3 posts tagged “search engine optimization”
It’s estimated that there are over 200 million blogs floating around on the internet. Do you ever wonder how yours stands up to the rest?
There’s a lot involved in automotive blog marketing. Just getting content up and making sure it’s optimized for search engine traffic is hard enough. But how your blog looks and feels is just as important in making sure your readers come back after their first visit.
Do you allow for comments?
One of the key differences between a blog and a static website is that blogs allow your readers the chance to contribute to the conversation. Many people love reading blogs because they’re not an authoritarian media -- it’s not just you writing and them reading. But many blog owners turn off the comment capacity on their blogs, often fearing spam.
Always allow for comments, even when nobody’s reading your blog yet. Give people the chance to contribute. They may join in and they may not, but they certainly won’t if you don’t let them.
Do you have a contact form?
Even if users can comment, some will prefer to get in touch with you privately. Is your contact form or email information easy to find and use? Do you require too much information from users when they’re filling out the form or can they simply leave their email address? Making yourself easy to find is crucial in this interconnected world.
Can your readers navigate by category and by date?
When a new visitor likes what they see, the odds are pretty good that they’ll want to see more. Depending on what they’re looking for they’ll want to navigate in different ways. If you’re discussing local events or issues that are time sensitive, it makes sense to navigate by date and you’ll want to have your archives searchable by month of publication. If they’re particularly interested in a certain topic -- trucks, for example, or maintenance issues -- they don’t want to have to search through every post you’ve ever written to find relevant posts. It makes sense in that case to allow them to search by category.
Is it easy on the eyes?
In many cases, blogs that look great the first time you look at them on the designer’s mockup don’t look great with lines and lines of text. The human eye can only handle so much information at once, so make sure your text is broken up with lots of white space. And speaking of white space -- it’s supposed to be white, or at least very white. Light text on a dark backround is hard to read for an extended period, and readers will click away instead of squinting.
Luckily, most of these issues require only a few clicks to change so if you need to make some fixes, it shouldn’t take too long. With a few simple tweaks to your automotive brand marketing strategy you can end up with readers staying longer -- and coming back for more.
Remember five years ago, way back in the Internet dark ages, when the first question anybody asked you about your online brand marketing strategy was, “Do you have a website?”
This time last year, the question was “Do you have a blog?” This year, the question is different once again. Now the question on everybody’s lips is, “What’s your blog address?”
It’s no longer nice to have a blog, it’s assumed. You could almost go so far as to say it’s mandatory. Everybody has one, and web designers are rushing to keep up with the demand from people in every business wanting a shiny new blog for their not so new website. Auto dealers are no exception.
If your auto dealership isn’t already blogging, you’re probably wondering what all of the fuss is about. Why do you need a blog? Aren’t they just online diaries? Not anymore.
1. Blogs increase your auto dealership’s search engine standings.
When you create a static website, search engines crawl through the internet and find your blog once. They investigate the content, find out what your website’s all about, and they leave. If you don’t change anything, they don’t come back and update their information -- there’s nothing to update.
With a blog, your content is dynamic and changing. You’re adding new information constantly, creating a growing inventory of searchable terms, and giving search engine crawlers to come back for. Weekly or even daily you’re filling your website with rich information and increasing the value of the site, making it more and more likely that search engines will list you favorably among their top results.
2. Blogs help your auto dealership build a thriving community.
Imagine having an entire community of people lined up to hear your message. They come to you and answer your questions or help other readers with theirs. They take time out of their day to come and hang out on your website.
That’s what blogging can give you. With syndication services and email signups, a limitless number of potential customers will hear everything you want them to hear -- voluntarily. Your comment section will enable them to communicate directly with you and with other readers and buyers. You don’t just get customers -- you get loyal fans.
3. Blogs can give your auto dealership trusted expert status.
Traditionally, people considered blogs to be glorified diaries. While some people still use them for this purpose, the majority of blogs are topical and often business related. Your blog can be your forum for dispensing valuable advice on the car buying or car ownership experience. You can give advice on how to maintain the resale value of your vehicle, how to keep the new car smell, even how often someone should go between oil changes.
Imagine your potential customers having a question and instead of asking their neighbor, they come to your website. That’s what blogging can give you.
Build Your Brand
Unlike most other forms of online marketing for auto dealers where you pay to build brand credibility for the provider, with AutoBurst you are investing into your own brand. Each dollar you put in to the AutoBurst program results in quality unique content that you own, visibility of your dealership on the Web, and greater overall awareness of your products and services.
Key Phrase Relevancy
One of the great benefits to Organic Search Marketing is relevancy. By investing into a Content Channel, you are not limiting your dealership to just that key phrase. You are investing into a set of related key phrases. This ultimately is what helps attain saturation.
For instance, "ford st louis" and "st louis dealer" share the phrase "st louis". Since each channel will receive an article each day referencing that phrase, along with each landing page using that phrase numerous times, the term "st louis" will become forthright to your dealership more quickly than if only one channel contained that term. This is but one example of how content relevancy takes effect.
Search Engine Visibility
As described previously, search engine visibility is categorized into four categories - Invisible, Visible, Penetrated, and Saturated. With AutoBurst, you are guaranteed to benefit from increased visibility in several areas of your business. Search engine visibility is a natural by-product of quality content, effective SEO, RSS Marketing, and link building. Your business is destined to become more and more accessible to online auto shoppers as you add to your investment.
Increased Residual Site Traffic, Increased Sales
Naturally, the more visible you are in search engines, and thus with Internet users, the more traffic you can expect to see on your site. Plus, since AutoBurst is specific to Organic Search Marketing, the visibility and increased site traffic has residual value beyond the capacity of other forms of marketing and advertising. For instance, with PPC advertising, you stop appearing as soon as your daily or monthly budget is used, or when you halt the campaign. With radio, T.V., and print advertising, your presence disappears as soon as the ad expires or stops airing. But with AutoBurst, your presence remains in tact for an indefinite period of time for as long as you keep the web pages and content live on the Web. Thus, what you invest into today is yours for the future too.
