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Kim Clouse, trainer and founder of Auto Consultants, answers this month's question for AutoUSA readers.
What in your opinion are the biggest mistakes dealers make on their websites?
A lot of Internet Managers and Dealers ask me what the key to a good website is. The first thing I think everyone should attempt to do is buy every obvious URL associated with their name until they are sick of thinking of URL's. Even the best websites need to be wrapped in URL protection with the entire list of extras forwarded to the primary.
Next, I usually attempt to explain the importance of being able to forget the vanity aspect and look at their site in the customers shoes. Most of the flash, spinning graphics, crawling text incentives and ask for Joe Internet manager distracts the customer from what we are supposed to show them. The sole purpose for a homepage is to get the guest where they want to be. A good homepage should be like the traffic cop at a busy intersection, directing the people where they need to go.
Here are some tips and items dealerships need to consider on their sites
- Avoid too much flash, movement and clutter on the homepage.
- Keep new and used inventory, up-to-date with good photos and great descriptions. This is usually where the dealer staff are lazy and make excuses and blame the inventory hosts.
- If you offer a credit application that is linked to your CRM and the finance manager(s) e-mail make sure it is on a secure (SSL encrypted page) to protect your prospects information.
- When any form or application is submitted, be sure to provide a confirmation that their data has been received.
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Hey There, Join My Network!
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Bill would like to be your friend, Carla wants to be a connection, Ralph wants you to join his group, Phil wants to invite you to his blog show, Jeff invites you to subscribe to his RSS feed! This is the lingo of online social networking, and if I get one more invitation to recommend someone my head will explode!
The growing online communities that want me to participate are almost becoming a full time job. You can easily tell who isn't selling cars (or anything else) these days, because you will see them online replying to every post and update. They seem to be twittering away the day.
Over the last few years all sorts of social networks, blogs and feeds have been popping up online. We are all aware of facebook, myspace and others, but are they really adding any value to what we do in the auto business? While some trainers out there will say to join every one of these and start promoting yourself you need to set the right expectation for your participation. Having a facebook or myspace page will not automatically help you sell five more vehicles this month, and could end up being more trouble than it's worth.
These sites are great for reconnecting with old friends, sharing photos with your network across the country or the world but they were not built to be a commercial venue to pitch products. If you want to participate and "network" for personal reasons they are great. I entered the term "car dealer" in the search bar at Facebook and over 500 results were returned. There were a few groups, and many individuals that just had the words in their profile somewhere.
One auto company promoting their comparison functionality got slammed because their site did not work as promised and facebook users voiced their displeasure. Searching for "automotive" under the groups section isn't much better. You'll see a fragmented array of groups including ArabWheels Automotive Magazine. That's great if your dealership is in Dubai. Another group is named for a Kia sales person, but the first post on The Wall indicates the salesman no longer works at that dealership, and questions why the group even exists anymore.
Also remember that other facebook members can't see your personal page unless they add you as a "friend." How many auto buying prospects on facebook will really ask to become your friend? You also want to give some thought to what it means to be a "friend" online. How do you choose your friends in your everyday life? Shouldn't the online process be the same? To help you navigate the online waters here is my take on social network sites and other online opportunities.
- facebook: This site was originally designed for college kids to share, photos, gossip and chat about last weekends party. They do have some good groups to participate in but overall not a site where you can prospect and get leads. I use it primarily for personal networking, and accept very few "friend requests" from business associates. I don't want business associates or prospects for that matter seeing my family reunion photos or snapshots of my vacation to Boise, Idaho.
- myspace: This site is morphing from a networking site to a video sharing site and as it grows you can expect to see more commercialism creeping in. I entered the word "Nissan" in the site search box and was surprised to see job postings for Nissan sales people. Seems MySpace Jobs is growing bigger. Again this site is strongly geared to the younger hip hop set and if you hit their "Browse People" link you will see mostly young women and teenagers. I did see a number of dealers posting vehicle videos on the myspace.com video channel. And, as I used to say when I sold cars, "If it's free, it's for me!" So if you have some videos to post go ahead and give it a shot. Like YouTube you can embed the code and feature these videos on your website too.
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