The Internet advantage

Use your Web site to grow your business

Collision repair shops generally don't conduct e-commerce through their Web sites. However, there's convincing evidence that it's foolish for a shop not to have a Web site and not to invest in making that Web site easy and worthwhile for vehicle owners to find.

According to Pew Internet, about three of every four Americans – 146 million people – are regularly online, and almost 60 percent say they start online when looking for local listings. That's almost twice the percentage who say the printed "Yellow Page" phone directory is their first source for local listings (see sidebar article, page 40).

"On average, there are about six billion (online) searches per month in the United States," says Scott Orth, an internet marketing strategist with GTS, a software and internet marketing firm. "Of those, about 2.2 billion are locally based, by people who in their search process have shown they are specifically looking for something in their city or in their neighborhood."

ABRN has compiled suggestions for shops looking to create or update their Web site (see sidebar, page 39). Orth and others say there are also key ways to make sure consumers find your site when they go looking for collision repairs.

The 'free' route

When you type collision repair and the name of your community into a search engine, two types of listings appear. On Google, by far the most popular search engine, any paid or "sponsored links" appear in a column running down the right side of the results page or in a shaded box at the top of the page. Before you understand how to be listed there, it's important to look just below any shaded box at the top of the search results page to see the "organic" site listings, where your shop's Web site can appear without you spending a dime.

The only problem with this free section is that it's generally long. Searching for "autobody repair Indianapolis" on Google brings up 438,000 sites. Orth said users rarely will look past the first page or two of listings. If you're not in the Top 20 results therefore, your shop's Web site isn't likely to be found by those not specifically looking for your company.

The content and construction of your site has a lot to do with how high up in the organic rankings the search engines will list your site. It's part art and part science, Orth said. Here are his tips:

Make sure your site's content includes text, not just graphics. In terms of the search engines, your text is what's really important. It needs to include the search terms people will likely use to find a shop: collision repair, autobody, auto body repair, automotive painting, etc.
When you do use graphics (such as photos or the "buttons" a user clicks to switch pages), make sure those files also are named using the key search terms. The file of the photo on the site showing your shop, for example, shouldn't be called "MainImage.jpg," when "auto_body_shop.jpg" will be another use of a key search phrase the search engines look for as they rank Web sites.
Focus each page of your site on a theme, generally one (or at most two) of the key search terms people are likely to use. That will help you naturally include that term multiple times on the page, increasing its ranking.
Include a site map, a page that shows links to all of the pages of your site. Orth said the top search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask) also allow you to submit an "XML site map." (Search online for "XML site map" for free tools.) That site map is not visible to users of your site, but it helps the search engines index your site.
Get others to add links on their Web site to yours to raise your "organic" ranking. Shops, for example, should have links to their site from the trade associations to which they belong or their paint company's shop search engine.

Paying-per-click

Some users gravitate toward the sponsored or paid links in the search engines, so you may want to spend some money to get your site at or near the top of those lists. This is generally done using a bidding process. You tell Google, for example, that when a user types in certain search terms (say, "auto body Indianapolis"), you will pay a specific amount to Google if that user clicks on your paid or "sponsored" link that comes up on their screen alongside the free search results.

You can designate your willingness to pay more or less based on the day or time a user enters such search terms. You can also indicate that you only want it to come up for those in a particular market; the search engines (to various degrees of accuracy) can determine where a searcher is located based on Internet addresses.

Once you're set up with Google or other search engines, if you search "auto body Indianapolis" and find other paid links are higher up on the list than yours, you know those companies have offered Google more per-click. You can decide whether it is worth it to "outbid" them for a higher spot.

But Orth cautions that it's not always a matter of money. The search engines want to make sure they are offering users "quality" links, so the advice about making sure your site looks and operates well in terms of the "organic" search engine listings will help you with your pay-per-click rankings as well.

What search terms are most frequently used by those in need of collision repair? Orth cited statistics showing "auto body repair" gets almost 40,000 searches per month compared with about 3,000 per month for "collision repair." "Body shop" was in between with 15,000 a month. "Auto repair" tops them all with 86,000 searches per month, but, Orth cautions, that likely includes customers in need of mechanical rather than collision repairs. You're likely to pay much more per-click the more popular a search term is.

Getting consumers to click on your sponsored link in the search engines requires, in part, choosing the right wording, Orth said. Google-sponsored links allow you only a few words on three short lines. You can run different ads for different search terms. Orth suggests including the search terms in your ad; if you are paying for the term "collision repair," for example, include that specific term (rather than "auto body") in your ad.

Notice that Google ads include a Web site name (URL) at the bottom. This doesn't have to be the exact name of the page the link connects to. So if you want the link to take someone to a certain page of your Web site (say, other than the homepage) and the name of that page is long or complicated, you can just change what shows in your ad to a shorter Web site name.

Making it a powerful tool for your business

Once you've helped ensure a consumer is more apt to find your Web site, how do you generate business?

Use it to tell your story and convey key "selling points." What are the one, two or three things that set your shop apart from others? When you're talking to prospective customers, what "sells" them on bringing their car to your shop? What are the key questions or concerns you hear from them? The answers to those questions are what you should play up on your Web site. Is your business family-run? Multi-generational? Multiple locations? Specialists in certain vehicles or types of repair? Play up whatever your key features are on your homepage and, when you can, in the whole "look and feel" of the entire site.
Make it easy to contact you and schedule an appointment. Can customers e-mail you from your Web site? Can they schedule an appointment for an estimate? Can existing customers go to your site, find the name of the estimator they are working with and send that person an e-mail? Make your Web site a useful tool for the customer, not just an online ad.
Collect your customers' e-mail addresses. Just as a database of all your previous customers' mailing addresses can be a powerful marketing tool, collecting e-mail addresses of current and potential customers has value even if you choose not to use it right now. It allows you to keep in contact with them in a way that requires far less of your time and marketing budget. Give them a reason to submit their e-mail address to you: to sign up to receive your newsletter, to enter a quarterly drawing for some prize, to get the answer to a question they have related to their vehicle, to schedule an appointment, etc.
Get customers talking about your site to others. Are you running funny radio or television ads? Include them on your site to not only sell visitors but prompt them to perhaps share a link to that quick bit of entertainment with others. Videos of vehicle crash tests or photos of unusual vehicle accidents can attract attention. Kevin Cook of Cook's Auto Body Inc., in Normal, Ill., said photos updated daily showing progress on vehicles in the shop drives traffic to his shop's Web site and front door.

"I've heard customers who have had several co-workers at their desk looking at their car when it's here," Cook says. "People say, 'Look at my car,' and other people ask, 'Where is that?' "

No longer an option

Even if your Web site doesn't include features like vehicle progress reports for customers or playable versions of your television or radio commercials, it serves as a "calling card" for your business, online proof of your shop's existence and your interest in meeting the needs of local vehicle owners. Making sure it is clear, professional and helpful – and most importantly, that it can be found by those searching online – should be a key part of every shop's marketing plan.