Excellent. I’m excited for you! Seriously; you don’t know how pleasing it is to see more and more dealers embrace blogging as a way to reach out to automotive consumers. According to Consumer Barometer, dealership websites top the list of places where automotive research began. This makes for a solid argument why you (if you’re not already doing so) should have a blog with awesome content on your dealership website.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with dealers across Canada to show them the 1-2-3’s of blogging and offering suggestions to help them get their dealership blogging dialed in. I thought I’d quickly share a few thoughts with you so that you can kick things up a notch as well. There's no better way to increase your SEO for your car dealership than adding a strong blog to your website!
Tip 1: Don’t Plagiarize!
There’s a couple of scenarios that I’ve observed when working with dealers. 1) They just flat out copy/paste the text from an article they liked online and 2) they just copy/pasted an article or press release that they found from the manufacturer website.
To make this concept simple, here are my two rules.
1.) If you copy/paste full articles, you’re plagiarizing content.
2. You haaaaave to name your references. You can actually copy and paste snippets of content from an article as long as you give the credit to the original source and author.
I’ve put together a simple blogging cheat sheet to help dealers get more familiar with blogging. If you’d like to get your hands on it, let me know in the comments below.
Moving on.
Tip 2: Have a Purpose
This could potentially be tip #1 in level of importance, but I’ll keep it here for now. Before you write an article, press release or blog post, identify what the purpose is. What would you like the consumer to accomplish after they've finished reading or viewing? Once you know what you’d like them to do, you’ll have a better idea of what specific call to action will be included in your blog post.
I’ve read hundreds of dealership website pages, blog posts and press releases; none of which have any real purpose. They basically provide information and then leave the door wide open for the consumer to leave and make an informed purchase decision over at another dealership. This kills me.
Not everything you write is about how to sell more cars - we want to help the customer here, and in turn it will help you sell more cars!
Make sure your posts have a purpose and make sure you link to an on site page so that the consumer completes the action you’d like them to.
Again, hit me up in the comments if you’d like me to elaborate more on this.
Tip 3: Be Consistent
The fact that you’re thinking about blogging puts you light years ahead of your competition. Maintaining a website with fresh content is work. No doubt about it, but it’s also very necessary. To get the most out of it, you must remain consistent.
Set up an editorial calendar so that you know when to post new content. Hold a brainstorming session to come up with a list of topics that you can discuss and then stick to it!
Ready to start blogging? It just so happens that I’m passionate about it. Leave your questions or comments below and I will respond personally and help you improve your car dealership SEO!
