Pole position on the racetrack is important, but it doesn’t guarantee a win. It is, however, strongly correlated with top-five finishes, including first place. Think of your Website like a race car. When you consider its value and performance relative to selling cars, a blazing-fast Website is your marketing cornerstone.
Speed Matters
If you weren’t aware, Website page speed has been a ranking factor according to Google for several years. While page speed has been a factor, it was primarily focused on desktop searches. This changed on January 17 when Google announced that page speed will be a mobile ranking factor beginning in July 2018. They’re calling it the “Speed Update” and they say it will affect mobile Websites that deliver the slowest experience to searchers. If your Website is the slow car, this is bad news. If your Website is the slow car and no one wants to drive it, this is even worse.
Staying on the Track Matters
Stay focused on getting the most out of your Website before spending time in the echo chambers of our industry, or you might find yourself blindly following ideas and trends that amount to wasted time. Digital retailing, attribution and BI tools are just a few of the hot topics I hear about daily. Unfortunately, it’s usually dealers who have either given up or don’t know how to hold their Website accountable who prefer to talk about the “latest and greatest.” While some of what’s new may be good for dealers, it’s easy to be distracted when you’re ignoring bigger issues. When you disregard the performance of your most important marketing tool, it makes you a prime candidate for those offering solutions to problems you don’t have.
Conversion Matters
Take it from a car guy who grew up in the business and then built a Website company from the ground up: Website leads are not dead. No dealer should be happy with a Website struggling to convert 2 percent of its visitors. When you consider how much money your dealership spends to drive traffic to your Website, increasing your conversions becomes a high priority. Someone telling you consumers no longer fill out forms on Websites is someone selling worthless Websites.
See You in The Winner’s Circle
It’s true: New technology and variations of existing tech continues to impress us and often easily steals our attention. Let me encourage you, from one dealer to another — tune your Website for high performance so you can grip the wheel and start winning some races. If your engine has already blown cylinders, make a change soon because no one enters a race hoping to lose.
The formula for your dealership to win is simple: Speed + Conversion. Focus on this and you’ll sell more cars. Guaranteed.
Brett Sutherlin
