That’s all good advice, but it misses a big part of the equation: that what you say through social media is only half of the conversation.
To really get the most out of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – not to mention Auttr, YouTube account, and other marketing mediums – you have to pay close attention to the feedback customers, prospective customers, and colleagues are giving you.

There’s an old saying in sales that, if you listen long enough, most customers will tell you what you need to know to sell to them. Online, that’s probably twice as relevant, since you can also get feedback from your current customers who are usually happy to tell you what they would like to see from your company… so long as they know you’re paying attention to their ideas and concerns.

Not everyone who has a question or concern is going to voice it directly to you, or even one of your employees. But by communicating with you via social media, they can express anything they would like in a way that’s fun and convenient. All you have to do is be sure to start the conversations, keep up with your profiles, and take what you hear to heart.

As great as social networking is for marketing, it’s even better for gathering feedback and information from your customers and potential customers. If you feel like you aren’t getting what you could be from your social media profiles, talk to Marcy Design about how we can help you find the right results. We’re listening.

That means social networking matters to every business… but especially those in the auto industry.

The reason is simple: the auto industry has always run on relationships. Whether it’s families who only prefer a certain brand of car, or people who have always bought from the salesperson or dealership owner down the street, how comfortable customers feel with the people on the other end of an auto transaction is important.

Some experts, and even dealership owners, have questioned whether relationships still matter as much in the Internet age. In fact, relationships matter more than ever. The car ownership experience is built on relationships. The more your buyers know you, the less concerned they are about differences in price.

And these days, the best way to let people know you is by engaging them via social media. So, if your company or dealership isn’t leveraging the power of these sites already, contact Marcy Design today to find out how we can help you expand your online reach and make car buyers more comfortable working with you.

Quality photos. This should go without saying, but it’s worth the extra little bit of time and effort to ensure that every automobile you show is portrayed in the best light possible. Sometimes, that means snapping photos of them more than once, taking shots from different angles, or waiting for a little bit of good weather. It might be a little extra effort, but the better your photos look, the more likely a customer is to decide to come and take a closer look.

Testimonials from happy customers. These are overlooked a lot, since they can tend to seem a bit redundant. Still, having a couple of nice quotes shows that you’d been in business a while and have customers who were happy with their purchases. Those reminders go a long way towards reassuring nervous buyers.

A professional staff. Speaking of nervous buyers, don’t forget that a lot of the population is still fearful and intimidated by the idea of a pushy salesperson. Tried to include professionally shot photos of your friendly, helpful staff – sales and otherwise – to reduce the anxiety some people might feel about coming to your lot or showroom.

If you want to build an independent auto dealership website that will end up looking as good on your bottom line as it does in your web browser, contact Marcy Design today to see how we can help.

Rather than go on and on about online profitability, increases in visits to their company’s pages, greater competitiveness, and other details, we decided to take a different track and answer his question with a question – why does it matter where a restaurant is located?

For most business owners, the answer is pretty obvious: because if you’re too far out of the way, no one is coming to eat. Yes, you need good food, a friendly staff, and to have a menu that seems like a good value, but those things only matter if there are people coming through the front door. Even the best eatery is going to go out of business if you have to drive hours from town through winding, unmarked roads to find it.

That’s about as good an answer as we could give you when it comes to SEO – without good, optimized content, it’s going to be hard for people to find your website. It won’t matter what you sell, how you price it, or who you’re trying to sell it to… none of that is important until you find a way to attract Internet traffic.

Effective search engine optimization is like taking your business, virtually speaking, from an empty side street to a bustling metropolis. Regardless of what you sell, it can help you bring many times more customers to your front door. In fact, it’s even better than a prime location, since it only brings you visitors who have indicated (by what they’ve put into the search engine) that they have an interest in what you are offering. In other words, it’s not just about getting more potential customers or clients, but better ones at the same time.

If that wasn’t enough of a reason for you to be interested in search engine documentation, consider this: it doesn’t only help new customers find you, but existing ones, too. To go back to our restaurant analogy, what if your favorite place to eat moved to new location? You might continue to go there if you knew the address, but you also might not – especially if there were dozens of other very similar restaurants you had to drive by to find where it had gone.

Knowing how important it is to bring visitors to your website, the key question might not be why it’s so important to have search engine optimization be a part of your new design, but rather whether any website could even be a good investment without SEO. After all, a business with no customers is sure to be a losing proposition, so doesn’t it make sense to do everything you can to keep the buyers showing up as often as possible?

What it really comes down to it, search engine optimization isn’t just about web design, it’s about marketing – and that’s something every business needs, online or off, to keep the cash register ringing.

Marcy Design can be your web design and search engine optimization partner. Why not give us a call today at 614-224-6226 and find out how we can get your site found?