How to drive visitors to an automotive website

Visibility is key in today’s highly competitive automotive landscape, so being able to increase website traffic to deliver lead generation, revenue growth and brand authority is vital for businesses to succeed.

This holds true whether the organisation is, for example, in the aftermarket, future mobility, wheels and tyres, or any other subsector of a busy industry.

Our latest blog unlocks some of the tools available through search visibility, digital PR and marketing, content strategy, plus offline tactics, that help deliver measurable results for automotive organisations.

Put the building blocks in place

Making sure the website is search friendly through technical optimisation is an on-going priority.

It’s particularly important that it loads quickly, especially on mobiles, and has clean URL structures, which means they clearly communicate the page content, thereby making it easier for search engines to crawl and index.

Local businesses need local visibility

If an organisation primarily relies on local trade, such as a car dealership or tyre fitter, then it’s vital to fully optimise the Google Business Profile, while also making sure the basics such as name, address and phone, are correct and consistent.

Local optimisation should not be underestimated as the close proximity of potential customers provides the opportunity for higher conversion rates.

Increase automotive website traffic by knowing your audience

Consumers make split second decisions in their purchasing and browsing habits. This makes it vital to target the correct people, rather than wasting efforts pursuing the wrong market.

A specialist automotive PR and marketing agency, such as Red Marlin, will take the time to understand your company and determine the most appropriate activity, and channels, to place your website front of mind with those you want to communicate with, your ideal customer profile.

For example, through a powerful combination of relevant news articles, features, opinions and backlinks in the automotive press, including national newspapers, content from our clients in automotive lifestyle is served to people who have a passion for cars and who want to enjoy these vehicles.

Indeed, high-quality backlinks remain critical ranking factors, which can be achieved by PR and media relations, while coverage not only drives immediate referral traffic but also strengthens domain authority.

Make the website a place people want to visit and stay

It’s also vital that content is unique and informative to entice visitors to a website and keep them on it, with the ultimate goal of persuading them to take an action, such as make a purchase, download information or share a link (thereby driving even more people to the website).

Therefore, careful consideration is needed as to what content should be included, making it appropriate for users, such as its tone of voice, readability, while always remembering to align with the strategic objectives of the business.

Other ways to use SEO for increased visitors

When focusing on SEO, it will pay dividends to use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find the terms your audience is searching for.

Meanwhile, don’t neglect on-page SEO as this can see pages fall down rankings without ongoing attention. Areas to take care of include ensuring there are keywords in titles and sub headers, together with meta descriptions and image alt text.

Further ways that content can enhance website traffic

Interesting and informative content will keep people wanting more, such as infographics, white papers, analysis or ‘how-to’ guides that can help solve a particular problem, while valuable backlinks are possible by writing guest blogs on relevant websites.

Partnership-driven exposure, such as through car enthusiast communities and local events, is another valuable tool to increase visitors to a website.

How newsletters can increase website traffic

Email marketing is a great opportunity to engage directly with a target audience, and by controlling the message can be used for a variety of purposes.

One of these is to use it as a platform to promote a website, whether that is when a hyperlink is embedded in articles or included in the call to action at the end.

Digital advertising is a powerful online tool

When guaranteed online reach or visibility is needed, automotive businesses should also consider flexing their paid channels through digital advertising.

Strands of digital advertising include paid search advertising, social media ads and Google Ads, all of which can be employed to help boost website visitor numbers, drive online conversions or satisfy a host of other key marketing objectives.

The important thing to remember is that automotive organisations need to remain visible through their websites to thrive, so digital advertising must be used on the most suitable platforms for the best return on investment.

Harness events to boost website traffic

Physical events are a significant component in the automotive marketing mix, including as an avenue to enhance website engagement.

Every opportunity should be capitalised and this can be done by signposting the website through signage on the exhibition stand, on the event’s own website, media packs and through literature and other merchandise distributed to attendees at the exhibition.

Post-event activity is also important to drive website traffic

Just because the event has finished and the stand is packed away, don’t think there’s any slowing down in attracting website visitors.

It’s important to look at the metrics, such as website visits, to measure the success of the event and to see if there’s room for any improvement.

Want to know more about PR and media relations?

If you could benefit from Red Marlin’s automotive website expertise, or our skills in other areas which includes awards and sponsorship, campaigns and advertising, then please get in touch for a no obligation chat.

Alternatively, if you’re in the Leamington Spa area, then please drop in to meet the team for a cup of tea or coffee.