Five Ways to Bring Traffic to Your Automotive Website

It goes without saying that a lot goes into creating and sustaining your automotive website. Whether you choose to tackle the job yourself or outsource part or all of the process to a third party, once it’s up and running you’ve got plenty of time, money and resources invested into it. That’s why it can be so disappointing and disheartening to sit and wait for web traffic to roll in, only to find that it’s at a standstill.

Chances are, however, that is has little to do with your actual website design, and more to do with how you’re deploying and sharing it. Today, let’s take a look at five ways you can increase your traffic, boost conversions and grow your online following in a sustainable way.

1. Integrate social media buttons.

Your website content might be informative, relevant and creative, but it’s of little use to anyone if they can’t share it. To that end, make sure to include social media buttons on your website, which will lead web visitors to your profile pages on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more. Select only the channels that make sense for your organization and aim, and dedicate your teams to posting on them consistently. You should also monitor the sites for comments and questions and respond to each in a timely manner.

Overall, your social media feeds are the place for you to express your brand identity, offer special follower-only promotions and instigate a thoughtful dialogue with your patrons. Make sure your social media buttons are visible and accessible on your website’s home page and be sure to include them in any blog posts you create so readers can share your content with their own online community.

2. Don’t stick too closely to one formula.

When it comes to marketing your automotive website, keep in mind that it’s a living and changing entity and as such, you might need to mix up your strategy every so often to keep things fresh. Remember, when it comes to ranking on high-profile Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for proven success. Try various tactics and see which ones stick and which ones need tweaking.

Focus on optimizing your local keywords to prevail in your community niche, mix up the length of your headlines and see which ones perform better, try both short and long-form content and see which readers respond to the best, etc. It might take more than a few tries to get it right, and even when you do get there, don’t get too comfortable.

3. Create snappy, sticky headlines.

At this point you might be wondering what precisely a “sticky” headline is. Put simply, it’s one that sticks in your readers’ minds. It’s one they remember and ponder long after they close your browser window. It’s also one they’re more likely to share with their own friends and family members.

As such, when you go to create a blog post on your website, think twice about the headline you assign to it. While it might be easiest and quickest to create a short one that simply describes what the content is about, see if you can be a little more creative. Ask a question of your readers, prompt them to think and catch their attention. If you can grab their focus at the onset, you’ll be more likely to retain it as they keep reading.

4. Make sure it’s responsive.

These days, more people are reading your online content with their smartphone than with their desktop, laptop or tablet. That means they’re absorbing that information on-the-go and have minimal time to scan it. Don’t make it difficult for them to navigate your web page by creating one that’s clunky, slow-loading and full of large graphics that take forever to load. Rather, make sure every aspect of your site is responsive and optimized for mobile use.

From your layouts to your font size, everything should be as readable and accessible on a small, handheld screen as it is on a larger one. If it’s not, you could lose their attention and their business to a competitor.

5. Utilize sleek graphic design.

Sure, your content might be the best on the market, but if your graphics are low-quality and your design is uninspired, you stand a low chance of drawing much traffic to your automotive website. Research reveals that humans are highly visual creatures by nature, and that we retain much more of what we see rather than what we read. That said, it’s imperative that your website design be top quality, professional, user-friendly and sleek. From navigational buttons to banners, there is no detail too tiny. If you have an on-site IT department with the skills, experience and time required to tackle the task, you might be able to design your site in-house, though keep in mind it can pull them away from other, more pressing tasks. It’s often easiest and wisest to let an outside design team take the reins for you. Find out more info about these services and perform a quick cost analysis. You’ll likely find the return is far worth the investment once your site is up and running.

Driving Traffic to Your Site and Keeping It There

At the end of the day, your website is a representation of your automotive brand. It reveals your aesthetic, your persona, your conversation style and your goals. If you put the work in on the front end, be sure it pays off once the site goes live. Invest in the personnel, resources and platforms that can take it to the next level and commit to monitoring it daily for trends to see where and how you can improve. It’s a process that doesn’t happen overnight and can be tedious at times, but is more than worth it in the end.