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THE DEALERON BLOG

Writing content for your site? Read it out loud [VIDEO]

The content on your dealership’s website is the most important signal of relevancy for Google. If you want more visibility in local searches, you’ve got to have amazing content – content that answers any questions potential customers might have… Content that makes you stand out from all of your competitors… Content that’s unique, relevant, and useful.

Most dealerships have pretty awful content on their sites. We see tons of keyword stuffing, huge lists of nearby cities, giant lists of every conceivable make and model – and none of that stuff works. If your content sounds weird to a human, then it’s not going to help you show up in Google.

This week’s Wednesday Workshop video shares a content writing tip that will help you write better content. Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments after you’re done!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome back to our Thanksgiving episode of Wednesday Workshop. This week we’ve got a quick tip that will help you write better content on your dealership’s website.

The content on your website is THE most important signal of relevancy for local searches. If you want to show up higher than your competitors, you’ve got to have better content. Unfortunately, most car dealers have awful content on their sites.

You have to write text that’s relevant and useful and unique. If the text doesn’t answer a need or a question that a human user might have, then you don’t have the right text on your site. When you’re writing text for a page on your site, you should never have the mindset of “this text will help me rank better on Google” – that’s the wrong idea. Everything that goes on your site should be there to enhance your user experience.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re unique when you’re really not. Saying that you’re “family owned” or that “you treat customers like family” is not unique – you’ll see that on pretty much every other auto dealer’s website you look at. Same thing with “no haggle pricing” or “state of the art showroom” – these are the things that your potential customers expect!

Instead, put REAL information on your site that explains why your dealership is different and why people should choose to buy from you instead of one of the other guys in town. Talk about the history of your dealership on your about us page. Tell people about all of the things you do in the community, all of the charities you support, all of the events you help put on… People already know that you sell cars – so show them your personality and tell them what makes you tick.

Now here’s the important part – when you sit down to write the content on any page of your site, read what you write out loud to another person in the room. If what you’re writing doesn’t sound like something you’d say to a customer face to face, then you’re doing it wrong.

We talk to a ton of dealers who think they have great content – and then I’ll ask them to read it out loud, and they realize almost immediate that it’s not so great after all. Here’s an example – I changed the brand and the city so I’m not bashing anyone publicly, but other than the brand and city changing, this was exactly what was on a site we recently looked at.

“If you’re looking for a Toyota in Denver, then come see us at Toyota of Denver to buy your next Toyota in the Denver area. Also serving Boulder, Broomfield, and Arvada, Toyota of Denver is the best place to buy a Toyota car, Toyota truck or Toyota SUV in the Denver area when you’re looking for a Toyota in the greater Denver area.”

Pretty awful, right? When you read your text out loud, it’s a lot easier to catch things that don’t sound natural, and you’ll end up writing infinitely better content for your dealership’s site.

Thanks for stopping by to check out this week’s DealerOn Wednesday Workshop. If you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! Just pop down below and leave your questions in the comments section, and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. Don’t forget to check back next week for another DealerOn Wednesday Workshop!

Author Greg Gifford

Greg Gifford is the Vice President of Search at DealerOn. He has over 16 years of online marketing and web design experience, and has specialized in automotive SEO for the last 8 years, helping hundreds of auto dealers thrive while the industry has struggled during the recession. Greg speaks internationally at both automotive and SEO conferences, teaching thousands of small business owners and marketers how to get their sites to show up higher in local search rankings. Greg also spends his spare time doing freelance website design and SEO for local businesses. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BA in Cinema and Communications, and has an obscure movie quote for just about any situation.

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