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Lure Leads to your Dealership Website by Creating Searched Content

By Justin Braun on Dec 14, 2011

 

What’s the first step an automotive consumer takes most often toward making a vehicle purchase?  If you answered conduct a Google search, you are correct!  For automotive consumers, this search is conducted to determine which car and dealership is right for them.

Dealers, do you know what your prospective customers are searching?  Will your dealership website or online content be found?

Research by HubSpot, an inbound marketingthought leader, primarily shows that websites that create lots of content, build activesocial media profiles, and blog regularly are much more successful online than their peers.  In short, if you create the content your customers are searching, you will drive more of them to your dealership website and boost your online lead generation.

The following is a brief, step by step guide to the creation of content that will transform your dealership website into a lead magnet.

1.      Determine what your customers are searching

A good place to start is by asking your dealership salespeople what their top 10 most frequently asked questions are.  Once you’ve developed a good list of questions, expand upon it to encompass frequently asked questions by anyone interested in buying a new or used vehicle.  The answers to these questions are perfect topics for online content.

2.      Pick the online media format that best suits your content

If your customers are interested in vehicle specs, a video walk-around on YouTube is a great way to showcase your inventory and automotive knowledge.  If prospective customers are concerned with pricing and their ability to negotiate price, your best bet would be to answer these question on your dealership blog.  An eBook is also a highly effective form of content.  A great idea would be for Dealers to create an eBook available for free download on their dealership websites that details the proper car-buying process at their dealership.  Leads generated from consumers reading this book will come into your dealership knowing what is expected of them and what questions to ask, thus make the path to your sale much smoother.

3.      Optimize your content for search

Inbound Marketing content is most easily created with desired keywords in mind.  Your initial keyword or keyword phrase should be the central theme for the content.

For Example: If your content is about the Toyota Prius and why it is a great car for commuters in your region, relevant keywords would include:

  • Toyota
  • Prius
  • geographically-relevant names & terms

In order to truly optimize your content, desired keywords should be used:

  • At the beginning of the Title
  • At the beginning of or within the first 165 characters of the content or description
  • Frequently throughout the body of the content

The goal of SEO is to provide information-rich content that follows the “rules” of the search engines.  If you create content with high keyword density (the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears in a particular piece of content in relation to the total number of words), it will rank highly in the search results for your keywords.

4.      Don’t talk about yourself

Nothing turns automotive consumers off more than blatant self-promotion.  Prospective customers will have difficulty believing in the validity of your content if you’re pitching to them.  Keep the selling subtle and you will achieve better results.

5.      Edit/proofread

This is the most important step in the content creation process!  Personally re-read or watch your content with an editor’s eye before publishing.  If available, have a coworker do so too.  Nothing is more potentially damaging or embarrassing for dealers than having content full of errors consumed and shared by prospective customers and industry peers across the web.

6.      Publish

Do it! Publish your content and share it.  Share it via social.  Link to or create a dedicated page on your dealership website for your content.  Then monitor how it performs online and start all over again!

Dealer takeaway

The more content a dealership is able to create, the more inbound traffic its website will receive.  Dealers who practice inbound marketing and content creation will position their dealership websites to be more easily found online by consumers searching for their vehicles and service.

Keep in mind that content alone won’t boost your lead generation.  That’s the job of your website’s conversion funnel and online sales process.  Ask yourself, “Is my dealership website able to engage and convert a majority of its visitors?”

Learn how to double your Internet leads with live chat! 

Comments


It is always nice to read someone talk about the basics and I feel like everyone expects their web provider to create this type of content.

Dec 14, 2011


Thanks for your comment Tyson! Sometimes the basics are the hardest to grasp. In the case of inbound marketing, dedicating time and resources to it and getting into a routine is the hardest part. From there, dealers can measure results and determine what's working and make educated decisions.

There are many tools available to assist with this practice, but dealers must take it upon themselves to create the compelling content that will turn visitors into leads.

Let me know if you have any questions about inbound marketing and I'll be happy to help answer them.

Jan 20, 2012

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