12:27 pm, October 10, 2009
Previously I’ve said that having a great-looking website is not enough – it’s what you do with it that counts.
This month I’ll cut through the hype of search marketing and explain how it can drive visitors to your website – done well it can significantly increase both leads and sales.
Search marketing is highly targeted, measurable and cost-effective. Your website is available 24/7 and by positioning your online brand carefully you will attract qualified customers – get it wrong and customers will choose your competitors instead!
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a vital part of the digital toolkit. Although 80 per cent of customers start their search on Google, very few look beyond the first results page.
It’s imperative to get your website high up the rankings, otherwise up to 90 per cent of clicks will go straight to your competitors.
Despite all the hype, SEO is effectively about trying to match the content of your website with the search terms potential customers type into Google. It can be very effective and you don’t pay to appear in the results from a natural search. However, to get it right, you have to think like a buyer not a dealer.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) builds on SEO and guarantees your website appears on the results page of searches. The main advantage is its highly measurable ROI – you only pay for what you get, and the advertising is highly targeted and relevant. The downside is
the cost can be unlimited and it’s no substitute for good SEO.
Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is a recent phenomenon which uses the plethora of ‘social networks’ to drive traffic to your website. Create a
Facebook fan page for your dealership with links to your website, or a channel on YouTube.
Twitter is a great platform for stock alerts – send a ‘tweet’ when a new vehicle arrives in stock, and encourage your website visitors to follow you. It’s free and easy to use but can be hugely time consuming! If you only do one thing this month, freshen up the words and offers on your homepage to improve your search engine ranking.
