Are you ready to sell more tires in your shop? With an effective digital strategy, you can achieve this goal and grow your business!
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Web optimization for tire shops was the key topic that Todd Richardson, CEO of In Motion Brands & President of Atrium Solutions Inc, covered in a recent AutoLeap webinar.
Specifically, Richardson discussed:
- Six digital factors that affect your tire sales
- The importance of a personalized shopping experience
- Communication tips for customer calls
- Brand strategy recommendations
- And much more!
Let’s start with the digital factors you need to focus on.
Six digital factors affecting your tire sales
1. Page speed
A potential customer visits your website. The home page takes seemingly forever to load. In just a few seconds, you’ve lost them. They exit the page and browse elsewhere.
Sounds like a nightmare scenario, right? Without fast loading times, you will struggle to convert new customers. From an SEO perspective, Google will punish your website. “You need to get that fixed,” says Richardson.
You can use this resource to analyze your website’s page speed. Do you receive a bad score? Spend time assessing every potential cause.
Who is loading the images on your website? Are they optimized for page speed? What about mobile? Consider every angle and make the necessary adjustments.
2. Domain authority
Another key SEO factor is domain authority. DA gauges the relevance of your website for its target audience. Using a 0-100 scale, any website scoring under the benchmark of 20 will struggle to gain online traction with customers.
Unfortunately, these poor marks are common with tire shop websites. Richardson cites a personal example of knowing 75% aftermarket websites that register under 20 in DA.
You need to analyze your tire shop’s DA and improve its score. “Take a look at how you’re doing here.”
3. NAP and Google My Business
How does your tire shop’s Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) appear on Google? Are these details inconsistent on different links? Would customers not know what to do with the information?
“If it’s confusing for you, it’s confusing for algorithms. You need to get this cleaned up,” says Richardson.
Google Reviews are another critical piece. If you can generate enough positive feedback online, the rewards are significant. “Positive Google Reviews are digital gold.”
Post regular updates on your Google My Business (GMB) profile. You can even add content under this profile to send Google an indication your shop is active online and adding value.
4. Content
As the saying goes, content is king!
Your tire shop needs fresh, relevant content to rank organically and attract new customers. Blurry logos, static images and duplicate content will prevent you from achieving that goal.
“Robbing content in local markets isn’t effective. We need to break this trend. It’s concerning for many reasons.”
Here are some tips to optimize your shop’s content for tire customers:
- Research (and target) keywords in your specific market
- Include the keywords you choose in copy titles, H1s, text and meta descriptions
- Add internal links, external links, relevant images and videos in content
- Build more landing pages to target different keywords
Remember, more landing pages equal more opportunities. “We have to add more pages for the keywords targeting people we want to do business with,” says Richardson.
5. Keyword rankings
One important aspect of your tire shop’s strategy is the keywords you rank for.
You need to compile a list of target keywords, measure your rankings, and work on improvements. “Are you clear on what you’re ranking for and where? If you’re not, why not?”
6. Digital checklist
There are many critical aspects of digital optimization for your tire shop. If you want to sell more tires consistently, you will have to plan for each item.
Here are some of your website’s top checklist items:
- Do we use custom images and design?
- Do we have an embedded contact form?
- Is our website optimized for desktop and mobile?
- Do we have built-in WordPress with eCommerce and conversion tracking?
- Do we use Google Analytics for traffic measurement?
- Do we build keyword ranking reports?
- Do we run regular SEO audits?
“When you start checking these boxes, your business will grow. You’ll be in front of more customers than you have right now. They’ll click and convert if you’re there.”
Customize for your customers
“It’s not about just having a strong physical presence as a business now. You need digital,” says Richardson. And these days, digital brands are all about the customer experience.
Take the thoughtful detail that goes into Starbucks marketing, like the user-friendly interface on the business’s mobile app.
Large tire brands have already begun to focus on these details. Convenience is everything.
Simplify your customer journey to create a more convenient online shopping experience. Start with the form-fills you require. Remember, more steps a visitor needs to take will result in fewer closes on new leads.
Customization is helpful as well. Make all the information on your tire inventory easy to read and digest. Provide as many options as you can for viewing multiple angles of the tire. Allow customers to input their vehicle and visualize how the tires would look.
Apply this customization to your call to actions as well. Provide multiple options to save a quote or request an appointment.
When a customer can save time finding the specific tires their car needs, your shop stands to benefit. “Make it easy to do business with you.”
Communication tips for customer calls
A customer calls your tire shop. They start the conversation with: “I need a price or quote on (X).”
If this sounds familiar, Richardson recommends adjusting your approach to customer communication.
How can you help? Instead of a simple business transaction, express your value as a shop. Tailor your conversation to the customer and turn the focus on them.
The following questions can help guide your discussion in this manner:
If they’re seeking cheap tires, ask if they understand the difference in quality. Rather than bringing up specific tire features, speak to the advantages of higher quality tires.
Key advantages you can mention include increased fuel economy and mileage, improved traction and reduced noise. “When you will notice the benefits is when you need it most. As that tire wears down, that’s where the value is,” says Richardson.
Final brand strategy tips
What is your competitive advantage? What is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors? Your answer may be service, but other businesses focus on this fact.
Here are some sample brand statements to help you find a unique message that resonates:
- “If we can’t be the best, we don’t want to do it.”
- “We want to treat all customers like immediate family.”
- “We’ll have your back.”
- “We help people get ahead.”
- “We’ll extend the useful life of your vehicle.”
Closing thoughts
A thoughtful digital strategy will help your tire shop attract new customers and generate more revenue. Use these webinar insights to craft an effective presence online.
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