Who's Minding Your Dealership Website?

If you’ve put even a modest effort into your website, then you already know there is real potential for your website to produce leads and help increase sales.  So, how do you find the right ‘person’ to help with your Internet marketing efforts to produce the most return on investment?

I use the title website manager, but you may use website designer, webmaster, or just the person who does your website.  No matter what you call them, they have a increasingly important role in the marketing of your RV dealership and are either making you money or losing you money.

Who might be a website manager?

I’ve heard many explanations of who a website manager is, and here are a few of the most common types:

• '‘Parts Guy’ – This is the person, called the website manager, that also has other dealership responsibilities.  Generally, this person has taken an interest in the website as something new to learn, as a hobby, or was just given the task.
• Internet Department – You might have a full-time person or group of people with a leader that is your website manager.  This person usually devotes their
  time to collecting and following up with website leads while attempting to keep the inventory and other information current on the site as well.
• ‘Web Guys’ – Typically this is someone outside of your dealership that you hired to design, develop, or maintain your website.  They may be an individual contractor or a web company with multiple employees and specialized skills.

What does a website manager do?

The responsibilities of a website manager can be a mixed bag depending on who you have in the spot.  However, a productive website manager should be focused and really good at discovering what’s working, what’s not working, and what needs to change.

I’ve witnessed it myself…a single text link added to a web page increased leads by 100%.  A website manager looks out for your best interest, is knowledgeable about website marketing and an expert at pulling together the right people to make your website a productive member of your staff.

Where do I find a website manager?

First, create some criteria for reviewing what you currently have in place for website management.  For example:  Search engines have just recently begun beefing up what they call ‘local search’.  They are putting a huge effort and millions of dollars into it as more and more people use the Internet as the yellow pages.  If the person responsible for your current website doesn’t know anything about ‘local search’ and what needs to happen so your website is included in those rankings, then I might start looking for somebody who does know.

Second, you can look internally and see if there is someone on staff who meets the criteria.  You may find someone who can update inventory and make a few text changes, but they may not be knowledgeable enough to really make your website produce to its potential.  If you need to go externally, look for a website management company that understands your customers and your business.  There are enough companies that focus on RV dealer websites that you don’t have to ‘train’ someone about the industry.

What to watch out for…

Someone once said ‘All ships rise when the tide comes in.’  The Internet is growing all the time.  So, be careful not to automatically attribute success to your ‘web guy.’  Just simply ask them what they are doing to get better results.  If they don’t have an answer that makes sense, then you are almost guaranteed your website is under-producing.  Having a website manager that knows how to make changes to help increase sales is well worth it.  Having a website manager that knows what they are doing can generate similar results to having a qualified F & I Manager.

Promises.  Promises.  Be careful of those that promise you the world.  Don’t be afraid to check references.  It may just save you a lot of time and money.

Where do you go from here?

Before you move forward with your website plans you might want to pause and set some goals for your site.  I know it sounds cliché, but how can your web manager help you pursue success if there isn’t a definition of what that looks like?

If you haven’t looked at your website as a way to increase short term and long term sales, it might be time to take another look.  You could be losing out on the largest growing marketplace today.  With the right people in place to help manage your site, seeing an increase in sales, even during the off season, might be just around the corner.

If you need assistance we can help. Give us a call at 1-800-515-9672.

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