matters a lot. But that doesn’t mean you have to create a complicated website filled with over-the-top aesthetics. A modern, clean design that’s easy to navigate will get the job done.

USE QUALITY PHOTOGRAPHS
Potential tenants want to see what your facility looks like before they rent a unit and store their belongings there, so be sure to include a generous number of high-quality photos on your site to give your audience a true sense of your facility. If you’re highlighting amenities, add pictures. To instill a sense of trust in your security measures, add photos of your gate, cameras, and other technologies.

CREATE VIRTUAL TOUR VIDEOS
Video is another powerful format for visual content. While I don’t recommend putting a looping video in the hero section of your homepage, there is a lot of value in embedding a video further down the homepage that takes tenants on a tour of the premises. This is a heavier investment than photography, especially if you use drone footage, but it can pay off if you need another way to differentiate your facility and improve the content on your website.

More than half of all online searches come from mobile devices, so creating a mobile-friendly version of your website is critical. Mobile-friendly design will not only boost user engagement but also improve your ranking on search engines like Google, driving more traffic to your site.

In practice, designing a website for mobile means reworking each page so that the content fits a smaller screen and ensuring the pages load quickly to keep people engaged. The best way to create a mobile version of your site is to design it to be responsive, meaning the site will automatically adjust to fit whatever device the user is accessing it through.

Many content management systems (CMS) include responsive themes for website design out of the box. Building your site with one of these templates removes a lot of technical work and helps your content display properly. However, there’s still a bit of quality assurance work required. Even if your website lives in a responsive template, double check every page to ensure the content loads quickly and fits the screen. Your audience will thank you.

Another very important ingredient for high-quality websites is social proof. In other sectors this content can look like industry awards, personal accolades for owners or employees, or mentions in prominent media outlets.

In essence, social proof is any kind of content where external sources vouch for the legitimacy and expertise of a business. In self-storage, that means reviews and customer testimonials.

Although potential tenants can read reviews on your Google Business Profile, you can make their lives easier (and your conversion rates higher) by including testimonials front and center on your website’s homepage.

Whenever possible, include pictures of the tenants who left the review. If you have the budget, create a video testimonial or two. By adding more detail about who is behind the review, you’re making your marketing more authentic, which makes it more trustworthy.

Building an in-depth FAQ page can be a game changer. Many tenants do not want to speak to someone on the phone; they want to find answers to their questions online. And while the content on your website should focus on explaining your facility services and why people should rent from you, it’s worthwhile to have a page dedicated to providing answers to questions you know tenants are asking. This is also a trust-building exercise. If tenants can find the information they’re looking for on your website, then they’ll subconsciously start to put more faith in your business and become more likely to convert into leads.

Convenience drives customer behavior, especially in self-storage, where renters often have immediate needs. Websites should allow potential tenants to rent or reserve units directly online without having to contact the facility directly. Incorporating a straightforward online rental system reduces barriers to entry, minimizing friction that could push prospective tenants toward competitors.

Additionally, clearly display pricing, available unit sizes, and features to streamline the selection process. Offer intuitive filtering options so customers can quickly find suitable storage solutions without unnecessary hassle.

Finally, make sure you keep the number of clicks to a minimum. The more complex the rental process, the less likely people are to complete it. Even if it means you collect less information on the front-end, it’s worth improving your conversion rate by reducing the number of hoops tenants must jump through.

Once you have your online rental flow built, take it for a test drive. Then, ask yourself, “Was this easy to use? Would I go through these steps if I was looking to rent?”

For customers, choosing a storage unit can be overwhelming. With options varying by size, location, climate control, and access, the decision-making process is often confusing. A tiered-value pricing approach, modeled after concepts familiar from airline seating or hotel room classes, simplifies the process. By categorizing units into clearly labeled value tiers (like economy, standard, and premium) customers quickly understand the trade-offs between price and features. This reduces friction, builds trust, and gives customers a sense of control in selecting a unit that meets their needs and budget.

Your website doesn’t need to only service potential customers. Building functionality that benefits existing customers can be a great way to decrease churn and improve your customer lifetime value (LTV). One of the best examples is online bill pay. Yes, I know we all want every tenant to be on autopay, but until that moment arrives, it’s important to have a simple way for customers to pay their bills. Building an online payment process will make it less likely that tenants will go delinquent and gives you a simple way to collect payments without all the manual processes of yesteryear.

It’s hard to overstate the impact a well-designed website can have on your business. Because websites are a cornerstone of any self-storage facility, investing in improvements can drive traffic, increase conversions, and strengthen customer relationships. A superior website also helps differentiate your facility in an increasingly competitive storage industry, which is another way of saying that a good website will go a long way to ensuring the future success of your property.