Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/28115
FEATURE STORY By Cheryl Pabich Marketing your T oday, most people research and purchase products online. According to the For- rester Research U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2010 to 2015, U.S. online retail sales grew 12.6 percent in 2010 to reach $176.2 billion. With an expected 10-percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010 to 2015, U.S. eCommerce is ex- pected to reach $278.9 billion in 2015. The report indicates that several factors continue to propel double-digit growth for the Web channel: omnipresent Web connectivity among consumers, increasing consumer familiarity with and preference for online shopping (and the subsequent cannibalization of store shopping), best-in- class shopping experiences, and new on- line shopping models, such as flash sales — time-limited offers of high discounts — which have generated excitement and grown rapidly. There is no doubt that your Web mar- keting efforts should be fully integrated in your growth strategy. Online marketing starts with understanding online buyers and implementing processes and tools de- signed to quickly and efficiently respond to their needs and demands to drive more sales — faster. Effective online marketing includes get- ting noticed to attract visitors to your website; making it easy for them to find and purchase the product(s) they’re look- ing for; and building loyalty to turn buyers into returning customers. The following guidelines will help your dealership drive online traffic and increase sales. Leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make it easy for prospects to find your products Your website is a 24/7 store. Easy to navigate, it should feature informative, eye- 20 parts inventory online Make it easy and fast for customers to find your website and buy parts from you catching content, positioning your dealer- ship as the authority on all things related to outdoor power equipment. It should also incorporate a solid call-to-action strat- egy designed to entice visitors to take the next step, whether it be requesting more information or, better yet, buying a part. These criteria are necessary but not suffi- cient to attract potential buyers who do not know of your dealership and are using search engines to find a particular product that you have available in your inventory. That’s when SEO comes into play. SEO is the process of achieving higher rankings for a website’s most relevant key- words (i.e. the most applicable and/or commonly typed phrases when researching a specific product or topic). A Web solu- tions provider with a proven track record in creating traffic-building websites should optimize your site for maximum search engine visibility, so that when a prospect searches for a specific part that you happen to carry, your online inventory appears above that of your competitors. Most prospects that are looking for a part typi- cally enter a brand name and a part num- ber or description. That’s why it is critical to have your brands, part numbers and de- scriptions indexed for SEO, making it easy for qualified buyers to find and purchase your parts online. Enhance the shopping experience to make it fast and easy for visitors to buy your products Assuming that your search-engine-opti- mized parts inventory is driving traffic to your site, the next step is to meet the ex- pectations of the online buyer. According to recent studies, you only have 10 seconds to engage visitors once they’ve landed on your website. If they don’t immediately OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Turf Depot’s website makes it fast and easy for customers to navigate and buy. It features clear calls to action, promotions and specials, and a dedicated section for its service department. A consumer-friendly parts lookup and ordering system — hosted on a dealer’s website — helps convert visitors to buyers, enhances customer satisfaction and retention, and leads to increased sales and profits. find what they are looking for, they will undoubtedly click the Back button to try another link and move on to another site. Today’s shoppers want to find the part they’re looking for quickly, add it to their shopping cart, enter their billing informa- tion, and be done with it — all in as few clicks as possible. Ordering the right part online can be a daunting task, even for the most technology-savvy consumer. If you want to respond to the online buyer’s need for speed and convenience, you should seri- ously consider providing visitors with a consumer-friendly lookup and online or- dering system that makes the right part in- formation available immediately and in an easy-to-use format. With a solution inte-