Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine is the daily operations publication serving the retail automotive industry. This automotive publication serves dealer principals, officers and general managers with the latest best practices.
Issue link: http://autodealermonthly.epubxp.com/i/72788
industry expert / technology or so. Don't make it even harder by skipping any of these steps: • Make sure that every vehicle in your inventory has its own page and URL. It needs to be included in both your regular sitemap and the XML sitemap for your website. • Optimize your vehicle pages around the year, make, model and geographic areas your dealership covers. In terms of on-site SEO, the title tags, URL and the on-page content should all reflect these four pieces of information that consumers use to search for used vehicles. • Create a great used vehicle search page that can index for terms like the manufacturer's name, "used," "pre-owned" and "certified" and the geo- graphic keyword terms your dealership uses. This is important because this page won't cycle off of your site like your individual used vehicle pages will. • Blog about your used inven- tory. Your used vehicles may turn over, but if you've got a blog (ideally incorporated within your dealership's website), you've got a great place to build permanent, optimized content around important keywords that can link to your used inventory. 3. Use Google AdWords to Merchandise Your Used Inventory Create ads and campaigns for every used vehicle in your inventory. Remember that a used vehicle generates a higher gross profit, so if you're tracking your paid search for used vehicles, remember that you can afford a higher cost per lead for a used car. Also, make sure you track your calls; we've seen that email leads only account for a A used vehicle generates higher gross profit, so if you're tracking your paid search for used vehicles, remember that you can afford a higher cost per lead for a used car. minority of the leads from a paid search campaign. 4. Create a Great Vehicle Details Page for your Used Inventory At DealerOn, we've created the M.A.S.T.E.R. website optimization framework. Here's how to apply it to a used vehicle details page: • Motivation – Provide a consumer who lands on your used vehicle details page a reason to submit a lead. In- stead of the call to action for your lead form being "Request Information," make it "Request Sale Price." Give them a reason to provide you their contact information. • Action – Provide a clear, obvious and relevant call to action. Don't give them five competing choices right next to each other (e.g., Request Information, Request Trade-in, Calculate Payment, Get Pre-Approved, Request Test Drive). • Simplicity – Keep it simple. Limit the fields you require on the form; don't ask for any fields you're not going to use. If you require any fields be- sides name, phone number and email, make sure you have a valid reason for doing so. • Trust – Consumers do busi- ness with companies they 45 trust. Give them reasons to trust you on your vehicle details page. Include your 10 most recent positive reviews on your vehicle details page, so customers can see that people who were going through the car-buying process a few months ago made the decision to buy from your dealership and are very happy about having done so. If your dealership is a President's Award Winner, put that on the vehicle details page. It is the most effective place on your site to use your positive re- views and validation. • Education – Make sure you have all important buying-decision information on the vehicle details page, particularly any information related to: • Risk Reduction – This is huge! If a vehicle has a CARFAX, if it is a CARFAX One-Owner vehicle, if it's a CPO, if it has a 30,000-mile warranty, etc., make sure the customer has this informa- tion in plain view on the vehicle details page. Each one of these items reduces the risk for a consumer.