Storage.com Acquires USstoragesearch.com
Omaha, NE (PRWEB) April 26, 2016 -- After more than five years of working together as partners, Storage.com has purchased US Storage Search, Inc., including the website and business operations of USstoragesearch.com. The acquisition comes one year after the acquisition of Storage.com by its management team. Financial terms of the transaction were not released.
The ownership and management teams for the two sites have been involved with the development and operations of both sites since they were first launched.
USstoragesearch.com traces its roots back to the late 1990s when the ownership group built a regional network of self storage websites operating independently in several Midwest markets. With the launch of USstoragesearch.com in 2004, the ownership group combined the regional websites into a single platform that served the entire United States.
USstoragesearch.com’s initial online marketing offering for self storage operators was a directory listing on the website that connected the facility with consumers searching for available self storage units. In 2009, USstoragesearch.com partnered with others in the storage industry to build the first real-time self storage reservation system and became the first shop-and-compare website to offer online storage unit rentals.
Storage.com launched in 2011 as a website for consumers to find, compare, and rent available storage units across the United States. Initially, Storage.com was powered with USstoragesearch.com listings and inventory. Shortly thereafter, Storage.com began adding its own storage facility clients, which were soon found in search engine results alongside USstoragesearch.com’s facility clients.
In 2012, USstoragesearch.com and Storage.com became clients of B2 Interactive, a web design and SEO company opened by former US Storage Search, Inc. executives Bill Hipsher and Brandon Taylor. Both sites used the agency’s web development, SEO, and other marketing services.
“For many years, we worked for these two websites that shared inventory and offered similar services to the storage industry but had very little in common besides that,” stated Bill Hipsher, CEO of Storage.com and co-founder of B2 Interactive. “We had different ownership groups wanting very different things, and we kept seeing more opportunity if they worked on a parallel path. Brandon and I approached the owners of both websites with an offer to acquire their businesses and websites at the same time with this day in mind from the beginning. It just took a little bit longer to make the deal with the ownership group of USstoragesearch.com.”
USstoragesearch.com members will see little impact to their services as a result of the acquisition. The same management team that has been in place for the last decade will still be the primary points of communication for all members.
“For the shareholders, this deal made sense for many reasons, and the timing was perfect,” said Michael Kucera, former President and CEO of US Storage Search, Inc. “For me personally, the timing was perfect as well. I came into USstoragesearch.com after many, many years in commercial real estate. Over the last 12 years or so, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some really great people within the self storage industry, and as I’ve watched what so many have done successfully within the industry, my background in commercial real estate development has been calling to me.”
Kucera continued, “Those relationships I’ve built over the years have led to some great new opportunities to be a part of the development, acquisition, and management of storage facilities. Doing this and competing against our clients is something I couldn’t in good conscience do while working for USstoragesearch.com’s clients. I look forward to continuing in the storage industry, and I definitely know who to use for the online marketing needs of my future storage endeavors.”
About Storage.com
Storage.com is a managed services solution dedicated to serving the online marketing and website needs of the self storage industry. Storage.com helps storage facilities find more tenants online with its directory, website design, local search, and SEO services. Storage.com works with storage operators of all sizes but is focused on providing affordable and effective online marketing and website solutions to small and medium-sized self storage operators. Storage.com is owned and operated by former storage operators who built their first website solutions for the self storage industry in 1997.
Bill Hipsher, Storage.com, http://www.Storage.com, +1 (402) 932-9990, [email protected]
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