Once your web site is found by prospective buyers on the Internet (Search Engine Ranking) - the challenge is to tune your web site to engage the prospect. There is no point to effective search engine ranking if buyers don't stay on your site and contact your store!

Making sure that your web site will generate leads is not complicated. Simply put, a web site should contain the following:

• New inventory, new inventory specials, preowned inventory and preowned inventory specials that are never more than one click away from being searched or viewed.
• A easily viewable telephone number and sales email address on every single page of the web site.
• Quick quote/lead forms that can be submitted from every single page of the web site, with as few mandatory fields as possible. Nobody wants to freely give out their information on the Internet but many car buyers are willing to give some of it out in order to be contacted or quoted.
• Limit distractions. Sites with lots of bells and whistles can be slow to load and irritating to visitors who are looking for information, get a great deal or contact the dealership.
• Limit use of Flash. While there are some ways to ensure that a Flash Site is recognized by search engines, Flash is best used as a component on a page rather than as the development platform for the entire site. The typical look at feel of a Flash site can easily be replicated through other means without losing lead generation quality. Read the FAQ below for more detail.

All DataOne Web Sites That Sell employ the above guidelines for ultimate success. Utilizing both these simple guidelines, and easy to navigate inventory listings - you can be assured that potential buyers will engage through emails, form submittals, or phone calls.

FAQ:

[ + ] How many car buyers search the internet to research vehicles?

According to a 2006 study, nearly nine out of ten new car buyers use search engines to research vehicles they're considering.

[ + ] Are we really better off developing our automotive dealer web site with zero flash technology?

To answer, let us use a real life (and notable) example. The Flash and HTML versions of tiffany.com were developed by now defunct Oven Digital. Bill French, one of the developers who built the HTML version of the site, has written an article describing how his company's "rushed, even forced adoption of Flash precipitated major changes within the organization, and ultimately contributed to its undoing." Bill said, "Between the Flash version and the HTML version, HTML beat down the Flash version in nearly every objective and subjective measure. It was Reagan vs. Mondale, rock vs. scissors. It took them a little while -- well, about 2½ years actually -- but Tiffany finally wised up and dumped the Flash version of their site in favor of good ol' HTML (with a few DHTML bells and whistles)." If you were pulling for the Flash site in this matchup, the results aren't pretty. The Flash site scored higher than the HTML site on only a single criterion: Readability of Content. The HTML site rated much higher on Overall Ease of Use and Speed, but it also rated higher than the Flash site on Coolness and Reinforcement of the Tiffany Brand, criteria one would expect the Flash site to excel in.