Leading the Way to a Strong Online Presence
By: John Holt
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A strong online presence builds consumer trust and confidence. Many buyers rely on name recognition to guide them in their purchasing decisions. One way to create a strong Internet presence is to partner with a reputable third party company that's done all the footwork and has a proven track record of attracting buyers and generating leads. Partnering with a third party lead provider offers the following benefits:
- Free exposure on car buying web sites such as SmartAutoSavings.com, Autotropolis.com, MSN Autos and more. Having a presence on these web sites is a guaranteed way to get a dealership's name in front of hundreds of serious buyers.
- Partnerships with trusted car research sites including Edmunds.com and Kelley Blue Book. These names inspire consumer trust and confidence.
- Proven methods for gathering valid leads. Many Internet shoppers are leery of providing their name, e-mail address and phone numbers to a web site, afraid they'll get spammed or start receiving numerous unwanted calls.
- Cost effective SEO and SEM. Being ranked the highest still doesn't guarantee that you'll get the best leads. Third party lead providers and their partners have determined which search engine terms translate to leads, regardless of rankings. Better yet, they're the ones paying the SEO and SEM providers - not the dealership.
- Access to other lead sources such as affinity programs. CarPerks and other affinity programs have become popular in recent years, with millions of employees nationwide having access to exclusive car buying services offered as a free perk by their employers.
- Maintenance. Consumer shopping habits continuously change based on market conditions, vehicle trends and more. A third party lead provider's full time job is to track lead closing rates from various sources, and adjust marketing strategies accordingly.
J.W. Holt is the Director of Business Development for AutoUSA. He can be reached at HoltJ@AutoUSA.com.
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