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Traffic Cures All Ills - Get More Mileage Out of Your Existing Web Marketing Efforts Without Breaking the Bank Traffic Cures All Ills - Get More Mileage Out of Your Existing Web Marketing Efforts Without Breaking the Bank What's a common knee-jerk reaction in a soft market? Slashing marketing budgets on and off-line. Unfortunately, challenging economic conditions dictate that you work harder to make those few and far between elusive consumers raise their hands for your products. The best approach is not to cut but rather get more mileage out of your marketing expenditures. As it relates more specifically to your Web marketing efforts, your Web site is an additional, 24/7 location that attracts more visitors in today's digital economy than your brick-and-mortar store. Assuming you already have a Channel Blade Web site and a sound lead management process in place with Footsteps, Channel Blade's lead management tool, your goal is to generate more traffic using simple yet highly effective best practices. Below are three affordable tips that have proven helpful for hundreds of dealers to drive more sales opportunities. Promote your Web address (URL) off-line
The rule of thumb is that it should be included on every item that bears your address and/or phone number, including all marketing materials, ads, stationary, business cards, on your booth at shows and so forth. But why stop with the obvious? Take this effort a step further and think of many more places, big and small, where it would make sense. Is it in the e-mail signature of every person on staff? In addition, have all members of your team include a consistent signature in terms of format, font type, color and content (Web address anyone?) How about your store front? Have you taken a look at it lately, from a consumer's perspective, and thought about how it could help your dealership generate more traffic? You could include your Web address on a sign at the entrance and below your hours of operation with a note saying "Sorry we missed you... We are always open at www.xdealer.com." The more ways that you promote your Web presence the better; it enables you to consistently raise your dealership's profile and drive more traffic to your site, even when times are tough. This simple, widespread effort seems basic, yet, the importance of its impact on a dealership's awareness is often overlooked. Share your inventory
The more potential buyers see your listings, the more high-quality prospects will point to you as their dealership of choice. Remember to develop content-rich listings that hook buyers with a full, compelling story by using multiple photos and views combined with consumer-engaging descriptions and specifications. Optimize your Web site for maximum search engine visibility
Your Web site provider should be offering services to allow the search engine "crawlers" to easily enter it and index the content. This process increases your chances of a higher ranking and therefore higher visibility on the Internet. Channel Blade's primary business is building powerful, consumer-engaging Web sites. Taking advantage of Channel Blade's Web site solution, eXcelerate Pro, will ensure that your site's code and content is optimized for maximum visibility. While SEO is a science, copywriting for search engines is an art: a perfect balance between keeping your copy both readable for human visitors and keyword-rich for the search engines. Take the time to determine the most frequently searched keywords related to your products and services and add those words to the Meta Tag section of your eXcelerate Pro Web site. What's the simplest way to do this? Put yourself in the shoes of your prospects and write down the most likely terms that would lead them to you, including brands, model names, model years, segment or class, geographical location, lifestyle, etc. For example: Virginia Beach Bayliner. Another way to increase your ranking is to renew your URL registration for longer than the standard year for which most dealerships tend to commit. Make it ten. Why? Because search engines include that number in determining your credibility quotient. The longer a URL is registered for, the higher your creditability quotient and the better placement you'll get. Lastly, you should leverage high-traffic, social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. The amount of traffic on sites linked to yours is also a factor in search engine credibility. Creating a presence on these sites is as simple as filling out a template or uploading a video, then placing a link to your site. And it's free! |
After reviewing our current dealer clients' Web statistics, the most common approach used by buyers to find an online dealership is still simply typing in the dealer's Web address (URL), which is a crucial element of your dealership's identity and the address of your 24/7 location. As such, you should make sure that your Web address is everywhere - consistently and frequently promoted off-line.
Prospects will browse different Web sites in search of that perfect boat or RV - that's why you should strive to cast a wider net, giving your dealership the opportunity to be in front of the largest number of buyers. Posting your listings on classifieds Web sites, such as TraderOnline.com, UsedBoats.com, iBoats.com, RVSearch.com, or RVUSA.com, will increase the reach of your virtual showroom. The most time-saving and cost-effective approach to increasing your presence on those sites is to let Channel Blade post your inventory automatically on the most successful portals. This way, you only have to enter the listings once on your site, including text and pictures, rather than go to each portal and type in data separately.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of achieving higher rankings in search engines for a Web site's most relevant search terms - phrases that prospective buyers are most likely to type when looking for information online.
Channel Blade now Provides SEO Solutions! 
About Channel Blade and ARI
Channel Blade, an ARI company, provides online lead generation, lead management and sales education solutions that drive more leads and sales to manufacturers and dealers within the marine and recreational vehicle industries. Channel Blade supports its clients worldwide with its award-winning, cost-efficient solutions and hands-on education programs -- including 70 percent of Boating Industry's prestigious 2008 Top 100 Dealers.
ARI Network Services, Inc. (ARI) is a leading provider of electronic parts catalogs and marketing services to dealers, distributors and manufacturers in the manufactured equipment markets. ARI currently serves approximately 100 manufacturers and 190 distributors worldwide, as well as more than 25,000 dealers in several markets, including outdoor power; power sports; marine; recreation vehicle; appliance; agricultural equipment; floor maintenance; construction; and aftermarket auto and truck parts. Both of the companies’ products, as well as the websites designed for its customers, have received numerous industry awards, including Editor’s Choice Award for SearchEngineSmart™ in February, 2009 awarded by Powersports Business Magazine and this year’s Best Dealer Website of the Year for MarineMax.com.
For more information on Channel Blade and ARI, please visit www.channelblade.com and www.arinet.com.
Media contact: Lindsay Rapoport, (757) 222-6723; lindsay.rapoport@channelblade.
