A website that delivers.

Invest in an Internet solution that will bring results for your business. Avoid the pitfalls!

Building a website for your dealership is a task that should not be taken lightly. The image you present is vitally important, as this will determine whether prospective customers will want to do business with you.

There are so many web development companies offering Internet solutions these days, with only a handful from those that specialize in motoring services offering good quality website design for car dealerships. A great deal of care must therefore be taken before investing in any solution.

While the level of choice makes having an Internet presence far more accessible, it can be a potential minefield for the novice Internet user.

The accessibility of the Internet has resulted in there being literally millions of websites with fierce competition for custom between the on-line businesses, and thus a new breed of intelligent Internet user – the potential customer with little time- has developed.

The new user is increasingly selective, so if your website is not up to their high expectations, it is likely that they will leave it within seconds of entering, regardless of what you have to offer, unlikely ever to return. We therefore advise you not to accept any Internet solution offered to you, including our own, without closely examining what is provided. To make it easy for you here are a few points to consider:-

Car Dealership Website Design

Can your website visitors jump to your competitors website? Surprisingly, even ‘market leaders’ provide services which easily enable your website visitors to jump to other dealers’ websites. Yes, this facility is helpful to web users, whilst it does not do your business any favours by taking away potential customers from your website. Consider this point very seriously as it can have a dramatic effect on your business.

Is your website framed under someone else’s website? It is your website after all, so why should you be perceived as part of somebody else’s? Specifically avoid “dealers network framing”, where your website may help your competition!

Is it really under your domain name? Watch out for services offered whereby as soon as you click any links on your website, the real domain name appears, surprisingly not yours, in the address bar and your domain name is no longer there. This indicates that the service is running under someone else’s website. This not only makes your website look unprofessional it also makes it easy for your web visitors to go elsewhere! Even worse, some services do not even give your domain name a chance to be displayed and visitors to your website see another name.

Free promotions! Some service providers may even ask you to promote their domain name in all your advertisements at your own cost claiming that they are doing you a favour by allowing you to use their name. The fact is that this helps nobody but them by driving more traffic to their website. E.g. www.A.t.a.price.motors.co.uk/YourMotors

Any prospective customer of yours who has seen your ad is then presented with a vast choice of dealers, by removing your company name at the end of the web address and going to the main site where they will find endless cars available to choose from. What was a potential customer of yours will almost certainly be lost then. Avoid such services at all cost no matter how big the name.

Can you try it first? Often when you commit yourself to services that you later find out are not up to your expectations, you find out that you either are stuck for a period of time, through a long contract, or you will have to lose some investments.

Visual impact generates more sales! Does your stock listing include a good size of photograph? You may find services that offer photographs by additional links or relatively small sized photographs relying on the web visitor to further click to see the photograph. The average Internet user tends not to bother to look further unless they have really found what they are looking for. In practice this makes it easy for potential customers to miss offers that might interest them considering the number of offers around them. Look for stock listings that display good-sized photos initially without the need to click further. These create maximum visual impact and go a long way in helping to encourage the potential customer’s interest and, consequently, maintain their attention.

Long stock listings bog potential customers down These are often quickly scanned through resulting in the viewer missing offers of interest to them and leaving the site to search the competition elsewhere.

A powerful search facility makes it easy for potential customers to find what they are looking for: They can immediately filter out the vehicle of interest to them from your stock listing, which cuts down on time spent searching through your site. With such powerful search facilities they are likely to bookmark you and return.

Personalised features: compare features offered. For example, can you display your logo, forecourt picture, chosen photo to convey a desired image about your business or even your own banner? It is your website and at least you should be able to highlight your products or services. Other personalised features should also be included such as: profile, directions, opening times and contact details etc.

Other facilities: It may be useful to have other helpful facilities to make visiting your website as easy and smooth as possible. For example, a direct contact form, which automatically generates and sends an email to your email address.

Website promotions: Having a website is only the first step, you will need to promote your website to potential customers. You may be thinking of joining market leaders and a nationwide network to expose your stock list but consider the cost often associated with this and the likely benefits. It makes more sense to concentrate on the local market in terms of advertising, since your potential customer is more likely to be local unless you are selling prestige or classic cars.