Ok, so your new website (or existing website) has been running for some time.  You've started to see improved traffic and more qualified leads coming through to your sales staff.

The basic optimization work is doing its job but you are wanting more and you ask yourself ... What more can be done to increase traffic to my dealership site?  Or how do we keep improving on our SEO?

WARNING! Stop reading now if you are afraid of doing hard work in exchange for great results!

To get more good traffic to your website you can..

Make sure that each and every page on your website is optimized correctly.  The right title, meta info, keywords, and copy/links on the page.

Define and implement your outbound and inbound linking strategy throughout your website.

Decide what new and fresh content will be added to your website, how often it will be added, where it will be added, and who will add it.

Actually do it and write the new/fresh content and add it to your site taking into consideration your outbound/inbound linking strategy mentioned above.

Find all the local business sites that matter like Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Insider Pages, etc.. (almost 10 in all) and make sure your business is listed correctly with up to date information.

On each of the business sites mentioned above ensure your process for handling negative feedback and how you will continue to get positive feedback over time.

Take advantage of social sites like Facebook and Twitter where it makes sense. You can waste alot of time with little results on these sites.  Or you can be efficient by knowing their place in your overall strategy and executing your plans wisely.

Don't overlook social bookmarking sites like Delicious.  If used correctly it's one more good stick in the fire.

Participate in classified site advertising, google base, oodle, and other inventory listing sites that may make sense for your product lines and market area.

Take the time to join in on RVing related forum and blog conversations, especially those on subjects pertaining to your market area or product lines you sell.

Join forces with your local campgrounds, RVing vacation destinations, and tourist attractions to provide something special for your potential joint customers.  The SEO 'link juice' you get from this can be worth every bit of effort.

Take advantage of micro or mini websites, but plan them out well with a pre-determined purpose in mind.

Use sites like Squidoo.com to create lenses about areas of RVing interests.  This serves both for SEO purposes and also new/fresh content.

In all seriousness there are at least 5 more things I could add to the list without even having to think about it, but I think you get the point ... there is alot of things that can be done to drive more folks to your dealership.

The botom line is that it takes work.  Whether you do it yourself or you hire someone like us to coach you along or do much of the work for you.  We are here to help if needed so let us know.

No matter what you do ... do something.  Get started right now!

Looking to hire an Internet marketing in-house?  Follow these simple suggestions to help make the process more efficient and get the best results.

Email Marketing – This is really huge.  You have a tremendous captive audience from previous customers and all your web leads. You have advantages over your competitors.  Get these in advantages in front of customers and prospects.  It will produce results.

Social Media Marketing – This takes time to do it right, but because of your market reach there is a large upside potential.  This includes blogging, content building, Facebook, social bookmarking, etc.

Optimization – We know that our websites have s a good SEO foundation as well as some advanced strategies already in place.  Things should always be progressing and having someone to build links both internally and externally would produce results over time.

Analysis – Having close eyes on your results and spending (ROI)  You’ll want to identify specifically what is to be tracked and also require actionable analysis.

The first three things I mention have elements that cross over to one another so it does make things easier and a blended strategy.

Finding the right person will be key.  If you are hiring someone with experience then you’ll want to get detailed explanation of what they been successful at AND have failed at.  Any good online marketer has failed and more than once.  They’ve tried things have haven’t worked which helps them find what doesn’t.  I’ve interviewed enough folks in this industry to know that knowing the buzz words and actually knowing how to accomplish something are two very different things. If you'd like help during the interviewing process let me know.

If you hire someone green you’ll spend less, but their ability to be productive will take some time.  We’ve found that you need to have a pretty aggressive pay scale over a two year period so that as they learn and apply you keep in sync with their marketability.  If you don’t you risk having to start over.  Like any hiring decision it’s the balance.

Don't be afraid, but don't do it blindly either.  It's about preparing for the results you want to achieve and then find the right person who can help you get there.

One of the online marketing sources that we trust just published a great article on The Secrets of Successful Company Blogs.  Follow the link here...

http://boagworld.com/site-content/successful-company-blogging

and you'll find a wealth of proven knowledge on what will work well and what won't.

At the end of the day they make a great point ... the reason that most blogs fail is because attention and priority are taken away from the blog.  In other words you stop updating your blog.

Because there is much confusion about blogging and rv social media marketing in general InteractRV is soon to announce a service to help your dealership be successful with your social marketing efforts.

Look for more to come soon!

It's quite frequent that we have a RV Dealer refered to use our services from another marketing or ad agency.  One of the positives of having that relationship is that they tend to 'keep an eye on us' and make sure we doing what they feel is best for the mutual dealership/client.  Recently, we received feedback from an agency related to a mutual client website where they had used an automated seo and design analysis tool to see how well we had done for the dealer.  What you can't see is the initial email/feedback they sent to us, but you'll get the idea. Here is most of the email that I sent back to them...

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First, I appreciate the fact that you are ‘checking up’ on the work we do.  We welcome it.  We don’t always like it, but it always proves to help us do better for our clients.  I’ll try to break down your feedback below...

This is a brand new url/domain.  So, out of the box they are disadvantaged.  They won’t get ranked by Google for quite a few months even with the grandest of efforts, at least in any value added keyword areas.  They don’t have the benefit of having been around awhile and other blogs/forums, etc.. linking to them.  As far as DMOZ.org is concerned, it is a plus to be listed there, but it’s also a crap shoot getting listed these days, but their new site has to be submitted to even have a chance for sure.
That being said, it is critical to have both in/out links.  Typically, with a dealer/client we will do the basic/fundamental seo on a site and for 50% or more of our clients that does very well for them.  The other 50% want to do more because they see the benefit of the fundamentals working in their favor.  Adding in/out links, submitting to blogs/forums, creating profile pages, adding target links to our RV industry sites, and things like that are part of an advanced SEO Service that we offer.  It’s really reasonable for our clients and works quite well for them.  It starts at $49/mo and goes up from there depending on how aggressive they want to be.  We have a package that is $149/mo for 12/mo that is a good balance/blend of site improvements, in/out links, profile page, and targeted consumer links.

As far as the use of flash is concerned we use it sparingly and where it makes sense.  It’s always an object on the page like a video or slideshow and not the whole page.  We definitely don’t rely on any text in the flash object to be considered for seo purposes because as you mention the search engines can’t crawl through flash very well at all.

I will have one of our designers look into the deprecated HTML concern and see what that is all about.

Is the SEO Analysis reporting you use from Raven SEO Tools?  They do a good job, as well as a few others, in giving quick feedback and raising possible concerns to review.  I also think it’s important to take things on a case by case basis and balance automated feedback with actual results.  There are many super successful sites we’ve helped produce and market that have a good balance of flash objects.  New domains though do take some time and it’s super beneficial to put some extra effort in to building credibility with a good linking strategy so search engines start to trust the new domain as quickly as possible.

Please write back with your thoughts/feedback and if you have some suggestions for adding links or maybe encouraging them to take advantage of the advanced seo services we offer or maybe something you could do for them.

Kevin
President | InteractRV
800-515-9672 ext. 101

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The moral of the story of working with new RV website domains ... be prepared to put in some extra effort and be willing to wait patiently for results.  If done correctly the results will come.

When you have good website analytics data that's showing lots of traffic, low bounce rates, good page views, etc… the next question to ask is not how we get more visitors, but HOW do you engage more of the visitors and persuade them to make contact with you either by email, filling out a form, or picking up the phone?

To engage more visitors and earn their confidence it’s about identifying what it is the visitor wants out of their experience on your website and giving it to them.

One simple thing … How many of your online shoppers are first timer’s or novices?  What educational information about RVing could you offer on your site or point to on another website that would help them get better educated and start to see your dealership as their RVing expert?  What about this … have a few pages of RVing education, then offer an online quiz they can take to get a RV Educated Discount for their next purchase with you.

There isn’t a silver bullet to online success, but rather a focused, consistent effort that will over time produce better and better results.

If you've watched the movie Field of Dreams you'll remember the voice from above speaking to Kevin Costner, as Ray the farmer, to build it and they will come. So, what does he do? He turns a corn field into a baseball field and mysteriously hundreds of folks drive in from all over to see the games.

Have you taken the same approach to your website?

Thinking that just having a website will bring in droves of potential customers to your dealership just may be setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration. Years ago it might have seemed like enough, but with search engines getting smarter and the competition getting stiffer having success on the Internet requires that you do more than just show up to the game.

The PO!NT : Simply having a website doesn't mean success. Making intentional and continual improvements to your website over time is the right way to get the results you are looking for. It's not hard or difficult. Get a plan together and make it happen.

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.

The Internet Super Highway is much different than the highway your shoppers and customers use to get to your dealership.  You might get a number of opportunities to make a lasting impression as a prospect drives by your lot multiple times, but what about the shopper on the Internet … how many times do you get to make a lasting impression with them?

Most RV Dealership owners take great pride in their physical lot.  Many times spending millions of dollars to build outstanding sales and service facilities … and thousands each year on maintenance, landscaping, comfortable waiting rooms, and general upkeep.

Yet, even with over 80% of their shoppers and customers going to their website before setting foot on their lot … they’ve settled for a same old looking website that really doesn’t give their shoppers a lasting impression.

The Po!nt: Don’t expect your shoppers and customers to give you their business if you don’t give them a lasting impression with your website. Use your website to build trust and confidence in your future prospects and current customers.  Make your website look and feel like who you are as a dealership.  Not branding your website may be losing you sales!