Independent auto dealerships require a strong online presence in order to bring in buyers; that presence centers on the dealer website itself. It can’t be emphasized enough that your dealer website is much more than just an online placeholder; it should be more like a 24/7 sales machine, qualifying leads and converting them into appointments with your sales team.
How can you tell when your dealer website is getting the job done? Or, how do you know when it’s not really carrying its weight? Today, we’ll list five red flags that suggest your dealership website could use some work.
Signs Your Website Needs a Revamp
- You’re not getting appointments. At the end of the day, your website exists to funnel customers into your showroom or onto your lot. Hopefully, you’re using call tracking software to help monitor the number of appointments you get through your website. But if your website isn’t generating any appointments, that’s a pretty clear indicator that something’s amiss.
- You don’t have any kind of SEO presence. Another reason to have a website is to ensure search engine visibility. Now, SEO can be finicky, and it’s unreasonable to expect position-one rankings in every query. With that said, if your page isn’t even indexed, or doesn’t appear in any local searches, that points to some obvious areas of improvement.
- Your bounce rate is high. Bounce rate refers to the frequency with which visitors hit your site and then immediately leave; it’s a good indicator that something about the content or layout just isn’t appealing. Naturally, a high bounce rate is a red flag. You can find this information in Google Analytics, and we’d recommend keeping an eye on it.
- The site takes forever to load. A slow website is problematic on almost every level; SEO, user experience, you name it. Specifically, your site shouldn’t take more than three or four seconds to load completely. Test it out on multiple browsers and devices, and if you find it lags, that’s cause for some concern.
- Your site is out of date. Does your site still advertise a Christmas sale… in the middle of July? Are your hours of operation out of date? Or has it simply been a good long while since you made any site revisions? A stagnant site isn’t going to be as effective as one that’s kept current. Make sure you’re reviewing and updating your site regularly. (A blog is a good way to ensure a steady stream of fresh content.)
These are just a few of the telltale signs that let you know your site could use an overhaul. As you think about ways to improve your site, these are a few issues that might provide you with some direction or some urgency.
To learn more about developing an effective used car dealership website, get in touch with Get My Auto. Ask us about our website solutions, which we’ve made with independent dealerships in mind! Contact us at your next opportunity.