5:17 am, November 15, 2011
IN contrast to the dealers who hold one or more manufacturer franchises or an independent trader selling what he can, a specialist dealer has a completely different customer who they need to speak to, and a totally distinct business model.
It’s this very situation that becomes clear in our Ewards and allows a specialist dealer to mix it with other dealers who wouldn’t normally feature on their radar.
One dealer who specialises in one type of product is All Aston Martin run by Philip Jones and Tim Foster. The firm is a broker of Aston Martins but the duo’s 40 years’ expertise in selling cars and a passion for the British brand shines through.
Their website was clearly a hit with our judges. Progress Automotive’s Alex Knight remarked: ‘While navigation and design are fairly simple, this site has worked hard on SEO strategy, with page one results
for some big key phrases. The site shows almost encyclopaedic listings for its used cars for sale including model and service history, which is very useful when buying a prestige or vintage car.’
The fact that the website clearly knows its target audience was picked up by Autosonshow’s managing director Adam Price too. He said: ‘The design is classic like their cars. The website is easy to navigate and immediately communicates the purpose of the business. I was impressed by the wealth of information on offer and the extensive details provided for each car.’
James Tew of Webzation felt the site’s attention to imagery which ‘paints 1,000 words’ was clever too. Tew added: ‘There is no excuse for poor presentation of your product. Within the site the attention to detail with both the vehicle images and vehicle history is exceptional.
‘More people will visit your website than your showroom – however, there is a disproportionate amount of time preparing a vehicle for ‘‘walk-ins’’ than site visitors.’
New to Ewards 2011, Alan Crane of Bluesky Interactive was also impressed by allastonmartin.com’s attitude to its audience, saying: ‘This website successfully delivers relevant content to the target audience through clearly categorised features on the homepage, plus detailed information and images on the vehicle pages.’
CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES IS NOVEMBER 24 – SEE BELOW ON HOW TO ENTER
Click here for more on Ewards 2011
FOR 2011, WE’LL BE LOOKING FOR WINNERS IN EIGHT CATEGORIES…
1. Single Franchised Dealer – this is open to all franchised dealers that represent just one manufacturer.
2. Multi Franchised Dealer – this is open to all franchised dealer groups that hold franchises for more than one manufacturer.
3. Car Supermarket.
4. Independent Dealer.
5. Car Manufacturer (automatic entry).
6. Social Media user of the Year.
7. Web personality of the Year – nominated and voted for by the judges.
8. Innovation of the Year.
