We receive many requests for information about Internet marketing, often concerning dealers dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of their websites. We feel therefore, a page (courtesy of TRAFFIC1 ©) covering the facts of Internet marketing for the retail motor trade will be helpful

MOTOR TRADE INTERNET MARKETING - THE HYPE, FACTS, AND THE DISAPPOINTMENTS

Car Dealers and Garage owners are led to believe that having a website is the key to business success, and when it is part of a properly marketed package it can be exactly that. But of course just having a website is fairly pointless if the car buying public are not looking at it. We will draw an analogy with dealers having expensive glossy photo catalogues of all their cars, but the people that want to buy cars never seeing the catalogues. It might sound silly, by sadly that is an exact parallel with many car dealers websites.

Did someone offer to create a website for you? Were you told it will be prominent in all the major search engine results and open up new markets for you? Are you still carrying out numerous searches for cars and car dealers without finding your website?

It is probably little consolation, but thousands have gone this route and experienced the same non event. Car dealers and garage owners are constantly being offered search dependent Internet marketing plans that are to say the least wildly optimistic if not pure fantasy, particularly when the odds of having a top ranked website are not vastly different to those of winning the lottery. It is essential therefore to appreciate the proven parameters covering current search and marketing concepts, and understand why some websites receive many visitors, while others being almost hidden from the public receive virtually no traffic at all.

SOME MORE FACTS THAT MAY DISAPPOINT YOU:

The main reason for having a website is to find new business, which means finding new buyers that do not know of you and would otherwise be looking elsewhere. This is business that you will only get from the world wide web, and only if you have a fully effective prime position ranked website. But if the majority of your sites traffic comes from yourself, your salesman, competitors who are monitoring your prices, with the occasional referral from a print media advertisement, your website is certainly not bringing you new business - its simply not working for you.

When prospects telephone you about a vehicle they have seen on your website, they are unlikely to mention they saw the website address in your local paper advertisement. Much of your website traffic could be generated this way, and can lead you to believe your website is far more effective than it is. In reality your website may be little more than a flattering accessory, or at best a useful electronic brochure.

If as is likely you are getting little new business from the world wide web, at least your website address can be placed in print media adverts, on your showroom window, or on business cards etc so it acts as a useful sales aid allowing existing clients to view your latest stock lists or other information.

THE POWER OF THE SEARCH ENGINES AND THE KEY TO SUCCESS:

The key to Internet marketing success is through your websites search engine ranking, and you can find out if the search engines consider your website a 'hero' or a 'zero' from the website visibility link on the trade user information page.

Nearly all website traffic (8 out of every 10 website visits) comes through search engine indexes. There are however approaching 100 billion web pages circulating the internet, and while we are only concerned with the ones dealing with cars and associated services in the UK, this still refers to around 85 million pages. Your website will need to be listed or linked within the first handful of pages in the appropriate search category or it will not be found.

The problem is most websites will not obtain a sustainable worthwhile ranking because search engines filter out so many sites, only prime listing ones considered important enough judged by their structure, relevance, connection, and the amount of traffic received - so it really is a very exclusive club.

If you have that elusive prime positioning you can look forward to success. If not, you need to be part of DealerPage.co.uk which can give your website the benefit of prime search recognition almost overnight.

MORE PROBLEMS - CAN YOUR WEBSITE BE VIEWED ONCE FOUND?

It is estimated that 1/3rd of all 'personal' website visits are made from the work place. Most workers with access to the office Internet and email system will at some time have used it for personal reasons, and many do so in a prolific manner particularly late Thursday and Friday afternoons which are the peak times for such 'personal browsing'. It is hardly suprising therefore that most company system administrators block access to commonly used social networking sites, and sites allowing the downloading of large image, music and video files. Administrators may also disallow the use or installation of 'plug ins' and peripheral programs required to view sites that have a cosmetic high value presentation usually intended to impress the person paying for the site, rather than the visitor who simply requires information. Dealers that have websites of this type which may not be viewable from many corporate networks, should ensure additional universally accessible pages are available to the visitor. Dealerpage users will already have the benefit of such additional 'catch all' feature pages.

MOTOR TRADE INTERNET MARKETING CATEGORIES:

1. SPECIFIC VEHICLE DATABASE SEARCH:

Specific or single vehicle database search is effectively covered by AutoTrader as the market leader, and to a lesser degree the Exchange & Mart websites. Both of these either have, or have had print media associations of course, and did so long before the Internet started to dominate motor sales in the UK. Dozens of smaller database search sites have sprung up in recent years, but offer little competition to the market leader which has by far the biggest index and user market share.

Specific vehicle search inevitably creates a price orientated market place with dealers usually competing with hundreds of other trade and private sellers, offering the identical model. It is common for Dealers to have a 'showroom' price and a lower AutoTrader or 'on-line' price to compete for the earlier lower priced listings which attract by far the most visitors.

Autotrader is of course a popular resource, and when setting up dealers internet marketing campaigns, we ourselves suggest it should include an AutoTrader account in order to capture that section of the market.

2. GENERIC OR NATURAL WEBSITE SEARCH:

The second, and arguably the most important form of Internet marketing, is the promotion of dealers own websites via the big search engines and service providers such as Yahoo, Google, BT and AOL etc. Unlike with database searches, dealers are not competing against a huge list of sellers offering the same model, and as the majority of ALL website traffic comes through search engines, a top listing in their search results will ensure a dealers business and stock are discovered by thousands of new prospects. Naturally all dealers wish their website could have this top ranking, but with some searches returning links to literally millions of other UK webpages, very few can be that fortunate.

We are referring to Internet marketing for new and used car dealers, but the same principles apply to garage owners and those offering motoring services of all kinds. Generic search is particularly relevant to garage and motoring services, allowing vehicle owners to quickly find an MoT testing station, or servicing centre in their area with little more than a click of their mouse.

WHICH DO THE BUYERS CHOOSE:

The answer of course is both. AutoTrader is well established and marketed, and has no serious competitors within the specific vehicle search genre. It is thought to be responsible for almost a third of all Internet sourced vehicle sales despite many market researchers suggesting the public are developing a resistance to this type of search which is not only very limiting, but requires the disclosure of users post codes, and which many find complex and often erroneous.

With service providers such as Yahoo, Lycos, BT, AOL etc supplying the most commonly used home pages on PC's in the UK and which offer every form of product service and facility including email, shopping, search, music, entertainment, money and news in such a user friendly way, it is no wonder that the search facilities offered on these home pages are so commonly used. Google supply the home page search for BT and AOL plus many lesser known service providers, so top level search is instantly available to almost all PC users in the UK.

Although actual sales closures coming from single vehicle search visitors are considerably less than from those visiting dealers websites and having the choice of other models that are available, it is essential that both database search and generic website search form part of a dealers Internet marketing plan if sales are to be maximised.

SPONSORED LINKS - SPEND MORE, GET LESS?

Some larger companies whose websites have inadequate search ranking may opt to pay for 'a sponsored link' which is an advert / link on early search results pages often funded via a 'click through' account. This requires an agreed credit to be maintained with the chosen search engine, from which an amount is deducted every time a visitor clicks on that link. (Search for 'Airlines' on Yahoo or Google and you will see that even British Airways found it necessary to do this). Depending on the number of key words chosen to generate this link, such arrangements can cost a lot of money, particularly when one hears of competing businesses trying to 'click flood' the link in order to use up a competitors credit. Another downside is that Internet users naturally conclude that sites using sponsored links are not worthy of prime ranking, so the benefits are to say the least highly debatable. A top generic or natural search result is therefore considered far more valuable than a comparable sponsored link. Having a sponsored link subscription may also effect a sites later chances of a good natural search ranking.

HOW INTERNET MARKETING CAN WORK FOR YOU:

One of the most important Motor Trade websites with regards to locating car dealers, vehicles for sale, garages and motor services is Dealerpage.co.uk. It has an enviable high profile search ranking and offers one click access to dealers AutoTrader or other designated websites, so their sales program is instantly launched into top gear across the whole spectrum of Internet marketing. If you have a website of any size or type, DealerPage can give it the benefits of top search ranking within 24 hours. Some dealers and garages in the London area have found their website traffic has more than doubled since using DealerPage.

As a buyer, you can click through page after page of links, half of which go to sites far removed from what you are looking for, or you can click on DealerPage knowing you will find the sites you want. This is why tens of thousands of visitors put DealerPage in their favourites and regularly return to view the dealers latest stock listings.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Let DealerPage elevate your website into a market winning position that has previously been the prerogative of only a few. Follow the links to subscribe.

BEWARE THE TOP TEN SCAM: There has been many cases reported of Car Dealers, Travel and Estate agents being approached by third parties promising top 10 placement in Yahoo and Google generic search results in exchange for considerable sums of money. Some email, postal mail and telephone scams of this type sound very convincing and appear to be reoccurring. A number of such organisations are now facing legal action instigated by trading standards and also by private claimants.

This edited page is published courtesy of Traffic1 ©. You may download the complete section on
UK Internet marketing (1.8Mb) from the Traffic1 website as an HTML page, or in PDF format.

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