Sometimes we need a gentle reminder that not everyone understands the language that we speak professionally. I am often reminded when I am talking to a potential client about the keyword effectiveness index and search engine algorithms, as I watch them fading away with the “deer in the headlights” look. Communication is a two way process. Even the most interesting radio broadcast in history has not communicated if the radio receivers are turned off. So, it is our job to make sure that we express not only what we want to say but also what our potential customers can understand and receive.

When it comes to communicating with a non-human form such as a search engine spider crawling your website for information, it is absolutely essential to communicate effectively and take nothing for granted. As sophisticated as these crawling software agents are, they still can't figure out what you don't tell them.

Take a look at your dealership website. As you review the pages make sure the right information is in the page titles, the first content on the pages, the headlines, bold words and other important areas. And, by all means clarify what you are saying on each page using complete product names.
 
Complete product names communicate what the product is. If you have a G-Force Toy Hauler listed on your site, and you simply call it a G-Force, how will the search engine know if it is a Disney movie about a covert government guinea pig team involved in high tech espionage, or a 5th wheel toy hauler if you don't tell it? You want your site to be indexed (think of the Dewey Decimal System we learned in grade 6) for all of the right information so a search will bring a clickable link to your website for a potential visitor. Searches are based on relevant information. If it can't be distinguished whether your G-Force is the toy hauler or the movie, you will never land on the first search engine results pages (SERPS) for the toy hauler results.
 
Go ahead and go to Google. Search for the term G-Force. You will see over 77,000,000 results. Now search for G-Force fifth wheel toy hauler. Now there are 170,000 results. This is basic search 101 knowledge, and I understand that you most probably already know how to search for a product. But, after reviewing literally hundreds of thousands of search terms used by searchers to find RVs, you can be sure when I tell you, that the term being used to find that toy hauler is not simply G-Force. And note the #1 organic search result for that last search. As I write this post it is for the website gulfstream-g-force.com. That is a mini-website developed as a product brochure for one of our clients. I am simply telling you this, so you can see that I am speaking the truth about how to improve your website’s ranking performance.
 
This is the single most common mistake I find across the board when optimizing dealer websites. This industry, by its very nature to appeal to the wanderlust in all of us, has a lot of creative RV names which have other common meanings. From Adventurer, TrailRider, Mountaineer and HitchHiker to Horizon, Daybreak and Camelot, these names are appealing to RV Consumers. They are also included in thousands of websites which refer to many things beyond the scope of RV sales.
 
This is also important when you consider the potential customers who will find you. When asked, most dealers will tell you they would love to be in position #1 on Google for the keyword ‘RV’. That’s a bit like gaining traffic for the G-Force movie. If someone simply enters RV into a search engine, I can just about guarantee you that they are not a potential customer. That is like looking for your next vehicle by searching for ‘car’. When someone finds your website for specific terms which include your specific products and your services, they are much farther down the purchasing funnel and ready to convert from a visitor to a customer than someone searching for a non-specific term that finds you. 
 
You know your customers, and the majority need to be 'purchase ready' to pay the bills. Who is more likely to be ready to buy? Someone who has visited other dealerships, compared travel trailers to fifth wheels, already has a tow vehicle and has narrowed their search down to manufacturer and model? Or would it be the guy who didn’t even know he needed a specific type of tow vehicle for a fifth wheel, and thought the cab-over design would be a perfect fit for his Pontiac G6?
 
What you say really does matter. And it really does determine who you get.

Deborah Finnell
SEO/SEM
440-285-8164 or 888-273-7763
www.dpballadvertising.com
deborah@dpballadvertising.com
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