Today is a new day - a day of dealers focusing more on their own websites versus paying someone else to deliver internet leads to them.  So what does this mean for dealers?  The obvious thing is the need to get traffic to the dealership’s website and convert it into quality leads.  Automotive dealers are in a daze trying to figure out how to make their sites rank well in search engines.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is great for so many reasons but there are a million blogs on SEO so I am going to give you a different spin on optimization – optimizing site layout for conversion.   

• Site layout is important because site visitor tendencies will dominate specific pages or things of interest.  How you display those things can and will determine how successful you are.  Google has tools to help with this in the webmaster tools.  Change your site layout and move things around often to accomplish the most effective conversion.
• Remember “The Fold”.  The fold is an old newspaper term that has been adopted by the web design business.  If you can accomplish showing what’s important above the fold so people don’t have to scroll down you will have better success.  Some people will scroll down but some will not.
• Colors are important….remember “red” means stop, “green” means go, and “black” can mean cold.  Does stop mean stop hear or stay away?  Does green mean go here or keep going?
• Are you promoting too much on the home page?  Too much shows clutter and people need to know what’s important within 2 seconds.  A video will postpone that 2 seconds to 6 seconds so be careful with your use of video.
• Call to action….what in the world do you want them to do?  It has to be a common goal.  (Here is my plug…Chat is perfect because it allows the site visitor to ask their question and gives the dealer an opportunity to schedule an appointment or schedule a follow up action).

All of the above need to be considered when you are optimizing your site.  Conversion is extremely important.  Dealers want shoppers to land on their sites and buy a car.  The shopper has questions and wants to see it, smell it, touch it, drive it, show their friends, compare to others, and once they feel comfortable they buy.  You need a common ground.  Chat is just that. 

Which chat solution?  You need to take a few suggestions from the professionals.  Companies like Cars.com and Carsdirect.com have been researching the most effective chat solutions to convert site traffic to leads.  Take it from the big boys….after examining different chat companies they chose ContactAtOnce!  (I guess most reading this blog already figured that out!) 

And as with all things internet, you’ll need a way to track everything…..I suggest Google Analytics or Omniture.  The price is right for Google (free) but it will be more work and it is all about you and how well you keep up with it.  Omniture is your analytics assistant.  They will share with you information about your site that would take years to learn with Google Analytics.  They are not cheap but how important is your website to your business?  Invest wisely in your website and convert more website traffic into quality leads. 

I hope this helps someone.  Please feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will answer them.