Your dealership website is one of the most important pieces of marketing collateral you have—which means it’s important to audit it frequently.
This doesn’t have to be a long and involved process. How about this: Once a year, sit down with your marketing team, go through the site, and simply ask whether there’s anything you can or should do to make the site more effective.
To help get the ball rolling, here are five questions we recommend—some key ways to determine the efficacy of your dealership website.
5 Things to Ask About Your Dealership Website
1. How quickly does it load?
Start with something fairly obvious: Does your website content populate fairly quickly, or does it take several seconds? A fast loading time is key to grabbing your visitors and holding their interest, especially mobile users. Check your site on multiple devices and browsers, and aim for a loading time of two or three seconds. If it takes longer, you may want to get with your Web developer about making improvements.
2. When was the last content update?
Google’s algorithms need to be fed—constantly! What this means is that, for SEO purposes, it’s important to regularly add content to your site. The simplest way to do this is with a blog. Does your dealer website have a blog—and is it updated regularly?
3. Is this site designed to convert?
Here’s one simple way to answer this question: Does your site have a clear call to action on every page? And does it also include your basic dealership contact information? These are simply two of the most obvious ways in which you can use your dealer website to generate appointments.
4. Is the website welcoming?
When people come to your dealership, you want them to feel at home. Ideally, your site will help potential buyers feel more comfortable picking up the phone and calling you—and some ways you can make that happen is to include a warm, personal About Us page; some candid photos of your staff; and a clear greeting to newcomers.
5. Does your website fare well in local searches?
An SEO audit can help you determine whether your dealer website is getting the kind of search engine traction it needs. There are a lot of components to look for here—too many for one blog post—but you might pay special attention to keyword placement, whether you have any duplicate content on the site, and the general user experience, which can make a big difference in your bounce rate and ultimately in your rankings.
Auditing Your Dealer Website
For used car dealerships, a good website is non-negotiable. Make sure you take inventory of yours, and make a habit to revisit it at least once a year.
For those dealerships looking for a new website platform, we invite you to check out Get My Auto’s SaaS platform—which includes our dealer-centric website tools. Contact us directly to learn more.