13Jul

6 Challenges Equipment Dealers are Facing Online

Recently we came across an article discussing the six challenges equipment dealers will likely be facing online in 2016. These problems included local searches, iFrames, mobile, dealership size/scale, retaining relationships, and responding to leads. So what does this all mean to you? It means that you have come to the right place. Here at CWS, we can not only provide information about what these problems mean and why they are important, we can also offer you solutions through our many products and services. Find out for yourself what we do best.

Problem One: Coming up on a local search.

Why is this a problem? Local businesses may have trouble coming up on local search because they are being outed by national companies. This means that potential leads are being snatched away due to lack of search engine presence.

What is the importance? Think about it this way. If you are a small local tractor dealer, how do customers find out your location? You can bet that the first place customers turn to is a handy Google search for “Tractors for sale”, and it’s important that your dealership comes up as one of the top results in order to bring customers to your store or even make a simple phone call. Any contact to your business is an opportunity for a future sale.

What is our solution? The first step is to ensure that your address, phone number, and store hours are all correct on your website. Having this information readily available not only to your website visitors, but also the search engines, helps ensure that when someone is searching for your business, they have the opportunity to find you. Google’s “Pigeon” algorithm should help to make sure that your business will be recognized by increasing the ranking of local listings in a search. This means that consumers in your area should be able to find your store. We also have a team of certified search services specialists that can help you optimize your website for search engines and help you setup your Google My Business page.

Problem Two: iFrames

Why is this a problem? An iFrame is an HTML document embedded into another HTML document, and is an outdated method of inserting content. Simply put, iFraming refers to using content that is housed on another website, such as using your inventory that lives on an advertising portal website, and “framing” it into your dealership’s website. Google no longer accepts iFrames as a valuable source of content for websites, and iFramed content can cause major lag time on your website for visitors and search engines.  Since Google doesn’t recognize this content as being your content, so you are not gaining any search engine value by iFraming it on your website.  

What is the importance? Website lag time screams unprofessional, and that is not the impression you want to leave. It is important that users have a seamless website experience to secure yourself a reputation of legitimacy. It’s also important that your inventory, or any other type of content, is live on your website so that you are getting all of the search engine benefits, and not a third party website.

What is our solution? All inventory showrooms on our websites do not use iFrames. Instead, all content is live on your website to ensure a seamless website experience, for both your website visitors and the search engines. This way, you’re ensuring that your inventory is being credited to your website, and not somewhere else. Worried about having to upload your inventory to multiple sources? Our websites are compatible with many online advertising portals, such as Equipment Trader Online and Commercial Truck Trader, so you only have to upload your inventory once and it will be pushed or pulled from an outside source.

Problem Three: Mobile

Why is this a problem? Smartphones are used for almost everything these days, so you can guarantee that consumers will be using their phones to Google your business. But here’s the catch. If you’re website is not mobile friendly, then Google will refuse to allow your website to show up on mobile searches. You might as well turn away every other customer that walks into your dealership’s front door, because not having a mobile friendly website is essentially doing just that.

What is the importance? The Mobile world is the new frontier for marketing. 79% of smartphone users have their phone with them 22 hours a day. This means that smartphones are the main tool used by consumers to gather information. Therefore it would be highly disadvantageous to ignore the mobile platform, since it may be the best source for lead generation.

What is our solution? All of our websites come with a separate mobile friendly website to  ensure that your website is optimized for a mobile experience. This means that no matter where a website visitor comes from, mobile or desktop, they will have the chance to learn all about what your dealership has to offer them.  

Problem Four: Dealership Size/Scale

Why is this a problem? This is more relevant when it comes to smaller businesses. Smaller business may feel a lack of presence online because it is hard to compete with larger companies. It may seem that leads are being diverted to larger, higher traffic websites.

What is the importance? Your online presence is one of the best ways to obtain leads, therefore it is important that you are being recognized online no matter how small your business. Companies with little internet presence will not be as successful, so make sure that you are doing all that you can to optimize your internet/search engine presence.

What is our solution? Commercial Web Services has a team of certified search engine specialists that can help even the smallest of businesses increase their online presence. Through services such as search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing, or pay-per-click advertising, our team can help get your dealership in front of the right customers. We also offer services such as Remarketing, which brings website visitors back to your dealership’s website through automatic ads that are served as visitors continue to browse the internet. Finally, with BuyerTrack, we can help target customers who are ready to buy through targeted keyword advertising that drives visitors directly to the inventory they are searching for.

Problem Five: Retaining Relationships in a digital world

Why is this a problem? In an era of endless choices, it’s hard to retain customer relationships. With so many options for customers  to choose from, it is important now more than ever to maintain relationships with customers to ensure that they continuously come to you when it’s time to buy.

What is the importance? Relationship selling is the new way to go in the digital world. If you put in the time to build relationships with customers, they will most likely buy from you rather than looking at alternatives, even if your prices are higher! Relationship building is the foundation for endless sales opportunities.

What is our solution? Our latest service, GoSocial, allows you to stay connected with customers and potential customers through the power of social media. With this service, we provide your dealership with weekly social media posts on Facebook and Twitter to ensure that you are actively building personal relationships. Don’t have a Facebook or Twitter presence? No worries. Our team of social media experts will create these for you! You will also have access to these experts at any time to help answer any questions you may have about navigating the social media world. Find out more about GoSocial.

Problem Six: Responding To leads

Why is this a problem? Business is fast paced, therefore failure to respond to a lead in a timely manner means you can kiss that lead goodbye. With a lack of resources it’s  challenging to be aware of when you receive a lead and how/when to respond, but It is absolutely critical to have a strong lead management plan in place if you want your business to thrive

What is the importance? Leads are a potential sale, or a customer who is showing interest in what you have to offer. Customers are impatient, so if you do not immediately show them that you care when they show interest, they will move on to the next guy.

What is our solution? We offer what we call a lead management tool that is included in our base website solution. We also provide each dealership with a trackable toll-free number.  With these two lead tracking and management tools, you’re able to easily monitor any website or phone leads that come into your dealership.  With the toll-free number, you are able to listen to phone calls that come in, ensuring you don’t miss an opportunity for a sale. And through our website lead management tool, you can receive email notifications whenever a lead form is filled out on your website, which is crucial for staying on top of things. In other words, we provide the tools necessary to ensure that no lead goes unanswered!

With today’s fast paced business world, we hope we can provide the light at the end of the tunnel. Marketing is no one man job, that is why our team specializes in helping you create the online presence that you deserve. Don’t fall behind in 2016, take action now to be the best you can.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Eckenrode

Leave A Comment