KainAutomotive.com's president explains that not all dealer site traffic needs to be complicated, and provides tips on how to drive local traffic that will convert at the highest rates.

People seem to have a lot of fun with the line from "Field of Dreams," "if you build it they will come"-- right down to describing how prospects find a dealer website. The truth is in today's search-driven internet world the statement is accurate. A well-built website that is designed to be search engine optimized can actually receive a great deal of traffic without spending a dime in traditional advertising or search engine advertising. Taking liberty with the statement one could suggest that "if you build it, market it and refine it based on metrics, excellent prospects will come." A dealer has to keep in mind it is not always about boosting traffic, but it is about boosting the right kind of traffic that will convert into a vehicle lead.  

What is the right kind of traffic?
Just like showroom traffic, you want to focus on generating web traffic from the prospects most interested in your products and services. When I was selling vehicles, I found the very best prospects were repeat clients or referrals from friends or previous customers. Even "be-backs" (prospects who promise they will "be-back") are high quality prospects, since each visit brings them closer to the purchase. Making your website attractive to these return visitors is critical. These return visitors are seeking dynamic content that provides beneficial data that is important to their decision making-- fresh inventory, new incentive data, specials and even service maintenance or recall data for their present vehicles through services like MyCarPage. The more times you can convince someone to visit your site for updated information the more likely they will complete a form requesting you to follow up. The best traffic is that which converts at a high rate, so although your visitor count could be lower with the highest quality traffic sources it is easily offset by higher than average conversion rates.

The best dealer website traffic is local traffic
As much as search strategies can boost your dealership's website overall visitor count, it is equally important to go back to some of the strategies used effectively in the past. Linking with local organizations and businesses is essential to building your brand and encouraging local prospects to visit your site. Whenever a group approaches your dealership about a charitable cause, it is in your best interest to ask for an acknowledgement on their website of the contribution made and the suggestion to their site visitors that they consider your dealership when shopping for their next car. This validation by a local third party that your dealership is notable and involved in the community in which it operates is invaluable, and a simple link from their site to your dealer site is a nice strategy for both parties. In exchange you can offer a community page on your site suggesting that your customers support the local groups.

Local chambers of commerce, community groups, newspapers and various other opportunities exist for similar linking. You may find that you have to make the suggestion to them, so be sure when they ask for a contribution that the string attached also includes a linking strategy. The more local the traffic the better your chance of conversion to a phone call or an email lead.

An often overlooked but similarly effective method to local website linking strategies is establishing sponsorship relationships with eNewsletters published by your local organizations. eNewsletters produced by local organizations are well read, and the resulting number of impressions may be much greater than you would have expected. Once again, you may need to seek these out yourself since many organizations may not sense that placement in their newsletter is valuable to local businesses.

Guerilla marketing
In this age of bigger is better we often overlook the impact of simple strategies to boost traffic to our website and to build brand. Creating t-shirts to hand out at local sporting events with your website address, printing your address on mini-balls that a cheerleader can toss into the stands or simply hanging a banner on your building with the web address suggesting you are open 24/7 online are all old-fashioned ways to drum up interest in your site. If you don't make your site relevant to the public, I can assure they will not seek it out. Work each day to encourage people to visit your dealership online and you'll soon find out they are the same people calling, emailing and walking in to your showroom, parts, service and body shop just a few days later.

David Kain is president of KainAutomotive.com. Read full bio.