More people than ever are searching online for cars. Nearly all (95%) of car buyers begin their search online. That means the first impression car buyers have of your dealership is from your website.
Why Redesign Your Dealership Website?
Design Trends Change
You might have gotten a professional design and loved your website. But design trends and search algorithms change. If you’re not updating your design, you will give potential car buyers the impression that your dealership is outdated or unappealing.
People make buying decisions based on subconscious emotions. Little things like an old design, a confusing user interface, or old images can turn them off your brand in the first few minutes of visiting your website.
We shouldn't even need to talk about the importance of mobile design when it comes to your website. Mobile has been a priority for search engines for years. Having a great design and smooth browsing experience across all devices is essential to getting leads and impressing potential car buyers.
Website Technology Changes
Things that worked great for SEO a few years ago might actually be harming your website. Animations or video that enhanced your website might now be slowing it down and hurting your ranking. Content pages might have lost their effectiveness and need to be rewritten or images swapped out. Faster and better ways of serving content to website visitors are constantly being invented. Swapping out old code or an old way of doing something is important to keep your website ranking well and functioning properly.
Google updates their search algorithm multiple times a year. While you can’t be expected to update your website that often, it is important to be aware of significant changes in search that can affect your website’s search optimization, as well as users’ experience on your website.
Some updates may break the functionality of features you are using. Some cause your images and videos to slow down your website significantly. Some may not work on mobile browsers. Regular testing, as well as regular site upgrades and redesign, are important to keeping the digital storefront of your dealership looking and functioning great.
Just like you need to wash the windows, fix the drive, and perform regular maintenance and updates to your physical dealership, your virtual location needs time and attention, too.
User Expectations Change
Besides the overall look and feel of a modern website, people expect websites to function in certain ways. For example, years ago, a vertical navigation bar was more common. Now, users expect to see the navigation on the top of the screen.
We also see long pages more common as mobile users prefer to keep scrolling or click down to anchored links instead of having to navigate between different pages on the website through a hidden menu.
Users also expect to be able to get in touch with your business easily, and get an immediate response. Many leads are lost because dealerships wait to long to get back to online inquiries. Features like live chat is a great way to connect with these younger car buyers that want your immediate response.
Keeping your website up-to-date with the latest trends will make your potential leads feel comfortable on your site and more likely to take action.
New Features Become Available
As technology advances, and more people adapt to that technology, new website features become available.
In 2023,
50% of car buyers completed some or all of the
car buying process online. That is a huge shift from just a few years prior, when only 7% of people were buying cars online. People will now expect your auto dealer website to have the ability to chat live with them online, answer questions within 24 hours if they reach out, and even have the ability of uploading paperwork or other things online.
Redesigning your website can let them have the option to carry out more of the process online, and you can add additional features in a seamless way. The customer flow can change, and your website design should be tailored to take potential car buyers through the process easily.
What to expect from a Website Redesign
Most design updates can happen on a test version of the site to minimize downtown. However, there may be a short period during which the design is being switched over that will require the website to be unavailable. If necessary, a splash page can be used so visitors know what to do during this time.
Changes to your Site
A redesign can be as simple as updating content and images. It can also be more complex, if you decide to rebrand or add new features to your website to give users more options. A professional can advise you on what will be best for your dealership to give you the most boost to your SEO and lead conversion, as well as let you know what optional features may be available.
Will a Website Redesign Affect your SEO?
Yes, but hopefully in a good way! If done correctly, the long term value of site data can be preserved while improving important SEO factors like load time, page stability, quality content, and user experience. Things that can harm SEO are pages with errors, duplicate content, and under-performing content pages.
How do I know if my dealer website needs a redesign?
Have you noticed your website loads slowly? Are there formatting issues on mobile? Do you visit competitor websites and notice they have cool features or a cleaner look? Are leads slowing down?
Any of these could be indications that your website needs a facelift. Modern cars tell you when their oil or gas is low. Wouldn’t it be nice if your website could tell you when it needs some extra attention?
We can help with that. We’ve been building and maintaining websites for auto dealers for over 18 years (that’s a long time in Internet years). We can give you a
free website analysis and let you know if it's time to redesign your website.
