When you run an auto dealership, you might think your only major concern is selling cars. This overlooks a pretty critical fact, though; you can’t sell cars to customers that don’t exist. Marketing is as important as salesmanship. With so much of marketing moving to the internet in modern times, online marketing is a skill you need to master to keep your business afloat. A major component of online marketing is Search Engine Optimization, shortened to SEO. What is SEO and how do you use it for your business? Let’s look at three reasons for auto dealerships to take SEO for automotive dealerships seriously to explain both of those things right now.
1. SEO Makes a Business More Visible
The main benefit of SEO is that it makes your business more visible to potential customers. Not in the same way a big sign on the highway or a bunch of flashing lights would, though. Instead, SEO makes you more visible online. People who search for car dealerships online will get a lot of results thrown at them, most likely picking from the first few they see. With good SEO for automotive dealerships, you could become one of those first few options, greatly increasing the amount of people who know about you.
2. Good Reviews
SEO making your business more visible comes with several additional perks, one of them being the ease with which people can see and leave reviews. If your results show up near the top of a Google search, they’ll inevitably be paired with reviews of your business. Seeing lots of good reviews like that can help convince people to come to your dealership. Additionally, if your customers happen to wander in without finding you before and have a good experience at your business, they might look you up to leave a good review. They’re much more likely to do this if they can easily find you, though. Obviously, the flip side here is that it would make leaving bad reviews easier, as well, but that’s just more incentive for you and your employees to deliver excellent service.
3. Builds Connections Locally
While SEO covers a pretty broad spectrum (i.e. showing results to the whole country or the whole world), optimization works just as well on a local level. For a small business owner, this is what’s most ideal. Automotive dealership marketing tends to reach a specific audience given that they make a majority of their sales in person. By slipping in some choice keywords — specifically, ones relating to your local city, town, or nearby fixtures — you’re priming the search engine to show your results to people in your local area. This isn’t just smart business but a much easier task than conquering the charts. Given the industry, owning “automotive dealership” on Google is a fool’s errand. There’s probably far less competition in your town compared to the whole nation.
Running a successful car dealership comes with a lot of responsibilities. You’re not only buying cars, selling cars, and making repairs. You’ve also got to account for marketing your business and products. Try to implement the ideas behind these three reasons to take SEO seriously to get the kind of attention you deserve within your community.
Now that you understand how important SEO for automotive dealerships can be, take things to the next level by getting in touch with VIP Marketing to help with your website’s SEO efforts. Our seasoned professionals are ready and able to make your business the best it can be in the online space.
