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Ignore your Manufacturer website(s)? Why??

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emilymoore

emilymoore

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Feb 21, 2011
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Emily
#1
First of all you are not forced to work with them. You can ask Cobalt for their cheapest website then have a second one with a company that you like work with....
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I received this response above a few days ago in a different conversation and it made me wonder how many dealers actually do that? How many dealers sign up for the cheapest available package for their manufacturer's site and then try to completely forget it exists....and why??

I completely understand the concept of driving traffic to a site that is prettier, converts at higher percentages, and is more customized - I get that. What I don't get, is completely turning a blind eye to the site that your manufacturer is driving traffic to? What if that site is where your customer arrives first (because you ARE still getting visitors)- and a vacant, non-caring, out-of-date site is the general impression that you provide your customer with of your whole dealership?
:2quiet:What if that dis-interest causes them to bounce to your competitor's site, and they never get a chance to see your pretty site (or the inside of your showroom)...?

Food for thought.
 
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#2
What I don't get, is completely turning a blind eye to the site that your manufacturer is driving traffic to?
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That's the key question. I'm not sure about the current policy per manufacturer, but previously you could provide the primary URL to the manufacturer if you had one and they would route traffic to the preferred site. I'm not entirely sure that's the case anymore, though. Great question to bring up!
 
#3
Emily, I'm curious as to how much deviation, in price, between websites from same source? How much could you actually save?

I have used a number of different sites and I do have my favorite. Most of them are just templates and the amount and quality of content depends on how much time and effort that you put into it. The best of them are not going to perform if the marketing is marginal.

I worked for a large automotive group. Most of the tools that we were provided was marginal. Nothing that we used has a good rating on the Driving Sales vendor recommendations. I still managed to dominate my ADI and had the volume internet department in the group.

I don't understand why manufacturers have gotten involved in selecting websites and why the dealers let them. My first job after graduating from college was to work for a manufacturer. These people know nothing about retailing cars. They have never caught an up, closed a deal or answered an internet lead. As little as they know about retail sales, their knowledge of running an internet department is even less. The game looks easy from the cheap seats.

I've visited your website. Your a talented lady. You will make work, whatever they throw at you.
 
#5
In answer to why manufacturers get involved, I will suggest that they are trying to compensate for the large number of dealers who don't get it, and there are lots of them. Of course, you don't find those dealers online reading this forum.

Since most dealerships are independent businesses, their owners hate being told what to do. When the other website vendors come knocking and point out how bad the mandated site is, the sale is easy. The owner, desperate to send the OEM a "shove it" message pays $1000 a month more for a site which is not that much better than the OEM mandated site would have been if they put the same focus into developing it.

In the meantime, there are hundreds of OEM mandated sites which are never updated. I'm told that a number of those OEM sites are intentionally being hidden from search engines to keep them from showing up in searches. Why would any dealer allow people to link from the OEM sites to a lame outdated site with their name on it? :thinker:

Every vendor reading this will likely point out all the shortcomings of the various OEM's products, but they are vendors... it's their job. The "better" websites they sell are certainly not much better without the dealer's participation. Pictures of new cars, discounted prices and correct vehicle content will improve any website's performance.
 
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#6
So I was the perpetrator: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f43/...ne-optimization-vendors-2853-4.html#post25599

Just because you lower the budget on one site as I suggested doesn't mean you have to ignore it. The manufacturer sponsored sites will always have a certain amount of stuff that the manufacturer wants them to have (that's is why they are "sponsored") so regardless of what you do they will index under those terms/strategy. On the other hand if you want to go above and beyond that, or to create some unique things, they may not be the greatest sites because the manufacturer doesn't want them to have that kind of stuff. So that's why my recomendation.

So their biggest strength is their biggest weakness.

Think also that, for example, Cobalt has a template for, for example, a Cadillac dealer AND if you sing in the Cobalt sponsor site you will have the same plan and template as every other Cadillac dealer in your area. How do you get ahead of the game with that?


Now,

some people will not agree with me but I'm a big proponent of having multiple websites.

Budget wise is crazy not to have more than one. A website cost absolutely peanuts for the average dealership's budget. A good website cost the same as 2 pages in a weekly magazine, or a quarter of a newspaper ad, or the monthly coffee bill, or a little bit more than the pop corn machine. We do MAJOR websites for that kind of money.

Check your budget, the total budget. How many things do you see for around $1,000? Can you cut one and get another major website? What would help you more in the long run? Cut 3 TV commercials, cut 5 radio commercials--it will not make a freaging difference. What would a consciously targeted full on website heavy on SEO do for you?

Different website companies with different platforms will index differently i the search engines. This allows you target different geographical areas, different groups of people, different incentives, test things, etc. It allows you to do something as simple as to run 2 different color combinations (a totally blue Ford website Vs. a more modern looking white iPhone site).

It is not a bad idea to also do your name with one platform (fiztgeraldtoyota.com) and your geo location with another (toyotaofgermantown.com).
 
#9
yagoparamo said:
Think also that, for example, Cobalt has a template for, for example, a Cadillac dealer AND if you sing in the Cobalt sponsor site you will have the same plan and template as every other Cadillac dealer in your area. How do you get ahead of the game with that?
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Yago, the generalizations you make about templates are misleading and unfair. I'm sure your products are good enough to stand on their own merits without twisting reality about OEM sites. Cobalt does have an official Cadillac template, but Cadillac dealers are not required to use that template; it's an easy solution for a dealer who wants an image consistent with the brand. Most readers here would heavily modify any base template they chose, which is completely possible with Cobalt.

The bigger problem is that there are hundreds of base OEM sites with little or no dealer content which are extremely weak. Perhaps these dealerships that are waiting for the "internet shopping for cars" era to pass? My experience is that when a vendor points out this weakness and sells the dealership on a new website and $2,000 a month, that expense drives a DP or GM to focus on content and support the new vendor in a way the OEM vendor never experienced. The result will be one more dealer talking about how bad the OEM websites are and how their "internet sales more than doubled after we switched!"
 
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#10
yagoparamo said:
I think incorrect and specially with Toyota (I'll give you Lexus)

If both web providers are one of the 15 chosen by Toyota and you run the website by compliance.
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Let me clarify. I wasn't talking about the site itself, but rather the url that you suggested using. I believe Toyota stores are only allowed to use their approved dba url. using other urls that do not direct back to the approved site could be a compliance issue.

Rules like these, are just one of the many reasons that OEM's like to work with select partners. It is easier to hold those vendors accountable, and it is also easier to instruct them on guidelines.
 
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