By now, you know that your Web site is an extension of your brick-and-mortar locatio- a 24/7 online showroom that attracts more visitors than your store ever will. With a user- and search engine-friendly Web site and a solid lead management process already in place, your goal more than ever is to draw more attention using simple yet highly effective best practices. This article offers some helpful and affordable advice to help dealers engage more prospects. These tips have proven helpful for hundreds of dealers during a slow season.

Publicize your Web site address (URL) everywhere

Dealer client studies show that the most common method used by prospective buyers to find a dealer's Web site is to go to the address bar and type in the dealer's URL. Not only it is central to your dealership's branding, but it is also the address of your 24/7 online showroom. Because your Web address is one of the most popular methods of finding you online, you should make sure that it is on every promotional item possible-consistently -on-and off-line.

You should include your Web site address on every item that mentions your physical address and phone number. This includes all marketing materials, advertisements, thank you letters, business cards, show booth, etc. Why limit your effort to the minimum required? Think of additional channels or places, whether you think they are the most or least important, where it would make sense to include your URL. Check to make sure that both your Web address and company logo are included in each employee's e-mail signature. Why not make it mandatory to have your staff use a consistent format in their e-mail signature, such as font color, size and content? Are you branding your store inside and out to engage more prospects? Step out of the box, put yourself in the shoes of the buyer, and think about how you could help your dealership speak more for itself. Some ideas include highlighting your Web site address on a sign or billboard at the entrance of your brick-and-mortar location and indicate, below your store hours, that you are "Always Open at www.DealerWebsite.com." Have that sign outside your gate if the latter keeps customers out of your lot.

The more you promote your Web site, the more brand recognition and awareness you will benefit from; this leads to more traffic, more leads, and eventually more sales -even in a tough market. Promotion of your URL seems so simple yet is widely overlooked. If you follow this simple tip, you will notice the impact on your dealership over time.

Distribute your inventory everywhere

When you watch TV, do you watch one channel constantly? Of course not! Just as we flip through different channels on TV, prospects surf different Web sites to find the perfect RV. This means that you should expose your Web site and inventory to as many industry-related sites as possible; get your online dealership in front of the largest number of potential buyers as possible. One way to increase exposure online is to post your inventory listings on RV classifieds Web sites, such as MyRVLink.com, RVSearch.com and RVTrader.com. These listings will help your Web site reach more buyers. The most time-saving and cost-effective approach to improve your presence on those classified sites is to have a third-party provider post your inventory for you. You have better things to do than waste your valuable time on data entry. A Web inventory management provider can automatically post and update your new and used inventory on many of the portals. This means you enter the listings once (text and pictures).

The more exposure your inventory gains, the more prospective buyers will line up to do business with you. Remember to develop detailed listings that entice prospects with a powerful story by using attention-grabbing descriptions together with multiple pictures.

Optimize your Web site for higher rankings on major search engines

Buying starts on the Internet. Over 80 percent of consumers research products online before walking into your dealership (Source: 2007 eBusiness Study, Cobalt Group and Yahoo!). Your business needs to get in front of these thousands of potential buyers so you can sell more RVs. You can have the most beautiful and user-friendly Web site in the world, but what value does it have if it doesn¿t drive traffic?

It is critical that your current Web provider offers solutions that design and optimize your Web site so it will rank highly on major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL). Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of achieving higher rankings for a Web site¿s most relevant search terms, i.e. the most applicable and/or commonly typed phrases when researching a specific product or topic. Your Web provider should be optimizing your site so the search engines can crawl and index the content and inventory. When the search engines index your Web site, they search for the most relevant content so they can rank your dealership accordingly in the search results. Optimizing your site correctly improves ranking and prominence, so when a prospect uses a search engine to find an RV online, your site appears over that of your competitors. A Web developer with a proven track record in creating traffic-building Web sites should be optimizing your site to benefit from maximum search engine visibility. See if your provider offers SEO services that could further enhance your rankings.

Keep this information in mind when optimizing your Web site. When copywriting for search engines, you must find the perfect balance between keeping your text simple for visitors to read and understand and making sure that it is keyword-rich. Spend a little time determining the most frequently searched keywords related to your products and services and have your Web developer pepper your site appropriately to attract those search engines spiders. How do you come up with those keywords? First, your Web developer should be able to recommend keywords based on their expertise in SEO. Second, check out some free online tools, such as SEO Toolset's Keyword Activity lookup or Google "Free SEO Tips" to find a number of resources. Third, put yourself in the shoes of prospective buyers, i.e. what are the terms that are most likely to lead them to your online showroom? Keywords should include RV brands that you carry, model names, model years, major geo-targets, etc. Examples of keyword phrases could be "Fleetwood dealer Virginia"; "Airstream dealer TX"; or "Travel trailer Florida". Although relevant keywords are critical to your Web site's rankings, make sure you do not keyword stuff, as this will not allow for easy reading by the consumer.

To further increase your rankings in this challenging economy, optimize your Web site for local markets. The most efficient approach is to attach local or regional qualifiers onto search keywords or phrases, including a zip or postal code, city, state, province or street. Examples of local keywords could be "Fleetwood dealer Richmond VA", "Airstream dealer Dallas Texas", or "Travel trailer Ocala FL."

Renewing your URL registration for longer than the standard one-year will also increase your ranking. Most companies only commit to one year to cut short-term expenses; your Web site is not going anywhere, so go ahead and rank higher on the search engines. In fact, make it ten years. Major search engines include Web site age in their credibility formula. The longer a URL is registered, the higher the credibility formula and the higher the ranking.