How can I utilize videos to drive traffic to my dealership website?
By: Karen Bradley of Dealer Synergy, a trainer and consultant for auto retailers.
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One of the best ways to drive traffic to your dealership website is through Video Search Engine Optimization. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) is defined as optimizing video content for search engine traffic. What was once a rare technique is now the best way to maximize exposure for your web videos and here is how you get started:
- First you need a simple way to create your videos. There are 4 ways in which to create or use video content: 1) Get them from your manufacturer, 2) create them in house with hi tech video equipment or even a low budget video Flip Camera, 3) your advertising company, or last but most definitely not least, 4) hire an outside company. With so many options to create video content, there really is no excuse NOT to be doing it! If your dealership has $150, you can be on your way to creating video content.
- Now what kind of content do you put in your videos? Here are some suggestions:
Videos about YOUR DEALERSHIP:
- The GM (or other well spoken team member) talking about the dealership
- A walk through of the dealership showing off your facility
Introduce your Sales and Service Staff
- Have each employee give a brief introduction and talk about their personal and professional accomplishments.
- Remember to share info about hobbies and other interests
- Post these on your staff page or on sites like www.Carfolks.com that offer free micro-sites for dealership sales professionals.
Testimonials:
- Short video of happy customer talking about the great experience they had buying a vehicle from your store
- Be sure to get a release form from the customer giving you permission to use their video
- Post these on your site and push to other sites like Facebook or YouTube (more on these later)
Makes and Models/Inventory:
- Describe vehicle features
- Year/make/model and show interior and exterior of vehicle (video walk around)
Sales, Specials and Certified PreOwned
- Internet Specials
- Financing Specials (Offering low rate financing from the factory, let folks know that.)
- Trade Ins
- Price Guarantee: If you have a pricing policy share it in the video
So now you have created lots of video content. Where do you upload the videos? Again the obvious location is your dealership website. YouTube is the next big one that always comes to mind, but is certainly not the only relevant video search engine. Your goal is to upload to as many search engines as possible.
Other sites to consider are Google video, MySpace video, AOL video, Yahoo video, Carspace(Edmunds video component) Vidler, Truveo, Metacafe and again CarFolks.com. As you search the web you will come across others as well.
Uploading the videos is only part of the process. You now need to optimize them. The simple act of uploading your videos to a video search engine does not get you the results you need. To properly optimize the videos you will need a relevant subject line, relevant description and relevant key words.
Next you need to get a customer to go from your video to your website? You do this by embdedding links. It is not enough to have www.abcmotors.com. You MUST use the http:// prefix prior to the www in your website URL. You will embed the link(s) into your video description.
Also, I suggest you have MULTIPLE URLs, not only to your homepage but to specific important parts of your website. Think about how powerful it would be to upload 10-20 unique videos per month. Only five videos a week! Just one video a day to at least 10 different search engines; all with back links embedded.
With the evolution of universal search, video search engine optimization has become much more powerful than regular full blown websites. Knowing this, you have a dealer website, correct? Why wouldn't you have a VSEO campaign?
Karen Bradley is a trainer and dealer consultant, and also one of the few auto industry trainers certified to teach the FranklinCovey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Course. She can be reached at Karen@dealersynergy.com or by calling 888-379-6374. http://www.dealersynergy.com
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