Incorporation of Company Branding and SEO

SEO is not an exact science. This becomes apparent when trying to incorporate both SEO and branding into a strategy. This process is finicky, to say the least. On the one side, SEO deals with the placement of keywords and phrases. On the other side, branding deals with company loyalty and culture. Incorporating both sides dilutes the prominence of both. But eliminating one or the other may not meet all strategic and marketing goals.

Once again, it should be emphasized that SEO is a series of guidelines rather than an exact science. Having said that, the following recommendation can be used to satisfy both sides of the equation. In general, keywords and phrases (i.e. SEO) should remain the focus of any early-stage company, while the incorporation of company branding should appear later in the evolution. This is simply a general statement and should not be taken the word for word.

The reasoning is pretty straightforward. At first, no-one knows the name of your company, but perhaps they are searching for your products or services. In other words, you want to target keywords and phrases that focus on your offering rather than your company. As you build loyalty and credibility, branding becomes more important. It’s at this point that you may want to incorporate corporate messaging to strengthen the relationship with customers and instill trust in your brand.

One final thought about branding: if a searcher types in the name of your company, they are likely to find your website anyways. This is due mostly to anchor text and back-links. Therefore, optimizing for the company name is rather insignificant in most cases.

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Top 75 Citation Websites

The 3 Major Determinants to Placement on the Google Map:

1. Proper claiming and optimization of your Google Places listing


2. Having a consistent N.A.P. (name, address, phone number) profile across the web via citation development (getting listed on all the major online directory sites with the same name, address, and phone number)


3. Reviews and Google’s confidence in your true service area (see my post on Google Places Optimization Black Belt Technique for more on this). In this post I want to address #2, establishing your NAP profile across the web via citation development. Below is a list of what I have found to be the most important places to ensure that your company is listed with the same name, address & phone number

Top Citation Websites Sources for Google Places Optimization

1) Google Places

Probably the most important and most talked-about place to list your local business. Getting citations and ratings from many of the sites below can help boost your business’ listing on Google.

2) Yelp!

The most popular social networking, directory, and review site. Aside from counting as a citation for your business in the eyes of the search engines, this site can deliver quite a bit of traffic on its own. However, business owners will need to learn to deal with the occasional nasty review.

3) foursquare

The popular way to check in via your smartphone can also provide a valuable citation for your local business.

4) Universal Business Listing

A multiple local listing service – UBL.org (along with Localeze below) is one of the major players in the effort to fill in your information once to get listed with multiple yellow pages sites, directories and social networking/review sites. Saves time and effort but may be slower than going direct with the individual sites (see Localeze and InfoUSA below as well).

5) Yahoo! Local

Yahoo’s local directory tied to Yahoo Maps.

6) Local.com

Business listings, event listings, coupons and reviews.

7) CitySearch

One of the most authoritative local directories.

8) Bing Local

Bing’s local business listing service integrated with maps of cities and towns.

9) CraigsList

Some SEO’s recommend creating classifieds for your business on popular sites such as Craigslist. There’s some disagreement over whether this is effective from an SEO point of view.

10) GetListed.org

Convenient way to identify where you are and aren’t listed on major directories. Provides referrals to Universal Business Listings and Localeze as well as consultants (if you need extra help).

11) dmoz (Open Diretory Project)

A free and authoritative index that is managed by volunteers. If you can get your business listed, this helps with an authoritative back-link (but not necessarily a local citation). It can be difficult to get a new listing due to the limited resources and large volumes of submissions.

12) Superpages

One of the many Internet Yellow Pages directories (IYP). Includes business listings, people search, reviews and local deals.

13) Localeze

A multiple local listing service.

14) InfoUSA

A multiple local listings service.

15) Your local Chamber of Commerce

Joining your local chamber of commerce can often get you a business listing (and a citation for local SEO purposes).

16) InsiderPages

Local directory and rating site

17) Merchant Circle

Local directory and rating site

18) Best of the Web

A popular directory with free and paid listing options – specifically for local businesses. They have a Best of the Web Local directory.

19) Yellowpages.com

Internet Yellow Pages (also YP.com)

20) Business.com

Business.com provides business information but also has a directory.

21) Kudzu

Business review site (like Yelp).

22) Better Business Bureau

Your local Better Business Bureau usually charges for membership and provides a link to your business.

23) DexKnows

Business and people directory.

24) Acxiom

A major source of data for various yellowpages and directories – they don’t take business submissions like some of the other data providers or multiple local listings services.

25) Your local newspaper’s website

Getting an article, business listing or classified ad optimized with your local information and a link can provide a citation for your business.

26) Yellowbook.com

Internet Yellow Pages.

27) HotFrog

A business directory with free and fairly inexpensive paid listing options.

28) Crunchbase

A listing of technology companies that is user-generated.

29) Angie’s List

Service provider directory.

30) Judy’s Book

Local review site.

31) Jigsaw

Business people and company directory.

32) ibegin

U.S. and Canadian business directory.

33) OpenList

Local directory with ratings.

34) wikimapia

Wiki-based directory of places including schools, businesses, and more – laid out on maps.

35) citysquares

Local business directory with ratings.

36) Infospace

Business and people listings.

37) magicyellow

A straightforward Internet Yellow Pages directory.

38) whitepages.com

People and business listings.

39) Manta

Company profiles.

40) EZLocal

Local business listings and ratings.

41) BrownBook

Local business listings and ratings.

42) CityVoter

Vote for favorite businesses.

43) ShopCity

Local business listings.

44) YellowBot

Local listings and ratings.

45) MojoPages

Social networking and review site (like Yelp).

46) Tupalo.com

International social networking and review site.

47) Praized

Social networking and review site.

48) Panoramio

Pictures associated with maps. Geo Tag images, upload to Panoramio and add them to your Google Places listings.

49) GetFave

Business directory, including featured listings (with additional content such as videos and pictures).

50) BizJournals

Business journal that includes business directories for certain U.S. cities.

51) Tjoos

Online store listings and coupons.

52) JoeAnt

Website directory.

53) Zidster

Products, services or business listings.

54) TrueLocal

Business directory – seems to have sparse listings.

55) ZipLeaf

Network of international business directories.

56) WCities

Places and events for cities and towns, including ratings.

57) Naymz

Personal branding site.

58) Zoominfo

Database of people and companies.

59) Yellowikis

Wiki-based business directory.

60) gomylocal

Yellow Pages/local directory.

61) Fast Pitch Network

Online business networking site.

62) City Slick

Free business directory.

63) Busiverse (also businessdb)

Business directory.

64) yellowpages.lycos.com

A general directory.

65) Service Magic

Directory of service companies (includes a “seal of approval”).

66) Local forums

Forums focused on local areas.

67) Mcrae’s Blue Book

Industrial directory.

68) MatchPoint

Directory of service providers.

69) USCity.net

Directory focused on the U.S.

70) Metrobot

County street maps.

71) Google Custom Maps

Create personalized, annotated, customized maps using Google Maps. Listing businesses in custom maps may help them in ranking for local search.

72) Yellowee (formerly Genie Knows)

Local review site.

73) AskCity

Ask.com’s local directory.

74) Tyloon

Billed as International Yellow Pages (including multi-lingual listings).

75) Discover Our Town

The ultimate U.S. travel, tourism and relocation guide.

If you have any questions and would like a free consultation, or you need someone to implement all of these strategies to get your dealership to thrive on the Google Maps, we would love the opportunity to speak with you. Give Beyond Creative Digital Growth Group a call at (954) 884-8571.

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Leveraging the Power of Social Media to Your Dealer's Advantage

As a dealer, one of the best ways to get ahead in the Powersports, Marine, and RV arena is to utilize the awesome power of social media.

Whether you sell boats, motorcycles, or RVs, if done right, social media will help bring more prospects through your doors. Be as active as you can on a variety of different social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Here are some ways to use social media to your advantage and help grow your dealership business.

Post Frequently

Using social media is an easy way to improve your SEO ranking. The more frequently you post, the better. Aim to post on each social media platform once a day. This will help you pop up on customers’ newsfeeds and allow them to interact more with your dealership. On the posts, provide links to your website or blog to encourage customers to further explore what you have to offer.

Constantly posting images of your new customers is of little or no value to your other customers or your prospects.

Make sure NOT to make all posts about the same subject matter. Think thoroughly about what would bring your audience the most value. It's okay to post content that isn't hosted on your website or other social network profiles you own (as long as they are non-competing, of course). The key is to give value, as much of it as you possibly can. Constantly posting images of your new customers is of little or no value to your other customers or your prospects.

Share New Products

Social media creates a simple advertising platform for your products. Gone are the days where you need to run an ad in the newspaper or rent out as many expensive billboards as you can to promote your inventory. With social media, you can post new products daily that can be seen by most of your followers. For example, when you get a new unit in stock, post a picture with a catchy caption letting customers know about it. Be sure to provide your audience with a link to the unit on your dealer's website. This allows them to further explore the unit's specifications and price. They'll likely veer off and end up browsing through more of your inventory, further getting them familiarized with your brand.

Dealers putting their inventory on Facebook Marketplace are seeing an average of over 14,000 inventory views and over 35 leads a month from this practice alone!

Be sure your pictures are visually pleasing. The better the picture, the more compelled prospects will become to come to the store to look at the unit and subsequently buy it. Putting your used units on Facebook Marketplace is another awesome and fairly unknown practice of giving your inventory huge exposure! Dealers putting their inventory on Facebook Marketplace are seeing an average of over 14,000 inventory views and over 35 leads a month from this practice alone! Get more information on how to sync your inventory seamlessly to Facebook Marketplace.

Run Contests

Running a social media contest will cause customers to interact more with your page. You could post a picture of a new item from your Parts & Accessories catalog and add a caption stating to “Comment below if you are interested in 15% off this product.” At the end of the day, randomly select a winner. Another type of contest has customers post pictures with their new product and tag your dealership in the picture. This is an amazing way to leverage your customers' network in order to expand your dealership's reach.

This is much more powerful than photos of your new customers with their units published from your dealers' Facebook or Instagram.

This practice is referred to as User-Generated Content. The way you go about it is to ask customers to post pictures with their new RV, Motorcycle, ATV, Side-by-Side, or Personal Watercraft, and to tag your dealership for a chance to win a gift card or be featured on your social media page. This is much more powerful than photos of your new customers with their units published from your dealers' Facebook page or Instagram profile. People are smart – they trust content published by the end-user more than the dealer because they know a dealer's innate goal is to sell more products. Contests also get customers excited about products while also encouraging them to interact with your page which helps your visibility in the social media universe.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are very important to your dealership’s social media accounts. Think about the keywords you use on your website and blog, and use those as hashtags on social media posts. As an example, every time you post, add #powersportsdealer to the caption. This causes your post to show up on the feeds of those who follow that hashtag. Using hashtags is an excellent way to increase your social media presence. You can also be creative with your hashtags. Try out fun hashtags such as #RVLife, #wanderlust, #throttlethursday, or #wheeliewednesday to catch the eyes of potential buyers.

Social media is an important aspect of any Powersports, Marine, and RV dealership. It should be at the forefront of your Digital Marketing campaigns. Share what makes your dealership special through frequent posts on a variety of social media platforms. Contact Beyond Creative today for help with strategizing and executing social media marketing campaigns. Reach out directly to Joe Iribarren for questions or further clarification on the topics included in this article.

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How Does SEO Translate into Sales for Your Dealer?

The world today has become a virtual market with the onset of the world wide web. People all over the world are widely making use of digital marketing services due to their many advantages. Today almost everything is accessible from any part of the world at the touch of a finger. In order for businesses not only to survive, but grow and thrive, it has now become imperative to create an online presence and promote your brand to targeted audiences to increase traffic, thus increasing sales and revenue.

There are many methods used to boost your company’s exposure on the web, not the least of which is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO is comprised of a variety of processes that increase traffic to your website.

SEO is an integral part of any Digital Marketing strategy. The following are a few of the advantages of implementing SEO services in Powersports Dealers.

1. Builds Awareness

Virtually every business now has an online presence. Your dealer’s standing and visibility on the web is incredibly important. One of the primary ways to increase online traffic is by commanding a high ranking on the most popular search engines. If your listing is one of the top on the page when users search, then it is much more likely for potential customers to click on your link rather than others that rank farther down.

2. Increases Revenue

Another aspect that helps boost SEO is online paid advertising. Running advertisement campaigns on various portals and well-known websites help boost your dealership’s popularity, which helps in increasing ROI by increasing sales.

3. Facilitates Prospects and Web Crawlers Finding You

SEO services work along with your website’s UI (User Interface), thus making navigation much simpler. It not only makes your website look more attractive but also much more efficient in converting traffic to leads. If the presentation of a website is sound then web crawlers visit the website more often, which improves the site’s ranking.

4. Promotes Brand Partnerships

Once your dealer becomes popular on the web, the synergy process starts to take place. Other businesses may be open to partnering with your dealer in different ways, which can be beneficial in the way of driving more awareness to your brand.

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Can Any Inbound Linking Hurt My Ranking?

The answer is simple – inbound linking cannot hurt your search ranking. How is this known for certain? Well, for one, if inbound were to hurt your rank, your competitors would continually link to your site from link farms. Such a scenario is beyond your control. For this reason, Google cannot penalize your site for any inbound linking.

On the other hand, you can be penalized for illegitimate external linking. It is highly advised that you not link to any website or group of sites that may be involved in shady or unethical search practices. Doing so could result in being black-listed by Google, ultimately ruining your SEO strategy. Avoid this situation at all costs and ensure that all external links point to trusted and reliable sources.

Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.

My personal perspective on e-businesses and their websites, is that if they don’t take pride in their websites and show to their customers a passion for what they do, chances are, they won’t take pride in their products, and the passion for providing good customer service will also be missing.

What you must remember, is that your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. The appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining your potential success rate. In short, if your site doesn’t look professional or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, the majority of people will assume your products and/or services to be of similar poor standard.

At the other end of the scale, you could fall into the trap of going overboard with the design and over complicate things with incorporating high costing flashy graphics. You may end up with a great looking and highly aesthetic web site, but the danger with this is that your site may prove unreliable and at times may take too long to load. There is nothing worse for a customer than trying to visit a slow loading site, and most will close the browser window in complete frustration. As i’m sure you will be able to work out, this will ultimately cost you business.

The other major consideration (if not the most important) when designing a website is your content. Not just links, but content with passion, relativity, and understanding to the customer. When someone is searching for something in particular and they visit your web site, they’re visiting for a reason. Your site has something they want, Whether this be your product, service, and/or information. If they are unable to obtain what they’re looking for, they move on to the next site and so on. To be able to get your visitors to stay and look around your website, you must give them a reason to. Providing them with quality content will achieve this goal.

There have been countless other lists and articles on the subject of website designing mistakes, but I have compiled my own list, from a designer’s perspective, of some pitfalls to look out for when considering either designing a website or purchasing a template. Remember that the simple, clear, informative and well designed sites are the most successful. If you are a current e-business and your sales aren’t what you had hoped, consider the above and take some time to look openly and honestly at your site. Spending money on improving your website is a much better investment than throwing money away on trying to advertise and market a site that just isn’t good enough to sell your product or services.

If you are looking for a template or a custom designed website, be aware of the above and be prepared to ask your chosen designer or template provider questions to ensure that your hard earned money doesn’t go to waste on an inferior design, which contains any of the above. Asking questions won’t cost you a penny, and in doing so could actually save you a lot of money over the long term. Getting your website right first time is vital in terms of saving money and time. The earlier your website is up and running properly, the quicker you will be able to reap the rewards of a successful e-business.

The prime mistake Newbies make is to put their website name into the Anchor Text. Unless your website contains your keywords this is a waste of a perfectly good link. Remember that Google puts a very big importance on those Anchor texts and they should always use your keywords.

The second mistake is trying to put every single keyword into your anchor text and give that to everyone. There are two mistakes with this technique. 1.) Google assigns weight to each word in anchor text so if there are a lot of filler words (common in long sentences), they will “dilute” your target words.

According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you’ve done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, “Building Your Site.”

Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well. Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based upon the type of effect you’re trying to achieve.

Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you’re offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential customer can’t find your product or service, they definitely won’t waste a lot of time looking for it. They’ll go on to the next site and probably never return. They’re visiting your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers. Whether it is information, a product or service.

Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text links to keep your load time down.

If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames. Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always have good navigational links on every page and place your company logo on each page.

Design a quality e-book to give to your visitors. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. If you can create a web page, you can create an e-book. The focus of your e-book should compliment your web site. Simply write about your passion. If your passion is sales, then you could share some of your knowledge and experience by designing your e-book to provide a complete sales training guide. If your passion is home based business, you could write an e-book about how to start your own home based business. If you’re writing about your true passion then you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with something to write about. For further information on e-books, read the article entitled, “How to Create an E-book and Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site by Giving It Away.”

Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.

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Is Search Engine Submission Necessary?

The simple answer is no – search engine submission isn’t necessary. The majority of search engines nowadays (most notably Google) crawl and index pages by following links. Using that logic, a single inbound link from any already-indexed page will identify your page to the engine. Subsequently, if that page links to other pages within your site, they will also be indexed… and so on.

For this reason, inbound linking is very important. In fact, acquiring back-links may be the most important of SEO. In theory though, a website owner shouldn’t have to ’scout’ or ‘hunt’ for links. If the presented content is of interest, useful, and/or important, there is a natural tendency among web users to link to information. This is the basis for the Google PageRank algorithm.

With all due respect, submitting your site to the search engines can’t hurt. Plus, it only entails about 5 minutes of added work assuming you only submit to the big guys. And once is enough… you don’t need to submit your site more than once. It doesn’t help or get your site crawled any quicker or more often.

It should be noted that submitting your site to Google, Yahoo, MSN, and many others doesn’t cost a fee. Many SEO companies assert that you need to pay to be indexed. This isn’t the case and I would stay away from these companies. They are money hungry and aren’t looking out for your best interest.

Would you ever consider going on a vacation across the country without bringing a map? It is hard enough to find your way in some places with a map. How hard would it be if you tried this adventure without one? Yet, this is exactly what people do every single day in the online world. They tried to build their own businesses online without having a roadmap to success. Then, after months or years of just wandering around online, they give up in frustration and quit. They walk away saying that the Internet doesn’t work for them. The reason it didn’t work is that they didn’t pick up a map and follow it!

You don’t have to end up lost in the online shuffle. Below I will give you ten steps to help you map out your course and get you started in the right direction. It isn’t everything that you need to know by any stretch of the imagination, but it will give you a basic foundation to build upon.

Consider it your beginner’s map to Internet marketing profits.

1. Choose a targeted market

The biggest mistake most people make when starting a business is that they choose a product and then try to find people who want to buy it. If that is the direction you are starting from on your journey, then you are going the opposite direction from your destination. Wise businesses operate from a different concept. They pick a market first, and then they pick a product those people are searching for. In other words, instead of trying to find leads to sell their product to, they find targeted leads and then ask them what they are wanting to buy.

Don’t even consider starting a business until you know exactly where you are going to get your leads from. Think targeted customers first. Then, you can come up with a product for those individuals. Would you rather have 1,000 hits a day at your site of a general audience OR 10 hits a day of people who are desperate and willing to pay any price to buy your products? If you are smart, you will choose the people who are ready to buy!

2. Develop a Product

Next, you need to develop a product or service for this market. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon of affiliate programs when you come to this step. There are three major ways to selling a product online:

a. You create your own exclusive product.

This is the best opportunity you have. If you develop your own product, you can pick it’s price, sell reprint rights to others, set up an affiliate program, etc. Don’t tell me you can’t do this. Tens of thousands of innovative entrepreneurs have used their own information products to get their careers started. You can to.

Throughout your life, I am sure that there is something you have learned that you can share in a How-To product. Maybe you know someone else who has the right knowledge for a How-To product and you could offer to help them create a product if you both shared the rights to it. Don’t just jump past this opportunity and say it can’t be done.

b. You buy the rights to a product or you JV for an offline product.

You can buy the rights to successful products for $500 – $20,000. If someone else has created a product that you know your targeted market is interested in, offer them a large up-front fee for the rights to it. This way you can get your own product and never have to pay a penny in royalties. You can also search through magazines your targeted market reads and look for products people are selling. Then, give them a call and ask for the exclusive Internet rights to their product for a certain percentage of the profits or an up-front fee.

c. You join an affiliate program.

If you are just starting out online, this can be a good choice. You do have to keep in mind though that it doesn’t offer quite the profit potential that creating your own product or obtaining rights to one has.When choosing an affiliate program, make sure that it is something your targeted market cannot be without. They absolutely have to have it. Also pay special attention to the profits you receive from each sale.

If you are only be paid 5% commissions on the sales of $10 books, you will only be making 50 cents per customer. It would take 2,000 customers just to product $1,000 in profits. You cannot make money like this online! Look for higher priced products and higher commissions…especially commissions in the 25% or higher range.

3. Create a USP

Create a Unique Selling Position for your product or service. Too many companies are just trying to be me-too companies online. You cannot be just like the next guy and expect to make a profit in a global economy. Just going to the next guy’s web site to order is too easy for your customers.

You have to create a Uniqueness to your product or offer. What can you offer that no one else can? Can you offer better guarantees, better customer service, more technical support, faster shipping, or lower prices. Think of something that will set you apart from all of your online competitors and tell in complete detail what it is.

4. Pick a Domain Name and Hosting Service

The next step is to pick a domain name that describes your company, USP, and offer. Try to keep them as short and descriptive about your business as possible. Avoid using dashes or misspellings of your product. Both of these things will cause people to leave out part of your domain if they type it in. Someone else will be getting free traffic that you worked hard to obtain.

For hosting, I personally choose to use Virtualis since they have the Fastest customer service and technical support in the industry. Test them out. They will respond to you within the hour…anytime 24 hours a day. No other company I have ever been with has even come close!

5. Develop a Customer Friendly Site

The next step in the process is to develop your web site and put it up for the world to see. If you are planning to own a full-time Internet business, I recommend that you learn how to design the site yourself using one of dozens of programs which are readily available at any software store.

You will save so much money if you can do the work yourself on just the editing alone as your site grows. If your main business is offline and you are just adding a secondary income, then you may want to consider having a professional do your site for you.

When designing your site, keep the customer in mind always. Provide order forms for online credit card orders. Make all of the links easy to understand. Try to keep your site simple. Think like a customer, not the business owner.

Your customers are not nearly as interested in your business as you are. Make sure to put the benefits of your site and your USP right on top of the site. More than half of the web surfers never drop down past the first screen full of information. So, you have to give them the information they need as quickly as possible. The rules for any type of business are Benefits, Benefits, and more Benefits.

6. Offer a Freebie

One of the major keys to developing traffic and sales at your site is to always offer some type of freebie as a drawing factor. For example, I offer dozens of free reports, weather reports, news, and more. My greatest drawing factor throughout the past 8 months though has been the two free e-books which we offer on our site to people who subscribe to this newsletter.

You need to come up with a freebie no matter what type of business you are in. Create a free report and give it away. Add in a message board or some other type of CGI program on your site. Give a free demo of your software. Create something that you can give away for free on your site to draw in the visitors.

7. Start Your Own Opt-In List

Almost every full-time Internet marketer I know has developed their own Opt-in email list of some type. For most of them, it is a weekly newsletter they send out by email. For others, it may be a Tip of the Day. Other people might just have a list that they send out important updates to.

No matter what you choose to do, odds will be on your side if you concentrate on building a list of loyal email subscribers. Very rarely do customers purchase from you the first time they visit your site. Most of them will get on your list, hang out for a few weeks or months, and then they buy from you. They have to get to know you before they are willing to spend their money with you.

I have found that the most effective leads come from offline advertising. For example, you could purchase ads in a popular targeted magazine for your business. You could also purchase a postcard in one of the card decks. Start up a co-op and get 10 other people to advertise with you and run your own ads for free. Offline leads which come to your site often turn out to contain a much higher percentage of buyers than any of the online advertising methods.

Once you put our short 10 step outline together you have a basic map to creating your own Internet success story. You wouldn’t consider going on a trip without a map. So don’t try to go it alone online without a map.

Terry Dean’s Brand New Fr-e eBook, “10 Quick and Easy Ways to Increase Profits to ANY Web Site Overnight!” Reveals More Time Tested Proven Internet Marketing Secrets Than 99% of the Paid Products Available…Showing You Step-By-Step How to Increase Your Traffic, Drop Your Expenses, and Drive Your Profits Through the Roof

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How to Use Social Media to Your Advantage

As a dealer, one of the best ways to gain a Powersports marketing advantage is by using social media. Whether you sell boats, motorcycles, or RVs, social media can help bring customers through the door. Be as active as you can on a variety of different social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Here are some ways to use social media to your advantage and help grow your dealership business.

Post Frequently

Using social media is an easy way to improve your SEO ranking. The more frequently you post, the better. Aim to post on each social media platform once a day. This will help you to pop up on customers’ news feeds and allow them to interact more with your dealership. On the posts, provide links to your website or blog to encourage customers to further explore what you have to offer.

Share New Products

Social media creates a simple advertising platform for your products. Gone are the days where you need to get ad space in the newspaper or rent out as many giant billboards as you can to share your inventory. With social media, you can post new products daily that can be seen by all of your followers. For example, if you get a new boat in stock, post a picture with a catchy caption letting customers know about the new product. It is also a good idea to provide customers with a link to the item on your dealership website. This allows them to further explore the specs and price of the new product. Also, make sure your pictures are visually pleasing. The better the picture, the more likely it is that a customer will come in to buy the product.

Run Contests

Running a social media contest will cause customers to interact more with your page. For example, you could post a picture of a new item from your catalog and say, “Comment below if you are interested in getting 15% off this product.” At the end of the day, randomly select a winner. Another type of contest has customers post pictures with their new product and tag your dealership in the picture. For example, tell customers to post pictures with their new RV and tag your dealership for a chance to win a gift card or be featured on your social media page. Contests get customers excited about products while also encouraging them to interact with your page which helps your visibility in the social media world.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are very important to your dealership’s social media accounts. Think about the keywords you use on your website and blog, and use those as hashtags on social media posts. For example, every time you post, add #powersportsdealer to the caption. This allows anyone who follows that hashtag to see your post. Using hashtags is a good way to increase your social media presence. You can also be creative with your hashtags. Try out fun hashtags such as #RVLife to catch the eyes of your customers.

Social media should be an important aspect of your Powersports marketing campaign. Share what makes your dealership special through frequent posts on a variety of social media platforms. Contact Beyond Creative today to learn how to start using social media to your advantage.

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How to Increase Door Swings to Your Dealership

Every brick and mortar dealership has the goal to generate more foot traffic in their stores. In the digital age, it has become crucial for dealers in all industries – particularly in Powersports, RV, and Marine – to be very active with their internet marketing. The greater your online presence, the greater your storefront foot traffic will be. Everything from having a great website that sells and a robust CRM that empowers your sales team, to posting on social media is important to the success of a Powersports, Marine, and RV dealer. It is important that dealership owners consider the various dealer marketing services available and how they can help boost sales, and grow a brand. Here are some critical factors that can help generate more foot traffic to storefronts by taking advantage of digital strategies.

Improve Your SEO

SEO is a hot term in the digital marketing world. It stands for search engine optimization. The goal of improving SEO is to make a dealer’s website and content more visible when potential customers make internet searches. There are several things you can do to improve your dealer SEO.

First, it is important that your dealer website is updated frequently. This helps with search engine visibility and ranking. Posting units from your used inventory on a regular basis is a great way to stay current. Just be wary of some popular CMS (content management system) software serving the Powersports Industry as their software displays duplicate keywords when you publish any new inventory to your site.

Second, identify keywords that are relevant to the brands your dealership carries and that align with your sales strategies. These keywords should be used throughout the website. An easy way to frequently update and use a lot of keywords is to include a blog on your website. The idea of SEO is for your store to show up when people do an online search. If your store is top-ranked on a search engine like Google, people are much more likely to visit your dealer than if you are buried down within millions of other search results.

Create a Presence on Social Media

Social media is one of the most important platforms for dealers to market themselves on. Whether advertising a new product or an upcoming sale through organic and sponsored content, social media will spread your information out fast to a large pool of different people. Social media will draw customers to the storefront. It is an easy way for them to learn more about your dealership, the brands you represent, your promotions, your business hours, your team, and everything else you offer. Being active on social media will also improve your SEO ranking. For tips on increasing customer loyalty using social media, check out this blog post.

Managing Reviews and Listings

The majority of consumers who do a local search end up visiting a store within five miles. This is where online listings become very important. When a future customer does an online search, you want to make sure that your dealer shows up on their local map. In order for this to happen, a dealer’s listings and citations need to be consistent. Create profile citations on directories such as Google, Foursquare, Yelp, and Yellow Pages. Remember, the goal is for your dealer to show up when a customer is doing a local search.

Whether you are the owner, General Manager, or Marketing Director of a Marine, RV, or Powersports dealer – competition can be tough in the digital era. Get ahead of the game and beat the competition by using the internet to your advantage. Start by improving your SEO, creating a presence on social media, and managing reviews and listings. If you are consistent and frequent with updates, your SEO ranking will grow and your dealership will start to see more foot traffic. Don’t feel like you need to conquer the world of digital marketing alone. Dealer marketing services can be extremely helpful to businesses that need help managing their online presence. If you feel you need help, contact Beyond Creative today to learn how we get your Powersport business to gain more foot traffic by leveraging digital resources and the marketing efforts you already have in place.

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What Is SEO and How Can It Help Your Dealer?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is important to powersports marketing dealers because it helps their websites rank higher on search engines. Thus, if someone is searching for a product, the dealership is more likely to pop up as one of the top sites on the search engine. SEO can seem overwhelming, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are a few ways to start optimizing your website.

Keywords

Keywords are crucial to a successful SEO strategy. Pick a handful of keywords that represent your business. For example, it could be “RV dealer” or “motorcycle accessories.” Use these terms over and over again on the website. Include them on the main page, in the blog, and in alternative image text. Keywords do not have to be the same forever. They should change as the keywords of the powersport industry change. Consistent updating of keywords will help the webpage stay relevant and become highly ranked.

Links

Links are very important to include on your website. These could be external links or internal links. External links would lead outside of your website. For example, an RV dealer might put external links on their website to nearby RV service centers. When using external links, make sure the site that is being linked is trustworthy. Internal links are also important. These are links that take viewers to another part of your website. For example, on a page about a specific motorcycle model, there could be a link to a blog entry about accessories needed to go along with the particular motorcycle. These internal links will increase traffic to different pages on the website, helping to optimize SEO.

Alternative Image Text

When adding images to a website, it is important to use alternative image text. Initially, this feature was made to help visually impaired people know what a picture showed without having to actually see it. Today, alternative image text also helps optimize SEO. Search engines consider the alternative text from website pictures when determining your website rank. Make sure to include a keyword in the alternative image text as well as a good amount of detail. For example, imagine your keyword is “motorized RV.” When creating alternative image text for a picture of an RV, write a statement such as, “A motorized RV is affordable and comfortable. It includes a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen.” This statement is detailed and uses a keyword. Both of these factors will improve SEO.

SEO can initially seem very complicated. As you become more comfortable with SEO practices, you will find that it can greatly help your dealership. The powersports marketing world heavily depends on Google searches. Through optimizing SEO, your dealer can increase its rank and begin to show up as a top site on the search engine. Contact Go Beyond Creative today to learn about how we can help you optimize SEO.

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Why Your Dealership Needs a Full-Service Marketing Consultant

In the powersports industry, a profitable dealership boils down to marketing initiatives. A successful powersports marketing strategy can lead to increased traffic, customers, and sales. As an owner, you may not have the time or full knowledge base to properly market your dealership. Enter Go Beyond Creative. We are here to meet your full-service marketing needs. Here are a few reasons why your dealership should invest in a full-service marketing consultant.

Advertising

One of the most important parts of a powersports marketing strategy is to get the dealership name seen by as many people as possible. A full-service marketing consultant can help advertise brands via Google Ads and social media. Having a strong visual marketing advertisement campaign posted online will help to draw in both new and returning customers to your dealership.

Social Media Management

Social media is such a powerful marketing platform. Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more, many people follow their favorite businesses online. By hiring a full-service marketing consultant, it takes the pressure off of having to come up with daily creative social media posts. Your consultant can make posts that advertise existing products, upcoming sales, or new inventory. The consultant will work to increase the number of followers, thus driving in business.

ROI Reporting

Return on Investment (ROI) is an important metric that should be tracked by all powersports dealerships. This helps owners understand if their investments are profitable. A full-service marketing consultant can easily help your dealership calculate and track this number on a weekly or monthly basis.

Blogging

Most successful businesses have a blog on their website. Blog entries can be written on a variety of topics based on the customer base. For example, a motorcycle dealer might write a blog entry titled “5 Places to Drive Your Motorcycle This Summer.” An RV dealer could publish a blog titled “How to Outfit Your RV for Family Travel.” Blogs are designed to draw customers in with an interesting topic. Contained in the blog will be keywords and links that help drive Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Working at a dealership can be very busy, so having a full-service marketing consultant to take care of the blog is helpful.

Creating a successful marketing strategy can be difficult and time-consuming. You can avoid feeling overwhelmed by hiring a powersports marketing consultant to help. This consultant can create and maintain your brand image and will lead to a larger customer base with increased sales. Contact Go Beyond Creative today for more information about investing in full-service marketing.

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Gain the Loyalty of Current Customers to Increase Repeat Sales

Broadly speaking, motorcycle, boat, and RV dealer owners have two main goals: bring in new customers and gain the loyalty of the customers they already have. By nurturing current customers through various digital strategies, you can gain their loyalty. As a result, this will lead to an increase in repeat sales. This is especially important in the world of Powersports dealer marketing. It can be relatively simple to advertise and get new customers, but it’s sometimes a little trickier to get those previous customers to come back for additional purchases. Here are a few ways to gain current customer loyalty and increase repeat sales.

1. Email Marketing Campaigns

Email campaigns are a great way to get current customers back in the door. Send out emails to customers on your list anytime there is a sale or promotion. This will encourage them to come back and shop if they know they can get a good deal. With email marketing campaigns, you can contact current and previous customers. You can also try offering a special deal to only current customers and not first-time buyers. This will make them feel special and more encouraged to buy products, thus increasing repeat sales.

2. Run Promotions on Social Media

Another great way to gain the loyalty of current customers is to post sales and promotions on social media profiles. The social media following of your dealership will usually include current and previous customers. Advertising via frequent posts will help draw those customers back into the store.

Dealerships can also hold contests over social media. For example, you may post a picture of an item from your Parts & Accessories catalog and say: Comment below if you are interested in getting 10% off of this product. At the end of the day, randomly select one commenting customer to be the winner. This will get customers interested in current inventory, and it will also encourage them to interact with your company on social media. This practice is also great for gauging interests on particular SKUs, which may help you decide if to stock larger quantities of an item or if to stock any at all. These are all great ways your dealership can increase repeat sales using social media.

3. SMS/Text Campaigns

It is imperative to keep customer profiles saved on your dealer management system (Light Speed EVO or others). After a customer makes a purchase, be sure to have your sales, parts, and service department staff ask their permission to collect their email address and phone number. Also, ask if they don’t mind being added to text campaigns. Advertising via text messages is a great way to gain repeat business. If there is a sale or promotion going on, send out a text to all current customers. Text messaging campaigns have a very high open ratio. People are much more likely to open and read their text messages than emails, making text campaigns a highly successful marketing strategy.

4. Create a Blog

Blogs are interesting to read and keep customers familiar with your dealer’s brand. Something on the blog may pique their interest and cause them to return to the store for additional purchases. Just make sure to update the blog frequently so that there is always new information for customers to see. Great topics to write about on your blog may include:

1. Safely riding your motorcycle in the rain
2. How to properly secure your ATV or UTV on your trailer
3. Why it’s imperative to change spark plugs in your PWC
4. The most popular local riding destinations
5. Myths about jet boat tracking and handling
6. Benefits of buying used vs. new motorcycles
7. And many, many more…

Gaining the loyalty of existing customers is extremely important for Motorsports dealers, particularly multiline dealers. It is also a key element in the Powersports marketing formula. While it is always good to bring in new customers, a big part of the success of your dealer is retaining customers and getting repeat sales. By focusing on digital marketing strategies, dealerships can easily attract current customers and continue to gain their loyalty.

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