Set Up An Effective Car Dealership Blog

Tips To Set Up An Effective Car Dealership Blog

Blogs - some people love the word, some people hate it and others are left so confused by it that they aren’t sure what to think.  The reason for all of these differing opinions on blogging is really due to the fact that everyone thinks that they need one. And then content is created, purely for the sake of content.  Let's clear up the confusion and properly define what a blog is. A blog is simply a vehicle for housing information online. It's an article that belongs on your website, similar to posts on social media. The hype around blogging is generally due to the idea that Google rewards those with content on their websites. This is often misunderstood as any content, which feeds the negative reputation that blogs get in certain circles. A lot of websites have put any content they could in their blog for the sake of just having more. This leads to a lot of poor content. Better uses of blogs follow a few simple rules:

1. Quality content that provides the reader value.
2. Original, non-duplicated content.
3. Relevant to your company, industry, and customer.

For every industry, for every business, and for every customer there are articles, videos, and blogging content that follows these three rules and supports business operations. Understanding how those align is what will set your Dealership’s Blog apart. Following these three rules, take a look at these car dealership blog tips for creating valuable content. 

Enable Your Car Sales Team Online

If you are a dealership's internet manager, or even more so a dealer group’s internet manager, the task of setting up relevant and valuable blogs for the dealership(s) can be daunting. Leverage what’s happening on the sales floor.  Car sales can be competitive, especially in today’s environment, and a sales team is equally competitive. That’s the way the dynamic needs to be though! Enable your salespeople to jump on and provide some content and make sure there is a clear delivery of leads based on the content author. If you have complex BDC rules, you’ll have to figure out the logistics, but it can be done. All it takes is 1. If one salesperson puts up an article and 1 lead comes in from it, you’ll have a rush of excitement around the dealership. Once one person starts earning money off of web-based content, that’s the only motivator the rest need. With varying degrees of technology and writing skills, it is easy for them to get content up there. As the person responsible for the performance of a website, offer to support this yourself either by taking their thoughts and writing them down or editing their work when they provide it to you.  We’ve all heard the argument before that, “Not everyone is a writer,” and I will certainly not take away from the validity of that statement. Not everyone is a writer, but most are thinkers - especially in sales. Have them jot down their thoughts and notes and then have someone else write them. At that point, a better positioned “writer” should take these sales floor insights and put them into prose - choose either someone in the dealership or a third-party content writer at this point.  Stop thinking about your dealership’s website as a “digital property” and start thinking of it as a sales tool, or a “Virtual Showroom”. Get your sales team involved.

Frequently Asked Questions at your Dealership Deserve to be Documented

If your blog provides you with no other value, at least it helps save you from constantly repeating yourself.  I’m not talking about a FAQ page on your website. Most websites already have those and if you check in Google Analytics Content Drilldown, no one uses it! These are questions you’re asked time and time again within the dealership or over the phone with current or potential customers. 

• “How do I sync my Bluetooth in my 2020 Lexus RX?”
• “How do I sync my garage door opener?”
• “What’s the benefit of leasing a car over buying a car?”

Take a quick survey of your sales staff and delivery specialist/technology person, and then create how-to guides that you can place on your website. Do these on a regular basis to get a steady flow of content.  Whenever a customer calls in for a question, make sure you’re still giving them that personal attention. This will make them a loyal customer for the next time they’re ready to buy. Or if they haven’t bought yet they definitely choose you next time. Then ask to follow up by sending them a quick link to your content. If you were counting, if this is a potential new customer, you’ve just helped them and got their email in one swoop - two birds, one stone.  If you’re running out of questions to populate the website with, use tools like AnswerThePublic.com for more questions based on global insights. You can also go back and update some previous content to make it more specific to recent questions (Pro tip: if you’re using vehicle model year to stay specific, you’ve provided yourself with inherent yearly content updates).