For the last several years, dealers have had to endure the box of website vendor choices closing in on them. Many of the OEMs have adopted either mandated or recommended website providers. Some of the larger dealer groups are doing the same thing. The thinking is that they will save money with bulk deals and they’ll be able to control quality and compliance by going down this road.
The problem is that aggressive dealers want to do more with their websites than they can accomplish with a mandated site. Some complain. A handful fight it, even defying the OEMs at their peril of being removed from the corporate website. This isn’t going to change any time soon because the majority of dealers accept the mandates and don’t really think twice about it. For those who want more, they are annoyed by the lack of choices and the quality of the solutions.
This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, a savvy dealership can turn it into a very good thing. This is where Octane powered by Dealer Authority comes into play.
If everyone is given the same basic website platform, it’s like giving everyone the same car to drive in a race. Those who don’t really care too much will accept the vehicle as it is and run the race as best they can. Those who want to get aggressive will shoot for whatever advantage they can find. That means improving the conversion rate on the website itself and driving more traffic to it through superior SEO, PPC, social media marketing, and buzz marketing.
The fact that the base of every website is pretty much the same means that those who “supercharge” their websites with products like Octane can have an advantage while staying completely compliant with the OEM. It isn’t the base of the website that makes the difference. After all, getting shoppers to the inventory is the primary goal. The more people you get to your inventory, the more leads you’ll get and sales you’ll make. Website marketing enhancement products like Octane aren’t cheap. In many cases, they can cost more than the website itself. However, the benefits of ranking #1 in search engines and driving more traffic through other venues is unquestionable. Given the same basic platform, those who enhance their base are the ones who will get the most out of it.
When everyone starts the same, it’s the modifications you make to your base website platform that can make the difference. While most still don’t like the mandates, there’s the silver lining of knowing that yours is enhanced to perform better than any of your competitors’ websites.