Your Dealership and Search Engines

by larry jay

For the savvy dealership, the internet has evolved from a business card type website to a full, interactive web presence that drives traffic, leads, and sales. If you study the top selling internet dealerships in the country, several key details set them apart from the average dealership. Fortunately, these details can be mastered by any store, in any part of the country, driving significant sales profit and advertising savings to the bottom line.We will begin this week by taking a look at the huge opportunity that search engines can provide your store.There are two distinct opportunities to capitalize on in search engine traffic.1) People looking for you specifically - These are people trying to find your store information or your website..they could be looking for a way to get in touch with service or parts. They could be trying to contact sales…who knows? We just know they are looking for you. The questions are:a) Can they find you when they are using the name of your dealership? If you're website is not present in the top 5 listings when somebody is searching for your dealership name, chances are you are losing that potential customer to a lead generation company (for more on how this happens to you everyday look here).b) Can they find you when they are looking for a dealership in your market that sells your products (that's still you right?)? Potential customers may search for "Charlotte ford dealers". If you're a Ford dealer in Charlotte don't you want to get in front of that client?c) Can they find you when they know you exist but can't remember your name? If you are a Honda dealer in Arlington and there are searches for "Arlington Honda" but your dealership name is Billy Johnson Honda, who do you think they are trying to find? You of course.d) Can they find you when they can't spell your name? Whether they hit the wrong key or they just can't spell..we still want to sell them something! But are they finding you when they can't spell your name?2) People shopping in your market - These people are trying to find a specific dealer (not you) or information about specific products or services in your market. When they are looking for information about a product you sell or they are looking for one of your competitors wouldn't you want to have an opportunity to get your name in front of them?Let's talk briefly about search engines in general.They don't care if you rank first, last or anywhere in between. It's up to you to develop a strategy that puts you where you want to be in each engine. They will ban (throw out your site) you for activity that they believe to be detrimental to their goal..serving good search results to their end-users. Banning doesn't happen often but we have seen a local Toyota dealership get banned from Google and they are still doing things that will get them banned from the other two major engines. Different search engines look for different things to determine where you will rank. They all consider what is on your pages…appropriate titles, good content, etc. Some will also weigh factors that are not on your website, like links to your site, and terms used in those links as well as who is linking to you.Search engines can be a real hassle to keep up with...but if you develop a plan to get on top, I can guarantee that you will sell more cars and spend less on advertising doing it. It is one thing you can do today that can impact your sales today.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com