By Colby Horton
Shop Site of the Month
Studio Auto Repair & Body Shop - Los Angeles, Calif.
www.studioauto.com
This site offers an appealing home page, easy navigation and professional graphics throughout. The site is full of company information, including the services and warranties offered. Web coupons make this site especially appealing.
Web Wise
Keep Traffic Coming Back to Your Site
Think of your Web site as a window to your shop. You must keep it fresh and inviting to entice customers and potential customers to visit your brick-and-mortar establishment. In some cases, a one-page Web site is enough to convey your services, business philosophies and qualifications. But if you're maintaining a multi-page Web site, you need to implement certain strategies to keep your customers coming back.
A shop Web site is an inexpensive marketing tool. However, maintaining static content can make your site obsolete to customers. You must give them a reason to return to your site. One way to do so is by producing a monthly Internet coupon. When a customer is paying for service, invite them to visit your Web site to obtain a coupon for their next visit. This coupon will also entice new customers to visit your shop the next time they need automotive repair.
Staff profiles are very important to multi-page sites. People like to know the qualifications of the technicians working on their car. A profile section personalizes your shop, letting customers put faces with names.
You may also want to implement a monthly tip section. This is an excellent way to keep customers coming back to your site. Make these tips seasonably relevant. Tell customers how to prepare their car for winter, about maintenance that should be performed before taking a summer road trip, or how to properly wash their cars. Many of these consumer tips can be obtained through Automotive Service Association (ASA) pamphlets or publications and can be used by ASA members.
These three strategies are easy to implement at virtually no cost. If you want to go one step further, find a company that can set up an appointment scheduler online. Companies such as AutoRocket, CarTrak Online and iCarumba can help you do this. Some companies, such as B Unlimited Group (www.bunlimited.com), can help implement a repair status tool that allows customers to track the status of their repair.
Your Web site reflects your business. It can be a cost-effective advertising mechanism. But you must maintain timely content to keep customers coming back to your site.
Net Numbers
The number of small businesses with Web sites set up for advertising and promotional reasons increased by 123 percent over the past year.
Source: Verizon
ASA Web Ways
Automotive Tips
Are you looking for some automotive tips to add to your shop's Web site? Each month, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) Web site publishes a new Tip of the Month that can be accessed through the Automotive Tips section. Featured ASA tips include "Finding a Shop You Can Trust," "Understanding Your Brakes," "What To Do In Case of an Accident" and "Taking Good Care of Your Car." The Tip of the Month archive has items dating back one year. When using the tips, be sure to accurately cite the information to the source listed. If no source is identified, attribute the tip to the ASA Web site (www.asashop.org).
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Net Worth is written by Colby Horton, ASA's electronic communications manager. He can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 234, or by e-mail at colbyh@asashop.org.
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