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Marketing your Web Site |
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On the Internet "CONTENT IS KING" The name World Wide Web is exactly what it means. If someone has your Web Address, they can view your Web Site. It is the content within your site and what they are able to accomplish that will determine whether they stay on your site and contact you. If your site is simply a brochure with no inventory and photos, or interactive devices, you will notice shoppers do not stay long. The main objective of your Site is to inform buyers about your products and give them reasons and ways to contact you immediately. Let us clear up one major misconception about your Web Site. It is not at all like the traditional forms of advertising, in that it is not intrusive and people choose to visit you at their convenience. Unlike normal advertising, your Web Site can be loaded with information and full color graphics, at a fraction of the cost. The best Web Site on the Net is worthless if you have no traffic! You must get People to visit your pages. Attracting Serious Buyers means placing your web address in every aspect of your business. Realistically, there are more used car and truck shoppers out there than new car shoppers. A typical used car lot can cater to most makes and models, while a new car department is limited to only their specific makes. Do not ignore your web address in your used ads. Print Media and Yellow Pages: This is not an option. If you want shoppers to come to your site, than you must put your web address in every ad you run. If you make it small or hide it in the fine print, you will get less traffic. If you put some emphasis on your site, shoppers will visit and interact with your dealership. If you run Classified ads in your local paper, pay for that extra line with your web address. People that are online will know exactly what you mean. If you advertise in the Auto Trader, Auto Pix or any of the other Car Mags, get it in there! We can directly track hits on your pages to ads you are running. Sample Arizona Address: www.azautonet.com/dealers/yourdealership Television: When you run TV spots, place your URL at the bottom of the screen. Don't be afraid to leave it up there for at least 10 seconds. Search Engine Directories: Your Web address must be registered with all of the major search engines. When web surfers put in certain keywords such as used cars for sale, your site will come up. Try to find your Web Site through the search engines. What keywords are shoppers using? Are you in the major directories? Business Cards, Contracts, Invoices, Letterhead: Every business card should have your Address on it. If your people have E-mail addresses put it on their card. If you really want to maximize your Web Site's exposure, hang posters, put it in your yellow pages ad and anywhere else you place your name. Remember, the number of Internet users is increasing everyday and the more places your address is placed the more hits you will receive. Spread the Word!! You may be surprised to find out many of your current and past customers are already online with E-Mail addresses. Let them know you have a site. Collect E Mail addresses. Why not include a box for E Mail addresses on your credit apps, service forms, parts invoices etc.. It is only a matter of time before it is a standard box on every application. Put it on your Building. Put
your web address on your building. Drive by shoppers can access your web site.
Rural Areas. The power of the Internet allows you to fully cover your entire State. Most out of town Dealers cannot match the selection and prices that the Metro Dealers possess. On our Car finder form we ask people to request a Statewide or Regional search for their vehicle. An overwhelming 96% of out of town shoppers request a Statewide search. Colleges and other Schools. Most College students are online. Teachers, professors, administrative workers are online. We receive many leads with the .EDU extension at the end of the E-mail address. Universities, Community Colleges and Elementary schools constitute a huge Statewide target market. E-mail Example: buyer@ASU.EDU Small Business. Many small businesses are online and many more are going online everyday. These people will shop for vehicles online and expect Fleet service. Our tracking program has shown that the majority of shoppers log on at 2 O'clock in the afternoon. This indicates that a vast majority of shoppers are searching while at work. We have also found Tuesday and Wednesday to be the busiest search days. State & Federal Employees. In view of the fact that all Government Agencies are online, many shoppers use their access to shop. We receive numerous leads from Military and Government employees. Most Government employees have E-mail addresses and can go online from work. Large Corporations: These targets have their own E-mail networks. Many already have web sites. Motorola, Honeywell, Intel, Dial. These are just a few of the large companies that give their employees access to the Web. We receive leads from employees while at work. Senior Citizen Market: Huge market and growing fast. Many more will be coming on once the TV Internet box is improved later this year. These shoppers are perfect targets because of the ease of online shopping. There are Internet groups popping up all over the Valley just for Seniors. Statistical Analysis Every Web Site should have a third party monitoring its activity and traffic. This information is crucial to your business, because it will give you invaluable information regarding what is happening on your site. If you have a Web Site and receive no access to statistical information regarding its daily activity, ask your provider. There is a good possibility that it's available and they aren't giving it to you. Most Web Sites take a lot of time and effort to create and successfully launch. But after this extensive work Site owners find themselves asking the question "Is it doing the job?" Here are a few other questions the stats page on your site should be answering. Who is accessing my site? From which countries? Which domains? Which authenticated users are accessing the most? Are they companies, educational, government etc.? What pages are being viewed the most? How many bytes are being transferred? Which directories are being accessed the most? When are people visiting my site? Which days of the week and month? Which hours of the day? Which weeks have been the busiest? How are people finding my site? Which pages are linking to mine? Which words are people searching for at Yahoo to find my site? Have people bookmark my site? Which types of errors are occurring? How many times have people requested something that returned an error? Which browsers are people using to view my site? Has my site been getting busier lately? How about the last 14 days? This is the information you need in order to know how your site is doing and where it needs to go. It serves as a road map to the future. If you are not receiving any stats at all about your Web Site, you must demand it. The Internet is one of the most accountable marketing tools you have, but only if you utilize it properly. Click
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