There is a great point made there but it needs to go further. The point is that your web site either works or it doesn’t. PERIOD.

Your web site generates people through your front door or it does not. It does not matter how pretty it is, how flashy the graphics. That does not matter. The key is it generates people through your front door or it does not.

That answers the first question but brings us to question number two.

In the online world you soon won’t be able to survive with only one site. Here is why.

For this example you have a Ford dealership called John Smith Ford located in my area (the coal region of Pennsylvania). You rank #1 in Google for John Smith Ford but….

I am a buyer looking for an Expedition (I know there aren’t many of them with gas at $4 + a gallon) and I am going to use the web first to start my shopping. I seriously doubt that the first thing I am going to enter is John Smith Ford.

It is much more likely I am going to search for something like “discounts on Ford Expedition“. See I also know you don’t have many buyers looking for the big SUV’s either. I may have even narrowed it to an area with a term like “discounts on Ford Expedition Central PA“.

Now I have been working on line and looked at numerous web sites fro car dealer’s and other off line merchants. Very few understand and take advantage of the way the web works.

This is the most likely way that people will find you and unless you have multiple pages all optimized for the various permutations that people will be searching for it is unlikely that you are getting the vast majority of people that are in buying mode to a page that you control.

This is why the large vendors like Cars.com and Autotrader.com will show a positive return on investment. They use YOUR inventory which you are paying them to do to cover and own these search terms then monetize it to their advantage with affiliate offers. Don’t believe me check out the white paper at www.Digital20Group.com.

The other reason that you need multiple web properties is that you have to worry about people that are unhappy with you. How much would it cost you if the number 3 listing for your dealer name is YourDealerNameSucks.com. If you want to find out check out this article at ISM In Training.

Using a variety of web platforms like micro sites, Squidoo lenses, blogs and Hub Pages can make it extremely hard for anyone to get on the first page for your name unless they really understand SEO. (That is a person you don’t want to upset .

So check and see if your web site is doing its job and if you haven’t started adding other sites you need to before your competitor does.

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First, you can protect your good name. It amazes me when I check out a dealer’s name or a brand and city and only find one listing that goes to the dealer. What happens when you piss a customer off that has a bit of web skills or knows how to complain?

You can see a whole article and an example of what this can cost a dealer in this age of the web over at Paul’s blog ISM In Training titled “What does negative information cost you?”. It can be a huge negative.

Second, you can be found on other platforms that have their own search function, are easy to use, and are beloved by the Big G like Hub Pages and Squidoo. These can easily get listed on your first page.

Third, take the time to use the bookmarking sites for all your properties. Not just your main dealer site but your Squidoo lenses, Hub Pages and even your micro sites.

Fourth, a blog network can be easy to add and are relatively easy to update regularly. Every car dealer I have ever entered has a brag board with all their testimonials on them. Do you have a blog with yours online to show what your customers think?

Fifth, a series of micro sites. Easy to find landing pages to create leads on all of your main terms. You can also use these for adding used inventory for terms that you want to compete with.

You sell Honda’s. You probably have Nissan’s and Toyota’s in your used car inventory. Why not target these too. Get your name in front of more potential customers no matter what they are looking for.

Doing some of these things on a regular basis will allow you to own the search engines for not just your dealer name but for as many of the top 10 results in your area as you can. This does not count all the other terms that will bring you potential customers.

Owning the search engines is not hard but it does not happen overnight. Spending some time regularly can pay huge dividends over time.

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